Writing about faith can be a little exhausting.    There’s the praying and fretting that you have handled God’s word correctly and then there’s the emails that sometimes require long, involved answers.   Then more praying and worrying that the emails were spoken in love and mercy.   House pictures are so much easier.

And speaking of blue and white dishes which I’ve always adored, I found the mother load at an estate sale this weekend.  Or perhaps it should be called the grandmother load.   But in any case, I’m ready to practice some hospitality.

Enjoy this prayer for the home and perhaps even print it off  as a daily reminder!

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Lord God, our home is among the most precious gifts we receive in this life.

We realize this all the more as we remember our Lord Jesus. He set aside home and family. Having no place to lay His head throughout His ministry, he chose to sojourn among those He came to save. We prayerfully invite Him to dwell in our earthly abode even as He continually invites us by Word and Sacrament to dwell forever in our heavenly home, which He prepares for us.

Make us ever grateful for this shelter from life’s storms.

Keep this house always the home of comfort, joy, peace, and forgiveness.

According to Your will, protect this home from the spiritual assaults of Satan, but likewise make our home a fortress against the calamities of nature and the wickedness of sinful man.

Grant us the virtue of hospitality, the joy of harmonious living, and the blessing of gathering around Your Word and bringing our families’ prayers before You.

May all who dwell in our home be blessed by Your presence and Your peace,

and may all who go forth give thanks for the grace they receive from You, through us, Your dear children

We receive Your loving kindness in our home as a reminder of the eternal home we inherit through Your Son, Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray.
        Amen.

But if there’s one thing I learned in this process, it’s to begin with the end in mind.

Think hard and long about how you want your house to serve you and others.

Where do you want to gather?  How much seating do you need?

Where will you place the lighting?  Will there be a fireplace?  What kind?  Where?

All these things must be decided up front and before you even have a clear vision yourself of how your house will *live*.

Collect plenty of inspiration.  More than you think you need.  Be willing to be flexible.

But cling tightly to the things that you really want—like a tall mantel with sconces and bookshelf built-ins with bookshelf lights.

Look close because I’m a little like the Nester and you may never see this exact arrangement again.

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The yellow thrift store chair cleaned up nicely and I may procrastinate having it recovered.

I kinda like it in its 1970′s goodness.   The terry cloth could come in handy if you came in wet from the lake?!  Right next to the Horchow ikat benches too.

It’s perfectly outrageous

Today’s tip for rebuilding:

Talk your sweetie pie into building you a fire on the back porch BEFORE you move in.   To make sure the evening goes smoothly, have the DirectTv guy there to hook up the tv the same day so that your children can watch Brady Bunch in the warm house.  As we sat by the fire listening to white caps crashing on the shore,  we reminisced about the last 9 months.  We can hardly believe that we are a week away from moving back home.   He even listened to my dreams about decorating the house and then he said, and I quote,  ”Toilets and sinks are all the decorations we need.  Let’s move in this place.”   He’s easy to please.

So, who else is on the ’31 DAYS’ bandwagon? Pick something and join us!

38.  ten-seven-eleven–that’s two weeks ya know?!!!!!!!!

As the cold weather sets in, the dogs are in the house more and more.   Hank is our 2 year old English Golden Retriever.  And he is unequivocally the stinkiest dog in all the free world.   Even if he’s just been to the *spa*,  two hours later—-stinky.

I’ve resorted to dousing him with my perfume.

Emme was playing with him the other day and when she was done, she  asked if she could go take a shower.

Why is he so stinky?

I do not know.   But he is.   The stinkiest dog I know.

Emily posted on Facebook about her stinky dog a couple weeks ago and I had to chime in—because I win stinky dog,  hands down.

Any challengers?

P. S.   Thanks for grinding through the sign in yesterday.   Y’all are awesome.

And don’t forget to have your cookie recipes ready by Friday!

P.S.S.       The winner of the giveaway is

#78  L Aland!

Email me with your address and your favorite camera strap and we’ll get it to you!   Merry Christmas!

Toot-a-loo,

xo,

edie

Our  family could use your prayers today.

Which bring me to my last point:
if you’re participating in the 12 days tutorials and I haven’t talked to you in a week or two, do you mind to shoot me an email to assure me your tutorial is-a-comin’.
pretty please and thank you  :)

and the winner of the dishmat is Deb from NotInadequate !!!!  Yay for you Deb! And you can email me too with your address and I’ll make good on my promise.

Have a grace day!

1.  By day,  I’ve been teaching my girls and then traipsing to dance classes and then over to the old house to get it ready to sell.  I love that house.   I will always love that house.   It’s like visiting an old friend—who’s wearing a  really cool turquoise dress.   By night, the kids have enjoyed some adventure swimming.

2.  My new kitchen installation has been delayed a bit but is set to go in on June 1st.

3.   Taylor’s home from college and is enjoying lake life with his friends.   Caiti wrote me the most endearing card for Mother’s Day–that I keep by my night stand and read over and over.

4.   I’m slowly but surely adjusting to my new life.   There are so many things to love.  Soon I hope to do some fun projects around this place.  For now, it’s seems mammoth enough to grocery shop and make dinner and do laundry (and school and sell a house and design a kitchen, etc etc etc)

5.   The girls and I are in the middle of book 6 of the Harry Potter series.   I’ve said it before but I am deeply indebted to Jo Rowling.

6.   I’ve been listening to lots of CD’s from the homeschool conference and oh my word—–such good stuff.    I’ve learned so much about my kinesthetic learner from Stephen Guffanti.  I’m ordering his book soon,  ”Does my Child Really Have ADHD.”

7.  I’m tempted to attend the CCLE conference in June.   Gene Veith will be there and the topics look fantastic.  I could so be a conference junkie.

8.  I’m reading A Little Book on Joy by Matt Harrison.    What  a fantastic read—very joy inducing!

9.  I’ve been listening to an amazing 2 hour bible study on Leviticus (from the Issues Etc 24) and it may be one of the best bible studies I’ve ever listened to.   Who knew that Leviticus was so chocked full of goodies.

10.  As our school year winds down,  I’m debating our summer plans.   How much time should we take off if any?   I like the idea of summer vacation but shouldn’t it be a couple of weeks long instead of a couple of months?    Don’t we now live in constant summer vacation at this lake house?  What camps should we sign up for?   What books should we read?   Can we master the math facts and have fun doing it?  After listening to Andrew Pudewa‘s talk on mastery learning, I realize that we’re conditioned to learn things and then forget them.   I spent 20 years in school doing that and I hope I can create a different paradigm for my kids.

11.  I apologize to those of you who have emailed me that I haven’t answered yet.  I’m not on my A game but I’m trying catch up.   Some of you are trying to decide about homeschooling for next year and you’re torn about what to do.   Here’s my 2 cents.   I’ve never done anything in my life (including medical school)  that has so changed me and challenged me as homeschooling.   I am profoundly thankful for the opportunity to do it and I am learning everyday, often by my mistakes.   To do it right, you must lead by example and my example setting is so incredibly flawed.   I am more in tune with my children than ever, which can sometimes be disturbing.  Why?  Because when you see them clearly day in and day out, you see your own struggles and sin manifested in them.   It’s like looking in the mirror and seeing yourself for what you really are.   But just like with our spiritual life, the redemption is sweet.   We fail miserably and we forgive and start over the next day.   It’s all at once beautiful and tragic and profound.  I say, if you’re pondering and thinking and researching about it, just do it.  You won’t regret it.

12.  Lastly, I’ve been pondering boy names.  I don’t know why.    No, I’m not pregnant.  Let me repeat, as much as Steve and I would like more kids, it’s probably not possible and I’m NOT PREGNANT.   However, if I were, I think I’d name him James Elijah Wadsworth.   James: after my daddy.    Elijah:  after Elijah the prophet   Wadsworth:  after his daddy.    And his nickname would be Jack after C.S. Lewis (whose nickname was Jack).   His initials would be JEW and Christ was a Jew, ya know.

So there.   That’s my numbered list.

And if anyone has seen  my mojo, I’d really like to get  it back please.   This barely surviving business is for the birds.

Love ya and thanks for all  your well wishes and  your   ‘for goodness sakes would you blog something’ remarks!

In other health related news, I started a new high protein (NO CARBS, NO SUGAR, NO DIET SODA) diet 2 weeks ago.  I was feeling awful all the time.   Can anyone say “too many major life changes in one year?”   I don’t metabolize sugar correctly and if I start on carbs early in the day, I’m on a bouncy ball all day with cravings and emotions and the like.   I was VERY skeptical.  I have the willpower of  Winnie the Poo.   But for some reason, this has worked for me.  It’s called the Ideal Protein Diet and you can only get it through a physician.  You only stay on the very strict portion (phase 1) for a few weeks.  I’ve lost almost 7 pounds and 5 inches and really feel better.  I didn’t go to the doctor seeking a diet.  I went because I felt run down and stressed and tired all the time.  It’s not a miracle diet but it works for me because I’m a carb-addict.    Funny thing is, when I was in medical practice, I specialized in helping people make lifestyle changes;   losing weight, smoking cessation, stress reduction and all sorts of behavior modification.   And now I’m  in need of a little lifestyle tweaking myself.   There’s no shame in that.   We all need help sometimes.    It’s okay to be vulnerable.

People often ask me why I never talk about health on this blog.  I was trained very traditionally in an MD program but found myself much more intrigued by alternative approaches to wellness and prevention.   I firmly believe that what we put in our bodies is most often responsible for our health outcome.   If I ever go back into medicine, I’ll likely retrain to do alternative medicine.    So, I don’t talk about traditional medicine because there’s only s portion of it I believe in.   And I don’t talk about alternative medicine because I haven’t properly educated myself in it and so much of it is so darn new age.    I guess I’m in a holding pattern so until I get it all figured out, I’ll continue to talk about my children, my faith, my favorite books, and my butter-laden recipes.

Now, head on over to Melissa’s where there will be no mention of protein or mammograms or butter.

For starters, I’ve been a little preoccupied with life.   I had a wonderful visit with Taylor and Caiti.   We found Caiti a gorgeous prom dress and despite my desperate pleas, Taylor did not let me cut his hair.   The girls and I went to see Alice in Wonderland, which I thoroughly enjoyed.  And if you missed it, Nester has a hilarious post about slipcovers which you should read.  I was supposed to go to her house and help with the slipcover-fest and couldn’t make it so she photoshopped me in at various places.   And then complained that I was absolutely no help whatsoever.    I missed seeing Kristi and missed meeting Tiny Twig.   I did however, upon inspiration from my friends,  begin a little slipcover party of my own.  I’m about 3/4 of the way done and I love it so far.  It’s such a great solution for thrift stores chairs that need rescuing.

I also have a great story to share with you soon.   I’ve given sneak peeks on Twitter.   Hope you have a great Sunday!