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Life as a journey...

Life as the highest art...

Pioneers...Explorers...

Poets...Gardeners...

Artists of the Everyday.

Women of Spirit.

Women of substance.

Women with style.

Women who have lived the questions.

Women ready to embrace the answers...

Seekers of the Sacred in the ordinary...

Seekers of Love. Passion. Wholeness.

Authenticity.

Where are we headed?

We're headed Home.

Ithaka.

But before we arrive, there are vast worlds awaiting exploration.

Worlds within. Worlds without...

Chronologically we're at the end of the year 

but the beginning of the journey.

Not to worry.

We'll have all the time we need in kairos to find ourselves. 

Here's where we must part company.

At least for a little while. 

I've got some discoveries I need to make on my own.

And so do you.

But you won't be alone. 

Someone who loves you unconditionally is at the helm...

Go in peace. 

You're as ready as you ever will be; 

well equipped for the adventures awaiting...

You must ask...for help...

Give thanks.

Wait. Watch what happens.

Get excited...

Never forget that all you have is all you need...

Believe. Believe in yourself. 

Believe in the One who believes in You.

All things are possible to she who believes...

The Soul's awakening is gratitude.

The Soul's essence is simplicity.

The Soul's serenity is order.

The Soul's serenity is harmony.

The Soul's passion is beauty.

The Soul's purpose is joy.

Pray your journey be a long one.

Savor the stops along the way.

They make the search marvelous. Meaningful. Memorable. 

Find and honor your own pace...

Through the parting of the mists where doubt and faith meet,

you will see the authentic self is the Soul made visible.

Godspeed.

End Quote 

I want to say thank you. 

Thank you so much to all of you who have read my blog,

and especially thank you to those who have taken this journey with me.

Thank you Sarah. Thank you so much for sharing. 

I especially want to thank Robbie. He has been a brick throughout this whole year. It hasn't been easy to be patient and supportive, especially when I've basically spent 365 hours (I have a funny feeling it's more like double that) on a blog. But it was more than just a blog. I hope that you have been able to see as I have how this has affected my life for good. I hope it's affected your life for good as well.

I want to thank my Savior Jesus Christ and my Heavenly Father.

In getting to know myself better, I've gotten to know them better too.

I am grateful for this lifetime that I have to try and become more like them.

It has been an honor and privilege to share my experience with you.

Thank you so much.

I hope that you have a Happy New Year, 

and many more to come.

I pray that you continue to find your authentic self.

May God be with you. 

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Gratitude Journal

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1) I am grateful that this is the last gratitude journal I'll have to share! From now on I'm going to keep them to myself, thank you very much. 

2) Decorating. And reusing decorations. I might just keep these flags up forever.

3) Finding another Simple Abundance book. It's going to be raffled off tonight! 

4) My family and friends.

5) My life.

I have a party curse. Every time I throw a party, no one comes.

It is very sad.

But one friend came over! I love her to pieces. 

And she for sure read every single blog post, which is awesome.

And her son just woke up from his nap and is asking for my kiddos.

It's funny how Simple Abundance has changed my way of thinking.

I used to be very upset about my party curse, 

but now I am finding the joy and gratitude in what I have.

So instead of being surrounded by many friends, 

we're dancing with our kids and watching a movie

and eating snacks instead of eating a real dinner.

And maybe now we'll play some games with some other friends.

It is wonderful, to see the good in life, no matter what happens.

 

Let the celebrations commence!

Happy New Year!

 

December 30th - Ithaka

 "As you set out in search of Ithaka

Pray that your journey be long,

full of adventures, full of awakenings.

Do not fear the monsters of old...

You will not meet them in your travels

if your thoughts are exalted and remain high,

if authentic passions stir your mind, body and spirit.

You will not encounter fearful monsters

if you do not carry them within your soul,

if your soul does not set them up in front of you."

- Constantine Peter Cavafy

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Ithaka was the beloved island home of the legendary Greek hero, Odysseus...Odysseus roamed the world for ten years, having adventures, meeting challenges, and learning lessons that profoundly changed him.

Today an odyssey means a long, often exhausting, exhilarating and/or excruciating transformative journey. 

The search for authenticity is our personal odyssey.

As we move through our daily rounds on the Simple Abundance path...

what we are really seeking is the Ultimate Reality. 

We are seeking Ithaka...

I was inspirited to create a personal...adaptation of Cavafy's classic for women:

Pray that your journey be long,

full of many summer mornings

when with much pleasure and much joy

you anchor in harbors never seen before...

Keep Ithaka always in your mind.

Your arrival there is your destiny.

But do not hurry the journey at all;

be patient...

So that finally, when you reach this 

sacred isle, you will be a wise woman,

abundantly fulfilled by all you have gained along the way;

no longer expecting Ithaka to make you wealthy,

no longer needing Ithaka to make you rich.

Ithaka offered you the profound journey,

the chance to discover the woman you have always been.

Without Ithaka as your inspiration, you 

never would have set out in search of Wholeness...

End Quote

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Gratitude Journal

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1) Only one more day left in 2017! I'm so ready for 2018.

2) Chips and dip. And chex mix. And tuxedo brownies. And salsa. And artichoke jalapeño dip. Lots of dip. And like 10 bottles of sparkling cider. I hope you can make it to our get together tomorrow night, because I don't want to eat it all myself! Yum.

3) Naps. I love taking naps, and I love it when the kids take naps. And they needed two today, must be going through a growth spurt.

4) Taking  care of myself. Showers are pretty amazing.

5) Robbie officially finished part one of the laundry room. We added a rod to hold hangers and clothing while I iron, and added the last shelf below the hampers. Let me tell you, the whole house feels different. Probably because there isn't laundry everywhere. It is super hard trying now to use self control and not just do all the projects we want to do... Each project would probably cost somewhere between $100-500, or more! And definitely more than one full day (kid free to boot). Both of which we do not have in abundance.

 

December 29th - Success Unexpected

"I learned this, at least, by my experiment:

that if one advances confidently in the direction of [her] dreams,

and endeavors to live the life which [she] has imagined,

[she] will meet with a success unexpected in common hours."

-Henry David Thoreau

This is my favorite quote because it's so true. 

In regular, common days, where nothing extraordinary happens,

that's when I hear the quiet voice of the spirit showing me

how truly wonderful and successful my life is.

Start Quote

Today is the day the post-holiday blues 

usually drop in for their annual visit. 

After any strenuous exertion, 

especially one that's lasted several weeks, 

there's a natural letdown in energy and enthusiasm. 

"The life in us is like the water in a river," Thoreau tells us. 

It rises, even floods, but then it recedes until it finds its true level. 

The year is drawing to a close;

and whether we're aware of it or not, 

we're balancing our personal books, 

tallying up the profits and losses.

If we're in the red as far as achieving goals, 

surrendering expectations, reaching for aspirations, 

coming to terms with situations we can't change, 

or acknowledging that we could have made changes 

but chose not to, we're going to end up feeling blue. 

If we've blown our budget, 

it's likely our purses will be leaner for a couple of months. 

Not fun. 

To make matters worse, you're probably not feeling very well. 

Don't be surprised by nasty colds or lingering chest congestion.

Practitioners of Eastern medicine expect these ailments in the winter;

metaphysically the lung is the organ that processes grief.

If we've experienced a loss - and all of us have

in one way or another this year - we might still be grieving,

unable to accept and release it.

Old pain is very difficutl to give up;

by now it's a familiar friend, just not a very nurturing one.

When this happens, we need to remember to treat ourselves kindly.

This is the time to trust, not make judgments.

Soon the children will go back to school.

The company will leave. 

The work will get completed.

The bills will be paid.

The quiet moment will come.

You'll be able to catch your breath, 

and then you'll notice that it doesn't hurt anymore. 

Your creative energy and enthusiasm will return.

Once again you'll start to advance 

confidently in the direction of your dreams. 

"However mean your life is, meet it and live it;

do not shun it and call it hard names.

It is not bad...It looks poorest when you are richest.

The fault-finder will find faults even in paradise. 

Love your life, poor as it is.

You may perhaps have some pleasant, thrilling, glorious hours,

even in a poorhouse," Henry reassures us.

End Quote

Today was a very common, lazy day, 

and I found unexpected success. 

 Robbie and I were able to lay in bed for awhile after the kids got up because they were playing so nicely. Then I made breakfast, for the first time in what seems like forever. It took an hour to get all three kids fed, clothed, and trying to teach them about how we don't communicate by yelling without yelling myself. Finally I was able to eat breakfast, and read one of my favorite conference talks. I enjoyed my favorite homemade bread that was a gift from my aunt and uncle, toasted with butter and honey, and drank hot chocolate with a peppermint stick. Then the kids and I went upstairs, they played and I sorted some laundry. By the time I was done it was obviously nap time, and Robbie was finished working, so he helped me get them a snack. Robbie stayed downstairs with Jacob and rested and watched a movie while the twins and I took a three hour nap. We watched another movie while we ate lunch, and then Robbie finished the laundry room while I played with the kids. I can't remember the last time I sat down and played with them. We played doctor, birthday, they brushed my hair (which was the most amazing feeling in the world), we built towers etc etc. Then we had pizza and watched some Mickey Mouse cartoons, because, you know, it's a lazy day so we had a lot of TV. And then we put the kids to bed, and Robbie and I finished what we could in the laundry room, and watched a show together, and now we're reading and working together. 

When you look at my day, you'll see very clearly how common it was.

But the feeling that this common day brought me is unforgettable.

Sure there were some tears and a little yelling, some fighting,

but all was forgiven and forgotten quickly, love abounded,

and there were plenty of kisses and hugs and smiles to go around.

Knowing that it was going to be a slow day because we're all so tired, accepting it and loving it, being a good mom and a good wife... 

Today was pretty spectacular...common though it was.

Edmund Vance Cooke, “The Eternal Everyday,” Impertinent Poems (1907), 21.

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Gratitude Journal

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1) Almost done with part one of the laundry room! Part two, when we save up the money to do it and want to put in the effort. Part two will have me able to do everything I need completely in the laundry room, with no reason to leave it to work in the bathrooms or in our rooms! Part two: sink, paint, and floor. Easier said then done.

 Finished! Dryer sheets in the mail box, tons of lost socks, and an extension cord so I can iron in the laundry room!!!!!

 All of the bulk is up there! What what!! Moving all that up there meant that I could put things that I normally leave on the counter underneath it in the cupboards...which means I now have a counter to work on! No more using the counter as a shelf!!!

And the finishing touch, with a pair of jeans soaking in oxi-clean and water in an ice-cream container...The wall of laundry hampers. Clean laundry, dirty laundry, stuff that needs to be stain treated or ironed.......Ta Da!!!!! 

2) Now if I actually use the system we've created, laundry will never overtake my house again! I'm so excited, and so grateful that Robbie took three of his vacation days to do this for me/us.

3) Having my kids home. On Wednesday I didn't miss them at all, I was so grateful for the freedom! But by Thursday I was missing them pretty badly. I was so glad to have their little noises today.

4) Little kid talks. Jacob was telling me how much he loved me, and how he loved that I was little. What?!

5) We were not tackled to death by toddlers this morning when they came in and saw that the bed was on the ground and easily accessible. Sometimes they respect personal space.