Simplicity

I desire a simple life.

I have enjoyed today so much! Isabelle, Brooke and I made oatmeal raisin cookies, and chocolate chip cookies this morning. We had zesty mac and cheese for lunch, and all 7 of us spent an hour playing UNO. It has been a great day of enjoying our children without having to go anywhere or do anything.

Sometimes I imagine life at a simpler time. None of the "Quick" microwave meals, speed limits of 70 mph, rush-hour traffic, 1 hour commutes, "fast-food", chauffering children from one activity to another! The interstate is a wonderful invention, but you can travel cross-country, and never see anything! Don't get me wrong, I love my washing machine, and my microwave, (although, truth be told, I mainly use it for the timer!) I love having the convenience of indoor plumbing, and my bread machine and crockpot! Can I imagine life without my Dell? I would hate to give them up! But I would love to have the time to spend on learning to sew, to make a quilt with my daughters, to have only homemade bread in the house, to have a huge garden every summer, and every jelly and jam in our home to be canned in my own kitchen! I would love to learn how to crochet and knit (which is entirely my own fault that I don't, with such a talented mom who could teach me!)

I look at what my children are learning in school, I don't remember learning those things in 5th and 6th grade!! Our children are so micro-managed these days! Between sports, music, jobs, and church, how do families spend any quality time together? And thats not to mention time they want to spend with their friends. I enjoy homeschooling my children. I am able to spend quality time with them everyday! To watch Isabelle master her phonics,and to hear Alexis help all the other kids with their math, and to see Joseph drawing in his art book, how can I put a price on these things? To know that Isabelle and Joseph are learning history from the Bible, to see the older girls learn Christian character throughout all of their school subjects is priceless for me. It is a huge undertaking, and there are some days I am not sure if I am crazy to even attempt this!! I can rest in the Lord through all of this, knowing that He will not give me anything that is too big for me!!!

I try to keep life as simple as I can for me. My children are not invloved in sports, at least not organized sports! They get all the excercise they need sledding, and snowboarding down our hills, riding bikes in the summer, swimming(a favorite past time in our family), and then you always have the loading the woodbox twice a day, doing laundry, and cleaning house! Some may say they are missing out. Are they truly missing out on anything? I don't think they are. They have 5 of their closest friends just a room away, they know that their mother will always be there for them, and their dad is just a phone call away. They will grow up with the security of knowing that they are loved above all else.

Life does not need to be this huge dramatic ordeal. Life can be simple. And you know what? I think you will find it can be immensly rewarding.

I am going to learn to crochet this year, I just decided that it is something I must learn. I plan on making most of next years Christmas presents this summer, something else I have decided!! And I would love to have my Grandma help me and my girls put together a quilt this year. I must ask her.

Is this keeping life simple? I believe my children will be forever grateful to learn some of these forgotten arts. These are things that can be rewarding for a life time. They will know how to make bread from scratch, how to mend their own clothing, how to crochet a blanket for the newest addition in their lives. They will learn that enjoying a good cup of tea and a good book is far more rewarding than watching the newsest reality show on TV.

Life at its simplest can be a life most rewarding!!