Summer Reading

I have decided to only read one book this summer.
I was poking around Big Lots today and found Bohemian Manifesto for 50 cents!

Looked interesting and for that price I couldn't pass it up. I don't know much about who or what a Bohemian is or stands for. I sat and read half of the introduction while waiting for Steve and it caught my attention so it, at that moment, officially became my summer book.

I also realized while typing just now that this is the first summer since 1997 that I have not been buying home school curriculum and planning a school year. Interesting, weird?

So what about you- are you reading anything this summer?

Today I am Thankful For...

-God's grace daily in my life
-homemade dill pickles
-Steve.
-opportunities unseen
-blue pens
-the winds of change and the change that comes
-the constant of Jesus
-smiles from strangers

In This Hour

Do we ask for our suffering to go away?
Do we ask for troubles to avoid us?
Do we ask for life to be smooth sailing?
Yes, we can ask; but I say don't waste your breath.

"Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? Father save me from this hour? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!" -Jesus

It is during these troubled hours that we become who we were meant to be, it is where we find ourselves. It is during these times that we can see and feel and touch this Jesus who saved us. It is during these dark hours that the light shines through, that refinement continues, hearts are changed and it is during these troubles that we can be refreshment to others.

It is what it is.
We are where we are.
Not saying therefore we should give up on changing or making better or obeying- no, I am saying that the hour in which you are in is exactly that: the hour in which you are in.
So...
Live it.
Love it.
Learn from it.

Grow in it.
Seek God in it.
Relax, be still, move, dig in.

You are where you are because this is what God created you for- life on this green planet.
Life with troubled hours,
heart aching nights,
sore knees and rug burned faces.

So I cry out in this hour of mine "Father, glorify your name!"

Love to you all.




PS:
A side note to my family: I love you all and you have all been on my heart recently; from the islands of Alaska, the hills of Virginia and the mountains of Maine. We come from an amazing line of people. Christ-followers, hard workers, bold people who not only decided to etch their lives in New England when no one else was there but a people who loved and cherished family, friends, serving and giving. Perfect? No way- we are timeless mess, you all know the details of our messes, afterall we're family; but I just wanted those of you who read this to know I love you and I pray for a deeper stronger love for the ways of God in each of you, that you would see Jesus today and press on toward the goal. I look forward to one day in heaven when we're all gonna have a blast together!!! We are truly blessed! Love you family!

Hope Unseen

Wanting to write something here but I just seem to type then delete.

Above is a picture of my second, but much better tasting, batch of dill pickles. 2 jars of bread and butter pickles now share the same shelf. Canning is interesting, exciting and takes an awefully big pot!

I've been internally frustrated lately, and by lately I mean most of my life; wrestling with hope and my lack of it, ot is it too much of it?

Growing up is hard to do and right now I waiver between not wanting to hope and wondering what hope really is.

Some days I don't wanna hope anymore because it seems like the hope I've had in the past has let me down; I can feel betrayed by hope, struggling to think I will ever hope for anything again. As a mother we hope for things for our children, for our husband, for our home and for our own lives; when those hopes turn out differently, when years and years of hope turning out differently, it can pile up in a girls heart and gets tiring. Frustrating. Hope draining.

My perspective has a bunch, ok everything to do with this and when I read in Romans (ch 8) this last week about "hope that is seen is not hope" (ch 8:24) the Holy Spirit touched my heart and turned my eyes from the hope I have placed in this world, in my children's lives, my husband's business, in things seen... to Christ's second coming.

The hope in His coming I eagerly await.

A day when all the wrongs will be made right, when "the creation itself will be set free from its slavery to corruption" (8:21).

It's a hard balance.

I want to hope for things seen, but I desire all the more to hope for things unseen.

Lord, when my mind goes astray may the Holy Spirit pull it back to You and the hope of the day when You return and all of creation will be made complete.

I wonder if anyone else has felt this hopeless yet equally hopeful?

Ok so that's all I got. Have a great Wednesday.

Tired and Wondering

My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
you lay me in the dust of death. -Ps 22:15

I gotta be honest.

I am tired and beat down.
Seems like I am running in a wheel, always moving, never leaving.
I yearn for wide open spaces, cocktails and sunsets.
I'm tired.
Tired of reading about others vacations.
Tired of growing up children.
Tired of being a referee,
tired of one-way calling.

I yearn for Jesus to return.
I yearn for mountains and streams,
rocks and the quietness of the woods.

My heart aches sometimes for no reason.
It aches other times for good reason
and yet still at other times for my own self-pity.

My outlook is positive
but
some days it's not.

Somedays I wonder.
Wonder why we look at others flaws and ignore our own;
why we demand our way and forget about the other.
I wonder why I am no less of a sinner today than I was yesterday
and some days I still wonder why I live in Florida.

Some days my heart aches for New England.
I am tired.
Tired of being tired.
So I will find strength in my Lord.

But you, O LORD, be not far off;
O my Strength, come quickly to help me. -Ps 22:19

Dreams Becoming Reality

I like to create.
At first I thought I liked to sew, or craft or scrapbook; but I realize that since I was little I have really just liked to create.

Last spring I heard a guy named Marcus Buckingham speak and the words I heard really got my brain turning. He spoke about strengths, weaknesses and our jobs. Long story short 2 major things came from that; the first being me quitting my job last August and the second being my hearts desire to sell my creations for a better cause.

So this last Tuesday night at the 2nd Annual Detroit Benefit concert I got to see that hearts desire play itself out. I had the opportunity to sell my creations and donate all the money to inner-city Detroit missions.

Here's my table with the best merch girls I know.
I didn't have anything neat to display my stuff on, so a few hours before the concert I asked Steve if he'd cut down the dead orange tree in the side yard and make it into a display stand. he did and it worked out great.
I had never heard the feature band Fireflight so it was a special treat to hear them live. I've decided that the bass guitar is where I belong in a rock-n-roll band.
Cause I do belong in a rockband.
I do.
But don't tell Justin
- he'd freak.

Here is Fireflight's bassist... a girl!
Nice shoes.
Also notice the lead singer has a bubble dress on- and it was metalic fabric.

So God is amazing is so many ways but this was just one of them, I got to see the fruits of my labor go toward a good cause and a dream in my heart bloomed.

If you want more info on my sewing label vintage sheet or my "line" 4 the Love of DETROIT, please visit their websites by clicking on their names. You can also purchase some really neat one of a kind creations for yourself and support the Cass Corridor area of Detroit at the same time.

Anyone else have a dream of theirs come to life?

New Look

After a good year of wanting to customize my blog I've done it!
It didn't take as much time as I thought, and i enjoyed the process!

I hope to tell you about Sarah's 20th birthday, Steve's new jeep, give a work update and share more sewing/gardening/parenting teen stories.

Until then...
If you live local this Tuesday night at Edgewater Alliance there is a Fireflight concert. Tickets are $10 before, $12 night of; doors open at 7pm.
I will be selling my vintagesheet label line called:, "4 the Love of Detroit", so bring some spending money and help support inner city Detroit and Waveland, MI.

FLORIDA SUNRISE

10 inches Gone!

So this is the shot right out of the salon.
I don't have the stylist style my hair, I go in with clean hair, she cuts, I leave.
I'll post better pictures when I get one. boy I've gained weight, yikes!

Little pony!

The 10 inches will go to Locks of Love and I will try to figure out what to do with my new short hair!

Changes of Summer

Lazy days of summer with elementary kids means beach days, pool swimming, friends and outside play.
Lazy days of summer with teenagers means sleeping in.
Nuff said.
Happy summer vacation!!!

;-)

I am thinking of shutting off the internet for the summer.
Although that would put me on the bad list around here; but I'm still considering it, or some form of it.
With that said:
Have a great Saturday and Sunday,
and Monday
and Tuesday...

Until next time we will be working...

hopefully with a smile on our face and love in our hearts?!

SO it's weird having your 16-year-old married.
And having a child on the way.

It's weird.
Trust me, I look at my own life and wonder "what?"

Sometimes, late at night, in the quiet of my thoughts I go to the:
"what if this is just a dream..."
"why did this have to happen..."
"what did I do wrong as a parent..."
"I didn't teach him God's Word enough"
"I missed opportunities..."
"what is he gonna do for college?"
"a job?"
"how will he make it without us?"
"what went wrong?"
"my poor baby"
"why did he chose this?"

Yeah pretty much the thoughts you'd think you'd have, I have.

But it comes down to: what is done, is done.
Where we're at is where we're at.
My son is smart, a hard worker, responsible (well??), he really wants to do good by God, by his family.

I've learned it's not all bad.
It's life.
It's an adventure.
It a marriage.
It's laughter and giggles, smiles and a daughter for me/us.

I have learned to not be ashamed.
This mom of a teen parent role comes with shame attached; not attached by God but by human standards. Darn the human side of things!

So each day that I don't have those thoughts go through my head I do my best to focus on the good road ahead, to just go with it and all along give praise to God, use my gifts and talents for Him and have fun all the while!

Nothing of Any Importance In This Post

Checking in.
Today will be finishing up a 4 day series of work days. Well actually I had Sunday off but I've worked 4 of the last 5 days so after my short 4 hour shift today I will come home, lay back, kick my feet up, eat bon-bons and relax.

eeerrr...

Nope, that won't happen.
When I get home from work today I will happily work here at my home.
My floors are a disaster,
dinner at home needs to be made,
laundry- oh do I even dare mention laundry?

The there's this pile of stuff lining the hallway to my room

and another box sitting in my dining room.

Oh, maybe I won't get to all that today but I will try my best....
and...
I plan to do it with a smile.

I gotta be honest though, working outside the home,
working in the home,
living with my 16-year-old son and his wife,
homeschooling- actually I don't really homeschool anymore- a 14-year-old,
and being a wife.
All of that has been pretty good to me lately.

Just daily lifting it all up to the Lord, ok so daily doesn't always happen but I try to give them to God daily; just some days I wake up and am out the door and back home into bed before I even know what hit me.
How about you, ever have a day like that?