Making Time

See this guy? I married him, so this would be us.

We like each other, quite a lot. In fact, we like each other so much that we’ve been married ten years. That’s a long time, and we can honestly say that things have changed quite a bit for us in ten years of marriage.

The biggest change is these guys, all three of them.

They make it kind of difficult to have any time together; well, together alone.

You can see they can kind of get between us.

Despite our best efforts to get just a minute together, it just doesn’t always work out.

How about a change of location?

Ahh, that’s more like it.

You see, one thing we’ve learned in our ten years together is that we have to actually make room for time together. It doesn’t just happen, and usually these days it takes some effort and creativity. We’ve realized that we can get so busy in life and family and kids and ministry and our business that us becomes you and me. And that’s usually a pretty selfish place to be.

So we’ve been consciously focusing on making time. We trade kids with some friends of ours, and sometimes we just go home to a quiet house and well, have some time. We purposefully leave our schedule clear on Thursday nights so we can snuggle together to watch Survivor and The Office. We farm our kids out to family or friends as often as we can so run away together, even if it’s just out for lunch. And in all that we connect. We remember why it is we got married in the first place; that we’re just completely goofy and crazy about each other. We know that some day the kids will be older and they’ll be home less, they’ll need us less. We want to make sure that our foundation is strong so that when those days come we still know each other. I sure don’t want to be married to a stranger and I’m pretty sure my hubby doesn’t want to either.

I think doing this makes our marriage better and stronger and our home happier. It’s so important that it can’t be ignored or neglected. In fact, just this week we had a super fun double date with some friends. It was refreshing to laugh together and just be us.

Who do you need to spend time with right now? Why wait, carve out some time for that person today.

Fast Forward

I was invited to a tea party the other day. I was told it was going to start in about three hours and that I had to wear my fancy black dress. After a quick lesson on time the tea party was moved to “right now” and off we went.

It was just the two of us, Cayden and me. She poured my tea and showed me where the creamer was and cautioned me that it was very, very hot. I got my cup and she got hers and we chatted.

And the minutes seamed to stretch out a bit longer.

Then she told me about her trip to the pumpkin patch.

And the minutes grew to hours.

She told me about her children.

And all of sudden those minutes turned into years.

I had a picture of her and me, years from now sitting together over coffee or tea and chatting. Much like I do with my Mom now. She told me all about her kids and I asked her about her husband.

As we talked I marveled about how time goes so very fast, and at the relationship between a mother and a daughter. How it changes as it goes, from one of parent and child to friend and friend. And I longed for that with my sweet Cayden, that we would weather the storm of growing and adolescence and maturity.

And I was so grateful for a few minutes that gave me a glimpse of what is to come. A few minutes that showed me that investing time right now is the best thing I can do for our relationship. It’s a foundation that is built on over years of time together, it certainly doesn’t just happen.

But how quickly are we to dismiss that invitation by our children, the invitation to a tea party or to the pretend grocery store, or to read a book or just spend time. We say no, or not right now, or how about a little later. And sometimes that later never comes.

Today I’m encouraged to make those moments a priority and to make them count. Simply because they are so fleeting.

Today I think I’d like to have some tea please, with sugar and cream.

How about you? Who do you need to spend time with today? Who is asking for your undivided attention? That is the is the greatest gift you can give to anyone, that of time.

I'm sharing with Chatting at the Sky Tuesdays Unwrapped, it's all about celebrating the moments and discovering gifts among ordinary moments. Head on over to be encouraged by others.

Payback

Remember this?

It didn’t take long for the guilty parties to be revealed-it’s amazing how difficult it is for middle school kids to be quiet.

Once the culprits were named we slowly and silently put our plan together.

So, on a blustery Saturday afternoon the youth pastor (that’s my husband) took the four perpetrators out for ice-cream. He wanted to let them know there were no hard feelings and all that good stuff. Honestly, there weren’t any hard feelings. We thought the whole thing was pretty funny. What we did feel bad about was the quality of the job done on our home. A good youth pastor takes the time to instruct his students in the proper techniques of toilet-papering.

He also makes sure to send a loud message to the youth: you’re either for us or your against us. Or, whatever you do to us comes back to you, only worse (at least when it comes to pranks.)

So while they were enjoying an ice cream treat, me and a few helpers were hard at work. With permission from the parents of said t-pers.

We also had some fun at the office of the chief parent involved. Notice the vast amounts of foil?

Lesson learned?

We sure hope so. But, if you happen to see any good deals on toilet paper let us know, we think we might need to stock up. This might not be over.

The Finished Project: A Thrift Store Cubby Redo

My Procrastinator’s Project is all done! It’s amazing what just a bit of accountability will do for ya!

Remember the before?

Here’s the process:

A quick coat of blue paint. Since I really wanted to use what I had, I just used some leftover paint from when we painted the bathroom. I did not want to spend any money on this!

After the blue dried (I gave it about five days-just to be sure) I lightly sanded the whole thing. Then, working just one section at a time, I painted on some brown and then quickly wiped it off with a paper towel.

Once that was dry, I sanded it down again.

Then I watered down some black latex paint I had laying around and did the same thing. One quick coat on and wipe off with a paper towel. By this time my knuckles were sore from banging them inside the cubbies. It doesn’t take long for this to dry because it’s all wiped off so quickly. The last step was going over it with coarse sandpaper, in every spot. I wasn’t worried about it being even or looking perfect because I wanted it to look worn and old. When I was all done I glued on some cork that I had from an old bulletin board and painted the knob and some old tacks. I used turquoise because that’s what I had. I think I would prefer a different color, but it works-and it was free. That makes it perfect.

Well, Vanna, show them the finished project!

This is where it will hang-once my sweet, amazing husband can help me get it on the wall. Have I mentioned that this is solid wood? It is heavy! I can’t wait to see her up there, ready to hold notes and keys and hold our dog’s leash.

Here’s a closer look for ya’ll! I’ll count this one a success-I love how it turned out!

Thanks Melissa!

Refreshment

Have you ever been thirsty? I mean really thirsty, dry and longing for a drink?

Have you ever felt worn out? Are you tired and spent from the daily pressures of life?

God has better things in store for us. He wants so much more for us than just a knowledge of him. Our creator longs for us to really know him, intimately, and he desperately wants us to know that times of refreshing are available to us. This refreshment, or rest, comes through knowing God’s spirit, and through allowing the spirit to wash over us. We are so often like parched earth in a desert, hard and resistant to the one thing that can bring life.

But God has something better. He has real life, true life and true rest. To receive that rest we must simply come to him and ask. His presence is the only thing that can bring true and lasting refreshment. Everything else will leave us wanting, longing for more. They might satisfy for a while, but in the quite times you might hear your heart asking for more. God is in that, he is the more you’ve been longing for.

Times of refreshing from come God. (See Acts 3:19 in the Bible.)

edited: This photo is my own-I took it myself, on my own camera, with my own hands. The original photo on this post has been removed.

I Spy and Pumpkin Muffins

On a recent cold and rainy day I spied:

evidence on one child’s trek out in the wet cold to bring mom a flower

the best pumpkin apples muffins, with streusel topping (the recipe’s at the end of this post)

soft glowing candles to brighten up the dreary day

proof that three children got along and played peacefully all day long.

This was a day where we truly walked in peace and love towards each other, all day. Days like this are a gift.

And we were in Pumpkin Apple Muffin heaven on this day, every single muffin was gone the next day. We’ll be making this again for sure.

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• I cup sugar (the original recipe called for two cups but I cut it back-you could add more than one cup to make it sweeter)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon cloves
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup pumpkin puree (canned or fresh, if you buy canned just make sure you buy pumpkin and not pumpkin pie filling)
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups peeled, chopped apples
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
• Streusel topping (recipe follows)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl combine flours, sugar, baking powder, salt and spices. In a smaller bowl whisk eggs, add pumpkin, applesauce and vanilla. Add to dry ingredients and mix well, stir in apples and walnuts. Spoon batter into prepared muffin tins (either with a paper liner or nonstick spray), fill about three-fourths full. Sprinkle with streusel topping. Bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack. This makes about 20 muffins.

Streusel Topping

• 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 1/4 cups brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon butter (to make these dairy free I’ve used I can’t believe it’s not butter sticks for this as well as Smart Balance non-hydrogenated shortening-both work equally well, although the shortening does not cut up quite the same.)

Combine all of these in a small bowl, cut together with a few knives or a pastry blender until crumbly. Sprinkle over muffins.

Playing in the Sand

Can you stand it? A few more coast pictures-and really how could you not love the cute little sandy toes?

There’s lots more I’m going through, we took over 400. Can you believe it? 400 in just three days. Yeah, I know that’s over 100 per day. I have no idea how that happened but I’ll spare you the bulk of them. Just the highlights, kay?

And now back to reality, and another wet and rainy day. How ‘bout some more pictures next week?

How to put Children’s Artwork on Canvas

I'm posting this over at Kimba's DIY day-be sure to check all the awesome DIY projects you can take-grab a cup of coffee first-you're sure to be there for a while!

We have a few resident artists at my house. Our middle child in particular seems to spend most of her days doodling and drawing.

So I wasn’t too surprised to find a new creation hanging on the refrigerator one day, she feels most of her artwork should end up there and usually just sticks it up herself.

But once I looked at the artwork I was surprised. She had made a little flyer about our family. I looked closely and saw that each of our names were there, as well as each child’s initials. In the picture below you can see a little box for each kid with their name and initials. What I love here is that she drew, in bubble letters a little “C” “L” and “A” and circled them, drawing a line to each box. I love the little details. And bubble letters? What four year old does bubble letters?

At any rate I felt like this little beauty was frame worthy. But the paper was kind of crumpled and it seemed like it needed better treatment than just a frame. So I put in on a canvas.

Here’s how:

I took my artwork and my prepped canvas. I just painted it soft blue to blend with the rest of the colors in our house.

Then I purchased graphite paper from the craft store. I used a half off coupon and spent $7 on enough paper to recreate at least 30 pieces of art.

Then all you do is place the graphite paper on the canvas, put your picture over it and use a stylus to draw over the picture. It transfers the image onto your canvas so you can paint over it.

Here’s what it looked like when I was done with graphite paper.

After that I just painted over the image with brown acrylic paint. The whole project took maybe half an hour and the seven dollars for the graphite paper. Easy peasy.

Now the hard part is to figure out where to hang my new work of art.

Oh-this has absolutely thrilled my daughter. She couldn’t be prouder of herself and her creation.

Surrounding myself with beautiful artwork made by my own kiddos makes my home, and my life, more beautiful. I love the special, original touch this will add to our family room.

I'm sharing this on Melissa's Beautiful life series-head on over to see how others are finding beauty in their lives this week.

A Little Getaway

We got away this weekend.

Can you guess where?

We used this a lot.

We climbed all 104 stairs here.

Our shoes looked this most of the time.

We met this guy and some of his friends.

Yeah, you guess it.

We spent the weekend at the Oregon Coast. It was time for a little escape, a little getaway with just us. Classic family. And it was awesome.

It’s amazing what a few days away from the daily grind will do for your soul. I guess we all need to escape every now and then.

How do you get away?

It Was Only a Matter of Time

It was bound to happen sooner or later-my husband is a youth pastor after all.

All we have to say is, “Is that the best you can do?”

Payback, glorious payback, is coming.

Procrastinators Unite-Inspiration for a new Cubby

Melissa over at the Inspired Room is having a party-it’s a special for all of us who tend to–ah-well, procrastinate. Click on the picture above to see all the other procrastinator's out there.

As for me, I don’t really mean to be a procrastinator, but it just seems like lately there’s just never enough time to do the projects I really want to get too.

Like folding laundry and cleaning bathrooms.

Well, then there’s fun projects like this one. I’d much rather spend my time on this kind of project than on folding laundry. But, I think laundry must breed like rabbits and there’s always a pile the size of a mountain to deal with.

Anyway, on to the project.

I found this cubby thingy at a thrift store, stared it down for about ten minutes and then finally decided to bring it home. Since then it’s been sitting in the garage. I think I’m waiting for inspiration to hit, or for lighting to strike. Either way, it needs to get done.

I see this painted and maybe distressed and most definitely with a new knob. The only trouble I’m having is figuring out what to paint it with. A bold bright color? Maybe just a darker stain? Or something cool and awesome that I haven’t thought of yet?

When it’s all done I think it will make a great catch all spot for keys and dog leashes and mail and stuff.

So glad for some procrastinator accountability to get this one done!

How would you paint this one?

Back to School Pictures

We’ve been so busy doing school that we haven’t had a chance to take back to school pictures. I guess these ones that we took out on a hike will have to do for now.

What do you think?