{one little word}

Growing in Wisdom…

June 19, 2011 Leave a Comment

This is JB’s Father’s Day present. Growing in Wisdom by Simon Dewey. Jim Bob oh-so-subtly hinted that he would love this painting for any holiday: a birthday, Christmas or 4th of July (okay, he didn’t go that far 😉 ). He did make it very obvious that he loved it and showed me where he would love to hang it even. 🙂 I thought it was a perfect painting for Father’s Day. I love how gentle Joseph is as he studies with Jesus. Jim Bob pointed out that they are in his workshop – all the carpenter tools around and hanging in the background. Yet Joseph is taking the time to teach and learn. JB wants to (and does) do the same – and I adore him for that desire.

Sunday School started with us describing ways we show love. Smiles, hugs, & kisses were quickly named. Followed by service, compliments, words of appreciation, teaching, listening, taking time, sharing, respect, sacrifice, protection, and forgiveness. There were a few that wouldn’t have come immediately to my mind – but definitely show love and I’m glad they were mentioned: restraint and God-like correction. Perfect for Father’s Day–thinking of how often my own father has shown love in many of those ways.

We were then asked to select just one of those ways and think of a time when Christ showed love in that way. And in a very real way Christ is also a father figure when we take on his name. There were so many scriptures that flooded into mind. Jim Bob mentioned restraint, how with the money changers in the temple Christ showed serious restraint. He had the power to completely destroy them, yet he did enough to show displeasure with their actions in His Father’s house.

The one that stood out to me was taking time. In 3 Nephi ch. 17 Jesus is visiting the Nephites on the American continent. He is about to leave and in verse 5 they looked “steadfastly upon him as if they would ask him to tarry a little longer with them.” He does! And for more than just one more bedtime story. He heals their sick, and prays with them, and blesses each of their children. He then says “Behold your little ones. And as they looked to behold they cast their eyes toward heaven, and they saw the heavens open, and they saw angels descending out of heaven…encircled those little ones about…and did minister unto them.” That is a true principle I have seen in my own life. As I look to my little ones, my eyes go towards heaven. They teach me so much about our loving Father in Heaven and Christ. The love that They have for us. The love that is present for each individual.

One of my favorite parenting quotes: “God will send aid to no one more readily than He will send it to a child–and to the parent of a child.” {Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, Created for Greater Things, p. 141} Happy Father’s Day to all the Fathers in the world. May you be blessed in your efforts to grow in wisdom and to share that with each of your children.

(p.s. If you read Simon Dewey’s bio linked above you can read another loving, encouraging Father story. All about another Joseph {Joe to friends} – a London bus driver that painted in the evenings and gave his five-year-old son Simon a roll of wallpaper to fill with sketches.)

Filed Under: {happy times}, {holidays and celebrations}, {one little word}, {reflections and deep thoughts}

bonne buche 2

June 13, 2011 Leave a Comment

Thinking on happy unions… one reason for my parent’s successful marriage is that they have always had mistletoe hanging in their home.

Year-round.

Multiple locations.

One right over the kitchen sink for whomever is washing the dishes. 😉

These photos are from their mission apartment when we were there on Mother’s Day. 🙂

Filed Under: {bonne buche}, {happy times}, {one little word}, {reflections and deep thoughts}, {tickles and smiles}

More eats…

April 20, 2011 Leave a Comment

To help with filling my specials board in a timely manner I present pretty-fluffy-girly menu planner:

I adore the hot air balloon graphic by Crystal. Just in case I want to switch it up I have made a banner/pinwheel version as well:

It just screams summertime to me – evenings full of fruit salads, breadsticks and fresh lemonade.

{Credits: all products by Creativity by Crystal: Printable Daily Schedule & Meal Planner, {Sweet Summertime} Elements, {The Room Collection} Element Pack}

Filed Under: {digital happiness}, {Jessica Sprague}, {one little word}

Special! {It’s what’s for dinner}

April 20, 2011 2 Comments

Introducing my retro diner specials board:

It has a permanent place on our piano in an easy-to-read spot. Too often I am asked what is for dinner and I answer with “hmm, good question”. This is to help me along and honestly, who would not want to eat the special of the day every single day. 😉 (I can hope, right?)

The specials board is made with a document frame – the glass is so easy to write on with a dry erase marker, erase and do it all over again. Kinda like meals and dishes, but more fun. Someday I might even turn the responsibility of writing the menu over to one of the children.

This board would also work lovely as a spontaneous menu for a frolic-y picnic in the backyard.

{Credits: Half Way Cafe Elements by Cosmo Cricket, pancakes and salad by me. ;)}

Filed Under: {digital happiness}, {happy times}, {Jessica Sprague}, {one little word}

Peek-a-boo Parcel

April 14, 2011 Leave a Comment

I posted a fun tutorial over on the Mouse, Paper, Lovely blog last month. A whole post on how to use clear packaging to show off fun, simple gifts.

Here’s a peek at the unwrapping:

and the first project inside:

For the rest, you’ll have to flit and fly on over. There is always so much inspiration to be found there. I love the magnetic bookmarks featured earlier this week. Just love.

Here’s a little behind-the-scenes on the photoshoot for the above parcel.

A big ol’ pot and a fun-lovin’, colorful Usborne book: Drawing, Doodling and Coloring held up the package. The pink polka-dot material and green shag come from my grandma’s house. She cleared out boxes of yummy material and sent them to my sister’s place. One family reunion we got to pick out our favorites. I love my cardboard box of moose-printed, white puffy heart, bright colored fabric. I have some big plans for that material. In the meantime it makes a fabulous back drop for my photos. 🙂

The pink polka-dot fabric is actually a dress:

And the tag reads size 11.

What? They certainly do not make them like they used to. 😉

{Credits: Crystal’s Artisan Label Templates No. 3 and Sweet Summertime Papers HERE, HERE, and HERE, and a little glitter for the butterfly bodies. Also used Crystal’s 5×7 Template Set #2 and Set #1 for the layouts above and Earth Love recycling sticker by Cosmo Cricket .}

Filed Under: {digital happiness}, {Jessica Sprague}, {one little word}, {tickles and smiles}, {Usborne}

Happy Day!!!

March 22, 2011 2 Comments

This President’s Day was extra special! Preparation began over a year ago at Stake Conference. We were told of the wonderful opportunity for our stake to worship in the temple for President’s Day 2011. Temples are usually closed on Mondays, but this year it was open from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m.. All the temple ordinance workers were from our stake and everyone that worshipped in the temple was also from our stake. I thoroughly loved being surrounded by people I know and love.

Photo taken on February 21, 2011: President’s Day. This is the view from our front yard, specifically by our tire swing. We are so blessed.

3695 ordinances were performed in one day. How wondrous to be a part of this redeeming work! All temple cards were also provided by the members of our stake. We were encouraged to search out relatives that still needed temple blessings. Those that found success were able to share with those not able to find the names or the time. There were plenty of cards available. I was able to perform the temple blessings for my father’s father’s sister. I know that would make her my great-aunt, but the first way gives the exact relation. 🙂 It was wonderful to be able to do all the ordinances over a long weekend. Jim Bob and I went the Friday before to perform baptisms, confirmations and initiatory and then went Monday for endowments and sealings. I am glad we followed that suggestion. It was so peaceful and quiet on Friday and so bustling and joyful on Monday. Both were wonderful and I’m glad we got to experience both.

One of my sweet friends in town, Nora Gabriel, wrote this poem about the day.

{When I asked Nora if I could share her poem she said that she wrote it to be shared. When I tried to explain a blog to her she did not quite understand, but she said that I could make photocopies to give to anyone that wanted one. Consider this your Xerox. 🙂 }

Filed Under: {happy times}, {holidays and celebrations}, {one little word}

Tending Wildflowers

March 10, 2011 2 Comments

A set of cards about growing wildflowers… and love. Each has a homemade paper–wildflower seed infused piece that can be planted.

{Tutorial for homemade paper here at Family Fun’s website. Instead of drying it as a sheet I put the pulp into cookie cutters and then popped out and dried that way. A little messy and a lot of fun!}

Quotes:
Left card–
“A single wildflower,
Given with love
Is better than
A dozen perfect roses
Given with indifference.”
– Anonymous

Right: “Where you tend a rose, my lad, a thistle cannot grow.” – Frances Hodgson Burnett

This is one of my favorite quotes of all time, from “The Secret Garden”. I first came across it, over a decade ago, in Seminary. Each morning we wrote in a notebook. There was always a quote or scripture on the board and we would write our thoughts about it first thing while everyone was gathering. The Secret Garden quote is one that stuck with me. It doesn’t hurt that it was easy to memorize. 🙂 This inspirational quote is true in all aspects of my live. If I can learn to tend a rose – in my thoughts, actions and words, then a thistle cannot grow in the same place. Love that principle. The constant tending is where I need to focus. A drowning every week or month doesn’t work the same as constant watering and love. And those little weeds? So much easier to get rid of than after they have had time to take root.

Jim Bob and I put the quote on our wedding invitation (hidden behind the main photo as a bonus. 😉 ) to remind us that a marriage is worth tending:

The wildflower cards above are wonderful as anniversary or everyday giving. I’m thankful for the reminder to refocus, recommit, and continue on in love.

{Credits: All by Cosmo Cricket: Earth love papers, elements and candy candy, Early Bird paper pack, Mr. Campy paper pack}

Filed Under: {digital happiness}, {happy times}, {holidays and celebrations}, {Jessica Sprague}, {one little word}, {reflections and deep thoughts}

Of Cookies and Family History… Happy Birthday Week Dad!

February 25, 2011 7 Comments

Happy Birthday to my dad! This is his present this year – He gets to redeem it in a few short weeks. 🙂

Homemade bread, pancakes, chili and oatmeal raisin cookies were all recipes I mastered at a young age. The cookies were for the benefit of my dad. Of course he shared, but those are his very favorite. They are the kind I remember most in the cookie jar growing up. I also remember whenever there was a darker batch he didn’t complain. They tasted quite good crunched up on top of a bowl of oatmeal. “Even the queen of France doesn’t eat oatmeal cookies for breakfast!” he would say after eating a bite. Whenever he visited me at college I made a huge batch of oatmeal raisin cookies – partly to make sure there would be enough for the road. It made the parting easier to send a little of my love with him.

When he and my mom were in the MTC, there was no question what I should send in a care package (that and Jr. Mint brownies for my momma). They even had enough for their long road trip to serve their first mission in Chicago. 🙂 Now they are serving in Salt Lake City at the Family History Library:

Photo and following quote taken from Church News on the 25th Anniversary of the Family History Librar y:

“When the Family History Library in Salt Lake City was dedicated in 1985, President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008) said the structure—then called the Genealogical Library—was a “companion structure to the temples of the Lord.” President Hinckley, then serving as Second Counselor in the First Presidency, petitioned in the dedicatory prayer that the library “may be used by multitudes to search out their kindred dead that the necessary ordinance work may be carried forward in thy holy houses, with both genealogist and temple worker cooperating to the accomplishment of one glorious end.”

{A virtual tour is available. In person is even better. :)}

I must admit I am happy I get to hand deliver the cookies this birthday. A few weeks late, but it will do.

Speaking of their mission, I loved my dad’s email this last Sunday (February 20th). He sends one every week with a wonderful highlight from his service that week. I love all of them.

Here’s an excerpt:

“Saturday we were working on the International floor. I had been helping patrons with Norway, Sweden, and NewFamilySearch, and Sister Gedeborg came up all excited and said she had to show me something. She went to Ancestry.com and clicked on a new section they have on International. I had only used them for United States and Canada before. In there, she took me to Europe, then to Sweden. They had the Swedish Parish Records images there in Ancestry!! I looked up some I am familiar with, and it was pretty exciting. Just then I was asked to help a young couple from France. He is on business in Laramie Wyoming for a year, and had come to see Temple Square. They just had some names, with no dates, as they hadn’t planned on doing family history. We tried the pilot site (now the www.familysearch.org homepage) but found nothing except some Italian immigrants to the US with that name. We went to the Wiki, which was good, but no solid leads. Then I remembered the new info in Ancestry.com. We went to Europe, then France, he typed in his information, and up came his great-grandfather and his family. I was so amazed. Sister Gedeborg had only showed this to me ten minutes earlier! I could hardly wait to tell her. This proved to me once again that although we must prepare ourselves so we can recognize what the Lord is talking about when he inspires us; in the end, it is his work – and we are just tools in his hands (sometimes sharper than at other times). The Lord obviously knew the French couple was coming, and prepared us quickly to be ready. We appreciate so much all your prayers for us. They are being answered.

We hope you have a wonderful week. I know we will. You are always in our hearts and prayers.”

I love how much he loves his mission. I love that he and mom are working hand in hand. Or computer by computer. Love how they complement each other and are excited in their discoveries. Love my dad’s sense of humor. Love how he knows his week will be wonderful. Then again, how could he not? It is his birthday week after all!

Happy Birthday Dad!

{retro coupon from Martha. Cut apart and revised. Altered with love. ;)}

Filed Under: {happy times}, {holidays and celebrations}, {one little word}

Chrysalis & Consecration

February 6, 2011 5 Comments

{Seeing as it is Fast Sunday, testimonies have been on my mind. Besides the sacrament, the things I miss the most from Sacrament Meeting, when I’m home with sicky little ones, are all the testimonies that are shared. I have had a lot on my mind the last few days and wanted to put part of it in writing. For our family and friends, for future family, and for myself.}

One of my resolutions this year is to read C. S. Lewis everyday. It has been one of the easiest resolutions ever. I adore his writing. I do not have any trouble starting my morning study time with Jack. I read that is what his family and friends called him. I want to be in that group. Which leads me to the next question – Do you think there will be a huge line in heaven waiting to meet him? I imagine so.

The easy part is being motivated to read his writings. The hard part is sometimes understanding. His writings are a lot like Elder Maxwell‘s to me. I read a paragraph or two over four or five times. And then I feel like I might be catching a glimpse of what they are describing. And the glimpse is so worth the effort. I read “Mere Christianity” a few years ago and adored it. “The Four Loves” is waiting on my headboard. What I am reading now is “A Year with C. S. Lewis” that Jim Bob gave me for our anniversary. It is a few paragraphs a day from various books that C. S. Lewis has written. Perfect for me. It leads right into my scripture study time. With these excerpts, my wish list of books is growing. I love his style of writing and sense of humor without overdoing. I would be happy to read a few paragraphs of C. S. Lewis every day for the rest of my life. And that is a sign of a good resolution. 🙂

Last Wednesday I read an excerpt from C. S. Lewis’ last sermon (1956):

“For it is not so much of our time and so much of our attention that God demands; it is not even all our time and all our attention; it is ourselves. … He will be infinitely merciful to our repeated failures; I know no promise that He will accept a deliberate compromise. …For He claims all, because He is love and must bless. He cannot bless unless He has us. When we try to keep within us an area that is our own, we try to keep an area of death. Therefore, in love, He claims all. There’s no bargaining with Him.”

While reading Enos this week I realized how his story applied as well. In verse 9 it tells how Enos “…did pour out [his] whole soul unto God…” His whole soul. He didn’t hold anything back.

Jim Bob taught in the Elders Quorum today. The talk was Elder D.Todd Christofferson’s “Reflections on a Consecrated Life”. I read it this morning. The whole talk is wonderful and fits right in my thoughts for the week.

“True success in this life comes in consecrating our lives –that is, our time and choices–to God’s purposes. In so doing, we permit Him to raise us to our highest destiny.” Later in the talk he says, “A consecrated life is filled with work, sometimes repetitive, sometimes menial, sometimes unappreciated but always work that improves, orders, sustains, lifts, ministers, aspires.” Does that not sound like a mother? I need to focus on the last half. Yes, my work is sometimes repetitive and menial, but I am improving, ordering, sustaining, lifting, ministering and aspiring. Ooh, I love it. I love all those verbs. A consecrated life is full of action and recognizing that action.

Elder Christofferson also quotes the film, Man’s Search for Happiness. “A prophet of God has said: ‘Men are that they might have joy–a joy that includes a fullness of life, a life dedicated to service, to love and harmony in the home, and the fruits of honest toil–an acceptance of the gospel of Jesus Christ–of its requirements and commandments.”

While reading that quote I realized that a fullness of life only comes after we fully give ourselves to God. I feel as if I am in a constant chrysalis state. Just learning and developing. Changing and refining. Big changes, little changes. I think that is partly what this life is for. I am thankful for my Savior that makes those changes possible. Sometimes it is hard work. I need to remember – the end result is so promising!

Can you imagine though, if that caterpillar decided to go into a chrysalis, but not quite all the way? Just leave out a little bit of it’s “old self”? I’m not sure of the science involved, but I think the transformation would not take place.

I want to fully give myself. To consecrate my life to God’s purposes. And to someday fly.

{chrysalis photo by Christian Meyn at FreeDigitalPhotos.net, butterfly photo by Federico Stevanin, at FreeDigitalPhotos.net}

Filed Under: {one little word}, {reflections and deep thoughts}

Guest Post: 21-Day Challenge

February 1, 2011 4 Comments

I am hijacking Becky’s blog (with permission, so I guess, not technically hijacking) to announce our new joint venture of epic proportions: a 21 day challenge to go to bed early. 10 p.m. to be explicit. Doesn’t seem very epic, you say?

It is epic because I am an addict. I have been since before Becky and I met. I think it started in 1994. I remember going to bed in high school and laying awake for hours in the dark because I could not get my mind to stop racing. It miraculously stopped during the two years I spent serving a church mission in British Columbia, but later in college it again became far too easy for us to stay up late finishing assignments last minute that we postponed to do other things.

“Sow a thought and you reap an action; sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Fast forward 11 years and it’s still just as easy to stay up late… but so much harder to get up when we do. There have been nights that I stay up hacking away until my eyes are bleary and I type like a drunk, knowing I should sleep. I still need to recover from multiple consecutive 1+ a.m. nights this past week alone. So now we’re doing something about it. Our 21-day challenge is to be in bed by 10 p.m. every night with lights out no later than 10:30.

Intellectually we understand the scientific benefits of the “early-to-bed” principle. For over a month now we’ve talked about doing this together, knowing that neither of us will do it without the other. Becky agreed to let me hijack her blog to make the announcement and that we would start the following evening. How ironic that I write this at 3 a.m. with both of us awake and doing projects that seem impossible when the needs of family and work are foremost.

So it is that we will start together tonight, on the evening of Feb 1. Our hope is to see such great benefits that the habit we establish over the next three weeks won’t fade with the sunset on the Feb 22. Addiction is never easy to overcome. But I finally feel this habit’s time has come and gone.

Filed Under: {one little word}, 21 Day Challenge