Thankful Thursday

June 24, 2011September 30, 2015 Lindsey P. BrackettLeave a comment

Thanks be to Julia who is a never-failing reminder to be thankful and to rejoice in the small things that make our lives big and wonderful. This week I’m offering some visuals of my thankfulness. I’m trying to document some of my 1000 Gifts since sometimes I forget to write them down and sometimes a picture really does show a thousand blessings in a moment.

I’ve decided that a salad doesn’t always have to chopped and vegetables don’t always have to be cooked. Thanks be to summer farmer’s markets.

So thankful for this sweet belly.

So thankful for this sweet friend.

Who needs spray grounds when there’s a playground?

Our blooming stargazers that cause the girls to shriek from the porch, “Mommy, come now!” making me think someone is on fire. No, they’re just amazed that when we went to camp, there were no flowers. We came home to this.

Organic soil bag garden. We’re trying something small. So far it’s still alive. Yay, me. Yay, rainstorms when I forget to water.

Everyone should have “wildflowers” picked from a parking lot in a mason jar on their table.

My latest read. I love Francine Rivers. If you haven’t read anything by her, pick up something immediately. This one has been great for me as a mother and a daughter and someone who appreciates “Christian” writing that’s not preachy.

Link up your thankfulness this week. Sometimes it’s a search for me to find the beauty, the joy, the small blessings in a day filled with tantrums and anger and frustration (more on raising over emotional girls later)

….but when it’s over I’m always glad I did.

(trying) to avoid the Manic

June 14, 2011September 30, 2015 Lindsey P. Brackett2 Comments

I hate when I get so behind that everything feels like a chore. Blogging is supposed to be my release, my spread wings, my therapy. I don’t like for it to be something I feel like I have to do. Like the laundry. Or the dishes. Or brushing Amelia’s teeth, which FYI, we forgot to do again.

Oh, well.

My sisters are begging for an update on all random things Brackett since for the past week I hosted my 8-weeks-older than Annabelle niece, Hailey….

Here she is. Princess of the Stephens family. Also known as Lava Girl.

and my 15-year-old-I’m-glad-I’m-not-her-mother sister, Audrey.

Here’s Audrey enjoying some fine literature provided by her nieces.

It was VBS week and they always come. It’s tradition, Audrey says. Like macaroni and cheese at Easter.

We had a fun, extremely busy, week. And I found out that I’m glad I only have three kids. Five is too many for this manic mama. If someone wasn’t crying, they were fighting because three girls never works. And someone always needed a popsicle, or a dry set of clothes, or a nap. And they turned their noses up at my Pioneer Woman chicken spaghetti. Seriously, what’s wrong with these kids?

To be fair, I should insert here that it was Annabelle who cried the most because she did not want “green things” in her spaghetti. Spaghetti is red. Lesson learned. Next time, I’ll call it Mexican pasta. After all, what’s in a name?

Here’s a little look at our fun times this past week and an answer to your question of where I’ve been. I know you’ve all been wondering.

Millie Moo napping on the deck of our friends’ pool.

Popsicles in the pool.

Aunt Audrey giving Amelia her first water slide ride.

Tacky Tourist day at VBS. Which I was informed meant they could wear whatever they wanted.

My living room on Tuesday afternoon.

The office on Tuesday afternoon before some major work. It looks about 10% better now.

Playing in the sand at the state park beach.

Exhausted by Friday afternoon.

Playing with Moto at Uncle Corey’s campsite on Saturday.

Sliding Rock. Belle’s only trip down into the 50 degree water.

Daddy and Madelynne trying it out.

“I’m n-n-n-not c-c-c-cold!”

Letting Amelia play. Crazy kid loved it.

You know what? I do feel better now. Even chores can be therapeutic….

finding the glory in the mundane…on my way to 1000 gifts
#114 ooey gooey olive cheesebread
#115 Audrey playing Bananagrams
#127 5:45 a.m.
#133 children around my neck
#135 finding the lost box of summer clothes
#136 Annabelle cleaning her plate
#144 quiet hum of convenience

faith · http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post · reflections

The Manna

June 8, 2011 Lindsey P. Brackett2 Comments

I’ve long had trust issues. I think actually it’s that I have self-confidence issues that manifest as being unable to believe that I am worthy of anything.

Friendships.

Blessings.

Love.

I’ve talked a lot recently about living on faith, about believing that the Lord will provide for our family, about trusting His Hand in this little world of big change. But do I believe it? When it counts do I really?

I cried the other night after Joshua made an innocent comment that I blew out of proportion and it all related back to me feeling like I wasn’t doing enough to keep our budget sound. Our checkbook red. Our kids fed.

I had no trust, not really. I don’t think I truly believed He would come through when we needed it. Even though He always has. Even though He always will. I went ahead and prepared myself for the worst thinking, “Well, at least we know. At least we’ll be ready.” But can one ever truly be ready for the unknown?

And today when Joshua called to say he’d had an offer, that it was what he’d prayed and hoped and waited for, I realized how little faith I’d had. Here I was prepared for the worst, never trusting for the best. And that’s not faith. That’s cowardice. That’s untrust. That’s unfaithful.

That’s the opposite of the person I want to be, am striving to become, am praying to be revealed.

Trust. So hard to eat the manna everyday and believe in its worth. But always, always it is.

1000 gifts��perfectly imperfect��reflections · http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post · project 52

Project 52.May

May 16, 2011September 30, 2015 Lindsey P. Brackett1 Comment

We spent another busy weekend reminiscing at Annabelle’s preschool graduation held Friday night and then we trucking it over to Augusta to help celebrate “Jackson Cousin” and his 4th birthday on Saturday.

Exhausted again. But in a good way.

Friday evening was very special for our family and others who have been taken care of by Little Dreamer’s Academy for a long time. We missed Madelynne’s graduation last year because my sister was graduating high school the same night, so Belle’s was our first and our last for a few years. LDA has been a second home for my girls while I have worked full-time for the past six years and it was both joyful and sad to see them graduating from this place of security and love into the whole new world of big school. I broke when a video of the children sharing what they would miss most about pre-k featured this sweetheart saying, “Annabelle.”

Sob. And Madelynne put her arms around me and said, “It’s okay, Mommy, it’s okay.”

We perked up early on Saturday morning and once fueled by the chicken breakfast burritos from Chic-Fil-A (so yum, oh CFA, when are you coming to my hometown?), headed south to one of my sister’s bigger-is-better birthday parties for my nephew who apparently has an obsession with Sharkboy, which I evidently am depriving my kids of since we haven’t NetFlixed it yet. Wow, run-on sentence.

It was great fun and even more fun to try to capture some of it creatively through the lens. I’m pretty pleased with some of the shots I got. If you’re interested in all the fun, check it out via my Picasa album. And viewing it will make #65 make sense.

One Thousand Gifts…
65. quiet house after a chaotic day

https://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf

http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post · perfectly imperfect · reflections

Imperfectly Perfect for Wednesday

May 12, 2011September 30, 2015 Lindsey P. Brackett3 Comments

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve let you picture me imperfectly. Not that there haven’t been lots of opportune moments for it in the past few weeks.


I don’t know. Maybe it’s a talisman to ward off Daddy’s truck running over their bicycles?

But today I’m linking up in celebration of many imperfectly perfect motherhood moments. Like this discovery when I undressed Amelia for her bath tonight.


Her daddy maintains that she lost the other purple sock on the way to church this evening and the truck ate it. Since we’ve lost pacifiers that way, I don’t doubt his word.

On Mother’s Day, Ann Voscamp wrote about the mismatches and messes of motherhood and how we are all, thank God, covered in grace.

“I haven’t got anything together and I can stop looking for some hidden door that’s going to someday open up to my real, perfect life and I can stop waiting and I can start laughing praise, because this wondrous mess, this is it.”

There is great joy in surrendering to the mess and the imperfections and the mismatched socks and the realization that if I had it all together, why would I ever need a Savior?

Yet He tells us we are fearfully and wonderfully made, these messes of glorious humanity. And everyday I have to search for the perfection in the imperfect….and be so thankful for what I find.