our week in photos

My handsome husband...we've been doing well.
Jordan and his beautiful bride. Bettina was just glowing all day yesterday. It was such a pleasure to be able to "attend" to her all day yesterday. She was so calm and cool, all day. Many years!
Thomas (Nouno) and James (our gift was a hit...) I can't believe he's two already!
James, meet cupcake...
Our godson and scary mouse man
Pickles asleep with Thomas
Emma recovering from her horrible vaccines...poor dog. She gave us a scare, but thankfully we have Teri and animal hospitals. The dog will live to ruin another day. ;)

Craft day with the simpson kids. Hannah (and James too) and I made these cute little saint dolls so their hieromonk friend could have some friends. Xenia what a great (and sweet) idea.

this morning

Lauren called me (at 8:54) this morning and woke me up, which was totally fine. I didn't answer for a few reasons, the first being that my crackly morning voice would have given away the fact that I might have just woken up, I didn't think I could talk because my throat is sore (I think it's from painting so much), I didn't want her to think I was lazy, because I have been getting up at 6 every morning for the past week or so, which is pretty early for me these days. I waited to see if she left a voicemail, listened to it, smiled, and then went back to sleep.

I'm now on the couch, thinking about my day and the things I have to get done, or more importantly the things I cannot put off any longer. I'm noticing this sweet little box, which I've recently changed around.


It's a little shadow box that I set this little homey scene in. We had it on our wall and every month (for 8 months) we would pin our savings balance receipts up. It used to say "almost home sweet home". I seem to do well with visual reminders and this one in particular kept me going when the going got rough around here. Currently it sits next to a basset under a nest bell, with the addition of some little clouds, and the removal of the letters that said "almost". Though we're not "home" just yet, I've been spending the majority of my time there so we can be there as soon as possible. I am really thankful that God found us this house. It is so beautiful and suits us perfectly. I am also so thankful that Thomas and I will finally be able to live as a family in permanency. I really think our relationship can grow and become more healthy. No more moving every 9-12 months. It'll be our rules, our home, our stuff...just us!

The house is coming along nicely. We have the laundry room framed and almost entirely covered in drywall. The backyard is cleaned and free of 95% of the junk that was piled there. My mom and I finished the third coat on the cabinet doors and bases last night. It's looking cuter and cuter everyday.

Lately...

It seems my mind's been going every which way, to and fro, back and forth, up and down...backwards. I'm so very scattered and sleepless. I notice it in my posts, and the posts I think about writing (mostly these). They totally contradict each other and I find it rather discouraging and mildly amusing. I'm so indecisive. I spent a nice 7 or 8 minutes this afternoon (at least I think it was the afternoon) on the phone with sweet Jenny. I was telling her how I feel like I've been in a funk lately.
She understood.

Here's the baptismal gown I've been working on for the Silversmiths sweet (and handsome) little boy. I had started on it a few weeks ago, made a horrible mistake (I accidentally cut it in half yesterday thinking it was something else...I have no idea how), and then remade a total new one this morning. I was able to salvage the trim, which was super special, and had a large enough remnant that I was able to just make a whole new one. Thank God!


I opted out of an iron on cross for this pretty one. I don't have much experience with embroidery but love the idea of learning how to do it really, really well. Hopefully they won't mind an imperfection here and there. I do think the hand stitching goes well with the trim though. I really love how it turned out. It's so "silversmith"...I think they're gonna love it...as long as it fits their baby.
I think a majority of my scateredness stems from the overwhelming pile of school books sitting just to the right of me. Don't get me wrong, I'm very excited. Some of the books are just so thick and it's a little intimidating. I haven't actually opened any of them yet. I'm pretty well covered in the "freaked-out/worried" department so I think I'll save looking through them for September.

Hope you have a great weekend!

home

***For Jenny...see it's still there.

Here's what our little house looks like after some TLC...we washed off the cobwebs and did a little yard work.
My brother and dad working on framing the laundry room.
No more weeds.
My mom and I spent a whole day raking up dirt and weeds and nectarine pits. :)
A shot from the inside. It's totally demolished which is kind of scary. We got rid of the pee carpet, scrubbed off all the loogies and buggers from the TB room (as we affectionately call it), took off all the doors and baseboards, bleached everything, and scraped and washed the ceilings. It's been so fun!