The Muffin Men

"The world is so crazy and if people were more kind, it would be a little easier to live in."

Love Letters

This is so worth watching - warms my heart and makes me think of one of my best friends who loves to write love letters to those she loves.  I think we all have special gifts that we can use to reach out to others.  I guess right now I'm trying to find my thing after about two years of not really wanting to reach out to anyone.  this video has definitely inspired me.


 

How to be kind when cranky

I'm asking, actually.  I woke up cranky and am not sure what kindness effort to exert today.  Perhaps just not yelling at anyone would be a good act of kindness for me today.  Baby steps indeed.

That heart on her t-shirt makes me laugh.


Angry Redneck by JanetBoyerWrites

Be kind anyway

Cactus flower by Melissa Bowersock


“People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway. If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway."

― Mother Teresa

One of my favorite songs

Give said the little stream
Give oh give, give oh give
Give said the little stream
As it hurried down the hill

I'm small I know but wherever I go the grass grows greener still

Singing, singing all the day
Give away, oh give away
Singing, singing all the day
Give, oh give away . . .

The Rooftop

The past two years of my life have been pretty crazy.  I went through a worse than difficult pregnancy, I was sleep deprived for a good 8 months after the birth and my older two boys have the energy and power of hurricanes.  There have been mornings in the not so distant past that I have woken up yelling.  Yeah, not in a great place.  I was living in survival mode.   But now, I'm feeling so much better, I'm sleeping through the night and I've figured out tricks to calm and manage hurricane season.  Now, I think it's time to consider living like a human being again, you know looking a little bit more outward than inward if I can.    I was just watching a CBC program about how we in Canada (it also included the US and the UK) seem to have ditched some common decency - manners, courtesy and respect.  The program highlighted a movement in the UK called Join Me.  The movement encourages random acts of kindness and some people who have joined have committed to doing more things like buying a hungry looking stranger a sandwich, or giving a ten dollar bouquet of flowers to someone hanging out in the park.  And now that I'm not in that self-centered living that new mothering brings, I thought maybe I should try some little efforts myself.  I started today and ACTUALLY e-mailed someone back who had thanked guests in a group e-mail for coming to her son's birthday party.  I wrote to her that Oliver had a blast and that he said it was the best birthday party he had ever been to. If I were her I would really love an e-mail like the one sent.....I almost didn't send it, that's how lazy I am.  But I'm ok with baby steps.  Don't judge, just love.

If you are an aspiring writer, or actually an aspiring anything I highly recommend you read this
very encouraging post by Kristen Lamb (author of We Are Not Alone). 

She's funny, smart and has some great wisdom to share.

Love is in the air

Scene:  Me in bed, Jord scrambling around trying to get ready for work.  He has come into the bedroom and turned the lamp on beside my bed while he changed Ruby's diaper and then left without turning the light off.  After a few minutes he returns.

Jord:  Char you have to get up, Oliver is doing a marathon poop in the bathroom and I think you'll have to drive him to school today.

Me:  Ok.  Why did you leave the light on?  I hate it - you always leave it on for me in the morning to make me get out of bed.

Jord:  I don't always do that I think I've done it twice.

Me:  Groan.

Jord:  Today's Valentine's Day, were you supposed to get Valentines day cards for Oliver?

Me:  I don't want to do that this year - there's a rule that you have to give one to everyone in the class if you're going to hand any out.

Jord:  Hmmm.  (he comes over the the bed and pats my shoulder.)  Well Happy Valentine's Day.

Me:  If you want to show your love for me turn that light off!

Lamp:  Click

Nice.  Very Romantic don't you think?   When I was going through Military Basic Training someone told me that you are not responsible for anything you do up to a minute after being woken up.  So if you woke up to your Sergeant yelling in your face and you pushed him away telling him to get lost - you'd be shown a bit of grace.  I don't know how much and I don't know if that was actually just an old army legend but it seemed fair.   Same rule applies in my marriage - Jord already knows that I have a certain amount of immunity first thing in the morning.

Calling all mothers!!!

I am writing a book on Motherhood and am looking for stories from mothers (within the next month ideally - sent to: charlamajeran at gmail dot com)

This would be a space for women to share their experiences anonymously in order to be able to find true, honest accounts of women in the trenches of motherhood. If you feel you have a story to share please do. If you have friends who you think have a story to share could you tell them about this (I would be forever grateful). Hopefully mothers from all walks of life will be able to read these stories and feel connected to the sometimes disconnected army of mothers out there. I truly believe that our honest voices sharing the good, the bad and the ugly can be a solace and help to other women who sometimes have to struggle alone.

I am looking for stories from the following two categories:
...
1) The worst and most difficult times of your mothering experience. I'm looking for tales of loneliness, isolation, bordom, anger, depression, financial struggles, difficult pregnancies/birth stories, the death of a child, single parenting. What has been the hardest part of being a mom for you?

2) The best of times of their mothering experience. I am looking for tales of happinesses found, fulfillment, growth, love, laughter, discovering the joy of motherhood, experiences of God guiding you in your efforts, miracles, angels attending. I would also appreciate tales of finding joy, comfort and support from other mothers/women in your life.

please send stories to: charlamajeran at gmail dot com
(a repost to women I am not able to reach would be greatly appreciated) Thanks to all!

The Tree of Life

 

 

It's after midnight, Jordan has already started softly snoring and my mind won't settle, it keeps playing images from The Tree of Life. As I was mulling over the many beautiful scenes and images Malick created, an article a friend once shared with me came to my mind. It was about how some language in poetry isn't necessarily meant to be disected and literally, logically understood but that a part of understanding poetry is feeling the vibe of the words chosen.

1) Smooth soft pearls dance delicately along her warm skin.

2) Cold diamond sparkles cut shards of light around the hard metal band.

Although the two sentences are both basically referring to a piece of jewelry, they have a different feeling - a different vibe.

With poetry and story telling, if you take away meaning, there is still something tangible left over - the taste that is left in your mouth after digesting them - be it bitter or sweet. Malick's film leaves me with a very sweet taste in my mouth and I don't know if I'll ever figure out the exact recipe of his most extrodinary dish - but delicious it was. And of course because it is past midnight and I'm in that state where you might give an extra laugh to something less funny, or extra thought to something less poignant...

I wonder if Malick was maybe leaving out story to force us to experience the vibe, the essence - the soul of his message.

I've often thought that God remains a mystery to mankind on purpose. If God exists and He wants us to know Him and He has the power at any time to end this messy earthly debate over whether or not He does exist - why not just show up on the scene. Why not show Himself to mankind right now and be done with it? My personal belief is that if He did so, then we would all know Him in our minds, we would know the text, the narrative, the ending but I think so many then might miss His vibe, His essence - the soul of His message because they wouldn't need to use their hearts to try to understand and know Him. Is that what Malick was trying to achieve? Who knows. It's time for me to go to sleep.