photojournal: our life in tables

We recently re-added my old kitchen table to our house (my sister and her husband had borrowed it for a couple of years), it dawned on me that we have a. lot. of tables. It made me a little uncomfortable at the excessiveness of our table collection, especially with people in the world with barely a roof over their head.

However, I also realized each has it's own story to tell and decided to capture that here...

We migrated to this table soon after Ben's arrival. This cloth stays permanently on the table, at least, when Ben isn't pulling it off. It may be hard to tell, but I had to masking tape over some rips in the cloth - let's just say it's not a good idea to cut your fabric with a rotary cutter on a surface that could be damaged by said cutter. You know, just in case you overshoot the cutting mat.

Where we dined before we outgrew it. Now it serves as my office desk and a catchall (something I'm persistently trying to tackle).

A birthday gift to Dave. This year it's seen few picnics but ample chalk drawings. It also travels about the yard when Dave needs to cut the grass.

We aren't coffee drinkers and it's not a table, but this trunk works hard in our living room. It houses some homeschooling materials, the portable TV when we let the kids watch movies, often books and our feet. Dave found it in his apartment during his years as an intern in Washington.

Formerly used as our work desk, it now is consistently buried in my sewing and crafting projects. And my sewing machine is buried under that quilt I need to complete. ;)
 

 This is probably Dave's favorite table because it belonged to his grandparents. It sat in our basement for a couple of years until we brought it up last fall during his mom's surprise birthday party. We liked it in it's current spot so much, we let it stay. Once a kitchen and card table, it now extends my sewing table needs, provides an extra spot for the kids to do their school work and occasionally still has a meal eaten upon it.
 

And this is the table that began this whole post. My kitchen table from the days before I married Dave. It's now his office desk in "man cave" (as he likes to refer to the basement).

Do you have a table or two in your house with a poignant story? What's your favorite memory from sitting around a table?

quotable

 "I don't like his attitude."






 


"Yeah, I don't like his attitude either."





As heard from the back of the van during a discussion on dogs they know. These comments were directed toward a particularly rambunctious neighborhood dog.

awakening

I was going to do a photojournal post today, but then I read this article in the autumn edition of World Vision Magazine, and, somehow, my original post idea seemed rather trivial for the moment (though I still plan on doing it for a later time ;)).

It's a short article under the magazine's "Inspiration" section, so I won't synthesize it here in the hopes that you'll read the full article.

But I do want to share what God laid on my heart after reading it...

"Healing Love" provides the hope that our faith is more than a label. It is an action. And when we are active in our faith and relationship with Christ, others can see the difference and thirst to have the void filled within them by the Living Water which never runs dry.

In this love walk God has me on with Him, reading this article reaffirmed how much I desire to serve Him. How  I pray He would teach me what it means to love as He does, trusting that when I do, it is Jesus others see and hopefully awakens in them the desire to know Him well. I have a long way to go on this road, but thankfully, I have a patient Companion and a trustworthy Guide.

If you have the time to read the article, I would love to hear your thoughts, too.

headband giveaway

Megan of The Remodeled Life graciously offered to feature my shop on her blog as part of her Etsy seller feature. Part of the feature is a giveaway for two custom reversible headbands for the winner plus two to go to a couple of girls in the Dominican Republic when my parents lead a mission there next year.

Please go to Megan's blog to enter the giveaway (you have until this Friday)...Megan also has a shop on Etsy and I love reading about her adventures in remodeling their home and the way she shares her faith.

creating: a fun way to gift green backs

Gifts cards are a wonderful thing - except when you leave purchasing them until the last minute and you can't find one in the amount you want for the store you want and it's T-minus 1.5 hours until 75% of your children depart for their friend's birthday party.

I could have simply tucked some bills in a card, but came up with this idea instead (and thank the Creator for the inspiration ;) and providing the picture frame at the garage sale we were at this morning):

 Here's what you need...

(I measured the inset of the picture frame and sized a box in Publisher to the exact dimensions. Then I cut and pasted the logo from the website and added the text. Print, cut, done.)

Insert gift message. Insert gift o' green.

Finished.

I also whipped up a simple bag from red homespun cloth I had on hand, but didn't get a picture of the final presentation since I finished as Brie, Reese and Luke were heading out the door. I'm hoping that, at some point, God will give me the ability to plan much further ahead than is my current pattern.

when your daughter uses the "f" word

No, not that one. The other one. The one which lingers in the minds of many girls and women, bringing forth questions, doubts and self-loathing. The word? Fat.

Brianna used it the other day when she was getting ready for church.

"I don't want to wear this dress with the sash tied in the back.** It makes me look fat."

Immediately, my mind filled with questions: "Where did she get that idea?" "Did someone tell her she looked fat?" "Are her friends talking that way about their appearance?" "How has she already gotten the idea that looking "fat" is a bad thing?" "Is this how eating disorders start?"

I wrack my brain trying to remember any times she may have picked up this message from me. I am usually careful to not comment on how I feel about my appearance on any particular day. But I wonder if there were times when she's watched me dress and picked up on my nonverbal cues that somehow I was dissatisfied with the way a particular piece of clothing fit. There also have been teachable moments when that word was verbalized about other people - opportunities to explain we don't make those kind of comments about others and that what God considers important is our hearts.

Days later I still cannot explain how Brianna came to this conclusion. She's so young. Only weeks away from turning eight. I think I was a pre-teen before I became that conscious of my appearance.

Though I tried my best to sway her thinking, she remained steadfast in her beliefs about the dress and how to tie the sash to better flatter her figure. I tried telling her these were lies from the enemy about her appearance and pleaded that it's what God thinks of her which counts. I'm not sure I got anywhere or handled the situation very well.

However, it has caused me to realize we, as women, need to do battle for each other and the generations of women to come. To take up the sword of the Spirit - God's Word - in prayer and thrust it into the heart of the enemies lies about who we are and how we look. Will you join me in this battle?

see the sash tied in the front? ;)

We can start by praying a piece of Scripture which may be familiar to many of you and is dear to my heart. It's from Psalm 139. Let's say it out loud for ourselves and our sisters today and throughout the day as God brings it to mind...

Lord, thank You for creating our inmost beings and knitting us together in our mother's wombs. I praise you because we are fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well. In Jesus' name, Amen. (adapted from Psalm 139:13-14 NIV)

And...if you've encountered this same issue in your own life or can provide some wisdom on how I can minister to my daughter in this area I'd love to hear your thoughts.

**Brie likes to wear her dresses with the sashes wrapped around her back and then tied in the front. Maybe it's because she can tie the bow herself or likes to see the bow. The sash on this particular dress was starting to pull at the seam so I suggested she tie it in the back as it was meant to be.

berries, cherries, parties and fun photo jounal

Saturday

 

 

Sunday