Fall 2015 Memory Makers

There is a time in life when items become more than just things. They become memories for a certain period of time. I know in just a few short years we will be donating, tossing, and hiding away many of things that serve as place holders for who they are today. Ellie who is 10 and is trying to figure out the balance between little girl doll playing and big girl hipness. Who secretly still loves Curious George like her mama, but would never admit the truth to her friends. Who is learning that she can't be the best at everything and is trying to figure out the emotions that tag along with that. KJ who is 8 and now likes to go by his given name Kellen. Who is learning that friends can be nice one second and the next not so much. Who still will hold his mama's hand in public, but kisses may be too much. These are things that will forever remind me of now and who they are today.

ELLIE: Junie B Jones is currently her reading book of choice. She will tell me stories of this Junie B as if they are the best of friends. Her enthusiasm pretty much makes me melt. After school on nice days the kiddos come in for brief snacks and quickly run out the door to play with friends. Ellie saved all her money and bought a pink Razor scooter. It was her first big purchase of her very own and she thought long and hard about it. This little scooter has been up and down our streets with giggles all around. Chocolate... oh my she is in love. I can virtually get her to do any chore without complaint if chocolate is an offering piece. This watch is cheap as can be, but she wanted one and I wanted to be sure she would keep up with one before investing. She wears it every day with rows and rows of rope and rainbow loom bracelets. She has earned my trust and I think a nice watch will be in her stocking this year.

KJ: His red scooter was a birthday gift and one of the best investments ever. It is used almost daily and now with Ellie having one it can make brother and sister time extra fun. Well fun and dangerous, let me be honest here. A journal is never too far away. He has many and he writes everything from secret spy maneuvers to football plays. This is the first year he has been able to write without too much of a struggle and it quickly became his favorite thing to do. Mechanical pencils apparently write better than anything else possibly could. It makes writing more enjoyable and most importantly neat. Trust me as I learned all this while the kiddos had a full out bicker war on who could use the last one for homework. KJ won and I have ordered more. Baseball hats are a constant in this house. The only thing that can make an ordinary baseball hat better is if it's an Auburn Tiger one. His two loves combined. Pure bliss I tell you.

A Restless Sea

art by Laura Ferreira

Hamath and Arpad are dismayed, for they have heard bad news. They are disheartened, troubled like the restless sea. - Jeremiah 49:23

As I read yesterday's one year bible I kept on coming back to the verse above. "They are disheartened, troubled like the restless sea". I thought how that very phrase put into words how my heart can sometimes feel. How with every slamming wave I can feel myself going under, sinking sometimes with a struggle and sometimes in pure calmness and the next moment rising towards the surface for a deep and welcomed breath. How that very wave can make me feel unbalanced and me in turn digging my feet deeper into the sand to not be knocked down again. Then there are moments of time in between every crashing wave where the sea is clear as glass and I can float on my back letting the little ripples carry me as I watch the clouds pass ever so beautifully. Those are the moments where all seems right with my little world and I can walk tall and confident until the next big wave comes and knocks me down again. Those waves can come out of nowhere. They can be big as the kiddos running in with hearts broken, dr diagnosis that I may not have been prepared for, a family member or friend having a long journey to wellness and you want to make everything better, but you know you just can't. They can be as small as a never ending loads of laundry, a house that can't stay clean, eating out more than you know you should because threading water is all you can muster in those very moments.

I can see myself in that restless sea. I can see where I am knocked down again and again. In those moments where I feel this may be the time I drown, I can look towards Heaven with an outreached arm and utter a simple prayer of "I need more of You Jesus." I know His presence surrounds me by a timely text from a friend, the Mr doing something unexpected to just bring me a dose of joy, the kiddos come running in and asking for a hug and they then linger even if their friends are waiting. It's those moments I can breath deep, the tightness of my chest ceases, and I can just feel His presence in a way words cannot describe. To be honest most of this year I felt as if I have been living in the drowning. Not in a struggle kind of way or even in a unfavorable sort of way, but one that has me sinking deeper and every time I come up to the surface I come up stronger, I come up ready to proclaim what Jesus has done for me over and over. I then dig my feet deep into the sand and pray. Pray for healing for those around me, pray for marriages to be strengthened, pray for us all to know Jesus in deeper ways, pray for those that are hurting, and pray for those that are doing just fine. I do this in hopes that I can help others dig their feet deeper, side by side, arm in arm, with Jesus intertwined for I know that force of that wave that is waiting to take us down again will not be able to take down a barrier of determined woman and men who can stand knee deep in sand holding onto Jesus's promise for we are "Fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised." - Romans 4:21. Hanging on to that promise means that whether drowning, standing firm or simply treading in that sea means that every one of us will be okay. It may not be in the ways we hope or expect, but we will all be okay and be better for it.

Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. - Romans 5: 2-5

Looking Back...

I was going through some of my old images and came across these from two years ago. The shoot was for a Home Depot design challenge. It's amazing to me how much the kiddos have aged in such a sort amount of time. Well for that matter I can't believe how much I've aged either. Ha. Oh, how I miss my garden and am grateful to our renters who have kept it going. Some funny tidbits on behind the scenes of a styled shoot... It was so HOT that day, like miserably hot. You have to shoot a few months in advance so we were still in the midst of a Alabama heat wave. The sweater I am wearing was on a friend a few hours before. I liked how it was fallish, but I wouldn't die in it so she took it off and handed it over. My friends all thought it was hilarious that I was carrying a baguette for they know my gluten allergy would mean in no way it would make it to my table in real life. It does make for a pretty picture though. The soup was served cold. Who really wants soup in 100 degree weather? That pretty curl I'm sporting was actually a rat nest from wearing my hair in a bun so much. All in all though the "party" was a hit with the kiddos and we all had a blast doing it.

To see more of the shoot go HERE

For the table DIY you can go HERE