June Projects

June has been quite the busy month!  (hence...brief hiatus from blogging :))

Here are some of the projects that've been going on around our house that will explain my recent retreat from blog-world.

#1. Hand painted signs to raise money for the AMBER Adoption Fund at Grace Church, Memphis, TN
I was amazed at just how many people have been so supportive in this and ordering signs as gifts or for that special place in their homes.  You choose the style, colors, size, and distressing.  85% of first round goes to the fund to support church members in their adoptions.  The Lord sent us a wonderful babysitter who comes once a week from 9-2 so that this mama can work on them without neglecting my first responsibilities as wife/mother.

Traditional example - calligraphy script

Example board with color and distressing options

Contemporary example - variety of fonts in a Hatch Show Print sorta style

Our basement floor 

 #2. Backyard Bible Clubs with Covenant Baptist Church 
I got to do crafts!  For two weeks in June we went to different neighborhoods and set up shop inviting the kids over for 2 hours of Bible lesson, songs, memory verse and prizes, crafts, snack, and games.  It was awesome meeting these kids and spending time with them hearing God's Word.  These pictures are from the first week.  Hubs took a hit for the team eating fast food a lot, but then he got to bond with William keeping him for me while I could go.  Ministry is a great thing, but we have to remind ourselves it's not going to be super easy!

Making cakes and party hats out of felt because God throws a CELEBRATION over sinners who repent #prodigalson

My good friend Rhonda from church

and my new friend Elyse was there with her adorable kids Faith and Simon

Our living room floor Thursday night.  Like I always told my students... ya gotta be willing to make a mess to make a masterpiece.

This craft was for the parable of the wheat thinking about how God will "sort out" those for His kingdom who have been given a new heart.  Kids created a Go Fish game and tried to catch the fish with the good heart and the week's memory verse.

#3. Jack's watercolor
My best friend Steph had her little boy this month, and this was the artwork he got for his room.  It was pretty hilarious brainstorming "boy" images with my husband, who kept saying weapons should be in there.  I did not think those would go well for baby boy's finished piece (lucky for Steph).  Steph actually came up with this adorable concept of the boy doodles in a Shel Silverstein kinda style, which was so fun to work with.

#4. Baking
We have been blessed with lots of family and friends visiting us this month as well.  So some baking was in order.  The fun part is making it pretty.  And licking the icing bowl until you go into sugar coma.

These were made using a large round decorators tip in an icing bag... but you could just take your regular icing, put it into a gallon ziploc, snip the corner of bag with scissors, twist end and squeeze.

Trisha Yearwood's Key Lime Cake.  I subbed 1.5 c applesauce for the oil and it was still delicious.  Cream cheese icing.

most. moist. cake. ever.  Try it!

#5. Yardwork
Our front yard has been needing some love for some time now.  And with summer fast-approaching, we needed to get to it or wait until the fall.  So we borrowed a couple of pick axes and started the road with no return...

We were SO sore the next day...

HEEV...HO!! 

His royal adorableness enjoying the scenery and relaxing with his milk after a snack.

Doing hard work is just more fun when you can work with others (aka bribe them with food to help you!!!) :)  Our good friends the Lixeys came over to help shovel out tons of lava rock from the beds.

Eating dinner on the deck

Nicki (due with baby no. 2 next month!) Sawyer and Brian

Sawyer loved to play in daddy's truck while watching the "men" shovel rocks

This took a while

Daddy son shot

Finished product...not too rewarding is it?

We girls stayed inside baking cookies

Yum.

Baileys Come to Visit

Friends who drive long distances to stay with you in a little Army town without a lot of flair and pizazz are, well... treasures.  How do we deserve them?  We just don't.  But we were truly blessed by getting to host our dear friends from Memphis, Ben and Emily.  We were also thrilled to see again their little guy, Abe, who is just four months younger than William.

Words can't really describe the impact those four years in Memphis had on our lives.  And trying to describe the friendships God gave us there is even more daunting...

We all met through Grace Church.  Emily and I were both crazy busy teachers who longed for the day when we could be moms.  Her smile is contagious and hair = envious!  And don't get me started on her eye for design and delish home cookin'.  We also went to Serbia together to visit a couple of our church's missionaries and encourage them.  I was convinced Emily was Mother Teresa incarnate.  Emily was always there to pray for me and make me laugh, and she got her hands into any mission work she could.  Ben was our fun artsy guy friend who grew up in Guatemala and wore cool glasses, cooked amazing chili, loved the Lord and downtown Memphis with his whole heart, and who always came over to our itty bitty apartment for anything random we would do from fish taco nights to pumpkin carving contests.  Then one day, these two got married.  Then nine months later, they had a beautiful baby.  It's a pretty awesome story...

From sharing meals to sharing stories, a visit to downtown and the local Farmer's Market, a double date to Nashville while babysitter keeps the boys, and to church Sunday morning, the weekend was brief but full!

William enjoyed playing with his new buddy.  They learned about sharing (i.e. stealing) and all sorts of things :)

Rockin out

Breakfast

Tomato, spinach and goat cheese omelets with toast and jam, anyone?

Unfortunately the rain kept us from our original plans of outdoor adventures, so Ben looked up some things for us to do in Nashville instead while I read to the boys (heart and arms = full)

Em and I enjoyed putting together some bacon turkey wraps and spinach fruit salad with some blueberry chutney (hungry yet?)  PS-we also discovered a new way to cook bacon using cookie sheet and cooling rack.  This. changes. everything.

Date night at Burger Up on the "swanky" side of Nashville, as we like to say

What those smiles really mean is, "You have sweet potato fries here? Score!"

Matthew tries out Ben's shades tryin to be "swankier"

And no visit is ever complete without some serious memory snappin and a gift of group photos for the fam. Definitely not a professional, but I'm cheap!  It's hard to get a bad photo with such a good looking group of folks. 

 

Neighbors

For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 

~Galatians 5:14

With springtime comes more folks outside and thus more opportunities to get to know all the neighbors who have been hibernating through the winter months.  So recently we have tried to take advantage of this and get out of hibernation ourselves.  

There's a part of all of us that longs for that sense of real community.  But how do we find it?  Social media helps making connections, but it doesn't completely satisfy.  It requires person to person, a little faith and some serious initial awkwardness...

One of our neighbors, Steve, has been so kind to help us with our lawn mowing issues.  He and Matthew worked on our (el cheapo) mower to fix a part that wasn't working.

We've also gotten to know Barb and Buddy across the street, and William cannot get enough of their puppy.  Buddy mentioned that we could borrow any yard tool we ever need, and Barb said to come over whenever.

We saw some other neighbors outside one afternoon and went to introduce ourselves.  Lynn started cutting her beautiful blooms for us.  Our kitchen/dining room smelled like fresh peonies for a week.

So in conclusion...

A little neighborly-ness may initially feel weird and awkward, but if your experience is like ours you'll probably end up on the receiving end of the reward.  We had nothing to give but a hello, and we got mower fixing, free tool rental, gorgeous spring blooms, and new relationships with people who, on the surface, we have nothing in common!

The next step is having these people over for dinner more often... a grill out on the back deck or just a conversation over chips and dip.  Who knows... maybe community is found with those people you'd least expect!  Maybe it's the person next door!

#hopeful  #idealist?  #JesuslovedmesomuchHegaveHimself  #blessingscloserthanwethink  #stilllovetwitter