Poetry Jam

Just for fun I thought I would share two of my all time favorite poems. One is about the bond between a little boy and his loyal dog and, the other about how God's plans are far better than ours. They are very different but what they have in common is that they both inspire me.  One inspires me to stop and appreciate the sweet and simple things in life and the other reminds me to stop fighting so hard to make my way & my plan work out and to just let God do what's best. Both are lessons I am finding I need to learn over and over and over......


A Boy and His Dog, by Edgar Guest

A boy and his dog make a glorious pair:
No better friendship is found anywhere,
For they talk and they walk and they run and they play,
And they have their deep secrets for many a day;
And that boy has a comrade who thinks and who feels,
Who walks down the road with a dog at his heels.

He may go where he will and his dog will be there,
May revel in mud and his dog will not care;
Faithful he'll stay for the slightest command
And bark with delight at the touch of his hand;
Oh, he owns a treasure which nobody steals,
Who walks down the road with a dog at his heels.

No other can lure him away from his side;
He's proof against riches and station and pride;
Fine dress does not charm him, and flattery's breath
Is lost on the dog, for he's faithful to death;
He sees the great soul which the body conceals--
Oh, it's great to be young with a dog at your heels!

The Life I Planned, by Beth Moore

Has someone seen the life I planned?
It seems it's been misplaced.
I've looked in every corner;
It's lost without a trace.

I've found one I don't recognize --
Things missing that were dear;
Promises I'd hoped to keep,
And dreams I'd dreamed aren't here.

Faces I had planned to see,
Hands I planned to hold;
Now absent in the pictures;
Not the way I told.

Has someone seen the life I planned?
Did it get thrown away?
God took my hand from searching;
Then I heard Him say --

"Child, your ears have never heard,
Your eyes have never seen,
Eternal plans I have for you
Are more than you could dream.

You long to walk by sight,
But I'm teaching eyes to see;
I know what I'm doing --
'Till then, you must believe.

He's done so much, I felt ashamed
To know He heard my moans.
To think I'd trade in all He's done
For plans made on my own.

I wept over His faithfulness
And how He'd proved Himself;
How He'd gone beyond my dreams
And said to Him myself,

"No, my ears have never heard,
My eyes have never seen,
Eternal plans You have for me
Are more than I could dream.

"Yes, I long to walk by sight
But You're teaching eyes to see;
You know what You're doing --
'Till then, I must believe.

I felt His great compassion --
Mercy unrestrained.
He let me mourn my losses
And showed to me my gains.

I offered Him my future
And released to Him my past.
I traded in my dreams
For a plan He said would last.

I get no glimpse ahead;
No certainties at all,
Except the presence of the One
Who will not let me fall.

Are you also searching
For a life you planned yourself?
Have you looked in every corner?
Have you checked on every shelf?

Child, your ears have never heard,
Your eyes have never seen,
Eternal plans He has for you
Are more than you could dream.

Perhaps you long to walk by sight,
But He's teaching eyes to see;
He knows what He is doing --
Child, step out and believe.

Possibility

I could wander through the isles of a fabric store for hours. Maybe it's because I grew up spending a lot of time in fabric stores with my Mom, something feels homey about it. We walked through the aisles together, looked at pattern books together, waited in line at the cutting counter together - I loved it, still do. There's just something about being in a fabric store or a craft store that's wonderful & exciting to me. I could wander JoAnn's, Hobby Lobby or Scrappy Chic (my favorite scrapbook store) endlessly. Staring at all the papers, looking at all the albums, admiring all the different yarns, running my hand over the bolts of fabric....I just love it. I know, I know...I'm a craft nerd, but I'm ok with that. My best friend and I share this bond also. We talk all the time about how much we love just being in these stores, walking around...getting ideas.

Same thing goes for a book store, I could easily spend a crazy amount of hours staring at the children's books, cook books, chick lit, art books, novels....anything except the westerns or the crazy romance novels really. Again, another value instilled in me by my Mom - she loves books too and she read to me all the time, took me to the library, and bought me all the American Girl books my heart could desire. I've always loved being around books. Even now, one of my favorite date nights with my husband is to just go and wander a book store together. We love it. We're book nerds and we love that about each other. 

The other day I got to thinking about why this is. Why I enjoy wandering around in these stores so much.  Something inside me comes alive. It doesn't matter that I am just window shopping. I know it seems strange to talk about "coming alive" in a fabric store, but it happens. And then it hit me. Yesterday on the phone I was talking with my craft-loving best friend and she was talking about staring at a bunch of spools of thread and all the possibilities it represented. And I realized it - possibility. That's what it is about the book and craft store. They are filled with possibilities. All the supplies are sitting there so beautifully - but they're not complete yet. They haven't served their purpose yet. They are waiting to be turned into a skirt, a quilt, a purse, a scarf, a baby blanket, a scrapbook page, a card, a bookmark. The possibilities are endless. And the beauty of books is that they are filled with possibilities too. They can challenge you, teach you, change you, inspire you, take you to another world, make you think about things that had previously never crossed your mind. They introduce you to people who are strangers to you when you start the book, but by the last page you know that you will never forget them. Entire worlds of possibility await on the pages of a book. 


The same is true with our relationship with God - I know it may seem like a huge stretch to compare our walk with God to things like walking through a craft store or bookstore but stay with me. Life spent following God is filled with possibilities, and there is something so beautiful about that. We don't know what the future holds and that is so exciting and thrilling. Yes it's scary at times, really scary. But honestly - would you want your walk with God to be boring and predictable? Do we want to know all the answers right away and know exactly what is going to happen each and every way? God knows how it is all going to turn out  and he has our best interest at heart. He knows how we need to change, what we need to learn and how we need to be challenged. And at times when it can be so frightening and frustrating to not know how things are going to turn out, it's comforting to know that we are in the hands of the one who does. 


Sometimes we think that our plan, our pattern, our design, our story is better than what God has in store - but it's not. It never is. So while He puts everything together perfectly - for our best interest and for His glory - I believe it is our job to relax, trust Him and enjoy wandering the aisles of the store...and come alive at the thought of the possibilities that are there for us. He is the Master craftsmen and the best Author, everything He makes is full of beauty and every story He writes is an incredible adventure that turns out exactly as it should - according to His plan. 


Picture a piece of embroidery placed between you and God, with the right side up toward God. Man sees the loose frayed ends; but God sees the pattern. - Corrie ten Boom


This is what the Scriptures mean when they say, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him." - 1 Corinthians 2:9

Book Club

I LOVE a good book. There is nothing like opening a good book and getting lost in its pages for a while.  Nothing like finishing a great novel, an uplifting story, or a volume that has challenged you to change or be better and then wanting to tell everyone you know about how great the book was. On that note, I have decided to share a little book review of my all time favorite (non-fiction) book - Feathers from my Nest, by Beth Moore.

This book is incredible. I do not have a bad thing to say about it. It is so so so good and encouraging - I can hardly stand it! I've given it as a gift to almost every person I know. Each chapter can stand-alone, you can read them from start to finish or skip around to ones that look interesting to you. Or you can use the chapters individually as a devotional. 

In Feathers from my Nest, Beth Moore gives you little glimpses into her personal life by sharing the lessons she has learned during the course of her time as a wife and mother. This book was written after her children left home for college and Beth would notice little things (the "feathers" left behind in her now empty nest) around her house that would remind her of what God had done in their families life. You wouldn't think that you could read a really challenging devotional about a set of notecards, a binder, a hair brush or a dog....but then you find yourself in the middle of one of the chapters of this book and you are so challenged and encouraged. It's incredible. It totally changed the way I look at my ordinary, day-to-day experiences in life. Suddenly, teaching my son how to ride his first bike was more than just a rite of passage - it was a reminder of how God is always running by our side. A quilt wasn't just a craft project - it was a moment of a certain point in time, an object lesson about how God brings all sorts of little things together in our life to make something beautiful. I began seeing so many "feathers" in our own life and I was so thankful for it, because I would have been so sad to miss them. 

This book challenged me to slow down and see not only the great big things & moments in life - the recitals, first steps, and first words - but to also see that the little things were just as valuable and important. That God was just as much in those moments as well. 

So, if you need a good book to read or you're looking for a good gift to give someone - buy this book! And start looking for all the "feathers" in your own life as well. They're there; we just need to pray that God would grant us the eyes and heart to see them.

Oh, and here's a picture of me with the book's author. Yep, that's me & Bethie! Aside from getting married and the birth of my children, this was a BIG moment for me....but that's a whole post in and of itself :) 

Consider Me Inspired

If you have a few extra minutes, do yourself a favor and read these two articles - you will not regret it. They are amazing. I could go on and on with good things to say about them but I'll just let them do the talking...


1. Remember and Never Forget // by: Beth Moore
This article is full of encouragement about remembering what God has done in your life....and if you ask me, it kinda sounds like Beth Moore supports scrapbooking :)


2. Mom Guilt. Stop Ignoring It // by: Maggie Terryn
A great blog post about parenting and how we spend our time with our kids.

Consider Me Inspired....Post 1 of Many....

One thing I really wanted to do with this blog was have posts where I could share some ideas or projects that have crossed my path and really inspired me creatively. So, here we go...hope you enjoy!


Check out this post on Ali Edwards' blog. She is a great photographer and an amazing scrapbooker too! Hopefully this post and this idea will inspire you too! Photography Project: Document a Day in Your Life


Happy Tuesday!

The Little Quilt

Several years ago, when my son was one year old and my husband and I were expecting our daughter, I set out to make quilts for each of them. I was so excited to make their quilts and give them to them, hoping that they would treasure and hold on to them. So, I set to work. I made a sweet, soft lavender baby quilt for our daughter and for my happy, energetic boy I made a bright, fun quilt with blues, green and a pop of orange. I loved those quilts, I still do. I was so proud of them. However I was so proud of my son’s quilt that I made the mistake of wanting to keep it in perfect condition - forever. So, I kept it folded neatly on his shelf. I never let him play on it, sleep with it or eat anywhere near it. At the time I didn't think anything of it. I thought I was preserving it and taking good care of it. After all, I had made it, and put so much love and work into it...it was my job to protect it, right?

Then, in the blink of an eye, a few years passed and the day came when he was home sick from pre-school and wanted to curl up on the couch with a movie. So I set up pillows, stuffed animals and a blanket for him, then I grabbed his quilt. Surely this was a perfect chance for him to have it. He could relax on the couch and get better, warmly tucked under the quilt I had made him. But when I covered him up - something sad happened - I saw that the quilt was barely big enough to cover him up. This quilt that - at the time I made it - could have covered him and a friend was now barely long enough to cover up his curled up little body. I felt awful. I had been so busy "protecting and preserving" this quilt that I never let him use it, enjoy it, or love it. How was it ever going to be special to him or matter at all to him if he had never even used it? Most people don't grow up to say "Oh yea I loved that blanket, it sat so nicely on my shelf and stayed so clean all the time". No. The things that we cherish from our childhood are things that have stories and great histories behind them. Things that grew up right along with us. 

So, I quickly got over my need to keep that quilt in perfect condition and began letting him use it whenever he wanted....(except when he was learning to stay dry at night, because...well, you know...). And I also set about making him another quilt. A nice big twin sized one that would be long enough to cover his body for a long time. And one that reflected what he was into at the time and what he loved; a quilt that had, in his words, "all the sports on it". And he loves it, and he uses it every night at bedtime, along with that first baby quilt, which just about covers 75% of him.

My point is this, we can't be too afraid to let our kids live life and enjoy it to it's fullest. We can't be too afraid to let life happen. Spills, dirt and imperfect moments happen. Don’t get me wrong, I do think that it's our job to take good care of the life, the things and the people that God has blessed us with, but we can't be so busy making sure everything is perfectly neat and tidy that we become too afraid to let life get a little crazy and messy or even fun. Sometimes that's how the best memories are made.