Worthwhile

Thank you for a wonderful year of homeschooling, Amanda. But who was the student, you or me?

How can such a little person make my heart swell with so much joy....

Amanda and Abigail

Musings of a 6-year-old

Amanda: "Mom, I just love the way Abby's diapers smell like baby powder."
Me: "Me too. I'll miss the 'baby' smell once she's potty-trained."
(long pause, followed by a furrowed brow)
Amanda: "Were there diapers in the nineteens?"
Me: "Uh, you mean the 1900's when Mom and Dad were born?"
Amanda: "Yes, the nineteens."
Me: "Yes. There were diapers back in the dark ages."
Amanda: "Wow."

...

Abigail, the 2-year-old instigator

Abigail: "Momma, Manda hit me."
Amanda (with scrunched face): "She's lying! I did NOT!"
Abigail: "Oh sorry, Manda."
Amanda (unscrunches face): "Okay, turkey burger."
Abigail (with scrunched face): "I not tookey boogah! I Abby!"
Amanda (with mocking voice): "Oh sorry, Abby burger."
Abigail (replacing scrunch with smile): "Okay, Manda. Puhfect."


My kids - they are a hoot. They can't stand to be apart from one another, yet they can't stand to be together at times. :) At this moment, they are happily tucked into each other, blissful in dreamland:

Isn't Abigail's jowl the cutest?

Welcome to the world

I am proud to introduce my new nephew, Lucas Joshua:


(provided by proud Daddy, via iPhone)

He joins my other beloved nieces and nephews Davina, Evelyn, Elias, and Brandon. Ah, life is good!

Can't wait to see the brood in a few weeks!

Happy {inter}National Scrapbooking Day - freebie

(If you're not here for the blog train, you can scroll down to the next post, heh heh)

It's {inter}National Scrapbooking Day!

Welcome aboard the fun-filled ScrapMatters blog train! I'm stop #3, after Andrea and Britt.

We are boogyin' to the tropical groove, pretending that the breeze is warm here in my neck of the woods... which takes me to one of my favorite destinations, Hawaii! DH and I went there for one leg of our three-part honeymoon some eight years ago. We happily overdosed on Dole Whip, Matsumoto Shave Ice, Kua'aina Burger... and spent some calm, blissful moments overlooking the North Shore and climbing up Diamond Head. I would go back there in a heartbeart. Sweetie, pack your bags - we're going back to Hawaii! ;)

Here are a few layouts to share with you-

We took an insane amount of photos during our honeymoon. This is the condensed version:


Ron took this photo of me on the sly. I guess he knows that otherwise, my awkward camera smile would have overtaken my face (smart man, that hub unit of mine):




Here freebie, freebie, freebie!

Click on the preview to grab the coordinating quickpage freebie.

Take a gander at the incredible shopping to be had at ScrapMatters right now - cuh ray zee!


And to entice you even further, you'll be able to get the following kit for free with a $15 purchase. Yours truly designed a few of the elements in there, hee hee:


Thanks for hanging out with me - now onto my friend Denise's blog for some more goodies! Tell her I sent ya.

So where does one pick up?

Do you know how many photos and life events happen in a span of three months? What to post, what to post.... :)

I guess the best place to start is with yesterday's stream of thought - I continue to purge and rearrange my list of priorities, and this layout was born out of my brain's spring cleaning:

(linked for credits)

The tiny journaling reads:
Will the girls know to stop and smell the flowers if I never do? Too many irons in the fire. There is no more of me to give to the people I yearn to love the most. NO MORE. My Mother's Day gift to myself is to act on this wake up call. Time to reorganize. Time to simplify.

Off to the girls' gymnastics classes - I love seeing the concentration on Amanda's face as she pushes her strength to its limits, and Abigail's unbounding joy tearing through the circuit. I just love these kids and am so glad they are mine.

April showers bring May flowers

(Look what greets me in the front yard - my tulips are so breathtaking!!!)

As evidenced by the dust that has settled on this blog (not to mention the lone tumbleweeds and chirping crickets heightening the effect), life has been busy. Heather, everyone's busy, you say. Yes, I know. But the kind of BUSY I've had is the kind where you know you're not the one in control, but rather the commitments and deadlines pulling my strings. I've been a useless marionette... especially to my beloved husband, children, God.

The funny thing is, I volunteered for most of it. While they're all wonderful things to be involved in, all at once is just a heavy enslavement.

So the moral of my extended blogcation is this: He who is involved in the most activities LOSES. Live a simple but meaningful life.

Many of you out there are superwomen/men. I have found that I am not. Multi-tasking equates to multi-bungling for me.

I am in the process of shedding many, many, many commitments. Easy? It's extremely painful, actually. I despise quitting, and letting people down makes me want to throw up. But I'm feeling a freedom I haven't felt in a while.

Dear husband will be out of town all next week, and I'm eager to step up to the plate for my children.

Folks, I'm back.


(Another tulip photo from my front yard)


Indeed, life is altogether too fleeting, too precious.

Be strengthened -

MercyMe - Bring The Rain

Bring the Rain
by Mercy Me

I can count a million times
People asking me how I can praise You
With all that I've gone through
The question just amazes me
Can circumstances possibly
Change who I forever am in You
Maybe since my life was changed
Long before these rainy days
It's never really ever crossed my mind
To turn my back on You, oh Lord
My only shelter from the storm
But instead I draw closer
through these times
So I pray

Bring me joy, bring me peace
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings You glory
And I know there'll be days
When this life brings me pain
But if that's what it takes to praise You
Jesus, bring the rain

I am Yours regardless of
The dark clouds that may loom above
Because You are much greater than my pain
You who made a way for me
By suffering Your destiny
So tell me what's a little rain
So I pray

Holy, holy, holy
Is the Lord God Almighty