Here Goes Nothing...

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. If you don't try, you'll never know. Or something like that.

I'm challenging myself this month. There's a 31 Day Challenge, spearheaded by The Nester. And Kate from Five Minute Friday has added a twist which I love. Write all 31 posts in 5 minutes each. Considering I am usually 6.75 days late to the Five Minute Friday prompt each week, 31 days IN A ROW is daunting. But, perhaps 5 minutes a day for 31 days is manageable. Perhaps. Most of the writers pick a theme. I don't know if I have that in me yet. However, Kate has saved the day. She made a prompt list. She's using it to write 31 days of life in South Africa.  I am using the SAME list so that I can take a stab at actually writing for 31 days in a row. (32 if you count today. HA!)

So ... thanks Kate for making it a little less scary for me to test the waters. We shall see if a theme emerges in my 31 days of 5 minute free writes.

For now, I am excited to try it out. So thanks for reading along with me!

**Here are the prompts from Kate. If I am super coordinated, I will remember to hyperlink all my posts below. As they come. (and add the words for the TBD when we get them)  note: no guest post for me.

Wed. Oct. 1 — Day 1 :: Move  
Thurs. Oct. 2 — Day 2 :: View
Fri. Oct. 3 — Day 3 :: NEW
Sat. Oct. 4 — Day 4 :: Learn
Sun. Oct. 5 — Day 5 :: Stuck
Mon. Oct. 6 — Day 6 :: Know
Tues. Oct. 7 — Day 7 :: Go
Wed. Oct. 8 — Day 8 :: Say
Thurs. Oct. 9 — Day 9 :: Join
Fri. Oct. 10 — Day 10 :: Care
Sat. Oct. 11 — Day 11 :: Teach
Sun. Oct. 12 — Day 12 :: Rest
Mon. Oct. 13 — Day 13 :: Work
Tues. Oct. 14 — Day 14 :: Away
Wed. Oct. 15 — Day 15 :: Life
Thurs. Oct. 16 — Day 16 :: Adjust
Fri. Oct. 17 — Day 17 :: Long
Sat. Oct. 18 — Day 18 :: Taste
Sun. Oct. 19 — Day 19 :: Honor
Mon. Oct. 20 — Day 20 :: Fear
Tues. Oct. 21 — Day 21 :: Second
Wed. Oct. 22 — Day 22 :: Guest post (Prompt TBA)
Thurs. Oct. 23 — Day 23 :: Look
Fri. Oct. 24 — Prompt revealed Oct. 23 at 10pm EST for Five Minute Friday
Sat. Oct. 25 — Day 25 :: Enjoy
Sun. Oct. 26 — Day 26 :: Visit
Mon. Oct. 27 — Day 27 :: Free
Tues. Oct. 28 — Day 28 :: Wake
Wed. Oct. 29 — Day 29 :: Unite
Thurs. Oct. 30 — Day 30 :: First
Fri. Oct. 31 — Day 31 :: Prompt revealed Oct. 30th at 10pm EST

Hold (Five Minute Friday)

It's time for Five Minute Friday. Where we link with Kate, after we write for 5 minutes on whatever comes to mind with the word.

This week the word is hold. (Last week. I'm late, catching up before the new one).

HOLD

Last week my 6 year old was the "star of the week." This entails making a poster with pictures of your favorite things, your family, places you like to go, etc. it hangs in the front of the class all week. Then on Friday the student presents the poster and explains everything to the class. The other students then get to ask questions. The teacher coaches them on how to ask questions to the star, rather then adding "oh, I went to Florida, too, that's cool" kind of comments. They are trying to learn that the world is bewigged than themselves and their own experiences.

As you can imagine A had a lot of baseball stuff on her poster. She's her mama's daughter. One of the students asked her "do you have any of those bobblehead things?" She proceeded to list them all. (We have a lot). And the teacher remarked, that's very impressive that you have that whole list in your brain.

Later that day, A asked me ... "Mama, how do we decide what we hold in our brain? I know it can't hold everything. Some stuff falls out."

What a great opportunity. I told her our brains hold what we practice, what we study. What we make time for, what we decide is important.

"Hmmm, mama. Like baseball?" Yes... But what else sweetie? "Family. Hmmm. And school. I guess I can hold some spelling. And... Hmmm. And I guess I can hold some math. You hold a lot of math mom. And Jesus, we can definitely hold Him and the bible in there."

Bingo. Some stuff is sinking in. And I'm reminded... Am I practicing the right stuff to hold in me? Or is the important stuff falling out?

Ready (Five Minute Friday)

Here's how it works. Write on the word. Link up with Kate and then visit your buddy who linked before you. Your Five Minute Friday neighbor. And leave that writer a little encouragement!!  

Ready. HA! It is 2 hours before the new prompt and I am only now sitting to write on last week's word, READY.

So, of course I am not ready. Really I never am. But when I think of ready this week, it brings baseball to my mind. My team, the Washington Nationals just clinched the National League East regular season title. WOOT! and in the process, Tyler Clippard pitched the 8th inning. His walk out music (when he comes out of the bullpen in DC) is "Ready or Not" by the Fugees.

Whenever we play hide and seek or tag or whatever thing the girls have dreamed up when we play outside, we start with "Ready or not..." and they crack up and say "Mama, that is Clippy's song. That makes us happy!!" I love how little things from the game show up in our every day lives. How phrases or tunes or colors permeate what we do and everything triggers a connection.

S (my 9 year old) tells me that this is what they practice in language arts. Text-to-text connections (how a book reminds you of something else you've read) and text-to-self connections (how something you read reminds you of something in your real life). She calls this life-to-Nats connections. When we see or do something and it reminds us of our baseball team.

So this week, we are READY. Ready for the playoffs to begin. Ready for some Nationals magic. Ready to stand up and cheer. Because as they're saying in DC this year ..."It's happening folks!" "YEAH BABY"

Whisper (Five Minute Friday)

Long hiatus. Life happens. Vacation, back to school, whatever. So I am starting ON TIME today. And will backfill. Maybe I can binge-write?

I think this is maybe my first actual week linking with our new lovely hostess, Kate. If not, well, then I wrote more recently than I remember.

New hostess, but same great rules.
1. Write 5 minutes on the prompt. Don't edit. Just pour out whatever you have for 5 minutes.
2. Link up with all the rest of us over here in Kate's yard.
3. **The ONE UNBREAKABLE RULE** visit the one who posted before you and leave a little encouragement. That's how we all get through our days.

This week: WHISPER

Ha! funny. Whisper. This is what I said to myself ALL NIGHT. well, for the 45 minutes that my 9yo decided to tell me she didn't want to snuggle with me ever again and she was running away to Paris - to eat chocolate and ice cream and NOT SHARE. She did not whisper. But I did. I just kept repeating the same message. I love you and you still need to go to bed. And she yelled and yelled. And I just whispered the same. She could hear me. She stopped. She listened. She hollered some more.

And then, eventually she gave up. The whisper of love from mom, no matter what she tried to do to derail me, was the same. Thank you Lord for grace to have held my tongue tonight. And then after she gave up. Fell asleep in an exhausted heap .. she rolled over. Realized she wasn't in bed. She crept carefully out of her bedroom, came to find me.

"Mama? I am sorry. It was a tough night. I know I said not to snuggle me in the morning. But will you? Please?"

and I whispered yes, and gave her a hug. And all is well in my house.

Sweet dreams.

Begin (Five Minute Friday)

Hah! 2 posts in the same day. This is my one-week-late Five Minute Friday. And the last one hosted by Lisa-Jo. (and I missed the link up because I am so late. So I will just start linking with Kate on post 3 of today.)

5 minutes on ... BEGIN.

Do you begin all things the same way? I've been pondering that today while on vacation. I don't. We do a LOT of jigsaw puzzles while we are together as a family. And we all (my family) begin them the same way. We sort through the whole box of pieces - all 1,000 or 2,000 of them. We  pick the straight edges and then we assemble the outline. The border. After that, we each have a different approach - so it makes a very effective, but sometimes very confusing, adventure to assemble the rest of the puzzle. (As long as you are not listening to both my dad and my brother's directions / comments at the same time, you will be very successful in this crowd).

But I don't begin every adventure by filling in the edges. I don't define boundaries before I embark on a new adventure. Or do I? Do I set boundaries when I change jobs? Or when I move? Or when I consider if I should become friends with someone? When considering pursuing a relationship?  Hmmmm. Maybe I do. I might not have every piece filled in for a fully contained outline. But there are a few things I give thought to before I begin a big change. I wonder if that's the same approach I take with puzzles? And I wonder which I started doing first?


STOP.

Finish (Five Minute Friday)

I am two weeks late for this one. And one week late for the next one. And then I will be caught up. But I don't think I can let this word pass me by.

So, as the Five Minute Friday baton passes (more on that here), everyone gave 5 minutes on FINISH.

Except I am not thinking finish - the end. I am thinking finish - the covering. You know, like the kind of the paint you use? Satin, matte, eggshell, etc? When you go to the paint store and they ask you the questions about what kind you want, and you never know? Well, at least I never know. Eggshell if you want it in a kid's room so you can wipe the fingerprints off easier. Satin in the bathroom so you can wash the toothpaste and stray soap quirts off the wall every day. (Oh, you don't have to do that? Just me? Moving on then...) Matte somewhere else, so it doesn't look shiny. Or whatnot. I still don't really get it.

But this I do get: when you use those different finishes, the walls LOOK different. And they respond differently. Trying to wash things off a matte finish leaves stuff smudged and looking lousy. Wiping off that satin finish is easy. (See toothpaste comment). And leaves the walls looking as if you just painted them. And so that got me to thinking. Yuo can also use the different finish on the same color to make a room have definition with stripes. Paint it all the matte and then put the same color over parts with the shinier finish.

I think that's how people are. I'm one body, with a bunch of different finishes. If you throw something my way and hit my matte side, it sticks. It grinds in. I can try to wipe it away but it smudges around and I am never quite the same as I was. Words do that - change people. Can't take them back. Can't undo them. And can't eliminate the effect. You can minimize it, try to make it better and cleaner, but it's never the same. But if you throw the mean comments or the bad day at my shiny satin finish then they will mostly wipe off. Mostly easily and I can keep going. That's grace right there - the shiny finish part.

Today: I am thankful that there's more shiny than matte on my finish. That grace is bigger than it was and there's more of it around than there used to be. And that every day I can start fresh with a grace-shine.

Stop.

Bloom (Five Minute Friday)

I've had this post in my head since the word was released last Friday, actually. My kids are away, so I have had to space things out to keep myself from being completely crazy while they're gone. 15 days is a LONG, LONG time for this mom to not see her girls.

Today as I write, I've had my kiddos on my heart extra. And it seems fitting that what cam to mind with the prompt is something that instantly brings my girls to mind.

This week, we're writing on BLOOM.  And linking with Lisa-Jo and the Five Minute Friday crowd over here.

BLOOM

My girls both learned about acrostics this year in school. S in particular has become very fond of them. So when I saw this prompt and wanted to write about how I can encourage my girls to bloom - to grow into themselves - it seemed an acrostic would work. Now I can show S I really was "thinkity-think-thinking" about her while she was away.

B

believe in them.   The first step to my kids growing into what they can be is for this mama to believe in them - and remind them that I do.

L

listen to them   Sometimes kids don't want, or even need, advice. But they always need someone to listen. A safe zone to share their ideas. A sounding board.

O

offer encouragement    Failures will come. Successes will come. In the presence of both, I want to always be my girls' biggest cheerleader.

O

offer grace    Mistakes happen. Poor decisions get made.  While discipline is needed, depending on the circumstance, often the consequences that already present are punishment enough. I have had many a day where i needed grace. And I want my girls to learn to give grace freely. To learn how to forgive. Even when it is hard, even when it hurts. It's not easy. Grace never is (at least for me). But is ALWAYS worth it. Looking back, I cannot think of one single time when I chose grace and I wish I hadn't.

M

make time to spend with them   This is so important to me. It's not just about being a cheerleader or loving them. It's about being intentional to spend time with them. To let them see the rest of this up close and personal. To know that they are a priority, and that their mom always will choose them. That they matter enough to get my time now. So when they leave, they will feel safe knowing that whenever they return, mom is still right here waiting.

Stop.