stacie's sacred space

sun + rain = rainbows

today i have a guest blogger.

she brings a lot of sunshine to our home!

her name rhymes with rainy.

 

sunlight and rain makes a rainbow.

some of these pictures i made and my dad and joey made.

 

 

since we couldn't find a real rainbow we used this toy.

 

 

and we colored a rainbow in the shape of a "j".

my mom drew it and i colored it.

 

 

this tunnel is kind of like a cave.

i made it by putting the end at the front of the other ones.

 

 

this is one of the three different ones i made.

 

 

my dad made this, and i know how to make it too.

 

i wanted to take a picture of real rain but we didn't have a rainy day, and i was ready to publish this story.

at school i learned that the rainbow was a sign from God to Noah that He will never flood the earth again.

i love rainbows because they are colorful!

someday i want to have my own blog and write more stories.

for now, i'll help my mom with hers.

thank you for reading my story. love, janie

inspired by starbucks again!

sharing stories ... definitely gifts i appreciate especially on my quest to wholehearted living.

i've also been thinking a lot about why i blog and put pen to paper here in my sacred space.

here's what i came up with (in no particular order):

1. to share my stories with my kids and grandkids and those who come way after me so they know what the "olden days" were like.
2. to learn more about myself and grow from knowing myself better.
3. to preserve this time in my life.
4. because it's an outlet for me. i like to reflect and write and see my day in pictures and smile even when i'm stressed to the max real time!
5. to see patterns in my life.
6. to appreciate what i have and better remember things like "the top ten in twenty ten" (coming soon).
7. because i wish i knew more about my parents' life when they were my age and how they did it with four young kids and jobs and busy lives and catholic school and all that stuff! and maybe, just maybe i'll have some of this for my kids when they are in their thirties.
8. to connect with people (my dear readers!) and the universe because i know so very well that when i give my goals to the universe, the universe almost always meets me halfway to achieve them and live my dreams!
9. because i want the story of my life in words and pictures.

 

this little exercise helps me keep going. i spend quite a bit of time here. i like efficiency too. good to see the time spent here is well worth it!

my bookends on jeffrey's BIRTHday

so here it is ... the other video i've really wanted to get out here! sweet joey was delighted to be "big" enough to be at the hospital when jeffrey arrive! check them out!!

videos ... yippee!

jeffrey's birthday

oh my goodness, i just noticed a new button on my blog editing toolbar ... i've been trying to figure out how to add videos and now i think i know. it just popped up out of nowhere! let's see how this goes. so rewind to three months ago. it was a gorgeous summer day (the sixth of july) when dave and i went to the hospital to meet baby #4 (and for me to get to breathe again :)). joey hitched a ride with maam (my mom) and janie and johnny had big jobs at home to tell the neighbors what mommy had once they heard the news. these are a couple of my favorite videos from that day!

(SIGH) ... all right, i can't figure it out! bummer. maybe another day. if you know anyone who knows how to do this, please, please, please let me know. i have .mov and .m4v files.

goodnight.

i didn't expect all of this

wow ... over the past week, i've received so much encouragement. tonight i just cried.  i feel loved and appreciated and special and grateful.  

just a short week ago, i was really stressed. there's a lot going on in my little life. something shifted though.  maybe some of the shift is my confidence to spread the word that you can peek into my space in the world if you want.  i do not know much blogging etiquette, i just know there are lots of wonderful friends and family members who love my 4 little js, dave and me who i don't get to connect with often.  so as i've posted and written and talked to people i run into or email with, i sometimes mention my blog.  i'm telling you the day-to-day life of raising these sweet little souls takes a toll on me, on my expectations of the great marriage i desire, on my ability to feel like a good friend, sister, daughter.  i sometimes feel selfish.  i can't return many phone calls.  i can't offer to help many people outside of this home ... i can't even always help everyone in this home.  it all feels a little strange.  if you would have asked me five short years ago to draw a picture of what my life would be like in 2009, i don't think i'd draw it like it is at all.  and i can't imagine anything else. i'm living a beautiful dream!  

okay, i'll try to get to the point now.  i never expected this blog to give me so much ... i really thought i was just going to be taking more pics, running my fingers wild and giggling as i ran back through how my days go.  it's been so much more.  you all read (more than i ever imagined you'd want to read) what i write, and you let me know i bring light to your life.  this is healing for me.  i love to shine my light within the four walls of this home so that joey, janie, johnny and jeffrey can learn to shine their own special lights and outside my home too.  thanks for your feedback and keeping me healthy, dear loved ones.

my september morning project

as part of my new year, i'm trying something new this month.  self discipline was never that easy for me and has become harder for me with my growing family.  i'd love to eat healthier naturally, pray more, exercise more often, save more money, choose more wisely, get upset with dave and the kids less ... all areas where self discipline comes into play for me.  within the first couple hours of being awake, i'm taking a picture that becomes a subject of my blog entry for the day.  this is forcing me to think about my day and feel my feelings (which again is not often easy for me to do) instead of running on autopilot.  i don't want to live my life sleep walking.  there's a better way!  remember my very first blog entry said, "one day you finally knew what you had to do, and began."  

this is really good for me so far this week.  i hope i'll have the self discipline to keep it up.

today my picture is of the kiddos playing in the family room in their jammies making houses out of couches with their cousin, joshua who's visiting from peru.  paul, alida and joshua ... we're so happy you are here!

even with all this going on all 6 of us were ready for church at 9:42am and we don't have to leave until 10:15am.  dave and i couldn't believe our eyes when we saw the clock at that time.  we didn't quite know what to do with the extra time but it was so nice not to hurry, hurry, hurry and scurry out the door!

enjoying this gorgeous weather at the park

getting out of the house is good for us. it's not easy for me to pack up all the little people and stuff. we are here and I feel better looking at the trees, ducks, pinecones & such; listening to natures music; and of course watching the joy these little souls radiate. life is good!!

i'm back at this post because i was experimenting from the park on my iphone.  i don't know how to get categories or arrange pics nicer.  i said it was a work in progress ... someday i'll think the design is cool.  for now, i'm happy we're doing this.  dave picked up on this entry from the office and called us over his lunch to say, "where are you?  i love the park photos but i don't know where you could be with a playground and duck pond."  so cool to feel connected like this.  i have a hobby ... hooray!

tags

this post is strictly creating my category cloud.  i haven't even sent anyone the link of this blog.  i'm officially staring the journey.  the design is of course important to me.  i'm working on it.  it's going to take time.  this could be a full time job ... in the meantime, i'm fun mommy, loving wife, part of the moms helping moms network, dear friend, sleep deprived human being.  come along with me ... the best is yet to be!

here we go

today my blogging journey begins!  because i started reading a few blogs in the past year i have walked with my eyes open more often.  i see brighter, more vivid colors even on a gray day. i am able to be in the moment a little more.  that's the point of the journey i'm on!  i am excited to give dave the opportunity to peek in on our days, for joey to come home from school and see what we've been up to, to get to know myself better and to have a story for my kiddos to read later.  when they say, "mom, how did you do it when we were pooping our pants? running 4 different directions? crying about bumps, bruises and scabs?"  we'll have evidence right here.  hopefully this will also provide plenty of laughter for us all too. this is dedicated to my home team especially the super stars: dave, joey, janie, johnny and jeffrey.  i love you all so much.

now i've got a lot to learn with the pictures and links and all that good stuff that goes along with this.  it sure will be a process, and i sure do wish i had a sparkly new macbook to do this on.  at least i'm not using a pc (did you hear that dad?).  i'll save up for my macbook and iphoto '09 which i've been wanting for the past 8 months because it's got all the way cool features.  

also i promise not to have this be nagging on my to do list although i can see this outlet will be really good for my sanity and cost less than therapy.  that being said i need to go get some rest tonight.  i'll be back soon :)

p.s. angi, thanks so much for the inspiration!