Little People Again

Over the last several weeks, I've had the opportunity to have my niece and nephews around here.  

It's been such a joy to listen to their little stories and be involved in their play.

Their thoughts are fearlessly original.

Their play is unapologetically creative.  

Their hearts are pure and their words honest.

They capture joy from the simplest of pleasures.

Like "planting a tree" in a few inches of snow.

The Charlie Brown tree must be celebrated with grins, giggles, and arms thrown high and wide!

Looking, gazing, exploring, learning, and ENJOYING.

Little people are just so good at enjoying life.

I want to be more like the little people in my life. 

Dominique

Pussy Willow Update

Spring makes me think of that time God sent me flowers!

Blossom4 and I were chatting about it the other day, marveling over how cool it was.  

It's mind boggling that such a big God orchestrates even such small things!

The girls and I planted all of our little pussy willow starts last July, so as soon as the first signs of spring popped up, we meandered down to the creek in search of our very own pussy willows.  We were cautiously optimistic.

Imagine our excitement when we found three tiny catkins on one pussy willow sapling ~ 

the fruits of how God used one random woman!

I'll readily admit that the pictures aren't as close as I prefer.  The creek is still (very, very) cold and none of us wanted to brave wading.  Also, none of us wore our rubber boots.  

Something about looking for my pussy willows after God sent me flowers is such a neat reminder of how one person, used by God, can bless so many others.  

I wonder if I'll ever run into that lady at the library again.  I wonder if I'll recognize her.  When I think about her handing a total stranger a bouquet of pussy willows, I'm reminded to love EVERY person I cross paths with, EVERY day.  

I might be the only Jesus they'll ever see.

Thrifting Fail

 A lot of times after a fashion piece has been complimented and I relate that it was thrifting find, I hear,

"How do you always find such good stuff?"

It's true, there have been some pretty special finds over the years.  

The caramel leather jacket rates at the top of the list.  

And my happy-birthday-to-me red wool coat does too!

On Saturday I even snagged a cool red clock and a fun window family photo display!

(Some of my most favorite finds over the years and tips for how I found them are in this post.)

I had to laugh yesterday though.  I sat at the dining room table, helping one of the Blossoms with her schoolwork.  I glanced over my shoulder to the bookshelf and the very adorable Precious Moments Bible I picked up for Blossom4 at Goodwill on Saturday.  

I realized it was missing a good chunk of pages!!!!

When I was browsing the book selection, I thought this Bible looked like it was in excellent condition.  I mainly bought it because the font size was larger and not so intimidating for younger readers.  It would also be easy to grab when someone's tablet wasn't charged for morning devotions.  I quickly leafed through it to see how much it had been written in, but I never noticed that most of the New Testament was missing!

You win some and you lose some.  I don't always find good stuff.  Hope you get a good laugh out of my thrifting fail.

Good News!!!

Dear friend,

I get it!  You're busy!  Maybe you can't always be checking this site for my latest post, but you do really like to stay in touch.  There's a new feature on the right to help you out.

You can now get new posts via email!  Just enter your email and click "subscribe."  

I'm hoping this new functionality will help you and I to stay connected!

Dominique

Ice Skating in the Hollow

Blossom3 and Blossom4 got a little creative the other day when they realized that we had a lot of melting and refreezing going on.  

They used shovels to shovel the ice smooth and level.  

After it refroze, they excitedly announced that we have an ice skating rink in the back yard!  I was skeptical, of course. 

I should know better though.  They donned their skates and enjoyed their homemade rink.

Talk about some ingenuity!  

The older Blossoms were understandably NOT very thrilled at the invention of this ice rink, as it made traversing the terrain with full water buckets and other heavy outside equipment quite difficult.  

It only lasted a day or two anyway, so all are once again reconciled to each other!

Having Tea Today

If you were having tea with me today, I'd thank you for reading my blog.  It truly means a lot to me that you take time to listen to my thoughts.

I'd tell you how thankful I am that Jake, our golden retriever, is acting more and more like himself after a scary bout with seizures over the past several days.

I'd chat about how I'm learning that God wants me to fight overwhelm and worry, by singing the truth to myself... out loud.  It's helping me get off the train of discouraging thoughts.  Singing the truths I know redirects my heart and mind back to the Most Important One.  How can praising our God ever be a bad idea?

I'd comment that I've noticed that the birds are sounding so springy in the mornings lately.  

I'd share that we are making a little bit of progress helping Blossom4 not to spend all her time perusing the kitchen for delectable snacks and instead focus on her schoolwork.  We're grabbing our snack and drink, heading to our desk and staying put until the 45 minute timer goes off, when she's allowed to stretch and restock.  It's a simple thing.  Maybe it sounds too regimented to you, but it's what she needed because the grass was always greener on the other side of the house... in the kitchen.

I'd mention how much we're enjoying having homemade chocolate syrup and mocha syrup from Good Cheap Eats in our refrigerator!

I'd let you know that it's nice having Blossom1 drive the girls to practice sometimes.  It has added some margin in my week when I really, really needed it.  Yes, I do worry about her.  Do we mamas ever stop being concerned about our children?  I don't know, but I hope it causes me to pray more.  God is helping me to grow in this area.

I'd share with you how much some daily moments mean to me ~ like looking around the schoolroom and catching those quiet moments when everyone is intent on their work and learning. My heart feels full.

Thanks for chatting with me today.

Dominique