Someday...

Tomorrow, I will see my friend. My college best friend. We were freshman roomates. We went through SO much together. We stayed close until graduation and still keep in touch! I am so excited to see her!

As I think about how long it has been... 3 1/2 years... I wish I could see her more often. I have had different friends throughout my life. Childhood friends, teen friends, co-worker friends, college friends, and "now" friends. Sometimes I just wish I could blend them all together and glean all the happy moments!

Then there's family. Our wonderful families that we don't live close to. Our sisters we can't go shopping with, our brothers that we can't play basketball with, our parents we can't just invite over for supper! I wish we could all be together!

Someday... we will be all together! One grand reunion will take place in Heaven for those of us who are saved! Thankfully, all our family members and close friends are also in the family of God. We will be together for all eternity... someday! :)

I Have a Dream...

The other day, I was upset about something small. I don't even remember what it was. It seems to be happening more often. I have trouble handling my emotions. So, I decided instead, to dwell on blessings. I thought of all the dreams I've had throughout my life that have come true.

• The first dream I thought of was being able to play the piano and sing at the same time. :) When I was a teenager, my piano teacher was awesome. I still love and respect her greatly for her influence in my life. She could play so beautifully ... and sing at the same time. I thought, "If I could just sing and play at the same time, I would be so happy!" You see, when you're young, it takes a lot of coordination. It took a long time to develop that. When I was about 14 or 15 years old, I played and sang my first song in church! It was very special day for me. Click here if you're wondering what I sang. :) The Lord put that dream right in the palm of my hand, and has allowed me to sing pretty often, ever since that day.
• When I started college, I quickly became aware of the college singing groups that traveled and sang every summer. I thought it would be so wonderful to do that! What an opportunity! So as a freshman, I began to dream... and I started praying that if that's what God wanted me to do, that He would open the door for me. During the spring of my sophomore year, I was chosen to represent the college in the Southwest Trio! It was an amazing experience. I got close to those I traveled with. The Lord taught me many things during those 10 weeks! What a fun time, what a dream!
• When I was 14 years old, I really began to desire God. I often thought I would love to marry a preacher, but I didn't think I was good enough for God to give me that! Little did I realize at that time, that God uses ordinary people! I am just a person... a person married to a preacher! We have been able to serve the Lord in local churches for 6 years now! And we're praying for His will for the day that we will be in the pastorate. God made my dream come true! Not only did I marry a preacher, I married my best friend. I married the man I had pictured as Prince Charming since I was a very little girl, putting sheer curtains over my head for a veil, and carrying plastic flowers. :)
• There was a time in my late teen years that I started wondering if God would give me children. I didn't think I deserved them, and in the back of my heart I had this horrible feeling that I never would have any. In the early years of our marriage, we did have a hard time having children. We tried for over a year, only to miscarry. Then, it was another whole year before we had a little one on the way. I was terrified for months! I just knew we couldn't have this little one either! But we did, and have had no problems since then! I thank God for my beautiful 3 children! I always dreamed of being a Mommy... with my matted hair baby dolls.
• Renting is fine, but buying is better. "Can you please give us our own house?" I used to pray. We have been in our cute little house for almost 2 years now. I have painted and planned. I have made curtains and bought pillows. I have arranged furniture and sanded floors... in my own house! It is the Great American Dream, and God made that dream a reality for us. We have our own house that we have made a home!
• Just in these last couple of years, my musical dreams have grown. I have been playing arranged offertories for church for the last two years. The Lord has REALLY helped me. I make mistakes every Sunday, so there's not too much risk of being lifted up in pride! But this last year, I believe God put in me the desire to arrange some of my own music. So my awesome computer-brother found a great music program for me, and I have written four of my own arrangements. That really was a dream come true! I never thought I could do that, and I'm so thankful the Lord chose to give me that dream!

It's amazing how much the Lord has given me. Sometimes, in the middle of the night, when I am sleep-dreaming, I'll be in this imaginary world. I remember one dream in particular. I was shopping and found this amazing ring on the clearance rack. (Of course it was a dream because jewelry isn't on a "rack.") It was marked down SO low and I bought it. It was so pretty and sparkly. I held it up in the light to see it shimmer. I remember how thrilled I was in my dream. I held up my hand to look at it and realized I was awake now, and it wasn't real. There wasn't a sparkly ring on that finger. It wasn't real. But every day, I look at my blessings and those dreams are real! I want to remember to thank God every day!

Ribbons, and Clips, and Glue! Oh my!

On Pinterest and blogs, I have found some adorable hair bow ideas, so I decided to try a few. I love to doll Eva up! It's SO fun!

The hair bow tutorial I found was SO easy and simple. I used it to make these bows.

I think this green one is my favorite. I just love the ribbon! It is huge, but I love it!! (and I love the model!)

Some of them are as big as her head! I love it!

Then I also found a great fabric flower tutorial and it is even easier! I have big plans for these shabby flowers!

Blogger would not let me link the shabby flower tutorial, so let me know if you would like the website. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Not Enough!

Bows, and ribbons. Flowers. Headbands, hats. We've got it all. What we don't have is...

enough hair!

Well, we tried. Five months is not a sufficient life span to grow enough hair for pig tails!

Piece to the Puzzle

Jackson got a floor puzzle for Christmas. He loves it! It is 2x3 feet. He is getting pretty good at putting it together. He needs some occasional help, and generally whines a lot during the process. But he's getting better!

Jackson turned 4 on December 28! 4! I can't believe it. He is growing so fast and getting so independent.

• He's starting to like drawing and cutting.
• He can write an "A."
• He can unload the dryer.
• He can put on all his own clothes, the right way. :)
• He can put toothpaste on his own tooth brush.
• He can quote some Bible verses.

He's our big boy and we're thankful for him!

Sweet Leggings

My Eva girl in sweet leggings. I love her. I just love to dress her up. I love her bows and frills. I love her 23 hours a day! There is that one hour in the middle of the night when "like" is a better word than "love." But seriously, I know she is growing so fast, and will soon outgrow her night feedings. Pretty soon, she'll start pulling off her headbands. Pretty soon, she'll be under my feet when I'm busy.

I'm glad she's still little.

A Different Saying

"A place for everything and everything in its place."

umm...

"A place for everything is a place it can survive."



"If my pottery can survive in the china cabinet...

...so *should* my sunglasses!"

Dumplins!

From my kitchen to yours:

Chicken and Dumplings... *drum roll*

Start with Mother-in-law's ready-made turkey soup, fresh out of the can.

Get a couple mixers to make the dumplings. Stir, stir. (Any impurities coming from little stirers' hands will be disinfected in the boiling liquid!)

Boil those dumplins!

Lunch and memories ready-made!

A Glimpse of Heaven

It is with a heavy heart that I blog today. I rarely blog about extremely personal events because I don't just want anyone to read them. But today, a college friend is remembering the year anniversary of her baby girl being born beautiful and healthy, taking her home, and holding her while she took her last breath at a precious two days old.

It was a horrible experience, to say the least. I will not even try to write of the depths of sorrow their family endured. I cannot understand. I do not want to be able to understand, for only a first-hand experience could make it hurt like she hurt.

What I do know is that to lose a baby is very heart-breaking. Over the past few years, we have miscarried two precious babies. Those were black, rayless times in my life. But God carried us through them, and proved His grace to us!

My first miscarriage was in May 2006, before I had any children. It was the hardest. I felt like we'd waited to long. I felt like there was a beautiful reward for us...just out of reach.

The second miscarriage was in October 2010. We already had our two boys, so it seemed much easier. We knew we wouldn't be childless. But it was still very heart-rending, and I spent much time in tears. But very soon after that, we found out we were expecting Eva, and God used that to heal me.

Recently, the Duggar family miscarried a baby. They shared a picture of that baby's hand on her hand. There was a lot of controversy about the photograph, and whether or not they should have posted it. But I'm so glad they did!

You see, I have nothing tangible from my babies. My miscarriages were early, within one week of finding out they were on the way. That made it SO much easier. But in a way, I would love to have known if they were boys or girls, or one of each. I would love to give them a name, and seal a place in my heart. I would love to have a picture, and a favorite outfit they wore, something to hold onto. But I know that with that sweetness would also come a much bigger hole in our lives.

I'm so thankful for Heaven where loved ones are quickly moving. Our babies are there. They are with Jesus, and I know we will be all together again.

Is my story sad? Yes, it is sad, but not compared to so many others. But I'm thankful that the story WILL have a happy ending, for Heaven is real.

Oh, to Be Perfect!

As 2012 begins, I am contemplating all the things I want to excel at. They are many!

Today as we came home from church, we could hardly get in the door! It is still a mess from Christmas and traveling.

I told Jamin, "Do you ever feel like every area in your life is a mess?"

He understood where I was coming from. I need to practice piano more, spend more positive time with the kids, get more organized in my menu-planning and housekeeping, read the Bible more, work harder at my teaching, exercise more, get up earlier, be kinder, and on and on the list goes...

I love fresh starts. They feel so good! Valentine's Day is happy, anniversaries are romantic, Christmas is magical. But New Year's... it's fresh! I'm excited to get closer to God this year, and let Him improve me! I'm so glad God doesn't remember all the failures of this past year.

Excited for 2012!