Book Review

A couple of weeks ago, I was gifted with the new-release book "One Thousand Gifts" by Ann Voskamp.

I am already on my second reading.

After reading it the first time, I treated myself to the digital ebook, so my hardcover can sit on my nightstand, and I can still have the book on my digital reader when I'm on the road.

It is that good. Ann is a grace girl. Ann's writing is more akin to poetry, heavy with metaphor, brimming with emotion. No light reading here, her premise is a challenging one...."All's Grace". Everything. Everything is a gift, even the heartbreaking events in life. A few snippets, or, as I call them, "underlined bits" :

"...life change comes when we receive life with thanks and ask for nothing to change."

"Life is not an emergency. Life is brief and it is fleeting but it is not an emergency. Emergencies are sudden, unexpected events - but is anything under the sun unexpected to God? Stay calm. Enter the moment. Give thanks."

I find myself nodding in agreement. Life is not an emergency. But it can feel urgent. Then, I read this:

"Life is so urgent it necessitates living slow. In Christ, urgent means slow. In Christ, the most urgent necessitates a slow and steady reverence."

"Life at its fullest is this sensitive, detonating sphere, and it can be carried only in the hands of the unhurried and reverential."

Beautiful book, beautiful cover, beautifully written by a beautiful woman. This book is one of the very few keepers - one which I know I'll dip into over and over again for decades to come. I vacillate between feeling such gratitude to the woman who gave me the book, and gratitude to the woman who wrote the book.

Read "One Thousand Gifts". Then, start your own list of "one thousand gifts", as I did over a year ago. (The seed of the book I hold in my hand this evening actually began as a blog entry on Ann's blog, "A Holy Experience". I took up her challenge to chronicle one thousand gifts long before her book was published a couple of months ago.)

You can find this gem at Amazon.com and your Christian bookstore.

Baby Jeremiah is Here!

Baby Jeremiah Bailey came unexpectedly today. Let me say first that he is fine. Mom will be allright, too.



Here is what happened....momma fell.



I know, right? Just reading those words probably makes your heart skip a beat, even if you don't know the Baileys.



Kelly was almost 9 months pregnant, and was planning an all natural, midwife-assisted delivery at our local birthing center. She had a perfect pregnancy, looked beautiful all the time, stayed remarkably fit and healthy. As the Braxton-Hicks contractions were setting in, as she would have pre labor every now and then, she was progressing beautifully, and was 3+ centimeters dialated all on her own. We all have been waiting, knowing that she'd go into "THE" labor at any moment. Harvest Church prayed over her today that Jeremiah would come quickly.



Then, after church, she had a bad fall at the grocery store. She went to the hospital to be checked out. The baby's vital signs were okay, but Kelly had fallen hard enough, badly enough, that the doctors did not want to risk anything, and they began preparing her for a C-section immediately.



Though we are all disappointed that this wasn't the birth experience Kelly was hoping for, we are all deeply rejoicing that our wee little weeping prophet is here.



And now, without further ado, I present to you Mr. Jeremiah Bailey:





There he is, softly crying in his grandmommy's arms. He has the sweetest, most poignant cry. Poor little man, he has had a very hard day.

Here is the proud pappa, Matt Bailey, our church's youth pastor, moments after delivery...

I think he is still wrapping his mind around the fact that the wait is over, and Jeremiah is, in fact, here!

Thank you, Lord, for a healthy Bailey baby!

More Random Acts of Beauty

I want this blog to give back to you. I want to give to you my very best, via this blog. I don't always hit that target, and I feel it whenever I miss it. Whenever I toss up a post just to get one up, whenever I don't invest, I feel it. I don't like that feeling, because I prefer knowing I invested. I prefer knowing that I have sown. I want my blog to be a blessing to you.



That takes more work than most people realize, more work than most people are willing to put into something they don't get paid to do. I don't care that I do this for free, because I enjoy excellence, I like doing my very best for you. I want this blog to be a source of encouragement, inspiration, a laugh, maybe just a smile, and a source of good - no, great - information. I am constantly on the lookout, on your behalf, for "the best of the best" of what is available online. By the time something makes it to my blog, it is the cream that has risen to the top.



In keeping with all the above, I have a couple of things to share with you. I absolutely love the website Houzz. If you have never visited yet, go now. (Go ahead...I'll wait for you...)



You'll spend a very long time looking through some really inspiring designs, if you are anything like me.



I've just discovered another "love" - a brand new site. I think it is open to the general public now. I had to have an invitation when I joined, I'm not sure if that has changed, but it isn't hard to get one. It is called Pinterest. On Pinterest, you can create your own virtual inspiration boards, much like you might have created various idea books in Houzz. (I have about six idea books going in Houzz at the moment...) I have long been looking for one place I could tuck away all the beautiful images I come across that are worth saving. Pinterest does it! It is entirely too much fun - check it out, I think you will enjoy it immensely.



Lastly, please allow me to leave you with a few of what I always call "Random Acts of Beauty"...these random acts are just me, tossing bits of beauty into the blogosphere. Just me, sowing beauty, loving beauty, sharing beauty.



Savor. Enjoy.



I think this is quite simply the perfectly imperfect hairstyle. So wabi sabi. (Google it.) It would work for any age. Timeless. Imperfect. Perfect. Lovely. Feminine.

Wood counters are big...going into some very high end expensive kitchens. You cannot match the warmth of wood...the unpretentious beauty.

The perfect little home office nook. That framed tapestry? Sa-woon.

More of those cool pillows I've been telling you about...in orange and blue, no less!

This diningroom marries orange and blue so beautifully...

This picture stole my heart! I have no idea who this baby is, but she is adorable. Almost as cute as my grandson. Make no mistake, however. I might as well come out and say that I'm gunning for some pink of my own. Either my daughter Sarah or my daughter Hannah is going to have to produce. Ahem.

THIS, mi amiga, is a leather cover for a MAC BOOK! A laptop cover that looks like a book! What a fun gift for a Mac user. Love!!!

Blue and orange, in architecture...the orange tone of the bricks, the gorgeous blue doors...

Orange, blue, neutrals, symmetry ...the only thing I'd change is that I would do just one unexpected something in this room, but even as it is, I love this...the design is so clean and bright.

We Are So Proud of Justin!

We don't have sons-in-law here in this house. We have sons-in-love. Our son-in-love Justin McConnell took his test for his teacher certification shortly after baby Tim was born. He was a sleep deprived pappa. He is also doing his internship at Bearden high school. He is also months away from earning his Master's degree. He also picks up hours when he can at a second job.

So, it is no small thing that he scored in the top 15% of everyone who has ever taken the test. Not just the top 15% out of those who took the test this year, but of all who have ever taken the test, in the whole, long history of the test.

What? You don't believe me? The cake alone doesn't prove it? Okay, for all the cynical, jaded skeptics out there ~

(Just kidding...I know everyone believes me. I simply adore milking something for all it is worth, and this occasion is worth a lot!)

Okay, okay. So I could have taken a picture of someone else's award letter. Here is the proof-to-beat-all-provings:


See the name? "Justin McConnell".

Can I tell you? Yes, he worked very hard. Yes, he studied. But he will be the first to tell you....it was the grace of God. Justin has a revelation of grace that lets him live life at an unfair advantage. Justin believes that God is pleased with Christ, and Justin trusts in Christ alone for his sufficiency in all things, and so Justin gets divine favor over all his endeavors.

And yet, though his considerable intellect and sturdy work ethic is a gift from God, we all still get to say, "Justin we are so proud of YOU!"

I told you that grace men and grace women out-perform the legalist-performers!

God's grace works that way. Amazing!

Little Tim's First Playdate

Poppy's namesake, our grandson Timothy, went on his first playdate last week...

As you can see, he was very excited at the prospect of playing with his buddy Ethan William, born on the same day as he!

It was a cold, wintery day...his mommy got him all bundled up. I couldn't resist taking a picture of such a momentous occasion, and then sharing it with you!

When they got back, Little Britches told his Mimi all about it.

He had big fun.

Already Planning a Return Trip to Charleston, SC!

The houses...oh, the houses. And their front doors...

The gardens....oh, the gardens...

(window boxes, even at Christmastime!)

Ooooooh, the restaurants!

Oh, the inspiring artist's and crafter's shops...not the least of which was this yarn shop - a feast for my color-deprived, winterized soul...

Charleston, we will be back to see you again...soon.

A "Pottery Barn-ish" Cable Knit Pillow

Finished an easy project this evening - see the blue cable knit pillow? I have been coveting some Pottery Barn pillows just like this, in various colors, but wasn't about to pay their prices. These soft, cozy knit pillows are a big hit this season, and decorators see no end in sight. They will most definitely be back in all your interior decor magazines next fall and winter.

So I went to the thrift store and bought the newest looking men's large sweater I could find. I bought it for ~one~ dollar, took it home, washed and dried it, cut a square out of the front and a square out of the back, and hand sewed the two sides together, wrong sides out. When I was half way done on the last side, I turned it right-side-out, and stuffed it with a down pillow form I already have. Then I sewed the whole pillow shut with matching blue yarn. (Well, semi matching. The blue isn't a perfect match, but I was determined to spend no more than ~one~ dollar on the whole thing...the blue yarn I had was the yarn I made do with.)

And so, for ~one~ dollar, I have the perfect pillow that others paid sixty-five times more for. And it is in a beautiful hand picked, shade of blue-gray. Love!

I think I will do this a few more times now, and store the sweaters-turned-pillow-covers away when spring comes. Next autumn, I'll get them back out. My sofa will be adorned with cozy beauty. And I'll go visit Pottery Barn, where the style will surely be once again on lavish display, and I will smile smugly.

Until I see something else I want, but don't want to pay what they charge.