Look! I Made This!!

It has been more than a year since I have blogged, and, boy what a year it has been!  I would apologize, but...ehhh...whatcha gonna do?

I have many thoughts in my mind the past few days & just felt the urge to write them down...to express them in some way.  Isn't that what a blog is for? 

If you know me at all, you might say I am a creative sort.  I have always had a "thing" for creating stuff.  Sometimes for money, sometimes for personal pleasure, often-times for relaxation.

Do you create? 

What is your creative outlet?

Do you scrapbook (I do)? 

How about photography (yep, that, too)?

Needlework (me, too!)?

Sewing (ummm..duh.)?

Quilting (nah...)?


One of the sometimes embarrassing, and secretly pleasant, side-effects of creativity is the compliments.  The ooh's & the ahh's are....nice.  I truly enjoy looking at something I have poured hours and hours of my time into.  Conversely, I have been known to fully complete something, say an outfit for one of my kids, and then chunk it in the Goodwill bag after one wear because I was humiliated to say I had made it.  Hey, we all have off days!  HA!


So, by now, you may be thinking this post is a bit self-serving, and maybe, in the end, it will be.  However, the creative expression that I want to talk about isn't about something you can buy supplies for at the local Hobby Lobby or Joanns craft stores.  It's bigger than that.  Chances are, it's something that even you...the self-professed "uncreative" person partakes in everyday.


Do you have kids?

I do.

Eight of them.

Yes.  Eight.

Five girls & three boys.

Ages 6-21.

Yes, they are all mine.

No, there are no twins.

No, we aren't Mormon or Catholic.

No, we don't know the Duggars personally.

No, I didn't plan to have them all, God did.

(I think that covers all of the most-asked questions....)


My kids are my greatest creation.  I know, I know...technically, I didn't create them, God did.  However, I DID play a VERY big role in it...so I'll take a little bit of credit.


From the moment I first laid eyes on each of them, they stole my whole heart.  I believe I must have, like, 10 or 13 hearts...one for each of my kids, one for my sweetheart, and some extras for all the other people I love.

From the moment I first held each one, I knew they were a great creation!

Each and every child is a wondrous creation.

I have, on more than one occasion had the feeling of wanting to have  Lion King moment...you know, the scene where that creepy monkey holds up the baby lion for all the world to see. 

C'mon...tell me you haven't had the urge to do that! 

You know, hold up your kid high for all the world to see & yell at the top of your lungs, "HEY!!!  LOOK WHAT I MADE!!!!"  Bowing is optional.

Parenting is hard work.  Seriously, the absolute hardest thing I have ever done in my whole entire life!  I take it extremely seriously.  To see them becoming decent, loving, God-fearing, kind, well-adjusted people is a deep source of pride for me.  However, I can never sit back and rest & say...look how good they are turning out...I think I'll take a break.  Because, unlike an unfinished sewing project, six months down the road, they won't be in the same place.  "Resting" while parenting can cause so much extra work! 

In the last 3 months, I have seen 2 of my creations completed.  It has been bittersweet, to put it mildly.

Occasionally, I will make a particularly beautiful dress for my little girls and, when they outgrow it, I feel  small sense of sadness at not having it on the scene anymore.  I cannot make them stop growing, though, I have even tried to bribe them.

That sense of sadness is nothing compared to watching your beautiful daughter, dressed in the purest white, walk down the aisle and give her heart to a young man. 

W.O.W! 

The pain is acute. 

But so is the pride.

That day, when I have sat and watched some of my finest creations pledge their life & love to another, has been the last time I had that Lion King moment.  There she was...for everyone to see.  So beautiful.  So poised.  So happy.  She loves God.  She is smart.  She has so much to offer.  AND she can cook!

I have never been more proud than that day.

I also have never hurt more. 

I received the compliments graciously.

There are still 6 more creations at home.  Works in progress. 

I will still have cause to hold up my babies and show the world..."LOOK WHAT I MADE!!!"

Bowing is optional.

Morgan & Enrique
January 23, 2015

 

 

 

 

Heather & Seth
May 2, 2015

***Special note:  This post is written from my standpoint, but is in no way meant to discount the role their Dad plays.  Just saying...****

It's a GREAT Life!!!!!

Last week held some pretty good days! My girlies were finally home from their travels in parts north. I really enjoy having them around, they are fun (oh, and they can run to the store for me, too :).

I got some (ok, lots) sewing done.

Sewing = joy :)

I am working on tote bags. I have a thing for bags. I look at them anytime I see them in the stores. I wonder why? They are fun for me, and I can't quite put my finger on the why of it. So, I have acquired a great pattern, mixed up some adorable fabric combos, dug out the embroidery machine to personalize them...put a sweet price-tag on them...and am selling 'em like hotcakes! :) I am shooting for some dining room chairs. Three years of white plastic folding chairs in lieu of wood is long-enough, dontcha think??

Anyway, if you want one....let me know! I can make them with lotsa pockets, pencil pockets, cell phone pockets, money pockets, bottle pockets...you name it....

One other project I completed this week ('cause I kinda had to) was a ~man~ tie & vest for B-man to wear in a wedding. He was the ring bearer, and he ROCKED it! I told him he would, and he agreed...his wording was, "Duh, mom, it is called the ring BEAR!" Hahaha...Bear is a nickname we frequently use for him. He took his job VERY seriously, too.

I also took my Dad out to lunch for his birthday. His choice: Indian food.

Oooooookaaaayyy.

It was HIS birthday, after all. So, we had, chicken-something, veggie rice whatchamacalit with some yogurt sauce of some sort...and DIET COKE which really brought it all together nicely. :) I have now had Indian food. Mark it off the list of things to do before I die...now where on my list did I put that exactly? Hmmmm....better pencil it in & mark it off!

Seriously, though, I don't really spend much time with my dad one on one, so at least once a year, I take him out. When I started doing this several years it was actually kinda awkward, and that was just WRONG! He IS my dad, after all, it should not be hard to talk to him. In all fairness, he isn't really the *chatty* sort. However, we have found our nitch. We have some common interests, and I have found in him a place to go for info on all things botanical. If he doesn't know the answer...he just fakes it! LOL!!

After our lunch, we went to a mutual fave....Barnes & Noble. We both love to read, and WHO can afford those books? We sit & thumb through books that we probably will never own. It's great!

This last week held another special date: Sam. I took my oldest boy out on the town. First stop, the library...then fajitas...then ice cream. Could a date get any better??? I don't think so, either!

I could keep boring you with the details of my life, but let me sum it all up with:

GAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!! I L.O.V.E. MY LIFE!!!!!

Thanks for stopping by & humoring me in my ramblings :0)

Life IS Good...Even IF it's Not Perfect

I do find inspiration for this blog in the strangest places! HA!!





But, today, at lunch, I had to send EG to her room for throwing a fit.





"Why was she throwing a fit?"

I thought you'd never ask!

Her biscuit was broken (read: crumbly).

Yes.

It wasn't perfect.

This is a thing for her.

At McDonald's, she becomes ballistic if the meat patty & the bun are off-centered, or if the bun has a "crack" in it. I know. Cute, really, but annoying when you have to stop eating every few minutes to um, rearrange her burger or convince her that her food will still taste great even if the bun isn't ideal.





Another of my children, when they were very small, ~REFUSED~ to use a restroom unless it was immaculate. Great! Cleanliness is next to godliness, right?!? Not at Wal-Mart! They don't pay me enough to clean THOSE stalls for her to use their facilities (in fact, they don't pay me at ALL!)





I could go on.





You may be wondering what the big deal is, just make adjustments for the child to be happy, to stop screaming or to get them to do what you want, & go on, right?





Well, yes & no.





How many things in life are perfect?





Hmm?

In my life...not much.

Well, my life *is perfectly wonderful*, but there are many, Many, MANY imperfections, too. This is particularly frustrating to a perfectionist.





*sigh*





My mind is a perfectionist...my life...not so much. Over the years, I have had to.....let's saaaayyyy.......adjust....my way of thinking - my standards, even.





At first, I was just like EG. Screaming, kicking, throwing one righteous FIT!!!





NOT becoming of a lady!





Did that change the way things were going?


Yes! In fact, it DID!


For the worse.


I was more miserable. Everyone around me was miserable. It was not good.





So, back to my original story. Do I make adjustments for the kiddos when things aren't going just as they would like for them to be, no matter how trivial? Usually not. Don't get me wrong. I do let my sweeties pluck my heartstrings periodically. I'm not totally heartless! However, when I see that something is becoming a habit, I try to consider what the root issue is, and then deal with them accordingly.





Ultimately, as I've said before, my goal is to raise healthy, well-adjusted adults.





Is 2 or 3 too early to begin learning that life doesn't always throw you the balls you were expecting?

nope.

The early, formative years are the perfect time for making adjustments, to learn to go with the flow.





I cannot tell you how many vacations I have planned for our family. Wonderful, fun-filled, activity-packed, family-bonding, scrapbook fodder.





That. Never. Happened.





After a while, it became almost a hobby to plan a trip for ten...just to see if I could.





I can.





At first, I would become despondant. Depressed. Angry. Then, the moral of the experience began to sink in: make plans to enjoy your life, then live it as it comes, oh, and: don't make plans that you can't get your deposit back on!





Now, I never know for sure if we will do something until we pull out of the driveway. We don't even usually have hotel reservations until the day we leave!

Ewwwwww!!!! I still hate that!!

Why do these events fall apart on us? Kids. Sickness. Work. Money. You name it, it happens. Does wailing, gnashing my teeth or wallowing in ashes help. Nope. Life goes on, AND it is still good. My response, though, determines HOW good it is. Oh, and: HOW I respond directly affects how my children respond.

(Mom throws a fit + kids throw fits) x anger = REALLY bad results!!!

Soooooo....EG goes to her room or doesn't get a biscuit if she cannot learn that life is still good even if her meal isn't Food-Network-perfect!

It's a Crazy Life!!

I really don't know what I'm going to ramble on about tonight, but I just felt the urge to blog. I have been sitting here in my quiet house, listening to the hum of the refrigerator running (better go catch it!! LOL), hearing a random beep (and wondering what it is, but not enough to go find out), and catching up on my blog reading. I find myself wondering what we did before the invention of the internet (should I ask Al Gore???). I feel like I am so much more in contact with friends who are miles away. Texting, emails, blogs...all make the world a much smaller place. I, for one, just love it :) However, (isn't there always one of those?) I find that I do lack discipline in utilizing these wonderful inventions...if I'm not careful. There are legitimate things that can be done on a computer, and I do plenty of them, but the temptation to just "check" on everyone else is sometimes more than I can handle.

"What's the big deal?", you may ask.

Well, as you may or may not know, I have 2 toddlers here & even just a few minutes of my attentions being distracted from them can lead to hours of frustrating clean-up, including, but CERTAINLY not limited to: salt all over the dining room table & floor, completely unrolled toilet paper tubes, a brand-new 15 piece pack of gum...completely gone, with wrappers on the floor, all of the clean laundry unfolded & all over the house...I could go on & on & on & on..... So, when all eyes are not on them, the girls get into mischief...to say the least. And, when they do, I am forced to put away what was so enthralling to me to deal with the very real evidence of my distraction. UGH~ I have been feeling somewhat convicted about spending time on my computer, or anything, really, that pulls me away from my # 1 priorities. Don't get me wrong-I don't think there is anything wrong with reading a good book or magazine, or surfing the web in search of the best deal on shoes, books, fabric or whatever (after all, I AM trying to SAVE money!). What is wrong (at least for me), is the lack of discretion in the amount of time I spend doing it. I start out with good intentions, "Just 10 minutes...I need to check on banking, send an email, check the weather..." Then, 30 minutes later--there's a crash (or total silence, which, to me, is WAY scarier) & I'm brought back to real life with a thud! I decided the best way, for me, to handle this & to still feel connected with the outside world, was to make myself a daily schedule. Something like: 6:00 Wake & Shower 6:15 Read Bible 6:33 Pray 6:48 Have a moment of silence 7:00 Kiss all the little cherubs good morning on their perfectly clean faces & admire their tidy attire & hair. 7:30 Join the happy crowd at the table for a hearty breakfast . . . . . . . . 10:00 p.m. Fall happily into bed with a contented *sigh* at the end of an overly productive day. Ummmmmm....

Yeah, right!

So...well, what happened was....

LIFE!

A carefully regimented day like the one mentioned above (possibly without the sarcasm) is truly what would make me happy. However (there it is again), I have learned the hard way that life happens. It's messy. It's unpredictable. It's exciting. It's boring. It's just next to impossible to schedule out all of the things that happen during a day when you have kids in residence. So, I gave up. Um-hmm. You heard (read?) me right. I quit trying to be the organized on-schedule micro-managing momma & just chillaxed. Please, don't get an image in your head of me languishing on the sofa, romance novel in hand, bon-bons & iced tea on a table nearby as my little ones swing from the chandelier (read ceiling fan) & I blissfully cheer them on ... Uh. No. I just have relaxed. I have a loosely scheduled existance now that looks something like this: Monday: Wash towels & linens. Clean kitchen. Make grocery list... Tuesday: Wash our clothing. Iron. Put Away. Clean bathroom. Wednesday: Wash kids clothes. Put dinner in the crock pot. Thursday: Sit & wait anxiously for 5:00 to arrive because it's DATE NIGHT! Friday: Get out of the house & go somewhere. Wash school clothes. Saturday: Um....I dunno...whatever comes our way. Sunday: Wrangle everyone out of the bed by 9 & have a 2 hour cleaning session. Cook lunch, go to church & be grateful we get to go out for dinner tonight.

Somehow...this works.

If you stop by unexpectedly (& maybe even expectedly), you will not find a pristine show home. You will find a reasonably clean, aside from the occasional toy on the floor (just step around it) home. The kitchen is *usually* clean, it's one area I'm pretty strict about. The only bathroom I can totally vouch for is mine...so ask to use it LOL *seriously*. You may find laundry in the works on pretty much any given day. You will also find sometimes strangely dressed children with big ol smiles on their *sometimes dirty* faces who will probably overrun you with questions & stories of their latest adventures, whether real or imagined. You need not take your shoes off...I've never been able to train anyone else but me to do it, why should you...but please wipe them off first. I hate to mop! I may get distracted & forget to ask if you'd like a drink--just ask for one. Then, relax & enjoy our crazy life.

That's what I do.

This Day....

I recently heard something that made me stop & think.

REALLY think.

Ready?

Here it is.

There are ONLY two days you have to be concerned about.

THIS day.

and

THAT day.

I know....WOW!

As followers of Christ, we are told that fear, worry, concern...or whatever euphamism you use...is NOT of the Lord. Yet, we habitually put the fears & troubles of the days we live in firmly into our own little grubby hands & hold on to it like it is something precious.

Why?

The One who loves us more than any other has told us that we would never be forsaken...that He knows the number of hairs on our heads, so SURELY he knows about the trials of our days. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills, so SURELY he can fix the problems we face. If He could make the rocks cry out to worship Him, then he can do ANY thing.

I know in my case that the scripture, "I believe, help thou my unbelief" is my problem. I KNOW He can do all things....for other people. I believe that He has done mighty & wonderful works...for others.

Yes, He has done some things for us. You know, little stuff....in comparison to this biggie I'm facing now. Yes, those little things were good, but this...is...just......so....BIG! I don't think He'll follow through now.

Oh, I know He let Gideon beat all kinds of trained soldiers with just a few farmer-type men with their pots & pans or whatever. I know that He made the water part, the walls fall, the dead to rise, the blind to see, the leper to be clean...I KNOW all of that. And I believe it, too. But....well...that was in BIBLE times.

This is the 21st century.

There are just so many things that He could have changed, but didn't.

I have seen friends suffer with cancer...and DIE! That wasn't right!

I have seen young lives snuffed out senselessly. WHAT?!?

I have seen suffering in marriages-spouses just walking away. WHY?

I have seen people who were a blessing & a tool that He was using, turn their sights to the world in some of the worst ways imaginable. REALLY???

I KNOW God did amazing things in BIBLE times, but He just doesn't seem to fix whats wrong now. I must consider this small fact: every instance of pain & suffering during Bible times was not recorded. There were things that were NOT reversed.

And yet...they believed.

That woman with the issue had so much faith that her Lord would heal her, she didn't even talk to Him...just touched his clothing...His muddy, grimy, filthy hem! Did that faith come because she had only known miraculous things from her birth? I doubt it.

How do I get this kind of faith?

This sort of trust in the One who loves me more than I can fathom?

It is possible that it has something to do with only being concerned with the two days I mentioned above.

Living THIS day-only.

Not YESTERday.

Not TOmorrow.

Not last year.

Not next year.

THIS day.

No matter how we want to, we cannot change what happens on any other day by worrying about it today. We only have control over one day at a time. In fact...one minute at a time! I can say that I plan to go to church this afternoon...but it may not happen. Something out of my control may occur to make it impossible to attend. Would worrying about it now change anything? Of course not.

So, if we live only THIS day in preparation for THAT day, we cannot go wrong. THAT day is the day that our Lord returns for His people. THAT day should be the focus of all of our THIS days!

It is so easy to let the stresses of life drag us down. Have you ever said,

"Gah! Could this day get ANY WORSE???"

My guess is, yes, you have!

Have you ever said,

"Wow! Could this day get ANY BETTER???"

It is possible to say this even if you are having a low-down rotten, stinky kinda day.

Yesterday was like that for me. Up & down like a roller coaster I had been forced to ride. I'm not fond of roller coasters, so it didn't thrill me. I fought the downhill thrusts mightily, but without much success. I cannot even put my finger on my feelings of doom & gloom. It was Saturday...a church day, and I just kept going down...to the point of not wanting to go to church. Now, church is a priority for me...so, not going is not normal. I had to take control of my THIS day so that it would be a preparation for THAT day. Now, I would love to be able to say at this point that some miraculous event occurred & I ended the day on a peak, but that's not true. Instead, I trudged through the motions of getting ready for church, drug my stinkin' carcass to the church house & thought, "well, I'm here." God was faithful to help me out, though. The songs were very uplifting, I visited with friends, listened to some encouraging words. I felt in communion with my Lord. Ah! Then church was over & real-life resumed. Gah! Well, I am not perfect, Never said I was. :)

The point of my droning is to say that my priority was to THAT day, so I made the most of THIS day in preparation for THAT day. It wasn't huge leaps, but it was progress. I think that, with God, even baby steps count as progress. Don't you?

So, now, my responsibility is to go & make THIS day count for THAT day.