Friday Faves

Here are some of my favorite things on the web this week.

I enjoyed reading about and being encouraged to be the mom God wants us to be in this post At The Well......In Pursuit of Titus 2.

Check out this video clip posted by Kirsty at Momedy and decide who deserves the most pity.

I think these pins made by Kimba at A Soft Place To Land are just exquisite.

Check out this fun video clip posted by Mikki at The View From My Beach Chair. It's sure to make you smile.

And over at the LPM blog, I loved Melissa's take on the Academy Awards.

Scrap Quilt: Love In Every Stitch

Earlier this week I was reading about how Rachel at The Simple Life of the Boreings was preparing her leftover material to use in a scrap quilt and sharing how each fabric held a memory. It made me think about my very own scrap quilt. And while I didn't make it and I don't know the stories behind each scrap of fabric, it is something I treasure because of the two women who made it. This quilt was a team effort by both of my grandmothers with their work completed decades apart. My dad is the youngest of 6 children and my mom is the oldest of 4. And my dad is 5 years older than my mom. All of this means that there was quite an age gap between my two grandmothers. When I was just shy of 4 my family moved from Illinois(near my mom's family) to Alabama where my parents bought the family farm from my dad's parents. I spent the next 5 years being totally doted upon and spoiled by my paternal grandmother. We built our house close to theirs and I spent much of my time there. I was a picky eater and she would make me pancakes any time of the day I wanted them. She and I had a ball together. She died in 1979. I was 9 years old. I used to lie in bed at night and gaze into the night sky and talk to her. I missed her so much. I still do. I know when I get to heaven she's going to be right there waiting on me and I cannot wait to just give her the biggest hug and tell her how much I love her. When the family was going through her things, there were some quilt tops that she had sewn but never gotten around to quilting due to her health. My mom took those quilt tops and stored them at our house with the intention of having them quilted one day.

In 1984, my mom's parents moved from Illinois to Alabama and I got to spend a lot of time with my maternal grandmother. I feel so blessed to be able to have a relationship with her as an adult. There is a much different dynamic to the relationship than you have when you are a child I think. I called her Mamo as a child but now she is G.G., a title she was given when my sister and I had kids. G.G. is one of my favorite people in the whole world. We're both terrible about calling each other, but when when we do manage to get in touch with each other we just talk and talk and laugh and laugh. She has spunk! I just love to be around her. And wouldn't you know it, she quilts. She gave me a quilt for my 16th birthday that I literally just wore out. I loved that quilt and snuggled in it night after night and washed it time after time until it just fell apart. She has also made quilts and given them to my girls and I love that they have those treasures.

So a few years ago, my mom surprised my sister and I with our scrap quilts. My mom had her mom quilt the quilt tops that my dad's mom had made and gave them to us as gifts. I can't even tell you how much I love my quilt or how special it is. And while it's just a thing, it represents the love of both of my grandmothers as well as my mom. And I love that is is so random and crazy. The fabrics are from the 70s and are bold colors, prints, patterns and totally polyester which makes it so unique. It is something I will always treasure because of the love in every stitch.

Music Monday

I've been struggling a bit lately and I really don't know why. There's really no reason for it. Life is going along okay. The Man has a job, our kids are healthy, nothing to complain about. But things just feel rather unbalanced and unfocused for some reason. I'm feeling sort of disconnected in my relationship with Jesus I guess. I don't know, maybe after months of clinging so tightly to Him and keeping my focus so directly on Him I'm feeling fatigued. Isn't that pathetic? Shouldn't I feel more energized and more focused? I don't know, maybe it has nothing to do with that at all. Maybe it's because I'm just tired of winter, tired of being cold, tired of spending so much time indoors. Maybe it's because I'm finally at that place where I'm gaining my freedom during the day and don't know what to do with my time. The Man is working the kids are in school. Maybe this is that adjustment period I was expecting last Fall. It just got postponed due to The Man's unemployment. I do know this isn't how I want to feel. I want that focus and closeness and connection back that I had just a couple of months ago. I'm not feeling ungrateful. I can still see all the blessings that I'm surrounded with. I just feel a lack of direction right now. I'm feeling far too introspective which is a place I really don't enjoy being. I hate spending too much time wallowing in me. I was reflecting on all of this on the way home from dropping the kids off at school this morning. I'm so glad my relationship with Jesus isn't based on how I'm feeling on any particular day. I can feel like I'm grasping for air but He holds me tight in His grip. I can feel like my life is unbalanced but I stand on the solid rock of Jesus Christ. I can feel like my prayers don't make it past my lips but He hears every one. It doesn't matter how I feel, I have the truth of The Word to guide me. "On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. I will not be moved"........from one of my favorite songs ever.
I Will Not Be Moved--Natalie Grant

Wordless Wednesday: Warm Thoughts

I'm pretty much over Winter so I'm thinking about warmer days today. Orange Beach 2006.

Go here for more Wordless Wednesday.

Made With Love

I was inspired over the Christmas holidays to start making more gifts myself. I thought Valentine's Day would be a great time to give this a try. So I whipped up some tasty treats for the family and made their cards as well. I was curious to see how the girls reacted to made by Mom gifts. It was very well received. Their reactions were great and Sister Girl was still thanking me last night for making Valentine's Day so special. Love that girl.

On the list of treats were truffles, chocolate dipped strawberries and iced sugar cookies. I did add a handful of Hershey kisses to the girls boxes as well.


Here are the gifts I gave them:

I loved The Man's reaction to his double layered box of goodies.

The girls were thrilled with theirs too.



I was showered with treasures as well.
Beautiful flowers from The Man...

A printed card and picture of hearts from Baby Girl. So sweet. And I love best guess spelling.

And this beautiful picture from Sister Girl

We finished our day with our traditional meal of Red Hot Love Burgers and Baked Spicy Fries with Baskin Robbins Love Potion Ice Cream for dessert. This tradition began years ago when we were young, broke and kidless. It was all we could afford then. Now it's something we look forward to each year.

It was truly a lovely day and I feel so inspired to mke sure more of the gifts I give are made with love.

Wordless Wednesday: Winter Storm

A couple of pictures from last week's winter storm.




Go here to see more Wordless Wednesday.

Learning to Read with Dick and Jane

Over Christmas break, Baby Girl wanted to practice her reading and The Man remembered that we had a Dick and Jane compilation storybook. Those books are magical. When this storybook was given to Sister Girl reading began to click for her and the same thing happened for Baby Girl. Everything just started to click for her when she began reading the stories. A couple of weeks back we visited Half Price Books and Baby Girl found and bought Dick and Jane I See You. She loves that book and reads it every single night now. The Dick and Jane books are as timeless as they are nostalgic. I remember learning to read with them and I love that my kids are learning to read with them too. I think what these books do best is build confidence in the child and their ability to read by using repetition of simple words to create stories. A simple yet very effective approach to building readers. Did you learn to read with Dick and Jane?