Last year, one of my favorite blogs had a recipe for Homemade Chocolate Peanut Spread. I had a desire to make little valentine’s gifts and an overabundance of empty baby food jars. That plus another idea I put my own twist on (I mean shamelessly copied) gave us this:
We loved the spread on pretzels, bananas, crackers, fingers and, well, spoons! If your sweetie loves chocolate & peanut butter you can’t go wrong!
February 14 is one week away and I am filled with ideas and plans for my habitual Valentine’s Day craft binge! There was the year I did watercolor paintings on a dozen paper plates, put stamps on them and mailed them to friends around the country. Another year, I bought giant craft paper to make huge origami hearts to fill with presents.
Last year, I bought tons of felt and spent many happy hours cutting and sewing it into buntings. This is the one I made for Margo’s room. It is fun to have it hanging in her new room! She said “orange one!” when she saw it.
Are you doing any fun heart crafts? Baking anything with lots of chocolate that you’re going to send to us in the mail? Leave a comment and we can trade ideas! Toddler-friendly ideas are especially welcome!
Our toddler’s “toddlerness” was a little extra tiring today. Nothing major, but enough that I needed to remind myself to be thankful! Taking pictures is such a good reminder to stop, look and be grateful! God gives so many blessings, here are a few from today:
I love watching her slurp her milk.
A walk in the sunshine.
New books from the thrift store!
Here we are enjoying Rosalie the Bird Market Turtle and The Snowy Day.
But, what I really needed was a chapter of Choosing Gratitude by Nancy Lee DeMoss! It was a great reminder to be thankful for all the Lord has done in for me! Stories of people like Franny Crosby (writer of the hymn Blessed Assurance) who was thankful to God in spite of lifelong blindness put my complaining over a long day in perspective!
Well, three (or is it four?) months after receiving this blog as a birthday gift, I’m writing my first blog post. I am excited to share my life with whoever wants to see it, so here goes!
I always have lots of projects percolating, and one that will be ongoing this year is a “photo a day” challenge. So far, I have taken at least one or two photos of Margo each day and it is fun looking at them and trying to chose. Some capture a sweet moment. Others seem to define the whole day. My plan for “using” them is to post a facebook album each month with captions that can be printed with the photos in a book at the end of the year. Seeing how she changes will be fun, but what I really look forward to is getting to share fun memories with her when she’s older!
As if there were any question (ha!) I am not a professional photographer, so maybe this project will motivate me to work on my photo skills, too!
The photo above is from January 1. After her nap, Margo got out her coffee set and pretended to pour and drink 5 cups of coffee in a row! Her exhausted parents knew just how she was feeling!
Below, you can see a typical typhoon afternoon at our house.
I’m excited to give this website to my wife on her birthday!
Melissa is my loving and patient wife, a devoted and sacrificial mother to our daughter Margo, and a faithful and serving sister, both to her biological sisters and to the body of Christ. I want her to have this website because she is always giving of herself…to me, to Margo, to our friends at church. She gives cards and food and time and sewing projects and hospitality, and always does so in a creative way that communicates that serving is her joy and not a burden.
I think that anyone out there reading this will enjoy what she has to share, whether its pictures of a fruit dessert, steps to making all kinds of projects (often edible but sometimes just nice to look at; the edible projects are my personal favorites), stories of growing up with ten brothers and sisters, stories of raising one cute, red-headed little girl, or other stories of how the Lord has been faithful to her. God has made Melissa into an excellent woman, wife and mother. I think she can bring Him glory by being herself, right here, on this website. Because Christ is in her, she serves others and gives freely of herself. I think anyone who reads this website will enjoy getting to know her and will glorify God for the creativity He has given her!
I love my life with Melissa…and I bet you’ll enjoy the parts of our life she shares with you, too!
Happy Birthday, dear!
Love,
Isaiah
ps. I’m not sure what this blog will ultimately look like. I’ll let her decide that because it’s hers. If I know her, it’ll go through several revisions until she gets it just right!