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...


Monday, February 21, 2011

Surfin' USA

On Saturday I took Mom and Rowan to the American Girl store at the Oak Park Mall. SO fun! Rowan fell in love with a paddle-board surfing accessory set and decided to spend all her money (and some of mine) on it. She's been playing with it nonstop, and today asked a friend to come over and play with her. Thinking perhaps her friend's doll might like a surfboard, I came up with the brain-child of creating cardboard surfboards the girls could paint a design on. Rowan loved the idea, but soon decided that she'd actually prefer a very large board that she could pretend to surf on. So, thanks to the giant cardboard that came on my new craft storage dresser, I was able to fashion two large surfboards with my exact-o knife. Rowan set up the kitchen table for some serious painting, and the girls have been at work out there for almost an hour!


Rowan has created a board with some classic Hawaiian themes - watery waves, Hawaiian flowers, palm trees and shark, while her friend has created a more abstract, tribal looking board. They are both awesome! 



I, on the other hand, am ready to start organizing my new drawers and putting away the piles! Here are some 'before' pictures of the surfaces in my dining room. (And really, they aren't that bad right now - you should have seen them when Grace was still under construction!) Once I deal with the mess, I'll take 'after' photos to share. 

And I was going to show you pictures of all the kids and moms working on the Project Linus blankets at our meeting this morning, but although I remembered the camera I left the dang memory card in the computer at home. DOH! Needless to say, we had fleece spread out all over our meeting room and it was great to have everyone working together. We had about 18 kids and their moms come today, which was a great turnout! We didn't get all the blankets done, so several moms have taken a few to finish at home, and I'll do a few here. I'm hoping to have them all back and completed in a week or two.


Ok, time to sort some drawers. Perhaps I need to listen to The Beach Boys while I putter away...
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2 comments:

  1. KathyFebruary 21, 2011 at 6:50 PM

    Fun, fun, fun! Love the surf board designs. Hope you got some of your drawer sorting done.

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  2. KathyFebruary 21, 2011 at 6:52 PM

    Oh, and I forgot to mention that I love that you can click on your pictures to make them bigger - twice! You can really see all the details!

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