Annabelle

My Annabelle hydrangeas are blooming.

 And I've been loath to even pick them, not wanting to spoil the bush. Last year, after I planted them, I watched as their leaves turned yellow, one by one, and I thought they wouldn't survive. But they pulled through and now they are so beautiful!!!

I think they may be getting too much morning sun, I do have to water them a lot to keep them happy. I planted a Limelight hydrangea on the end that gets more sun a few weeks ago, here's hoping it will do well! It has yet to form any blooms but is healthy, and I'm excited to see how it does. 

And I also planted a very small Endless Summer hydrangea that is blooming profusely. But it's turning lavender and I'm not sure that I want to fight to change the soil balance. I'm wondering how hard it is to keep them blue?  Remember, I'm a lazy gardener.  :)

Have I mentioned that I am obsessed with hydrangeas?!

It's funny how the lower branches are blooming first, I guess all the new growth is in the middle and that's why the top is slow.

His Birthday!

My little guy had his sixth birthday on June 2nd. And we are so proud of him! He worked so hard this year, graduated kindergarten and has been so much fun! We love you so much, son, and are so thankful  

God gave us you!!!

Here is his birthday list, too cute!

The cake:

 This was fun to make! I found the rock candy at Sweet Frogs. 

 Love his excitement!

With his Grandmothers. We were so happy Grammie could be here from California!!!

A few games...

Opening presents!

                                                                                 

                   

 The best part: playing with all the new toys!!!

Teacher Appreciation Gifts

After looking around the internet for ideas I settled on these, mostly because I pretty much already had all the supplies.

I know it's late for most of you but we still have a week and a half of school left. I'm just as ready as the children to be done! It's hard to treat school seriously  when you know they are just putting in time...

... and there's a pool filling with water outside...

I'll be back soon with pictures of Little Brother's sixth birthday party! Busy times, thanks for reading!!!

In the storm...

My thoughts and continued prayers are with those affected by the recent tornados in Oklahoma.

So thankful my brother and family are alright! Sunday's tornado came within 300 to 400 feet of them, their shed was flattened, some windows broken and roof/chimney damage on their new home but they are fine. But there are more storms predicted for that area...

...thought of this song,

Praise you in this storm

Praying for God's peace and comfort for those who have lost family.

Lily of the Valley

I transplanted these from the fence row years ago. I like to think they have been around this place for many, many years. I have peonies, lily of the valley and hosts that were all original to this land when we moved here. I've moved them, divided them, many times. I love how you can start with a few and then they multiply many times over.

We had to take down the children's tree fort a few weeks ago because we were cleaning out the fence row. Big Sister was quite sad, I felt really bad for her, I'm hoping we can build them something better to replace it! There have been a lot of changes to our back yard, we're hoping to plant grass soon and working on new fencing. Which I am so excited about!!! I'll show pictures eventually. This old blog has certainly been neglected lately, Instagram is to be blamed for a lot of it! I'm mfcass on Instagram if you care to follow...

Bye now, I'm off to paint some fence boards!

Master Designer

Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds.

^27-29 “Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? All this time and money wasted on fashion—do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them.

^30-33 “If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving.

~Matthew 6:26-33

(this is from last spring)

This time of year is Glorious!

It's as if God is saying, "Surprise!  I didn't forget about you, I'm breathing LIFE back into this cold, dark world. Love it, soak up all this beauty, I created it just for you. And as you delight in it, remember me."

I love to make my home attractive, arranging, decorating, it makes me happy. But even the best home designer can't hold a candle to the design that God displays every spring.

So, so beautiful!!!

(What has happened to my little girl? She's grown so fast!)

Vintage Stool

I found this for $3 at a yard sale on Saturday!

I love the rusty patina, and that it's really small. It will fill in when we need an extra bar stool.

It fits nicely at the end of my counter. Now I'm inspired to do more yard sale-ing!

We've had a full week of spring break. It was cold most of the week, and at first, I was a little grumpy about that, but that's pointless, really.

The week was filled with cousin play time, putt-putt golf, (a first for the kiddos) outdoor picnics, and just all around play!

Yesterday, I planted a bare root rose, a yellow climber. This is a first for me, I really hope it does well!

I am really tired of my blog header, but, it's always so hard to change, anyone have a good link for how to size the photos and get it changed smoothly?

Also, how do I bring a Pinterest photo to my blog post? This stuff quickly frustrates me!!

Bye for now,

have a great week!!!

Today's Song (for me)

I am not skilled to understand
What God has willed, what God has planned
I only know at his right hand
Stands one who is my Savior

I take him at His word and deed
Christ died to save me: this I read
And in my heart I find a need
Of Him to be my Savior

That He would leave His place on high
And come for sinful man to die
You count it strange, so once did I
Before I knew my Savior

My Savior Loves, my Savior Lives
My Savior's always there for me
My God; He was, my God; He is
My God; is always gonna be

~ My Saviour my God ~    by Aaron Shust

Daffodils 2013

Every year, we mark spring's arrival by picking the first daffodils. I find it interesting to look back to previous years to see when they bloomed.

(Go HERE to see last year's post.)

This year was no different, we set out one afternoon last week and picked a whole bowlful...

And then, it snowed...

and springtime was put on hold. But, the good thing about snow in late March... it melts the next day.

And I'm keeping an eagle eye on the ten day forecast. I see warm weather coming up!

Hope you all have an awesome, warm, springy weekend!!

Little Chair

Good morning! 

Here is my five dollar chair, redone with a coffee sack and paint. It is at the computer desk for now, but I would like to find more mis-matched chairs to replace the set around my table.

Today, I'm listening/watching THIS.

So powerful! Enough said.

Have a great day friends!

Old House Problems

Yesterday, I came home to this:

Something to consider when buying an old house. Even though the house has new plumbing we can't be sure what all is going on under the ground. Time for some investigating. I'm so glad my husband is an experienced plumber and has all the right equipment for the job! So far, he has replaced a lot of old, rusty pipe and is still digging up the yard searching for the septic tank. (Is there a septic tank?)  Fun times! 

The good thing is that the grass around this part of the yard has never grown well. While digging we found so much gravel - almost like a road bed under the dirt. We've removed a few inches and will replace it with good topsoil. I'm hoping to have much better results with the grass after this!

And it does look like we'll get a good snow tomorrow, should be fun, as long as we don't loose power. (We don't have wood heat and I am a wimp when I get cold.)

All the Lovely Losers

I really enjoyed the Jason Gray concert the other night. (Actually, this clip wasn't from the concert that I was at, but similar.)

Isn't it great to hear from someone's heart and realize that they know the same God that I do! And listening to clips online I realized that he has a speech impediment. But he is letting his weakness shine in a big way - truly awesome!

My last post was about spring, looks like we may see a lot of snow on Wednesday. I don't mind, it would be great to get a real snow, not just little teasers. But then, Spring please, come soon!!

Ready for Spring

Hi you all!! I haven't had much motivation to blog lately. Our family has had more than our share of sickness and we're just waiting out the end of winter, hoping for warm weather soon!

I'm ready to get outside and stir up a little dirt! Maybe plant an early garden, peas, onions, lettuce...

I found these date signs at a sale this morning. A whole box full, in red and also in black. They are made of a plastic like material, all the months and numbers. Any ideas of ways to use them around the house? I just couldn't pass them up!

We're going to hear THIS tonight, can't wait! Hope you all have a great weekend!

Open Shelves

This is one of those long term, open ended projects that who knows when will get done.

I've been cutting new corbels on my scroll saw. The old ones came from the back porch of the old house on our vacant lot. I used them as a pattern for my island corbels, just shortened them. Now I need 12 new corbels for my shelves on either side of the kitchen sink.

Here is a picture of the blank wall space.

I want three shelves with the top one running along the top of the window trim. We didn't put extra backing behind the sheetrock so it will be challenging to get the shelves mounted properly. But, someday, I fully expect to have beautiful, open shelves to finish off the kitchen!

Happy Weekend Everyone!!!

Maybe just the beginning....

I walk down a gravel lane with trees all around. It was so warm the other day - it felt like spring and even though it was very muddy, I had to get out in it.

Walking sometimes gives me the chance to quiet down, to listen to my thoughts, sort things out.

Lately, I've been using this time to talk and listen to God. 

I saw this tree, the picture doesn't do it justice, but it's big and tall and about half of it has been broken off. All the upper branches, the canopy. It can never be the same, in fact, it seems like such a waste of energy to spend all those years growing in the first place and now to break. This may sound trite but I am relating it to human lives. How we feel so broken by this unfair life. By circumstance, by evil, by not getting an equal start in life.

We, some of us, are in the middle of our lives and things just haven't turned out the way we had planned. I've spent a lot of time digging in my heels and arguing with God about the way things are going, instead of, letting him show me a better way.

I just felt on this walk, that Jesus was telling me that he sees the tree differently than I do. 

That it's not about the breaking, it's about love, and him, and me. 

When I am at the end of, let's say, my pitiful willpower, he steps in and now it's God in me, his love, his strength shining out of me.

The brokenness just makes the light more amazing.

I'm certainly on a journey of learning about my relationship with Jesus. I feel that most of my life, I've been a container with a lid on, I took the lid off just a few times to let him in, and then quickly screwed it back on. He doesn't force his way in, that's not his nature. 

Looking back, those "God moments" kept me going when times were tough. But they were just moments scattered throughout my life. I've been longing for something more, more sustaining.

A few years ago, in a hard time, God showed me that he would never leave me. I think that I needed that reassurance so much, that I mattered enough, that nothing, especially me, could separate me from his love.

Sometimes I feel like I've been the child who acts out just to get attention from his parents. Because he desperately needs to hear that he's important, loved for who he is. Kind of testing God really.

What I'm learning now, is that, I can have Jesus with me every day, not just in the hardest times. That he just wants a relationship. He doesn't really just want to be the superhero who swoops in and saves the day, and then he's no longer needed.

He is a savior, but the reason that he saved me is because he likes to be with me. It's as simple as that! I don't have to clean up before I'm with him. 

He is happy to be with me when I'm at my worst. This may be obvious and simple to some of you, but for me, this is new and I'm still learning and trying to accept. 

I read this quote from a book called "Beautiful Outlaw', "Jesus has no intention of letting you become whole apart from his moment-to-moment presence and life within you."

This deeply resonated with me. It was sort of a "lightbulb" moment. To me it shows just how much he cares. There's no way he's going to let me succeed in my life without him. That is pure love folks!

I see myself as second rate, middle aged, not having accomplished all that much, always trying and failing, spending so many years struggling in my own "mud" of not measuring up. In some ways "broken".

But he sees a new beginning, a vessel, a jar with the lid off. 

So, I'm learning to invite him into my everyday. And there is so much joy. And the desire to share. I know this is all very personal but I want my friends to know about this journey that I'm on.

If you were reading this expecting it to be about my latest DIY project around the house, you may be a bit confused! Sorry, there will be more of that, I promise. But this is me too. And I want to put it down on "paper" as a way of sharing and also to remind me of where I am and where I've been.

Thanks for reading! 

Children's Art

Hello! I wanted to share a quick project with you, displaying my kid's artwork. I picked up frames here and there for cheap, and the mats came from Micheal's.

Now I can proudly show off their work instead of stuffing it away in the attic.

They are quite the little artists, aren't they?