Loving Others Day 5, 6 & 7

After making dinner for my in-laws on Wednesday night, I got violently ill with the stomach flu and was bed ridden on Thursday. I felt much better by Friday and started to work on a doll for my older daughter. She turns two on Monday and I am trying to get the doll as well as some outfits made. So that is what I'll be working on this weekend! Hopefully I'll get to post photos next week.

But in the meantime, Kaela is practicing her own acts of kindness by making cards for a couple of her aunties.

Loving Others Day 3 + 4

Did you know there is a Random Acts of Kindness Week? And that it's this week? I was so surprised to find a post written about it on The Storque, Etsy's blog. I thought it was particularly appropriate given my goal of giving or doing something for someone else beyond the norm for the next 30 days. An artist named Heidi Burton even created some random acts of kindness cards that you can download here if you want to get in on the kindness action.

My in-laws came into town yesterday and my goal has been to cook them good food. Yesterday I made a beef stew from my new favorite cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking by my new hero Julia Child. Today I am going to try and make a Santa Fe chowder from the Moosewood Cookbook and some fresh buttermilk bread. I may be overly ambitious though because I am bone tired.

This morning I brought the girls down to the Upper West Side to meet the grandparents at the American Museum of Natural History. As any parent of young ones knows, getting kids ready, fed, dressed, and out the door is a feat that deserves a special medal. If you have two or more kids, this quadruples the stress per kid because coordinating various personalities and moods is a challenge. The outing went fine and both kids did great, although the Ergo carrier I'm using for my younger daughter is killing my back. On the way home, I caught the B train uptown to 125th Street, and then crossed the platform to wait for the A train. Of course the A train just pulled away as our train entered the station. We stand at the platform and a D train comes. The C train comes. Another D train comes. Then the B train. B train again. C train. D train. At this point, we have been waiting on the platform for 30 minutes and I am ready to lie down on the grimy ground to relieve my back of the weight of my daughter. I silently curse the MTA in my head. Finally, finally the A train comes. We get on and I collapse into a subway seat.

When we arrive at 181st Street, I exit the train and a woman with two kids gets on. One of her kids drops a red plastic lei as she enters the train and despite my back seizing up I remember the goal of kindness and I lean down, pick up the lei, and quickly hand it to the woman as the train doors close and barely miss capturing my wrist. The little girl smiles at me through the subway windows. She has a beautiful smile.

I join the masses of people heading up the stairs and a very kind man offers to carry Kaela in her stroller up the stairs for me. Poor guy did not know how heavy Kaela was (plus my bag was in the stroller basket), but he did his kind deed with a smile. I thank him profusely and he brushes it off. He makes sure to open the service gate for me as well so I can get through with the stroller. I wish him a very wonderful day and say a prayer that Jesus would shine good things upon him.

I find that the crowded, communal, contact sport that is living in NYC makes these acts of kindness particularly important. The opportunities to love other people and the opportunities to accept help are abundant. Maybe that is why I love living here. Does kindness give you energy? Because I feel better able to get through the afternoon now, cooking chowder and baking bread and everything else that comes with mothering, loving, living.

Loving Others Day 2

Yesterday my husband and older daughter came home from a three-day trip to Baltimore for mu husband's brother's birthday, and I thought it would be nice to welcome him back with a dessert. I chose a key lime pie with meringue recipe from the book Baking Illustrated. It was delicious, and a good opportunity to show my hubbie that I loved him.

Loving Others

It has been a hard year so far. I gave birth to my second daughter, Lina, in December, and now my husband and I have two kids under the age of two in a small, one-bedroom apartment in New York City. Being an introvert and having worked from home the last five years, I have been used to having a lot of “alone” time. Now with two kids to take care of in limited space, I often find it hard to have room to breathe. Each day feels like a race to get everything done, to make sure both kids get fed and get naps, to wash dishes and clean up after a toddler and cook meals, to do work for my business and to keep up with friends and family. By the time my husband gets home at 7:15pm, I am ready to collapse. Only I can’t. My two month old needs to nurse, my two year old needs a bath and to be put to bed, and my husband is hungry after working hard all day and missing his lunch break.

I feel overwhelmed and tired. In the midst of all of this, we are trying to buy into a co-op in New York City which will give us more space but which is currently causing quite a bit of headaches with mortgage applications, delays in move-in dates, and second thoughts on our part... “Can we really afford this? Do we really want to do this?”

This morning I realized that something needs to sustain me on a daily basis or else I might sink into a hole and not reemerge. I thought about the things that give me joy, and I thought about how God wants me to use my life to demonstrate His love for others. In an attempt to fight against the desire to get trapped in an inward-focused trap, I am going to try to deliberately do or give something that goes a little bit above the norm to someone else each day for the next thirty days. I expect that some gifts or deeds will be geared toward my husband as I think I need to express my love for him more than I have been. Others will probably be geared toward friends, family, my two children, the random stranger on the street.

To start off today, I decided to give something to my wonderful godmother Joy. I stopped at a lovely flower shop on the way to church called Surroundings Flowers (photo above from their website) and picked out a single beautiful long stemmed rose for Joy. A simple gesture to tell her I loved her and appreciated her. My heart instantly felt lighter when I saw her surprised face at the sight of the rose. I think today’s goal was a success.

I Love You Messenger Bag for Toddlers

Last night after feeding my two month old daughter Lina at 3am, I had a hard time falling back asleep. So, rather than fighting the insomnia, I created this heart shaped messenger bag for my two-year-old in my head as I lay in bed waiting for dreamland to come. I sewed it together this morning, and Kaela was thrilled with her new accessory. You can download the pattern by visiting the Windows of Agate website and going to the Patterns link.

Inspiration

About a year ago, I started my business, Windows of Agate. The name is a reference from the Bible, where the prophet Isaiah writes, “O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires. And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates with carbuncles, and all thy borders with pleasant stones.” (Isaiah 54:11-12)

Nearly two years ago my first daughter Kaela was born, and about two months ago my second daughter Lina (photographed above) followed. My children and the Creator that made them are the main inspiration for my line of baby and children’s toys. Keep checking back to see what I’m making, what markets I’ll be at, and how to do some of your own crafty projects.