WoodstreamDream: August comes to a close...

This has been such a busy month... I learned how to can, experienced my first earthquake and landfalling hurricane (in the same week) and enjoyed so much time with my boys. I didn't accomplish as much as I'd like for my business, but I will soon have time on my hands and will be able to keep busy with business stuff while my boys are down the road at school. I will miss them greatly, but they enjoy themselves there and I will enjoy undisturbed time to work so I can focus clearly on them during non-school hours! That is the one steady challenge during the summer months - trying to fit everything in because that's what us "perfect" mothers are supposed to do. Well, that's quite the misconception. Perfection is highly over-rated and unattainable by us humans!

We've been home - without leaving the house since last Wednesday afternoon and for the most part, we've had a great time together. Scary with the tornado warnings, taxing with bouts of tummy problems for one of my little men, and grateful when a large tree came down on our fence & not on our home as Irene blew northward! I love to gather them close and can barely believe how quickly they're growing before my eyes. The sounds of their laughter just lifts my spirits when I feel my plate piled too high. They are constant joys in my life - joy that we've been blessed with two smart and good-spirited children. Perfection takes a backseat these days. I was so very confused during the early years of motherhood - trying to have everything just so. Life is meant to be lived, not admired from a distance. I go to bed knowing that there's laundry in the washer, toys on the floor, and dishes needing to be unloaded from the dishwasher - but also knowing that I will wake refreshed and ready for another day of teaching my children how to care for one another and the world around them - the way our Lord teaches. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13

Ah, I nearly forgot - earlier in the month I asked for scripture suggestions from my friends at Mary Jane's Farm Forum because I was going to paint some mugs so I could hold the Lord's words in my hands each morning.

They were a bit more expensive than I thought, so I painted two verses on each mug - one for myself to read and one for my tablemate to read on the other side! The inside I glazed with cafe au lait so that no tea or coffee stains would be noticed!

And now for the newest addition to my shop - Sky and Field Ripple Scarf in Acrylic