quote of the week.

small and simple reminders...

This small and simple reminder is the lyrics to one of my most favorite songs, called "When You Come Home" by Mark Schultz. To me, it expresses how I feel about my children...and how I hope they feel about mom and dad and the place that we have created for us and for them.

I found a free chalkboard background on Pinterest, you could try this one: free chalkboard backgrounds

Then I saved it on my computer, then cropped it as a 11x14 photo on Pic Monkey Photo Editing Website of Awesomeness, to which I added the text and some flourishes. I just played around with the different fonts and layout until I liked what I saw. Then I sent it over to Costco, had it printed crazy fast, and then rushed home and hung that bad boy right up. I am not going to lie, I get all warm and motherly when I let myself look at it and really think.

Here is the song, if you haven't heard it.

small and simple reminders...

This small and simple reminder is about how little things can mean so very much.

I belong to an online community that over the years has become a very special place to me. I have developed friendships that are lovely, and I have even gotten the chance to meet in person some of the terrific people that I have spoken to online. I was reading a magazine a few months back, and saw the name and town of one of those friends in the comments section, and immediately knew that she would appreciate having a copy and was out of the country and unlikely to find a copy of her own. So I sent it off with not much thought other than that I hoped she'd enjoy having it.

Some time after this, I received this beautiful little box in the mail from her, along with a generous and kind thank you note for my sending her the article. If it had only been that, it would still be a sweet little story...but there's more.

On the day that I came home to find this gift, I was heavy with the weight of the world. I was tired. I was worn out, body and soul. I had been trying very hard to keep myself together, all the while wishing that I could find the time and place to fall apart. I felt unequal to the tasks before me, and felt sure that there was nothing I could do about it. I had been praying that day in the car on the way home so very hard to feel an answer to my questions of  "Can I even do this? Am I making a mess of everything? Why do you think I can be the person that it requires to make a difference here?"

I walked into a house of chaos and clutter, just sure that I couldn't be a worse person if I tried, when I saw the envelope. As I opened it up and saw the exquisitely detailed box and read the letter from my far away friend, I felt love and relief wash over me. I burst into tears. I felt a still, small voice say inside my mind, "You are loved. You are noticed. You can do this. What you do matters, in ways you aren't able to see."

The most beautiful part of this is that I didn't deserve it. But this friend, I believe prompted by God, was generous. With her time. With her words. With her gratitude. And I believe that she was able to set into motion the circumstances whereby my Heavenly Father could, with her help, tell me something that I desperately needed to hear.

So now when I pass by this tiny box that sits on my book shelf, I think of that day. I think of my friend and all of the dear friends I have talked to and prayed for and that have talked to and prayed for me in our little online community. It is a small and simple reminder of how generous Heavenly Father is with His comfort and praise. It is a small and simple reminder that it is my turn. That to show my gratitude, I must now be generous and give to someone else. So that Heavenly Father can, with my help, tell another child of His what He knows they desperately need to hear.

I can't wait.

small and simple reminders...

This one is from the girls' room. I made the pillows in the feed sack style that is popular right now, and which I love. A friend was kind enough to lend me her stencils, and I just used acrylic paints. I wanted the wording to have meaning (small and simple reminders, right?) so this particular pillow says "Gift of Christmas" and "daughter of God" in French (because the room is decorated with a French feel). The numbers on the bottom are her birth month and date. I did one unique to our other daughter for her bed, as well.

Also, the pillow directly behind the feed sack pillow is actually an old bedspread from The Hubby's grandmother. I made several pillows and throws from it for our house as well as for other family members, as a small and simple reminder of our dear Grandma Peg, who is sorely missed.

small and simple reminders...

I think it's really important to create an atmosphere in our homes that reflects and reminds us of what we believe and what is important to us. I have tried to have items around our home that serve as visual reminders of what matters to me, and to my family.

So, now and then on my blog I am going to share a small and simple thing I have done in my home as a reminder, and maybe it will encourage you to find a way do the same.

This is in a corner of the window seat in our front room, a room I probably pass through 30 times a day. The sign is an old metal gas station pricing sign, and the quote is one of my recent favorites. The 2 of them together remind me of this: I never would have thought in a million years that having 7 children and all that entails would be the path my life would take...but I love it so much. So the number and the quote remind me that even though life will surely continue to have its twists and turns and complications, and it may not happen the way I pictured it would, so far those twists and turns have been pretty amazing and most of all--better than anything I could have come up with on my own.