Life of Late...

learning deep hearty lessons about the REST of God available to us...

rejoicing over our first 2 Irwin Funny Farm free range chicken eggs...

family church camping with friends both old and new...


















feeding, chasing, kicking at to scare off attacks and playing rowdy with crazy Irwin chicks...

being SO richly blessed by gracious gifts from dear dear friends (we'll leave their reward treasures in heaven and let them remain nameless)...

surviving (quite well) our 2nd visit to the dentist...

birthday-call-skype'ing with mi Tica Familia in Costa Rica...

having crazy naked playdates...

enjoying new creations in the kitchen from our Bountiful Baskets weekly produce goods...

making super-instant-grow-a-friends Boggs Fam Extraordinaire!...

playing with lighting on the camera to determine if it's time to use techno savings on an upgrade...

stepping up into the 3's & 4's...

installing garage sale super-finds...

being sobered by the Traveling Wall of Veterans...

acting crazy with the neighbors...

family reunion'ing with Dutch visitors...

painting pretty piggies...

pedal boating often...

daily life'ing it...

celebrating Aunt Kitty's big 3-0!

need I say more...

What makes my heart sing in the wee late hours of this dark eve?!

The most beautiful, freshly discovered, hay covered, warm & squishy inside, first born ever, golden ticket, 

joy and pride producing

first fruits, free-range Irwin Funny Farm chicken egg, 

you ever did see.

Your literal labors have paid off girls.

We've done our job and now you've done yours.

Welcome home, to urban farmstead sustainable living, Irwin family, welcome home.

"...and bring your father and your families back to me.
I will give you the best of the land of Egypt
and you can enjoy the fat of the land."
-Genesis 45:18

Do you ever just stare at them in wonder?

I did that today. Stared at you in wonder.
I was lying by you, sweet sleepy thing, just staring at your deep breathing chest, your wholly peaceful face, your settled soul, fully at rest, all nooked up, under my arm, and I first I was in awe...that God gave you to me, gifted me your life in my womb, then brought your fullness into my arms.
And now almost 3 years later, you're still here, your fullness, still in my arms.
And it made me want to rest like that, all nooked up, under my Father's arm.
Finding deep breaths, sweet rest, soul settling and constant peace too.
I love you so my sweet, wild, joy-filled, crazy-when-you're-awake child.
I love our moments together, when you don't even know I'm watching, taking you all in.
I'll never stop.
-mama

He went to OUR Jesus...

We had a man die who attended our church this past week, who Will had been able to connect with and encourage the family throughout his leaving-to-be-with-Jesus state.
So, death was being unusually spoken about more often in the home, for our little almost-three year old.
When we were on a family drive last night the Little Bug spoke up loudly, obviously out of her own conversation going on in her head, from the backseat...
"Craig died." (pause)
"He went to be with Jesus." (pause)
"Our Jesus."
I looked at the hubs, as if to say...did you tell her that?
He looked back at me with that look that said...kind of sort of not really exactly like that.
Hmmm...
I guess our wee one had been gathering her own little bitty BIG thoughts, this week, about life and death and where we go and WHO we are with when we get there.

  

Where he went, Father, may she also be someday. 

In Your arms for eternity. 
With You as HER Jesus too. 
And grant me that simple, matter-of-fact, 
confident, no qualms or questions asked about it kind of childlike faith,
that just knows that she knows that she knows, 
where we will go someday and that we'll all meet again 
with OUR Jesus forever too.

 

 (photo credit to Live to Worship blog)

An exciting new book-maker!!

So, I'd heard the name of this company going around Blog-dom
and finally decided to try them out for myself.
Paper Coterie
Doesn't the name just sound fun and fresh?!
Well, they just so happened to totally and completely live up to that ring!
I've been wanting to create a journal for my cheeky and full-o-sass little two-point-five year old to record and forever remember, for her and for us, all of the craziness that comes out of that mouth all.day.long.
When I saw that Paper Coterie had a coupon code for journals for, wait for this...
FREE...
I jumped all over it and ordered right up!
Shipping was my only fee!
So, you can imagine my excitement as the days ticked off the calendar to receive my FREE treasure!
What stay-at-home-mama doesn't love a good freebie?!
When it arrived and sunk into my happy little hands,
my pleasure increased the second I opened it up and the contents spilled onto my lap!
I'll just give you a little guided tour of the treasure trove itself.
These P.C. people think of everything, down to the very last drop...

The packaging, ahhhh....

A mini letter in a darling bite-sized envelope for me?!?!

What?! WHO are you people, to send me a necklace to boot?!

I have already sported it, often.

Could the cuteness factor even rate any higher?!

A welcome to the circle note!

And then the glory unfolded!

Ahhh, need I say more?!

Incredibly quality and professionally done, beautiful product!

Not a beat was missed!

Dearest Paper Coterie People,

That's it, you did it, I am forever yours.

Happy 4 years...

of shepherding your flock of littles and their families, lovey!
So proud to be your wifey,
so proud to be the mama of your girl,
so proud to be the one to hold up your arms,
so proud to be the 1st hearer of your sermons,
so proud to watch you shape little hearts and minds,
so proud to be with you celebrating the beauty of His body,
so proud to be by your side on the days when it's a little more tough than beauty,

so proud to be the prayer for your soul,
so proud to be the one waiting for you when you get home,
so proud to be the one cheering for you from the crowd,
so proud to be the one giving back to you when you give out so much,
so proud to be the one following your lead,
so proud to be the one making you a home,
so proud to have your people as my people and your God as my God.
Thank you Sutherlin Family Church for giving us such a beloved home for 4 years now.
Thank you Pastor Will Irwin for drawing me, your beloved, into this amazing life with you.
And thank you our beloved Jesus, that by your precious grace, you've considered us worthy of this call and have sustained us thus far.
Here's to many many more!!

a tribute to my Abba Father...

See how very much our Father loves us, 

for He calls us His children, 

and that is what we are! 

-1 John 3:1, NLT

Thank you for this love gift, Father.

-your grateful daughter

a tribute to my baby's daddy...

I was just pondering how my baby's daddy loves her most 

and I was reminded of the quote that says something like...

"How do you love a child best? By loving her mother well." -author unknown

And I was thinking therefore...

that even if her two-point-five-year-old mind can't fully comprehend it now,

how incredibly loved, and deeply blessed and secure my itty girl must feel.

Because her daddy sure loves her mama well.

What a picture she has of her Abba Father's love through her daddy here on earth.

I pray, even as I type, that it is this LOVE 

that she stands firm and unshakeable in for the rest of her days on earth.

a tribute to my daddy...

Dayspring Product Review: I AM A CHILD OF GOD wall art!!

First of all, I just have to shout out from the rooftops how incredibly ecstatic I was to receive a real-live-no-cost gift in the mailbox addressed just for ME! What girl wouldn't be jumping up and down excited for that?! The only thing asked for in return is that I complete and post a product review on my fabulous new gift! That's what I call a seriously sweet deal! I'm telling ya, what girl's heart would be encouraged and lifted up by that?! And encouragement just happens to be kind of a big deal at Dayspring this month! Encouraging products (Dayspring's online shop), encouraging writings ((In)courage's home)...it's all looming in the sweet and (in)couraging air!
So, anyways, on with my thoughts on what encourages me and how this lovely little boldly-stated wall plaque affirmed what I feel God has been speaking over me in loud volumes and whispering into my heart over the past few months...

I AM A CHILD OF GOD...do you know this? (And isn't this plaque just too simply sweet?!)
Does it stir something in your heart...like...I sure wish I could say that as confidently as that plaque seems to shout it?
After recently reading a couple of books about allowing truth to take place over lies in my heart, (Victory over the Darkness, The Bondage Breaker and the e-book Core Lies), along with memorizing scriptures that speak more of what I am, rather than what I am not, I have begun to experience and take in deep, restful, peace-bringing breaths over the truth of who I am IN Christ, Who He is to me, and just who I am to Him. Here's a few of those truths...

 
My belief is that if the enemy knows he can't steal our eternity away, he'll attempt to steal our sanity away, for the rest of our days on earth, by coaxing us to believe un-truths about who we are in Jesus.

So, when I was looking through the featured products available for review this month, I saw this I AM A CHILD OF GOD plaque, I knew this was the one! One more piece to be added to my puzzle of truth-speaking, over the lies of what I can choose to believe on a daily basis, the fact that I am a chosen child of God. Which also reminds me that I am SO deeply loved, cherished and delighted in by my Abba Father that nothing can cross into the path of my life without His loving hand sifting over it first, to determine what He knows is best, and is in His most good and loving plan for my life, to mold and shape me more into His Son's image. What father or mother does not want what is ultimately best and will make for the most holy success of his/her child?
What else blesses and encourages my heart, in knowing with full confidence that I am a CHILD of the most-high God? That in those moments when I am most haggard and tapped out and wanting to totally FREAK out (I may or may not have had one of these days with my two-point-five year old for the past 4 hours) I can stretch on His lap, just like she does on mine, and nestle into His chest, listening to my Father's heartbeat, allowing my deep sobs to slow to that rhythm of His love for me. The heartbeat that speaks...I love you, you're safe, you're secure, I am here to lay down my life for you, to serve you and to hold you when it matters most.
These are only a few of the things that this truth of...I AM A CHILD OF GOD speak to me.
Do you know these things?
Do you place these truths around you, allowing them to speak over you when you forget to speak them to yourself?
I hope so.
I pray so, actually.
Because we children need these reminders until the day that we go home to be with Him, if we're going to make it through with our heads and hearts held high towards heaven while we finish our days on this earth.
What does I AM A CHILD OF GOD speak to you?


Say it...

 Say it again...

And again...

(I decided the wall art's final landing spot is here, right below the family silhouette section of the home, 

so that I can not only remind myself of who I am, but to teach her daily of who SHE is too.)

So, say it one final time...

Until it is embedded so deep that nothing can shake it.
That no enemy can steal it.
That no one can speak lies over you that say anything different.
Until you can take a deep, restful, peace-bringing breath over the truth of who you are IN Jesus and what that means to your Abba Father.
There now...do you feel encouraged?
I sure do.

P.S...want this wall art up in your own home?! Go find it at...I AM A CHILD OF GOD.

Disclosure: I was provided with this piece of wall art from DaySpring at no charge to facilitate this review. All thoughts and opinions stated are my own.

THE talk...

I'm pretty sure I just had my first "talk" with my two-point-five-year-old.
You know.
THE talk.
Like the birds and the bees kind of talk.
Seriously?
What in tarnation?!
NO ONE told me, I'd have to be prepared for this business SO stinkin' early!
Where have I been people?!
Our snuggle-at-bedtime convo just went a little somethin' like this after our snuggle-prayer time (in which we prayed for health and protection for the little cousin in the womb of her Aunt Suzanna):

Anna: I'm gonna have a baby too.
Mama: (choking, gasping, grasping the air for words) Oh wow! Not for a really long time, honey. Not until you're really old like mama. And there's a daddy too. And you're like married. With a ring on your finger. Like mama's ring on my finger that daddy gave her when we got married.**
**Can you tell I'm doing some serious stumbling and bumbling around in the dark. Literal and figurative dark?! Because I TOTALLY was.
Anna: What's married?
Mama: Ummmm, it's where a daddy gives a mommy a ring, and they stay together forever.
Anna:  Oh. I don't want a ring on my finger.

END.of.convo.
NO.more.baby.talk.

Think I diverted that one ok? Bahahahahah! 
Calling all veteran mamas HEEELLLLLPPPPP!!!!

















And mommy and daddy made one.

Did you cry when...

you first discovered your toilet training toddler standing on a stool so she could turn on the bathroom light, then dragging the stool over to the toilet, while tripping over her pulled-down pants and panties, to step up, sit on the potty and go, for the first time, on her own? WITHOUT telling you she was going or asking for your help?!
Hold on, let me go check with myself to verify, but I'm pretty sure, I actually just melted over it.
Where does the time go and who took my itty bitty away?!

TOTALLY…

It’s the most hilarious, freaky, weird, gut-laugh-provoking, scary thing when you have a mini-voice-recorder following you around all day long, parroting back to you every.single.word.you.say.

Case in point #1…

The word TOTALLY (emphasis on the TOE-tally)

“Adv. totally - to a complete degree or to the full or entire extent (`whole' is often used informally for `wholly')”

Synonyms…all, altogether, completely, entirely, whole, wholly

Conversations with proof of proper adverb usage…

Mama: So-and-so sure is a good friend for you, isn’t she Anna?

Anna: She so TOTALLY is.

 

Mama: You like cheerios don’t you, honey?

Anna: Oh, I so TOTALLY do.

 

Anna: Hi GG!

Mama: Oh, so I’m your GG now, huh? (GG=Anna’s great-grandma)

Anna: You so TOTALLY are my GG friend.

 

Well, I guess I’m glad she’s getting “all, altogether, completely, entirely, whole, wholly” of something I’m spoutin’ off in this home!

But WHUT in tarnation happened to my innocent two-and-a-half year old and who sent over the fifteen-year-old-full-of-tude?! When you find my itty bitty bundle of pink fluff, can you send some of the innocence (of mouth) back please?