Memoir Monday {No. 78}

 

First things first.

Cooper is happy to announce two giveaways that you should pop in and enter.

This one over at Sew a Fine Seam ~ She is celebrating her third anniversary for Sew a Fine Seam as a business and is giving away the winner’s choice of a HOME t-shirt and also giving away a flexiclip from yours truly.

This giveaway here at A Delightful Glow that ends tonight! It is for a Gratitude Journal. Love the journal! It very much fits my tastes. Bright colors, inspiring quotes and fun details!

{Cooper had been feeling just a bit like THAT KITTY was showing up more often than he was and wanted to make the announcements.}

 

Swoon ~ tiny ruffled skirt!!!! chubby baby legs…..could you ask for anything dearer?!! I whisper in this baby niece’s ear about how blessed she is and what a good mama she has. She always smells so good and her mama does take such good care of her girlies. This baby has not been the world’s best sleeper for her mama, but we forgive her because she is so sweet. But still, I remember those days and I know her mama would love for her to sleep all night.

The little girls came to stay for a couple hours at our house and Miss A. wanted her hair like Aunt Debbie’s and wanted to wear a flexi. Such a cute blonde ponytail! 🙂

She also packed her swim clothes so she could swim for a bit. She was cautious and thought the water was cold, but she liked it and wanted to stay in.

The heading for July in the Choose Gratitude Blessings Journals is, “Cultivate Beauty.” Each month has a theme or heading or inspiration. June’s was “Take Time To Smell the Roses.”

I like July’s and have thought of it several times. I believe more and more that intentional choices for beauty and gratitude in our lives blesses us in such big ways. We walk through different stages of life and sometimes we’re in the whirl of diapers and answering “Why?” for the sixty-eighth time in one day and sometimes we’re up to our elbows in dirty dishes and soapsuds and sometimes we’re caring for elderly parents or aunts. Sometimes we’re saying good-bye to loved ones because we live far apart or because someone dear has completed their journey here on earth. Sometimes we’re in seasons of joy and celebration.

In any season there is beauty to be found. Sometimes I have to look harder and longer. Sometimes it means simply stopping and ignoring all the messes and chaos and what might feel out-of-control and making beauty in the midst of it. Clearing one spot. Snapping a picture. Reading a chapter of a favorite book. Sitting in the cleaned out car for a few minutes. Holding hands with my husband. Lighting a candle. Savoring brownies and milk. Writing a cheery note to someone I love. Donating a few dollars to help feed a child on the other side of the world. Wrapping up a gift.

It doesn’t make all the messes disappear, but it fades them and it feeds my soul.

I’m excited to cultivate beauty in July!

You can find Crystal’s Gratitude Journal here….

Here is THAT KITTY again! This chair arm is one of his mostest favoritest perches!

My favorite picture of the week.

I was thinking about the Cultivating Beauty when I took this picture.

Combine put away. Tractor put to work.

Checking ground.

Lovely design by my daughter.

Uh-oh. Life on a farm and wear and tear and dirt roads.

I figured up that I think I used thirteen gallons of iced tea during harvest. We take our iced tea seriously around here. 🙂 We did have cousins visiting, and we drank some here at home, but a lot of it went to the harvest field for the harvesters.

Did you see the Sunflower July flexi last week? Go over here if not.

We’re catching up on rest a little bit after harvest. I think it takes me longer every year. *Getting Old.*

We missed the local fireworks in our small town. They set them off on Friday evening the third. I never thought about even checking. We don’t get a paper and I don’t pay that much attention to news. I just assumed. Because naturally, don’t you set off fireworks on the fourth? Oh well. It gave us a nice excuse for an outing. We drove to a neighboring town on Saturday evening and grabbed sandwiches and found a spot off to ourselves and waited as dusk fell. It was a really beautiful evening and it was a good display. We circled back through Wendy’s for ice cream and tried to keep our eyes open as we headed home. The kiddos stretched out and sacked out. Weary Mom and Dad not-so-much. We were tireder than we thought we were! But it was fun and both the kiddos declared several times that they had fun. I told them I remembered watching fireworks many years with my parents and many times, not just after fireworks, I remember heading for the drive-thru and an ice cream cone. I love how my childhood memories seep into my children’s and the activities we do, yet not at all exactly the same either. I love how families become their own special units and make their own memories. A bright mix of happy and sad and noisy and loud and quiet and joy and learning and loving and living!

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