"Joo-Why Ferb"- Selah Grace, 4 years old.

Well, we've had tornado-grade winds, power outages, store closures, lingering illness, last minute injuries,

and very limiting budgetary restrictions, but we marched forward anyway, in an attempt to create a memory for the birthday girl. Some may call it crazy, I call it respite. And normal. Thus, absolutely necessary. 

Wanna see what we came up with?

Got a new teapot at Savation Army for $1.50- has the additional bonus of being reusable. We're green like that.

Ditto that for the glass punch bowl w/ cups. Three bucks, folks.

Decorations were all free, more of a time investment really, we

have tons of paper after ten years of kids ministry!

-Found some wonderful birdhouses at JoAnn Fabs. You know when you pull up to JoAnn's or Michael's and there are those bins of closeouts outside the front doors, and your heart goes pitter-pat as you approach to see what the goodies are? That was me yesterday when lo and behold, this Bird Nerd happened upon loads of clearance birdhouses. We will call them Woodland Fairy houses, for today. That was a score, for sure.

Let's eat:

Pretty simple.  Cream and Jam tea sandwiches and bread sticks served in an upcycled Lipton Ice tea can.

-Rolling with it: It was too hot (a blistering 101 degrees) for frosting of any sort to stay put. But hey- does it look like she cares?

 -taking time out to ask a blessing for our sweet missing princess-friend who had to skip the party and  spent time in the hospital instead. 

Shade. Most wonderful.

It's good to be a princess.

Isaiah 35:1-5

The desert and the parched land will be glad;

    the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. 

Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom;

    it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. 

The glory of Lebanon will be given to it,

    the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; 

they will see the glory of the Lord,

    the splendor of our God.

Strengthen the feeble hands 

 steady the knees that give way 

say to those with fearful hearts, 

    “Be strong, do not fear; 

your God will come, 

    he will come with vengeance; 

with divine retribution

    he will come to save you.”

_______________________

This scripture is special truth for me, in such a parched season. My word for today is, "refreshed." I was sweetly blessed, and thankful to be graciously looked upon today.  

I'm so thankful that the Lord is speaking to us, and we are able to hear. 

No specifics, really. Just encouragement. Much needed encouragement. A little goes a long way. 

Party for the princess.

Sorry about the mess, but I'm trying to throw together a little celebration for my almost-four-year-old. So I'm brainstorming and throwing all of my ideas up on the blog.

 When I asked her what kind of party she wanted, she said that she'd like a, "fairy princess tea party!" And, "Pink, Mommy! Lots of pink!"

So, there you go. I'm trying to get a handle on what this looks like, both in a aesthetic and a big-picture sense. Being four, she was kind of vague with the description of what she imagined, so between this, and a super tight budget, I'm really just winging it, and doing most of it (decorations, at least) by hand. Using old ribbon, tulle, scraps of fabric, and paper. This is tricky, because it requires a lot of sifting through stacks of unpacked bins. It's slow-going.  Thankfully, there are so many sweet ideas as I scour the inter webs, in search of all things fairy and frugal! I'm not sure how much I am actually getting done, but at least it's fun trying. 

Inspiration:

I love the sweet color scheme of this one:

http://www.thewhitelibrary.com/design-by-party-theme/kids-parties/fairy-garden-birthday-party/

 Sweet, right?

http://www.bottleyourbrand.com/blog/custom-label-invite-set-fairy-party/fairyparty

http://www.cakeeventsblog.com/

http://creativewithkids.com/how-to-have-tea-party-for-moms-and-kids/

I'm on a roll! -Totally inspired! 

Pallet 

Think pink!

I'm SO checking out the dishes at the thrift store when it opens!

Menu Planning:

1. Cream and jam tea sanwiches
2. Fruit and cheese plate
3. Pink Lemonade
4. Popcorn
5. Selah's Chocolate Cupcakes

http://thecraftingchicks.com/2011/01/a-fancy-fabulous-5th-birthday-party-candy-buffet-lollies-and-pennants-oh-my.html

Pink Popcorn= Sweet & $mart!

All Things Fun

1. Pin the Smooch on the Frog..(*Pick up cardboard, cut out)
2. Catch the Butterflies (*Got it!)
3. Painting fairy houses...(Price them at dollar store.)
4. Decorating cups (*Find at thrift store)

------------

 After a few post-storm attempts, I finally made it to the Salvation Army today and it was actually OPEN! Yes! This did a heart good. But what made it better was that all green tag items were 50% OFF. This meant my six dollar, real glass punch bowl with 6 cups was...you guessed it, 3 Bucks! I also picked up a silver teapot for a dollar-fifty, and three table cloths for $5.00. actually, one of them wasn't a true table cloth, but about seven yards of really nice cotton fabric that I will turn around and use for something else eventually. That's the nice part about party shopping at the thrift store. It's all reusable. ad if you don't think it's cute, don't buy it. No harm, no foul. I tell you what, I left that place feeling positively triumphant! I need some that once in a while. Now the real work can begin: cooking in the heat! Grace, please, Lord! 
So much to do, so little time to get it all done! 

Gallery: Storm damage in WV and across Mid-Atlantic - The Herald Dispatch

Okay check that, apparently, there WERE in fact, injures and loss of life. Praying of course.

Gallery: Storm damage in WV and across Mid-Atlantic - The Herald Dispatch

We were in our first tornado today, nbd.

Winds were 91 MPH, folks!

The clouds let us know that something was brewing.

Who can understand how he spreads out the clouds,
    how he thunders from his pavilion? Job 36:29 

Thankfully, the little people were tucked away

in an emergency shelter during their library visit...

Here are the  troopers, making light of a potentially scary situation. Thankful C kept cool, and captured this moment.

Humbling.

Thankfully no one was seriously hurt.

Wee thing

Someday, Spence and I will

share a big laugh over this pic, when

he wasn't much bigger than the cereal box.

Precious, precious times.

A word about swing sets, lollipops & other hazards?

We had a bit of the oh-so-fun summer flu 
last week, which afforded lots and lots of down-time.
This means lots of laying as still as possible while you pop in a movie or two to entertain the littles for you.
Recommendation: Finding Nemo. Great movie. 
As I watched it, I had a brand new appreciation for
paranoid Papa, Marlon. Not sure if it was the fever that made 
this such a profound time of parenting introspection, but hey...whatever it was, it worked.

So, it's been six months since Spencer's first seizure-

 one of the scariest days of my life. 

But as time goes on, I'm learning to cope with the experiences, grapple with fears, and educate myself. 

Six months into it, I would by no means say that I'm an expert at epilepsy at all. I'm figuring things out as I go; my own personal anxieties among them.
And I'm learning that epilepsy management is not that different from basic, everyday parenting.
 In a very basic sense, it is pursuing 
the actualization of the hopes and dreams you have 
for your children. The pursuit is monumental in scope,
 daunting with it's challenges, and is complicated

 by the idea that letting go is sometimes
 just as important as actively being right there in the mix.

One of the bigger hopes is that your little people 
make it through childhood in one piece.
 For me, it's in the Top 2, priority-wise.

Safety is a tricky thing, particularly when fear is involved. 

This is where I can really sympathize with poor Marlon. 
I mean, he had a legitimate reason to camp out in fear.    

He lost his wife and family, after all. And his remaining
child had a disabilty. That kind of fear is so real, it almost has a taste to it. 
My memory doesn't have to think back too far to remember
frantically trying revive a blueish, unconscious baby. And time froze. And it happened again and again, without warning. 
 You counter this by educating-or over-educating yourself with several "what if"
scenarios, in an attempt to be prepared.

 "What if this happens on the jungle gym, or on a bike, or while they are eating something choke able. "What if they are swimming or fall on their face and bash out their teeth?" Or worse yet, "What if it happens and I'm not there?" And you quickly realize that you have no control. Zero. 
And so whatever control you DO have, can be amped up and applied like Marlon did. Over-protective, and stifling.

The problem with safety being your primary concern, is that 
at the core of it all, you are governed by fear. And the world is viewed as a booby-trapped, scary place. Not a place of beauty, and potential. And this is NOT the world I want to raise my kids in; epilepsy or not.

...Perfect love drives out all fear, because
fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
1 John 4:18

I have found that living life waiting for a seizure, or the other  proverbial shoe to drop, simply makes me fearful and sad. So I'm attempting to practice a dance that marries prudence with optimism. 
Which means yes, he will get swimming lessons; he just won't go alone (but, come to think of it, most people don't swim alone anyway).  I will allow the day to dictate if there are warning seizure-triggers or not. Apart from that, we get ahead of ourselves, and the LORD discourages this.
Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Matthew 6:34
Man, I'm so glad that Jesus said that! I'm so glad that He knows that this is the case!

I have no idea if Spencer will be the kind of guy that wants to spend his weekends rock climbing. But what if he does? Will I have raised him in such a way where he wont even entertain certain thoughts or dreams because of fear of the unknown? That, to me, is the scarier thought. So, the simple answer, or the simple prayer then, is for God's grace-
day by day. Minute by minute, grace.
Amen.