The wisdom of the Three Year Old

 

As P was sitting on us this morning she expounded on life including this gem:

If you are being silly, and cute and funny; you still have to obey!

WIsdom out of the mouth of babes.

Having trouble with photos...

I think I found a way around the trouble I have been having with posting photos. I am really not sure why I have had recent difficulty with using the 'add image' feature on Blogger. I am open to advice on how to get it working. In the meantime, the Picasa program that we have been using for our photos has a feature that helped me work my way around the problem.

So here's the girls in the recent week...


Here is a picture of the girls out at "The Last Resort". We had a lovely day exploring the woods with the Senior Carlsons. It was so fun to be able to look at the trees and talk about them. So the girls learned the differences between a Balsam, a Pine and a Spruce.

The first snowfall of the year...the girls with some of the Pacholczak children, all enjoying the fun; however today the snowman they built is standing in a field of green grass. Oh well, I keep assuring the girls that more snow will inevitably come.

Here are the girls with the young Kuchta kids...we had an evening fire in the snow, roasted marshmellows and made snowballs.

Let it snow...

So there is snow on the ground...

M spent all day on Wednesday waiting for the snow to stay on the ground. Flurries were falling all afternoon, finally by late afternoon the snow had begun to accumulate. So we dug out snowy weather clothes and off the four of them went into the blustery night.

At one point, A ran in and asked what was wrong with her hands. Of course, they were red and cold...dry mittens sorted out the problem. It wasn't until we spent some time with friends that the older girls realized snow pants are just what everyone wears...Mommy wasn't trying to inflict cruel and unusual punishment when she was trying to get them to wear these new article of clothing.

Over the past couple of days the ground has been covered with about 2 inches of snow. It's now mid-morning on Friday and the snow has melted so that green grass in peeking through in increasingly larger patches. The girls are a bit distressed that the snow isn't staying longer...I keep reassuring them that the winter will be long and more snow will come. It's fun seeing winter through their eyes...a new and exciting phenomenon.

For me, the onset of winter fills me with nostalgia...being bundled up and walking to school, snow forts, sliding, evenings skating with cups of hot chocolate, hockey, snow banks...

After being away from the seasons of Canada, each passing season reminds me of the things I love...the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth...the continual renewal of life...seasons of rest and sleep followed inevitably by seasons of growth and harvest.

Reflecting on this leads me to step back and look at my life. I wonder if I am just in that season of rest and sleep, where the harvest is in, the ground has expended its resources and the time is for rest. Which then should lead me to approach my current circumstances in a different manner. I should not be taking on new responsibilities, but looking to invite things into my life that are nuturing. I should not look for harvest, but prepare for the dormancy of winter.