its all worth it

yesterday Colleen and i went to a baby shower.  the new momma had a big list of books on her registry and i was pleased to see Colleen's favorite bedtime book on the list.  so of course i bought it.

after the shower we had a big conversation about what books i used to read to her before bed.  when i mentioned one her favs that happened to be my least fav, she had to giggle about how much she made me read it to her.  its not my fav because it has singing parts in it and they are not just regular singing parts they are animal singing parts. 

so when i woke up this morning this is the note i found  (get some tissue...just saying)

"Sing to me my own song." he said "you have the most beautiful voice in all the whole wide world.  Sing me my own song"  excerpt from A Song for Little Toad

I love you soooo much.  You are the most amazing mother ever!  I don't think anyone could do just as well as you did.  As i read this book i thought of how you raised me in your own way, not how others told you too.  and i  couldn't be more thankful for it!

I love you so much!

(don't cry too much :)

thanks for 18 AMAZING years!

Colleen - your little toad :) 

its times like these that remind you its all worth it.  every tear, every heartache, every battle, every victory.

sabbath rest

God really knew what He was doing when he commanded us to take a day off. 

after my most horrible, awful, terrible no good week i took saturday off. 

totally off.

i read a book and it was glorious.

pulling weeds

after the rainstorm on tuesday night i had quite a few weeds spring up in my yard. my first thought was to just mow them down...then i thought they'll just grow back stronger and bigger than before. so last night i got out the hose and soaked the ground really well and this morning before it got to hot i went out to pull weeds.

the most dreaded of childhood chores. pulling weeds ranked right up there with picking beans and gathering pecans. which i would swear on a stack of bibles we must of had 1 million bean plants and at least that many pecans in our yard each fall.

now i know a million preachers have preached it and at least a million people have heard it but God really does speak to you while you are doing the most mundane tasks. if we will only listen and apply what He says. its as if He has provided the chores as mini life lessons. i am the type of person that has to see it then do it to learn it. so just sitting in church and listening to the Word only takes me so far. i have to then go out and do it in the real world. so my challenge is this the next time you have a chore that really needs to be done and you really don't want to do it ask God to speak to you. ask Him what you could possibly learn from this sink full of dirty dishes. i think you just might be surprised. i know i am.

i not only pulled the weeds in my yard this morning but i was able to pull up some spiritual weeds that have been choking the life out of me. now my challenge is to keep them pulled. they will try to come back but if i catch them when they are small and soak the ground really well i have no doubt God will give me His strength to pull them out.

God wants you to know

Before the beginning of time, I knew you. I knew what color your eyes would be, and I could hear the sound of your laughter. Like a proud father who carries a picture of his daughter, I carried the image of you in My eyes, for you were created in my image. Before the beginning of time I chose you. I spoke your name into the heavens, and I smiled as its melody resounded off the walls of My heart.

You are Mine. My love for you extends farther than the stars in the sky and deeper than the ocean. You are My pearl of great price, the one for whom I gave everything. I cradle you in the palm of My hand. I love you even in the face of your failure.

Nothing you say or do can cause Me to stop loving you. I am relentless in My pursuit of you.

Run from Me--I will love you.
Spurn Me--I will love you.
Reject yourself--I will love you.

You see My love for you was slain before the foundations of the world and I have never regretted the sacrifice I made for you at Calvary.

When I see every part of who you are, I marvel at the work of My hands, for I whispered words of longing and desire and you came into existence.

You are beautiful, and I take pleasure in you--heart, mind, and body.

You are My desire.

When you turn your head in shame and despise what i have made, still I reach for you with gentle passion. You are My beloved and I am yours.


adapted from 1 John 3:2, Isaiah 43:4, Matthew 13:46, Ephesians 1:4, Revelation 13:8, Psalm 194:4, Song of Solomon 7:10; 6:3 by Regina Franklin

shes done

i was just checking my blog and couldn't believe my last post was at the beginning of the school year and it was about my daughter.

here it is the end of the school year and she has graduated. no more high school. no more notes to write. no more school assemblies and trips. no more permission slips. no more parent teacher conferences.

the days go slowly but the years fly.

as she sleeps...

...i can see the baby she was 17 years ago.

...i can imagine her future as she steps to the edge of adulthood.

...i can pray she will never change and allow the world to make her hard.

...i can hope the hopes that all mothers hope for.

...i can wish she still listened to veggie tales and not hard core christian metal.

...i can dream for her.

my labor of love

i have recently taken up quilting. about a year ago i decided i needed a new hobby. i have always sewn but nothing was really getting me stirred up. when i really searched my heart i realized i wanted to do something that would have a legacy. i wanted to make something that my children and someday wayyyyy in the future my grandchildren would use.


i still have several quilts that my grandmother and 1st mother-in-law made me and they get more and more special everytime i use them. or when i see one of my kids wrapped up in them. at my granny's house she didn't own any blankets that i remember all she had was quilts and we used them for everything.


so about a year ago i decided to start making quilts....it couldn't be that hard right? right! i quickly learned there was so much more to quilting that just sewing a top together. the piecing is just the start then you have to be concerned about battings and needles and thread and backings and sashings and borders and marking pens or pencils and on and on and on and on. so in my quest i found and have joined a quilters guild. i am the youngest member at 42 the next youngest lady is 66 and the oldest lady is 91. we get together every wednesday and have an old fashioned quilting bee.


right after joining the group i was asked by a lovely young woman if i could make her a quilt. i of course said yes. she had just lost her 5 month old baby girl and couldn't part with any of her clothes but knew she couldn't hang on to all these clothes. her first thought was could a quilt be made out of them. after looking at what she had i decided we could make a heirloom quilt from the baby's cotton dresses but she still had a whole lot of onesies and such and she really wanted something she could hang on to and cry on and sleep with and just have with her at all times. My quilting friend Linda made the heirloom quilt and i made the other two.

this is mom's rag quilt. i took 5" by 5" squares from the baby's onesies and you turn the seams outward to create a rag effect.

this is the heirloom quilt from all the cotton clothes

and then for the dad i made a t-shirt quilt from all the little onesies he had bought.

encouragement

i am realizing that encouragement is a very delicate thing. most people encourage you with what they think you should do in a given situation. in reality you must do what God wants you to do. and to do that and encourage that may not sound like encouragment at all. sometimes the best encouragement you can give is silent and the best love is without guilt.