How To Be Transformed

The other day I was thinking about the transformation from a cute little catepillar to a beautiful butterfly and wondered 'what happens inside a cocoon?' so I googled that question.  And this is what I found out!  (and I also found out how to do a link in wordpress! JOY!)  When I think about the metaphor wrapped up in this transformation and how it applies to us as we are being transformed into the image of Christ I am just in AWE. 

I think this is one of my favorite sentences in this link:  "the caterpillars and butterflies that emerge from the chrysalises may remember some of their lives as caterpillars".  Wow! 

So, as we are going through life and we come to those spots of feeling completely undone or broken down, is it possible that those are the exact moments that the Lord is performing 'holometabolism' (you HAVE to read that link!) and completely transforming us? 

God is so smart!

My Baby

This is my baby girl.  I show you this stunning photo because of the one I'm about to show you.  You see, she turned 16 two weeks ago and was slightly excited.  If you read my last post you are aware that being excited is not conducive to photogeneity (haha!  I think I just made up a word!) in our family.

Two weeks ago yesterday, my daughter woke up and was asked to go get something from my van in the garage.  When she got there, this is what she found:

And she was pretty excited.

It is a 1987 VW Cabriolet convertible named Daisy.  What?  Your kids don't name their cars?   She (the car) is a little cantakerous about how you start her and since Micayla is used to driving a new minivan that's been a little bit of an issue.  But Micayla is in love and Daisy has taken my daughter away from me.  I knew it would happen.  The nice thing is that since she is so old, she will spend some time in the shop and I will get to have that quality time with my girl again every once in a while.  Sigh.

Guess what I found!

That's my new favorite game with my 16 year old.  It goes like this:

"Mom, guess what I did today in European History?"

"Um, a cartwheel?"

"No"

"Um, sang the Star Spangled Banner?"

"No"

"Um, learned something really cool?"

"No.  Okay, I got an A for participation."

"Oh!  That's awesome sweetie!"

It's really fun. 

Okay, but seriously, guess what I found!  Here's a clue:



Yay!  Happy Dance!!!!  I found my camera cord!

Okay, don't I look slightly mentally off in that picture?!  Apparently I was a little TOO excited to meet Mike Huckabee!  I mean wow!  That is a crazy look in my eye!  Actually, I think I was just trying to overcome that thing where my eyes disappear when I smile in pictures.  Usually I have just learned to not ACTUALLY smile but just do a camera smile because then my eyes stay open but that was NOT going to happen in this setting because I was WAY TOO excited and happy to be standing there.  Meeting this man was a bucket list item for me.  He thought that was wierd when I told him. 

But seriously, I just think he's a great man.  I worked on his presidential campaign in '08 and wish he had won.  A friend of mine from the campaign contacted his "entourage" and got me on his tour bus to meet him!  I was so excited!  I think I actually talked to him for 30 seconds but it was exactly what I had hoped for.  I mean, it's not like we had that much to talk about right?  I told him I was really glad to meet him and asked him what I could pray for him about and he said "clarity" to know what the Lord wants him to do next.  So, I've been praying for clarity for Mike Huckabee since that day. 

Tomorrow's blog will be about my daughter's 16th birthday which was 2 weeks ago.  But NOW I CAN SHOW YOU PICTURES!!!! :)

How to Get Lost in the World Wide Web

First you go to pioneerwoman.com and look at the sites she loves.  Then you start going to those sites.  Start with Aiming Low where you will read a discussion of making eggs in the microwave.  Yawn, but somewhat fun to read.   At that site you can also click on an ad for Mabel's Labels and consider spending $50 on labels for everything your kids have ever lost at friends' houses.  Then you realize that your kids are not kids any more and probably would neither put the labels on their stuff nor allow you to do so. 

Go back to the aim lower blog and read some comments, which will lead you to a blog post that is entitled (excuse me but it's just what it's called.  I didn't name it.  I just read it.  And posted it on my blog.)  "the suckiest suck that ever sucked" because you just have to read about the suckiest suck that ever sucked.  There you will find that your life was very easy last week even though your mom went into the hospital for unrelenting vomiting that led to emergency surgery that now has everyone waiting on pins and needles for her digestive system to come back on-line.  But even that week was not the suckiest suck that ever sucked and the Domestic Goddess may actually have won the prize for that with the events that inspired her blog.

Hit back on your browser and you will come to Boo Mama where she will link to Conversion Diary and a great blog about autonomy not being all it's cracked up to be.  This will lead you to "do you want more children?" which might lead you to a great article by Chuck Colson that you might also post on your facebook.  Then you can go back to the conversion diary and consider the "openness to life" viewpoint and grieve a little (again) that you and your husband so quickly got the "snip-snip" when your second was a baby without fully considering whether or not you wanted to be finished having children.

Then, you write a little about the whole experience on your blog, wish you knew how to do those neat little links that don't have all the punctuation garbage in them (which I discovered and fixed!), and tie it off and move on so you can get your to do list done for the day.

A Pretty Needle Holder

Today started with a trip to my mom's fabric store - the one in the closet of her sewing room.  I found some great fabrics that I took with me but I didn't end up using them in my finished project.  I just couldn't find anything at the (slightly) larger fabric store that went with it.   I'm joking, Mom does have a lot of fabric, but not THAT much.  It was nice to see Mom and Dad though.  While I was there Dad and I moved the gardening workbench that he made for Mom from the basement to the deck.  It is amazing!  I come from a long line of creators. 

Here is what I created today:



It's a roll up crochet and knitting needle holder.  I found the pattern and instructions at Made by Loulabelle.    This is what it looks like rolled up:



I have a habit of telling people what is wrong with the things I cook.  It drives my husband crazy but I am actually just thinking outloud about how I will make it better next time - a habit he has benifited from during 20 years of improvements.  So here is what I will do differently on my next needle holder.  First, I will use one of the patterned fabrics on the outside rather than using the plain fabric.  I think it would be prettier and it would also make the top of the inside look more polished if it matched the outside.  Second, I will put a buttoned top on one of the pockets to hold small items.  I don't think they will fall out because it is wrapped pretty tightly but I would just feel more secure with a buttoned top.  And security matters.

I bought some fabric to make another one but I think I have decided that I don't really like it as much as the fabric I used for this one so I'm heading back to Hancock's tomorrow.  I may make the next one a joint venture and send the fabric to my sister for mongramming.  That would be fun!  A cross country sewing project!

Turning 16

My baby turns 16 in 6 days. Wow. Just typing that makes me want to cry. Like heaving sobs. It's not at all that I don't want her to grow up because I am enjoying each stage a little more than the last with her, but I know that some day she is going to leave me. My child feels called to "French speaking African nations". I know a little French myself, however, so she won't be shakin' me off for long. And I've always wanted to travel.

This child's first phrase was 'me do it!'. She is independent and strong and loves Jesus more than anyone I've ever known. She is wise beyond her years and even though she is extremely busy, she is learning to find balance in her life.

I'm kind of proud of her. Kind of.

Charlie Haiku

In honor of PW's recent haiku contest and because I still haven't found my camera cord, I offer this ode to my dog:

"Charlie is my dog

He is a white fluffy mess

Of love and kisses"

I don't think it's officially a haiku since it doesn't reference anything in nature, unless you consider Charlie to be something in nature.  And no, I didn't name him after PW's dog.  I didn't know about her when I met him.  Here's a picture of him on our first day together.  Isn't he the cutest thing ever?!

And this is what he looks like most of the time - especially when he wants me to play with him instead of working on progress notes.



I admit that I am a little bit obsessed with this dog.  I do try not to dress him, although I did buy a sweater for him on clearance at Walmart and haven't been able to make myself return it.  And a frog costume for Halloween. And I've thought about crocheting something for him.  Hey, I'm just being honest here.   He's never actually worn any of them though because - well, honestly because he doesn't like them.  I know.  It's ridiculous. 

Well, I just thought I'd share The Cuteness with you.  You are welcome.  Feel loved.

Well, That Will Have To Wait

Well, inspite of the fact that I MET MIKE HUCKABEE TODAY!  I am going to blog about something else.  Why?  Because I can't find my stupid camera cord!!!!  So this camera phone picture of my camera is what I have so far . . .

. . . so this post is going to be about LOSING THINGS!!!! 

GRRRR!  Lately I have been spending WAY to much time looking for things around here.  I think it means that I need to clean my house.  As in - time for Spring cleaning!  I think the next time I can't find something I am going to quit one of my jobs and spend at least a week organizing, cleaning, straightening, decorating, etc.  Hmmmm, that sounds pretty good!  I think I'm going to schedule not finding something tomorrow!  Well, maybe not.

And another point about this looking-for-things thing, IT MAKES ME CRAZYYYYY!!!!  Seriously!  I told my husband that losing things is 'the worst thing ever' and he disagreed.  But I think that if he crawled into my brain for a minute when I'm looking for something that I've lost he would come running out of there screaming and rock in a corner for a long time. 

I'm just sayin' . . .

Mike Huckabee

I met Mike Huckabee in his tour bus today!  More about that as soon as I can find my camera cord.

A Deletion

Due to some insight into secret keeping from my husband a certain blog entry has been removed.  

I just thought you should know.