How do you transform a Namibian princess?

It's the weekend and time for some reflections on our week. In full disclosure, part of the reason I am blogging is because I am mindful of how often I tend to the negative. I really do. Complaining comes all too easily and it effects my life. It is not that pleasant to be around negative people and I DO NOT want to be one of them! And I certainly do not want to pass this tendency on to my kids.  I want to see and celebrate the good in life. Smell the roses. And choose to see the glass half full.

I believe that blogging about all the amazing things in my life might just offer me pause to adjust my thinking. Now don't get me wrong, I do not intent to fake it. That's just not me.  Faking is a lie and I am not about to lie to you.

Much of my inspiration for blogging comes from Ann Voskamp, a fellow homeschooling mamma. And while she hardly ever writes about that part of her life it's at the very fiber of her writing and photos. You see having kids is filled with wonder and beauty and adventure but let's be honest, it's also filled with a lot of mess and bickering and sass. And if you homeschool then you have your kids home that much more to do all that messing and bickering and sassing. And so I guess Amy sees the value of drawing attention to the beauty of it all and counting her blessings.

I first "met" Ann Voskamp in the kitchen of my special friend Shoshanna Pucci. A kindred spirit for sure. She showed me this video by Amy





and I just burst into tears. And through sobs I said, "But how?!" How do you choose joy in the mess and chaos of life. 

So of course I bought Ann Voskamp's New York bestselling book "One thousand Gifts" to figure out how. And it's real simple.   Making a choice to see the beauty in the midst of the mess of life. Opening your eyes to the amazing in your life.

And so that's what I am choosing to do daily. And sharing that beauty in the midst of my mess through blogging may just mean that one day I don't have to choose to see the glass half full anymore, it may just come a little more naturally.

So this week I wanted to share my beauty is the midst of my mess. And it comes by way of a creative writing piece that Daliya (now in 3rd grade) worked on this week. The assignment was for her to take the story of the princess and the pea and make it her own. Here it is for you to see (and I did not fix her typos :-)

 

 

The Real Princess

There was a handsome prince who was not just looking for an ordinary princess but a real princess. One stormy night a wet dirty princess knocked on the palace gate. The king went and brought the princess in. The caring queen wanted her son to have a beautiful real princess. The queen set up a really soft comfortable bed for the princess but she also put a pea underneath all the matrices and blankets.

When the princess woke up the queen asked, “How did you sleep?” “I slept terrible, there was a really lumpy loud thing underneath me.” Now the Queen knows that the princess is a real princess because how do you feel just one tiny pea underneath all those blankets and matrices. Then they eat a royal breakfast with pancakes, hot coco, tea, coffee and every thing you can imagine.

The queen told the princess that she had put a pea under the princesses’ pillow. To see if she would sleep bad because of it. And because she felt it the queen announced “LETS CELIBRATE! We will have a party and order a bunch of pizzas and dance!”

THE MORAL IS TO NOT MARRY A PRETTY PRINCESS BUT A THOUTFULL PRINCESS.

Great moral I'd say :-) Mind you Zach's was equally entertaining, he decided the story was a touch boring and needed to be spiffed up a bit and so his was called "The Princess and the Thorn" and it was all about a Namibian princess. Little does he know how much of a princess seeking transformation his mom really is :-)