Counting Blessings

September 7, 2011September 30, 2015 Lindsey P. Brackett2 Comments

If you’ve been reading my blog this summer you’ve probably heard me mention the book One Thousand Gifts or seen my posts mentioning Ann Voskamp’s blog A Holy Experience. You might even feel like I’ve talked about this, well, a thousand times.

But it’s never enough.

I’ll be honest with you. I’ve been down. Scared. Frazzled. Overwhelmed but underworked. Guilty. Mean. ML came over the other day and Madelynne greeted her with, “Mommy’s mad.”

That’s not a good way to be. And I can’t even name what I’m mad about. Except that I want more. More time. More money. More house. More life. I’m never content and the further I get from walking where I should, the nastier my soul becomes.

You see, I build up these expectations of how things should be and what will become. To reference a certain 19th century redhead, I build up castles in the sky and then fall into the depths of despair when they come crashing down.

Idealism isn’t wrong, but it can be a sickness. Like perfectionism. I want it all and convince myself I deserve more. And then I become so buried beneath the clutter I’ve consumed that I miss the moments I need.

Source: etsy.com via Teresa on Pinterest

The poplar leaves are turning already. I don’t think I’ve ever noticed them before. Usually it’s later in the fall before I realize the earth’s changed colors and I should find my sweatshirts.

These are the gifts I want to see. I want to give gratitude for. I want to delight in.

542. Splash and Bash for the last of summer at church.

543. Belle giving the dunking booth her best shot.

544. Peeling apples for homemade applesauce.

545. All day they both wonder where their sibs are and have to be content with just each other.

546. She stole her sister’s apple. And then ate it. Core and all.

547. How marvelous when all this…

548. becomes this….

549. So we can enjoy this.
Cream Cheese Apple Bundt Cake
served warm on Saturday night…and Sunday…and Monday…and Tuesday….

Weekend Wrap Up

August 21, 2011September 30, 2015 Lindsey P. Brackett1 Comment

Busy weekend for us Bracketts

with two gals off to school on Friday

and daddy home for an errand run-around

that would make any mom cringe.

But of course celebrated the first day of school

with a little Sonic love.

Dinner at one of our favorite places, Hawg Wild Barbecue, and

a drive home under this sky.

Leftovers and paci

in the fridge.

Yeah, I don’t know either.

A little Saturday laziness

and a summer cold for Madelynne.

Sunday dinner on the stove

and in the crockpot

visits from faraway family

like “uncle” Ben and

more nearby like great-grands.

Happy almost Monday! So the chaos all begins….

http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post · joshua · summer

Over the Ridge

August 17, 2011September 30, 2015 Lindsey P. Brackett4 Comments

The Blue Ridge that is. Last week we took a mini-vacay to Asheville. The best part? Daddy went with us!

All summer the girls and I have been swimming and hiking and biking and camping and beaching and water parking without daddy.

Obviously I’m crazy.

Because it is SO MUCH EASIER to have another set of hands! Especially one that helped make them so I don’t feel any guilt about letting him handle tantrums or bad directions or dirty diapers.

Thank you, Lord, I don’t have to do this motherhood thing alone. And thank you that Joshua has two weeks worth of vacation at his new job, so we got to have this past weekend + two more days AND he’s off for the first day of school on Friday so we can start another baby in kindergarten.

Here’s some of my favorite moments from our trip

(because I know the pictures are all you care about anyway)

For more visual reminders that I have three drama queens and a sweet husband, you can check our our album online. Love that Picasa.

Asheville Trip Aug. 2011

Friends · http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post · summer · thankful Thursday

Thankful Thursday

August 4, 2011September 30, 2015 Lindsey P. Brackett3 Comments

There are so many blog posts bouncing around in my muddled brain right now that I figured I’d stick with something tried and true for my one and only post this week.

I know that makes some of you so sad. Where are the Bracketts? Has mommy finally cracked? No…..we’ve just managed to fill our last three weeks of summer with events that take me far away from my landlocked computer. Oh, how I miss my laptop.

Complaining aside, so many gifts to be thankful for this week. I’m nearing 400 on my list of 1000 gifts but I could have so many more if I stopped in every moment to write them down. Beauty and love and this messy life are all around and it’s not hard to count the grace.

Though sometimes in the midst of my girls not putting on shoes before we tried to leave for the park or Amelia shrieking like a banshee because I strapped her into the grocery buggy or Walmart not having the yogurt I wanted, it does get hard and I forget. So before I leave for the MOPS conference and turn them loose on their daddy (I told the girls I had to go learn to be a better mommy), I wanted to take a minute to count our many blessings.

Like these crazy gals who spent two days in the Pisgah National Forest with Madelynne, Belle, and me. (We decided Amelia wasn’t ready for girls-only-camping.)

This was taken after we did this….so thankful for natural wonders.

We’re heading back up to Asheville in a few days for a family mini-vacation, so Joshua will get to slide down the “big rock into freezing cold water” as described to him by the girls.

I’m also thankful that I chose a long and windy road to travel for this journey, so that when I had to pull over to fix Belle in her carseat so she could sleep better, I got to drink this in….

It’s hard to be mad about having to stop when this is the view.

Have a wonderful Thursday and link up with Julia and share your thankfulness.

http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post · madelynne · summer

Raining Blessings

July 26, 2011September 30, 2015 Lindsey P. Brackett2 Comments

It rained off an on all day yesterday and by evening was the light was pearly gray and the ground was soaked. Love it.

I really do love rainy days, as long as they don’t come one after another and keep us inside for more than the girls can stand. But the rain is soothing somehow, and makes me long for fall and coziness and hot chocolate and fires. Well, the electric fire in our free-standing unit at least.

We did get outside some before the storms began. Madelynne has finally learned to ride her bike by herself no training wheels. Major accomplishment. And I’m so glad the teaching is over because it was frustrating for all of us. But once she got the hang of it–off she went! In big circles all over the church parking lot at Bike Night. Turns out she just needed the right motivation. You’ll have to make the pics bigger to read my captions.

Later this week we’re hoping to finish a project we started last week…

and get lots of blueberries in the freezer to satisfy the blueberry pancake monsters at my house (that would be Amelia and her daddy).

And I think I’ve discovered why I’m low on vinegar, milk, worsterchire (actually I’m out of that), eggs, brown sugar, butter….ingredients used when you cook lots of deliciousness from scratch. I also think I’ve discovered why my shorts sometimes seem a little tight.

I blame Pioneer Woman.

But everything I make from there is so good, how can I stop?