A Sick Baby

Welp, when I told you that God was going to work on me about taking things in stride, I wasn't kidding. Last week, with Micah at my parents' house, I managed to complete two major writing assignments, fill a slew of etsy orders, straighten up the house, tackle a pile of laundry and, wait for it, sweep and mop the kitchen floor. Exciting, I know.

Life around here had been restored to order.

And then we picked Micah up, and she had a nasty little cough that has only gotten worse since then. Dennis took her to the doctor Sunday morning (yes, our pediatrician is open), and although he didn't say the word out loud to Dennis, on our copy of her chart, he checked the box next to bronchitis. My poor baby sounds like she's going to puke up her guts every time she coughs. It's awful.

Apparently, as the medicine does its work and loosens up all the gunk in her chest, it will get worse, which is no fun. I'm actually hoping that she throws up soon just to get some of it out of her system.

All of that to say, when God wants to work on something with you, he doesn't play around. If it's not one thing, it's another.

Micah's handling it better than I am, I think. I feel so badly for her when the coughs rack her body hard enough to throw her down. But it hasn't really slowed her down. She coughs and gags a few times, then she goes back to playing. She's a livewire, I tell you.

Anyway, if you're the praying type, we would greatly appreciate your prayers for our little girl.

Until next time, grace and peace.

How To Tuesday: Rolled Fabric Flowers

Welcome to How To Tuesday, where I'll introduce you to some of my favorite DIY craft projects from all over the web. I have a folder bookmarked on my computer that's chock-full of fun DIY projects. I saved some of the ideas for inspiration and others because I just thought they were pretty or fun, and now I'm sharing them with you.

(photo credit my sparkle​)

This week, I bring you fun and funky rolled fabric flowers from my sparkle. These are super simple to make, and I'm planning on making a few of them very soon. You only need some leftover fabric and a bit of fabric clue to make some pretty little flowers. Pop them on a headband or throw them on a wreath {as I plan to do}, and you've instantly jazzed up an otherwise ho-hum piece.

You can find the full tutorial at my sparkle. Happy crafting!

Until next time, grace and peace.

Taking Things in Stride

Last night I had a moment, well, several moments, really, in which I thought I had lost everything on the blog. Well, not everything. I do have all of the posts and comments and pictures saved in a backup file. I'm talking about the site structure itself. Major panic ensued.

Obviously, you're reading this, so I got everything sorted out, but for about four hours last night, I was at my wit's end. Which is silly, really, because it's just a website. But it's a website that I built and customized for myself, and it took me a long time to get it exactly the way I wanted. I was seeing hours and hours of getting it just right again in my future, and the prospect made me shudder.

This is just the most recent of events that has set me back lately, and the more these little things pop up, the more I've noticed something about myself.

When things don't go the way I have planned, I get bent out of shape. And when I say bent out of shape, I mean that I get twisted up into an unrecognizable form of myself. I obsess over "fixing" things when it's obvious to everyone else that they can't be fixed.

I don't want to be that way.

I want to be the kind of woman who takes things in stride. Who never gets her feathers ruffled or works herself into a tizzy. I want to calmly step both feet into my big girl panties, pull them up, and just deal with it.

This, I know, is going to be a slow and painful process, and given some of my recent circumstances, I'm afraid that it's an area that God really wants to work on right now.

He always does that, you know. Gets me in the gut.

I've been feeling overwhelmed lately with everything I've loaded on my plate. It's piled higher than a styrofoam tray at Thanksgiving dinner, and when I dive in to tackle the butterbeans, I send my cornbread tumbling off the plate. It's not pretty.

I called my mom Monday and asked her to come get Micah, who has refused to nap consistently for the past month, and when Micah refuses to nap, I can't write, which is a problem since I have two major deadlines at the beginning of next week. I have to work this week. Thank goodness for grandparents, right?

I'm hoping that I'll be able to get back on track while Micah's at my parent's house. That maybe these few days will be like pushing the reset button, and when I retrieve her, all will be calm, and my plate will have a few empty sections.

One can hope, right?

Until next time, grace and peace.