Conversations: Three Cakes and a Bugar

Children, 

You keep life interesting. We love, love ya. Here are some of our conversations this evening. 

Hensley: "I got a bugar, Mommy." Holding your finger out with a lovely surprise attached to the tip.
(Yep, that's my job. Bugar collector.)

Tegegne: "I got three cakes!"
M: "What? How did you get three pieces of birthday cake?"
T: "Remember when you were looking for me and I was playing with those kids at that other party?"
M: "Yes, I thought you were with Dad."
T: "Well, I ate cake with those people at that party. One lady knew me!"
M: "Seriously?! That's hilarious! It's not okay that you didn't know where we were."
T: "I could see you and Dad. I knew where you were."

And then there's Fields...who smiles and grunts, pulls my hair, and grabs the back of my neck so hard with those little chubby hands, digging his little nails in. "Ouch, baby!" says Mama. You turn eight months in a few days. You are becoming a little boy, always wanting to stand and being rough and tumble. You'll be keeping up with Hens and Tegegne in no time.

T: "Mommy, tomorrow is Mother's Day and we have 2 surprises for you." (You are no good at keeping surprises, Tegegne. And you cannot stand to have one kept from you!)
M: "Oh, I'm soooo excited."
T: "You may be getting that special drink you like in the mornings..."
M: "Don't tell me what it is, but will you make it for me?"

Good night kids. Thanks for making Mother's Day something sweet to look forward to. You are the reason I get to celebrate.

Love,

Mom

Interior Designing: Day and Night!

Dear Family,

I interrupt this Thursday morning to say thank you. Thank you for being supportive of my of my interior design consulting, which has pulled me away in the evenings for meetings quite a bit this spring. I love love designing for people, but my first job is mother/wife/homemaker. I try not to leave for meetings until after dinner, so what I miss most is my time with Daddy. We've always tried to go to bed at the same time. It was the best marriage advice we've ever gotten. He is super supportive of my design projects though, and often shares ideas. 
  
This kitchen design are for a lovely neighbor of ours here in Pendleton Heights. It is especially fun because we share similar taste with our design aesthetic. I am renovating her kitchen and master bath, and speaking of which...writing her proposal to finish the work is next on my to-do list!

Then there's this super cool retail space that a few other folks in our neighborhood are working on getting approved. It's a similar concept to London's Box Park. Once they have further approval, I'll share the renderings. And speaking of which...that's next on my to-do list! Revise and render those drawings!

Last night I had a lot of fun with a girlfriend, Rachel Kabukala. She hired me to redecorate her office space, and I went ahead with the living room as well to tie the spaces together. Rachel is a professional photographer, with her office in her home. In 5 hours (didn't get home til 2am!) we transformed her space, with things she already owned! Talk about design on a dime. The only things she'll need to do are get some gold accents, pot her succulents, and a few other details. She took before and after shots I'll have to share too. 

Here are my other projects, as of late. Master planning for Jacob's Well Church...site sketches to do for our staff design mtg on the 15th. Interior design for my friend, Mimi's home in Brookside. Did a 3D drawing for Taryn and Micah's new kitchen and Eric and Erica's new kitchen! And two people to call to start their projects. It's busy, but good.  I could use a Nanny. Better yet, a Chef. If I could only have help with one thing, it'd be laundry service.

Much love to my family and my folks asking for my help designing their spaces.

Mom/Kristyn

Palm Sunday: A Ride On a Donkey

Dear Children,

Good day. It's Palm Sunday tomorrow.  A wonderful woman with our children's ministry at church made the coolest Easter Story Characters (paper dolls that stand, small symbols, a chronological scene foldout, etc, etc,  wowza) It's pretty great how they encourage us (and equip) us as parents to help you (kids) be involved in the stories of the bible and play them out. Tonight we shared in the narrative starting with Jesus trip on the donkey to Jerusalem. 

We are excited to go to church in the morning and get actual palm branches to wave. (If we can get to church...we're kinda getting snowed in.) Telling the stories of Jesus, reading them, and acting them out....hope to continue to do all of this as a family...and do it more. It is always neat to learn something from you guys...to hear you, Tegegne, spout out fine details that you picked up from Miss Mimi's story time. Thankful for the wonderful people that share the life of Jesus with our children. 

I also added a few Easter egg ideas I liked. Nothing beats the intricate scenes that Grandma Ileen paints on eggs. I'll try to get some photos, since we're headed home over spring break. Her's are beautiful.

Mom

A Strong Tree: And You and Me

Good day, Saturday. Family, most of you are resting soundly. Naps are rarely overlooked in our house, even for Tegegne. Prior to nap time, we watched The Little Rascals, one of the originals (1929) that we checked out from the library. I grew up watching a series of 4 VHS tapes and I loved them. That and a Shirley Temple set were well watched in my early years. 

Not sure where your pops is. That's what happens sometimes in a 3500 sf house! People go missing! I'm thinking he snuck in one of your rooms and is napping with you, but I'll dare not open the door to see! Or he's outside building a sculpture garden in the backyard.  

The past few days have woken up our city. That being the 70+ degrees! Seriously, it's like the whole city was breathing deeply, sighing and taking in the breeze as we reconnected with the great outdoors. Our backyard was hoppin'. Michael roared up the fire pit, we ate dinner 2 nights in a row on the back deck, and had some friends join us. He set up our outdoor sound system (which is not so fancy!). Life's been like a small teeny version of the resurrection. New life. Spring is near. 

I mean, really. Isn't it interesting how circumstances affect our being? A sunny day versus sleeting rain, a hug from a friend versus an angered driver that we just pulled in front of (oops!), a flat tire versus a new pair of socks. I read the words from Henri Nouwen below and was thinking...in the midst of life's ups and downs, it's good to be flexible while being deeply rooted...

Trees look strong compared with the wild reeds in the field.  But when the storm comes the trees are uprooted, whereas the wild reeds, while moved back and forth by the wind, remain rooted and are standing up again when the storm has calmed down.

Flexibility is a great virtue.  When we cling to our own positions and are not willing to let our hearts be moved back and forth a little by the ideas or actions of others, we may easily be broken.   Being like wild reeds does not mean being wishy-washy.  It means moving a little with the winds of the time while remaining solidly anchored in the ground.   A humorless, intense, opinionated rigidity about current issues might cause these issues to break our spirits and make us bitter people.  Let's be flexible while being deeply rooted.

The Virtue of Flexibility, by Henri Nouwen