Miscellany Monday, January 25, 2016 - Four! and Books...and GAPS

Gabriel went and turned 4 a few days ago.  FOUR!  How can that be??

I intend to do a full post on our big/little guy and his big birthday!


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We have sung this song at church several times over the past couple of months, and we sang it again yesterday.  I can't get it out of my head.  But then, I don't really want to...because this is a wonderful thing to have stuck in my head:





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Back near the beginning of January I started a new bible study called Thirty Days in 1 Corinthians 13.  It is one of the studies in the "Bible Study for Busy Mamas" series written by Pam Forster of the "Doorposts" family, whom I have loved for years!  I am loving this study so much that I am excited to do another one of the studies when I have finished this one...perhaps the study on Proverbs 31.

I am loving this study so much...but it is not easy.  It is never easy to see where you are lacking...or outright failing.  Ay-yi-yi...looking at what "Love" means - and what "Love" does...and does not do - has been very convicting!


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I am continuing to read a lot.  And I have many more books coming to my through our library system's inter-library loan program...so I am trying to get through them as quickly as possible to get ready for more.  I read when I get on the treadmill in the morning (notice I said "when", and wasn't specific as to how often that is), and I read during afternoon rest-time, and I am reading when I get in bed at night (and make myself not get on my iPad mini, because when I do that it is all downhill from there).

This is where I snuggle every afternoon during rest-time - the "Chair and a Half" in our master bedroom.  Those are clean clothes draped everywhere...just waiting (and waiting) to be put away

One book I waited for forever through our inter-library loan system (literally, I waited over six months) is this currently super-popular book:

After I kept hearing about this book everywhere I turned, I decided I needed to check it out for myself.  I have never had to wait that long for an inter-library loan book...if that is any indication how popular it is.  

Verdict:  I am so glad I read it.  

AND...it is one of the weirdest books I have ever read.  

I love the end result of her advice, but her reasoning and thought process behind her method is so. very. bizarre. 

Marie describes The Correct Way to fold clothes, and in so doing, commented that "...in fact, to go through life without knowing how to fold is a huge loss." (pg. 75)

And you will know when you have folded a piece of clothing right because each has a sweet spot.  "Finding the clothes' sweet spot - It's like a sudden revelation - So this is how you have always wanted to be folded! - a historical moment in which your mind and the piece of clothing connect." (pg. 77)

And another favorite quote from the book, in reference to how you should categorize the clothes in your closet: "Clothes, like people, can relax more freely when in the company of others who are very similar in type, and therefore organizing them by category helps them feel more comfortable and secure."  (Pg. 78)

BUT...after laughing about Ms. Kondo's condemnation of stuffing socks inside their partner (a travesty that she calls making "potato balls") -  I guess the laugh is really on me: I watched her YouTube video on how to properly fold socks.  I tried it on the new socks I just got for Christmas...and I am so happy every time I open that drawer!

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I skimmed and sped read through this 10% Happier book one night last week.  Totally wish I had that 90 minutes back.  

You win some and you lose some.

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All 8 of us started back on GAPS again four days ago.  Just Full GAPS for right now.  But intro will be coming sooner rather than later.

We've known for a while that we all needed to head that way again, and I had been preparing, but I just hadn't been able to pull the trigger quite yet.

One child was very resistant, and that one child (whose behavior problems prompted me to pull the trigger last week) has said multiple times since we started, "I am glad we are doing GAPS again."