Cinderella Scenes

A Kate Story

          The other day Kate and I walked to the neighborhood park together, which we don't do nearly enough. Along the way, we stopped to pick a dandelion. I explained how you make a wish and blow the wisps away. When she couldn't blow them off the stem, I let her pick them off. Then I broke the "no tell" rule and asked her what her wish was. You know what she said?

"I wished I can see God."

 

Her name means "pure one."

Do you remember what Matthew 5:8 tells us? "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." Looks like Kate has a good chance of her wish coming true.

Now I'm the one blown away.

Meeting Ann

This past weekend, I had the unbelievable chance to hear my (living) spiritual hero, Ann Voskamp, speak. She spoke to a group of one thousand women at a church in Charleston, South Carolina on Friday night and Saturday morning. I still can't believe this really happened. You see, I have been reading Ann's blog, A Holy Experience, since early 2007. Her words have inspired, encouraged, challenged, and wrapped me in Jesus' love daily since then. I have the link to her blog on the sidebar. I had always said that if I ever had the opportunity to meet Ann in this life I would take it. It didn't matter the cost. This was on the top of my bucket list, friends! Well, God worked it out that Ann, who lives in Canada on the Pacific Ocean, would speak at a church 2 hours north of me on the Atlantic Ocean, and tickets were, get this...$15!! I sat at my computer the day the tickets went on sale to be sure to get mine. I told all my friends about the conference. I was so excited for this special trip!

Two friends, Kimberly and Jennifer, were able to make this trip with me. We got a room at a beautiful hotel on Daniel Island, 5 minutes from the conference. Friday night before the best meeting of my life, the three of us had dinner at Queen's Revenge, a nice restaurant near the hotel. I got delicious she-crab stew. In an hour I would be in the same room as Ann. I must explain that this was not like celebrity jitters. I do not think of Ann as a star, but as a dear sister in Christ, whom I can't wait to meet and thank. We lined up at the church before the doors were open and quickly, several hundred women were in line behind us. As they opened the doors to let us find a seat, I snapped a picture of the line:

We sat in the fourth row, to the left of center stage. Worship began, and it was wonderful. The hymns were beautiful and filled with theology and the thousand-woman chorus was high and sweet. During the second song, Ann was led into the front row, to find her seat, directly in front of me. As her mic was being hooked up, she never stopped worshipping God.

She talked that night about her story, that is found in her book, One Thousand Gifts. She has the most intense yet gentle voice I've ever heard. Filled with urgency, yet reverence. Sometimes she sounded almost Southern, and other times the Canadian came out. She was much taller than I had imagined, but she was undeniably, unmistakingly, the Ann of her writings.

After the meeting there would be a meet and greet! My friends got out to the lobby quickly and got a great spot in line to meet Ann. I met them there and waited only about 15 minutes to be able to talk face-to face with her. As I got closer, tears started filling my eyes and as I stepped forward to speak, I was crying. I told her how long I had read her blog and she said, "Oh! How did you even find me back then?" I got to tell her thank you. I told her how her words have been passed on through me to countless others. ("Yes, yes, be the gift.") I told her how the story of Jonathon on the banks of the Amazon had wrecked me. ("Yes! John!") I told her she was my sister. I thanked her for introducing me to the music of David Nevue. ("He says thank you, too!") She hugged me twice. Then she signed my book:

After she signed my book, she placed her had on it and whispered something to God (a blessing?) and closed it. I can't remember everything else, but I had at least 2-3 minutes with her, including capturing the moment forever:

Thank you to Kimberly for taking the photos. I'll treasure them forever.

The next morning we were able to sit in the same place, except one row forward. Ann spoke more truth, about fear and pride, about humilty and bowing low, and about bridges made of "thanks-planks." I took notes and will read over them for quiet times.

After the meeting, Kimberly, Jennifer and I went into Charleston to eat and had a wonderful time! I snapped photos of our walk, our resaurant, and our amazing food. I'll blog about that next!

Valentines Three Ways

For her friends in ballet class, which meets on Valentine's Day this year:

I used Stampin' Up! Melon Mambo, Whisper White, and Regal Rose cardstock and Flirtatious Designer Series Paper, clear envelopes, an oval scallop punch, a small oval punch, along with the Perfect Words Stamp set. Pink gingham ribbon from Michael's.

 For her ballet teachers:

I used Stampin' Up! Melon Mambo, Whisper White, and Regal Rose cardstock and Flirtatious Designer Series Paper, a scallop punch, a decorative label punch, and the fancy favors Big Shot Die, along with the Four Frames and Perfect Words Stamp sets. Pink gingham ribbon from Michael's.

For her friends at co-op:



I found some frosted vellum at Joann's Fabric, cut out hearts by hand, sewed around the edge, leaving a 2 inch gap, let Kate fill the pouch with sweethearts, and finished the seam. I used an ultra-fine Sharpie to write "cut here" along one side, and then used a heart punch to make a sweet tag for the other corner, affixed with a Stampin' Dimensionals.

Which do you like best?

From the Gratitude Journal Last Fall

Let's play catch up with my list, then I'll start my 2012 list.

559. the cooler fall-is-coming weather
560. my Pumpkin Spice latte
561. a 4-kid pile up hug
562. being able to help a friend by making dinner for their family
563. and taking her kids to the park
564. being able to homeschool
565. for different cultures around the world.
566. for the Lake District in England,
567. for the mountains in Switzerland,
568. for the green hills in Ireland,
569. and the tulip fields in the Netherlands
570. for his job
571. Can I say my kids again? I'm just overwhelmed with love for them!!
572. for my husband's faithfulness to his family
573. for his frequent, "Hello, Beautiful."
574. for leftover wedding flowers given to me by neighbor Glen,
575. and leftover cupcakes given by neighbor Carli
576. for uncontrollable laughter in public with best friends (Sarah and Devin at Churchill's)
577. for that feeling you get when you meet someone new and instantly have a connection
578. for God's patience with me
579. for all these special moments with my children lately. Ben may be working every day and late into the night, but it has given me time to just be with them.
580. for Rosh Hashana, thrown together and enjoyed. The apples dipped in honey reminding us that life with God is sweet.
581. for long talks on the phone with Grandmas...my kids are blessed.
582. for a gala at the museum Ben built, and the smiles of his coworkers about a job well done, walking the halls arm in arm, glowing.
583. Ben's pride in hard work's fruit.
584. For fancy shoes, clutch, bracelet and earrings
585. Gold nail polish- a manicure!
586. for a low-key Christmas, no stress, gifts all around, and World Vision catalogs.

Kate is Three

Kate wanted a butterfly-themed birthday party this year! I must admit, I was very excited she asked for this. My creative wheels started turning immediately. I found these amazing butterfly cupcakes on Pinterest... it's just Candy Melts and white sprinkles, but they have such a "Wow" factor. My mom and I had so much fun making them!

  

 

 The Monarch was our favorite! Isn't it beautiful?

I borrowed a Stampin' Up! butterfly punch and went crazy punching out little pink and purple creatures for decorations. Here are the straws and the goodbye candy wands.
















We had butterfly vinyl clings (Target) welcoming the guests into the house.

So here she is, the birthday girl:

I know it is cliche to say, but I really can't believe that she's not a baby anymore.

Motherhood is just a series of goodbyes. Goodbye to her at birth, goodbye to her at one, two...

But I suppose it is a series of hellos, too. Hello to new words, skills, or traits will she pick up this year. Hello to new hugs, longer legs, sweeter conversations. It is so heartwrenching, expanding and contracting like this! Hello and Goodbye, Miss Kate! All I know for sure is that you are so special and

I love you as much as this heart of mine can.

Scenes from November

We had looked forward to the party on November 19th for a while. It was at Norwood Stables, and there would be horse rides and a petting zoo. Also, I had received some super cool horse-riding boots for Kate and knew just what she would wear to the stables. I couldn't wait to see Kate's face when she saw a real horse for the first time! This is what I got:After a while (like 30 minutes), Kate warmed up to the goats. They were more her size, and it helped that we could enter the paddock and sit on benches to get acquainted with them. When I gave Kate a brush, there was no turning back. She had found her joy. Funny thing: One of the goats hopped up on the bench with me and was so sweet, just sniffing and nuzzling my ear... Then, OUCH! That goat took the earring right out of my ear and spit it out on my lap! What the heck? Well, in an efffort not to scare Kate I just nonchalantly put the earring back in my ear and went on petting that goat and talking to Kate. It wasn't until later when I was telling someone what happened that I first wondered, "Maybe I shouldn't have put the goat-saliva covered jewelry back in so fast? Do goats carry diseases?" I had a good laugh about that one. I'm pretty sure that petting zoo goats are up on all their shots. So far, no weird symptoms. Okay, on to Thanksgiving! My mom and I went shopping NOT for Kate, and ended up pretty much just buying her clothes. We found this amazing purple number at my favorite store, Crazy 8. The hat is from babyGap.

We had a fried turkey for the first time this year, provided by Ben's dad: 

 

 And of course we had a rosemary-olive oil roasted turkey made by me.

Which do you prefer? Roasted or fried? I really liked them both.

Well, now I'd like to leave you with one final disconcerting image:

Quick Montessori Activity

Here's a fun hand-eye coordination game for toddlers that I learned from the blog Chasing Cheerios. At two and a half, Kate is really too old for this; it would be better with one and a half to two year olds. Just clean out a honey bear, give the child some Q-tips, and let them practice slipping them into it. Kate really enjoyed this activity at first, but she could do it easily so it didn't hold her attention for long. She soon went to calling the bear a "bottle" for her baby! If you have a one year old at home, give this a try!

Counting

556. Painting piggies purple

557. best friend brothers in matching pjs

558. planning surprise birthday parties for best friends- Happy birthday, Sarah!

So Much Grace

I have been keeping a gratitude journal on my table for a few months now, scratching down a few things here and there, so not all of my 1000 things have been posted to this blog yet. I'm going to write them here now, pieces of my story since February.

#507-555 of the 1000 gifts list:




her wispy bangs


her button nose

her profile

counting little piggies

his spontaneous pre-dawn proclamation of love for me-"You're everything that's right about my life."

feeling healthy after a hard week

"One Thousand Gifts" by Anne Voskamp

Mother Theresa quotes

sliding toes into bedsheets

supermarket sushi

writer's group on Wednesday

Jacob's "Don't leave, don't leave" at bedtime

next door Yo-Ann

brothers wanting their turn to watch Kate at Monkey Joe's

finding a huge section of Dora books at Barnes and Noble with Kate

Kent Moore always willing to take the boys to play

read aloud book about the first Ferris wheel

our character studies and Bible memorization

Psalm 23- He is my Shepherd!

hot water for a nightly bath-what a luxury!

my washer and dryer

making pretty Valentines for friends

an available sitter on Valentine's Day

laughter at OddLot, improv group

music that the kids and I danced to and made us happy house cleaners! Joy!

a walk hand-in-hand with Kate on a beautiful spring day to the health food store

neighbors walking up to say "hi"

a freshly-painted white porch rail

friends to grieve with

that Vivan is in heaven with Jesus

that even when things don't seem to make sense, Peace is a Person and we can know Him

victory over death in Jesus

a ride to Jacksonville with Carla for Vivan's funeral

a friend's "I forgive you," easily spoken

another friend coming over just because she heard I was having a bad day...Sarah's a true friend

quiet time at home group

books that make us have to put them down and go explore nature right now! (Miracles on Maple Hill)

a nature walk with four healthy children- too much grace!

discovering tiny, tiny frogs in the pond- hundreds of them everywhere!

small group prayers for soon-to-deploy soldier- such courage!

Kate's "Read it again, Mommy!"

Ben hugs at lunchtime- a welcome interruption

to find Noah reading- reading!- a chapter book just because he wanted to

family laughter during game night- Apples to Apples

all of my boys obedient, truly. I can trust them.



Baker growing up and becoming such a mature, responsible, helpful, respectful, trustworthy, fun young man

forgiveness from children to parents who sometimes get overwhelmed

hardworking husband

Oh! My end-of-the-schoolyear flowers! Surprised by gratitude!

I *MADE* a beach robe!

Dana from MADE has inspired me again to sew... this time a very cute and extremely practical beach robe! This will make leaving the beach much easier. Instead of wrapping my toddler in a big towel that just falls off, I'll give her her very chic polka-dot beach robe to ride home in! I downloaded Dana's super tutorial and pattern for $8 and then hit Target for a cute beach towel...they were on sale for $4! Then I came home and grabbed all my double-fold bias tape remnants...you wouldn't believe this; they matched the towel! I totally lucked out. I just love it when everything comes together! So, here's what I started with:

And here's the finished product! How awesome, right! It took me about three hours, but I was doing other things throughout the the afternoon, so I could make these quicker.

I love the little belt that wraps around the middle, the folded-up sleeves, the hood- everything! And it was so easy. I am proud to say that this is the first time I made sleeves and attached them the correct way the first time! Woohoo, progress!

I also loved using five different colors of bias tape for the trim. So cute! Alright, Kate, thanks for being my model again, you are precious!

I will definitely be using this pattern again and again.

506

506. moments that stop time- today I lay next to Kate in her bed and looked into her face, inches from mine, and in an instant she was me, and I was my mother, and I remember loving her and feeling so loved and being the child and thinking I would always be young. Will there be a place outside of linear time where I can experience all of His gifts at once? How could I bear that much joy?

Sweet Spring

Life is sweet... #501-505

~buckets and sand
~the urge to explore
~jumping waves
~neighborhood merry-go-rounds
~my favorite skirt, my favorite shoes, and a swing on a beautiful spring day