The Lord gave us another bit of encouragement last night after church.

We were standing around talking like we do after most services. We were telling someone how earlier in our marriage, we learned to be creative with what money we had because our budget was so tight. I was saying how instead of being frustrated because we couldn’t afford certain foods, we learned to make them from scratch instead (things like tortillas and egg rolls).

Other people were walking nearby, and it wasn’t a private conversation, so I didn’t think much of a chance that people would overhear. Even if they did, it wouldn’t have mattered.

I had to step away from the conversation for a moment to retrieve Little Man from behind the wheel of someone else’s van. Heh.

I returned to hear someone telling Stephen how he had overheard our comment about money. I believe that person’s words were, “I thought you could use a blessing – go out to eat or something.” I wasn’t sure what they were talking about, but it all made sense when we got in the van and Stephen showed me the cash that had been handed to him while I had stepped away.

God knew when we needed encouragement – He always does – and He sent it. It sure was a blessing. Probably more than that person will ever know.

Where God guides, He does provide. Always.

I realize I post about God’s provision and His blessings here on my blog a lot. Please don’t think I do it to brag on myself. It is encouraging to me to hear how God is working and providing in other peoples’ lives – and I hope to be that same encouragement to people about the blessings that God places in my life. It is so easy to get discouraged and lose sight of what God has already done for us, but by sharing the “little things” that God does, it encourages both myself and hopefully other people as well.

I got an email the other day after I posted about the rolls I was making for a baby shower. She stated that she didn’t realize that I made mother’s bracelets. That made me realize that I hadn’t posted about jewelry here in a while.

It all started with a bracelet that I had made for myself while Stephen and I were in the adoption process. I wanted a visible reminder that there really was a child waiting for us at the end of our long wait.

Then people started noticing the bracelet and wanting one of their own. I had never planned to make and sell them, but there was enough demand for them that that’s what I ended up doing. I named the business Hope of My Heart Designs. In February 2005, I put the store on the internet.

Now I offer bracelets for infertility and adoption, miscarriage and loss, and mother’s bracelets. I’ve also started selling necklaces, earrings, and watches too. A big desire of mine is that the bracelets that I make are an encouragement to the women that wear them. There is often so much hurt and pain that drives a woman to go searching for an infertility bracelet or jewelry to memorialize a miscarriage. . .that I desire to be a blessing to them in their time of pain.

Here is the bracelet that I made for the baby shower. I really like how it looks with both the pearls and the birthstones in it. If you click on it, it’ll take you to the part of the store where you can purchase it. It’s called the Kimberly bracelet.

Many of the bracelets are on sale right now for Mother’s Day. The Mother’s Bracelets are on sale, but so are the Infertility, Hope, and Loss Bracelets.

Hope of My Heart Designs

He put his wooden doggie in an empty laundry basket that he found.

“Doggie doctor.”

I asked him, “Why does the doggie need to go to the doctor?”

“He’s hurtin.”

“Where is he hurting?”

“Right there.” (points to the dog’s nose)

“Why does the doggie’s nose hurt him?”

“All day.” (I guess he misunderstood my question!)

“All day? I hope he feels better soon!” At this point it’s about all I can do to keep a straight face.

As I went to leave the room, I see him pick up a super-soaker squirt gun. He points it at the doggie, and makes a shooting noise.

“Doggie better.”

Yeah, if his intent was to put it out of it’s misery. I can’t figure out where he got that idea though – he hasn’t seen it around here.

Now he just came to me and announced that doggie needs a bath.

Around here, life is never dull.

Our son turns three today! I still can’t believe it. Time has flown so quickly.

The day he was born – he was so tiny.

The day we dedicated him to the Lord – Mother’s Day 2004

Finalization!

First birthday

Second birthday

Third birthday

Happy Birthday, my sweet boy! Your mama and daddy love you!

I have a confession to make today. . .I ate a dinner roll a few minutes ago.

There’s a baby shower at church tonight, so I’m making the rolls for the meal. I decided on cloverleaf rolls because they look nice and they’re easy to break into smaller pieces.

When I pulled the first batch out of the oven, some of the rolls didn’t look done, so I decided to sample one. Now THAT was a hard decision! Yes, I’m well aware that sounds like an excuse! Honestly though, I didn’t want to take them to church and discover there that they weren’t baked all the way through. What I probably should have done was break the roll apart to see if it was done and then give it to Little man, but I ate some too.

Oh wow. . .it was SO good! I try to be careful how much bread and carbohydrates that we consume, and it’s been a while since I’ve eaten homemade white bread. Usually I try to make wheat or multigrain bread instead.

The recipe I used is here. There’s nothing fancy about it; it just tastes good and is super easy. . .a bonus when you’re wanting to make 60+ rolls.

I suppose this means I need to pass on the rolls tonight at the shower, but that’s ok. I got to have a roll fresh out of the oven, and I enjoyed every single bite of it!

Well, it’s time I got off the computer and got back to work – I have more rolls to make and a mother’s bracelet to finish. How could I pass up an opportunity for a new bracelet design? I needed a gift for tonight, lol!

We have several lizards and blue-tailed skinks that run around our deck. Little man just loves to watch them, especially when we’re sitting at the dinner table. It’s not uncommon for him to shout, “Look, Mama! A blue lizard!”

The other day at dinner he spotted one and Stephen and I were talking about how he called all of them lizards – blue lizards, green lizards, etc. Stephen corrected him, “It’s not a lizard, it’s a skink.” I told him that there was no way our son could say “blue-tailed skink” yet.

This morning I was on the phone with my mom when Little man started trying to tell me something. I finally realized what he was saying. “Blue tailed stink!”

Apparently I was wrong.

. . .sometimes they get hand delivered!

Finances have been tight as we’ve adjusted from our move. That is as we expected. After all, there was a gap in Stephen’s employment for a couple of weeks. We knew we would need to be careful for a while, so we planned accordingly.

Well, our pantry was starting to get a bit low, and I had been praying that God would provide.

While we were over at Stephen’s parents’ house this weekend, they sent us home with some food from their pantry. I was thankful for it, but since God had provided us with food that we needed, I didn’t give it much more thought after that.

This afternoon though, Stephen was outside when a car pulled into our driveway, and the driver handed him a check. “It’s for groceries.”

God had provided again, and this time from a different source, and one I was not expecting. I love it! With careful planning, it should be enough for two weeks of groceries for us.

God is so good.

Yesterday we went to go pick up another fantastic Freecycle find. This time it was a new pet for our family – a female cockatiel. I was very surprised to see an offer like that on Freecycle because the birds usually cost around $100 each. Stephen had two when he was in high school that he raised from babies, and has often mentioned how he would like to get more some day. Because they’re so expensive, we just figured it would be a long time.

I replied to the offer, but really didn’t expect to be able to get the bird. It was a surprise when we received an email saying we could have her. And even better – we were getting her cage and food and everything!

Little man is completely enamored with her. He calls her “Birdie Girl,” but we haven’t named her yet. She is very friendly and loves to be out of her cage and to be handled – she even tolerates Little man handling her. We got a good bird for our family, that’s for sure! Now we just need a name for her. . .

Here’s a picture I took this morning of the two of them.

It’s almost funny how easy it can be to lose sight of what is truly important. Yet, if we were to be honest about it and admit it, it’s not even remotely funny.

Take our lives, for example. It was so easy to get wrapped up in “How are we going to pay this bill” and “When am I going to start teaching lessons again” and “Hey, Easter’s coming, I want a new dress” and “I sure hope that new song we’re singing on Sunday goes ok” and “Are we having the in-laws over for dinner or aren’t we” and the like. . .that it becomes frightfully easy to forget about the real reason for Easter itself.

Resurrection Sunday. The day we celebrate the greatest event that ever happened in history. The day we proclaim and rejoice over the fact that God’s Son, Jesus Christ has risen from the dead. And even better than that – in that one single act of overcoming death He has offered us the greatest gift of all time – salvation from our sins and the promise of eternal life with God and His Holy Son.

But wait just a minute. Look back at what we consider to be “real life.” Life has such a way of crowding in on our celebrations. We get up on Easter Sunday, eager to worship our Amazing God who has done so much for us. . .but. . .in the process of getting ready to leave we snap at the kids and yell at the husband. . .and begin to lose sight of why we’re even going in the first place. Suddenly things like our hair or our makeup or deciding which shoes to wear becomes more important than the One Who is to be THE most important in our lives. We spend more time worrying whether or not that roast in the crockpot will be done in time for dinner than we do worrying whether we’re right with God and in the right frame of mind to worship our Creator.

Are you guilty of that? I know I am. Much more than I care to admit sometimes.

Really though, if you stop to think about it, it’s embarrassing to stop and think about just how often that really happens in our lives. It’s not just on Easter; it can happen any Sunday of the year. Honestly, life can get in the way of where our heart should be on any day of the year. I don’t know how many times I catch myself worrying about something (like bills that are due soon), and then realize that in Eternity, that won’t really matter. How many times have I worried about things that are truly important? Things that really will matter – like obeying that gentle nudge deep down inside to share Christ with that person whom we know has never accepted Christ?

So honestly, how was your Easter? Were you able to spend some time reflecting on what Christ has done for us? Mine started out crazy and frazzled – 45 minutes before we needed to leave I was standing there cutting the guys’ hair! Thankfully though, once we got to church, things settled down and the services were wonderful. We had 102 people for worship service and a teen boy accepted Christ that morning. What a blessing.

Tonight is church again. I’m hoping I will go with the right mindset, instead of rushing around beforehand going nuts trying to get ready for church and then trying to calm down on the ride there. . .