Memorial Day 2016

Our Memorial Day was full of lovely weather, outdoor relaxing, & family togetherness. So, perfect, in other words. 

I love that there's a pond on the farm. People flock to water on warm, sunny days. Good memories happen around campfires & water. This time was no different. The little ones added the entertainment. They've changed the dynamics of the family, but it's hard to remember what it was like before them.

All nine months apart. All ridiculously loved & doted on.

Dar & Kenton have been talking about flying airplanes since we got married. They borrowed the neighbor's to take advantage of the prime flying conditions. It's a hobby I could live with: still, warm evenings in a wide open field with the golden hour descending on us...

We took a Sunday afternoon drive up to a view point.

We can see the point we were on from the farm. I love being able to view my horizon & pick out places in the distant hills & mountains we've been! It makes me feel more & more a sense of belonging. 

We toured wine country then stopped at a charming little market that had wood-fired pizza. If you are ever in our area of the Willamette Valley, I highly recommend a sunset drive through the Dundee Hills wine area & a stop at Red Hills Market for pizza!

On Memorial Day, the extended Sinn family got together for dinner & mingling. Lots & lots of little ones running around! There's been 10 added to the family since we got married 3 years ago. The Sinns live their kids though, & it's the proverbial village raising when they're all together. 

I love the family I married into. And I am thankful for 3-day weekends where every day of it is spent together, outdoors in the beautiful place I all home. 

chalk lettering workshop

I taught a chalk lettering workshop last week. I'm going to say it again because it's so surreal: I taught a workshop last week! It's been on my list of dreams for a long time. And it happened! 

Not that I wasn't terrified when it came time to stand up in front of a dozen women who had paid for the workshop. Fears & insecurities swamped me that morning. It didn't help that it was the first day of berry harvest, & I had to miss it due to the workshop. Guilt overwhelmed me that I'd been so selfish as to pursue my own frivolous little dreams instead of supporting my husband in his lifework of providing for our little family. 

 Dar was shaking his head at me that morning when I was sharing my nervousness & fear about teaching in front of a dozen women. "You asked to do this! You wanted to!" he said. I did, too. And I did even then. But it doesn't mean I wasn't nervous! But I have this desire on my heart to share. To share the loveliness I find in creating; to share the connection I feel with other women when we're leaning over a work of art, whatever that may be; to share the burning desire in me to bring glory to God by the making of things with my hands. It isn't everyone's passion (thank goodness! Who would do the bookwork?! And staff the hospitals?), but it is part of my calling. My friend Kara, who's a lovely photographer & one of those rare sweet, yet real, people, brought her camera & took photos of the workshop. On her own! Without expecting compensation! People are so nice. (She took all these photos.) We all have our calling. And it blesses us & everyone around us when we use it. She has no idea how that little act calmed my heart & gave me courage to stand up in front of everyone.

 Life is fuller, more peaceful, & efficient, even, when we follow our calling. This little endeavor proved that to me. It went well. I was a little frazzled-my hair says it all. But I made it through without completely forgetting what I wanted to teach. My pupils were so sweet & involved. Willamette Valley Pie, where the workshop was held, provided free pie & iced tea to beat the 90 degree heat. (We had A/C, thank goodness!) I had enough supplies, I even remembered containers to catch all the chalk shavings!

 But I must "walk humbly" with my God. Because it is His power in me, His talents, His joy, His creativity that work through me. And I can never forget that. It isn't me. It is never me. Although I love to claim the credit.
 I'd chosen Micah 6:8 as an example to show different fonts for lettering. "Do justly, love mercy, walk humbly".  

A God choice, as it turns out. (Why am I always surprised?)

Even though the class went well, and everyone seemed to enjoy it, & the farm managed their first day of harvest without me (haha. I like to think I'm less expendable than I am), I had worries I'd rushed ahead of God & done this because I wanted to. But guess what verse was talked about in church the next day? Yup. "Do justly. Love mercy. Walk humbly." 

God is so good. 

Shop anniversary sale

Just popping in quick this holiday weekend to let you know I'm having a sale in the etsy shop! I've been selling on Etsy for a year now. It's been fun-I've rekindled my passion or watercolor, & since I have a "business", I make the time to make. I still am struggling to find a good balance of being a wife, mother, & maker, (which seems to keep getting harder as I get busier in all areas!) but I just keep having to lay it all before God, asking Him to show me where to cut back, spend more time, focus, let go. Ut has its days, but I am mostly just so thankful I get to create from home & enjoy my girl as she takes off blossoming into her own little person.

 

There is a lot of berry-eating going on her little world. I am going to be taking part of July & August off for berry harvest so I can help on the farm & be supportive for Dar-it's pure craziness during harvest here! So if you know you'd like something from the shop before August, order it now! in the meantime, I pray that my paintings & cards will encourage you & bring a little lovely to your everyday! 

Have a relaxing Memorial Day weekend!

Mother's Day 2016 {Daddy's girl}

The Mother's Day tradition of getting a hanging flower basket is officially a tradition. It made it to Year 2. That makes it a tradition, right? (And, how crazy is it the changes that happen in a year!?)

I still don't feel like a mom. I still don't know what I'm doing. But we're floundering our way along, (usually) having a blast doing the parenting thing!

To see Fee blossom into her little self makes the tough times so worth it. And it may have been Mother's Day, but Daddy holds a pretty high rank, too.

It feels a little trite to say I'm so thankful to be her mother. But I am. Even when she's had an ear infection for two weeks and wakes up at 4 in the morning, determined to be up & playing. Even when she interrupts my painting time (I mean, how dare she?! It's like, she expects me to meet all her needs or something!) . Even when all I want is to sip my coffee in stillness & listen to the fountain & meditate on God's Word & she's there, clanging her favorite spatterware spoon on everything metal & loud.

Motherhood has taught me to laugh at myself a little more, to be less selfish, to learn to let go of plans & roll with it (it is laughable how flexible I thought I was before marriage & a baby! Ha!), to understand the unconditional love God has towards me, His erring child, because of the unconditional love I have towards my own.

To many Mother's Days to come!

Blue eyed Kathryns

My mom was recently here visiting us in Oregon. Fee & I just spent almost two weeks in Illinois, and Mom & Dan made return trip with us. It didn't go quite as planned. (Massive understatement.) There were words I learned & time spent in places I never wanted to learn or be at.

 I'll quit being cryptic.

 My mom had surgery on a broken ankle a few months ago. She flew to Oregon. The day we arrived, I took Fee into urgent care for a suspected ear infection. Mom tagged along to get some shortness of breath she'd been experiencing checked out. Then, a wheelchair ride to the hospital across the street, a CAT scan, large blood clot in her lung, a few hours in the ER, then an ambulance ride up to Portland. A few days there. A few days home. Back to the local hospital ER for shortness of breath again. Three days in the local hospital ICU. Four days at my house. Flew back to IL. She is on Coumadin & doing well now. (Coumadin: I wish I hadn't had to learn it.)

There. That's the story. The facts anyway. A lot of anxiety & uncertainty & waiting happened between the lines. 

Usually, my feelings are what I love to blog about: how a situation made me feel; the feels I have towards my family & Fee; how giddy I get over lovely, everyday life. But this is a little too raw still. And I just can't find the words. So I'll write about something easier. Maybe I'll come back someday, after all the tangled thoughts have been sorted & share the good that I know has come, and will come out of this situation. But for now, I will write about something easier & shallower that makes more sense to me. Like blue eyes.

I don't have blue eyes. Dar doesn't have blue eyes. This girl most definitely has blue eyes. 

Fee is fifth in a line of Kathryns. It fits that her blue eyes match the Kathryns before her. 

When my mom was here, she called Fee her "little Delft Blue Girl". In between stays at the hospital, she did her best to win Fee over. (I know I said no feely, raw things, but this was real). Fee didn't always like Mom. That's hard. It just doesn't seem fair that my family has to be so far away all the time, and when they are around, Fee is afraid of them & doesn't know them. It makes me cry. (There I go, being all feely again. I can't help it.) They both have blue eyes. That's where I was going with this.

There were some sweet moments in between the tough ones. Like all the concern from family & friends. The times Fee accepted Mom. Watching my in-laws step in & fill in the gaps for me at home when I was visiting the hospital. Being able to be the one for once to help Mom, to be the daughter that could be there for her instead of 2,000 miles away, waiting for text updates. But it was still hard.
That wasn't really about blue eyes, was it?

I always try to end posts on a positive note. I know God works all things together for good, to them that love the Lord. I know that tribulation works all kinds of wonders. I know that tried & purified faith comes out like gold. I know that it is in the dark times that God shines through us.

But I don't feel very shiny. I don't feel very strong. I feel so weak & flawed.

I will just end with this: When I am weak, He is strong. And blue eyes from two brown-eyed parents is a little surprise gift, a bit of the women who made choices & loved & raised families that brought us to here. That seems fitting somehow. 

My People

I had this post all ready before the craziness that's been our life for the past weeks hit. But that's another post for another time. This string of photos showed me what I love about Illinois: there are no mountains or jaw-dropping fields of flowers. But there are people. My people. And that is home.