Archives for March 2015

March 30, 2015 By 2 Comments

Monday

I spent the weekend at a woman’s conference in Texas called Hope Spoken.  It was great.  I’m still thinking through all my thoughts and dreams which seem to have surfaced during the 3 days.  I don’t get to go away too often, but when I do it’s full on crazy town in my heart and head when I re-enter our life.

When Josh Kelley and all the kids picked me up at the airport we immediately headed for dinner to celebrate Harper’s birthday.  Yesterday she turned 8 and 8 was always the age in my head that seemed “old” for a kid.  I cried while the staff at the restaurant sang happy birthday to her.  She’s just this really great, loving and kind kid.  She makes my heart want to burst.

Of course Josh Kelley did his dad thing while I was away with pink and blue wafflers per Harper’s request for breakfast and covered her door in fun colorful streamers to which our current littlest has been plucking away at.  I was so thrilled to celebrate with her last night.  She’s just delightful.  She’s having some friends over Saturday to make things and don’t even ask me if I have anything prepared because the answer is a loud and stress-filled “NO!”  I’m swimming in to-dos, but am trying not to let them over take my heart and attitude.

As life goes our littlest is losing her sweet little mind crying a lot including while we ate and celebrated last night and now were headed to the doctor this morning.  And Hudson puked all in his top bunk in the middle of the night.  All I could think as I watched Josh washing the throw up from his comforter and as I wiped up puke from his sheets was that I expect nothing less from Satan to try and get right to work.  As I loaded the washer at 2am I repeated over and over again “God you see me.  God you see me.”

When I re-enter life I always feel really overwhelmed and anxiety easily creeps in.  Even if its from a vacation with our whole family.  I start very quickly to lose my mind and let the enemy take over my heart and thoughts.  I really, really didn’t want this to be the case with this morning.  I’m constantly reminding myself God sees me right where I am.  I feel like I have so much to do, but I’ve prioritized and just keep saying “God you see me.”

Taxes and Easter orders and mothering and Bible journaling class prep and a fabulous 8-year-olds creative party prep and baseball practice and soccer practice and and and…life just rolls on and I’m trying to keep my heart and head centered on Christ through each thing…big, little, important or mundane.

A little blog housekeeping…I’m kind of up to my eyeballs in orders right now, so I’m going to close for custom orders for a bit and try and play catch up.  I’ve got some new thoughts about my business and need to hash them all out with Josh Kelley.  I’m really excited though.  If we’ve exchanged emails about your order then you’re good.

And April’s Bible journaling class is coming up April 18th.  I still have a few spots open so just Message Me if you would like to participate.  You can read about class details HERE and HERE.

So here’s to a good and encouraging week.  God sees us right where we are and He knows what our week holds already.

Happy Monday.

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March 26, 2015 By Leave a Comment

Six {But Really Three}

For a while now when Amon was asked how old he is he responds with a quick and confident “Six!”  It makes us all laugh and my Aunt Linda really got a kick out of it.  His birthday was yesterday.  How in the world is this child 3?!?!?!  It blows my mind.

We traveled back home all day yesterday, but my sweet Uncle Tom got up in the morning and went and got 2 dozen donuts so we could sing and celebrate before we hit the road.  It made me want to cry.  My Aunt Linda and Uncle Tom are the kindest.

Amon was so excited he could barely stand it.  When Aunt Linda asked him how old he was he responded with a  quick and confident “Eight!”

 

We actually celebrated Amon a few weekends ago with our family since we knew we would be out of town.  And because we were traveling there was no birthday door, but we’re going to make that one up soon.

Amon has been crazy obsessed with Chuck E Cheese so today we took him to celebrate.  One of his sweet therapists gave us a very generous gift card.  He’s been talking about high-fiving Chuck E Cheese since our nephew Jack’s birthday back at the beginning of December.  It was time to make his dream come true.  He kept his distance in the beginning and may have sprinted across the place screaming a high pitched shrill out of fear when he saw Chuck E Cheese walking his way (I don’t think Josh Kelley and I have ever laughed so hard), but with a little help he finally came around.

This picture may not look like much, but what I love is Harper, Hudson and Solomon’s faces.  Amon has been talking about this epic high-five for months and months.  This is right before he actually did it.  We have all been pumping him up and trying to encourage him to make his little 3-year-old dream come true of high-fiving that dang giant mouse and today he did it.  We all cheered.  We’re kind of all ridiculous over this kid.

His day has been grand.  He keeps telling us all about how he high-fived Chuck E Cheese and he seriously beams with pride.

Oh Amon Kelley, you’re a good one kid.  You are a sweet fiery ball of wild joy.  God has already used your little life for so much and we cannot wait to see what else He has in store for you.  You’re a world changer.  You have the quirkiest personality and the best hair which makes us all crazy about you even more.  You love a giant mascot mouse, your Cat, baseball, bears, horses, painting and sweets.  You’re crazy fun to parent even when you make me want to scream and pull my hair out.  So grateful to God He knew we needed you.  So grateful to God He allowed us to be your Mom and Dad.  You have brought so much healing and joy to our family and we all love you more than should be humanly possible.  Thanks for being our ace of hearts!

Happy 3rd birthday AK!

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March 24, 2015 By 3 Comments

Ocean Eyes

All the Kelley kids are on spring break, so given the chance all 7 of us headed south to spend some much needed time with my Aunt Linda and Uncle Tom.

It’s funny how when Mom died so many things changed instantly.  Being around Aunt Linda & Uncle Tom brings back a sense of belonging and family that feels like Mom.  I sat today with Aunt Linda talking about recipes and just started to cry.  I miss my mom.  I miss this feeling of belonging no matter what.  I miss knowing she loved me and was proud of me.  I just miss her.

And with all the missing God’s faithfulness is constant.  His evidence is everywhere.  He just never leaves even when we think we’ve kicked Him to the curb.  Even when we think we’re not worth saving.  Even when we’re drowning in grief…or anything.  Even when we think we just cannot handle our current situation.  Even when we’ve waved our white flag and have given up.  He just stays.  And loves big and hard and reminds us we will always belong to Him.

When Harper was little we talked often about how she had ocean eyes…big, deep chocolate eyes taking it all in.  In the midst of all the ups and downs of life, the unknowns, the hard work, the pain & insecurities, the everyday ins and outs and the joy I hope we still choose to take it all in and see how He’s there.  That we still look for Him in and around and entwined in everything…because He’s there.

So far God has used 2015 to both amazingly surprise us and stretch all of us in so many different ways.  He’s teaching our hearts to love like Him.  He’s reminding our hearts He is here and He continues to change and press in on us hard encouraging us with the statement “I want more.”  Through every little ebb and flow His love is crazy steadfast and tells us all along the way He is here.

 

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March 20, 2015 By 1 Comment

Insta Friday

We’ve got a big fun weekend ahead of us and I’ve been running nonstop today, so thought I’d post just a quick Insta-Friday with some Instagram pics.  You can find me at pitterpatterart if you want to follow along.  Instagram is one of my top favorite apps.

I don’t own one single pair of high heel shoes.  Mom was the queen of fun, fancy high heels and right after she died Harper asked for a few pairs.  She still walks around the house wearing them and it always makes me smile.

Ever get almost to the end of your grocery shopping with your littles and realize a shoe has gone MIA?  It’s a moment of dropping my head low, admitting defeat and then back tracking to find that solo lost shoe.

They are getting ridiculously big.  And Amon is clearly Solomon’s weird face making apprentice.

A little pretty and colorful paint palette love.  Someone on instagram pointed out all the little heart shaped reflections and it made me swoon even harder.

Baseball has begun and I’m pretty excited to cheer these guys on along with all their sweet teammates.  We were born for the ball field.  It runs deep in our blood.

This dude has a birthday next week and we celebrated with family a little early.  This was his first birthday party and when we all gathered around and sang to him he beamed and sang right along with us with all his beautiful little heart.  Made me completely teary eyed.

Spring is officially here.  Sunshine and flip-flops are where it’s at.

I’ve convinced my friend Jess to become a permanent running partner and it is the best.  I have so missed running with friends, but I am loving the HIIT treadmill plans I’ve been doing.  Jess is the most scheduled, organized person I know, so I laughed so hard and out loud at this text.

Aunt Jen gave Amon a Furreal cat for his birthday because he is obsessed with her cat.  Amon is now obsessed with Cat and takes him/her (gender varies on the day to day) everywhere.  Today they did a little Krogering.

And lastly, I still have spots available for my April 18th Bible journaling class.  You can read all the details HERE.  Shoot me a message if you are interested in joining us.  So excited.

Happy Friday party people.  Enjoy your weekend.

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March 19, 2015 By Leave a Comment

Color & Pattern

Harper isn’t feeling her best today with a cold so we’ve been pretty chill at home.  I am happy to report I officially got my tooth finally fixed this morning.  I know you’ve all been losing sleep over my never ending tooth saga.  It ended up working out with Harper coming along because she helped with Amon and our current little.  She’s my sanity and crazy responsible and has one crazy good heart so I was a bit relieved to have her extra set of hands.  She does her big sister gig so well and corralled the two littles while they fixed my tooth for good.

I’ve got to get back to our movie watching/laying on the couch marathon, but wanted to post some recent work.  I joke that I only like to use a little color and only a few patterns at a time.

If you’d like to place an order just shoot me a message HERE.

I think life is a little more grand with lots of color and patterns in the mix.

Happy Thursday.

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March 18, 2015 By 3 Comments

When He Speaks II

I sat last night in bed and tried to read THIS post I wrote over a year ago on Amon’s developmental and speech delays.  It made me weepy and grateful and I couldn’t even read all of it because it just made my heart hurt a bit.  Over a year ago Amon was in a completely different place then he is today.  Sometimes it’s easy to look back and sometimes it’s hard.  We were all struggling…grasping at straws…holding on tight…trying to be hopeful, but the end was no where in site.  No one knew if Amon would ever really take off with his speech.  He had already been in therapy for a while and still only had only 1 word.  It was hard to be hopeful when we just weren’t seeing the progress we longed too.  We were’t hearing his words.

Now here I sit on our couch while the 2 littles are napping and we’ve said our goodbyes this week to his 2 therapists.  It’s been graduation week for him.  He has done therapy every Monday and Wednesday for a long time.  They aren’t just his therapists, but a part of our family.  We love both of these ladies so much.  They didn’t just do their jobs, they excelled at them.  And they loved Amon well…so very very well.  Goodbyes can be awesome and sad.

There were things like M&Ms and treats and coloring.  There were donuts and a Chuck E Cheese gift card because he’s currently obsessed.  And bubbles.  Lots of bubbles because they both know how much he adores them.  Everything made me teary because they love him and he loves them.  Oh how the conversations between them have grown and changed over their time together.

These moments are bittersweet in so many ways.  I cannot say enough how overjoyed I am to hear Amon’s thoughts out loud from his own little mouth with his own little words.  It’s crazy sweet.  I’m reminded of how it felt to finally leave the hospital after his open heart surgery.  I was scared and happy to finally take him home, but also felt overwhelmed and at a loss for all those families who remained and those who wouldn’t ever get to go home with their children.  The world can be heartbreaking.

I am so thankful he speaks now…and a lot.  I know there are many families who just long to hear what their child’s voice sounds like.  I do not take Amon’s words for granted.  God keeps reminding me He is His holy self in all situations.  He is good in all situations.  He is mighty and strong and desires all the glory for Himself in all situations.  So even if Amon never spoke God would still be God on His throne and He is always good.

God continues to have such mercy on Amon’s life.  Josh Kelley and I have been replaying his tiny short 3 years and just WOW…that’s about all we can say about God’s goodness and mercy and grace. I don’t share Amon’s whole story because I’m one fierce protective momma bear and it is his story to share some day, but I hope he writes a book because it’s a good one.

So today we are just consumed with gratefulness in how far God has brought Amon…especially on his journey to finding his words.  Amon’s name means “faithful” and that is exactly what God has weaved all throughout Amon’s story…His faithfulness.  Thankful and honored I get to listen to him speak and share his 3-year-old thoughts.  It’s quite the ear full 🙂

Happy Wednesday.

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March 17, 2015 By 1 Comment

Housekeeping

Just a few random housekeeping items today.  Not like housekeeping as in actual cleaning of a house because well, I just don’t keep a very clean house.  Don’t ever look at our floors, baseboards, tops of lights, furniture, etc…dirt and dust everywhere.  What I’m good at is an optical illusion by having lots of white and not a lot of stuff, so therefore it makes our house to appear clean to the untrained internet eye…muhuhahahahahaha.  And then I went on a strange non cleaning tangent.  What?!?!?!

Back to the housekeeping…of the blog variety.

**So lots of spaces still available for the Saturday, April 18th Bible journaling class.  You can read all the details HERE or scroll to the post below.  Shoot me a message or email me if you’d like a spot(s).

**We currently have 3 spots open on our Swaziland trip this July.  Final deadline for the trip is going to be April 1st.  We need to get down to booking flights, etc so we need to nail down our final head count.  You can message or email me for information about this as well.  It’s going to be such a great trip.  Rumor is we may even get to do a safari which I’ve been to Africa quite a bit and never been on one.  So excited.

**For a while now my Contact button at the top has not been sending me any forms submitted by yahoo or aol email accounts.  I’m so pumped because it’s officially fixed.  I promise I answer all emails I receive.  If I have not replied then for some reason I did not get your email…spam, wonky internet or broken contact form.  I always try and respond to emails in a timely manner.  This is sometimes a few days with all that goes on around our home, but I never just don’t reply.  Cross my heart and hope to die…not really the die part 🙂

**I have a few sets of key fobs available for purchase.  Each set is $36.  Message me and please include the letter(s) of the set(s) you would like.  I will be able to mail these out as soon as tomorrow.

A. SOLD

B.

C.  SOLD

D.

**And I keep making THIS for dinner.  I throw in a bunch of shredded cooked chicken and use those spinach fettuccine noodles…who knows if they are really better for you or not, but I like to pretend they are…and I sub in almond milk…we’ve got kiddos with milk issues.  It’s so so good and fast and all in the same pan.  You know I like a good one-pan-wonder.  Try it.  You’ll love it.

 Hope your day is stellar.

Happy Tuesday!

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March 16, 2015 By 9 Comments

April Bible Journaling Class

I held my first Bible journaling class this past Saturday and it was beyond wonderful.  This is what I know…I love filling our house with amazing women, I love the Bible and I love being creative.  When all of these combined it left me crying some pretty thankful tears after each of the women left while eating jelly beans <——did this paint a kind of sad picture of myself…the crying while eating jelly beans part ?!?!?! 🙂

There were key fobs and Timbali pouches for sale and in the end combined with class fees we raised enough for the fun day and I have a nice check to send back to Timbali for the incredible ladies.

I took a grand total of almost no pictures.  Seriously.  Here are the two from my phone.

Before:

After:

My head was obviously in a million other places.  I did re-stage the key fobs and Timbali pouches for you.  Ha.  Timbali sent us 25 of their zip pouches and these were the only reminaing ones.  I love it.

So we’re on for another class in April and here are all your details.

When:  Saturday, April 18th

Time: 1pm-4pm

Where:  Our house. 

(Josh Kelley is taking all the wee ones out so imagine all the kid freeness.)

Cost: $50

All the money will be used for something good.  I haven’t quite figured this something out yet, but I am working on it and will share as soon as I know.  We’re going to do some good together.

The class will be 3 hours in length and we will talk about the process of Bible journaling and I will share how I go about this each day.  We will talk about the process, supplies and all the tips, tricks and techniques I use.  There will be time for questions throughout the class as well as time for you to do some of your own Bible journaling.

Each person will bring their own supplies.  You can read about the supplies I use on THIS POST, but please feel free to bring the items which work for you.  YOU DO NOT HAVE TO PURCHASE THE ITEMS I USE.

Lastly, this class will be limited to 16 people.  If you would like a spot email me at pitterpatterart at gmail dot com  You can reserve more than one spot, so chat with your family and friends and make it a girls time.  This will also be a kid free time…sorry, no kiddos.  Once you have emailed you will need to pay via paypal or check to officially claim a spot.  I will send you this additional information after your initial inquiry.

Thank you to all the ladies who came out on Saturday.  You have no idea how you made my week and flat out encouraged my heart.  You were each so much fun and just a joy to spend the afternoon with.  Thank you for coming.  I loved how comfortable and open and honest you each were.  Especially those of you who brought all that extra food 🙂 #foodismylovelanguage

So excited for April and the next round of ladies I get to meet.

Happy Monday.

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