Mornings

I am expecting much grief from my dear sis for posting this picture but it so beautifully illustrates one of my most favorite parts of the day and how I truly love to spend it. MORNING. Simple, quite, beautiful mornings have been rather absent from my life over the past 6 months and I am longing for some of these mornings to present themselves again soon!

Simply put, I am not a morning person in the high energy, quick to productivity kind of way. I love waking early to quiet in both summer and winter. I love rising with my hubby (or sis when on family vacations :)) and discussing life. The kind of life that feels fresh and new. The kind of fresh and new life only a good night’s sleep can create. It is amazing how evenings and nights seem so overwhelming and topics are often left unresolved, yet a fresh new quite morning and a very fresh cup of coffee seem to be the simple solution to so many difficult unanswered questions. We eagerly await warm summer days, early mornings on our deck, fresh coffee, and simple conversations that truly mean so much.

Being Creative With The Kiddos

Today was one of those warm and overcast days. Everyone thought it was cold outside because there was no sun, so of course a day of movie watching must be in order. I informed them that all the windows were open and I was running around in flip flops a t-shirt and jeans...Needless to say it was not cold and certainly not a stay-inside-and-watch-movies kind of day. They were less than convinced so I pulled out the Popsicles to see if that would do the go outside trick. Sure enough that got them out the door and 30 seconds later the Popsicles were gone and we were back to our old negotiation shenanigans about it being cold and winter like. I really did not want to stop what I was doing, as if dishes are oh so important, so my attitude was a serious reflection of my frustration...YIKES...not too pretty! I quickly realized that I was being a grump and I needed to go play with the kiddos. I pulled out the sidewalk chalk and we had ourselves a grand time making all sorts of mosaics up and down the driveway and sidewalk. It was a sheer delight to play with the kids and frankly I have been thinking about all sorts of different chalk creations I can draw with the kids next time. Sometimes it feels so good to go outside and play!

Mothers Day Weekend...Exactly What We Needed!

God does a wonderful job of giving us everything we need right when we need it. He promises us that he will provide and I am always so amazed how he works things out in a way that I am completely unable to predict or plan myself. After an extremely rough week I headed into the weekend wondering simply where do we go from here. Here was exactly where we needed to be and here is right where we stayed! Together with Gram Pam (Brant's mom) and my sister's family, we spent the weekend in the back yard under the warm sun enjoying each others company, planting wonderful things like strawberries and annuals, and eating all things summer! I made a barbecued Thai dinner on Sat and on Mother's Day we had a lovely breakfast on the deck followed by an all American summer style barbecue for dinner, complete with hamburgers, hot dogs and watermelon! Mid-way through the day Brant excused me and my sister and let us get away on a much needed coffee date. He held down the fort with seven kids and was more than cheerful when we returned! HAVE I MENTIONED HOW MUCH I LOVE HIM! He is truly an amazing man! On top of it all I was showered with cards and artwork made by my sweet children, two new chairs for my yard and a simply gorgeous hanging flower basket for my deck. I am filled to the brim with love and it all came right when I needed it!

Nothing Profound...Just Blog Worthy...Most Likely With Spelling Errors and Typos...

I have not posted in awhile as I have been waiting for something profound or funny to write about. As I wait for "blog worthy" type moments I realize that my current state is "blog worthy". Here is your warning this post is NOT going to fall into the category of cheerful or funny or informative. This post is just a bit of reflection on our past couple of weeks. Life is not always easy and often throws us some rather intense curve balls. I need to write about some of those if I want this blog to truly reflect "Madson Life".
I am not going to sugar coat this...Our school year has been mostly sour with a few sweet moments that our God has graciously given us to help keep the momentum. The sweet moments have come in the form of encouragement from amazingly wise people who love us and our children and promise God will not give us more than we can handle. He has given us the perfect children and there is a right answer for us, for our family. Unfortunately for our children we are learning as we go and they get to deal with our failures and successes along the way. We have tried to recognize when we need to be asking for forgiveness and we have made sure they know when they need to buck up and work harder. This is a balancing act that has been weighted a little heavy and a little light at times. It is looking like (not totally sure yet) we will be keeping our two older children in their perspective grades next year, making it so we will have the following line-up ; Kinder-Prep, Kindergarten, 1st Grade and 2nd Grade. I for some reason find this incredibly overwhelming! I fear there being no wiggle room in case we have another year like this year. I fear my older two children will somehow feel inadequate and possibly internalize a since of failure. The good news is they are happy, obedient children that are just late bloomers. There is nothing wrong with them, just they are loosing teeth later, maturing later thus making the pace hard for them and us. We are still praying about our decision and have a couple other things to consider, but for now we are about 85% sure that next year will look a little the same with hopefully a lot different as well! We are clapping our hands for joy!
In the midst of school trials and Brant working 24/7, we have experienced painful loss. This is really the first time in my life, I have had to experience loss, grief and sadness for good friends who have died way to young. Three weeks ago we received the news that a childhood friend of Brants had taken his own life. He was 38, had a new wife, and a family who loved him dearly. He was a fun-loving guy who was passionate about his relationships. This was a hard funeral to attend considering the difficult situation. Brant really struggled with guilt about not checking in with him more often and has decided that those "old" relationships need to be fed and maintained. We had a wonderful time seeing old friends, in the midst of a sad situation. This was Gods timing and we embraced it. It opened the door for intriguing conversations about friendships we have had and ones we are in, the kinds of friendships we want our children to have and the kind if friends we want our children to know us to be. We are clapping our hands for joy!
Lastly, we have experienced the loss of my dear friend Jenny. She had battled leukemia for 10 years and is now cancer free in heaven sitting next to our Heavenly Father free of pain and hopefully sporting a beautiful head of hair! Today is the first day I have been able to let go of some of the sadness. While I know she was a believer in the Lord and she has eternal life, I really just wish she would have been able to be hear with us longer. She died at the age of 35 and I met her in her last two years of life. I was VERY fortunate to spend a significant amount of time with her over the last year as we trained together for the NIKE Womens Marathon. We talked a lot about her cancer and her intense life experiences. She had wisdom well beyond her years and I truly NEEDED to know her. She was a living, breathing, walking and talking example of the rare jewel of Christian contentment. Vanity was stripped from her as a result of her chemotherapy and steroid treatments and yet she seemed to glow and express the most amazing beauty I have ever seen in a woman. As I sort through my feelings and grieve I continue to clap my hands with joy in pure amazement that God allowed me the opportunity to know her.