There's No Such Thing As Perfect Timing

We thought we were so smart. A few months into our second pregnancy, my husband and I relished in the fact that we had timed this pregnancy perfectly. By the time the baby would be born, our son would be three, well on his way to being potty trained (if not already there) and we would have oh so few issues - because he'd be three.

Did I mention that we thought that we had timed this perfectly?

Anyone reading this who has more than one child is rolling with laughter right about now (as is my mom, even though I am an only child) and as it turns out, I am relatively sure that God is having Himself a pretty good chuckle right now too.

You see, the past few months have been a very somber reminder in my house that we are not in control and as much as we make plans and hastily hope that they are the right plans, ultimately, we are not the ones holding the blueprint.

I realize that this revelation isn't a new one. However, as I sit here in the pitch dark of my living room - eyeballing the hallway to make sure that my son doesn't get out of bed for the ump-tenth time tonight - there seems only to be light coming from my laptop monitor, while in truth there is endless light coming from another source in our home.

That source is Jesus Christ.

Truth be told, He has put a tremendous amount of light in my son. I have had to remind myself countless times recently that there is more to my son than the occasional temper tantrum and the absolute refusal to go to bed when I ask him to. I am truly convinced that he has the heart of a servant. In fact he has a huge heart. He is always concerned about the well-being of others above himself (yes even at his age), he is always eager to help you or ask you if you would like a snack too and this age has also brought him the ability to tell you randomly that he loves you before he offers you a kiss.

Needless to say, there is no perfect timing when it comes to bringing children into this world - they come in God's time only - and I find myself humbled (and a bit humiliated) for even thinking that just because my son didn't go through the "terrible twos" didn't mean that he wasn't going to have challenges at some point. (Insert God's sense of humor that it happens when I am eight months pregnant and new to being a stay-at-home-mom!)

So, here we go. There are merely two months until our new addition enters our family and I have come to terms with the fact (at least for the time being) that this isn't going to easy, but one thing is certain, it will be perfectly imperfect and that is fine with me.

Why Do I Blog?

You can call me a blogging beginner. I just started this journey a couple of months ago, but I have already discovered a network of people who have similar interests, many of whom have taken the same leave-your- day-job-for something-you-love plunge!


I was one of those people who loved school, even college. I actually enjoyed writing 30 page research papers. (Call me a nerd, it's OK!) While I was in college, I took a newspaper journalism class and found that that was something that I hated! Only facts, in the same who, what, when, where, why and how format- each and every time. I discovered that it wasn't my thing. 


It wasn't until I took an intern position at a magazine that I truly found my passion for writing and the kind of writing that I enjoy the most. I like to call it "creative non-fiction" and blogging has given me an awesome opportunity to write about anything I want, anytime I want, and share it with my friends and the whoever else in the world wants to read about it. (Color me flattered that you want to read what I write, by the way!)


In addition to writing, I am a photographer and love to share that creative work as well, and the two have proved to be a fulfilling combination in my life. Blogging for me isn't about standing up on my soap box about social issues, though I sometimes talk about subjects that are of social concern. For me it is the opportunity to gather around the virtual water cooler and share.


And share I will continue to do. Come join me!

DIY - What Not to Do

What started out as a "brilliant idea" recently turned into a what-not-to-do. An FYI, I come from a relatively long line of DIY women and this gene is not lost on me. 

So, when I found a pin on Pinterest about making seeded paper, I got that familiar spark of enthusiasm, excitement, and I am pretty sure that look in my eyes that says that this could be the next big thing for me to add to my shop!

Essentially, seeded paper is good 'ole paper with flower seeds embedded in it. The recipient can then tear up the card after they receive it, hopefully read what you write first, then plant the paper and flowers will soon follow. It's the perfect "gift that keeps on giving". Hence my initial enthusiasm. 

Much to my dismay, I think I added way too much water when I "blended" my paper. It was taking forever to dry, so I put it aside...

...and kind of forgot about it...

I am fairly certain that the paper is not supposed to sprout before it gets to its recipient.

I wanted SEEDED paper not CHIA PET paper!!!

Like my mom said, at least she's not the only one this kind of thing happens to. Which, by the way, happens to everyone! (That's my story and I am sticking to it)

  

Needless to say, any future attempts at making seeded photo greeting cards will be done with pre-made seeded paper.

Winston Churchill said it best, "Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm."

I am confident that, eventually, failure will lead to success. Let's hope in a "rags-to-riches" sort of way!

Kindness

The world - via Justin Timberlake - tells us to bring "sexy back," but yesterday my pastor - via the Bible -   encouraged me and his congregation to bring kindness back.

It is such a small, simple request, but yet one that has the ability to speak volumes when given the chance.

Recently, I read a story about a woman who was attempting to hail a cab outside of her New York City office building. As if that wasn't hard enough in and of itself, she was doing so with a broken leg and a set of crutches, making it nearly impossible.  Seeing the trouble the woman was having, television host Hoda Kotb, came to the woman's aid, hailing her a cab and giving the cab driver the money to take the woman wherever she needed to go.

"No act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted." 

            - Aesop (Greek fable writer)

This may seem like a random post, but for whatever reason, when my pastor mentioned the phrase "bring kindness back", I immediately thought of the Justin Timberlake song and couldn't help but chuckle to myself right there in the pews.

I laugh because it's such a random connection, but I think the underlying message is very important.  We all struggle with the messages that the world sends us and, Christian or not, we really may not want to follow the world's lead. And that is OK.

"Be kind and compassionate to one another..." Ephesians 4:32

Ode to the Self-Portrait

Don't ask me why I choose to torture myself and take my own maternity photos, aka "belly shots" - no not the kind that involve jello - but I do, and I am at it again.

Something about being a photographer lures me into thinking that I can take just as good of photos of myself as anyone else can. Ego, coupled with frugality, has taken me down the self-portrait path yet again. I have to admit though, by sheer luck, my maternity photos with my first pregnancy turned out really well, so I have convinced myself that I can do it again. Here's a shot from the first time around:

My first pregnancy at 35 weeks
with our dog. 

There were a couple of aspects of this photo shoot that were a gamble. First, I was in our bathroom with very little space to do much of anything and secondly, I was using film, pretty much making educated guesses on my camera settings and hoping like heck that the photos turned out!  

Much to my chagrin, they turned out better than I had expected.

Photo Tips:

Search your house high and low, near and wide for good light. At the time, we had a large frosted-glass window in our bathroom and I waited for the afternoon sun to filter through it to take the photos. That's the tip part, the luck part is that because of the lighting situation, it ended up blacking out the shower door, which believe it or not, is directly behind me.  

Invest in a tri-pod for this very reason. I would also recommend getting a small, what I am going to refer to as "counter-top", tri-pod. I see these in most all electronic departments and most come with flexible legs so that you can manipulate them in order to get just the right angle for your shot. 

Most cameras come with a self-timer, and that's all that I used here. On higher-end cameras you can also add a shutter-release. This eliminates the need for you to push the button and run like a mad woman, position yourself just right and hope you get there before your time is up!  (The latter can be quite comical and I have a family "portrait" that illustrates this perfectly - although, I don't know if it qualifies as a portrait when one member of the family is only half-way in the photo.)

I'm not done with my photos yet, but here is what I like the best so far with this pregnancy:

Silhouette at 28 weeks.

For a little bit of inspiration, I googled maternity photos and then added them to my Pinterest account to keep track of them. Check them out!

As you may be able to tell by now, I am a do-it-myself kind of girl. I throughly enjoy the creative process of having an idea, in this case inspiration for a photo, and seeing it through to the end. The process is very satisfying. 

I do run into frustration with this approach to life and there are times when I really need to just hand the reigns over to someone who knows what they are doing. 

To illustrate this quandry, I have an upcoming post that involves a tangled mess of yarn, a crochet hook and a not-so-happy hooker - no not that kind - that makes this point perfectly! 

In the meantime, be creative however you see fit, even if you're the only one who appreciates the outcome!

DIY - Family Photo Collage Frame

What started out as a simple way to fill a space left on the wall of my son's room - after we took down his crib and put up his "big boy" bed one year ago - turned into filling a different kind of spiritual space.

When the crib came down, I had to hang something on the wall above his bed because the gap between the wooden letters spelling out his name, and the top of the bed was too much for me to handle.

In a devine moment of inspiration, I decided to print photos of my son's family members from both sides of our family and put them into a collage picture frame.  Unfortunately, there wasn't enough room for aunts and uncles, but we did squeeze in a space for his cousins, since he loves them so much.

There are four generations represented in this frame, and one has since passed, which makes me even more appreciative that pictures were taken when they were, because regardless of whether or not they are still here;

"Family is forever."

Trust me, I am not delusional. We all have moments when we aren't the biggest fan of someone(s) in our family for whatever reason, but honestly, they are forever and my husband and I really want to make that impression on our children.

The truly inspirational part of this story has nothing to do with simply hanging a picture frame, our son created that all on his own. 

It started as him standing on his bed and pointing to each photo and telling us who was in it.  Soon, it became a quiz of sorts and we would ask him where someone was and he would jump up, climb onto his bed and point to them.  At one point, he even asked where his youngest cousin was. (She had just been born - which reminds me, her picture still isn't in the frame!)

Family collage. If you want to add in more people, just use
a larger frame. The more the merrier!

Photo tip:

Try to take multi-generational photos when you can. Trust me, it will be worth it later on. Also, when creating a collage try to throw in some black and white or sepia-toned images amongst the color photos. Doing so breaks up the monotony of color photos, not to mention, some photos just look better without color.

Speaking of families, sometime soon I intend on creating a multi-generational family gallery on our hallway wall. Once, I do I will share that with you as well. You think I like pictures now, well I LOVE old pictures, and have some big ideas on what to do with them!

This project is so simple yet, at least for our family, it ended up meaning so much more than we had ever intended or imagined. 

When saying a little says it all

Is everyone a storyteller?  Larry Smith, editor of the online web publication Smith Magazine, thought so and in an attempt to encourage aspiring writers - and anyone for that matter - he issued a challenge for his readers to share their stories in six words.

Six. Not a paragraph, a page, an article or a full-length novel. Just six words.

What started out as a one-month contest in 2006, spawned into an out-pouring of honest, and often inspiring, six-word stories that continues to this day. I have to say, if you can't relate to at least one of them, you are not human. (Check out the website, the link is above. They even make t-shirts!)

I happened to learn about these "Six-word Memoirs" while flipping through the pages of the February issue of O Magazine. There, covering six-pages (kinda ironic don't ya think?) are stories from their readers, of which I was slightly disappointed that none of them mentioned faith or God. Regardless, they were humorous, telling and inspiring none the less. The one that popped off the page for me came from a 22-year-old. It said, "Life gives lemons, but no juicer." Very true.

To say that coming up with only six words is a challenge for me is the understatement of the century, as I tend to want to be witty, clever, insightful, poetic and thought-provoking with everything that I write, and I always have been.

This isn't to say that I think highly of myself, or have any far-fetched and lofty words to describe my story, and those words would probably never come close to filling the pages of a book. However, I think in every storyteller, there tends to be a desire to express more than what is necessary.

So, six words it is. Without further a-do, and after much brow-furrowing, hand exercises and knuckle-popping, here it goes:

"God made me with a purpose."

Phew. That was much easier than anticipated. (P.S. - He made you with a purpose too!)

Now, as I embark on this "new chapter" of my life, the question of my purpose begs me to answer it, and I will - eventually.

For now, I will be pacified knowing that even if I don't know my exact purpose at this exact moment, it does exist, and God has given me this opportunity to to take time to define it. That is good enough for me.

What are your six words?  I really want to see what you come up with! Please post them in the comments below...