Peaceful

Over the past month, I have encountered the idea of bringing peace to my surroundings over and over.  I've noticed it in my devotion times, in blog posts....everywhere.  So I've decided that it will be my theme for the year- to try to bring peace to my surroundings by eliminating chaos and confusion.  It's not that I plan to live in a quiet bubble- I love happiness, talking, music and lots of people- but I want to step away from getting all worked up over stuff, stay organized, and avoid cycles of craziness!  I think of cycles of craziness in relation to my house- letting it get super messy, allowing piles to build on busy days,  and spending free days cleaning it all up, then letting messes build all over again when busy times strike.  I want the words I speak to Nathan to be peaceful words, not fight-picking words, so that our home has a spirit of peacefulness and calm.  The following verses have made me further inspired to work towards having a peaceful home and heart:

Colossians 3:15  "And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts..."

Matthew 5:19  "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God."

Psalm 34:14  "...seek peace and pursue it."

Psalm 119:165  "Great peace have they who love your law..."

Romans 14:19  "Therefore let us make every effort to do what leads to peace..."

1 Corinthians 14:33  "For God is not a God of disorder but of peace."

Isaiah 9:6  "And He shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

There are some really practical ways I'm going to work on this, in three categories:

In Media:

-Turn off the noise.  When I'm home doing things like dishes, banking and laundry, turn off the background noise.  I tend to turn on music or a TV or news show from Hulu when I do these chores, but it ends up just being distracting background noise.  I am finding it healthy and freeing to get rid of the noise and just think and enjoy the quiet time.

-Quit using Facebook as a way to procrastinate from things I really need to get done.

In Relationships:

-Avoid "jabs".  There's going to be times in marriage or in close friendships when you have to tell your spouse or friend something they don't want to hear.  Just simple stuff, like talking about finding a better way to divide the chores, or getting dirty clothes to find the hamper, can be approached in a nice way, or with a jab.  Verbal jabs don't usually happen by accident, and I want to avoid them.

-Sometimes life throws curve balls that stress me out, and there's no way to avoid them- they just happen from time to time.  Then, there's things that make me stressed out and a not very pleasant person to be around, and they happen all the time.  Like when I wake up and the dishes we didn't do the night before still aren't done (who knew we didn't have magic elves who washed them while we slept?), and there's no time to do them before running out the door.  Or when I don't know what to wear, try 15 outfits on before picking one, am running behind because of it AND have a giant pile of clothes on my closet floor.  Those things stress me out on a regular basis.  

So, to save myself stress, and help me not be a grouch with Nathan, I can take simple steps, like picking out my clothes the night before and taking 20 minutes to tidy the house before I go to sleep.

In the House:

-Keep a good perspective on house cleaning/organizing.  Someone posted this on Facebook last weekend and it really encouraged me.  "Proclaiming the Prince of Peace as ruler of our home...Which is usually called house cleaning, but is really a simple act of worship to the Creator of true beauty and peace."  I like the idea of keeping my home orderly to reflect the beauty and order of creation.

  

-As we a remodeling the house we'll move into in March, I'm consciously trying to choose things that will make our home environment peaceful.  One of those things is making sure there is plenty of storage.  Nothing squelches peace and calm like having stuff sprawled (and lost!) all over the house.  Storage doesn't have to be expensive, and you don't have to remodel or get a bigger house to find a little spot to keep things organized.  Some simple shelves and plastic storage boxes can make a huge difference without costing a lot.

-Divide housework between days.  I did this in our apartment, and it worked great.  With just 20-30 minutes a day, we could keep the apartment clean and organized.  One day was bathroom cleaning, another was washing the kitchen floor, scrubbing the sink and cleaning our the refrigerator.  One day was dusting and vacuuming, and so on.  It kept everything fresh with just a little time and helped us to avoid total catastrophes.  

-Write down on my grocery list the things that I'm out of, when I run out of them.  It seems like every time I start to make something, I realize that I'm out of one thing and have to run to the grocery store.  It's become a regular thing to go three or four times a week.  I honestly don't enjoy grocery shopping and if I will just write things down, I can cut the number of trips down by a lot!

These are the good old days...

...my little brother is not always going to want to call me a few times a week and talk to me for 20, 30 or more minutes.  Our conversations aren't anything earth shattering- mostly a blow-by-blow of his day, and lately, what I think he should buy different people for Christmas- but it's not always going to be "cool" to call his big sister.  I have lots of messages saved on my phone that say, "Leah, this is Isaac....I was just calling to chit-chat, so call me back!"  10 years from now, he'll probably have a different girl on speed dial, so I try to treasure the sweet innocence now.

...Eva's not always going to be a 7-year-old begging me to sit on the floor and play Strawberry Shortcakes. In fact, it doesn't seem like too long ago that I was the one who loved to play with those dolls.  Yesterday I helped her organize the toys in her bedroom- seeing the paper dolls, American girl dolls and art projects brought back a lot of memories.  She has a lot of mature characteristics, but can be super silly and little girlish at the same time.  She came over on Saturday and helped me bake peanut blossoms.  She got the giggles as she exaggerated my instructions to make all the cookies uniform in size.  I just love these two little guys.  Before I know it, they're going to be all grown up.

Is this the right size???

Oh, maybe if I make it a little bigger....

...and bigger...

How's this???

(Yes, she was having a silly afternoon!)

...even though it feels like I haven't quite found the perfect rhythm to keeping my house clean, laundry done and dinner on the table (it seems like once a week our house looks like it "threw up" the contents of its cabinets and closets), I know it's never going to be easier than now.  When we have kids and happy chaos someday, I'm sure there will be times that I'll look back fondly on how streamlined my days are now.


...I think one of the things that makes marriage great in the long run is when each spouse works to understand the other more fully, learning something new about the other every day.  As much as we loved each other when we got married, almost a year and a half later, our relationship is even closer than it was then.  I am so happy to have time with Nathan almost every day to just enjoy our marriage.  Whether we're actually working on a project together, hosting friends, or just tackling our individual to-do lists in the evenings, I'm grateful to have these days and years to study Nathan as a person.

It's Finished.

It's taken me a couple of months to get it all together, but I finally finished my teaching website this morning.  My intention is to use it as an advertising tool for now.  I could also see adding an online payment option to the site so that parents could pay there if it was more convenient.  I might add a page where I play some of the standard pieces my students learn so they could have an example to watch during the week.  I've even seen videos where teachers record various ways to practice tricky spots in a piece.  It will probably be 2012 before I get to that...

Want to see my favorite part of the website?  Click on Videos, then Hindemith Solo Cello Sonata, then move the video ahead to the last movement, or 7:55.  I like this because people usually think of cello as being an instrument that plays slow, lyrical movie themes.  It is.  But, we can also play fun stuff like the Hindemith on it.  Or, if you really want to see cellos branch out, watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AYEgwwCYWw  It's not really my style, but it's pretty cool.

So, take a look around www.leahsweeney.com and then leave me your comments and suggestions on here!

30 By 30

In a few days, it will be exactly six and a half years until I turn 30.  That doesn't sound too far away.  So many milestones are passed in the age 10 to age 20 decade.  Even though 20 to 30 won't have as many of them (going from elementary school to half-way through college is a pretty big change), I hope it will be far from a boring decade.  Here's a list I came up with.  Most of them are fun things that I've wanted to do but have just not had time for.  Only a couple are serious, but it will be a fun challenge to get through them all by 30.

1. Host our families for a major holiday.
2. Drive to California.
3. Learn to make bread.
4. Memorize a book of the Bible (A substantial one...not Jude).
5. Vote for the first time (Yes, I know, it is sad that I'm 23 and have not done that yet).
6. Go to Asia.
7. Play the Dvorak Concerto really well.
8. Spend a week camping.  (This would be a very pioneer-ish stretch for me).
9. Be on time for stuff (Nathan tells me that on-time is 5-10 minutes early...hmmm....).
10. Make my blog profitable.
11. Create a reading list of 10-12 books on New Years and actually get through them that year.
12. Sew something, or at least learn how to turn a sewing machine on.  Or, at least learn how to sew a button on.
13. Keep up with our family photo albums.
14. Take a cooking class.
15. Finish a half marathon (I didn't say run, just finish.)
16. Buy my new car with cash (I'm pretty sure the car I've had for 7 years isn't going to make the next 6.5 years to age 30).
17. Plan someone else's wedding.  (Therese, this is for you!  Aren't you excited??)
18. Create our own Christmas traditions.
19. Complete the 40-Day Maker's Diet.
20. Spend lots of time with Isaac and Eva since they'll be 16 and 14 when I turn 30.
21. Skydive.
22. Complete Suzuki teacher training.
23. Buy a Yamaha grand piano.
24. Create an exercise routine.
25. Play Vivaldi Double Cello Concerto with Isaac. 
26. Take a vacation at a tropical resort.
27. Visit my last 13 states. 
28. Double the size of my music studio.
29. Own our first home.
30. Learn how to ballroom dance (or at least take a class).

Kisses from Katie

‎"The truth is that the 143 million orphaned children and the 11 million who starve to death or die from preventable diseases and the 8.5 million who work as child slaves, prostitutes, or under other horrific conditions and the 2.3 million who live with HIV add up to 164.8 million needy children. And though at first glance that number looks like a big number, 2.1 billion people on this earth proclaim to be Christians. The truth is that if only 8 percent of the Christians would care for one more child, there would not be any statistics left."

 ~Katie Davis, 22-year-old missionary

I have followed Katie's blog, http://kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com, on and off for several years now.  I haven't read this book yet, but am going to get on Amazon and order it this morning.  I know it will be a challenging read- Katie left a comfortable life in Nashville as class president and homecoming queen as an 18-year-old to be a missionary in Uganda.  In the past four years, she has adopted 14 children that she is raising in their home country.  

There are some people, even Christians, who look down on her decision- they think she should have had her own life experiences first, like going to college and getting married- but I think her selfless decision puts most American Christians to shame.  Yes, including myself. 

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans..." -James 1:27

If you want to order a copy of the book, follow the link below.   

http://www.amazon.com/Kisses-Katie-Story-Relentless-Redemption/dp/1451612060/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320407855&sr=8-1

Hindemith Cello Sonata

I got my recital video back recently and uploaded one of the pieces to YouTube yesterday.  The piece I'm posting is Hindemith's Cello Sonata.  The style of playing is probably different from what you might expect from cello playing- most people think, beautiful, melodic lines when they think of cello.  This isn't quite that.  Hindemith, the composer, lived in Germany and composed this work in the 1920's.