Mis-heard

Isaiah has been walking around the house saying dramatically, "Mock my words! Mock my words, Mom!" And I do.

Providence

Providence: The protective care of God or of nature as a spiritual power

A few days ago I received a mass email from a woman in my ward who I don't know at all. The email said something like, "We recently adopted three children and you've all been so sweet offering your help and we've said no to everything so far. But now I realized that the kids need Sunday clothes. The boys are 4 and 2, the girl is 3. If you have any clothes that you can pass on, we'd greatly appreciate it."

When I read that I remembered that I had just noticed a spare pair of Sunday pants in Isaiah's drawer. Sometimes Asher and Isaiah are the same clothing size for a few months, so I have to buy doubles of Sunday clothes. I knew I could help at least with the size 4, so I shot her back an email right away. I found that spare pair of pants and a shirt in size 4, no problem. Then I went to the boys closet to see how available the 2T box of clothes was. It was not easily reachable - way behind and under a bunch of other stuff. But right in front was a grocery bag labeled "2T". So I glanced in and sure enough, there was 2 Sunday outfits right next to each other. How convenient! As for the girl, I was sure I wouldn't have anything to offer her since Naomi had been out of size 3 before we moved into this house. All those boxes of little girl clothes are in a storage unit across town. But I glanced into Naomi's closet anyway. And hanging there, next to several size 6, 7 dresses, was one size 3T Easter dress. A little purple fluffy miracle in my opinion.

As I dropped off these clothes I couldn't help but think back to how that dress ended up in Naomi's closet. And how those two 2T boys Sunday outfits ended up right in front, together, so that I knew I had a spare. It seems to me that something like five years ago, God planned for this day. Five years ago God lead me to leave that dress in Naomi's closet. Heck, that little girl wasn't even BORN yet! But He knew that she would need that dress today and he got it ready for her. Through me.

Isn't that kind of amazing? Truly miraculous! The definition of providence.

Popcorn

We love that we live in a place where we look out the window and what do we see? Popcorn popping on the {not really} apricot trees!

I Run

I run. That's a totally new statement for me. I mean, two weeks ago I would have said that I hate running. That I can't run. That I won't run. But then this morning I think I even enjoyed it!

Let's back up a bit. A few weeks ago my sister-in-law, Kelly, asked me if I wanted to join her and a few other women in a 5K. I would normally have said no instantly, but I was having a "something has to change in order for me to stay sane" kind of moment and my running status seemed like a good thing to change. So I said yes! I gave it a shot one Saturday morning using my phone as a interval timer and music player. First my music player failed, then my timer. And it turned out to not be a fun run because of my frustration with that. Squeezing in the time to run is pretty frustrating sometimes, too. After that first run I bought a sports watch with an interval timer on it and I dug my old MP3 player out and re-charged the battery.

See? Not exactly my usual style (other than it's purple-ness). But the change is kind of exciting.

And then this morning everything magically aligned from the gorgeous weather to Samuel's nap - and I enjoyed it!

I think I probably won't always enjoy it. And I think the scheduling will always (at least this school year) be kind of frustrating. But I feel so good about just getting out there and doing it. Doing something entirely for me feels pretty dang good.

I Made

I like to make things. I like to say that it's because I can finish something. There are so few tasks in my life that I can say that about. Laundry, dishes, cleaning and child rearing are never finished. But I think I also like it because I'm amazed that I can pull it off! So here's a little collection of things I've made lately that I haven't had a chance to blog yet.

This is a 3-D airplane mobile that I made for my new nephew, Ryan. I bought the pattern on Etsy and then used my Cricut to cut the planes and clouds out.
Richard helped with the technical aspects of this one quite a bit.
Here's a little wall hanging I made for a friend who was having a baby. When friends choose a baby name before the baby is born I like to embroider the baby's name onto something like burp rags or a hanging. But when they don't choose the name before the baby shower, I do something generic like this. I actually really love how this one turned out and it was a little hard to give it away and not hang it in my own home!
The grass and stems are embroidered, then I just stitched the buttons on.
Here's a little "lovey" I made for another friends baby (apparently I create most often for new babies!). This is pieced together from fabric that my mother gave me which she got from a fabric designer who works in her building. I love the retro look of the fabric combination - it was perfect for this friend.
Then I quilted it using my sewing machine.
Here's a little something that I haven't finished yet. I realized (after I made and gave away that button flower thing) that I dont actually have any thing that I've made displayed in my home! So I started this heart to add to my Valentine's decor. The idea is that the french knots will get more and more scattered as they go out toward the edge. What I failed to take into account was just how long making eight gazillion french knots would take! At this point, I'm hoping to have this done by NEXT Valentine's Day! (Hopefully this project doesn't ruin my "I like to finish things" theory!)
This is like therapy for me. When I'm having a rough day I think to myself, "What can I make today?" Sometimes what I make is cookies or bread or a big dinner - but sewing and crafting are lower fat!