It's been so windy here the last few days that my back porch is in shambles. As I was picking up, the pile on the chair caught my eye. I forgot how much I love the colors of Summer!
Thank you, Father, for being an artist!
Hoping you have a beautifully creative Tuesday.
Right up there with catching fireflies, swimming at dusk & watermelon parties with the neighbors. Thank God for sweet June afternoons!
By some miracle I'm adjusting to parenting an "adult" whilst enjoying innocent fun with the younger ones. One of you commented that no one warns us about the terrible 20's and I had to laugh because it's so true. One of you commented that having a child that is able to be independant is far better than one that will never be independant. I was humbled because it's so true.
My friends mom gave me a verse... If anyone sees his brother (or child) commit a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray and God will give him life. (1 John 5). She reminded me of when I was 18 and making wrong choices. She told me that these were the verses that she prayed for her daughter while that daughter was making wrong choices with me.
It wasn't all about us girls either. That mom grew spiritually during the time those two young girls were walking away from God, moving into a yucky apartment, hanging out with the wrong boys... and getting pregnant. Twenty years later, we are both following the Lord and married to Godly men.
I'm learning to pray God's promises
"Pray and God will give him (or her) Life"
Our house is filled to overflowing with kids!
My sister and her 5 children are back in town indefinitely and you would think that my kids have been estranged from any child their own age. Between my 4, my sisters 5 and my mom's 3 (mom & dad adopted kids that are the ages of our children), it's the most lovely kind of craziness!
I've been playing with my camera again.
This photo is for the new addition over at French Cupboard. I experimented with making a toolbar. Wanna See?
Well here's a "green" building solution that I hadn't heard of before ~ shipping containers! Homes, stores, cafes... 
I've seen lots of little shops popping up that are housed in airstreams or travel trailers but shipping containers is new to me.
(container photos: MSN Real Estate)
My old farmhouse kitchen windows don't open any more. Well, if Mr. Blessing stands on the counter and puts some serious backbone into it, the one on the right will wiggle just a little. Normally, it's not a big deal but as we are planning a huge graduation party tomorrow, it suddenly took on importance. They are frightfully dirty between the windows and the storms. So my typically naked kitchen windows needed to get dressed for the party. Not wanting to sacrifice the light, this seemed like a good quick solution just before bed last night.
What a sweet way to wake up this Summer morning ...to see angel wings.
Thank you, my darling friends for all your sweet comments and emails over the last week! It's comforting to know that I'm not the only one that is having a hard time with this emotional mystery of letting go of our kids. We were at our 11 year old's football game a few days ago and when he intercepted the ball, a fellow mom yelled over the crowd to me, "Congratulations Mom!"
Whether it has been through your comments, a hollered bit of hope at a football game or one of many messages written on the dirty windows of our SUV, God has provided encoragment around every corner. Thank you for being part of this with me!
For this reason I kneel before the Father. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
There she sits, the only daughter in a house full of blessings, talking through the window to her bossom friend. Like some farmhouse-style Anne & Dianna. Bedtime on Summer nights can be so unfair. Just a quick sneak to the window. "But mom, I HAVE to tell her one more thing!" she pleads (and yes, that is a branch holding up our old conversation window). I sigh and remember how I used to wish that I had a friend next door, just a hop, skip and jump away...
Lest I forget to put on the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, God put my girl at the conversation window. Thank you Father for answering my childhood prayer with an answer of "wait" ...saving this blessing for my daughter.
Can you tell that I'm feeling the need for some "white space" in my life these days?
Google defines it as that portion of a page left unmarked: the space between graphics. After 2 years, I've amassed quite a bunch of sidebar stuff! But don't worry, I couldn't part with it so I've moved it all to Page 2 of the blog. You can find all the old sidebar links by clicking the "sidebar links" icon above.
But the white space that I truly crave is in my "real" life. Do you ever just feel the weight of too much change? Wanting things to go back to being simple, knowing you must accept that they won't?
I find myself decluttering and simplifying around the house, painting things clean... or hiding behind my camera where I can adjust the saturation and capture the lovely...but even I know it's just some kind of physical symbolism for the thing that my mind is so incapable of doing.
I barely speak the thoughts to Mr. Blessing but he knows. I can't really verbalize it anyone. It's just an ache in my heart. Because I had a child when I was still a child myself, I'm unsure of who I am if I'm not that boys mom. Oh, it's the silliest, stupidest, most run-away emotion. I know that. I have 3 young children still! I should not be falling apart. Thousands of moms do it every year. There can't possibly be a shadow cast on the hearts of all those other moms. But hidden beneath the busyness and work and everyday life, I am falling somewhat to bits. Could someone please tell me, before I make a blubbering mess of myself at the graduation party, how to do this ...how to be a parent to the child that doesn't "need" a parent?
I've been turned on to the most amazing new magazine! Every issue is full of luscious photos and websites that I'd never heard of (and can't wait to look up). It's written in Danish so I don't have to feel obligated to read the articles. Just relax and take in every morsel!
