Honor the Gifts You Receive

So here's the big reveal! Here's the family tree I made for my dad for his birthday! Tadaa! My vision was a little less crafty and a little more classy, but I did my best and now I'm done with it, so yay!

It feels nice to honor the gift that my dad gave me of all of the time and effort and money he put into researching our family tree. There are some really cool stories he found along the way, too, that maybe I'll put into a scrapbook one day. You know, the same day I'm gonna do all the eleven million other little projects in a zillion unfinished stages all around my house. Hah!

Anyway, working on this project made me really focus on honoring the gifts I'm given. I think there are tons of things that others do for me that I regularly take for granted, and I'm trying to be cognizant of that lately. So, I've been trying to honor gifts lately.

To not just let the sweets and trinkets Flannery got for Easter go to waste, but to allow her a little treat each day. So far, the egg carton of tiny bubble gum eggs has been her favorite! (And my favorite was the dove dark chocolates....yum!)

To take the time to help Flanna decorate the cool birdhouse my brother-in-law made for us. (Next step in the honoring process is to actually hang it outside in a place safely away from cats!)

To work hard to keep the communal herbs that dropped from the sky (er, actually from my landlord, Edna), alive and thriving. (I found out that I have mint, chives, basil, and rosemary. And I did have oregano. Until I killed it by underwatering. I guess honoring is a work in progress when delicate plants are involved.)

To appreciate the gift of a good, flexible job even amidst busy, stressful times. To take in the thousands of little gifts I get each day from my sweet clients--the little giggles, grins, smiles, funny things said, silly dances, hugs, and amazing accomplishments I get to witness every day.

To remember to gaze upon my wonderful family as a gift, a real treasure, and to treat them as so.




What gifts are you trying to honor lately?

Why I'm Covered in Green Paint

Oh, I forgot to say why I was spattered in green paint. I thought I had bought a watercolor set of paints. Turns out it was oil paints. And I didn't buy any turpentine or whatever you need to clean oil paints off of your hands. And I really needed to get this family tree art project done so I could send it to my dad for his birthday. So I used the oil paints.

It was like The Cat in the Hat all over again.

But the finished product is pretty cool.

Once I send it to my dad and he sees it first, I'll post more than just this teaser pic. You know, don't want to spoil the surprise and all.



Oh, and by the way, we had goo be gone, so hopefully I won't be all green for my morning of IEP meetings tomorrow. Hooray!

Be the Memory Keeper

One of the things that makes me and my family happiest is sharing happy memories together. So, as a part of my happiness project, I've made a resolution to try to be the storekeeper of happy memories for my family. I've started lots of little projects to work toward this resolution--a scrapbook for Flannery, a family tree record for both sides of our family, and more recently, I've been trying to make a DVD for the grandmothers of all the videos we have of Flannery's life so far. This weekend, as Mothers' Day is fast approaching, I've spent a ton of time on the video project, and I actually finished it! I now have a finished product--a DVD with 4 chapters (from infant to 3 year old). It's not perfect, but it's done! My husband, daughter, and I watched it today. It's really adorable. Flanna screamed and laughed and fell off the couch a few hundred times as we were watching it. I guess it was a hit!

One of my favorite times from our Easter family get-togethers was playing the piano with Flanna and Robi's mom (see the photo above!) But a really close second was when Robi's dad and aunt told some stories about Robi's extended family. I was so glad to hear some of these stories, and couldn't believe that Robi's cousins hadn't heard the stories, either. Good thing we sat around sharing memories that day!

Here's one of the doozies: Robi's aunt told the story that his great-grandma Lula had just had her first daughter, and the baby was around 3 months old when they had to move to another house. So, they packed up an old truck with all of their things, and they sat in the front of the truck. On the way to the new house, the truck hit a huge bump, and Lula was thrown out and was run over by the truck. (I guess this was before seat-belts!) The baby was fine somehow, but Lula had broken ribs, & some other injuries, and was taken to the hospital. She stayed there for many months, unable to walk or to take care of her baby. A doctor at the hospital actually asked Lula if he and his wife (who were unable to have kids) could adopt her baby. Lula seriously considered it, because she was in such bad shape, but ultimately, she refused. (I guess family helped take care of the baby during this time?) Anyway, after a few months, Lula was laying in bed, and she "saw" some tiny angels dance from the open hospital window to the foot of her hospital bed. They circled around her dancing for a few minutes, and then went back out the window. At that point, she decided that she was going to try to get up and walk, and she did. She went back home soon after and took care of her baby, and also had other children after that (doctors had told her she wouldn't be able to have more children because of the accident). She heard years later that the doctor who had asked to adopt her baby had committed suicide. She was so glad she hadn't subjected her baby to a "better" life that would actually end in tragedy.

Crazy stuff, huh?



What cool stories from your family do you just love?

Finish a Project

My cousin recently sent me this photo of a quilt she just finished making for her oldest son. Cool, huh?

And it got me thinking. Finishing projects is really something that makes people happy.

This weekend, my daughter and I planted a little herb garden for our windowsill. Nothing big...we just planted a little cilantro, basil, and chives. But every time I walk by the little planter, it gives me a tiny happiness boost. And I bet that every time my cousin walks by the cute quilt in her son's room, she feels the same way.

Little projects are fun. I have lots of friends who knit or quilt or sew, and I really wish I did those things, because having a little finished product every now and then is satisfying. (I actually tried to learn to knit two separate times in my life, and I came to realize that I'm just not math-y enough to do it. All the counting and the patterns were just not my forte. Sad!)

So I've started a few projects that appeal to me and don't require counting or crazy amounts of concentration on my part. I'm working on my daughter's scrapbook, so that I can Be the Memory Keeper. I'm working on an art project involving my family tree, so that I can pass down family stories. Just the anticipation of these projects coming to fruition has already brought me a lot of joy. (I learned that anticipating fun brings me happiness, so I now love to plan fun events way in advance so that I can anticipate the fun for a while...it's, well, ...fun!)

So, I may never be a great quilter, or knitter. But working on my own little artsy, creative projects is pretty satisfying, too!


What project are you working on (or thinking about starting) right now?