Archives for March 2016

Rustic Wedding Resource

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Mother of the Bride, has your happy couple settled on a rustic wedding theme? If so, let me share a resource where you can find lots of great advice and ideas to help you and your daughter plan all the details for her big-day shindig.

Rustic Wedding Chic is a wedding blog devoted to all things wedding with a rustic or country flair. You’ll find several pages on this site—real rustic country weddings, rustic wedding ideas, inspiration, fashion, vendors, Ask Maggie, and even how to submit your wedding to be featured on the site.

Be sure to check out the About page as well so you can get the whole scoop on this popular wedding site and its founder and editor Maggie Lord.

Have fun perusing Rustic Wedding Chic, MOB—and be sure to share the site with your daughter. Or better yet, take her on a mother/daughter wedding planning date and enjoy exploring it together!

*You might also like to read Table Décor for Rustic Weddings, Cake Idea for the Rustic Wedding, Table or Mantelpiece Décor Idea for a Rustic Wedding, Watering Can Wedding Centerpiece, Old West, Flyer-Inspired Wedding Stationery Idea, Burlap Ring Bearer Pillow and Flower Girl Basket, and Rustic Wedding Bridal Shoes: Boots—What Else?

*Flickr photo by kristaguenin, Creative Commons License

Midweek Morsel: Spiritual Moments in Everyday Life

IMG_4716Does everyday life ever surprise you with unexpected spiritual moments? Sweet connections with our Lord or hearts filled with gratitude, praise, or fresh insights don’t happen only when we are involved in prayer and worship and reading God’s Word. Sometimes God blesses us with such moments in the ordinary business of daily living.

Here’s what Shauna Niequist has to say in her book Bittersweet – Thoughts on Change, Grace, and Learning the Hard Way about some of her most deeply spiritual moments:

“Many of the most deeply spiritual moments of my life haven’t happened just in my mind or in my soul. They happened while holding my son in the middle of the night, or watching the water break along the shore, or around my table, watching the people I love feel nourished in all sorts of ways.”

Let’s not miss the spiritual feast that can be experienced in the everyday moments of life. Let’s be ready to look at the common with fresh eyes. Let’s be alert to all that God has for us in the everyday.

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” James 1:17

*How has God blessed you with spiritual moments in your normal course of life?

*My photo of our grandson Isaiah

A Berry Beautiful Wedding Cake

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Mother of the Bride, if your daughter would like a more natural and healthy component to her wedding cake, has she considered having it adorned with berries? Nothing says fresh and healthy like fresh fruit, right? And not only that, but it will add a yummy tartness to the sweetness of the cake and be colorful, too!

Strawberries and blueberries, as pictured above, would be the perfect fruit choice for a wedding around the 4th of July—or at any time of the year if the bride’s color choices are shades of red and/or blue.

But other kinds of fruit could be used as well. Can you picture other combinations using grapes, kiwi, pineapple, blackberries, melon pieces, or other types of fruit in addition to the strawberries and blueberries? Color will be a factor, of course, so it will work with the overall color scheme of the wedding, and your daughter will also want to consider what flavor of cake will complement her fruit choices—or vice versa. What fun considering all the options!

So check with your darling bride-to-be, MOB, and see if a berry beautiful wedding cake appeals to her. She might just say, “I think that’s a berry good idea!”

*You might also like to read Wedding Cake Idea: Coconut Cloud.

*Flickr photo by Sean Davis, Creative Commons License

Blown Away by the Blessing of God

IMG_7811Most of you have heard our big news by now, but for those of you who haven’t, we’re going to be grandparents again—to another set of twins!! You heard me right. Twins again! After waiting and praying with Kristin and Shawn for years, God blessed them beyond our wildest hopes and gave them twin baby boys, and now we’ve got another miracle unfolding with our other daughter Kelli and her husband Jake!

Kelli bravely and beautifully shared their miracle in progress on Facebook earlier this month and has given me permission to share it here as well. May their story bless and encourage you!

“This is going to be a long post, but I feel I need to share every word of it. Some of you may know, Jake and I have been trying to get pregnant for a long time now. I get teary-eyed thinking about how tough the last three years have been. Every month we hoped and prayed, and every month we were disappointed. We tried to remain faithful, telling ourselves God had a plan, but you can’t help but wonder why God would put you through such a terrible experience. The worst part was answering the same question over and over, “When are you guys going to have some kids, what are you waiting for?”

About a year ago we decided to get help and started seeing a fertility specialist in Kansas City. After some tests and minor procedures, I got pregnant in October. I had a positive pregnancy test on a Monday and miscarried by Friday. It was the toughest week of the entire journey.

After the miscarriage, we decided to take a break from the doctors and the procedures and enjoy the holidays. The plan was to wait until the beginning of the year to decide whether we should keep trying, or start the adoption process. If we kept trying, it would require some more serious medical procedures.

In early December, our pastor gave a sermon on the birth of John the Baptist. His mother, Elizabeth, was barren, but maintained her faith and was eventually blessed. I fought tears the entire morning. At the end of the service, Bro. Aaron asked to pray with us. We had never told him of our struggle, he just told us he felt lead to pray with us, but didn’t know what to pray for. At this point, I lost it. I briefly told him about our troubles and we said a short prayer.

Two weeks later I knew I was pregnant before I even took a test, even though we hadn’t been to the specialist in months. The initial blood work confirmed it! The numbers were much higher than they were in October. After four weeks of anxiety, we finally had our first office appointment. Right away we were able to see a little squirming baby and hear its precious heartbeat. Then we saw the second heartbeat. That’s right, two heartbeats, two babies!!!

Our journey over the last three years is proof God answers prayers, but he does it according to His plan, not ours. Sometimes you even get twice what you prayed for! We continue to be cautiously optimistic, but wanted to share with everyone the miracle God has done in our lives, and celebrate these two lives. We appreciate the continued prayers.”

And now back to me—and what can I say except that we are all blown away by the blessing of God! Completely, undeniably blown away by his mercy, by his above and beyond blessing in our family’s lives. Long-term heartache for both of our daughters and their husbands—and us as well—turned to joy unspeakable. Our hearts overflow is almost an understatement!

As you join in our joy and praise to God, will you join us in prayer as well? Will you pray that all will go well with Kelli’s pregnancy and that the babies will grow and develop as they should? They are due on September 7th, but most twins come a few weeks early. I will be one busy grandma with one set of twins about an hour away and another set nearly six hours away! Busy, but extremely happy—and tired since I will also be trying to market my first book! Someone pass the vitamins, huh? LOL

“Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, ‘The LORD has done great things for them.’ The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.” Psalm 126:2-3

*When have you been blown away by the blessing of God?

*My photo

Blogging Break Calls for Grandson Photo Fun!

IMG_4808Hey everyone, I’m taking an extended Spring Break blogging break but will be back two weeks from today on March 28th. Sometimes I’m so busy over spring break that it’s much like that age old dilemma of needing a vacation to recover from vacation. So doggone it, I’m going to do it. I’m going to extend my blogging break to two weeks so I can give myself a little more leeway. Makes sense to me!

And what better to leave up my blog in the meantime than a few photos of my adorable grandsons, huh? I don’t post many pics of them here on my blog but now seems like the perfect time to do it. Spring break is for fun—and what could be more fun than twin grandsons?!

The photo above was taken on Isaiah and James’ first birthday in January. Isaiah is on the right and James is on the left. Hope you enjoy seeing our precious boys once again! See you in a couple of weeks!

IMG_4774These boys are on the move all the time now so it’s a challenge to get good photos of them anymore! :)

12509096_10153792390803232_4285918969609564987_nOur sweet Isaiah. Love him so much!

1929039_10153792391033232_4715517595459124427_nOur precious James. Love him equally as much!

IMG_5139Did I mention how busy they are? :)

IMG_4780And yes, they are even cute from behind! We are so blessed!

“From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise . . .” Psalm 8:2a

*What little ones do you love like crazy? Tell me about them!

*Photos by Kristin and me