Year: 2014

The Mommy Diaries

They say that you glow when you’re pregnant … I don’t know that I’ve been glowing. Or at least, I don’t know that I’ve been rejoicing as much as I’ve been resisting. You see, I really didn’t want to get pregnant. Not only that, I didn’t want to have to change. Not a damn thing. I just wanted to keep going on my merry way of self-justification and entitlement. Well, I guess that’s had to change … Is it a glow when God smacks me across the face with a dose of gracious sovereignty? Or are those just stinging rosy cheeks?  

Fair: Blessed

We love going to the Fair every year. It’s been our tradition since we started dating. This time Ian couldn’t stop talking about having baby girl with us at the Fair next year. He’s going to be a great dad. We love the area we live in. The blue mountain ridge, the bluegrass roots, the farmer’s market produce, the smell of manure and tobacco, the sounds of tractors and children. It’s the southern mountain family life that we love. It’s the simple way of living and doing and building that we value. We look forward to buying our land and building our dream farmhouse and starting an aquponics farm and raising our children in the covenant grace. We are blessed.

Favorites: Summer Lovin

It’s almost the end of July, but I feel like the summer just started! I remember feeling like this every summer as a kid; I so looked forward to having no school work and to playing till the sun set late in the evenings. Summertime has always been one of my favorite times of year. Some of the best memories are made in the summertime … And some of the sweetest sounds are heard …

Camp: Quirky // Kids

I have this favorite blogger who keeps me laughing with every post about her crazy family and inspires me with her sense of style. Grace & Simon Patton have had four children in four years – Julia, Sebastian, Theo & Phoebe – while her husband has been in med school and working extensive shift hours. Somehow, this little family just chooses to roll with the punches of everyday life and the unpredictability of four little children. I hope that they actually laugh as much as their sarcasm suggests they might …

Clay: Sculpted for Purpose

“I am the clay and He is the Potter” … While in high school, I took local college courses; I was mostly focused on completing the fundamental first year academics before transferring to a small Christian liberal arts college, but I took a couple art classes, because I have always loved art and my brain spins creativity constantly. For some strange reason that I don’t remember, I hesitated to sign up for a sculpture class, but my designer/builder brother practically begged me to take the class, knowing that it would broaden my horizons and teach me skills that I didn’t have; I finally agreed within a couple weeks of the fall semester – a decision which merited me a huge brother hug, some of my most treasured “in-my-head” creative moments, and many life-lessons about the world and myself …  

Mommyhood: Satchel 'n Stuff

I like to be prepared … Actually, I just like items that help make preparedness possible. I am such a rattle head random woman that if I don’t have a designated satchel for all that stuff that somehow floats to anywhere and everywhere between the house and car I will lose my loose marbles and my husband won’t even know where to begin finding them …

Brevity: Sun & Stars

Twas a refreshingly bright Saturday we celebrated my 27th birthday. We walked around the mountain hardware store so I could drool over kayaks and beg to get my own; instead of hoisting a river ride, we grabbed a bag of saltwater taffies which I shamelessly finished off that day; we visited the local Potter’s Guild display at the city museum and found a little pair of stamped clay earrings; we toured the lush gardens and historical house of the museum property where Ian searched out suitable kissing spots; lastly but not least, we sat through the Fault in Our Stars, which Ian did not want to see but after the main character started talking about zombies and heroes and bloody escapades he perked up, and by the end of that sweetly surreal story we were both a puddle and clinging to each other; as Ian said, “That’s the first love story I’ve liked because it went so deep.” The brevity of life is a fact that we face every day though we rarely acknowledge it; …