sundays challenge

"I'm a hostage here for hope, not doom."

Acts 28:20

gotta a full plate

I going off-blog-duty the rest of this week.

Life, yet again has interrupted.

Love lots.

J

playing

 I chopped my hair off.

It was time.

I needed a boost.

My hair needed a new beginning. Maybe I did too.

It feels soooo good.  I have had short hair before, but not in a long time. I am loving how easy this do is, I can mess it up and it just looks better. Always a plus for a busy momma.

I also discovered how to use the camera on my laptop. Now I can Skype with my faraway friends and family!

And I can take silly pictures of myself.

Today is Wednesday. In office we have a rule about Wednesdays. It goes like this:

" No CRYING on Wednesdays!"

Maybe that could be your rule today too. Unless they are happy tears.

love much,

J

saturday

Saturday we had a birthday blow-out for Miles. A sweet friend loaned us her fab pool and back yard, and we lived it up!

I am so blessed that my kids are friends with my friends kids. This means that throwing parties is that much more fun. Love these gals! Don't they look like they just stepped out of a movie?

They are the coolest.

This huge chalkboard was a gift for the whole family from my parents, specifically my daddy.

It is HUGE and I cannot wait to figure out the perfect place to put it. I want to hang it where we can all access it and have fun with it.

I broke out the ole banners. I had a little moment of nostalgia, remembering my banner making days.

It's amazing how things change, even in a year.

The Coleman jug made an appearance. This may be one of my all time favorite garage sale finds.

I love vintage Coleman, and the color is so perfect.

This picture has no real meaning other than I love the colors. And I love to take random pictures of things like plates. 

Just 9 days and then it's Wylie's turn!

make do {and make lovely} mondays

You never know what is going to jump out and find you, when you aren't even looking.

Yesterday I was not myself. Well, I was myself, but I was the emotional, weepy version. It happens.

Life isn't perfect and neither am I. 

I have a lot on my plate, a lot of commitments. All good things. All gifts. 

But still, there are only so many hours in a day. So many coherent thoughts I can put together. So much energy that I can expend, physically and emotionally. I am limited.  I do not handle everything with grace.

And yet God does.  His grace is boundless, endless, full.

 He extends grace and love to me in ways that I know are for me alone. Ways that would look silly to others, seem funny and odd, are beautiful gifts to me. 

Yesterday I found these chairs, these perfectly rusty, vintage robins egg blue chairs sticking out of a dumpster, this shelf, this perfectly crusty, peeling, vintagey green, in a trash heap. They are old, and crusty and imperfect. And there they were, in need of rescuing. In need of a home.

And they made me smile and they made my heart leap with gratitude and joy and I snatched them up.

They may look like rusty old useless things to some, but to me they are little post-it love notes, placed exactly where I would see them, when I needed it most.

sundays challenge

Let your love, God, shape my life 

      with salvation, exactly as you promised; Psalm 119:41

    

Reading Now

The Cloister Walk

Amazing. Amazing.

 I love reading this book. It is like eating  the most delicious meal with someone you have always wanted to meet and instantly becoming kindred spirits, talking late into the night over bottles of wine, the candles burning down to nubs.

What are you reading? 

Thursday's Confessions - No Giveaway Here

Welcome to Thursday's Confessions. A new weekly feature where I confess, before you my sisters and brothers, the silly, the ridiculous and even at times the shameful. Why? Because confession is good for the soul. Even in Blogland.

Confession: I love giveaways. I have even won several (nothing big like a trip to Paris or a new dishwasher, but lots of great, cute and handmade items.) I have even been known to host a few (though I am lousy at getting my prizes mailed off in a timely manner...)

Recently I was approached by a lovely online shop to host a giveaway for a beautiful dress.
The company offered several  lovely dress options that I could choose from to offer, along with a 10% discount for my readers.  I was excited - who doesn't want a new beautiful dress??- until I began to look through all the selections.  No XL's, no Plus Size options as giveaway items. I even asked.

So I passed. I just couldn't do it. I couldn't advertise and offer a product that I myself couldn't even use if I was the one entering the contest. What fun would that be?
I might as well put "Giveaway for Skinny People Only" in the blog title. Not that I mind skinny people. Some of my bestest friends are skinny. But, as much as possible, I would like to be an equal-opportunity giveaway hostesses.
No one should be left out of the fun. Life is hard enough, no sense in making it harder or lonelier for people.


So there it is. My confession for this week. Sorry for the lack of a giveaway- I hope you understand. I feel certain you must.


love lots and lots.
Jerusalem

7

Today.

Happy Birthday Milesy-Man.

I love you forever.
You are one cool, smart, funny, creative kid.
Life is never boring with you around.

I am funny this way

Some people are trying to recapture their youth. I am dreaming of old age... 

Dream retirement plan...

Dream retirement view...

Dream retirement house...

Dream retirement studio, behind the farmhouse of course...

Dream retirement vacation spot...

Dream retirement granny hair-do...

Oh, and grandbabies. I dream of dozens of grandbabies...

today i am grateful for

a job that I enjoy.

that gives me the weekends off.

so that I can do all the  things that I love.

like writing. crafting. napping. making waffles.

for a community of faith where I can lead.

and where I can follow.

for kids who use their imaginations.

for a sister who shares her mad photography skills with me.

for a mother who also listens when I need her most.

for a daddy who knows just what I need to hear.

for a sweet man who will go get me a sundae at 10 pm because I need one. desperately.

today I am grateful. 

First Day of School

2010

2011

This year I have a 6th grader and a 2nd grader.

How did that happen???

Brothers. They are the best of friends...at times. And then there are the other times.

I am finding that the older they get the less they tell me what they need and the more I have to really pay attention. I have to be present in ways that are new and challenging. I have to read between the lines, look for clues and keep my eyes open at all times.

Raising boys to men is never boring and I am a blessed Momma.

Back to School...On a Budget

Ruche - $35.00

Believe it our not our school starts today! The school that the kids attend and I work at is a year round school - which means we only get about 4-5 weeks for summer.  Because the weather is so blasted hot I don't mind too much - at least we are cool. And we get lots of other breaks when the weather is cooler, times when all the other schools are still slaving away.

Payless $26

But regardless of when Back-to-School is, I cannot help but think about buying new school clothes.

Of course I have to think in terms of a warmer back-to-school outfits. Especially because temps don't cool down enough for a fall wardrobe till October.

Cecilia Jewelry - $8

These are a few fun items I found that if I had the forethought I would have snatched up for today.

Especially this necklace - isn't it too cute?

Vintage Resurrected  - $20

I love working in a school. I love all seeing the kids grow from one year to the next (we are K-12 so it is extra fun because we can watch them go the whole way!) I also love all the getting ready for each new year- freshly sharpened pencils and blank notebooks, just waiting for oodles and doodles of inspiration...

Make Do {and Make Lovely} Monday

Before we left my grandmothers house last weekend Miles (age 6)  grabbed my camera and started snapping. I have been horribly delinquent in snapping pictures lately so we will have to Make-Do with his photo's for today.This is what he saw:

Dirty dishes. Always. My family breeds dirty dishes. 

Mini-Cans. My grandmother loves to buy the little mini-cans of soda. I don't mind either.

I feel a lot less guilty about drinking a small can of DP than a huge bottle. 

For the kids. Like me.  I mixed mine with Sprite for an extra zing.

Homemade Shortbread. Yummy.

The newspaper, where my grandfather left off reading.

We eat a ton of tomatoes in the summer. Have I mentioned this? My kids love them enough to take their picture. This should explain it all.

Revolving Chair Monopoly. We played for 2 days and we could have gone longer I feel certain.
So that is how Miles see's it.  I like what he sees, it is a good life coming through that lens.  Maybe I should hand him the camera more often!

sundays challenge - aiming for

 “I believe the merciful God regards the lives and tempers of men more than their ideas. I believe he respects the goodness of the heart, rather than the clearness of the head.”

-John Wesley