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Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

Saturday smiles

The early edition

October 27, 2011

I’m headed away for the weekend and have another post scheduled for Saturday, so here’s an early look at what made me smile this week.

Isabelle’s made-up story about some princesses (silly bands) and a crocodile (accessory to a Crocodile Hunter action figure) and a magic spell that turns the crocodile into a “handsome man” in her words.

Corban’s dinnertime prayer from the other night. It went something like this.

Parent: Who’s going to pray?

Corban: Me!

Parent: OK, go ahead.

Corban, with hands folded: It’s not workin’.

Parent: What’s not workin’?

Corban: Jesus.

Parents laugh uncontrollably.

An ’80s dance party in the kitchen while making potato pancakes for dinner. Isabelle LOVES dance parties.

Kitchen successes: homemade pizza, meals prepared for my absence, washed dishes, among others.

Phrases like “Isabelle, give your brother back his purse” that only a mother can say in all seriousness.

Laughing so hard you cry and can’t breathe and can’t stop laughing. (It was a joke on TV that hit so close to home, I’m still smiling when I think of it.)

Laughing with my love over how well he knows me.

Love overflowing from a box sent by family in another state.

Learning to love my kids exactly where they — and we — are in life.

Reconnecting with my best and oldest friend over the phone and feeling like we were next door neighbors instead of chatting hundreds of miles apart.

Two hours to myself to shop for jeans/pants and pick up a few groceries.

Little changes that make a big difference — like moving a piece of furniture, or a plant, or cleaning an area of the house of its clutter.

Filed Under: Saturday smiles Tagged With: finding the good in life, good changes, kids say the darnedest things, laughter is the best medicine, out of the mouths of babes, things that make you smile

Too many reasons to smile

October 22, 2011

Seeing the sun rise over Lebanon (the city, not the country, though it, too, might be beautiful)

Losing 3 pounds in 10 days after seeing no change or weight gain for months

Related to that, running 1.5 miles three times in 8 days. Feels good to be back on the horse.

Alphabet pasta. And finding our names in it.

“I’m an African.”

Seriously, where does she come up with this? I’m hoping we’re just raising a globally minded daughter.

Collecting leaves.

Fixing hot chocolate for my kids and watching them fish the marshmallows out with their hands.

Hearing Corban sing the theme song to “The Cat in Hat Knows A Lot About That.”

Bandaids fixing everything.

A “tea party” in the “tree house” of the seminary playground.

My own geekiness when an author whose book I’m reading approaches our dinner table and my subsequent disappointment that I didn’t get to shake his hand.

My inner boldness to approach said author at his book table afterward and shake his hand and tell him how much I’ve enjoyed reading it so far.

Great ideas. Mine and others’.

Creativity.

A clean kitchen. And the power of baking soda to clean the grease off counters and stovetops.

A picked-up living room. (It’s a short-lived smile, but I’ll take what I can get.)

Isabelle earning a mommy-daddy-daughter movie night for 5 more straight days of no potty accidents. (We’ll be watching “Beauty and the Beast.” I’ll try to refrain from quoting/singing the whole thing to her, but I failed miserably with “The Lion King” a week ago.

Hearing what’s on my husband’s heart and mind.

Filed Under: Saturday smiles Tagged With: count your blessings, finding the positive, things that make you smile

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Hi. I’m Lisa, and I’m glad you’re here. If we were meeting in real life, I’d offer you something to eat or drink while we sat on the porch letting the conversation wander as it does. That’s a little bit what this space is like. We talk about books and family and travel and food and running, whatever I might encounter in world. I’m looking for the beauty in the midst of it all, even the tough stuff. (You’ll find a lot of that here, too.) Thanks for stopping by. Stay as long as you like.

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