200th Birthday March 1, 2010

Spring is approaching as anticipation lingers in the cool breeze  March 1st announces earth's waking from her slumber.

March 1, 2010 also marks the 200th Birthday of Frederic Chopin, known as "the poet of the piano".

Can you even imagine anyone 200 years from now knowing you were alive?  I am sure I will just be dates in the record books, but some people leave their marks behind for centuries.


Today, I will play our Chopin CD's, stop a few minutes to read a short biography on his life and let my little one attempt to play a piece on the piano.  We might be able to coax my gifted husband's fingers to fly across the keys as we close our eyes to enjoy this beautiful, God-given gift of music from a man who lived 200 years ago.

A man that has a taste of music, paintings, or architecture is like one that has another sense, when compared with such as have no relish of those arts.  - Joseph Addison

As we look forward to the spring season, may we find ways in which to bring another sense, the love of the arts, into our home.

 A Source for reading from my home school library - "The Gift of Music" Jane Stuart Smith

Roses, Thorns and Beauty

Welcome to the new face lift of Janette's Sage.

I am still learning about this new form of communication.  I felt that the rose expressed visually the thoughts of my blog.  The background was chosen to continue this theme.

This rose is called "Aging With Beauty".  That is my heart's desire, to age with beauty before my Lord and my family.

A rose has thorns along the stem before you get to the beauty of the rose.  Examining Valentine roses,  the scent, the delicate rose, the sharp thorns reminded me of life.

We hear the saying, "I never promised you a rose garden".  Well that may be true, but each of us have thorns in our life or have experienced the hurt from thorns.  I wouldn't avoid buying roses just becasue of the thorns, nor would I want to go back and remove the thorns that created such beauty in my own life when I allowed the Lord to bring forth that beauty.

So, I continue to learn how to set up a blog.  I hope you enjoy the new look and continue to have patience as I move through this adventure of blogging and learning to age with beauty. Check out both of my new buttons for my blog and business, grab one or both, and leave comments along the way.

Enjoying the adventure, even with all the thorns.

It is All in Your Perspective!!!

It is all in your perspective.


Isn't that statement so true?  Just look at the picture to the side, we have all done this one before.  Is it a picture of a beautiful young girl or an old hag?


The older I become, the more I see this statement  as true.  Our own perspective can change everything.


We can remember our childhood with loving memories or choose to focus on the trials our family went through, as if other families didn't have their own trials.


Our financial attitude  can also be altered by our perspective for good or lead us down the road to poverty, either physical or mental poverty. 


Our family has suffered through some hard financial struggles, but compared to what?   Our definition of what is a "need" in comparison to a "want" can alter our perspective. Some will say they are poor because they don't want to touch their 401K,  savings, or that account for their next vacation.   Others will say they are in hardship and it means the water is being turned off, they are losing their possessions or worse .  


Our perspective becomes our truth.


It becomes a choice to see the young woman or the hag.  We can change our perspective, even when it isn't changed in the natural.  This change of perspective can give a marriage a new start, a teenager the belief he will make it, a mother a breath of fresh air and a family stress relief from a difficult situation.


Recently, as I came through a battle and started to breath again, I heard a friend say, "Doesn't the change in perspective really help?"  Yes, it does.  My situation may not have changed, but it has brought forth a change in  my perspective.


 Proverbs 23: 7, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so he is."

The Strong and Mighty Tower

The strong and mighty tower, in our family, turns 21 this week.  He entered the world differently than his siblings, assisted instead of naturally.  The pregnancy battled back and forth, with the possibility of early arrival, I fought to keep him close to me.  This quiet spoken peacemaker,please don't raise your voice to me, musically-talented son entered our world the day before Valentines, with the title "the smallest" of the six.

His arrival was announced over the phone to the tune of "My Three Sons" by his musically-talented Dad, to later surpass his Dad's musically abilities.

The first week of his birth blood was drawn, jaundice cured through a sun bed and he never once cried through it all.  His endurance for pain or his calmness continued through two years of ear surgeries.  I always wondered if my allowing the inducing had caused the problems, my lack of patience, the quality that he would possess, caused his early years of pain.  The fruit produced, as God had promised, ears more sensitive then the average person with ability to tune into any melody.

The smallest of the six grew to be the tallest, at this point, of the six, towering over us all. His ability to walk as the middle child still astounds, never fighting for attention, and giving the others the stage they so eagerly desire.

God named this child, Aaron, priestly, and David, kingly.  The only one of the six that I will use both names.  God continues to keep him safe. God continues to fight for his existence here on earth.

Each child is such a gift.  Each a treasure. Each a joy.  I wouldn't trade all the personalities, all the events, all the struggles of mothering six children for any earthly treasures.  Each holds a piece of my heart.

I may cry over earthly frustrations, even question my choices, but never the choice to have children, and never the choice to have a large family.

We will all gather together to celebrate his 21st birthday.  He will gently take all the harassment his siblings give him, and turn the cheek, as is so characteristic of our strong and mighty tower.

I will end the celebration watching all my children, praising God for each one of them, and once again, being reminded that worldly pleasures can not replace the joy of mothering these God given gifts.

A Mother's Sigh

Zits cartoon, in the Sunday paper, caught the feelings mothers go through as their children transition into adults.  She is following her long-legged son around the house, while her memory is taking her back to the days of his childhood.  She just sighs.  The end of the comic strip has the son asking his Dad to talk to his mom, who has been acting strange all day.

I have gone through this stage of motherhood five times.  My fourteen year old now towers over me, while the others have set out on their own.  Then there is Benjamin.  God decided to bless us with what is termed a late life pregnancy. For me, this unexpected blessing is my personal gift from God.  Just like the ones before him, he too, is growing.

I can not stop him from growing, even though my heart aches at each new sign of independence.  Then I turned to the word of God where it is said the best. 

Luke 3:40 - And the child continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.

Genesis 33:5 - ...the children whom God has graciously given your servant."

Mark 10:14 - "Permit the children to come to me; do not hinder them; for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these....Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it at all".  And he took them in His arms, and began blessing them, laying His hands upon them.

May I treasure all these things in my heart and not miss one moment.  As I encourage younger mothers,  "they will be grown before you know it, ENJOY!"