Valentine's Day

Today on the inevitable facebook, a friend commented: Setting aside a single day of the year for love is like setting aside a single hour of the day for breathing.


Okay.  But setting aside a single day of the year to receive and give small tokens of love from/to friends and especially children is marvelous!  I bought into V-day more than usual this year.  It didn't hurt that two evenings ago, my beautiful 6-year-old son presented me with a hand-strung bead necklace replete with red hearts, ladybugs and TWO rainbow beads that he had made.  And it was all his idea, no less.  Oh, the mama's heart went "thump thump" and the tears flowed.  The next day while chasing Cora around during Isaac's tae kwon do class, I was inspired to enter the Dollar Store and purchase 3 heart-balloons-on-sticks and 5 long-stem roses (two for Isaac's teachers).  On V-day itself, Isaac surprised me as I returned from my jog by appearing in the dining room fully dressed to the shoes...and I surprised him with heart-shaped English muffins with ham and poached eggs.  Wheee!  And THEN, I surprised the whole family with decadent desserts a la the special goodie case at Earth Fare ('cause I just happened to be there today and walk past).  And this year, we actually had completed valentines for him to take for his classmates.  The last two years, completion has been a bust.


So anyway.  I still don't like the commercialism aspect.  I don't like spongebob valentines (though we definitely used some for his class--can't remember why I had those, but I think I've had them since before Isaac was born).  I don't like Whitman's candy (anymore), and I don't like feeling obligated (or having Matthew feel obligated) to provide love-y gifts to "honor" the day, or the idea that there's one day designated for love.   But I do enjoy the token gifts, the ritual, the celebration of pink, and crazy yummy desserts composed of chocolate and fruit.  So there.


Thankful for:
* Cora hustling around the corner, looking from behind every bit of Mamaw Peck acting goofy.
* Cora saying "hnuse me" when trying to go around me.
* Isaac having a day of no tantrums!
* Isaac's new "Isaac is helpful chart."  This thing saw a miracle today.  Not sure what is cause or effect, but we'll leave that for now.
* A morning of errands with my sweet little girl.
* My hardworking hubby.
* eggrolls with no eggs
* a movie night.

Word for 2012

Instead of trying a resolution for this year, I'm trying a word again. Last year's word was Listen. I forgot about it halfway through the year, but when I thought of it, it helped. The Kari word for 2012 is Holy. Bum ba buuuuuum! It's a little off--in that it sounds like I might be aiming for "Holier than thou," but if you know me, you probably realize that's not the way I roll. Holy may not quite be the right word, but the idea I'm going for is to allow God to fill my spaces and sanctify me. Of course I want to eat less, be more present in the moment, enjoy my children and marriage more--typical resolution ideas and all the same things I wanted last year and the year before and so on. Instead of focusing on self-improvement projects and the ways that I fail each day--my stumbling blocks, as it were (food, distractions, over-busy-ness, etc), I am making "Holy" my mantra, my idea to go to when I'm falling back into the mire each day, my word and prayer to help me to cling to my Savior and King. Funny that the day after I picked my word, we actually sang at church:

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;
Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!

Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore Thee,
Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;
Cherubim and seraphim falling down before Thee,
Who wert, and art, and evermore shall be.

Holy, holy, holy! Though the darkness hide Thee,
Though the eye of sinful man Thy glory may not see;
Only Thou art holy; there is none beside Thee,
Perfect in pow’r, in love, and purity.

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
All Thy works shall praise Thy Name, in earth, and sky, and sea;
Holy, holy, holy; merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!

Wert and art are strange words in our language, and some versions of the hymn use more updated language, but I like the old-fashioned originals. Plus I think referencing God with the word Art is lovely. God, the ultimate Artist and Creator. Last summer, Isaac attended a poetry workshop, and the first thing the teacher said was that to be a good poet, one's primary job is to become a good "noticer." This really has been seeping into my consciousness, and it's kind of a "duh" epiphany: to be a good artist of any kind, a good liver, a good lover...one has to be a good noticer. I lose at this a lot of the time, so I'm trying on a new habit of listing out God's blessings each day. One or two blessings or 10 or 11, however many I have time to think of, as I go through my day, to chronicle the beauty and grace bestowed lavishly on me each day.

I have read some neat-o books (A Praying Life and A Good Life and 1000 Gifts among others) which I am using as step stools to help me be more regularly in the scripture and quiet prayer time. I want to know Jesus better. Every day.

So, here's my thankful list for Jan. 1, 2012:
* Aunt Julie here!
* Matthew telling me and Julie not to rush back as we leave the kids with him while we wander out to find lunch, window-shop at REI, and generally hang out.
* Matthew and Aunt Julie playing with the kids while I sleep off a headache for an hour...AND making yummy porkchops for dinner and washing up afterwards! Huzzah!
* Isaac's obstacle courses in the back yard
* The red-hatted-and-jacketed woman at Earth Fare who needed some lunch and gave me a hug and a "God bless you." No, God bless YOU and keep you, whoever you are.
* Playing Sorry! with Matthew, Julie, and Isaac--our first 4-person game! Plus, I won 3rd.
* Time to work on photo albums and scrapbooks!

Jan. 2, 2012
* Winter sunshine glinting off of Cora's fluffy hair.
* The trash truck and another toddler to be amazed with it.
* White and blue lights still in the bushes.
* 4th day of jogging with Julie and better endurance.
* Time to write.