Hiatus

I’ve decided to take a brief blogging break because, well, it’s Advent (for a few more days anyway), and I’m trying to focus on seeking Him. We have just a few days left of this waiting season, and I don’t want to rush through it. There are no more hours to my day; yet, there’s so much more to do during this season. With the limited free time I have, I’d rather cozy up with the two men in my life than rack my brains for something to blog about (words have not been coming as easily to me lately):

And I plan on reading lots of Advent books and baking batches of cookies to share with neighbors and family with the little girls in my life:

There’s also a Christmas Eve tapas feast to prepare for since we’re hosting dinner at our home for the first time ever. I still have gifts to wrap and a few more cards to write out. There are hymns to be sung and prayers to be prayed.

Despite a looming, long list of to-dos, I don’t feel overwhelmed.  I want to keep it that way.

I have a friend who lost her precious baby, Juliana, at 24 weeks last Wednesday. This was her fourth baby as well. I wept for all this grieving mother would miss, and then I wondered what all I could be missing by trying to squeeze in too much to days with a finite number of hours. I’ve known so many friends who have lost babies recently. I’ve had other friends struggle for infertility for years. I pray for them. I mourn for them. I hope for them. But I want to live for them, too. I want to make the most of these blessings in my home.

A few days later I heard the tragic news that one of God’s most faithful servants, Father Santan Pinto, had been suddenly called home when he died instantly in a car accident.

This life of ours is so tenuous.

God seems to use certain seasons to teach me the same old lessons that I, in my human weakness, ignore too often. This Advent has been all about taking a deep breath, taking it all in, and not taking anything – even the loudness, the chaos, the sugar highs followed by sugar comas, and the mountains of spilled sprinkles from a cookie-decorating-session-gone-wrong – for granted.

This week we have nothing planned other than one speech therapy appointment. My mom decided to come and visit, too. I can’t wait! I’m just giddy with excitement at the prospect of being home with my kids and their Gaba. Thomas won’t have to take his morning nap on the run. We’ll have quiet storytime afternoons. I’m sure Madeline, my industrious, little elf, will be eager to help me wrap gifts. The girls also want to make puppets to go along with Merry Christmas, Strega Nona (an idea we gleaned from Elizabeth Foss’s Advent & Christmas Clicking post). Then they plan on performing a puppet show for family over the holiday weekend.

We’ll still be busy, but we don’t have much of a binding agenda.

It’s not only nice to press pause sometimes; it’s necessary. We all need a respite from the daily grind and the tyranny of to-dos. It’s in these unfilled, unplanned, and precious moments where we make real, lasting memories. It’s our homes where we discover in the rush-free, hushed mornings that what we’ve been seeking – peace, the Prince of Peace – has been with us all along.

So I’ll go ahead and prematurely wish all of you a happy Christmas. Peace and joy to you all!!!