ETC: Heart Touching

My husband's birthday was the weekend before Thanksgiving, Day one of our pilgrimage to Pittsburgh. I wanted to be sure it was duly noted given the craziness of the trip and the tightness of the budget. He deserves to have a special day, but he also understands that where we are special has limits.

At the same time, I want our kids - mostly Grace at this point, to learn how important it is to show others how special they are to you. I suppose I am sort of bias in this, because I teach her to do the things I would do to show someone they were special...but anyway. In the midst of packing and preparing, I made sure to take her with me to buy his gift even thought I could have ordered it on-line or gone while she was at school. She needs to see me to nice things for her daddy. Then we wrapped! And then she made his card.

This is the part that totally touched my heart...and it wasn't just that she had to make him numerous cards. And it wasn't just the sweet way she asked me to write things like "I love you, Daddy" so that she could copy them herself onto the card. She made him a birthday banner....Just like the one's I have made for her, and her brother and some very dear friends. She was so proud and so excited.

It meant so much to me that she saw what I do for her as a way to for her to show her daddy love. I love that she got it...with out me saying a word!


Check out the other ETC'ers over at The Anderson Crew!

I know it is Tuesday and I should have a treasury today…but this is a busy, busy week for this household (aren’t they all?) and I just couldn’t get into it. I started a few, but with no luck. There is just so much weighing on my heart.

Last weekend – the weekend before Thanksgiving – as we were packing the car to go on our annual Pittsburgh Pilgrimage our girl dog bit our 16 month old son.

He is doing fine now – thanks to a trip to the ER, strong antibiotics and consistent wound care.  All that considered, it still should never have happened.

Our girl dog is a sweet, beautiful black lab and greyhound mix. She is sensitive and protective. She is excitable and affectionate. We adopted her from a rescue organization just weeks after we got married. She was supposed to be my husband’s dog, since we had a dog already that was very much my dog. She quickly became my dog though.

 Maybe it was her fear of men that pushed her to me. She was beaten- we assume by a man, probably with a broom or a stick. The man probably smoked. She has a strong negative reaction anytime she smells cigarette smoke.

When I was pregnant she would lie next to me on the bed with her head on my belly, or snuggled up behind my knees. She was on constant guard when the baby arrived. Any noise from the nursery and she was to the nearest person alerting them that something needed to be done, her baby was in need.

She did great through our daughter’s toddler years, but we were in a house with lots of room for her kennel and a bed for her, and a huge fenced yard for her to escape to.

The past few months with her have been rough, or at least I can see that in hindsight. She spent the summer with the kids and me at my parents. She had a nice yard to be in – away from all the hustle and bustle of the kids.  Back home, though it is a yard-less townhouse with less space and more activity.  I can say now looking back she was not happy, she was on constant edge.

Our son is walking, chatting and getting into everything including her space. I didn’t realize how uneasy it made her. Our boy dog is slow to react and when he does react it is to simply get up and walk away.  Not the girl dog. She seemed torn between wanting the affection (toddler pats and rubs, sometimes with toys) and wanting to be left alone. We never left the dogs and kids alone together, and we worked with our son to teach him gentle and when to leave the dogs alone. Learning those things is a slow process.

And so we reach that Saturday…The dogs were anxious as we packed the car thinking they were going. The kids were playing upstairs with my mom so they weren’t under foot as things were carted to the car and the last of the chores finished up. Somehow in all of that the girl dog had all that she could take and bit our son, puncturing through the external part of his ear and leaving several gashes.

This weekend, when we returned from our trip, my husband took the girl dog back to the organization we adopted her through. We had been in touch with them almost immediately after the bite and they were gracious enough to take her, as was indicated in the adoption paperwork.  

Our first responsibility as parents is to keep our kids safe. We want animals, dogs especially to be a part of our home and our children’s childhood, but it has to be safely.  We also have a responsibility to our pets to provide them an environment that they can thrive in, and our home just wasn’t that for the girl dog. I feel foolish that we didn’t recognize it sooner, and blessed that in the end all to show for the mistake will be a few small scars on our sons ear.

Looking back I feel that she was never truly at easy or comfortable with us, and maybe she will never be like that with anyone in any home, but I hope that is not that the case. I pray that there is someone with a big heart and quite home that needs the girl dog as much as she needs a quite place and someone to love. I pray that they find each other quickly, as I don’t know how well the girl dog will weather being kept in a kennel.

Sister Mary Marley Louise O’Jones…. She is no longer a part of our household, but she will always be a part of my heart. 

Tuesday Treasure with maybe a hint of Made of Monday

Just over a week until Thanksgiving. Just a two days until my folks get here, and then the next day we are off!

The sound track of Thanksgiving travel is running through my head:

Over the river and through the woods to Grandmother’s house we go…

On the road again….

Oh there’s no place like home for the holidays….Pennsylvania and some homemade pumpkin pie…

But then home is here – not there. Oh, there are things about there that are home – the people, the food, the time together, and the sense of heritage. I find myself walking a fine line between here and there.  The older I get the less connection I have to the place, though the connections to the people don’t dwindle, or at least the desire for the connection.

I love my family, but for nearly 25 years we have lived some place far away. Not some insurmountable distance, but far enough that daily life goes on. Other family moves. Kids grow up. Life happens. I am so thankful for all the technology that has continued to keep us connected so much better than long distance telephone calls and handwritten letters!

This week’s Tuesday Treasure is called On going Home. It is all about the things that come to mind as we prepare to journey to the “homeland”. 

• ·         The pumpkin pie and sled from the songs we would sing on the way.
• ·         The Steeler’s paraphernalia that gets packed and worn with pride while we are there among fellow fans.
• ·         Tokens of the travel- Construction barrels that litter the turnpike!
• ·         Images of the places we will see along the way and visit while we are there.

If you are traveling this Thanksgiving, I pray for safe travels for you. If you will spend your time with family, I pray for peace and joy for you. If you find yourself far from home and without family, count yourself blessed! No, I pray for you, too!

Enjoy this weeks treasure!

Tuesday Treasures...Turkey!

Thanksgiving is two weeks away...I can not wrap my head around that - that and everything that has to happen before and then in the wake of our thanksgiving pilgrimage to visit family...Regardless if I am prepared mentally or otherwise Thanksgiving will arrive...and with it BIG FAT TURKEYS!

Grace has been signing all about those BIG FAT TURKEYS, as she learns songs for the school program. It makes me chuckle. I love it!

I love Thanksgiving. For years it was the big holiday for me - the time when we traveled to be with family, and family gathered together. Sometime, Christmas gifts were exchanged early. There were always crafts and shopping and TURKEY!

Okay so really my favorite part of Thanksgiving is the stuffing...but there is no stuffing without... Turkey...

So here it is...this weeks treasure is turkey in all its Thanksgiving grandness...

Enjoy!

Free Advice Friday

It is my turn ladies…looking for some free advice this Friday!

What do you do with failure?

Does it harden your resolve?

Do you try again?

Do you blame others? Do you blame yourself?

Do you move on?

Do you change courses?

Does it paralyze you? Or does it light a fire for you?

I find myself not failing, but not really succeeding either, in an overall sense. I see changes that need to be made. I see things that need improved, but I find myself unable to make the changes, unable to find a place to start and feel like “This is possible”.

 I may just be on the verge of becoming a hoarder, or worse…Maybe I am just not a perfectly clean house kind of girl, but it feels so good when the house is that kind of clean. And maybe I am just not a blog everyday and run an Etsy shop kind of girl, but if feels so good when it is happening. And maybe I am just not meant to be wife, mother and student. And maybe I am just not as organized and together as everyone thinks I am…maybe I am just not who I always thought I was…but where does this leave me? What of everything on my plate does God want for me and from me? And what if what He wants for me isn’t even on my plate, yet? Then what do it do with all of “this”?

Okay…well, ladies…any advice…

I think I might go start throwing things away!

Happy Friday!

ETC - Embrace the Camera

It was her first time playing Checkers.
The first few moves she had me worried...
I wasn't sure I could beat her!

This week embracing the camera was hard for me...yes, its hard a lot of weeks, but this week I didn't get in front of the camera. I wanted to capture the happiness of my kids, not how very alone I have been feeling this week....it was such a blessing to have friends join us for dinner tonight.

Not sure what this face is about?
He sure did like climbing in and out of the chairs.

Tuesday Treasures...32

So now that I am 32, I thought that 32 would make a great treasury...WRONG!

I really had to work hard to find things that had 32 in the description and appealed to me.

Oh it could have all been paintings or photographs or baby blankets...but i am made of so much more than that!

A few of this weeks listing were sort of pushing the 32...I included things that were 32 count or .32 or 3.2...or that were in a shop that had a listing that had 32 in the description...but 32 is what it is...

and so are Tuesday Treasures! Enjoy!

Made of Monday...Handmade love

Today I turn 32...

I remember my dad's 32nd birthday...at least I am pretty sure I do.

My mom and I had baked my dad a cherry pie. I sat down to eat my piece and lost two teeth. I was six, almost seven.

I wonder if my kids will remember my 32nd birthday.

Last night, I was showered with gifts by my sweet children and husband. Grace had made me a book. She had colored and drawn and sticker-ed. Her daddy helped her by writing the words. She was so proud.

But there was one more gift, in a blue gift bag, "hidden" at her desk...

Just before it was time for her to nap today, she was sitting on the floor next to me as I feverishly worked on an over due project. She asked me how to spell love, then asked for an eraser and then how to spell love one more time.

Soon she handed over a teeny scrap of paper with all the letters to spell out Grace, Love and my initials. Using my best mommy voice and interpretive skills I asked if it spelled "Grace loves Mommy".

Yes and it goes with this she said as she handed over the mysterious blue bag.

Do we need to wait for Daddy, I asked.

I was told it no, that it was a special mommy - daughter gift!

She had asked my mom to make me a quilt for my. Thought I knew that was not what was in the bag, I did know it was something special. And it sure was...

A yellow pillow with Grace and her brother's hand prints stitched all over it!

I don't think she could have been more proud had she made it her self.

I love my baby girl and I love my mom and husband for helping foster her creativity and the value of something handmade for someone special.

Handmade with love...is what I am made of.

ETC - Embrace the Camera

To embrace the camera, one must have the camera and the SD card!

Duh, right!?!?

Not so much!

The kids and I went on a great Corn Maze adventure with the fun folks from church this week. As, I go to snap a photo of Grace holding up her prize pumpkin, two horrible things happen.

1) I realize that there is no SD card in my camera...

2) Her sweet little pie pumpkin falls out, leaving a trail of rotten pumpkin guts running down her arm!

So in true mom fashion, I stash the camera, switch to the phone and let her wipe the pumpkin ick on my pant leg. Such is life!

Linking up with The Anderson Crew...Just the Girls: Real Beauty Blog, who is sort of ETC'ing this week...and the lovely farm where we went corn mazing!

The Cow "bullet" Train

She was so excited to sit first cow! Can we say adrenaline junkie?

Jackson and his sweet friend, who happens to be my favorite
teenager and photographer!

Is it daring and adventurous?  Yes! Than my big girl is right there!
Note the nice girl in the background helping the kids...
her name is Corn Angel...!

She wasn't all the way out before she was asking to go again!

WOOSH!

Tuesday Treasures - Patterns

Who doesn't love a good pattern! Oh, the possibilities...totally custom. The choices!

I love a pattern! I love the way a pattern gets my creative juices flowing.

A new pattern is a reason to rummage through all my supplies and find the perfect materials, or even better  a reason to shop!

And then there is the triumph of having it come together just like in the picture! Only better because its my choice of fabrics and details!

And then there is customizing the pattern - taking it to the next level...making adjustments for fitting, moving pockets, adding pockets, making it totally my own!

Oh, I love patterns!

I hope you enjoy today's treasury! And just as a note, my birthday is next week....I would love any of these patterns...well except the ones that involve knitting or crochet...I don't do that...yet!

Made of Monday…

I can’t spell to save my life. I am one of those bad spellers who spell so poorly that spell check can’t figure out what I was trying to spell.  I am blessed to have friends who are great proof readers. I passed up being an English major because of my poor spelling (and the comma – he and I aren’t friends, either!)

I am a bad speller because I am horrible at phonics.  I remember being totally baffled at the hand clapping for syllables…I could make any word just about any number of syllables. How did I know when I had it right? I didn’t! And I was pretty sure the rest of the class was making it all up, too!

Now my daughter is learning to read phonetically…I thought I would be able to help her with her homework at least through middle school. We still have not totally ruled out homeschooling, as an option…okay, well maybe phonics rules out home schooling.

She is in pre-school and brings home this work sheet that is letter blends. There is a note from the teacher that says the parents are to help their student in sounding out the blends, sign the sheet and return it. 

We sat down to work on it and I was lost.

 I tried.

I know what sounds L makes, and I used the sounds for the vowels based on the flashcards that were sent home for reviewing the vowel sounds.  Yet, every last one Grace told me I had wrong!

She is in pres-school and I am already useless!

I am a bad speller and I am NOT made of phonics!

Free Advice Friday

No man is an island….

For every action there is an equal but opposite reaction…

Money talks…

How many ways can it be said? Everything we do has an impact on something else, someone else.

Daily there are stories about the sad state of our world, a new toy that crosses the line, a celebrity who has done something sleazy, a group supporting something outlandish.  It is always followed by pages of comments, shared hundreds or thousands of times, and then….nothing… nothing changes. The same people who complained give in and buy their kids the toy or go to the sleazy celebrity’s next new movie or donate to a “good cause” even though it supports something the donor doesn’t believe in.

How often do we not follow through? How often do we say something and then it stops right there at the end of the statement?

I know I am guilty.

We said no princesses…not that we don’t like Disney, but we want our daughter to grow up knowing more than being a princess. We want her to know she is special and worthy of being treated with respect because of who she is, and we wanted her to grow up with some sense of what being a woman is really all about. She has a few princess things – a story book or two, an Ariel doll, but I feel like that is not bad for 4 ½ years! Not that we are opposed to girly, because believe you me, she is one girly-girl!

We have a whole list of actors, actresses and singers that we don’t watch or listen to because of their politics, who they donate to, and things like that. Is it a drag? Sometimes, especially when it feels like we are the only ones not seeing a certain movie or listening to a certain album, but it feels good to take a stand.

I am always good about it? No…

Sometimes I just choose to not look into something, having a gut feeling that it probably is not in line with our politics or our values…but when it counts (it should always count, right?) I try to stick to my guns…sadly those are the times when my one movie ticket or my one abstaining from liking something on Facebook are such a small drop in the bucket that it does matter…except to me.

All this to say…there is nothing in today’s world that is not political – and by that I don’t mean strictly government politics…

No man is an island….

For every action there is an equal but opposite reaction…

Money talks…

And that is my “free” advice this Friday.

ETC - Embrace the Camera

Today we are embracing the camera....and our silly side.

I am having one of those days that is made of really goods and really bads, leaving me feeling kind of blah. Good thing I have my sweet baby (big) girl to keep things light and sunny. Sticking her tongue out in these pictures was hysterical - at least she thought so. And that is why I love her!

So embrace the camera with me...and check out the other embracers over at The Anderson Crew.
Oh and please disregard the absolute disaster of a house in the background of these photos.

Look, my tongue!

Wrangler doesn't mind looking silly! 

Marley, on the other hand, is far to dignified for all of this!

Wrong Words Wednesday

I have always been a better “writer” than a talker. I suppose that it is the drafting and revision process that I like about writing or that saves me from myself and an abundance of emotions that take over when forced to talk.

My favorite authors and singers (songwriters, really?) have a way with words. They have a way of putting something – a feeling, describing a situation – that I can identify with, usually in a way that opens my eyes to some part of the feeling or situation that I had not considered before.

So tonight when Uncle Kracker’s Follow Me came on the radio the first verse spoke to me…

You don't know how you met me 
You don't know why, you cant turn around and say good-bye 
All you know is when im with you I make you free 
And swim through your veins like a fish in the sea 

Don’t you think God might say something like that? At least that is how I feel about God…especially being raised in faith. I can pinpoint times in my life that pushed my faith to the brink or that God caught me as a was falling, or times that strengthened my faith or affirmed my faith, but not a precise moment when I first knew or began knowing God.

And God does make me free…Granted the rest of the song is a little creepy and not like God at all, but those lines say something to me, for me…and I suppose about me. Maybe that I have a lot to learn about God…and about me…

Tuesday Treasures – Autumn Harvest

I sat down last night to put together the list of items for today’s treasury, and I was still excited about apple picking. We had such a good time on top of the mountain in Charlottesville, surrounded by friends and the juiciest, crispest, yummy apples. Now our countertop is piled high with apples in various shades or red, gold and green just waiting to be baked into even yummier treats. All of these apple picking memories, paired with the need to get a few Thanksgiving items listed in the etsy shop got me thinking about the autumn harvest.

Fall is such a bountiful time of year. Even though the leaves are changing and falling away, and summer’s gardens are soon to be turned under there is so much to be thankful for. Apple and pumpkins, pears, corn, squash, and nuts all are gathered this time of year. Soon the thanksgiving table will over flow with all the blessings of the harvest.

Which got me to thinking about what we give thanks for at Thanksgiving…is it just the harvest? Shouldn’t we also give thanks for the bodies that work the land for the harvest? Shouldn’t we also give thanks for those who gather at the table with us? Shouldn’t we give thanks to God for the seasons and His wisdom in creating them in cycle?

I know that I love breaking into the sweaters and gathering around a fire. I am thankful for these, too, the times to be close and cozy, to gather close and talk softly. There is nothing quite like the soft glow from homes in the twilight of the day. I am thankful for these, too, the call home to family that comes in autumn, when summer travels and play are over and we come inside and gather around a hearty table.

Autumn is such an amazing time of year. As much as spring blooms with new life and promise, autumn is a show of God’s splendor and a reminder to me of His generosity towards us. Today’s treasury highlights these ideas for me…enjoy!

Made of Monday…

I have to hurry and write this before its Tuesday!

Grace's first sleepover! They were asleep by 9:15.
I remember being little and Thursday nights being a
big deal because I got to stay up
 and watch the Cosby Show. It was on at 8!

I always thought I was a morning person. I am not a morning person who just jumps out of bed at the crack of dawn, but if I am awake, let’s get the day rolling!  I love the being up and having all the “have to” stuff done before the day is really even started. I love breakfast – except eggs. I love the quiet and the chill of morning air.

Or so I thought…

Here I sit for the oh, how many days have I been blogging now, time writing as today turns into tomorrow.  This blogging thing sure is teaching me a lot about myself.

My hard-working husband has been working even harder this semester, taking on a job working nights. Well, as I am learning nights turn into mornings, so I am learning to love the wee hours of the day where night meets morning.

I find that folding laundry after midnight works for me, and that a late night chick flick is perfect company for dusting or doing dishes.  Sometimes, though this makes for one tired mommy, and so I still nap when the baby naps, now and again, when there are not phone calls and business to attend to.

Late nights can be lonely at times, especially the nights when the neighborhood college kids are coming and going, enjoying the freedoms that college life affords the young.  But for now this works. The nights my husband is home I do my chores while he studies past midnight. The nights he works I do my chores after the kids are in bed and the house is quite. 

So goes the life of a once morning person, turned night owl…

And this Monday (it is still Monday!) I am made of the hours I keep.

That's right the Things I Am Made Of shop picture is
an apple picking picture!

I need to start taking notes. I had all sorts of things to say this week and now my mind is empty.

It might be that I finished my first college class in ten years last night, leaving my brain a mushy mess. 

It might be that I am SOOO excited to go apple picking tomorrow and the anticipation of seeing great 804 friends, having lunch at the Tip Top and the upside down apple pie that my amazing husband is going to bake when we get home has me delirious.

No matter what it is, it is Friday and life is G-O-O-D…Good!

But here is where the advice part of Free Advice Friday comes in: How about sharing your favorite apple recipes…because if you have met my husband you know we will come home with AT LEAST 15 pounds of apples!

Now go enjoy this ever improving weather! Happy Friday!

ETC - Embrace the Camera

Embrace the Camera 

Pre-law school (aka pre-broke as a joke) we had lots of nice things. One of those nice purchases was a digital SLR. Oh, How I love my camera. It makes even the most mediocre pictures better. But this week, my camera is out having professional camera adventures...it won't ever want to return home after the fun it is going to have this weekend on a real shoot!                                                                                                                                                 

So these pictures are me embracing the camera that is my phone...and not some great new better than most cameras phone. And embrace I shall! The baby boy is smiling and I don't look too fat. YAHOO!          Check out all the other Camera Embracers over at The Anderson Crew!              

Wednesday Words...Make a joyful noise!

She doesn't look very joyful, but she was over
joyed when her hat won her Craziest Hat for
the Cubbies class! 

It is nearly 8 o’clock  - PM – and I am just getting to write…oh Wednesday how you overflow with life! It feels as if every Wednesday this semester has been rainy and that the baby has been sick. I am sure it hasn’t been like that every Wednesday, it just feels like it. It is an improvement over last year – every Wednesday was windy. Not like breezy, but hurricane, gale force winds – on trash day! What a mess! So I can be happy with rain, and we will work to have the boy well, quickly!

Which brings me back to Wednesday…

I have always wished I had a talent that I could carry with me. People who draw can draw anywhere and on anything. People who dance can dance anywhere. People who can sing can sing anywhere. The gifts I do have, which are few, involve loads of equipment and tools.  What a gift to be able to share your gift wherever and whenever!

Even though I can’t sing, I like to sing…when I am by myself. I don’t sing well for many reasons. I have no rhythm despite 3 years of high school percussion. The concept of music notes is very abstract to me.  But I enjoy others singing. I enjoy music. I enjoy lyrics. I enjoy the way music makes me feel, even when it makes me feel sad. I love that music can provoke emotion. I love the universality of music.

Have you ever heard a song you love sung in another language? While visiting family in Branson, Missouri I heard a man sing How Great Thou Art in Hawaiian. Even though I didn’t understand the words, it was beautiful and moving – powerful.  

The youth group that I belonged to in high school did a lot of musical performance, even traveling regionally to other areas to share God’s word in song.  Several of the songs, they sang (I didn’t sing!) were in other languages, some tribal African languages, some sign language.  No matter the language people were always eager to join in.

Singing about God forces you to think about God: whether it is a song of praise or thanksgiving, a song telling the others of His glory, or a song of sorrow for our sins. Singing about God focuses our thoughts and energy on Him. Singing is a beautiful way to share God’s word and God’s love with others. It is a beautiful way to unite to worship Him. It is great when there are musicians and instruments, but even one voice singing God’s praise, sharing God’s word, is a blessing.

So whatever song is in your heart...sing it!

Tuesday Treasure - My Dad!

Today is my dad’s birthday. He is a pretty amazing guy.

He is patient. He is kind. He can make anything. He is always busy, but not like in a million different directions, just never still. He thinks with his hands the way people talk with their hands. He loves me. He loves my mom. He loves my kids. I think he might even love my husband.

My dad is today’s Tuesday Treasure.

The Etsy treasury is made up of things that my dad loves like burgers and pizza and cookies and Pittsburgh Steelers football.

There are also jigsaw puzzles and kites flying on the beach, model trains, and lots of other good things that make me think of my dad.

And electricity because he loves his job, too.

Happy Birthday Pops!

Made of Monday....

Today i was made of procrastination...maybe tomorrow I will be made of something better.

Saturday Success…

Oh what a week it has been…but don’t I say that every week!

This week’s success is actually a sneak peek into next week… Tomorrow my dreamy husband and I celebrate 7 years of wedded bliss…well, okay 7 years of marriage and countless moments of wedded bliss!

When we were still dating we marked several anniversaries with letters to each other –progress reports of sort, celebrations of the good, moving on past the bad and looking forward to the next, whatever the next may be. 

Tomorrow our big plan is to have breakfast together and then work a craft booth at the Historic Appomattox Railroad Festival.  It isn’t the most glamorous anniversary, but it will be good.

I love my husband, and I am proud to be his wife and mother to his children. I am proud of all we have accomplished together and I look forward to what is yet to come.

Happy Anniversary, Terry. I love you.

My free advice this Friday....take it or leave it....

Sometimes I have something I have to say…no matter how unpopular or how up on my soapbox…I have to get this off my chest – but I am giving myself twenty minutes to write it or I could go on for days…Ready….

It is October, and hence Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Every shop I go into wants to know if I want to do this or that to support Susan G. Komen.

My answer is NO, and I won’t feel badly about it.

I fully support research and survivors and those currently battling with breast cancer, but I do not support Susan G. Komen, or the American Cancer Society…it is strictly political.

Susan G. Komen gives funds to Planned Parenthood, and I can’t get behind that – even with their letter that says two Catholic ethicists find that supporting Susan G. Komen doesn’t support abortion.  I will not give to a group that says it is better to give money to Planned Parenthood than to set up other services, to find other ways.  Planned Parenthood does harm, period. They provide abortion services, they undermine the family, they put furthering their agenda over the safety, health and well-being of young girls and women on a daily basis.

My issue with Planned Parenthood is so much greater than the fact that they provide abortions – it is the how and why and where. I could write books about it, but instead I want to tell you what I think the pro-life side is doing wrong…

My husband is a law student. Many of his fellow students are in school for the purposes of fighting pro-abortion laws.  I think abortion is bad, I think it is wrong and I believe it hurts women, children, families and the very fiber of our country…but laws change and making abortion illegal today doesn’t make any guarantee for tomorrow.

Pro-lifers have to win hearts and minds…they have to change women’s (girls’) lives.  Not hypothetically, or logically, but actually – actually change hearts and minds and lives!

I know several women who have had abortions, I have heard strangers talk about their experiences, and never once has anybody made a convincing argument that the choice she made was truly a choice. Not one woman has ever convinced me that she felt as if she had other options.

 Pro-lifers need to change that – today, no matter what the laws regarding abortion are.  We need to raise children to value their bodies and their sexuality. We need to provide safe living environments. We need to teach them what healthy relationships look like. We need to raise daughters to feel safe and secure telling their parents or partners they are pregnant. And we need to embrace those who haven’t been given those things.

No woman who is desperate enough to enter an abortion clinic needs someone in her face with a picture of a mutilated baby…she needs someone to hold her hand, to show her Christ’s love and compassion, to walk with her daily in a time that even for the strongest, healthiest, most supported women is trying.

If pro-lifers would embrace the idea of making all the other choices truly choices for women, we could take the power of groups like Planned Parenthood away…if we offered the other services that Planned Parenthood offered with the great media spin they offered it with, we could change the tide without changing the law.

Am I in the position to go down and stand outside the abortion clinic and bring a mother home who feels she has no other choice than to have an abortion? No, but if you can…..

If my math is right and better than 75% of this country is Christian and there were 1.21 million abortions last year that means that there should be roughly 185 people to help prevent every one abortion, to embrace with Christ's love and compassion every mother who feels so desperate, so alone, so whatever it is that has brought her to face the choice of abortion.

That I could be a part of... Could you?  

Life is a beautiful choice...now let’s make it a choice…truly, not just words…Let us work together to help every woman and child and family have better outcomes.  Let’s  make Planned Parenthood irrelevant. Let’s make women’s health not about politics or laws, but about women. Let’s make it okay to support Susan G. Komen.

And that is my free advice this Friday…

ETC - Embrace the Camera

Sometimes embracing the camera is about embracing the person on the other side of the camera. Loving  your photographer. My mom took these pictures of the kids and I this weekend at Touch a Truck (most fun family event ever!).  And while they capture the kids and I in a real moment, they don’t capture the massiveness of the bulldozer whose scope we are sitting in…but I love my mom anyway.

Hope you enjoy our ETC moment…check out these others at The Anderson Crew.

This is Grace last year and then this year...what a great
way to see how she has grown!

Wednesday Wipeout!

So yesterday I started to think about what I was going to write today...tossing around songs that have touched me this week. Thinking deep thoughts about why we sing...and then today happened.

And here I sit at 8:30 with nothing written and to do list that is growing as the day is waning.

Nothing horrible happened, but the day has just disappeared on me. Husband to school. Grace to school. Grocery store. Baby Nap. Finish diapers. Start laundry. Hubby home. Guys here for the treadmill. Rearrange living room. Get Grace. Errands. Volunteer project. Make Grace's crazy hat. Dance. Church. Home. Baby to bed. Sit down to blog and BOOM.

Literally, BOOM. The light on the kitchen ceiling exploded! so rather than write something deep and meaningful, I am going to clean up glass (in the dark - no way am I turning that light back on!) and re-wash all the laundry that is sitting there waiting to be folded...that will teach me to let laundry sit in the kitchen!

Tuesday Treasures – Trains

This weekend The Things I am Made of and a few friends will be at the Historical Appomattox Railroad Festival in Appomattox, Virginia. If you are in the area please stop by and check us out.  TIAMO will be joined by The Whimsical Peanut and Aubrianah Shannen Photography.

So today’s treasure is trains and not just because of the railroad festival…I can recall throughout my life a nearness to trains. I can remember walking across the train tracks to get to the river, nearly every time I was at my grandma’s house. The train tracks ran right behind one of my high school friend’s home. In college, I loved to take the train home from school, along the Potomac and through DC. My husband and I’s first house was not far from the Amtrak station and a busy train thoroughfare.

My dad is an avid model railroader, train collector. Only recently was I subjected to a train collectors’ convention – it was like my dad times a thousand only mostly older and mostly grumpier…mostly. Many of the guys there were like my dad – still a kid at heart. It is as much fun to find something new as it is to tear something old apart and see how it works.

My kids have taken to trains quickly, as well. There are train tracks right at the edge of campus, so we frequently see trains in our travels through town. Grace loves to count the cars and watch for cabooses.

Without further ado, today’s treasury….Trains!

In other TIAMO news…The blog has a new sponsor!  DMC – Dance and Music Creations, located in Wyndhurst, this fabulous studio is one of Grace’s favorite places! She is in her second year of dance and loving every minute.  They offer all sorts of dance classes – some even just for boys- zumba and music and voice lessons, as well. Be sure to check their link out!

Made of Monday....

It is Monday and I am made of BUSY this week!

I am behind in homework.

I am behind in bible study.

I am behind in housework.

I am behind on gifts and volunteer projects.

I am behind in getting ready for the Historic AppomattoxRailroad Festival…

(So maybe I am made of BEHIND, rather than BUSY? Either way it doesn’t bode well!)

So I am going to go try to get caught up on at least one of those…

Meanwhile check out the new Hair Tutu tutorial, 

DMC - the wonderful dance studio where Grace learns all her best moves AND the exclusive retail location for Hair Tutus...oh and this is week is bring a friend to class so if any of you local gals have a little lady who would like to check it out with Grace just let me know!

the HARF, 

the fabulous girls I am going to be at HARF with –

Aubrianah ShannenPhotography and The Whimsical Peanut.

Saturday ….Success!

Success this week was getting the baby boy healthy! It took a lot of prayer, a lot of lost sleep and enough steroids to make him the size of Hulk Hogan!

Other successes this week?

Let’s see…

Having a blast at Touch a Truck!

Another wonderful, uplifting Girl’s Night at my mom’s!

A slew of birthday gifts and a baby shower gift….but only one that I can post pictures of – the rest will come next week.

Several (yes more than 1…more than 2) ETSY sales! And I am excited to say had more site views this month than last! YAAAHH!

Oh, and a HEALTHY baby boy got a hair cut today!

What were your successes this week?

Friday, A Question for the Ages

I am leaving here in about an hour and half for a weekend away with the kids…and I have nothing in my suitcase!  So here is another effort in procrastination…

Advice time ladies…or more reassurance…I am not totally weird or lost in left field on this one, am I?

Facebook Friends:

I am not friends with this guy...and he is my dad!

I seem to be odd ball out when it comes to Facebook friends. I have maybe 35 friends (okay I stand corrected I have 84…I didn’t realize that I know 84 people, but I am glad you are all my friends!) while the rest of the world has 300 friends.  It is just who I am. I much prefer a close group of great friends to a larger group of acquaintances. I am sure there are some of you ladies who can keep up with a whole yearbook’s worth of people and feel totally connected with each and every one, I just can’t.

All of that said, I am not friends with many of my friends’ husbands. A few of those husbands are not on Facebook.  I only counted three that I am friends with – two are out of town and one I use to babysit for so I saw him more often than I see most of my friends’ husbands.  I just don’t feel right about being Facebook friends with everyone’s husband or guys in general and this from the girl who until post-college always had more guy friends than girl friends. Even my maid of honor was a guy.

Several of my husband’s friends have sent me friend requests – mostly guys from school who he is close to. I haven’t accepted those. It isn’t that I don’t like the guys, it’s just I don’t feel the need to be “friends” with them. I need a little space from that part of his life – school has already infiltrated so much of our family life.

I am friends with one of my husband’s  friends, who I have never met, but he is someone who is important in my husband’s life. At this point in all of our busy lives Facebook is the best opportunity I have to get to know him in any sense.

And it is not that I spend my time on Facebook  man-hating. If I had to guess I would say that since I am part of a couple, it is his job to be friends with the guys? Or maybe in this place in my life I have so little girl time, I don’t feel the need to drag the guys a long?

What do you think? Who do you not friend? Who do you friend?...and the infamous last question, WHY?

ETC - Embrace the Camera

Embrace…what a word.

These pictures were taken in the wee hours of Thursday morning, as I embraced my sweet, pitifully sick baby boy.  They aren’t pictures of joyous times or moments that are ordinary and extra ordinary all at once.  They are pictures of the rough road of real life.

We are blessed to have to two healthy, vibrant children. Each time they are sick, I thank God for their health. I cannot imagine what it is like to have a child who is not well. I cannot imagine what that feels like or how parents survive. Two days of a sick baby and I am physically and emotionally spent.

I know we are being lifted up in prayers and supported by friends and family for this short time. My baby boy will be well in a day or two.

As, I post this my heart and prayers go out to those whose children are not well.

Visit the other ETC's via The Anderson Crew.

No item of the week post for now...maybe later...