A Melodious Sonnet

Esther Filbrun

Bicycles and Siblings (Photo Challenge day 3)

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Let's go!

Today, several of my brothers went to a friend’s birthday party. This afternoon while they waited to go pick the boys up again, my two youngest brothers were outside playing so I got to snap a few pictures of them. I love looking back at pictures like this—moments in time. Even if they aren’t the best quality, they’re things that “will never be quite the same again” (to quote one of my favorite songs, We Have This Moment).

These guys are growing up so fast. It’s so fun to watch them grow up, but sad, too. It’s sad that soon they’ll be too old to ask for a goodnight hug and kiss from me—nothing melts a big sister’s heart more than that! These guys are so precious.

Toys! (Photo Challenge day 2)

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Toys 01

Little sister came out to my room this morning as everyone else was doing school. She doesn’t do it often these days—it’s currently winter, and although the weather belies that fact, it is chilly outside most of the time so she doesn’t have many chances to escape the house. However, today it was warm enough to have the doors open and out she came!

She doesn’t say much, but today she announced something similar to “Toys!” and proceeded to dump the contents of the cardboard box I use as a toybox on the floor. Usually she asks me to get it out for her, and generally only pulls a few things out before rediscovering the books and forgetting about the other animals and blocks. However, she played for forty-five minutes or so, both discussing the different books with me and playing with the animals. She seemed to enjoy herself.

Week 30: Last of July and Photo Challenge

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Colossians 3:1-3

The sun was shining brilliantly through my half-window this morning as I sat on my maroon-colored bedspread reading from Isaiah. It’s such a treat these days to have the sunshine, and even though we’ve had much more of that than cloudy days this winter, I still love the sun and its warmth. The call came for breakfast, so I blew my candles out and watched the smoke weave its way upward—sometimes thin, sometimes thick curls that can be seen but never touched, smelled but only enjoyed when the light hits it just right as it was this morning. It was a beautiful sight. And yes, I got into breakfast a little late because I stopped to enjoy the sight of the smoke. It truly was gorgeous; I’ve never seen it last as long as it did this morning!

The light is long gone now, swallowed by the clouds that occasionally spit a little rain but for the most part make it chilly and as such more pleasant to stay inside this evening than be out. As I sit again at my blue fold-up table this evening, looking over my last week and praying for wisdom for the week to come, music playing quietly in the background, I can’t help but think how privileged I am. That I can take time to enjoy things like candle smoke twisting in the morning sunlight, that I can even plan my week! So many don’t have this privilege, so many in poorer situations must fight day after day to just get a little food on the table. Many—like my Dad—work incredibly long hours, never complaining, while I sit at home and can use my time just about any way I please. I’m incredibly blessed. And I don’t want to ever forget that, sunshine or not.

Playing Hookey (and This Week’s Plans)

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(Before I start, I thought you might like to know that Mom is currently running a giveaway for two books from one of our favorite authors! Details here.)

I realized yesterday afternoon as we were winding our way up the curves this side of a nearby river that I had completely spaced doing my normal “Sunday” post on my goals for the week. I had fun Sunday afternoon, during the time that I normally do my planning…I played two different board games with my siblings and we watched part of a movie together! In the end it really isn’t a problem, except that after a day in the city I wasn’t feeling particularly up to trying to figure out what I want (or need) to do this week. So it falls to Tuesday evening to tell you of this week’s goals.

As far as last week, I think I got almost everything done. Thankfully, I hadn’t planned much, and even though we were gone only 3 1/2 days in the end, it was still good to be able to relax and prepare to face the world again.

Planning: Second Week of July

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Well, it’s already quite late, and I need to head off to bed but before I do so I wanted to do a quick recap of last week’s plans. This next week is going to be pretty busy, so I’m not planning to do much at all. And besides a few basics (like sending the newsletter), I’m probably not going to be online much either.

But as for last week’s plans…I went off the rails a bit last week! Instead of working like I probably should have done, I decided to watch a couple borrowed movies instead (ones that need to be returned, but I want to review first). Besides that, we had visitors one day, which cut into my time a little. It was wonderful to have them here, though—well worth the “lost” time! Also, I realized Friday that I hadn’t even looked at my plans all week. Hmm…wonder if the old adage “out of sight out of mind” had anything to do with not much being done? Must remember to look each day next time!