Life with Jocelyn

Jocelyn Larsen

No-Sew Re-Upholstering Vinyl

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My dear friend and neighbor, Christy, found a lovely little spearmint-colored vinyl footstool for me at a yard sale long ago. She bought it because “It fits perfectly in your basement!” And it does. She is so sweet – and proves to have more of an eye for design than she accredits to herself.

Well, a few months ago, I was so sad to find a crack in the vinyl! I’m almost positive that it was my own 18-month-old and his pretend chopsticks (which Christy also gave us, I might add) that were the culprit. Well, the crack grew. And then multiplied. I kept thinking I should just throw it out, but was racking my brain for a less terminal solution. And then…it came to me. Mod Podge! Mod Podge is one of my favorite solution to anything and everything. Fortunately, the cracks were only on the top of the footstool, so I:

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Our New Piano!

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I’m busy rearranging our basement today… much due to the arrival of our new friend:

Isn’t she a beaut!? She fits perfectly in our basement decor, too (a fact that it much more important to me than to the rest of our family). An old high school friend of mine gave her to us for free! And my dad hauled it 180 miles to our home for free! And our 3 strongest, manliest friends came over to help carry her in to her new place for free! I’m so blessed.

With such a talented, musical husband, a piano in our home was a [first world] need. I’ve wanted one for as long as I’ve been married to J. When instruments are left out in our home, they get played a lot – and not too shabbily, I might add. J taught himself to play piano after sitting next to his mom and watching her. I pray that the same thing will happen to at least a couple of my kids and that they’ll come to love music as much as their dad & I do. Already we’ve enjoyed sitting around it listening, singing, tinkering.

Just for kicks, here’s her current view of the rest of the basement:

As you can see, I still have lots of work to do. Also, please note Howard’s “fort” on the righthand side – made up of the perfect combination of blankets and our old-school TV trays – and the dead-looking Mr. Potato Head under it. I think I’m going to get going so I can resuscitate him…along with the rest of our disarrayed living room.

Happy Monday! What are you up to this week?

Jocie

Marriage: Feelings vs. Promise

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Jason & I watched this little video recently of Tim Keller, John Piper, & Don Carson and there was so much good in it that I had to share it with you. Even if you wouldn’t call yourself a Christian or religious, I think you’d like this.


 

 

 

 

Sustaining the Covenant of Marital Love

My favorite things from the video (Watch it before you read my thoughts because they say it so much better than I do!):

  • “In your many years of marriage, have you ever considered divorce?” “Divorce? Never! Murder? Often!”
  • I found the concept that my husband will be married to at least 5 different versions of me over the course of our marriage to be so true! For better and for worse, I change. During my first year of motherhood, I was a very different person than the girl he married. I was very emotionally unsteady. I was physically exhausted. I felt spiritually abandoned and angry. I’m so glad he based our marriage at that time on his promise and not on his feelings!

What did you think?

 

 

I Live in a Comfortable World

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I am not a history buff. But I’ve been thinking lately about 2 things which must have characterized most civilizations until our modern times (and which still often characterize our third world): regular fear for one’s life and regular concern for one’s daily needs. Relative peace in the western world, scientific and technological advances, and modern refrigeration have all but purged our modern society from these terrible fears.

Yet sometimes I wonder if those old-fashioned fears are really all that terrible in every way. To be reminded daily of the fragility of life is not to take it for granted. To be reminded daily of God’s faithful provisions is not to become arrogantly self-dependent. I get so stuffy sometimes. I think I’d be a better person if I had even just a small dose of those fears. Just think of how uniquely (and comfortably, I might add) we experience the [American] world today. A world in which we have the freedom, affluence, and time to drink our iced caramel macchiatos in our air-conditioned Starbuckses and talk authoritatively about poverty and social injustices!

I want to be the kind of person who is grateful for and mindful of the real fragility and dependency in which I live each day. I really believe that Jesus holds my molecules together (Colossians 1:17) and that each breath I breathe is borrowed air (Psalms 24:1).

I’d never heard someone pray before a meal like my friend Stacy. It changed me. Now, instead of a mostly thoughtless “God-bless-this-food-nourish-it-to-our-bodies,” I pray something more like this:

“Lord, thank You for this food. It reminds us of how good You are. I’ve never before had to worry about where my next meal was coming from. I’ve never before feared for my life because of war, famine, or terror. Give hope and help to our sisters and brothers who are right now fearing for those exact things. Amen.”

Pretty pretty.

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What is it about putting on a pair of dangly earrings that just makes me feel pretty?

Happy weekend, dear friend.

Jocelyn

Born to Run: Book Review

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This summer I read Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. My sister told me to read it, and I was looking for inspiration to get running again after having a baby.

My one word review: inspiring.

Best quote: “…the thing they loved most could bring them the most misery and confusion.” I feel this reality in my life quite often, with a lot of different things that I love most: my husband and being married to him, my kids, God, my body image, my personal callings in life. I seem to experience the most misery and confusion when my love for the lesser things outgrows my love for the greater things. I’m also confused as I just try to navigate the mystery of this life and all that it brings.

One thing I learned: McDougall spent an entire chapter talking about barefoot running. One of his main premises was that the human foot works best when it is bare or mostly bare – the bones and muscles of the foot respond very effectively and efficiently to the terrain they contact. It is so interesting to me that wherever science looks, it seems to discover over and over again that things work best in their most natural, God-given forms. Whatever science sets out to prove, it seems to conclude over and over again that the most effective, healthy way is the way God made it to begin.

Overall rating (out of 5 e-bookmarks): 3.5 e-bookmarks

Parenting Principle: A Time for Everything

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I think an awful lot about parenting. Maybe because right now it’s my job. One thing that’s true is that we have very few rules at our house. I do my best to parent less out of rules and at least mostly out of principles. I guess I feel like it’s more true to how life works, and it goes beyond the surface, the behavioral-management level, and gets to the heart of things.

One parenting principle I’ve been passionate about lately comes from The Byrds, a Pete Seeger song: “Turn! Turn! Turn!” I’m sure you’ve heard it. The words come straight from Ecclesiastes in the Bible, but anyway, it goes:

 

 

 

 

 

 

To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time to every purpose, under Heaven

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Holding onto Summer

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Summer 2010.

Well, it’s September already. I can hardly believe it.

Usually by this time of year I’m clamoring for apples & nutmeg, baking everything with pumpkin that can possibly be pumpkiny, getting pumped up for another season of Cougar football, and eyeing my favorite jeans & boots & cardigans, but somehow this week I’ve just been clinging to summer. I wasn’t even that excited to see that Starbucks has pumpkin spice lattes now. And pumpkin spice lattes are one of my favorites.

I guess I’m just still soaking in every bit of sun I can. I guess I’m just still holding onto these months sweetened by having a newborn back in the house. I guess I’m just still enjoying piling the kids in the stroller to go on a walk as a family or with friends. I guess I’m just still loving playdates at the park. I guess I’m just still savoring the early mornings and late evenings that are light enough to squeeze in a run.

It’s been warm enough where I am to still call it summer. And it’ll definitely be cold enough where I am to call it fall & winter when the time comes.

So for now, I’m letting summer linger. In my mind, in my heart, and in my running shoes. Maybe this afternoon I’ll even run through the sprinklers.

What about you? Are you ready for fall??

For Christ’s Sake

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Recently I ran across the following statement of Jesus:

“Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:39)

The words “my sake” stuck out to me as if I’d never read them before. When I look back on the past year, it has felt at times consumed by cleaning up messes for my kids’ sake, doing laundry for my family’s sake, and mentoring others for their personal growth’s sake. Then when I haven’t exactly gotten the appreciation or acknowledgement that has felt due to me, I’ve easily become self-pitying, angry, resentful, bitter.

Jesus words here are simple, yet profound. “Give up your life for my sake.” That is when it dawned on me: Giving up my life repeatedly for anyone else’s sake is discouragingly unfulfilling! It literally sucks the life out of me. I watch my life trickle away into the abyss of peanut butter sandwiches and another empty container of disinfectant wipes. I lose my life. And I get angry and self-centered about it. The thoughtful and kind person I thought I once was has disappeared, only to have been replaced by an uptight woman with frequent emotional breakdowns. They often don’t notice my behind-the-scenes deep cleaning efforts. They sometimes don’t see the value of clean clothes enough to care. They are still too young to comprehend the selfless inconvenience it is to me to make yet another mess just for the fun of playing with paints. They don’t know how much anguish in prayer and labor of heart it takes to counsel them.

But He notices. He knows the value. He comprehends fully. He knows. And when I embrace this reality in my mind and heart, when I give up my life for His sake, I’m happy to serve. I’m glad to give. I don’t mind when others don’t notice.

When I give up my life for His sake, I get my life back. Just like He said I would.

A New Job: Hello Job Flexibility, Goodbye Job Security

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My husband & I are quitting our jobs next week (don’t worry, our boss already knows). I’m really excited. And I’m kind of scared. We’ve worked together for seven years and had salaries and great medical & dental benefits, retirement, pension, etc. His new job: starting his own business with no regular paychecks, no reliable income, no benefits, no retirement, no pension…at least not yet. And we have two kids. (That’s my job.)

Even though I have my nervous moments, overall I’m really really REALLY proud of him. He is one of those wonderful kinds of people who is pretty much good at everything and who loves to help people. In whatever job he’s had before, therefore, he has been quite happy just meeting others’ needs. It’s really a fine and dandy thing; I’m just telling you all of this so that you’ll understand what a big step of faith in God it is for him to start his own business, doing what he loves most and what he does best.

As we’ve been making this transition, I’ve realized that owning your own business has its perks and its liabilities. One of the best things, in my opinion: flexibility. One of the worst things: insecurity.

I’ve concluded that most jobs have just one or the other. I have a lot of friends whose husbands’ work hours are not very flexible, but most of them can count on a payday every other week. I think we’ll find that the opposite is true when owning our own business. I also know that starting your own business is rumored to have an extraordinary workload in its germination stages. Well, I’m interested to see what this new chapter will bring to our family. I suppose I just need to be thankful for what I have and trust God for what I don’t have. And if you have both flexibility and security in your job, consider yourself doubly blessed.