With

This morning the kids are cleaning their rooms and about 20 minutes ago Clayton came running from his room holding a blanket, "Momma, Momma! I thought this blanket was lost but I looked under the bed it isn't lost, it's with me now!"

It's funny when some little phrase catches you off guard. I fully expected him to say, "I found it! I found it!" but no, he said, "it's with me now!". And it set my mind to thinking.

In the parables of Jesus he talks of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son (Luke 15) and there is rejoicing when these are found. But these things are not just found, they are now with the finder. With implies interaction.

Sometimes we find things just to put them on the shelf or to put them in the place they belong but when Jesus finds us (or we find him) we are found to be with him. We are not found to just know where we are...we are to be with him now. In his arms, being carried by him, interacting WITH Him.

It's a small little word but it made a huge difference in my outlook this morning.

Table Tent

A few weeks ago on Cowgirl Clippings, Chelsea shared a tent idea that she found on the blog, The Artful Parent.

Oh my, it was love at first sight.

I love forts, always have. BUT...and it's a big BUT... now as a parent and a stay at home mom trying to keep some order to the chaos I have started to loathe the building of forts, because it takes all my chairs and strews many blankets across the floor, house and furniture. BUT...and it's another big BUT... just because it may irk me some does not give me a good excuse to deprive my children of the joy of fort building.

So today I pulled out my sewing machine, a couple old sheets, an old table cloth, and a basket of leftover quilt binding and got to work.

And here you have it:


Three windows and a door, and the oldest three are, as I type, enjoying it fully.

I've even gotten a few random hugs of joys and a thank you every couple minutes!

I'm going to go see if I can squeeze in and join them.

Garden Treasure

Saturday I took recycling to Cart'm and surprise, surprise, I found another treasure.

Erik rolled his eyes.

He does that just about every time I go to Cart'm; at least every time I come home with treasures from Cart'm. Which, if I'm being honest, means just about every time I go to Cart'm.

But this time I found this:

I have no idea what it was used for before I found it. It was a box with a window hinged on it. The boards on the short ends of the box stuck out past the box part by about a foot on each side and the back had weird notches cut out of it.

I bartered and came home with it and Erik helped me cut off the ends and then he cut out the back. Then we set my new cold frame in one of the garden beds and Miss Moddy helped me plant lettuce in it.

I'm so excited.

A few of my seeds I planted weeks ago are actually growing. Not many, but there are a few snow peas poking up.

My parsley is doing really well, but that's not new. It's been growing for awhile. I just love the green!

And do you see the shadows? Do you see the light? The sun actually came out for a visit!

Oh it was beautiful.

Wedding! Oh and other things...

My dad commented the other day that I hadn't blogged in awhile so I figured I better get on it.

Hi Dad!

But I'm going to skip the obligatory "Sorry I haven't blogged in awhile, I've been..." and just head straight into the big news.

Erik's brother Tony got married this last weekend. My kiddos are so excited to have another Aunt! So, Welcome to the family Aunt Kendra! (I'm also excited to have another sister in law!)


Erik was a groomsman and Ivan was the ring-bearer. They both looked quite handsome.


And I've got a million pictures to sort through but I thought I'd just share a few.

Also life has just been crazy.

Last night I performed "The Story of Gomer" for a Village Missions Pastor's Conference in Cannon Beach. It was really fun being able to share the story again and I already have a few offers to come perform it at other churches in the near future! I'm quite excited about these opportunities that God is presenting. It's quite humbling to be used of God and quite scary.

Tulips are blooming in my yard. The seeds I planted in the garden a few weeks ago are slowly sprouting and just a few little green shoots are venturing above the surface of mud. Sadly I think many seeds were drowned.

My sister Mindy is at Ecola Bible School for the spring term and we're loving having her around. At least once a day Miss Moddy asks for "Minny". Though sometimes she asks for "Bethy" (Aunt Beth) and I have to tell her that "No, we're just going to see Aunt Minny right now".

Hopefully I can get back into the habit of sharing more often. But often that's "a pie-crust promise, easily made, easily broken."

Name that movie.