I love you Ruth:Bright Hope Ministries Launch

Today Ruth launched her new website of God's love and care for each believer no matter their troubles in life, even the death sentence of her own cancer.  I have talked about her here and encourage you to go to her new site, Bright Hope Ministries.  I just watched a Vimeo of a talk she did this past June 2011...my children even listened in to "Miss Ruth".  They paid attention to it.  They know her and I think know that we do have things in common.  The treatment results of cancer, the Lord and, a grand sense of humor.  You should know, Ruth's disabilities are more challenging or differ in challenge from Martin's and the type of cancer was different but the aforementioned similarities have been a grace gift from God to our whole little family.  Just go to the "Listen" link to see this talk.  We love her dearly and love even more her reflection of God's promises and certain plan for her life and family.  Please watch it.  You will need one hour and I pray you will emerge encouraged and in awe.

You can download her brochure to share from her site or contact her about it.

How to be Alone~A Video Poem

I've been checked out for awhile from this space although, I have journaled a thousand words in my head to log right here. Sometimes, writing is just not necessary and at other times, vital. I knew I could quickly log this one so here it goes.

On the heels of a blog post a good friend sent about gender and the controversial parents in Canada attempting to raise their child named, Storm, in a genderless way and what this means about shaping young minds and their future choices, opportunities, how others view/treat them, etc., my thoughts turned to a phrase my brother-in-law said in a breezy, relaxed conversation we had on a recent delightfully relaxing vacation. He said, and this is not a direct quote, "learn how to be alone". We were talking generally about ourselves, high school survival and our children we are raising now. For me, high school was about survival, not learning. I buried myself in art and began to develop a comfort with aloneness. I strongly believe, that small beginning, those moments when I had to sit and endure being alone and, maybe it even began before then, is why I am content and confident in my spiritual life, my romantic life, my social life... my whole life in general, to this day. Of course, I still have days of unstability and uncertainty but on the whole, I am so thankful for this time of waiting through and enduring gracefully some aloneness.

So this morning, I stumble across this beautiful poem by Tanya Davis, a video poem on YouTube. It is called, "How To Be Alone", see it here. I hope it will move you as it did me. I want to give it as a gift to all pre-teens and teenagers and the adults who once were one.

So scrappy together! Scrappy roses

My darling friend Cheryl and her darling boys were here for a few days. When they visit, there are two things that for sure will happen.

• Food making, food sharing (we have six children between us you know!)
  

• and, sewing fun!
  

This time the sewing/crafting was not planned as sometimes is the case. Unplanned craft can be the most fun after all. It began with this little trinket. For my 40th birthday tomorrow, Cheryl made me this bracelet. It is dark wash and soft denim for the band and some green and white fabric scraps from fabric she knows I love for three little scrappy roses on top. The bracelet is affixed with Velcro to match the denim and the roses stay in place with hot glue and let me say, I feel so cute and, smart wearing it. I was so inspired that I quickly set out to knock one off myself that very day. Here is the result.

I love the added wool felt leaves. We even think this one can be a temporary pillow for a mama when sitting. Just place hand elegantly on table in front of you and drop your forehead down onto the rose pillow....ahhhh, a little micro nap for a tired mama. All it needs is a drop of lavender essential oil or perfectly, rose essential oil. Voila! Instant relaxation. This rather large scrappy rose bracelet excitement, of course, led to other experiments. Necklaces perhaps?

Cheryl was a scrappy rose factory! There are seven pictured above.

To make the roses, you begin with a knot at the end of any length of 2" to 4" fabric scrap. You can even join scraps by sewing similar width pieces of various coordinating fabrics as was done in this particular rose. The widths can be off by an inch or two.

Then you wrap three times around the knot, holding it firmly like this:

Then you twist, wrap, twist wrap kinda like this and add a dab of hot glue every third wrap or so until the end when you think it is the right size, just trim and glue down the back piece firmly on the bottom.

So this one I glued onto a large hair pin with a piece of wool felt over the piece of pin that is closest to the rose to secure it and just how lovely...once a scrap and now a hairpin rose. Isn't it lovely paired with a low casual hair bun? I think it is romantic and from a distance, looks like a live some kind of flower...do you know what I mean? Maybe not even a rose.




As if this were not enough, I could not get past wanting to do this lovely Sassy Hair Peony from Sewing Bits & Pieces by Sandi Henderson. I need to get an alligator clip or come up with something so I can use it somehow. It can be glued to a pin as a brooch too. My edges did not come out very straight curved or smooth curved since I did not follow her direction to clip the curves before turning the petals to spray starch them (I get inpatient for results fast!) and I did not sew the edges tight enough I think when joining each row of petals so my total peony is about 7 inches in diameter and hers is about 6" but, I would still wear it. It is definitely sassy according to Cheryl. ;-) Maybe even affix it to a soft jersey gray colored hairband? I am not sure yet. I love the fact that I bought the orange floral fabric at a garage sale down the street and so far have made a one piece, linen lined sundress for my daughter with this fabric, as well as some of Anna Marie Horner's Quick Change Trousers with it. I love that it is an old button from one of my grandmothers stashes of buttons.



Won't you share what are you sewing up these days?

Is it feet off the floor time yet?

Early pregnancy has me, well, taxed. Is that the right word? I really feel as good as is possible in the situation and am accustomed to the morning sickness at this point. I am 10 weeks along now. I have lost my early mornings to sleep and that is when I usually blog. Sleep that I very much need in order to make it through the day well with my little people around here. I rise at 7 am (5:30am was the norm) very often these days and I quite enjoy it too. I thought I would be frustrated to not get a jump on the day before the little ones start to manage the day for me, but, that has not happened. I think pregnancy has a way of bringing peace when you may think it should be anything but peaceful. Strange. I have also lost my evenings of visiting, catching up and planning with my husband because very often, we both are asleep by 9:15pm and if not asleep, well on our way especially if Tess and boys are already in slumber. So all together, I have gathered up 2-4 extra hours of sleep per day because we still do nap in the afternoons. Yes, there is the nap which accounts for the "-4" part of my extra mentioned.

One hour can mean a lot.

Nap time or better known as Feet Off the Floor time. I have even learned (and they have learned and my mother has helped reinforce this too when they are at her house..thanks Mom!) to keep boys down, on my bed after reading to them all, nursing little mama to sleep then telling them we are going to close our eyes for 10 minutes (hoping for that to be at least 30 minutes or more) and do you know, they do it! They stay on my bed because we are having feet off the floor time and that means...your feet are off the floor. For Mr. Win, I have recently added, "and head on a pillow" just to make it clear for him. I do have to swat with my hand gently like swatting at a fly and shush if they get too restless or give them something to do with their hands but I do seem to get a deep cat nap in there and it refreshes me enough for the rest of the day. It may only be 10 - 15 minutes with little interruptions. But, for one hour, they are allowed to play with a quite toy, "read" a book(s), stare at the ceiling, work on a handicraft like the knitting spool ( I need some other little handicraft ideas for this actually....) or...really take a nap! But they must be quiet, not touch each other and not wake the baby. Those are the rules. I recently was given a one hour, hourglass from Pottery Barn (again, thanks Mom!) as a good visual for the boys if they are not sleepy in order to track the time more easily. And they know buddy! Gun informs Win if the sand is not finished and to shush! If I am refreshed and Gun and I are both still awake, we go downstairs and let the little ones continue napping. This is special time for he and I that I know he loves. I should also say, when my husband is home, he appreciates the time too. My little gift of good habit to him.

I should also note and I did not intend to note this last because it is a very important (to me) part of the whole deal. The rest time is without a movie. The time is spent learning to unwind without the blinky box and I like that one. I like cultivating the habit of rest. I do however use movies too but make an effort not to use it at all....a break of a habit that can form easily for a weary mom when I fact ( I believe) they need to learn to just.....be.

I must say, I was not ever as an early new mother this kind of strict nappy scheduling type and I am still not. But, I am a perfectionist. I love routine to my days even if it does not allow me to get to all that I planned..that is another post for later on that subject. The chores, the stress busting/pleasure filled time of sewing, knitting, reading to myself..school things...all that I have planned..you know what I mean...another post. We have many days when I need to go out and shop with the children and nap time for them may be a quickie on the ride to and from as many mamas are familiar. (And it makes me jealous too!...I want a nap too.) But in the routine-ness of our days, "feet off the floor" time is just that...familiar. As normal as grabbing a nap in the car. As normal as lunchtime.

It takes time to develop this special thing. And if you get out of habit of regular rest time, it takes time to reestablish it again but the loving persistence pays off with all bodies happier and refreshed. I think it gets lost as your children get older and nap time becomes devalued. There is even new research showing that children can be more likely obese due to sleep deprivation. They are not doing more video games/tv/reading books, eating too much junk, etc. (sedentary activities) which has long been the perception but rather, due to sleepiness, they are less active during the day and therefore burn less calories and that adds up over time to overweight/obesity...interesting right? Anyway, even if they protest rest (notice I don't call it nap time...it is feet off the floor time!...keep words positive!) even if they protest, in time, they appreciate it. As older, wiser mothers have told me, they will want that time of day to come around when they get to be adolescents and early teens..they need that reading/napping/recharge in quiet time, every day...every single day. In fact, my maturing almost 7 year old already will say on occasion with a pleading tone..."is it feet off the floor time yet??"....love to hear that one. Love it.

Now, having this rest when fun, exuberant friends are visiting for a couple of days? I will let you know how that goes....the mamas have decided to start a mass feet off the floor time..in separate rooms of course! Muellangs time begins tomorrow!..yippee!!

Muellangs Part 1.5

Boys showing their "bumps" at Domenic's Pizza inside Mobius Coffeehouse in Brenham, Texas, July 16...a hot, hot sweaty day.

the Muellangs! Part 1 of 2

My friend Cheryl and I have dubbed our vacation days together of sorts, the meeting of the "Muellangs"! That term is our two last names blended you see. With our combined six children ages 6.5 yrs and under, it can be a raucous good time of highs and lows. The get togethers always involve homemade food, home sewn clothing or gifts and lots of free wheeling imaginary play time.

The boys are mostly ...lets face it....gross with the food!

But, that detail notwithstanding..we feed 'em right! Ty sports some red sauce, Hunter his steady, PB&J and below are some yummy mini quiches.

Spring time mud is the best! Gun is sorry to have to come in and wash it away...the mosquitoes are always biting him but he does not care if the mud is flowing!

Ty gets a bath in the kitchen sink after the mud...(I think Gun got in there too now that I think about it) I love how a baby can wonder at the water.

The little ones, Tess and Ty, play in my fabric scraps as you see, or whatever they wag into the craft room while Cheryl and I sew. Here you see the complex relationship between them. One minute all is well, the next, Tess has been royally offended and Ty completely oblivious. Ty usually adds insult to injury (quite innocently of course) by 'making it better' and apologizing in his baby way by patting her on the head which in turn makes her more angry. The mamas try to mentor them and guide them through of course but, we also try to not let them see us snickering either.

Juggling little ones while designing Spring/Summer time pajamas for all six children can be tough. We had a little mama factory going though...we were determined. Cheryl ironed the casing and the hems while I machine sewed them down. We took nursing breaks of course!





We have many moments when we wonder if this was really a good idea or not. But, we want things handmade and we want good economy and something unique so this is what has to be done (we reason in our heads as we juggle kids and needles...oy!)














The boys created their own work. This is a natural sculpture made by Gun and Jay. Fantastic! A little clown guy they say.

I hope you find ways to create among and alongside your children today.

(P.S. This post is wacky in the layout...why is blogger software so difficult for me?..oh well)