Been damning my December birthday the last few days.  December in general is not my favorite month.  All I want to do is hibernate. The darkest days of the year!!!  But hey, if I wasn’t born in December then I wouldn’t have shared my Nana’s birthday.

I was born at approximately 11:50 pm on December 9th 1971, the same day my grandmother was born 65 years prior.  Being born on my Nana’s birthday was great for two main reasons: 

1.  I shared my Nana’s birthday.  
2.  There were 48 or so cousins before me who didn’t. 

I was special.  At least, I felt like it gave me a slight edge, something that helped me stand out from the crowd in my very large extended family.

It’s always nice to have that isn’t it?  A way to stand out, to say “Hey I’m different!”

I come by this way of thinking honestly I guess, I grew up with two older brothers, I was the “girl” and the “youngest”.
 
Even now I share my home with my husband and 4 boys where I am again the “girl”.  You’d think it was by design huh?
…..

Birthday present to me:  write out and send Christmas cards.  It’s not really in our budget, but it’s my once a year way to reach out to the people I love but do not see often.

…….

We got 2 feet of snow over the last 3 days. I’ve spent hours shoveling the driveway and paths to the house and the chicken coop.  Today as I was carrying a 50 pound bag of feed on my shoulder from the car to the chicken coop I was feeling strong and awesome and thinking “I’m pretty strong for someone so small, aren’t I great, yada yada yada” when a thought popped in to shatter my pride: “some people my age can’t walk, can’t carry things, no matter how hard they try, does it really make you so great Lisa to be able to carry this load, or are you just lucky/blessed that your body always did and continues to work for you?”

Man, I am thankful, thankful that my body has served me so well these 39 years. It really reminded me that I don’t deserve my life, I’ve just been given it.  The best you can do is play the hand you are given and have the grace to not act like it was you who stacked the deck.

From the other side of 38,

~Lisa

I made a chore chart, or as we ammended it to say after my 7 yr old -K corrected me, a “Job Wheel”.  Poor -R he has only had 2 1/2 short years of the free ride, but it was time, time for them all to hop off this gravy train.  We are three weeks in and I am happy to say the boys really are buying into it!

The way it works is that each child is assigned a job for a week, after the week we turn the wheel and they get the next job.  It’s very similar to what my 2 oldest boys have done in their classrooms at school.  The hardest part was thinking of 4 jobs that: a. would lessen my load, b. they would take ownership of, c. they could all pretty much do to some degree. 

Here’s what I came up with:

1. Sweeping kitchen and dining room daily.
Vaccuming rugs when they are dirty.

2. Bringing firewood to stack on the porch when needed.
Bring firewood into house daily.  This job will have to change in the warmer weather of course

3. Team Captain:  in charge of cleaning up livingroom and playroom before bed (or when needed).
The Team Captain is required to take initiative and get the other brothers to clean with him.

4. Setting dinner table and cleaning up dishes after dinner.

I don’t think I would have actually gotten organized enough to do this if it weren’t for the sheer number of kids.  I need help and they need to pitch in to keep our family running.  It feels so much better though to be folding clothes when someone is sweeping the floor or cleaning up in some other way around me!

I’ve just finished reading “A Simple Path” by Mother Teresa this week.  It is a lot to mull over. 

 The text below was in the book, it is from a sign on the wall of Shishu  Bhavan, the children’s home in Calcutta run by the Missionaries of Charity that was founded by Mother Teresa.  I thought it said a lot about how the Sisters go about their lives and how they find strength to do the work they do.  The poem was written by Kent M. Keith

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self centered;
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God;
It was never between you and them anyway.

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* I’m kind of fascinated by this very different way of looking at life.