Favorite Day of the Week

This post is part of a series called “35 Days of Favorites”, in honor of my 35th birthday. You can read more about the details here…

I haven’t had a favorite day of the week since I was in high school and living for the weekend. I’m very glad not to be in high school anymore, but I miss the magic of Fridays.

Being a stay-at-home mom makes every day kind of the same, and kind of awesome, except when I am seriously needing a break.

Which is why I now love Sundays, with all my heart.

I am happy to say that I once again have a favorite day of the week.

Weekends, in general, make me pretty happy, because we all love having Ben home. Saturdays are nice, too – there’s pancakes in the morning, and happy music, and there’s some playing, but there’s also a whole lot of housework, and yard work, and getting things done.

But then, there’s Sunday. On Sunday, we rest and play, and nothing else, unless we absolutely have to.

If we do Sundays right, I can enter a new week feeling ready for anything. Around here, “doing Sundays right” means:

1) Napping

2) Spending time as a family

3) Going outside

Yesterday was pretty much a perfect Sunday. After a good nap, we went to the park for an impromptu soccer game with some people from church. Since Kaylia wasn’t really into the soccer game, we picked dandelions for an hour. I figured out how to make dandelion crowns, and suddenly had a line-up of little girls placing orders.

After the dandelions, Kaylia and I lay in the grass and enjoyed the warm sunshine for half an hour. I think Nap #2 might even have sneaked  up for a moment or two.

When the soccer game was over, we felt like going on an adventure, so we drove to the city, picked up some supper, and went to the duck pond. It was the most perfect evening ever. The sun turns that duck pond golden right around suppertime.

And that was our Sunday. I am ready for the week.

Here’s the thing: I know there are many opinions out there on how Sundays should be spent – what “Sabbath” means, and how to go about keeping it holy. There are lots of ideas on what kind of work is okay, and lots of ways to justify the things we want to do, even if other people would not agree with our idea of how to do Sabbath.

Someday, I will read the awesome book about Sabbath which Ben tells me I would love, and someday I will write a post about Sabbath, but for now, I just have to say, from personal experience, that how we do Sunday affects the whole week.

I know what I need to do in order to feel rested and refreshed. I know what happens when I don’t do these things. Sometimes our schedule just does not permit my perfect little list of things.

But because we’ve figured out how to rest well, we can be intentional about making it happen as often as possible, and each week is better for it.

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Do you have a favorite day of the week? What about a favorite way to rest? If you could list the requirements for a perfect day, what would they be?

A Week in the Life: Sunday Photos

Last day. I’m feeling relieved!

But I also feel glad that I did it. I took pictures of many things I might not have thought of, and I know that a few years from now, these pictures will give us a really good taste of what life was like for us right now.

Here’s our Sunday:

Waking up.

Breakfast.

Church.

Lunch.

Playing.

Reading.

Tickling.

Working in the kitchen, making a dish to take to a potluck.

Getting home (after forgetting to take a picture of the potluck!) and working on pictures for the day.

If you’ve been following along this last week, you’ve probably seen a lot more of my family than you’ve ever wished to see! There are a few thoughts that have been in my mind as I’ve gone along with this project:

1) Everybody has their own “normal”.

I post photos of our little life, and our “normal” way of doing things, but it could be completely different from what other people think of as “normal”. I think it’s awesome that we get to choose our own version of “normal”. We do family and home the way we feel best about it, and it’s going to look different for everybody. Thank goodness!

2) Things are not always the way they seem.

My friend said to me the other day, “Your kitchen always looks so sparkling in the morning!”

Two confessions: Sometimes I move a little junk out of the way to make a prettier picture. Sometimes I just leave it.

And…a good camera can blur the mess in the background right out so that no one can notice.

She said, “Oh good, can  you take a picture of me with that fancy camera of yours, and blur out the stuff that isn’t perfect?!”

And I thought of how perfect she is to me, no fancy camera or blurring necessary.

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I love my life, I love my family, I love that I get to spend every day with these sweet girls of ours. It is not perfect. Sometimes the background needs to be blurred a bit.

But all of this, the messy parts, and the shiny parts, the joyful parts and the whiny parts…all of it make up my life right now and I’m so very, very thankful for it!

I hope you’re seeing all of it, in your own life. I hope you see the steam coming off the pancakes, and the sun streaming in the window.

A few years ago, I was walking outside with a friend on an evening when the moon was so full and bright, it was absolutely breathtaking. All I could do was gaze at that moon, not even watching where I was going. Finally I said to my friend, “That is just incredibly beautiful.”

And she said, “What?”

Oh, that I would always have eyes to see the moon, and the little hands leaving little toys in funny places, and the mess that’s made because my family is here in this home with me. My floor is always dirty, and the dishes and the laundry never stay clean for long, but there is so much beauty in our mess.

That is what I’m thankful for this week. That is what I want to remember. That is what I always want to see.

And so, as you start this new week, I wish you many moments of truly seeing all of the little joys before you. May this week in your life be a good one!

Weekend Favorites

We were blessed with a very relaxing version of the stomach flu  this weekend.

Anika was not very sick, but just sick enough on Sunday to keep us home for the day, which turned out to be very nice.

There were snacks on the deck, reading Anne of Green Gables, watching Brady Bunch,  and listening to the thunder, the ice cream truck, and the birds, while the breeze blew.

We are now all rested up and refreshed, ready for the week to come! Hope your weekend left you feeling the same!

Happy 2012!

Did you do anything exciting for New Years Eve?

Our celebrations were extremely exciting. We stayed home and did some snacking, talking, and watching of Heartland.

Perfect.

After the whirlwind of Christmas, and a reunion here at camp with all the summer staff, we were in desperate need of some quiet, relaxing time at home.

This does not result in dramatic photos to share, but it does result in a non-burned-out Kendra.

And now we are ready to face a new year! I love the feeling of a fresh start to the new year. So many possibilities.

I’m planning on spending some time with this list of questions: 20 Questions For Reflecting on 2011

I wanted to do it on New Year’s Eve, but Ben didn’t feel like it. I guess staying up until 2:00am the night before does not prepare one for a contemplative evening with one’s wife. Whatever.

Our girls were very co-operative with the theme of “Quiet and Relaxed”. They spent the weekend playing paper dolls and reading books.

I hope your New Years’ was just what you needed, too!