i'm in love

I might have fallen in love this week.  With a four year old.

This little guy showed up at our house.
His surrogate grandpa was working on Mitch's car.

He comes from a fairly broken home.
His language is way under-developed so we struggled a little to communicate at first.
But we found some universal "boy things" - cheetos, popsicles and the potty dance :)

We've been trying to find ways to teach our kids compassion.
And opportunities to show the love of Jesus to others.
He was the perfect opportunity!

I don't think we'll ever be the same again.
This little guy brought us so much joy in 2 short hours.
We'll be talking about RJ for years.

birthday boy

13 years ago my life was turned upside down and right side up.

(please excuse the quality of this very old photo)

I had no idea how much I needed a little boy in my life.
God knows what we need way before we do.
I would take a whole house full of little boys any day of the week.
He's smart, funny, good lookin', witty, charming, sweet, passionate, independent, ornery (sometimes even a little naughty) and athletic.
Everything I need in my boy.
He's comfortable in his own skin and a very free spirit.
I could watch him play football or baseball every.single.day.  And never tire of it.
I love that he's a snuggly buggly. 
He is comfortable enough with his masculinity to still cuddle with his mommy...even in public.
I love my little guy and wouldn't trade any minute of the last 13 years.

Happy birthday, Eli!

(I couldn't choose just 1 favorite photo from my hundreds of Warrior football and Jr. Railer pics)

hannah's minky

Hannah spotted this wonderfully soft and cuddly minky fabric several months ago.
She begged me to make a quilt for her with the fabric.
Feeling like I could conquer anything on the sewing machine, I naively agreed to tackle it.
I had no idea what I had agreed to.

Although this fabric is wonderful to cuddle with, it's a little tricky to sew.

Thank goodness, I know some incredible sewists!

After lots of guidance and advice (and a month or two), I finally tackled the project.

Hannah's desire has been to take the blanket with her when she goes to Washington, DC this weekend.

It's probably wise she had a goal.  Otherwise, I would have never finished it.

I'm really good at starting projects and then getting overwhelmed or distracted and then not finishing.

Not so easy to let this project slide when she is gently asking when the blanket will be finished and reminding me how many days until she leaves.

I sewed most of the blanket together in April at a little get-together with some of my lovely and fabulous crafty friends.

It took another month to get up the nerve to bind it.

Again, expert sewing friends to the rescue! 

The blanket is finished just 36 hours before Hannah leaves on her trip.  That's pretty good for me.
I still say there is nothing more productive than the last minute :)

(A very heartfelt "thank you" to Jennifer Thomas and Fawn Schmidt for all their help and cheerleading during this project!)

Please don't look too carefully at the finished product.

There are several imperfections.  Just like me.

Hannah will always know her (im)perfect quilt came from her (im)perfect mom.

She's happy and I'm happy.

Love you, Hannah!
Enjoy your trip and feel lots of love from mommy when you cuddle up at night.