A Lovely Tea Party

This afternoon I received an invitiation I could not refuse to a lovely tea party given in my honor by my wonderful hostess Sirah. She invited me into her home (her bedroom) where she was all dressed up in a beautiful blue fairy dress. She set the table with her fine china tea set and set me on one side and her on the other.

She amazed me with her memory reminding me that she got this tea set when she was in california at Grandma's birthday at the restuarant where her aunt and uncle gave her this for her birthday. And we think they don't remember - that was nearly a year ago right after she turned three.

Anyway back to our tea party. She washed all the dishes and filled the tea pot, she provided the tea in the proper order with cream and sugar. She told me when it was cool and provided lovely conversation throughout the tea time. Her manners were excellent, perhaps even better than my own. She spoke with a lovely gentile accent that I have no idea where she got in from and her wisdom seemed far beyond her years.

It was a lovely way to pass nearly an hour and a moment that nothing else could compare with. I am glad I set aside everything else to spend time doing that with her at her request. It is a moment I know I will remember forever. As the teatime ended (so we could pick up dad from work) she carefully "washed" all her dishes and returned our other guests (lamb and share bear) to their place on her bed and asked me to carry her to the car.

In full dress up fairy costume I carried her to the car - with such a mixture of emotion of how little and old she is at the same time. Today when I pushed her on the high swing and watched her work on pumping herself and listened to her count and point to her numbers or pretend she too was learning to read I realized just how much she has grown this year.

She has always been verbal beyond her years so sometimes that does not phase me the same way as seeing her doing new things and acting so mature. Something about the time we shared today in our tea party reminded me to cherish these hours and stop whatever I am doing to have a cup of tea with this fine hostess.

Tonight Serona has Rhia out on a date. They are going bowling and out for a special desert. Really what they are doing matters much less than the special time that they have set apart for each other to enjoy each other. I am going to take this moment to bring a big stack of storybooks into my bed and snuggle up with Sirah and Ciaran and enjoy some special snuggle story times.

Kiss and hug your babies and your big kids too!

Lessons from my Other Mothers

Yesterday you read my post about my own mother and the many ways she has blessed me - I have a few other "mothers" that I would like to thank and share some of what they have given me. For we all are blessed with one mother who births us and for many of us raises and loves us. Still we are also often blessed with other motherly women who help make us into who we become. This post is about a few of them for me.

Mom-in-Love
I call her mom but I made it clear that she is not my mother in law but my mother in love because it was my love for her son and then his whole family that brought us together as family. I am blessed with a very special mom-in-love and we have a great relationship. A few of the gifts and lessons she has passed on to me

My wonderful husband trained to be a godly husband and father

An example of how to be a godly wife and mother

The conversation that passed on the wisdom to let God choose my friends instead of me

The freedom of her love and acceptance of who I am and how we live our lives and raise our kids even if she might disagrees (I've never known it if she has)

The strength to accept my flaws for what they are and strive to improve them

Her daily prayers since Serona was a child (a truly cherished gift)



Grandmothers
My grandmothers were also a blessing to me through my life. From the two of them I learned many important lessons and life skills.

A strong faith that trusts in God even when times are tough.

A willingness to persevere and be a strong woman even when alone.

A love and appreciation for culture and fine arts.

A safe place to come to no matter my circumstances and open arms to love me.

A generation of family to love me and care for me

Holidays, traditions and an important sense of family ties.

My aunt-mothers
Many of us have aunts, some we know more than others, some we spend more time with than others. I was raised with aunts who were and are an important part of my life. Even though we live far apart and the time between seeing each other grows I know they are always there for me and we pick up as natural as can be when we are together. Growing up I spent a lot of time with my aunts and they blessed me in many ways.

The gift of many arms to hug me, ears to listen to me, and mouths to offer wisdom to me.

The variety of experiences and different life choices and the wisdom that comes from seeing love for family lived out in so many different ways.

The commitment to family and tradition and the glue that binds us together.

Regular time together that built trust, love and as I grew older friendship.

Many cousins to extend my sibling circle as we spent so much time together. Without sisters I especially enjoyed my girl cousins and the time we shared together.

An acceptance of me for who I am whether or not that has agreed with them. The ability to tease in love but encourage and support one another in our dreams no matter if they intersect.

Forgiveness for moving so far away and starting a mass exodus of sorts of other family members. Still loving me though I don't move back to NY.


These women have taught me so many things and I have become who I am today in part because of each of them and the way they love and cherish me, the lessons I have learned from them, and the gifts they have granted me.

When you look at me today you would certainly see a strong reflection of my own mother and the many influences she has had on my life. But you will also see pieces of these women as well and of the many other people who I have learned from, men and women alike. Thank you to each of you who has been a part of my life and helped me become the woman I am today and the woman I will one day become.

Many thanks and blessings,
Tenniel

A Moment to Cherish

Anyone who knows me or has spent any regular time on my blog knows I LOVE reading to kids. It is a passion of mine, it is one of those memories I hope my kids grow up to love and to replicate with their own children. We read and we read and we read a lot. Today we had one of those moments that makes me love homeschooling so much.

It was late morning we had just finished a snack of scones and hot chocolate and I decided to read to the kids. Our current mom chapter book (we also have a dad read aloud - currently Jedi Search by Kevin Anderson) is The Bobbsey Twins Red, White and Blue Mystery which they are really enjoying. Sirah and Ciaran got out a puzzle to do while they listened to me and Rhiannon picked up her nine patch sewing (for her Plum Creek class) and they sat nearby listening and keeping their hands busy. I read three chapters and they kept asking for more but after an hour at that time of day I was at risk of falling asleep during reading and needed to stop.

It was just one of those quiet moments where we enjoyed a good story together and everyone was engaged with each other and with their own quiet project. It was one of those moments that made me feel like a sterotypical homeschooler. Reading aloud to kids is one of those things that I know is common to many homeschools and many families in general and just something about the way it happened today made me feel a connection with families all across the world who were likely doing the very same things. We went on with the lessons and business of the remainder of the day.

This evening I took another break from all the cleaning and evening prep to just pull the younger two into my lap and read for awhile. One of the books we read was Reading With Dad and it brought tears and smiles to me. A sweet story about a little girl reading with her father throughout her whole life and the different stages of reading together. As I read it I happened to be sitting in our overstuffed leather chair with two kids on my lap (just like a photo in the book) and Ciaran noticed it. As I finished the book I placed a kiss on both their heads and told them how much I loved reading with them and how it was one of my favorite things to do and how they should do the same with their kids and always read with me throughout all their lives. They both turned around and gave me one of the biggest tightest hugs and I just felt so loved and so special in that moment. Just pure love and joy from a simple hug and shared moment with a book. It just does not get better...well maybe when I can no longer read and they read to me.