Living Outside the Box

2013 is the 200th anniversary of the publication of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.  To celebrate, our local library hosted a reading of her work.  Excerpts from Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Persuasion were read by a group of about 7-8 people. It was delightful fun!  The girls and I were, I'm quite certain, the youngest in age of anyone there, with Kyra and Maddy being the only teenagers in the audience.  :)

It makes me smile inside to have daughters who aren't typical teens.  Such a fun mixture of geeky, talented, beautiful, crafty, brilliant, and kind.  Some days they sit around drinking tea and knitting lovely things, usually watching something nerdly like the BBC's Sherlock or Merlin.  They are adept at channeling their inner old ladies, enjoying Shakespeare, reading at coffee shops while sipping snobby organic fair trade coffee (dark roast, of course), upcycling thrift store finds, hosting geeky parties for their friends (such a party is happening at our house tomorrow), reading and re-reading Harry Potter, baking, sewing, taking photos, or painting. Other days you might see them do something completely the opposite--like shooting a gun, riding a dirt bike, fishing with Jay, or hiking through the woods.  Ha!  I love them! 

Both of my girls have their own sense of style, not caring what the "normal" trends are for most girls their age. Naturally lovely, they don't care too much (or in Maddy's case, at all) about make-up.  It makes me happy.  Kyra is my little bohemian with a heart for the poor and downtrodden.  Maddy has a keen sense of justice and a wonderful heart free of judgement and condemnation.  It has been incredible to watch them as they are discovering who God created them to be and are seeking His path for them. These girls will do great things.

I suppose I should point out that they aren't perfect. Just in case you were wondering. :)  I am constantly giving them the Mom Lecture about their rooms, which seem to always look like something barfed yarn, clothing, books, water glasses, and who-knows-what-else, all over the place. Certainly there are days when they have to be reminded to get busy and do their schoolwork. Having three girls in the house, there are emotional days and grumpy days, days when we'd just as soon be 100 miles away from each other. You know how it goes.  I'm pretty sure it's just the same as any other family. Thankfully, those days are far outnumbered by good ones.

I am one blessed mama.  Thank you, Jesus, for granting me the honor of being mom to these amazing young women.

Do You Who?

I am almost laughing as I sit here thinking about writing this post.  Although I risk embarrassing myself, I am going to share something that has become something of an obsession. Ok, maybe not exactly an obsession, but it is definitely consuming more of my time than I would like to admit.  By the way, the blame for this lies completely with my daughters.  They just seemed to be having such a lovely time watching this show that my curiosity won out.  Yes, it is a TV show.  I'm just going to say it...I love Doctor Who.  For pete's sake, I may even be a Whovian.  (Did I really just type that???)  Now I am laughing for real.

Doctor Who.  Perhaps you've heard of it?  BBC TV series, originally started in the 60's and  brought back to life in 2005.  It's full of cheesy BBC-typical special effects, complete with aliens and time travel in a British 1950's blue police box/spaceship called the TARDIS. I won't even try to explain the show.  It just sounds too ridiculous.  Honestly, I would never have made it past the very first episode if my girls hadn't told me to just keep watching.  And watch it I have.  I am currently in Season 3 and am completely hooked.  So bizarre.  The only other time I have ever done this was a couple of summers ago when I watched every episode of The X-Files.  (Love me some Fox Mulder!)  Ok, so maybe I am a nerd.  I am sure that will be a shocking confession to all of you who know me.  :)

Maddy made this birthday card for Kyra. Only fellow Whovians will understand.