I’m dusting off the old crafting blog to share this sweet little mobile I made for my sister’s baby shower! Her nursery is woodland themed. Initially she was thinking to do a Narnia theme, so that’s what made me give the animals a little whimsy and personality.

I love the way it came out! The little critters are my favorite – all needle felted! The wood came from Joann’s and Micah cut the hole to make it more mobile-like.

I can’t wait to see it hung up for my sweet little niece or nephew!

I won’t pretend like losing a child to a genetic disorder is the same thing as losing a child in a tragic event like the Sandy Hook school shooting. Regardless of how it happens,  burying a child is burying a child. Two and a half years outside of our loss, there has been one thing that has brought me comfort in my darkest moments. This is it:

We seek comfort from a God whose only child died.

God did not spare His own son from the evil of this world. This ache, this emptiness – God knows it. He has been there. He has not asked me to walk through pain that He has not walked through. In the desperate moments when I would point a finger and shake a fist at God who didn’t stop my heart-ache or the heart-ache of these dear ones who have just lost their children, the only thing that keeps me sane is this – He knows the deep darkness of my loss. We don’t know what went on in heaven that day when Jesus died but we know the ground shook and the sky grew dark. What parent who has lost doesn’t understand that? What parent wouldn’t rip the earth to pieces before watching their beloved die? What parent hasn’t willed the sun to stop shining?

God grieved for His beloved Son no less than we grieve for our own children. Even though He knew in three days Jesus would rise victorious, it doesn’t change the fact that an eternity of being together as One being was ruptured for those three days. He knows the incomplete feeling that is left without our children. He knows  that the knowledge of their resurrection isn’t enough to make the pain of our separation all better.

He knows. He knows. That is what comforts me.

Seriously. I’m not joking. I think this is officially the cutest thing I’ve ever made.

You guys know that awesome song, right?

I don’t know what came over me to do this – I saw a little felt house in an embroidery hoop on Pinterest and also a separate on with this quote embroidered on it and thought it would be awesome to do them together!

I was excited to learn a new technique – French knots! I used them to make the flowers. I made them messy, but I like them because they look more flowery to me.

I think it is for sure the cutest thing I’ve crafted so far. Woot.

I took a little blogging break, but not a break from writing down my gifts. Actually, I took a little break with that too (turns out being displaced from your home and having a crazy crawling baby will distract you…), but I’ve still got some that I want to share.

8. Catching a glimpse of what my husband will be like in twenty years.

9. Waking up to a smiling baby.

10. Sizzle of pancakes in the pan.

11. Pruny baby feet in a blue pool.

12. Lattice top blueberry pie.

13. The apprehension of a thunderstorm.

14. Click of knitting needles during a long nap time.

15. Roads through the woods after the rain.

16. Rain plunkning on AC unit, one of my favorite summer sounds.

17. Barely curling baby hair.

18. Smooshy baby lips during a nap.

19. Sprawling hills on a drive to upstate NY.

20. Queen Anne’s lace growing all along the highway.

21. Old friends.

22. Bathtub toys lined up on the counter, squeaky clean.

23. Blue eyes looking out the window in the early morning.

24. Baby fingers on piano keys.

25. Coffee. Simple, but I am thankful for it.

“This act of naming grace moments, this list of God’s gifts, moves beyond the shopping list variety of prayer and into the other side. The other side of prayer, the interior of His throne room, the inner walls of His powerful, love-beating heart. The list is God’s list, the pulse of His love – the love that thrums on the other side of our prayers. And I see it now for what it really is, this dare to write down one thousand things I love. It really is a dare to name all the ways that God loves me. The true Love Dare. To move into His presence and listen to His love unending and know the grace uncontainable. This is the vault of miracles. The only thing that can change us, the world, is this – all His love.”

~Ann Voskamp~

Lately, a dear friend has suffered a great loss, and this has brought back all the memories and the sorrow of our great loss. Having spent the past several days in what feels like a dark hole, I’m continuing to plow through 1,000 Gifts and trying to remember all that I’ve learned and gained in the past two years. When I first read in Voskamp’s book that a joyful life begins in thanksgiving, I started, in the midst of my wretched, to think of things for which I am thankful, even the small things.

So, though I think I will never make it to 1,000, I’m going to start keeping track. Because if all these little things that I can give thanks for are ways that God tells me that He loves me, I want that love now. I need that love now.

Here goes.

1. Hydrangeas from my dad in an antique pitcher.

2. Impromptu picnics under the party tree with friends.

3. Dark gray rain clouds slicing through a perfect pink sunset.

4. A cool bed in the evening after a hot day.

5. A basketfull of colorful yarn.

6. Watching Levi watch Veggie Tales for the first time.

7. Two names on my necklace.

That’s what I’ve got for now. I’m attempting to write them down and/or photograph things as I see them, so hopefully I’ll have more soon.

And the winner is of this lovely necklace made by the talented Amber…

…is comment number 7!

The necklace goes to Katie! I’ll be in touch soon! Thanks everyone for commenting. Hopefully we’ll have another giveaway before too long! Don’t forget to head over to Simpli Stamped and check out more of Amber’s lovely work!

I’m so excited to do this little giveaway, and for the first time, it’s not something made by me! Lucky for you, it is something lovely made by my wonderful friend Amber. Amber has recently started up her own business making beautiful, hand stamped jewelery. I myself have a soft spot for hand stamped jewelery. Other than my wedding rings, the only piece of jewelery I wear on a regular basis is a necklace with two hand stamped pendants – one for Lydia and one for Levi.

When we brought Levi home, she gave us this sweet little bracelet as a gift. I didn’t have a picture of him wearing it when he was small, so you get to see his pudgy 10 month old hands 🙂

Isn’t it lovely? Not only does she have a plethora of bracelets and necklaces available on her website, she will do beautiful custom orders as well. I have already enlisted her talents for a variety of gifts for special people and occasions, and all have been a complete success!

Amber generously offered to supply a necklace for a giveaway here on my blog! This necklace is from her “I Am Loved” collection. I love this necklace because sometimes I think we just need the reminder. Believing that we are loved is a powerful thing.

All you need to do is leave a comment (one per person, please) before Saturday, July 7 at 11:59, telling us what your favorite piece of jewelery is and why. I will pick a winner using a random number generator and this gorgeous necklace will be YOURS ALL YOURS.

Win or lose, I hope you’ll head over to Amber’s website – Simpli Stamped – and check out her beautiful work!

This past weekend we had a 50th Anniversary celebration for Roy and Flo. These are two of the kindest, most loving, most magnificent people I know. They’ve adopted us as grand-children and I’m so proud and thankful to have them as part of my family.

I, along with several others who love Roy and Flo like crazy, helped to plan some of their special day.

With the help of my friend Lisa and her Cricut, I made this great banner out of some textured gold paper.

The cake was supplied by another wonderfully talented lady, Jan, complete with Roy and Flo’s original cake topper!

The cupcakes were vanilla with a chocolate butter cream (made by moi) and a key lime cupcake with cream cheese frosting (made by Cathy!). Do not, as I was, be put off by the green-ness of these little cupcakes. They are tasty. I used a frosting tip to dollop on the frosting, and I love love love the effect it gave them when they were all displayed on the stand (which was three platters hot glued to two candle sticks to make one big display stand!)

I also made cookies. They had a yellow base that I dusted with gold lustre dust after they dried. It was time consuming, but the shimmery golden effect was well worth the time.

The party decor was made infinitely lovelier by all of the photos of their wedding, as well as so many beautiful things from their wedding, most notable being Flo’s wedding gown.

It was a truly magnificent day.

Love you two!

And the winner of this sweet little spring robin

is…

Comment #6 – Susan Pruitt!

Woo! Congrats Susan!

Even though I’m not one of those who loathes the winter, spring, sunny weather and the earth in bloom have been a welcome sight this year. I’ve been busy the past weeks doing some spring crafty things and wanted to share them!

Here is my spring wreath!

I found various tutorials for fabric and felt flowers and loved that I could try some new techniques!

It took me a while to think up what I wanted to do with my seasonal window, as I think I’ll have this theme up for a while. In the end, I went with more fabric flowers (only different ones) that I found here. I did something different and wrote a Bible verse on the window panes with a chalk pen.

One of the things I love most about the spring is tulips. They are my favorite flower. This year, we planted  a big round flower bed in the backyard in honor of Lydia. They’ve bloomed earlier than we thought, but they are so lovely!

I’ve loved cutting them and giving them to friends or brightening up our house with them.

I also did  spring felting project with a friend. She wanted to learn how to needle felt, so we made some needle felted birds. This is the little dude I came up with.

This sweet little robin can be YOURS ALL YOURS! Just leave me a comment before 11:59 on Wednesday, April 18 and tell me your favorite thing about spring!

Happy Spring!