. . . in gratitude, that is.  I’m going to try and put some extra work into cultivating gratitude this week.  Care to join me?

I’m thankful for being reminded of my expanding potential for strength.

I’m thankful for Elisabeth and Lisa’s thoughts at Threading Light (they seem to be reading my mind lately!)

I’m thankful for Ella, who started this morning with a song and dance routine of her own invention.

I’m thankful for all your kind words of support, and our friends and family as well.

I’m thankful for Heather’s incredible description of real serenity.

I’m thankful for this fun seed-starting idea.

I’m thankful for my sweet husband, who spent his day shoveling – muck, manure, rocks.  Oh yes, and broadforking.

Wishing you moments of gratitude, even in these busy days.

I’m going to do Gratitude Friday with a little twist today, as part of Heather’s call for Ten Simple Things that make us happy.  So here’s ten simple things I’m grateful for, this week and every week.

Good books – the wisdom, humor, compassion, and joy they bring.

The sound of my husband and my daughter, playing and laughing together.

This farm we have created from a dream together – our land, our animals, our incredible blessings.

Friends of all ages.

Good food.

Making something by hand.

A cat on my lap, purring.

Holding hands with my husband and partner of eight years.

Yoga, when I remember to let go of my mental to do-list, and be.

The smells of the changing seasons – musty fall leaves, icy snow, thawing soil and green grass, the flowers and heat of summer.

What makes you happy?  What are you grateful for?

Heather and her family (a husband and two young sons Jacob and Elwood) live in Colorado, where they spend their time communing with nature, handcrafting, cooking and baking gluten-free, and homeschooling in the  Waldorf tradition. Heather spreads inspiration through her blog, and her online magazine, Rhythm of the Home, which she co-edits.  Heather shares an intimate, inspiring portrait of her days, and is one of my favorite reads.

Hi Heather!  First, thank you so much for joining us here for some questions.  I’ve been addicted to your site ever since I discovered it.
Thank you for having me Adrie. Your blog has been a genuine inspiration to my family as well, so it is really fun to be here.

I’m always curious what other families’ days look like.  There is definitely an emphasis on daily rhythms in your blog (so much that you and Bernadette named your online magazine The Rhythm of the Home!).  Could you share with us a typical daily rhythm in your home, waking to sleeping?

Our days have become more rhythmical as the boys have gotten older. I love to wake up early, normally around 6 am, and do a yoga practice, or find time to write. My days are always better when I can have a bit of “me” time before the family awakens. The boys normally wake at 7, and there are art supplies waiting at their table for them, which they enjoy while I make them breakfast. Eating meals together is a very important part of our family life, as it was when I was growing up with my mom and dad, so we sit together and try and decide what our day should look like.
Once breakfast in completed, and the morning chores are done, we head outside for a walk. This is not our main time out of doors, but it is a good way to start our morning off, and to clear our head before studies begin. We are a homeschooling family, so the next few hours are devoted to reading, music, art, math, gardening, handwork, or any other block study that we are in.
Once we have gathered for lunch, our afternoons will always look different. Some days we will visit a friends to play, others will be spent at the park, or in the mountains hiking, and sometimes we are still at home, in our jammies, creating magic shows or constructing sky scrapers. Everyone does much better if we get out side for at least an hour, so this is a pretty normal part of our afternoons as well.
I choose not to run errands with my children if I can help it. My boys both have celiac disease, so being in the grocery stores is not possible, and my husband and I just made the decision long ago to try and curb the amount of commercialization that they are exposed to early on. Some people think that we are a little extreme with that, but I have never had to endure a temper tantrum over a plastic toy in a check-out line, and that keeps my decision pretty sound.
Our evenings are always the same, and they are just as important for me as they are for the boys. At 3 o’clock we stop what we are doing and have our blessing hour, which is time that we take to clean up our home, get ourselves ready for dinner and our evening routine, and just put things into order. The boys then crawl into our bed, and either listen to an audio book, or read their own books. At 5 o’clock, they are in the kitchen helping me cook, and completing their chores. I love this time together so much, because both of my babes love the kitchen, love to cook, and love to hear me tell stories of how I learned at their age.
After dinner is over, the boys take their bath, have their massage and yoga, read and head to bed. I am really strict with a 7:30 bed time lately, and everyone is so much healthier in the morning if they have had a good nights rest. Prayers are said, candles are blown out, and sleep begins.

You’ve spoken beautifully about the community you’ve found through writing your blog, and reading the blogs of others.  What moved you to start reading blogs, and to begin your own?

When I first discovered the world of blogging, I was a little blown away by what was out there. It was a surprise to me to see that there were so many wonderful mothers and artists, photographers and writers who were sharing so much of themselves openly. A friend of mine encouraged me to start a blog and to share some of the ways that being a homeschooling, gluten free family impacted us, and I reluctantly agreed. It took me a while to wrap my head around what parts of our lives I wanted to share, but once the community opened up, and the circle formed, I think that I felt very comfortable to put myself out there, and explore who I was. That is where is started, and I think that it remains that way even now.

Were you a serious crafter before you had children?  How have they changed your crafting?

I was a serious crafter. My roomates in college often said that they were afraid that one day they would come home to discover that I had stenciled the driveway. I was always drawn to cooking and crafting, and it has been a constant from childhood till today. My crafting did take a dramatic turn when I had my little ones. I went from crafting mainly for the house, or as a way to make my own clothing, and moved towards making as many handmade items for my children as I could. Now it has moved into another new phase, where I craft with my children as much as I do on my own. I am constantly thinking of ways that we can work together, and to have an opportunity to create something as a family. I also was not as sustainably minded before my children as I am now. I love using anything that we have from around our house to create something new, and sharing that with the kids has been a real gift for all of us. I am still blown away by what my oldest can do with a paper towel roll, some glitter and a few pipe cleaners.

You speak on your blog about homeschooling your boys, but with a Waldorf influence.  To you, what’s at the heart of a Waldorf education?

Waldorf education really drives the point home about allowing children to be children. To let a child guide their learning process, and to facilitate that through rhythm warmth and play. I was drawn to Waldorf education because the foundation is their belief in childhood. Children in the Waldorf tradition are encouraged to find themselves through their art and their play, through their imagination and their senses. It just clicked with me that early childhood is when our little ones are most in tune with the natural world, and that the only way for them to feel a part of it is to understand it’s inherent rhythm.

Do you follow any specific resources for educating your boys, or is it more of a smorgasboard?

When we made the decision to homeschool, I realized that everything that we did in the course of a day could be considered “school”. That ends up feeling like a little bit more of a smorgasboard, but for our actual study time, we use the Christopherus curriculum (http://www.christopherushomeschool.org/home.html), as well as Little Acorn Learning (www.liittleacornlearning.com) for the little one. We also do a lot of nature studies outside, or trips to museums and libraries as well.

If you had to describe your family’s culture, what words and images would you use?

Wow, that is a really interesting question. Earth, Nature, Season, Connection.

You are full of surprises!  Just a few days ago you posted about being a yoga therapist for ten years.  You also ran a company, Shivaya Naturals, that made hand-dyed yarns.  What’s the common thread for all your passions?

The only real thread is that being a doula, a yoga therapist, and an artist gave me a chance to go a little bit deeper with myself. I have a constant need to find meaning in life, and I think that working in those fields has given me perspective on how much beauty there is in this world, how much we all do need each other, and how connected we always are. For me, that is meaningful work.

I could ask so many questions, but I’ll try to keep this brief and sweet.  My last question is:  This time of year we talk a lot about resolutions, and also hopes for the coming year and decade.  What’s your deep hope for this decade?

My deepest hope is to welcome a third child into our lives. My boys have been the greatest gift that I ever could have been given, and we all feel that there is another little one there who will join us. I feel that connection to another soul, so that is something that I would love to see go from dream to reality.

Thank you so much Heather, for all your passion, inspiration, and generosity!  I’m really so grateful to you.

Thank you Adrie for having me here, for the incredible work that you do evereyday, and for the friendship that you have extended. You are a truly amazing woman.

Make sure you head over to see Heather at Shivaya Naturals, Rhythm of the Home, and also check out her Etsy store, up for a limited time and with all sales of her gorgeous yarns going to Doctors Without Borders’s Haiti relief efforts.  Best wishes to Heather and her family in the coming year.