His Banner over me is {Love}.

For the past 20 months, since Paisley's birth, I've been thinking and thinking about what I could do over her crib that would be special FOR HER. Something that was representative of our desire for her....a verse? a quote? a mural? a picture collage? I would sit in her room at night or during nap times, rock her and look at the blank wall.

And then one day it hit me as I was listening to a song by Kari Jobe called,
"My Beloved":

I rescued a long piece of old barn board torn from the carriage house that was in the *GASP* fire pit!!!! (Jake likes to throw things away. I like to keep everything)!! I painted it with a coat of ivory paint, let it dry and then rubbed some stain on it. After the stain dried I sanded it to a pleasing distressed look.

Found a font that I liked and printed it in size 150.

Put on some music from grooveshark.com

and went to work, (the fun stuff).

Earlier in the day I loaded up the kids and went to the local hardware store and reuzit shop....I. WAS. ON. A. MISSION!! They have the BEST selection of paint markers @ our local store.....I bought black and hot pink.

I placed the printed font above the board and free-handed it as best I could. (Mind you, my children stayed in their pjs from sunrise to sunset, watched about 2 hours of tv and lived off sour cream and onion chips, pieces of cheese and granola bars....I'm totally serious)!!

When I get an idea in my head,
I wanted it done YESTERDAY!!!

can I get a witness???

I then spent about an hour wrestling with tissue paper.

If not for this lovely tutorial from my sweet cousin Clarita, I would have surely thrown them all in the wood stove!! They take T-I-M-E, but once you get the hang of it, it's really fun to watch them come to life before you.....and they look SO SWEET WHEN THEY ARE COMPLETED!!!

Lastly, I found some old fabric at a local reuzit shop, just small remnants that went well together, cut them into triangles, made small slits in them and threaded them with twine. Again, this tutoriall from my friend Aimee was very, very helpful AND SUPER DUPER EASY!! No sewing, which is great 'cause I don't know a thing about sewing....except I just saw A PINK SEWING MACHINE so I may or may not be taking up sewing in 2011!!!! I kid!!

I AM MY BELOVEDS AND HE IS MINE.

HIS BANNER OVER ME IS LOVE.

It looks exceptionally cozy at night.

"I'll take you to My quiet waters,
I'll restore your soul.
Come rest in Me and be made whole.
You're my beloved,
you're my bride.
To sing over you is My delight."

~Kari Jobe, "My Beloved"~

Thomas on a tractor trailer!!

Can you even imagine the children's excitement when we got behind THIS???
We were driving by our local train station, (which Thomas visits several times a year)when, much to our surprise, he was being hauled to another town!!

So, of course I got the GRAND idea to follow him!!I had to explain several times that HE COULD BREATHE and was not going to *die* with that black thing over his face! And come up with some tall tale as to WHY exactly he was being hauled away from our town in such a fashion.
At one traffic light I pulled up beside him and the boys wanted to RACE HIM!!!


I declined.
After following him for 15 minutes I thought that perhaps I was getting myself into a perdicment that was oddly familiar, so we beeeeeeeped our goodbyes to our dear friend and headed home!!!

It was a delightful little addition to an otherwise *normal* day!!!!



"Well, bust my buffers!!!"
~Thomas the tank engine!

Vintage photoshoot pics~~part 2

Hello friends~wanted to share with you the rest of the pictures that Jolyn, the photographer took/edited/designed the other day from the
Vintage Photoshoot.

Now, let us remember that this was A PHOTOSHOOT
so all looks *perfect*!!

I was playing house in my empty house, (my sister was watching my 3 children). So I got to make eggs peacefully without hungry morning bellies calling out to me and irking me first thing upon rising. Am I the only one who gets SO ANNOYED at my kids begging for food WHILE.I'M.MAKING.THE.FOOD???

I do not look like this everyday....actually ANY day

so don't let your mind play tricks on you!!

It feels really vain to be posting all these pictures of just myself.
There are way MORE IMPORTANT THINGS HAPPENING IN THE WORLD, in the lives of dear individuals, in the quiet of peoples souls and in the HEAVENLIES. It's not about me, my, and mine!!! I recognize that and I guess you could call that my *disclaimer* for posting the next 20 pictures of myself!!

Hope you enjoy the details!!

note to self: do not ever again wear stilettos while trying to ride a bike
down a busy road.

MY BABY GIRL IS GROWING UP SO FAST,
(and will "cheese it" on command~~~oh dear!!)

See that little beauty in the bottom right corner?
She's my newest find from craigslist and boy, is she a gem; an old, crackling gem, but a nameless one as of now. Feel free to leave a comment with a name that might seem fitting....remember, she's a she)!! I've had some good suggestions, but nothing has really clicked as of yet, (I like to name my favorite things..... yes, I am odd and I'm ok with that)!

I have so many fond memories of listening to our record player as a child.

Especially over Christmas...."Come on, Ring those Bells" by Evie was my favorite!

I found it at Goodwill the other day, (practically brand new) and may or may not have squealed out loud with delight!!

This next picture holds a lot of symbolism for me.
Most mornings I pick an apron that somewhat goes with what I'm wearing.

(I don't know when this started happening, but it's been a few years now).

And when my day is done it finally comes off and goes back on the hook, (or in the wash depending on the type of day it was or if one of the children had a runny nose)!!!!

Just a little something that she captured that is special to me.

Reality just got home.....all 3 of them!!! xoxo

Talk to you later......

"God gave us memories
that we might have roses in December."
~J.M. Barrie, Courage, 1922

He is FOR you!!

what a beautiful video i watched last night.

i wanted to share it with you.

(You're going to realize pretty quickly
why i thought this music video was one of the cutest ones i've ever seen)!!


But, besides that~~~

JUST KNOW THAT TODAY
HE IS FOR YOU,
NOT AGAINST YOU,
(no matter what your feelings may SHOUT or whisper to your soul)!!

"Leave her alone," said Jesus.
"Why are you bothering her?
She has done a BEAUTIFUL thing to me."
Mark 14:6

One Hour Massage

It's a cozy, rainy day around here.

We're all still in pj's and it's almost 11:30am and I'm okay with that.
The wood stove is lit and the house is thick with warmth.
A new candle burns nicely on the kitchen table and the 3rd load of laundry is started.

Every person in this house, (including yours truly) holds in their hand a little container filled with pepperidge farms goldfish, (xtra cheddar).

It's a good day.

A normal day.

A blessed day.

I'm working on making my annual, handmade Christmas gift certificates for ONE HOUR MASSAGES, {not sure if ya'll know that I'm a massage therapist}. I work out of our home about one night a week.

So, I'll be surrounded by glitter and bows and fun colored paper making these one-of-a-kind certificates that I would like to think are gifts in and of themselves!!

If you know me personally and are interested in purchasing one, I'm sharing a Pre-Christmas Special~~~

one certificate for $45

two certificates for $80.

Hopefully they will be able to be redeemed in 2011 in the new *studio* above the carriage house, it's going to be LOVELY!!!!

"There's never enough time
to do all the nothing you want."
~Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes

Some words from Rita Springer

When I first started listening to and loving *worship music* it was the good ol' Vineyard TAPES that were my favorite, (yes, I'm old I guess)! This was one of my favorite.....when it was released I listened to it day and night....and if I remember correctly one time I was driving with a friend, (Ang) and her tape player wasn't working, so we had one of those little kid radios, (the one with the pretend microphone attached to it), we loaded that thing with fresh batteries and we were on our way to the beginnings of TBS, (Tuesday night Bible Study). The joy of worshipping with a friend is hard to replicate!!

During those days a name started becoming more popular, Rita Springer.
So for the past 15 years I've been following her music and attending her conferences and such.

Today I was reading her blog and she said some beautiful things
that I thought I'd pass along:

"I am grateful for how the Lord has cleared the counters of my life of so many things that didn’t need to be there any longer. I tend to take on responsibilities I just was never supposed to. The gracious hand of God, trying to teach me to let go of what is not mine to worry about has been really freeing. I love the statement in scripture, “It is for freedoms sake that Christ has set us free.” (Gal 5) I’ve been pondering the part of “for freedoms sake”.

How often do we muck up the atmosphere of our lives by hanging on to responsibilities we feel tied to or guilty keeping? It’s really quite a revelation to let go of something you don’t know is binding you until you finally let it go and freedom rushes over your senses! I have had to take a long hard look at my “to do” list and my “keep this going” list and start really crossing off the things that I don’t need “to do” anymore and I don’t need to “Keep this going” any longer. It’s been as simple as telling myself, the dishes left in the sink will be okay left there to clean in the morning…..to…..laying down friendships that are one sided and not worth all the emotion put into them. It’s fighting sleep thinking: about the piles of office work on my desk….and….spending all day holding a sick child and getting none of it done!

Life is a boatload of responsibilities and the way I am learning how to walk out shouldering them is to not let the effect of them weigh me down. Instead, I am learning to carry only the responsibilities that I can find positive outcomes in. The past 6 months have been such a heart opening experience! Watching the faithfulness of God come without even answering the natural prayer. How is that? Well, it can happen.

It does not mean that you don’t still feel overwhelmed and under-appreciated at times. It simply means you cast your cares on the Lord and he sustains the righteous. Sustains……sustains. Keeps me going . Keeps me feeling supported, held, able to bear it. (dictionary meanings) For Freedoms Sake. For the sake of the way I feel with the weight off me even while still having to walk out all the responsibilities is liberating.

Literally, liberating."

"Hungry, I come to You for I know You satisfy,
I am empty, but I know Your love does not run dry,
so I wait for You, yes I wait for You...."
~Kathryn Scott~