proud owner

i am now a proud owner of a kenmore sewing machine. hardly used but rather dusty. i can't to start using it. we went all the way (OFF THE ISLAND!) to cranston to pick it up. i discovered on our way there the little village on the pawtucket. so we stopped for some lunch in a local coffee house/eatery. this village is darling. we made the most of our trip and i had ransom in the maya wrap and each girl by the hand since i had left our 2x jogger on our porch (thinking that i wasn't going to need it!!) we walked by the water and went to a lovely town park. then hopped back into the van and drove home. all three babes were sound asleep.

now i am making a list of projects i want to work on with my new purchase!

childhood/toys/education thought for the day

"The most effective kind of education is that a child should play amongst lovely things."- Plato

i found www.mahardrygoods.com recently and thought you'll might enjoy their quote. this might be my new favorite kids site. cheers!

love this quote

"So please, oh PLEASE, we beg, we pray, Go throw your TV set away,And in its place you can install, A lovely bookshelf on the wall."- Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

A New Name by Graham Plaster

Tonight we went for another family walk, down to the basketball court by the Goat Island bridge. It was spectacular. The sun was waning, casting that glow of nostalgia across the kids faces that evokes so many feelings of childhood in me. I had brought a soccer ball for the kids and a basketball too, which feels so natural in my hands, despite it being over 10 years since I played on a team. I rolled the ball to my son, Ransom, who is now almost 11 months old. While sitting, he picked it up with both hands over his head and opened his mouth wide as if to shout some triumphant word, but the only sound was the glorious beat of his toothy, infant smile. He bounced the ball on the grass once, watching it roll away from him and then leaned forward, easilly transitioning into a crawl after the ball. Fast break. I watched the game, enthralled. I called, "Ransom...Ransom." I was right behind him, but it seemed as if he hadn't heard me. He was looking at the ball. When he finally responded to my voice by turning back towards me on his haunches, he had to squint. The sun was behind me. He smiled and then turned back towards the ball. I heard my voice in my own ears, "Ransom...Ransom." I felt as though I was hearing my own name called by God and thought how natural and yet new it would seem to hear his voice call me in the same way. Would I turn immediately or would I remain entranced by the world, that fascinating ball that spins before my eyes. Would he call me Graham, or would he rename me, like so many of his friends in history? What would my new name mean to Him? What would it sound like on His tongue? It is not so much the combination of consonants, vowels and syllabals that my son recognizes as his name. It is my voice - which is a much more complex and intimate signature of our relationship really. At this stage in his development, there are a lot of words that I could say to him that would have about the same meaning as his name: "turn around and look at me". Maybe this is one of the things Jesus meant when he said we had to have faith like a child. When we hear his voice, no matter if if takes the form we expect, he is hoping we will turn, smile and respond.I know that Ransom is too young to remember this day. Perhaps I will lose it too as a distinct memory, and it will be folded into the mental scrapbook of holy moments - epiphanies and exquisite beauties. On second thought, those are the moments of my life that I remember most clearly. The moments when something truly real broke through the facade and I was made aware of the superficiality of certain other things. The moments when I heard His voice, turned and smiled.

its official

tomorrow i am picking up my new sewing machine!!! $35 off of craig's list!! i was so excited that i dove onto my moutainous pile of clean clothes on the bed. yeah not the most comfortable place to jump - slightly lumpy and coarse (as we are not using any more dryer sheets.)

now i am on the move to find material and projects!!!

a family culture of reading

one thing that i did not add to the handmade christmas post was that we will always give books to our children as gifts - we want them to love reading and to be encouraged even as toddlers to love books. when the kids are older we would like to take "reading vacations" where we all bring tons of books and just sit in little corners or nooks wherever we are (ie the sail boat or beach house) and read. i think that this sounds like one of the most wonderful ways to spend time together. of course there will be plenty of discussion b/c we will all want to know what the others are reading and thinking. it does no good to just read, one must verbalize and share to really learn and appreciate the written word.

reasons for a handmade christmas cont.

7. we don't need a whole room of presents - we have really tried to limit the amount of gifts we give to the kids so that we can focus on enjoying the presents more and also teaching that it is better to give then to recieve. so many times kids get mountains of toys etc and then end up not playing with any of it but one or two toys. we want to establish this lesson early on in our family culture. we are not nazi about this by any means. this rule is really for our immediate family and does not apply to our friends or extended family. (although i am hoping the no plastic/noisy toys can be embraced by friends and family.)