Daybook: On Planning, Photos and Packing

Outside My Window: The new day is dawning and I've been up for most of the night.  Dominic decided to wake up at 5 am...it's the makings of the Perfect Storm.  Let's see...how many hours till Dan comes home?...Oh.


I am thankful for: Daniel's school year wrapping up!  Three more days to go!

I am thinking: what a big mistake it was eating chocolate before going to bed.  See "Outside My Window" prompt for why I'm regretting that decision.

From the kitchen:  Bernadette used this recipe to make coconut flour chocolate chip breakfast muffins yesterday.  I tested three before bed last night.  Ummm...they were delicious.

I am working on: time management.  My friend and I are working on designing PDF's that are loosely based on Simple Mom's Daily Docket.  I'm really inspired with the home management binders I've seen on online but I haven't been able to find one that exactly fits MY needs.  I've been doing a lot of list making and brain dumps on paper to figure out what I need for my own daily docket.  Hopefully I can share the results of my efforts soon.

I am going: to the valley for the first time since we moved.  We leave on Friday and will be there for a week.  I'm looking forward to visiting all our favorite places and loved ones.   A trip to our favorite birding center, Chill yogurt and South Padre Island are all on this summer's bucket list.  Hopefully we can squeeze it all in within the week that we are there.

We are reading:  Bernadette and I finished All of A Kind Family and were on the last chapter of The Phantom Tollbooth.  We loved both of those selections.  I would like to see The Phantom Tollbooth turned into a film.  Or maybe not.  There's a 50/50 chance Hollywood might weird it out even more than it needs to.   I also recently finished reading The Reading Promise by Alice Ozma which inspired me to begin a reading streak with Bernadette.    My current selections will be talked about in tomorrow's Needle and Thread.

I am hoping:  For a productive summer with Daniel at home.  Every year I say the same thing, "We need to plan out our days together to get the most out of the time we have together."  I have so many things I hope to accomplish while he's at home!  Do we have a plan yet? Nope.  Well, not one that's been written out and scheduled anyways.  But the plan is in the making with those PDF's I talked about earlier.

I am praying: the Divine Mercy Chaplet every day at the Hour of Mercy.  I feel His Grace within me.  It is something I look forward to everyday.  His Mercy sustains me.  Also praying for my Mom and Dad for their special intentions.

One of my favorite things:  Okay, here's where I want to talk a little about my newest photography apps.  I AM LOVING Photo 365.  It's a simple app that allows you to chronicle your days with pictures and text in a calendar format.  For awhile now, I've been trying to find a way to chronicle the little things I want to remember about our days together.  I love my dslr, but there's a learning curve and sometimes I find it hard to remember to carry it with me everywhere...and sometimes it's just not practical for me to do so.  I can easily keep my phone in my pocket and take pictures throughout the day.  In the evening when the kids are asleep and I've tucked myself into bed, I simply go to Photo 365, upload the best pictures of the day and briefly write a description of my day along with making a list of things I'm grateful for.  Takes me 5 minutes.    The other app I'm loving that I bought the same day is Hipstamatic which most people have probably heard of.  I love how it turns a basic ho-hum composition into something special.

I am loving:  My new YELLOW camera bag.  I highly recommend Jototes!  It's made very well and I love the adjustable inserts inside the bag that allow me to make sure the lenses and camera fit snuggly in the bag.

A few plans:  Pack, shop and bake for the trip.  Try to finish up a few sewing projects to take down to Granny and continue making PDF templates for daily and homeschool checklists.  I'm so excited about getting organized. It's energizing!

Why I'm Devoted To Saint Jude

      Daniel and I have a dream that started a few years back.  The dream is to move onto a few acres of land, build a small home designed by my architect brother and live debt free while learning to become more self-sufficient on the land that we work.  All big dreams start small and we have a checklist of things we had to do to make all of this possible.  
     Our first step was to put our house on the market right smack dab in the middle of the housing crisis.  We truly felt God was honoring our plan when our house received the offer that would eventually sell it one week after we put the sign in the ground. You have to consider that the first time we put our house up for sale, the market was in it's heyday and we only got one offer way below the asking price in the 6 months we had it on the market.  Then too, Daniel went on a couple of interviews and didn't receive a call back.  Six months into it, we realized that God wanted us to stay put so Daniel could continue to work under his mentor and gain experience and so that we could grow in our faith within the Servants of the Cross community.  Flash forward four years, and we truly felt the urgency to start taking the steps to live out our dream.  With the lousy housing market, we knew it was all in God's hands.
     As soon as we got the offer, we began searching for apartments.  My hope, ironically, was to move back into the apartment complex we lived in before we bought the house.  I loved our old apartment.  It felt more like living in a house with its tall ceilings, openness, and bright sunlight streaming in through all the rooms.  The only reason we moved into a house was because we wanted a bigger outdoor space for Bernadette to play in as well as the right to paint our walls whatever colors we chose.  Other people must have loved those apartments too because there were none available when we needed it this time around.  
     For 3 weeks my heart grew heavy as we looked at apartments that were cramped and looked...well, like apartments.  We had no idea at the time how long we would be living in one.  We were figuring on 1-3 years, and I just couldn't picture living in some of these places with our young children for so long.
     Then we had a VERY big day.  Daniel found out that he did not get the middle school position in our hometown that he had applied for which made him that much more eager to look for work elsewhere.  I found out during my lunchbreak in the restroom at Target that I was carrying our third child AND when I got back to work, my mom called to tell me that while she was driving around trying to get Fulton down for a nap, she found an apartment across the street from our favorite park that looked just like our old apartment except it had a big yard!  I called the owner up immediately and told her to hold it for us until I got off of work so I could put a deposit on the place.  I'm so glad I made that call because not five minutes later, another person called to secure the apartment!  Looking around our future new space while carrying a precious secret,   I had that deep rooted assurance that God was truly leading us by the hand.

Inspecting our new kitchen while carrying a happy secret.

     Time passed.  My queasiness lessened as my hours at work were shortened and my belly grew.  Life in our little apartment was good.  I hated being away from the children even part-time, and I began to pray that we would move away from the valley so that I had an excuse not to return to work after Dominic's birth.  I remember how excited I was when I could start counting down the days until my maternity leave.  I wondered what my last day would be like...probably the longest day ever.
     As it turned out, Dominic spared me from that day by going into labor two weeks early.  And this is where Saint Jude comes in.  Nothing went according to our plans with Dominic's birth.  We arrived back from the hospital weary and with our apartment in shambles.  In my exhausted mind, our home seemed to be a reflection of our life...it was a mess.  On top of trying to be everything for everyone, Daniel tried looking for the job that would take us out of the valley.  The teacher forums were flooded with people lamenting the horrible job market.  There were simply too many applicants and not enough open positions.  Schools were more likely to hire from within then take on an outside applicant.
     I was tired and healing.  I began to wonder what God was thinking.  We had prayed for a healthy, safe home birth and that didn't happen.  I wondered aloud to Daniel if we were going to go through another season of God saying "No" to our plans.  I knew from past experience that God's No's are always meant for our benefit, but I had difficulty discerning at the time why He would tell us "No" when he had guided us thus far down the path.

   "Hopeless" escaped my lips as I turned away from the teacher forums and as soon as those words were uttered, Saint Jude came to mind.   Two days later, his name and prayer were one of my facebook updates.  I decided right then and there to pray my first novena.  I always held back from praying novenas.  I guess I felt my life didn't justify the need for them.  And even in that moment when I decided to abandon myself in prayer the voice in my head was saying, "Your concern is petty. Why waste God's time when there's so much suffering and truly hopeless causes?"  And then immediately another thought countered the first saying, "Your small prayer will be answered as proof that I care". After praying the short prayer for the first time, I felt a peace about our situation that I hadn't felt for awhile.  It's the peace that comes from knowing that your life is in God's hands and you're going to be fine no matter what happens.  I no longer felt desperate to move.  If we were meant to stay in the valley, I would be content with that.

   As God would have it,  on the last day of the novena, three job interviews were lined up in Austin, San Antonio and a small town south of Houston.  Most people would've been happy with one interview, St. Jude gave us three!  We were told that getting a job interview depended on your connections.  All the places Daniel applied to before the novena were based on connections and NOT ONE requested an interview.  It just goes to show that God doesn't need human connections, He makes His own.    I prayed the last prayer in a musty hotel room as Daniel made his way to his Austin interview.  Within the next four days we had logged in 3 hotel stays and hundreds of miles of driving around Texas with 3 kids (one of them a newborn).   All the while, I had a deep-rooted peace that God was with us.  All three jobs on the same day were offered to him! After months of questioning his abilities due to lack of response, Saint Jude had made it possible for Daniel to pick and choose amongst three schools clamoring to get him!  Really, I don't know what was the greater miracle, the choice of jobs or the peace I experienced the moment I let down my walls and began to trust.   And it is because of this experience, that I will forever be devoted to St. Jude!

Needle And Thread: Good Folks Throw

Before I ever worked up the courage to sit at the sewing machine, I fell in love with fabric.  I would stay up way past my bedtime scrolling through Sew Mama Sew and Fat Quarter Shop's selection like a kid drooling in a candy store.  Anna Maria Horner's line was the first complete bundle I ever bought.  I plunked my "egg money" down on it after seeing this throw.  I'm pretty sure it was the yellow square patches that caught my eye in those photos.  That bundle sat on my shelf for me to look at for over a year before I was brave enough to finally cut into them.  What you see in the picture is the top of the throw that I made LAST year during Holy Week.  Then my little Singer revolted and refused to work properly so the throw was put away.  I only just recently took it out to finish it.  I had plans to back it with yellow Kona cotton but I would need over 4 yards of it, and I wasn't sure how to piece the backing together, so I went to Target instead and got a cream colored, full size, 100% cotton sheet for ten dollars to use instead.  I'm going to finish it pillow case style.

For some reason, I was kind of in a reading slump this past week but in order to participate in Needle And ThREAD, I picked up Building Emotional Intelligence.  I'm only halfway into the 1st chapter so I can't really tell you how I feel about it.  If you're interested in teaching children how to have a high E.Q. (emotional quotient)  then I recommend the book I just finished reading,  Raising An Emotionally Intelligent Child.  Both authors insist that emotional intelligence is just as important to focus on as teaching children to read and write.  The latter book teaches parents how to be their children's Emotion Coach.  I learned a lot.

Before I end my post (I know I'm like the lonely hostess who won't let her guest leave her house)  I wanted to direct anyone interested in taking an online sewing course to Stitched In Color.  I love this blog.  She loves Anna Maria Horner too and she's got some great tutorials.  That's probably the reason I haven't picked up any book reading this week...too busy reading her blog.  Rachael will be doing a Handstitched Camp this June.  Go check it out!

What are your favorite fabric lines?  What are your favorite sewing blogs for inspiration? Thank you so much for stopping by!

Making It Count: Preschool Activities

 I'll admit, sometimes I turn to the internet for inspiration and other times I turn to it out of desperation.  We recently moved from a perpetually drought-stricken part of the country to a new town in the same state where it rains so much it pays homage to swamp-loving insects with it's yearly mosquito festival. (I kid you not).  I never really understood the purpose of "rainy day activities" until we moved here...It's because the kids drive you nuts!  Here are two activities I've recently tried on Fulton that we both loved:

Hammer And Nails Activity. I found this idea and knew it was right up Fulton's alley.  I bought the styrofoam for 50% off at JoAnn and purchased the wooden golf tees at Target.  His eyes lit up when I presented him with a real hammer and actually gave him permission to use it on 'nails'.  He stuck with this activity for a full hour!  You mamas with 3 year old boys understand the significance of a little guy sticking to something that long.  I have plans to extend the activity by presenting colored cardstock in a variety of shapes for him to hammer into the foam.

Painting Cars.  My original plan was to paint paper with car wheels but as I was setting up the table Fulton starting painting the car exteriors.  Works for me!  Again, this was an activity that kept my little guy busy for an hour. So many sighs of deep contentment from him as he worked hard to get the cars painted to his liking.

He was so proud of his car detailing he asked me to take pictures of each car as he finished them.  I suggested we run them through a "car wash" but he would have none of that business.  He's requested the activity several times since I introduced him to it last week.  He finally conceded to having his cars washed when he ran out of cars to paint.  We used washable tempera paints so the paint came off easy enough.  

Thank you for stopping by!  Please head over to Sarah's for more inspiration and fun.

A Family's Love Lexicon

I love reading about ways to improve myself and my family life.  I spend a portion of my free time reading books and magazines, visiting blogs and pinning great ideas from other moms in the hopes of finding ideas that inspire me to grow into the woman God envisions.  I'd have to say my favorite ideas and the ones I'm most likely to act on are those that are free, easy and make a big impact on our family life.  Today I'd like to share our family's love lexicon.  They're just simple phrases we've gotten into the habit of saying that have blessed our family in numerous ways.   I share them here in the hopes that they will bless you and those you hold most dear.


"Yes?!" Instead of "What?!"  Early on in our married life Daniel and I made a New Year's resolution to respond to each other's calls with "Yes?!" instead of "What?!"  Now I'm not dogging on people who use "what" to answer another's call for service.  It's the socially accepted term and we all grow up learning to say "what" when people call our names.  But we overheard another couple using "yes" instead of "what" and we both had to ask ourselves why we liked it better.  We realized that "What?" sounds like you're being inconvenienced, whereas "yes" sounds like you are ready and willing to serve.  "What?" can mean, "tell me what you want and I'll let you know if I want to do that" whereas "yes" is saying,  "I'm at your service."  I promise you this one is a small change with a huge impact.

 "My Blessings" - A few years back I was reading about the National Spelling Bee contestants when I came across the name of a local contestant whose name was Blessing.  Blessing.  I wondered about her story and that of the parents who named her.  It's a beautiful name infused with meaning.  It must be lovely to go about life with the constant reminder that you are a precious gift every time your name is called.  I decided in that  moment that I would begin calling my children "My Blessings" as a term of endearment right along with honey, sweetie, and dear.  Every morning as each of my bedheads make their entrance into our kitchen, I greet them with a big smile and say,  "Good Morning My Blessing!!" (Yes, some days I have to fake it till I make it).  Most mornings I watch as their faces light up.   Some days they don't react to it but woe to me if I should forget!  I figured that by calling them blessings, they would be blessed.  But I have found that when I use the term, I am blessed with the reminder that they are my precious gifts that have been entrusted to me.  

"How Can I Serve You"  Daniel and I were in a group called Servants of the Cross in our former home town.  They were missionaries from Ohio who founded a movement for families in Reynosa, Mexico.  The missionaries were truly a joyful people and everyone they came in contact with left with joy in their hearts.  One of the phrases they used was, "How can I serve you?"  They explained that when we say "how can I help you?" it implies the person is in need and you are either equals or that one is in a position of power and  is helping the powerless.  Which is great!   But when you say, "How can I serve you?"  You're putting that person's dignity above your own by becoming their servant.  You are asking to be at their service and as Christians that means they are the ones that are doing you the favor because we are all called to serve one another.
     I used to be scared to approach strangers who clearly needed help.  I was once scolded by someone for doing so.  Maybe they realized they looked helpless in that moment and their pride shooed me away.  But now when I see a stranger in need, I see it as an opportunity to serve them and they are most glad to be my master in that moment.  Daniel and I began to use the phrase in our family as a way to set an example to our children of what serving others should look like.   I have noticed Bernadette reacts differently when I use the term "serve" and when I use "help."  In a moment of frustration I'm more able to break down walls if I ask to "serve" her rather than "help" her in her frustrated endeavors.  And I know when Daniel comes home and dinner is all over my apron and I have a fussy baby in one arm and a tired toddler wrapped around my leg, I feel like a queen when he scoops our baby into his arms and asks how he can serve me.  I just think everyone should feel what it would be like to be St. Peter having Our Lord wash his feet.

"I Honor You"  This is just our way of complimenting people.  When we spot virtue in action we are quick to say things like, "Hey!  I really honor you for the way you showed kindness to your brother when you gave him the last strawberry."  I use this line a lot for complimenting people in our community as well as my dearest loved ones.  It's a simple way to pay our respects and give people a boost.

"As You Wish" This comes from The Princess Bride.  What?!  You haven't seen that movie?!  Get thee to the nearest Blockbuster!  Make haste!  In the movie a poor peasant replies to his love's requests by saying "As you wish".  And everyone who has seen the movie knows that what he's really saying is, "I love you."  Sigh.  Great movie!  Recently I decided to start saying that line anytime one of my loved ones has a request. I've only just begun so it's too early to know the impact this statement will have, but I was encouraged when, after saying the line to Bernadette a few times, she said, "Wow! I feel like you're my servant." Exactly.



Does your family have a love lexicon?  I'd love to hear about it so please tell me about the simple ways your family says, "I love you."

Needle And ThREAD

I'm so excited Elizabeth Foss has decided to host a weekly Needle And ThREAD. (Leave it to Elizabeth to come up with a clever name like that.)  In fact, I'm so excited, I decided to leave my perfectionism behind and re-open my blog to the public in the hopes of connecting with other mamas.  I had made it private and even stopped blogging for a while because my blog didn't look the way I wanted it to.  (Silly, I know).  That being said, this blog is still under remodeling so you might find things a bit wonky around here...which isn't any different from my sewing, come to think of it.
   I'm currently working on log cabin blocks for my first major quilt.  I'm learning the Quilt-As-You-Go method from this quilt along.  It's a great block for newbie quilters.  I would even go so far as to call it mindless sewing, which is great because my brain shuts off at 7pm every night,  the time I finally have all to myself to be creative.  It's the first sewing machine project I've done that I don't have to really think about as I'm sewing.  I've been wanting to make a quilt from my cherished  partial collection of Katie Jump Rope ever since I bought the line 2 1/2 years ago.  This quilt was my inspiration for using KJR in log cabin blocks.  I wanted this to be a very scrap happy quilt so I could start using up favorite fabrics I've been hoarding for too long.  I'm basically using any fabric in my stash that is within the KJR colorway.  I'm editing out all fabrics that contain purples, pinks and grays.  I've done 9 blocks in 2 weeks...40 more to go!

  I'm currently reading Fulton Sheen's Way To Happiness: An Inspiring Guide To Peace, Hope and Contentment.  I think contentment was the lesson God was trying to instill in me this lent so I don't think it was a coincidence that I found this little book while searching for something else near Lent's end.  I'm also taking notes on Plate To Pixel.  I figured this book might give me some good tips on composition.  It's from the same publisher as Mamarazzi.  I've really learned a lot though, to be honest, it will take some time for the lessons to become apparent in my photography.  I recommend this book for anyone interested in taking better photographs.  Even if you don't have a dslr this book aims to teach you how to compose better pictures and make the best use of natural light.  I plan on using the tips I'm learning for Needle and ThREAD.  :-)

I cannot wait to connect with other mamas in their Needle and Thread adventures.  If anyone comes across this post who would like to begin sewing but is afraid to take the leap, let me assure you by saying that if I can learn how to sew, ANYONE can learn how to sew.  Just begin!

"Best Day"

What started out as a way for Mama to entertain a heavy 8 month old for a few minutes turned out to be an afternoon of wagon rides,  soil exploration and "horse play".   Bernadette came out of the house after putting her homemade bread in the oven to see what we were up to.  Watching Grandma get tired from working hard in the garden gave her an idea and a few minutes later she reappeared with blankets and dolls so she "could catch a few winks"...in the middle of our front yard.  Little brother decided he was "tired" too which of course resulted in our two oldest children acting like puppies play fighting in a box until Fulton got distracted with Felicity's horse that was grazing on Augustine grass.

Fulton eventually got bored "pestering"  his sister and moved on to the fun activity of walking on the freshly dug soil; the indoor equivalent would be dumping flour all over the kitchen floor after mama has just swept.

                              Dominic loves looking up to his brother.  Brother is soooo awesome.

The weather was overcast and cool; perfect for practicing photography.   I remembered half way through to change my white balance to cloudy which made quite a difference.  (Must remember to check white balance as soon as I turn the camera on).  I tried to get a good nature picture of some weed flower growing in the yard but I think the better, albeit impossible picture was of Fulton crawling all over me as I tried to get the shots.

I loved the afternoon.   I felt so much joy and gratitude watching little events unfold behind the lens as well as getting in on the action.   The hours slipped by all too quickly.  Later that afternoon, I heard Bernadette singing "The Best Day".  I always get a lump in my throat whenever she plays that song.  I  always wonder if I'm living up to the mom in that song...if Bernadette thinks of me while she's singing her heart out while doing her chores.  I got the song in my head and I was singing it while I was preparing dinner.  Bernadette's mouth dropped and she acted hurt.  I asked her what was wrong and she told me that I singing her birthday surprise to me...she was going to sing "The Best Day" to me as my gift.  Little did  she know she simply gave me her gift 2 weeks early.