Do The Next Thing

"Do The Next Thing"

As quoted by Elisabeth Elliot

"At an old English parsonage down by the sea,
there came in the twilight a message to me.
Its quaint Saxon legend deeply engraven
that, as it seems to me, teaching from heaven.
And all through the hours the quiet words ring,
like a low inspiration, 'Do the next thing.'

Many a questioning, many a fear,
many a doubt hath its quieting here.
Moment by moment, let down from heaven,
time, opportunity, guidance are given.
Fear not tomorrow, child of the King,
trust that with Jesus, do the next thing.

Do it immediately, do it with prayer,
do it reliantly, casting all care.
Do it with reverence, tracing His hand,
who placed it before thee with earnest command.
Stayed on omnipotence, safe 'neath His wing,
leave all resultings, do the next thing.

 

Looking to Jesus, ever serener,
working or suffering be thy demeanor,
in His dear presence, the rest of His calm,
the light of His countenance, be thy psalm.
Do the next thing." 

I was inspired to find this whole poem after reading this link which I came to through this link and I found it in whole here.  I hope it inspires you as it did me.  I am so often frozen with analysis paralysis, overwhelmed thoughts, letting thoughts of failed "perfection" cause me to throw my hands up into the air before ever attempting what I know I must do, from the pile of dirty dishes to setting up a website to asking forgiveness.  It is often far simpler than I make it.  The hardest part is getting over my own selfish thought process.

So, I'm now going to go finish folding the three loads of laundry and actually put them away in their drawers.  And I'm going to thank God for clothes, for a washing machine and for my family that wears them as I fold!

What is your next thing?

Clothes Will Wash

We went to visit some sweet friends today and help gather firewood.  When we walked out of our home to get into the suburban this morning, a moose was standing about 20 feet away watching us.  We had a pleasant conversation with her until she started to trot rather quickly right at us.  I kind of squeaked and quickly jumped into the passenger's seat clutching Brandt.  Moose have exceptionally long legs and can make some fast tracks - have I mentioned this?

Anyway, we got to our friends' home and got a tour of their log home.  I also got a gander at this French crazy quilt.  It's over 200 years old.  I couldn't stop staring at it. 

Then we hopped onto some 4-wheelers and headed out to go cut firewood.  Brandt was tied to Doug with a handy harness that kept him on the 4-wheeler.  It looked kind of funny once Daddy stood up - hehe...

"Need...air..."

Doug and Del cut down a huge, dead Lodgepole Pine.  An enormous fire came through this area in 1988 and completely destroyed thousands upon thousands of acres.  The fire was so fast, it didn't consume many of the trees: just burned off their needles and killed them.  

Charissa, Brandt, Sheri and I all watched from a safe distance.  Isn't that a gorgeous place to cut wood?!

We were visited by a beautiful beetle.  Charissa was fascinated with all his colors.

Charissa shows off her driving skills.  Brandt looks a little concerned...

So...how do these things work? 

My studly husband heaves a log down the mountain side.  *swoon*

So, this is my parenting philosophy: childhood only comes once.  Clothes are washable.

Okay, that's not ALL my parenting philosophy but it's part of it.

They found a mud puddle.  They ran through it, sat in it, even wallowed a bit like happy piglets.

And...I guess you could say they got a bit muddy.

Really muddy.

And so, there was a creek just a bit down the road, and I pointed them in that direction.

Ohhhh yeahhhh!  They were thoroughly drenched, but not muddy!

Brandt can't walk a straight line across a carpeted floor much less a rocky creek bed, but with every splash on his rump (or face) he'd get right back up and run around like a maniac until he fell again.

We took off all their clothes and had to strap them to the bungees on the 4-wheeler.  After wrapping them in coats, we took them back to the house and strapped them in their car seats for the ride home.

It wasn't too long before they were both zonked.

What an absolutely wonderful day!  Remember, childhood only comes once and clothes will wash :-)

Oh, the Places We Have Been!

I woke this morning to the sound of Doug reading Dr. Seuss to our little early risers.  I closed my eyes and thanked God with all my heart for the amazing husband and beautiful children He has given me, then came and snuggled down next to them to hear another story read by my favorite pastor.  It was such a sweet moment of peace.  

The past two weeks have been a whirlwind of events!  We've been busy with all the exploring and hiking we can get before the snow falls.  We've visited friends, attending social events and of course, there's the whole gallbladder thing.  Along with that, our church celebrated "Christmas in August" this Sunday - such a fun reminder that we don't have to wait for December to celebrate! 


Here is a self-portrait I took in Doug's sunglasses when we were at the Clark's Fork trailhead.  You can see the waterfall behind me.  When Cooke City was a mining town, they used the force of this water to create electricity. 

Charissa always dresses with such style and class for these outings.  I just wear jeans, but this girl is into the frills and leggings.  Oh, and don't forget the Disney Princess bucket to hold rocks, sticks and anything else she might find :-)

An awesome, curvy piece of wood.  I'm in love with dead wood.  It's so unique!

The steep bridge over the rushing creek.

Brandt loves to dash around in the woods.  

Here, Doug is demonstrating the reason we dress Brandt in overalls as often as possible.  He was running off into the woods again.

This picture is titled "Babe in the Wilderness".  He told me just to leave him there.

"Put a sippy cup of milk, cheerios and some grapes in the clearing each morning.  I'll be fine."

I wouldn't leave you, sweet boy.  Who would make me laugh daily?  Who would give me slobber kisses?  Who would stick his finger up my nose during prayer time? 

Charissa and I show our cheesy grins.

This pic is from Lulu Pass.  It is an old miner's cabin!  There are dozens of these throughout the mountains.

Charissa in her practical shoes standing in a huge snow bank on top of Lulu.

A stunning sunset from the top of the pass.

This is a fire near Cody, WY.  I thought the smoke was just beautiful.

Charissa rings the church bell for Christmas in August while wearing her Christmas dress!

This was another trip up into the mountains northeast of us.  I'm sure this pool doesn't have a name, but the rock field and blue skies were so spectacular.

Again, Charissa shows us how a girl should dress for these excursions.  Note her Mossy Oak hat ;-)

Family picture time!  Our friend, Ed, came along and snapped a picture of the whole family!  That doesn't happen to often.

We found an old mine up in the hills and started cracking rocks with Ed's hammer.  We found some silver!  There is a bit of gold, copper and zinc as well.  You can see the vein of quartz with the silver on either side.  Miner's would be on the lookout for a vein of quartz and then would start digging. 

Charissa found some Indian Paintbrush in a purple hue I had never seen before.

Some more dead wood.  See how twisted it is?  I love it!

Ed pans for gold with a bunch of rocks he picked up from the mine.  He found a couple flecks!

We all went foot (and bum) skiing down another snow field.  So much FUN!

Doug and Charissa come to a screeching halt at the end before getting all muddy.

I've decided to wait another week before starting "school" for Charissa.  My family is coming on the 4th-11th (whoo-hoo!) and my Mom is bringing me a bunch of books for Charissa.  We are going to be doing Five in a Row Volume 1, obviously with a lot of adaptions for a 3 year old!  I don't want to pressure her, but she keeps asking to do school and learn to read (!!!), so I guess we'll start on that!  We're having a lot of fun in the meantime.  And besides, living IS learning!

I'm SO EXCITED!

  

I never started blogging to make money.  My main goal was to share pictures of my kiddos, recipes, thoughts and just connect with people - hopefully giving a little encouragement along the way to "treasure up" the moments God gives us in life, especially in motherhood.  And besides that, I just like blogging!

But when I found Sweetbottoms and saw the opportunity to become an affiliate with them, I just couldn't pass it up!  This is a FABULOUS cloth diaper company!  They have everything you could possibly need for cloth diapering, from the humble prefold to the All-In-One diapers to the gDiaper.  

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I even let her use it by herself!

Most of all I appreciate the focus Sweetbottoms places on eco-friendly, natural products while supporting work at home mommies.

So pop on over, and if you make a purchase, let them know that Hannah at Treasuring It Up sent you!
(Because I don't know if I figured out the affiliate hyperlinks throughout this post!)