Monday, May 23, 2011

My Trip Abroad

Hello Porch Pals!

I was both motivated and uplifted by Nina's morning meeting with us. She talked to my soul. Enough that coming home to the dog impacted, performing two dog baths, racing into town for a birthday gift, forgetting to change my clothes first, and skipping lunch, was manageable. Pretty much.

A snappy suggestion from the youngest to hit Border's Bookstore gained consent.

Yikes! I was starving! A decaf, nonfat, iced latte, and a chair by the window gave me some relief. What happened next, changed my afternoon! I decided to dive into the British Edition of Country Living Magazine. My "higgledy-piggledy" emotions quieted and I became a rover in a rustic new land.

I discovered a book called, Shropshire Teashop Walks, by Judy Smith. I was introduced to a fantastic pig named Rhubarb. Then I visited a fairytale English wedding in West Sussex. I learned how to plan the "perfect bathroom" and caught up with accentuating the colours of an arrangement by displaying it in a planter of similar shades. 

In my reverie I baked Rhubarb and Orange Loaf Cake, and toured the Aston pottery collection of hand-stencilled jugs. I admired the avian artwork of Richard Allen, lovely watercolors! Shopping, dreaming, speaking the local lingo, living vicariously through a proper English mum.

No passport required! Latte, optional.


Warmly, 
Alis

Monday, May 16, 2011

The Ribbon/Caregiver Poetry




Good Morning, Sweet Friends!


The caregiver is an unsung hero who spends their daily caloric intake, (often interrupted, cold, and quick) to nourish another, who is unable to care for themselves. Next, they recycle their energy into enough sustainable force to care for their families and homes. They appear to strangers as derelicts, half asleep, on-the-run, in yesterday's clothes, and talking to themselves. Their immediate family has been on the back burner for so long that they've learned to live there. The caregiver prays for just a day to close themselves off, turn off the phone, and hide. Yet they can't. Even if they had the time, they wouldn't take it. Love, guilt, personal integrity, need, fear, they all push them to continue...

I was a caregiver. I never realized how exhausted I was until my shift was over. Would it sound strange to say that after four years, I'm getting rest?

For some, being a caregiver happens because they live the closest to the one in need. Others become caregivers because they were an only child or because they are a spouse. Still others have become caregivers by profession or calling. Planned, or unplanned, care giving is an enormous responsibility and weight.

Care giving is rewarding. It is gratifying to give all that we have to another. It is a gift of time. It is a gift from the Lord. It is redeeming. It can cancel debt, renew relationships, share secrets and dreams, and teach us who we really are or who we want to become.

Today I'd like to share a website with my readers called, The Ribbon.com.
It is caregiver poetry. My very special aunt shared it with me when I was a caregiver. The piece titled, Letting Go became an anthem of mine, of sorts.

One of my favorite selections is called, To My Children.

If I tell the story one more time,
And you know the ending through and through,
Please remember your first nursery rhyme
When I rehearsed it a hundred times with you.



Caregivers need care. Please join me today in praying for, administering help to, and loving a caregiver. If you are a caregiver, please read The Ribbon. There is a community of other people in your position that can encourage you.


With love,
Alis


P.S.
I love you.

Monday, May 9, 2011

When He Says It First

Welcome, Porch Pals!

Seriously, it was hard to wake up! The alarm sounded and just for a minute I wanted to say, "I don't wanna go. Can I stay in bed today?" I'm just being honest. Last weekend was prom, and the Saturday Meeting, and...

But then I rolled over and our eyes met (through one-eyed squints!) and he said, "Happy Mother's Day!"

How many times have you stopped to consider, reader, what it must be like to be a husband and to put your trust into a wife with your home and children all day long?

As a new mother, while visiting my husband's family, I overheard a conversation between my husband and his mother.
"Does she like being a mother, Son?"
"Yes, and she's good at it. Really good at it."

That exhibit of respect and trust has lasted decades. So, Sunday morning when he said it first, before the greeting cards, the boys, or a meal out, I felt loved, and happy. Happy to be a mother, for him. Raising boys is a back-breaking, tear-inducing, continually amped, super-charged, daytime drama. By God's infinite grace alone, he has allowed me to share four walls with two boys and their father.

Thank you for rolling over and starting the day that way!

Warmly,
Alis

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Repondez, S'il Vous Plait



Salutations, Sweet Friends!

'Tis the season to receive invitations for all sorts of gatherings- graduations, weddings, birthday parties, retirement soirees...
Have you noticed the letters, R.S.V.P.? The French words, Repondez, s'il vous plait, simply put, mean please reply.

Recently I had my hair cut and shared pleasant conversation with the young stylist. I listened as she expressed her plans for the future and tried to encourage her with analogous, "twenty-something" stories of my own.

At the station to my right, crude, curt comments were being made between  three 'tweens. I studied the way they spoke to each other. Earlier, my husband and I had been harshly spoken to by a fresh barista. I thought, "Doesn't anyone know how to speak kindly anymore?" So there in the salon I purposefully created an acrostic :

R-Reply or React with a right heart, or wait.
E-Enter the conversation on your turn. Don't interrupt.
S-Speak as if it doesn't matter who is listening-your boss, spouse, pastor, God
P-Practice eye contact, attentiveness, and courtesy.
O-Open up, don't clam up!
N-Never say, "You never," or, "You always,..."
D-Do not return insult for insult.

Much of the problem of hostility comes from responding to someone without thinking. Most of us would like to rewind several conversations and start over. Perhaps, this acrostic can help us as we seek to respond to one another in love. 

Sisters, in the book of Romans, we are reminded to never avenge ourselves. On the contrary, we are told to overcome evil with good.

How will you reply?

Swinging with you,
Alis