Fairies

When we were young, if you'd ask my friend, Laura, what she wanted to be when she grew up, she'd say she wanted to be fairy. So, while planning her baby shower, I told my friend Jessi about a sweet fairy dress pattern that I'd found here at one of my favorite craft blogs, Craftzine.
Jessi's very talented mom offered to make one for Laura's baby-to-be and one for AP as well. Jes found all of the great fabric (mostly sheets) at thrift stores.

Here's Elizabeth's in pink...

And here's my sweet fairy in yellow.

The dress is great for twirling!

Rocks In My Dryer

I have found a blog that I absolutely love and want to share. It's "Rocks In My Dryer". I found it while researching Corrie ten Boom for the 8th grade English class I teach. While I don't share her knack for writing, nor her wisdom, the author and I have many things in common. She blogs about motherhood, her love of books, and her Christian faith. I can totally relate to her posts and, from her site, always take away some sort of inspiration.

Here is a post that have inspired me lately, but for more, click here.

Why I Believe (from "Rocks In My Dryer")

There are times when I wish my faith in God was perfectly box-shaped, with the corners tucked in neatly, and the whole thing tied up with a big, red bow.

There are times I wish I had bite-sized answers for the hard questions. Answers that make easy sense within the framework of my humanity. Answers that don't stretch me too much.
But it doesn't work that way. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. And that can get messy. Young mothers get sick. Husbands leave. Terrorists fly planes into buildings. I follow a God who has promised me peace and comfort and joy, but on His terms, not mine.

And I know--I really do know--that this is a tough thing for some people to swallow. From the outside looking in, it looks like a blind faith, or a crutch. I've traveled that road of skepticism more times than I can count. I wrestled until my soul was bruised. There were times, when I was younger, that I didn't think I'd ever be able to believe again.
But I do believe now. I do, with all my heart. Even when it's messy. But how? How can I follow a God who doesn't always stop suffering?

I don't have a theologian's answer to that question, because I'm not a theologian. There was I time when I needed that kind of answer--the facts, the explanations, the persuasion. I've heard them all, and those answers are all an important part of my faith journey.
Now, all I really need to see is His track record in my life. I believe because I've seen what He's done, in my own life--my peace in the storms, my journeys out of the wildnerness. I don't doubt His goodness, simply because He's proven it to me so many times, through my own circumstances, through Scripture, and most of all, on the cross.

My daughter hates it when I make her hold my hand to cross a parking lot. She hates it when I have to tug a little to get the tangles out of her hair. She hates it when I say "no" to snacks right before dinner.
I do all this because I see the big picture. She doesn't.

Yet in all of this, she still loves me and prefers me. Why? Because she knows that the same momma who says "no" to snacks is the same momma who makes sure she's always well-fed. The same momma who grabs her hand in the parking lot is the same momma who kisses her scraped-up knee. I have a track record of proving my love for her. When I do something that makes her angry, she ultimately accepts it as coming from the hand of a mother who always acts with her best interests at heart.

Is that too simple an analogy? Maybe. But faith is simple. It's taking a leap and suspending disbelief just long enough to see if God is who He says He is. If He is, He can handle the tough questions. If He is, He'll meet us on our journey, taking a thousand steps toward us when we take just one toward Him.

From the bottom of my heart, I'll tell you--He's worth the risk.

We're So Proud of Our Friend!

Click here to check out our friend Erika's interview on the "My Home Ideas" website. If you haven't already, I also suggest you check out her blog and read about her latest adventure...at the Daytime Emmys!
The above photo was taken by another friend from Florida, Marla Carter. You should check her out if you want to have beach portraits taken on your next vacation.

Operation Diaper Free

For my birthday, my husband gave me the book Toilet Training in Less Than a Day. After reading it, I felt like it would be a good method for AP. Our day was Monday. The idea is to focus on the potty, and only the potty, until the child can go by his or herself. It seemed easy enough, and she did pretty well for a while, but after spending 4 hours sitting on the kitchen floor with all focus on her, I was pooped, (pardon the pun) and AP was ready to do something else. I thought I'd failed miserably and maybe even tried too soon. I was especially frustrated the next day when she refused to sit on the potty at all.

Then, something wonderful happened. That night, I heard her calling for me at 1:45 am. I ran and got her and took her to the potty! Since then, she's been doing great. I've just been so proud of her! I've also been pretty sad, though. Once the diapers are gone, you really don't have a baby anymore.

The book encourages you to praise dry pants instead of going to the potty. This illustration from the book cracks me up. It says, "Happiness is dry pants."

Anne Parks Is Two!

I can't believe that it has been two years since AP joined our family! It seems like she should still be a little baby, but then, it seems like she's always been here. Each day, she's more and more fun for us. She's talking so much, definitely has a personality all her own, and always has the funniest things to say.

AP on her "birth" day - all 9 lbs. ll oz. of her.

Sandcastle Rice Krispy treats...I wasn't sure these would work, but I coated the sandcastle molds with lots of butter and they slipped right out! The big one in the middle was cut into thin individual serving-sized slices (for people to pick up), and then put back together like a puzzle.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Girl!

Let's Have a Ball!

AP had a beach birthday party this weekend, and I'll share photos soon. For the invitations to other kids, I wrote the info on a beach ball and put it in an envelope with the instructions, "Blow me up!" But for everyone else, I wanted a picture of AP to put on a paper invitation. After filling up my memory card with trial pics, we finally got it right.

Pretty cute, huh?

Financial Peace

My husband and I just completed Financial Peace University. I'd been a Dave Ramsey fan for a while and was thrilled when Jason signed us up for FPU for my birthday. I learned so much! Dave's philosophy (don't spend money you don't have) is easy enough to understand and is pretty common sense, but in addition to avoiding debt, I learned a lot about taxes, insurance, and investing. We had a great time and recommend the class to anyone. If you're interested, click here to see if there is a class in your area.

our graduation cake

a mosaic made from all of the credit cards that were cut up during the course of the class