My Projects!

Maybe someday we'll be like Shannon at Shannon Makes Stuff or Disney at ~Ruffles And Stuff~ . But for now, it's just little ol' me trying to be creative and, hopefully, make our home a beautiful place of comfort and rest. Here are my projects that I'm working on!

My square foot garden: Green Beans, Pole Beans, Cilantro, Rosemary, Peppers, Watermelon, Radishes and Lettuce.

See, my lettuce is already sprouting!!!

I found these during bulk trash week and thought I might be able to use them for something around the house! I'm thinkin' I'm going to use 4 of them for coffee table legs and design a top with rounded edges so that it's as KB proofed as possible. :-)

Any ideas for the remaining two legs?

Well-p! That's what's on my to do list! There are so many ideas milling around in this head of mine that I have to take a step away from my craft desk every now and then and sort through them all. What's actually do-able? What is cute in other people's homes? Would it fit in ours? Etc.

*Happy Sigh*

We're so blessed to have such amazing friends! Yes, that's you!

Snail Mail

Isn't it interesting what joy or pain can be experienced just by receiving a letter in the mail? A baby's been born, someone is getting married, a friend decided to write just out of the blue.Then there's the opposite end of the spectrum: Dear John, I don't love you anymore, you owe $300 for that purse you bought at Macy's, the power bill for May is $490, foreclosure is imminent, etc... It seems that the negative outweighs the pleasant in the case of snail mail these days.

For us, yesterday brought a stern, "Pay this ridiculous amount by the 7th or else!" from our bank that carries the mortgage on our home. Well, obvioulsy those weren't the exact words...  but it's pretty dern close! I can't begin to describe my overwhelming feeling of helplessness. My first response to news such as this is, "where could I get a job?" and then following right on its heels is the heart-stabbing realization that that would mean being away from Luke all day long. There have been some days where I felt as though I would welcome the opportunity to get away from my mommy-duties for a while but I know that's the exhaustion talking. My more coherent moments, when I think of the things I would miss, tell me that the seperation would be more painful than I can imagine. Could I really do it? Miss his smiles and laughs throughout the day? Miss opening my eyes to him smiling at me first thing in the morning and then snuggling on the couch as we both wake up. Miss our morning walks? The precious moments after he wakes up from his naps and needs me? Miss nursing him and seeing how he feels so safe in my arms, so secure because Mommy's got him?

I truly thank God that the cost of childcare (ughhh!) would pretty much negate whatever income I made. I also thank God for laying down just another opportunity for me to learn to trust Him. Michael is working hard and work is forever on the horizon. Not far off, just always beyond our reach and I've wondered if God will ever allow us to have more than we need? Besides relliance on Him, is there another lesson to be learned here?

 Despite the never-ending questions, my fears, just one day later, have been completely silenced and He has shown through love from our church, that we've never fallen off of his radar. There is no "Oops! Guess I forgot to watch the Withem's over there." as if we were a kettle of boiling water about to spill over. No, not my Savior! He is near. He cares. He loves. He provides. And my soul is at rest in Him. For now, I am content to be vulnerable and cling to my Almighty God, knowing that He is, and always will be, enough.

"Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast."                                                

                                                                                                  1 Peter 5:6-10

KB the Baby

"Life with a Kidney Bean?" you may ask. Yes! The Kidney Bean or "KB" for short is our 6 month old son Luke. I was one of the thousands of preggos who joined babycenter.com to track the developement of our baby in utero. During the first trimester, I was driving with my dad across town to pick up a surprise birthday gift for my hubby Michael and remarked "It's amazing something the size of a kidney bean could make me feel so nauseated!" From that moment on, my dad decided to call Luke, KB the Baby. We hadn't picked out a name yet and it was nice to call the unknown gendered baby something besides "it" and "he or she."

Fast forward 6 months and you'll see that we've adapted well to having a fifth member of our immediate family. (The third and fourth members being our cat Obiwan and Aussie, Chloe) He's a happy, mellow boy and the delight of our lives. No longer do we require any outside entertainment because we have Luke! My parents are especially involved in his life because they only live a few miles away and all the other grandkids live out of state. That's certainly not to say that Michael's parents are slacking in the spoiling department. They are just about as crazy for Luke as my folks are.

Michael and I are both self-employed. I'm an LMT and Michael owns Fusion Web Technologies working to design websites for small businesses and PC repair. On the side we lead a kid's worship band for the 1st-6th graders at our church. Our goal: To teach the kids to love the old hymns and worship songs that we've spiced up(if you know that age group at all, you'd know that the original version of "The Old Rugged Cross" would keep their attention for a grand total of 2 seconds). Besides that we enjoy playing board games with friends, walking around the beautiful outdoor malls here in the valley, and have our dates walking around HomeDepot or Lowes following dinner our favorite chinese food place.

So that's us in a nutshell! My goal for this blog is to keep up to speed with Luke's milestones and to trade decorating/ craft ideas with other gals who are on a budget like me! My favorite new website is dollarstorecrafts.com. Lots of cute ideas from other moms with similar times and monetary restraints plus, they usually include links to their own blogs which opens up a slew of fun sites and ideas to pursue! As much as I would love to drone on and on, Luke is ready to get some lovin' and teething tablets. So "ta-ta for now" as my grandmother would say in an effort not to say something as final as "goodbye." Until we blog again!