by Alexis -

Life to the full

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A couple nights ago I was lying in bed trying to de-stress and relax to fall asleep, when I felt this sudden surge of being overwhelmed.

Overwhelmed with my family and recent diagnosis given.

Overwhelmed with fundraising.

Overwhelmed with basically all the sad things that I hear on the news.

Overwhelmed with not getting pregnant yet.

As I told some girls this morning, when those times come, I close my eyes and see myself plunge into a huge warm pool. A perfect temperature of course. All the noise is muffled and the overwhelming feelings are unfelt. And I am able to take some deep breathes with God. 

It’s a special place for me and Him. When He smiles I smile. If I want a hug, I run to him. We laugh and enjoy each others presence. Well, a couple nights ago when I was feeling overwhelmed, I asked Him to help me and He reminded me that He came to overcome the world. And did. It was so nice to hear that.

He showed me that my attention was on all the horrible things I could see/hear and how I was allowing it to drag me down. 

 To once again have my eyes redirected to the GOOD things happening around the world. It seems like all we hear or talk about are the bad/sad/depressing things. 

And that is one thing I want to remember. To tattoo on my forehead so I remember it when I look in the mirror. That He came to bring life and life to the full. Not partial life. My life is meant to be brimming with excitement. Yes, the sadness comes with each diagnosis and I do not want to put a blind eye to all the injustice happening in the world. But my prayer is that with each sad thing I hear or experience, that I would be given an extra dose of His love and understanding. Wisdom in how to act and move. And the insight into praying for healing…still processing it all so it’s kinda raw still and maybe hard to understand.  

Some deep thoughts for today. But I do hope it makes you think and, more importantly, talk to God about it. Peace out.

by Alexis -

Guess who is in Ballet Class?

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Oh yeah. It’s not like she’s super excited or anything. 🙂 She’s wearing her ‘Angelina Ballerina’ shoes. 🙂

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I think I might be a ballet mom instead of a soccer mom. Who knows, maybe she’ll switch, but right now I’m enjoying this phase in her life.

by Alexis -

Smiles in the rain

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Today’s post is really not that special. I just thought the colors were pretty and wanted to take a picture to remind myself to eat healthier. Like cucumbers and dill swimming in ranch. hahaha

Pretty food is healthy food…heard that somewhere.

And on that same note, I would like to remind myself that I like running in the rain. I was running in between stores getting things for my sickie hubby and daughter and it was pouring. But it was so refreshing! I loved it so much that I couldn’t hold back smiling. After random people started staring and smiling back I was also reminded the power of a smile. Unfortunately it’s not that common anymore.

A huge thing that really set the tone though, which happened before any of the smiling stuff, was me offering an old lady a drive home from the max station. She was bent over, wearing a fur coat, flimsy hat and no umbrella. She was walking uphill-slowly. Remember that it was pouring. I couldn’t ignore the screaming in my head about that woman and the act of kindness that I say I believe in but probably don’t show as much as I should. So I took a u turn, prayed I wouldn’t freak her out by offering her a ride to her house and smiled. She was so nice and told me she didn’t mind the rain! That she lived in northern Alaska for 20 yrs so this rain was nothing. 

It was amazing! What an attitude! I want to be like her when I’m older. That conversation changed my whole attitude for the day. And I wish I can go say thank you to her…but I know our exchange of smiles and my offer to drive her home touched her. Wish I had more experiences like this, but then again it’s really up to me. Risk, streeetch and risk some more. 🙂

Well, have a great day- I might take a run!

*The beautiful blue bowl is Polish pottery and was bought last month in Nowy Targ, Poland. Thank you Weronika and Chris!

by Alexis -

Sickie

We have a sickie in our home.

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Lots of Apple Juice, snuggles, homeopathic remedies,  crackers and Dora the Explorer. 

by Alexis -

DIY: Succulent Greenhouse

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As a child, I thought that as an adult, I would naturally have a winter flower allowance. Because, obviously, one still needs flowers in the winter time. Sadly I did grow up, and realized what nice flowers cost in the winter time.  $$$ More money than I can spend. 

So I made some winter succulent gardens in some vases which I will enjoy for months. 🙂  These are not roses or lilies (my favorite) but they have a rustic beauty that is so attractive.

These are also not the best pictures, but honestly I haven’t been motivated recently to take nice pictures so this is what’s here. Enjoy! lol

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Here are the ingredients (Why yes, I think in food terms)

I didn’t end up using the moss ($1 store find) because the rocks (also $1 store find) were enough.

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Beauties. Thank you Brianne for raiding your back yard and giving me these! 

There is a small possibility that we will be in Pheonix in May and I would LOVE to bring back some from the dessert. Not sure how I would bring them here…carry on?

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Just put the soil in, situate these hardy little cuties and water to make sure they transplant well.

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Try it! Just keep in mind:

1. Have pet friendly plants.

2. Clean glass well before transplanting- and after

3. This is a great learning tool (homeschooling mamas) about growing things even in the winter months!

4. If you do do this with kids, make sure it’s a touch friendly plant/cactus. (*shudder, I had a bad childhood experience with a small ‘cute’ cactus…evil little plant) 

Emma is learning a lot through this buy helping me plant them, watering them, seeing their little shoots (we call them ‘the mama plants children’) and seeing the roots through the glass. I have one more huge tall vase that will have a bulb planted in it. Gotta get ready for the Spring!

(Yes I’m aware it’s still January but I’m in winter denial)

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by Alexis -

Announcing the opening of my Etsy store: The Copper Acorn!!!!!

I am happy to announce the opening of my shop! 

The Copper Acorn!

This has been a long time in the making and I am so happy it is finally here! You know that feeling of being excited and really scared all at once?! That pretty much sums up how I feel today. Please go and take a look around! All of the money will go towards our deployment to Poland.  

I am also in the process of opening a children’s scarf line as well as getting some pottery ready to go. Probably be up in the next month. 

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by Alexis -

Getting in a Valentine mood

Valentines Day is about love, great friendships and polka dots. Gotta love the polka dots. Why hasn’t anyone made a polka dot rose?! I’d buy a dozen every Valentines Day for myself. Seriously, if we can make seedless watermelon where are the polka dot flowers?!

I digress…

They make me smile. Any rainy day has the potential to be better if only you wear polka dots…or animal print.

I’ve had some of you ask to see more outfits, and to be honest I’m getting more excited to mix and match my items together to make new outfits. I blame Pinterest. And I would rather use what I have in my wardrobe before shopping for new clothes. 

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Unfortunately for you, you are only going to get a picture of my shirt and jewelry. No fancy shoes today- it was raining so hard I couldn’t talk myself into wedges.

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Next time I won’t let the weather decide my choices…unless it’s still raining cats and dogs. At that point I’ll just live in my rain boots. (and as I write this I hear it pouring outside)

Necklace:Claires/gift from friend, Shirt:H&MKrakow

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You’ll want to come back Saturday for a BIG announcement!

Don’t miss it!

by Alexis -

Lamingtons

A food post is long over due. My apologies. So without further stalling:

Lamingtons

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No. They tasted better than they looked. They were that good.

I didn’t make this, Weronika did so I was only able to document after she had cooled the cake. Enjoy the pictures and I hope it excites you to try this yourself.  

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THEY’RE FANTASTIC!!!

(but hey, it’s chocolate and coconut, who would expect anything less?!)

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then comes the fun part:

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…and there you go (in the best Greek accent I can muster, which isn’t really good at all)

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I prayed over them to be fat, sugar and calorie free. I think God honors creative slightly outlandish prayers. 🙂

by Alexis -

Just sit and do nothing

This was my epiphany. While I was in the kitchen trying to do too many things at once.

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See, ever since we came home from Poland (Sunday) I have been on some crazy cleaning/unpacking/organizing mode. And for about 2 days now I’ve felt that Emma was just not listening or making good choices. It seemed like whatever she choice she made it was either disrespectful, full of attitude or down right obstinate. 

Mix that with a my attitude: impatient and short tempered. I felt like a horrible mom. I know the truth and all that but it didn’t change the way I felt. Like I was failing.

I felt guilty about how rude I was to her this morning- because she was inconveniencing me! How could she want her diaper off so early?! Didn’t she see I was still in bed?! (it gets worse- it was 7am. Not early at all.) Yay, negative points for me.

So as I was emptying food into our bare and empty kitchen, she was around my feet wanting me to watch her do something (for the 20th time in 2 min). I snapped at her. Bit her cute little head off. Bad attitude and disrespectful. Boo. 

Then I sat down on the rug (the one in front of the sink ), sighed and asked her to come over to me. She said, ‘What are you going to do to me?‘ 

OUCH.

I truthfully forced a smile out (when all I wanted to do was raise my hands and surrender) and reached out, pulling her into a hug. I told her I wanted to snuggle with her and that I loved her. I apologized, said I didn’t like my attitude these past few days and that I just wanted to be with her. 

So we sat. While the milk and other cheeses screamed to me that they needed the fridge. But we sat. Snuggled criss-cross applesauce on our little rug.

Me, mentally unwinding whatever thing that got strung too tight and praying my past attitude didn’t scar her or something and have this come out in therapy in 20 yrs. Emma on the other hand, was showing me how she was eating her apple. Just having a conversation-which I don’t think we’ve done since we’ve come home.

Since then I’ve tried to involve her in more things I have to do. Let’s set the table together, let’s do the laundry together, clean rooms (yuck!) and sweep together. Focusing on saying Yes more. 

I think I got my reward from her tonight. And it could have escaped my notice if I was in a rush. What was it? She asked me to sit with her in the bathroom while she took a bath. (Emma likes her alone time so this meant something)

Here’s hoping tomorrow is a better day. I will be biulding on what I learned today so I have nowhere to go but up…

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but I wouldn’t mind any prayers for us. 🙂