Sunday, September 11, 2011

Afternoon




"Little one, come here." I motion to Lucy, fresh as dew, up from her nap. She thumpity-thumps over golden hardwoods, plops in my lap. "You are such a pleasure," I whisper in her ear.

We rock, shoulder to shoulder. Her small voice mimes each swell, "Pleas-ure, pleas-ure..." She calls in the afternoon.






Later I blow a kiss to Jane. She catches it, her smile curving, and blows back a handful. The cogs of the day turn in tandem. Children and studies interweave; chore and play entwine.

"You children are such a pleasure," I call to them, each immeshed in the trailings of afternoon.

Jane smiles from the hearth, catches my eye, "Uh huh," she nods. "I bet."

And the day revolves on, one moment built on the next.








Gratitude:

1305. How Lucy loads a sack full of hand-towels to pack for a day of swimming.

1306. Friends who make a whole afternoon of burgers and their pool. And how with all the salads and peach pie we settle in to friendships gone back for years.

1307. Jane's growing understanding, "Jesus, thank-you for dying on the cross and making a bridge so we can come to you. Amen."

1308. Her logic, "Jesus, help Momma to get pregnant more often, so we can have a better family."






1309. How Jack furrows his brow and wrinkles his forehead on how to start a gratitude journal and then decides, "I'm really just actually thankful that you are my mom."

1310. How Lucy holds her baby while she does school work.

1311. Jane's assessment of the chickens, "At night I try to be gentle to unwind them, like ok, it's time to go to bed." She pauses, tilts her head. "They're basically just like kids," she adds.

1312. How Jack trots in from the hen house, "That one isn't mine," he reports, "'cause I checked before I gave it a HUG."

1313. Lulie's prayer, "And when Dad is gone help us to be grateful and not yell for him to come back."

1314. How Jane cries for half-an-hour when all plans to visit my mom and sis-in-laws fall through. And how she's not sour and petulant, just sad, completely sad.

1315. Thick autumn heat and how Jane and I linger on the swings out back. And how she tells me, as far as she's concerned, with babies, the more the better.






1316. More than two gallons of boiled apples Lynn brings up from the orchard and the pints and pints of apple butter, cinnamon everywhere, not a drop wasted.

1317. A whole bag of fresh corn on the cob, ears of all sizes.

1318. How it pops fresh off the cob.

1319. Fresh green beans snapped and ready to simmer.

1320. A bag of pink plums all rolling and bumbling sweet.

1321. Great-Grammie's shining face when Jane recites the first two stanzas of The Tiger by William Blake.

1322. Apple butter on buttery toast, orange overtones clear as bells.

1323. Scrambled eggs with mustard and parmesan.

1324. How Jane and I wrestle out big math ideas. "This is a hard thing to understand," I finally add. And she nods, "Uh-huh. I know 'cause I'm doing it."

1325. Reading a recent pregnancy magazine and concluding I just see the world totally different than they do.

1326. How Lucy says fweet instead of sweet.

1327. All the men and women who gave their lives to rescue people from the twin towers a decade now ago.

1328. Our whole family stilled in Sunday naps.






1329. A 23 quart pressure cooker Craig surprises me with and a recipe book of 400 recipes.

1330. How he makes me laugh until I can't even breath, breathless on all the mirth.

1331. How he prays, out loud , arm around me, when things get hard. And how a cloud always lifts as thick and invisible as my anger.

1332. The profound feeling of being protected.

1333. Making dinner with Craig's mom. How it's like standing on a grown-up's feet learning to dance.

1334. How we all rise early and volunteer as a family this morning, all six of us in the two-year-olds.

1335. How even Lucy, barely three, rises to the occasion.

1336. Golden plums, a whole bucketful. How Craig and Jane and Jack ride four-wheeler up the mountain to pick them in the old orchard. The red plums Lynn adds on top.

1337. How Rosie brushes her hair with Jane's big purple comb and fires Jack's pop-gun.

1338. Buckets and buckets of tomatoes hauled in from our garden.

1339. New Baby all of one inch, heart still beating. And how my tiny baby moves there on the ultrasound monitor. A miracle.

1340. How Craig and I visit over bowls towered with watermelon cubes, backs leaned against kitchen cupboards.

1341. How even the long parts of the day feel easy in those moments.







holy     experience

10 comments:

  1. Sabbath rest. family naps. yes. beautiful gifts! blessings to you, from Uganda

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  2. Precious children and precious words spoken by them. Beautiful pictures. Blessings to you and yours.

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  3. Hi sweet Bethany! :)

    I almost never read folks' gratitude lists...I leave that for Our Father to take delight over...and yet, yours--it's just so incredibly beautiful. Such a heart of specificity, and I'm drawn to using more words, more descriptions for my heart overwhelming with joy. You totally blessed me today--for so many reasons, not the least of which was your comment on my own very blog {I think it was you, at least}...

    Rich blessings...on all things...

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  4. What a wonderful, wonderful list! I especially love:

    1307. Jane's growing understanding, "Jesus, thank-you for dying on the cross and making a bridge so we can come to you. Amen.

    How precious is that!

    Visiting from Multitudes on Mondays...

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  5. hi!
    im here from Ann's...beautiful, Bethany. inspiring...i loved 1331 because i am there daily it seems, and the part where you call out to them that they are a pleasure...convicting to the core. precious. thank you.

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  6. You understanding family, deliberately leaning into the rough bark of life, sanding away the husk to the white wood and following concentric circles to the heartwood. Love YOU!

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  7. You're. That first word should have been YOU'RE hahaha

    Where is that proof reader??

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  8. About number 1315: That's what I think too, sweet Jane!

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  9. Congratulations in order? Number five on ultrasound! Joy joy joy!

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