More of Life Lately...

a FREE memory box from Paper Coterie.
DUDES, you have GOT to check them out.
Quality of products = no-others-comparable. Pricing = incredibly affordable.
Freebies = cherry on top!

Tomato firstfruits, hooray!

Irwin Garden Fresh Homemade Pizza!

Chicken Run Fun!

Enjoying Cousin Adam's fabulous pepper-coring creation! 

Sold at a Bed, Bath & Beyond near you!

Dehydrating garden herbs for an Irwin Herb creation! 

Coming to a kitchen near you soon!

Turning Thirty-Three! Thirties ARE the new Twenties, right?! I'm feelin' it already!

Shooting the girl and her "girls"...

A surprise birthday grown-ups-only trip to Enchanted Forest!

You'd have thought from the looks we got there, that it was illegal to be there without our child or something! ha!

A fabulous ultra-restorative getaway at a pastoral retreat center,

with a 4 mile hike and 10 waterfalls on boot!

As papa says most often at our house...Life is Good folks, Life is Good.

So is God, who makes it Good, for that matter! ;)

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!!