Saturday, October 5, 2013

31 Days of Seeking Joy in the EveryDay: Karaoke

The very idea of Karaoke sends me simultaneously into two parts of my soul, 
like boxers sent to their respective corners of the boxing ring.  
I’ve always been able to see that Karaoke must be a lot of fun for those who dare.  
And at the same time, the very idea of it makes me cringe. 

I mean, come on … 
we've all seen those embarrassing videos.

My perfectionism has always kept me from even considering a karaoke gig behind the microphone.  
But the thing is, the lead boots of perfectionism keep me from experiencing an awful lot of life.

Karaoke is certainly not about perfectionism.  
It’s about grabbing the mic, doing the best you can do, and just having fun. 

My first experience with karaoke taught me a valuable lesson:
As with so many other things I've never tried but felt free to judge, 
it’s a lot harder than you think.   
The people up there on the stage are doing the best they can, 
and as with so much of life, who said it has to be perfect?  

A lot of what makes life memorable is stepping out of your comfort zone … 
and low and behold, sometimes there’s joy out there … even if it isn't perfect.

Karaoke, anyone?



“You have to remember, one life, one death–this one! 
To enter fully the day, the hour, the moment whether it appears as life or death, 
whether we catch it on the inbreath or outbreath, 
requires only a moment, this moment. 
And along with it all the mindfulness we can muster, 
and each stage of our ongoing birth, and the confident joy of our inherent luminosity.” 
― Stephen Levine, A Year to Live: How to Live This Year as If It Were Your Last





Friday, October 4, 2013

31 Days of Seeking Joy in the EveryDay: Teaching

We've homeschooled more than 10 years and I still adore it.  
We all love Fridays during the fall and spring semesters 
because Friday is homeschool co-op day. 

I'm co-teaching a writing class for 3rd - 5th graders 
based on the Institute for Excellence in Writing program.  
What I love about this program is that it's adaptable to both reluctant and more sophisticated writers.
We have a class full of bright, enthusiastic kids - a pure pleasure to teach!

I'm also teaching a class for high school students that's all about playing a game called Cashflow.  
Cashflow was developed as a teaching tool by Robert Kiyosaki (the Rich Dad, Poor Dad author).  
My sister introduced the game to our family, and it was her idea to teach it as a co-op class, 
which was a brilliant idea!  Cashflow is somewhat similar to Monopoly, 
but more like real life, and it's an excellent teaching tool.  
It takes a bit for things to start making sense when the game is new to you, 
but this was the week when it all started to click for my class, and that's an incredibly exhilarating feeling.

Even better, not only are my new students getting it,  
the veteran kids who've taken the class before are teaching their peers what they know!  


It's unbelievably gratifying ... teaching is the most joy inducing thing ever!

“There are random moments - tossing a salad, coming up the driveway to the house, ironing the seams flat on a quilt square, standing at the kitchen window and looking out at the delphiniums, hearing a burst of laughter from one of my children's rooms - when I feel a wavelike rush of joy. This is my true religion: arbitrary moments of nearly painful happiness for a life I feel privileged to lead.” 
― 
Elizabeth Berg, The Art of Mending


Thursday, October 3, 2013

31 Days of Seeking Joy in the EveryDay: Spontaneity!

I wake up and plan to find joy in my day.
I expect to be surprised by it.
I'm watching for it.
Waiting.

But when my husband kisses me on the the way out the door and says, 
"hey, want to meet me for dinner tonight?" 
my answer is, "ummmm, let me see if I can make that work."  

?

Joy says the answer is yes.  
Of course!

And what's the reward for a little spontaneity?
A restaurant that's usually packed out, but quiet tonight.
A fabulous dinner out on a Thursday night.
A wonderful evening.


What about you?  Did any spontaneous joys take you by surprise today? 

“I want a life that sizzles and pops and makes me laugh out loud. 
And I don't want to get to the end, or to tomorrow, even, and realize 
that my life is a collection of meetings and pop cans and errands and 
receipts and dirty dishes. I want to eat cold tangerines and sing out loud 
in the car with the windows open and wear pink shoes and stay up all 
night laughing and paint my walls the exact color of the sky right now. 
I want to sleep hard on clean white sheets and throw parties and eat ripe
 tomatoes and read books so good they make me jump up and down, 
and I want my everyday to make God belly laugh, glad that He gave life 
to someone who loves the gift.” 
― Shauna Niequist, Cold Tangerines: Celebrating the Extraordinary Nature of Everyday Life





Wednesday, October 2, 2013

31 Days of Seeking Joy in the EveryDay: Sickness & Health

When I was looking for thoughts on joy, 
I kept running across quotes that said sorrow and joy go hand in hand -
that the contrast between the two makes joy all the deeper.  

I've never been able to swallow that one.  
Sorrow?  
No thank you.  I'll just take my joy straight.


Last week we passed around a cold at our house.  
Days one through four were miserable. 
But then came day five.
Not quite well, but so. much. better.
I knew it the minute I woke up 
because of the light, happy, hopeful feeling in my heart 
that wasn't there the day before when my heart was a hollowed out, miserable wasteland.

Ah.  
The contrast.

There's not a whole lot of joy in having a cold. 
Until you remember how great you're going to feel on Day Five.  

There's joy in that!


“If we never experience the chill of a dark winter, it is very unlikely that we will ever 
cherish the warmth of a bright summer’s day. Nothing stimulates our appetite 
for the simple joys of life more than the starvation caused by sadness or desperation. 
In order to complete our amazing life journey successfully, it is vital that we turn 
each and every dark tear into a pearl of wisdom, and find the blessing in every curse.” 
― Anthon St. Maarten, Divine Living: The Essential Guide To Your True Destiny




Tuesday, October 1, 2013

31 Days of Seeking Joy in the EveryDay: Day 1


JOY:  noun:  the emotion of great delight or happiness caused 
by something exceptionally good or satisfying; keen pleasure; elation.


I don’t remember last Tuesday.
There’s nothing on my calendar.  It was probably a pretty normal day. 
An everyday kind of day. 

Which, by the way, are my favorite ones.

The lovely thing about everyday days is that they’re so … normal.  
One runs into the next and the next and before long, there’s a blur and it’s October again.  

Not, of course, that there aren’t memorable events along the way.  Graduations, anniversaries, weddings, vigils, funerals, vacations, birthdays, new school years, new chapters.   But the whirlwind of life can cast a blur on the days, and before long … 
it’s October again. 

I’m convinced there’s a great deal of unharvested joy in there, in those everyday days and those whirlwind seasons.  I don’t mean top of the mountain kind of joys.  I mean the quiet, deep, blissful, common joys that are so common I blow right by them.   
Sometimes I’m moving too fast to grasp them.  
Sometimes I’m walking too fixedly in the same steps as yesterday to see them.

I want to treasure every joy this life offers.  I don’t want to miss even one. 
So, every day for the month of October, I’m joining TheNester 
and hundreds of other bloggers who’ve chosen their own topics for 
the 31Day Challenge. 

It’s time to revisit the Happy Hour Principle.  
I’m going to look for, seek, expect, and savor every day joys.   
Come back and count your everyday joys along with me,  
and we can multiply them :o)

 “The essence of life is not in the great victories and grand failures, but in the simple joys.” 
― Jonathan Lockwood Huie





Day 3: Spontaneity!
Day 4:  Teaching
Day 5:  Karaoke
Day 11:  Chalk it Up!
Day 12:  Googly Eyes
Day 15:  Being Miss Daisy
Day 17:  Grace Rehearsal
Day 23:  Glow
Day 31:  Resolved to Joy

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Family Surfing Night #9

It's Family Surfing Night!



click }here{ if you're not familiar with this kind of Quality Family Time.  
Because if you're not familiar ... 


That's right ... Quality.  
With a capital "Q".

This week we start off with a music video entry from Ben.
It's ... strange.  
It's so strange you can't look away.
And by the time you realize you can't look away, you also realize the song is quite catchy.


During this video, we had a surprise guest appearance by our friend Emily via pop up chat.
Hi Emily!

:o)


We're on a musical roll tonight.  
From Aaron:  very cool animation and a good tune by Gotye.
On a side note, do you know how to say "Gotye"?
It's pronounced GOtee-yay.
Doesn't that feel so much more hip than saying GOT-ye? or GO-tye? 
GOtee-yay.
It's how all the cool people say it.
See?  
Another benefit of Family Surfing Night.
Social Awareness! 


From Abbie:   Unequal pay between monkeys.  
It's a real problem.  
You'll see.   


From LtDan:  LtDan is a wizard when it comes to making fried rice.  
He can make delicious fried rice out of anything. 
We can all appreciate the skill demonstrated by the Master of Fried Rice in this video.
But at our house, we could call no one but LtDan the Master of Fried Rice.  
We've had too many fabulous Fried Rice dinners to say anything else. 
An impressive video, nonetheless.


And from Me:  a fond remembrance of Saturday Night Live circa 1984.  
Sadly, it's not the entire video, because the entire video is nowhere to be found on the internet.  
Nowhere.
This makes me very sad.
Anyway, only LtDan and I knew how truly funny this entry was.


Nathan, for some goofy reason, had no video to share.  
I think it may be because he has seen every funny thing on the internet and cannot choose. 
He is aware this is unacceptable. 

And tonight's Family Surfing Night winner is:

Ben's strange-can't-look-away entry by Steam Powered Giraffe!
You know you want to see it again!


Congrats to Ben, your name goes on the trophy!


Thursday, July 4, 2013

Summer ... 13th Birthdays ... Independence Day!

I tried to convince myself that I could just hang with the spring decor 
until autumn, but I just couldn't do it.  

I put spring back into the boxes.



And out comes the best of summer!




We mark a big milestone this July ...
our baby turns 13 ...
and all our kids are teenagers ...

YOWZA.

Our little guy ...


the one we called The Boppy, because he was always happy ...


the one who gave the best hugs and snuggles ever ...


Is now a teenager.










Happy Birthday, Aaron!



We celebrated July 4th early in conjunction with Aaron's birthday ...
LtDan put the barbeque porch to good use and grilled some fantastic ribs.



And we had our own fireworks show.
LtDan love loves loves his pyrotechnics.
I do, too.  I had no camera when the grand finale went off ...
but standing in the front yard looking up was like being inside the fireworks ...

it was awesome!




(thanks to my sister in law Paula for the spectacular sparkler pics!)

The teenagers watched the fireworks from the barn balcony. 


Celebrating America, and grateful to and proud of our men and women in military service.


From our house to yours ...


Happy 4th of July!