making the pieces fit

We love puzzles around here. I'm pretty good at them, if I do say so myself. I have fond memories of time spent in younger years completing large jigsaw puzzles, especially with my mom's parents.

I remember when Jordan first became interested in puzzles which require the pieces to nestle together. He can do many on his own now, though he still uses more of a trial and error/memory effort than filling in the border and working through like-pieces to finish the middle like I do. Sometimes he even attempts to jam pieces in where they don't belong, only to find it skews the picture, then try again.

My favorite thing about puzzles is that they are predictable. I can pull out a box, dump out the pieces, and glance at the full picture every once in awhile when I'm stuck. I confidently expect an end result just like the box promises me.

sentimental saturday

I was already emotional Saturday when Jordan and I had a conversation about his "mommy blankey."

It was given as a gift for my oldest brother almost 36 years ago, and I used almost daily for at very least 20 years. I stopped sleeping with it on my bed shortly after Jordan was born and gave it to him. He's used it regularly for at least a couple years now.

It used to be dark blue, and full of colorful pattern on the back side. It was sewn with yellow thread and tied with yellow yarn, and though not thick, had a nice layer of filling. Now it's light blue, the only remaining patterns are hidden under the one small spot of edging still attached. I stripped it of it's tiny amount of remaining filling last year, trimmed dangling edges, folded it in half and sewed around, in hopes of helping it last a bit longer.

the beginning of a new season

Well, since I missed catching you all up on life for the the entire summer via blog, it's time to review the last few months in pictures as well as (more officially?) share the news that we've entered a another new season in our lives.

Long story short - Josh is now the youth pastor at Evangelical Bible Church here in Omaha. He will also eventually switch off with the current worship pastor to lead worship at a multi-site. It's been an interesting half a year since a friend basically said, "Hey, I think Josh would fill this church position I know of for youth pastor/worship leader well!" And we basically said, "Hmmm, no."

God definitely had a different plan, and made it super clear to us along the way. When we said no, when we drug our feet, and when we jumped in with both feet - He showed us time and time again He was calling us to a change we hadn't anticipated!

fireman third birthday

I really tried to be more minimal and memorable this year. It's more important for the party to be practical, enjoyable, and memorable, than super cute. I did pretty well!

We had such fun preparing and celebrating, and with a lot less stress, more fun, and Jordan still plays with most of the things I decorated with - figurines, crayons, fire trucks, his costume, blow up hydrant is getting a lot of use lately, too :) All the graphics (banner, cupcake toppers, his shirt) I made and printed from a graphic set on sale for $1! Thanks to Amazon for almost everything else.