The Wisdom of Silence

We live in a society that praises quick wit and cutting sarcasm. In the age of social media, if we have nothing to say, no one will notice us. We are given a stage, not only to be noticed, but to stroke our prides and shout about how great we are (and how great our thoughts, kids, dogs, houses, and recreational enjoyment are).

We are encouraged to "speak our minds" and "stand up for our rights" on a constant basis. Children who are naturally of a quiet or reserved nature are objects of worry by parents and teachers who believe they will have trouble acclimating to the culture around them. If we choose not to speak, there must be something wrong with us.

Sisters Chat (Love Languages)

Each Friday we will post an entry in which the four of us will talk about different things. We hope that you enjoy getting to know us better.

Lizzi:Today I want us to talk about Love Languages. You are all familiar, right? The love languages talk about different ways that people express and receive love.

Maude: Yes

Katharine: Yep

Esther: Yes ma'am

Katharine: Although I've never read the book

Esther: I have only read snippets of it

Maude: Neither have I, I don't think

Lizzi: There are five love languages and while people typically appreciate all of them,

there are usually 1 or 2 that fit them the most. I will name the five:

-Words of Encouragement

-Quality Time

-Physical Touch

-Gifts

-Acts of Service

I would like us to guess the top 1 or 2 for each sister

Maude: Fun game

Lizzi: How about Maude first?

Maude: I love being the oldest.

Lizzi: :)

Maude: I get to go first!

Power Outage

After church on Sunday there was an enormous rainstorm that my husband took my kids out to play in while I talked for a little while.  My 3 year old son was completely drenched, my husband was soaked, and my little 1 year old girl was fairly wet.  No other parents let their kids play in the rain, of course!  But it is standard procedure at our house  - when it is raining everything stops and you go outside and play for a while.  It made for a lovely Sunday evening.

When we got home, however, we found that our power was out.
Now, we are pretty well prepared for such a time at that.  My husband got out the handcrank radio and the flashlights that you shake to generate the energy to turn them on and he and the kids enjoyed playing with them. 

But food in the refrigerator only lasts 4 hours and food in the freezer only lasts 2 days without power - what if it took days for the power to come back on?

CocoNUT

Coconut, who woulda thunk it? I like coconut. I mean, I reeeaaly like coconut. It is such an odd thing to one day wake up and like something that has been detested for so long. Do you know what I mean? I have experienced this in some degree before with other foods but never like this. It all started with a walk (many things start with a walk with me) we walk a lot. (What can I say? I love being out of doors). The other evening I had two lovely ladies over for dinner, after dinner we had a walk, a walk that just happened to drop us at the ice cream shop (funny how that works out). I was browsing over the ice cream flavors and kept coming back to the coconut, almond, fudge flavor. Which is odd because typically I would just think "ewww, coconut!" But not today. I asked to have a taste sample, it was delicious!

A Song for Rainy Days

There are many tidbits from my childhood that I am passing on to my own children: a phrase my mom would say, or a poem she would quote. One of the tidbits I often share with my boys is a song my sisters and I sing whenever the sky opens up and shares its cleansing rain with the earth. It is a chorus that our dad would sometimes sing to us and it has been imprinted on our hearts and minds.

It's beginning to rain hear the voice of our Father,
Saying, "Whosoever will, come drink of my water;
I have promised to pour my Spirit out on your sons and your daughters."
If you're thirsty and dry look up to the sky it's beginning to rain.
(It's Beginning to Rain-Words and music by Gloria Gaither, C. Aaron Wilburn, William Gaither)

Even now, whenever I see raindrops start to fall, I think of my dad with his melodious voice, singing this chorus. And I think of my sisters standing in the pouring rain, arms stretched up to heaven, singing with all our hearts to the God who sends the rain. I suppose that little tidbit from my childhood is one worth preserving.

Storm

Last week we had a very big storm over in my neck of the woods... It rained and the wind blew so hard that it knocked one of our trees down, causing it to lean on our house. Thankfully, it didn't bust the window it landed against or cause any damage to our house which was a HUGE blessing! In fact, my husband was planning on chopping it down anyway - this just resulted in it happening sooner than planned. :)

Since my hubby and I are such goofballs I took a video of him preparing to tame the beast that was our downed tree:


I'll have to post more tree pictures (and the end result!) later...

Sisters Chat - 8/5/2011

Each Friday we will post a blog entry of the four of us talking about different things. We hope you enjoy getting to know us and see us interacting here.

Katharine: When you think of sisters, what comes to mind? (it can be specific or general, just whatever comes to mind)

Esther: A lot of conversations going at the same time.

Maude: Best friends.

Katharine: Those are good! Why do those things make you think of sisters?

Maude: Because sisters are around for your whole life and know all the ins and outs of your circumstances. I think it is easier to be friends with a sister than with anyone else.

Esther: well, my only experience with sisters is obviously my own and we are many (6 to be exact). We are loud, a little crazy and we like talking. So, it is just normal for there to be about 500 different conversations going at the same time

Katharine: I agree Maude. They know things about you no one else can so they can understand you on a different level, sometimes a much deeper level.

Esther: And they have to put up with you no matter what!

A Bell from Prague

Here is the bell I bought from a street blacksmith in Prague.  I love it!  It is my favourite purchase from that European trip because it was so cool to buy from a street blacksmith and because nearly everything else I bought that trip was more along the chotsky line.

Here is a picture of the street blacksmith's setup. 

an Anniversary alone

Monday was my second anniversary. It was also my second anniversary to spend alone. That is just the Army way. I would love to say that because that is just a fact about my life "being an Army wife" that somehow that would make being alone on my anniversary easier, but somehow it does not. In preparation of our anniversary I decided to go all out and have a mopesy, bluesly, sad day. First thing Monday, I packed Jude up and went to the Krispy Kreme shop down the street and bought a dozen hot doughnuts. I am pretty positive that hot krispy kreme doughnuts are going to be served to us in heaven because they have some kind of perfection going on. Have you ever had fresh, hot krispy kreme doughnuts?

Getting Serious about Nutrition

All you have to do is read my bio on this blog and you know that I like food. Especially sweet food. Ice cream, pastries, chocolate, cake, pretty much anything sweetening and bad for me. My sweet tooth has always been my strongest and most vocal tooth, and getting older has not lessened its voice one bit. It is so bad that when I drink my coffee in the afternoon, I look around the house for something sweet to nibble on while I drink it, or I contemplate what I could bake to eat with my coffee.

Thankfully, I am beginning to realize that I am battling a major addiction and one that I need to fight to overcome. If I am looking forward to a sweet treat, and longing for something to put in my mouth to satisfy the desire, then I have gone too far.