It begins...

A friend recently forwarded an email to me titled "The Invisible Mother," a short essay comparing the tireless and often thankless job of a mother to the builders of Europe's great cathedrals. Both give their whole lives for a work they will never see finished, both make sacrifices and expect no credit, and both are fueled in their passion by the faith that the eyes of God see every detail. The writer of the essay was inspired by the thought that our endless efforts in motherhood, invisible as they may seem, are worth it and can make an enriching life.


For many of us, the way we choose to hold our invisibility at bay is by creating something tangible. For me, my days often end with knitting - my love of fiber and the need to do something relaxing end up producing something I can hold and look at. Nobody will know how many times I swept under the high chair that day, or how many toys I picked up, or how many times I tried to coax a "please" or "more" or "sorry" out of my 5 year old. But a darling, handmade infant hat? That you can see.


I start new projects every day, and my 10 year old does the same. In this process of creating (and yes, often not finishing our projects!) we connect with each other and a bigger picture of ourselves in the process. My plan for this blog is to share the projects that excite me and bring some accessible proof of my existence in this invisible world of mothering!


So, this blog is dedicated to the mothers out there whose days are filled with the minutia of tasks that build our children and our families. I often tell people that I haven't decided what I want to be when I grow up. But for now, I am the builder of a great cathedral. With every shoelace tied, lunch packed, and forehead kissed, I build.


And I can hardly wait to create something new...


Thursday, May 5, 2011

Wrapping Things Up

C.R.A.Z.Y. week. Crazy! My in-laws arrive tomorrow for the weekend, and Brynn and I hit the road for Iowa at o'dark thirty on Sunday morning. So much to do...so little time! I don't plan to blog much next week, so this might be it for awhile. I think I'm just about ready for the Girl Scout meeting/bridging on the 16th, and am halfway done with the bookworms I'm making them. Here are the ones I've finished, stretched to make the tails strait. I love that no two will be the same, just like my scouts!
Rowan managed to finish her little stepping stone - here she is hard at work, and a close-up of the finished product. I have no idea if it will hold up in the rain, so we'll wait until the sun comes out to find a garden spot for it.


Speaking of gardens, I let Rowan design and choose the flowers to be planted on the back deck this year. I got them all planted yesterday, and I'd take a picture of them but I don't want to stand in the rain! The two deck boxes (that we can see from the kitchen table) have petunias (deep fuchsia and pale pink), and the 3 big pots have snapdragons, lantana, and petunia, as well as the tiny azalea and tiny rose plants that she received in our May Day basket. We'll see how they do! I had to refill the bird feeder again this morning - they are inhaling the seed this week!


Rowan gave the felted bag to her teacher today - I hope she loved it! Here's the finished bag - Rowan liked it best with one flower on each side, near the top. She got to keep the 3rd flower I made, and was pleased as punch about it! The greens are much brighter in real life...
I also finished knitting and felting the bag for myself! However, the icord on the teacher bag turned out much shorter than I prefer, so I made myself a longer icord that is still wet. Not sure if all will be dry in time to use in Iowa, but at least it's done.
Now I need to do some meal planning for this weekend (don't want to feed my in-laws bird seed), clean the basement play area (wall-to-wall toys), and keep cranking out the bookworms. Happy early Mother's Day to all!!

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