Domestic Bliss...

Domestic is not a word I would regularly use to describe myself. I much prefer going to a job and doing work for someone else to doing laundry, dishes and more laundry in my own home. Is there something wrong with me? In fact, the more time I spend at home, it seems, the less efficient I am at dealing with household chores.

Enter today... I feel like a domestic goddess today. I powered through seven loads of laundry, sorted, and, wait for it... put away! I cleaned the kitchen like the scrubbing bubbles, took all 4 kids to the shiny new grocery market near home and look forward to creating delicious dinner for all to enjoy. What the...? Why can't I do the things I did today on a more consistent basis... or at least experience joy in the doing, as I did today.

I actually think gratitude has taken hold today. Not like nice-christian-guideposts-goody-i-go-to-church-every-sunday kind of gratitude... no, this gratitude gripped me, and shook me. Haiti, people... What am I supposed to do in light of Haiti? How on earth am I supposed to respond?

So, as I stood in front of my wonderfully modern washer and dryer, where I can often be prone to start whining about the never ending task that is laundry, I was shaken... No! I have clothes... and healthy children to dress with them... even water safe enough to drink to wash with.

As most epiphany moments do, I'm sure this will pass, and I'll be tempted to whine again. Before I do, I have to write this down. I'm convicted, and sorry that I am so spoiled. I don't want to live in the tension of having so much and knowing how little so many others have... but it's where I get to live. Meanwhile... I pray for the mothers in Haiti, particularly the grieving ones.

I really do want to blog more regularly... I do... I do... I do. Life sweeps over me and I just don't get around to it. So, here I go:

Today I was thinking about plants... which always happens to me when the grey skies part for a few moments and let me remember the sun. I love the new growth, the groundbreaking vibrant greens that shoot out. I am sort of a sucker for change. I could have easily been a gypsy... my husband even called me that early in our marriage. Perhaps that is why I had four children, and not two.

So, back to the plants... When Jeff and I were first married, we lived in an apartment, and soon after moved to a teeny rental house that was quaint and perfect (for newlyweds, in spite of the horrid paneling in the dining room, the ONE window a/c in the whole house and the massive numbers of black widows). It had a great little yard that we poured our nesty-ness all over. We were gardening idiots (and cooking idiots, and for that matter, marriage idiots) so we planted things in the wrong places or the wrong season and were horrible plant murderers that first year. We have gotten ever-so-slightly more knowledgeable about gardening since then.

As I was pondering plants earlier today, I was thinking about the plants I used to be attracted to. I bought lots of annuals with soft, colorful petals. They appealed to me because they were delicate. And I could change them in just a few months. We didn't have much money and I found myself drooling over yards that had hundreds of annuals in mass plantings while I planted my puny little 6 packs that I found on sale.

Now, my tastes have completely changed. When we redid the front yard this last year, I wanted plants that were HARDY. I wanted grasses and shrubs (not grandma ugly shrubs, but shrubs nonetheless) that could withstand the heat, hardly ever need my attention, and could get by with a few measly drips of water. Yes, I do care about the environment, but even more pressing in my low maintenance choices was my desire for one area to be taken care of. In fact the little perennials inside my house in the form of children change so fast that I can't be bothered with the thought of messing with flowers that need to be babied.

So, maybe that's good... ? I don't know. Maybe God is settling me down. Maybe he has given me all that I can handle and even sometimes a little more than I think I can (read: whining 2 year old saying the same word incessantly all the way home until I think I just might scratch my own ears off... which brings me to the Limo Window, which I'll have to save for another post). Regardless, I am grateful for the changes in life that cause us to mature, grow, desire different things.