How Nanny Cooks the Turkey

And here's one small example of the millions of ways my sweet husband makes me laugh and smile every single day...

I asked him one year, very early in our marriage, to find out from my mother how she cooks a turkey.  He called her and jotted it down for me in a loose notebook lying around.  This is what I found lying on the counter when I got ready to prepare the bird:

Father's Day Fun!

My husband is one of the funniest people I know. Really. (Don't tell him, though, because it will only encourage him!) He is silly and goofy, too, in really fun ways, which make him the perfect counterbalance to my often over-serious self in our home. (I really did marry the best man in the world for me!)

Yesterday he was being some sort of silly--I think he was dancing around like fake break dancing or fake Irish dancing or something--and my youngest daughter, EL, asked me, "Mom, was Dad like this when you decided to marry him? Or do you like that?"

I burst out laughing and quickly declared, "Oh, I love Daddy, honey, and I love how he is!"

"I do, too," she then shyly confessed.

Here's to serious-when-they-need-to-be, super fun dads on Father's Day!

“It is a good thing to let prayer be the first business of the morning and the last at night.” - Martin Luther

I'm trying, Lord. Oh, I'm trying.

To refocus. To slow down. To reflect and ponder all the many, many blessings that are mine everyday. Ordinary miracles.

The drop in temperature at the eventide.

The happy chatter of birds high in the trees.

Breathing deeply of fresh summer air.

A leisurely bike ride to retrieve a little one from Grampa's house.

Guests who leave my table stuffed and happy.

The wonder in a young boy's eyes as he rolls out his first homemade bread dough.

New neighbors who call on the name of the Lord.

Finding raw milk cheese.

The surprise delight of peach nectar in my fridge.

Bedtime.

Be still and know...

I am so happy to have the beautiful change of pace of summer...

I love hearing the happy sounds of two daughters playing together... the lilting strains of my son's experimentation and fun at the piano...

Somehow along the way, even in the midst of homeschooling--having deliberately chosen a less hectic, frantic, schedule-driven existence with our children and their learning--we became hectic and frantic and schedule-driven.

Our participation in that dear, wonderful homeschool co-op drives some of it.

Don't get me wrong!  We love the special, godly teachers... colleagues and mentors and friends... inspiration, prayerful devotion, encouragement, support... special stuff indeed, for which we are deeply grateful...

And yet.

And yet.

I am allowing the Lord to gently convict me that I have become driven.  frantic.  crazy.

Our schedule has become over-stuffed.  As is always the case--if the Enemy of Our Souls gets his way with us--the important has become crowded out by the urgent.

Or, even more insidious, by the mundane.

How much time have I spent with the Lord, in His Word, in His glorious presence?  How much meditation?  How much focused, deliberate thanksgiving?  Intercession?

How much time have I allowed myself to just sit and bask in the glory of ordinary joys?  How much downtime do we have to just sit and enjoy each other?  To take a walk together?  To play a game?

I miss the pleasures of dirty fingernails as I work the garden... pink cheeks from an hour or two at the pool... sore legs from a long bike ride with my family... a moment "shared" with a friend as I read her latest blog post, or we dare to grab lunch together... being caught up on Words with Friends... curling up together for read-aloud... a hearty round of Bananagrams after dinner... quiet, whispered conversations snuggled into each others' sleepiness in the wee morning hours...

Life can be full of such simple, profound joys.  But only if...

We are listening to a video series by Andy Stanley on "margin"... finding--no, making--time in our busy schedules, for some excess time.  He assures us that it is in the margin that the important things happen.  It is when we do not allow our schedules to be so packed, so full, so driven, that we find ourselves with enough energy and time to experience those simple, profound joys.

I want to live there.

Oh, Father, help me to live there!

"Be still and know that I am God" Psalm 46:10.