be mindful of character bloopers

And the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self control. Let me tell you, trying to do a photoshoot with 4 kids, four years old and younger was testifying to the fruit of my spirit....and I found myself praying for a change of heart. To be honest, I ought to post the "blooper" shots, because it takes the bloopers to appreciate the good ones. :-) So while I was capturing the moment on the outside with the kids, I was capturing the moment on the inside for me. I have a little editing to do myself! 

Here are the kiddos...

looking serious

my little beauty, elauna,  almost 5 

miss claire, almost 1

mr. frederick, almost 3

 

he is such a cutie

4 sets of eyes at the same time...amazing :-)

miss O

The lovely Miss O. I was so fortunate to spend time with this little beauty this weekend, and she showed up on my doorstep decked out! Oh, I just wanted to kiss those cheeks and stare into her big blues. We had such fun! Thanks, Autie E, for letting her spend the day!

my favorite

the beach [2012]

The beach is always a place of quiet mystery for me. We were able to go with my whole family this year and it was such a wonderful time. I especially enjoyed waking before the sun came up and heading to the beach for a morning walk and time of prayer.

The first morning I felt the Lord just ask me to listen. The waves crashing. The water creeping up the beach. Footsteps of people walking. Seagulls calling to one another. The wind in the grass. Laughter of children. There is something deeply profound about observing the beauty of His creation. From James... be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.

My mother loved finding the Coquina shells (they look like tiny angel wings) and they washed up in pairs on our shore. (We don't collect shells that are alive). One day as the tide was going out, we saw hundreds of them wiggling their way back into the sand after the water had washed over them. They would bury themselves back into the sand so quickly that we would stand there after each wave and match in amazement.  How did they know to do this?

Another morning there was a cloud line to the east and I was able to watch as the sun came up. It was the most beautiful sunrise! I just waited in anticipation because each passing moment was more beautiful than the last. From Psalm 73... but as for me, it is good to be near God.

a green find

Today at times felt like a mad rush to get everything on my list done, from teaching my daughter the date, to cleaning the inside of the car.....and somewhere in the middle of the day I remembered I needed to check my tomatoes too. I was picking away at the tomatoes when I looked at my pepper plants...I was so excited! This was my first year growing green peppers. (I actually had forgotten about them). I guess it is the little joys during the day that make me stop and appreciate all I have been given.

To celebrate my find, I will share a recipe. This was a recipe my mom learned in Home Ec when she was in high school.

Johnny Marzetti

1 - 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 can tomato soup
1 medium onion, diced
1 package egg noodles
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/3 green pepper, diced
1/4 pound cheese
1 cup bread crumbs, buttered

Brown meat and onion in skillet. Add green peppers. Cook noodles and combine with meat mixture. Add tomato soup and mushroom soup. Put in 9x13 casserole dish. Add cheese on top to lightly cover, then add bread crumbs. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.


Extending your harvest: I keep green peppers in the freezer by washing them, quartering and removing seeds. Put in a ziplock bag and place in the freezer.

zoo party

Family friends invited us to a zoo party at their house today with a few animals from the Columbus Zoo. It was great fun. The handlers allowed the children to touch most of the animals if they wanted, though my kids would rather watch the Boa instead of touch it. (I touched it). The animals were beautiful - I especially liked the Snow Leopard. Thank you, Neil, Kristen, Marlen, Virgil and Toni! Love to you all!

 

 

 

garden shed

My garden is a pleasant place

Of moon glory and wind grace.

O friend, wherever you may be,

Will you not come to visit me?

Over fields and streams and hills,

I'll pipe like yellow daffodils,

And every little wind that blows

Shall take my message as it goes.

A heart may travel very far

To come where its desires are,

Oh, may some power touch my ear,

And grant me grace, and make you hear!

- excerpt from My Garden is a Pleasant Place, by Louise Driscoll

My garden is a pleasant place, as is the garden shed my hubby has worked so hard on. We had a very old garage on our property that we were tearing down, and as we were doing so we found the roof to be made from old saplings (the shed was probably over 100 years old). We decided to keep this piece of history and turn it into my garden shed. It is a working shed, but also a peaceful retreat. I have decorated it with the burlap bags I collect, as well as old tools. I "repurpose" things quite often, using old freezer baskets as places to store chemicals. The shelves also are very old, probably used when there was an old general store run out of our house - also 100 years ago. The hutch was a piece my mom found....not a 100 years ago....and it is perfect. My dad restored the old barn light on the outside. Inside, there are little bits of me, my family, and now my kids. So fun! I made my own light fixtures out of clay pots (I will do a post on that another time).

Corner of my workbench

a local seed bag

letterholder for seedpackets



my bottle collection

the tools and hutch...and a good place for a nap

the shelves live on

my light fixture

the sapling roof we found (used white to accent)

Not quite finished, but sure fun already



upcycled feed sack

I have collected old feed sacks for awhile now and am looking for creative ways to "upcycle" them into things that are beautiful and useful. For this BEMIS A Extra Heavy SEAMLESS, I decided to make a weekender bag that can hold a lot of clothes and still keep the art of the sack. I used canvas material to compliment the feed sack material on the exterior. For the inside, I used the canvas on the top edge, then finished with blue jean material. I made a row of pockets along one side, and a hidden pocket on the other (with a bright pink zipper). Also inside is a clasp on a fob to hold keys. For the strap I used an old belt - it had a neat look to it and is adjustable. For the top closure I made a small strap with a d-ring to loop the strap through.



BEMIS A EXTRA HEAVY SEAMLESS weekender bag

in color

top closure

roomy inside, key holder, and side pockets

hidden pocket with bright pink zipper (I unzipped it a little)

the belt used as the strap