Hi! Hope your weekend is going awesome. Just wanted to drop in for 2 reminders:
1. The Gifter Project nomination time is officially closed. You guys have just killed us with all your kind words about your special people. It’s too much. I love it. Thanks to everyone who shared with us. Now it’s time to get down to making some art 🙂
2. Next Saturday is June’s Bible Journaling Class. I have 5 spots left. Let me know if you’d like one or two or five 🙂 Email or message me HERE.
Happy Saturday!
I get this question a lot. I get emails about it a lot. I should ask Josh Kelley if he gets asked this too. When I think about this new whirlwind we are in honestly it’s just an honor and also hard. There is so much to this foster parent/foster family gig.
We got a phone call early in the morning just the other day about a little boy who needed placement. Our home was not approved for a little boy his age due to lack of space so we had to say no. We’ve had to do this before. Sometimes when they are looking for a home they don’t see what the social worker has or has not approved you for. I thought about this kid all day. Finally I asked Josh to call back and check on him. They had worked out a placement and I breathed a little easier. It’s not easy when you are given such personal and sacred details to someones life…especially when they are a small child’s which involves such loss in a moments notice.
Then there’s the emails and scheduling of visitations and doctors appointments and documentation and training (which we are of course behind on) and meetings and court dates and throw in all your other regular day life stuff and the rest of your family. Some days it’s really hard to keep up and to keep everything straight. Some days there is no treading water, just drowning. But you guys, we are all quite in love with this little girl, but also her family. They are beautiful people. There is a friendship now and mutual respect. There are texts and face timing in between visitations. We are their #1 cheerleaders because they deserve someone cheering them on in such a noble fight they are fighting. They love their girl madly and it’s something amazing and humbling to watch.
And then there are our hearts. And our kids hearts. I know our days are becoming shorter and shorter so we make sure we keep talking about how we will all miss her like crazy, but how thrilled we will be when she gets to go home. We talk about it all the time. We pray for it. Want to bring me to tears, just let me hear sweet Hudson asking God again “Please God help _____ to get to go home soon to her mommy and daddy.” I am a lost cause every.single.time I hear these words from our kids’ mouths. They know the goal. We know the goal. We’ve talked about it from the beginning, but that doesn’t mean it will make the transition any easier. Harper says all the time “I’m going to miss her so much.” but her momma promises we will get to babysit and help out whenever they need it. We’ve all got our hopes set on it.
I think a lot about this quote by Francis Chan from You and me Forever:
“Sometimes people are paralyzed by fear of failure. They are so afraid they might do the wrong thing that they do nothing. We need to learn to err on the side of action, because we tend to default to negligence. So many won’t do anything unless they hear a voice from heaven telling them precisely what to do. Why not default to action until you hear a voice from heaven telling you to wait?”
When I think about our family leading up to becoming a foster family…we would have missed this. We would have missed this blessing. We would have missed this opportunity to love and be loved. We would have missed out on meeting this crazy amazing family. We would have missed Jesus. We thought so many things like we don’t have enough room, we need to move first, we’ve already got 4 kids, we don’t have the time, we’re stretched too thin, etc etc etc. God is so good at proving us wrong…that truly His plans are best and when we think we just can’t He certainly can.
I read this article last night and it made me weepy.
“What grace that in fostering we have the opportunity to directly address the severe vulnerabilities of children in our community, experience a transformation of our minds, and gain access to a deep and profound joy – both in ourselves and in the children for whom we have the privilege of caring.”
I can’t get over what a privilege this really is. Yes it’s hard and complicated some days, but geez what an honor…what a gift God is giving us…to love on this kiddo and her family and try and help the family unit stay intact. I don’t know if I’ll ever understand it all, but I don’t think this is a fight we’re soon to give up on.
Happy Friday!
So the kick off to summer has been a little less than dreamy. Ha. I realized quickly this is our first summer where three children have been absent all during the day and now have returned. It’s an adjustment for sure. I might have locked myself in my room for a stint this morning. Sigh.
So I say we’re in summer training now. Everyone is getting into the routine of being home and together ALL.DAY.LONG. I’ve issued rules like no iPad time until nap time and choosing a quiet activity during nap time so littles sleep and Mom still gets work done. I might have said “I still have a job you know.” very bratty and with extra attitude. Send prayers and extra cookies.
This was my office today. Perler beads everywhere, the remnants of strawberries, water bottles, craft supplies, small children. The iron is not on…no small children were burned in the making of perler bead crafts.
We’ve been establishing all kinds of ground rules to help our summer go a little more smoothly. The kids ate every breakfast at school and a lot of lunches too so figuring out food and snacking was at the top of my list. Pretty sure yesterday I heard “can I have a snack” 5000 times. Now the big kids are in charge of making their own breakfasts, lunches and snacks. We went over all of their guidelines and made these little signs together and hung them on the refrigerator for all to see. Now Josh Kelley and I will only be making breakfast and lunch for 2 kids and the big three will have a little more responsibility…so far, so good.
In other news, the wave pool or Wave Country opens tomorrow. We are all holding our breath for the rain to stay away and let us usher in summer break properly.
I’m making these cookies this weekend. I mean, really, cookies that will change my life?!?!?! Yes please. I feel like my friend Marcie pins things with wording like “Literally best cookie known to man” just because she knows I can’t resist finding out for myself if this really is in fact the best cookie known to man. She is adding to my to-do list every time she does this! Thanks a lot Marcie.
And the best surprise date occurred yesterday when our littlest’s visitation time was bumped up, all the remaining kids went to church with their grandparents and Josh Kelley’s baseball game got rained out. We’re kind of on repeat with the gym and then hibachi chicken…it’s just too good. The best little unexpected pick me up.
And now to get a little more work finished up before the little ones wake up. Summer, we shall survive you, we shall!!!!
Happy Thursday!
Today was the last day of school which means summer is officially here. The big kids had a 1/2 day and for my last hurrah with only 2 children in tow I went to Joanns, Target and Kroger for groceries. We know how to party.
For the entire 168 days of school, according to Harper, I have not once told them what to wear and we made it the entire school year without purchasing additional new clothes…leggings saved the day for Harper. They have a drawer full of their school clothes and they just do their thing in the mornings. Today I finally made my first clothing request just so I could re-take this picture. Sigh.
August 2014
May 2015
They all inspected the picture and obliged quite nicely even paying close attention to details. Harper with her animal socks even though the originals are long gone, Hudson with his closed mouth smile and Sol wins the award for his raised eyebrow smile, Ethiopian sweat band and hand on his hip. Cracks me up!
In celebration I bought a .99 pack of balloons and blew them up in the car rider line. Everyone was crazy delighted including the two littles who waited in the car.
And this morning I did their last day of school pictures before they headed off. I’m a sucker for a good side-by-side. Solomon cracked me up because he insisted on spelling everything on his own and he rocked it!
Now how quick can we get to the wave pool. We’re ready for the sun and swimming for days.
Happy Wednesday!
PS: I still have 6 spots available for the June Bible Journaling Class. Let me know if you would like to join us. And Friday is the last day to submit your favorite human for free art with The Gifter Project!
Listening: Silence. It’s actually 10 o’clock on Monday night, but this will publish Tuesday morning. Josh Kelley is already asleep which is unheard of, but my brain will not turn off so here I sit…alone…in the dark…in the silence. It’s a little eery and yet not.
Eating: Nothing. Again 10pm. I did however make a million white chocolate chip brownies this morning. Super easy…mix up your favorite chocolate brownies and then throw in white chocolate chips. When you give things titles with capitalized letters like White Chocolate Chip Brownies they sound way more fancier and profesh than they really are. Try it…you’ll see.
Drinking: Water. All day, err day. I recently left my water bottle at a friends house and it seriously threw me totally out of whack until I got it back. So weird. I’m clearly not a normal functioning human.
Wearing: Pjs. AKA the same shirt I wore all day and sweats pants.
Laura Kelley Fun Fact #56: I have no PJ shirts. The tee I wear that day is 99.9% likely to be the shirt I sleep in. And because I only wear tees this is actually more like 100% likely.
Feeling: A tad overwhelmed. School gets out Wednesday and sometimes I just let life kind of take over and I forget to ask God to keep the peace in my head and heart. My mind won’t quit tonight because I just have this overwhelmed/anxious feeling from all the feelings. I keep taking deep breaths and counting to 4 (like I saw on Sesame Street this morning. No lie. I figured it was worth a shot) and telling God to take it all.
Weather: It rained all day and was just the perfect temp for capri sweats, a tee and cardi.
Wanting: A home renovation in certain areas of our house 🙂 Our house is really old. And we’ve lived here almost 10 years and have only replaced floors. Sometimes we feel like it’s starting to fall apart on us…broken kitchen cabinets and drawers, tub that won’t hold water, broken tiles, etc etc etc. This morning our sweet plumber came and fixed not one, but two toilets and our kitchen sink. I wanted to grab him around the waist and give him a giant bear hug. I wish you could have seen the lego contraption he pulled from the boys toilet…we thought for sure it was clogged by a Luke Skywalker action figure. Turns out Luke made his way all the way through, but the giant lego contraption Amon flushed did not. It made my day. So even though I would love for some other things to be fixed and maybe Ty Pennington to come swooping in for an easy and quick overhaul, I’m so grateful…grateful for this house and the people who fill it to the brim.
Needing: This shirt. It’s so true.
And this is what it looks like when I do a workout at home. Cracks. Me. Up. They are all going to be jacked by August.
Thinking: About how I probably need to sell our David Gray tickets at Fontanel in June. I realized tonight David wasn’t the best choice in celebrating the big 12 year anniversary with Josh Kelley. He’s not a David Gray fan and even though he’d never say “let’s not go” when he thought I really wanted to go, I realize now I pretty much twisted his arm into going. I know I can figure out a better way to celebrate with him.
(photo cred the amazing Cheyenne of Shots by Cheyenne)
Enjoying: Reading all your The Gifter Project stories. Thank you so much for sharing your important humans with us. Your stories are important and valued and I just feel so honored you would share a piece of them with us. We have not started sifting and getting ideas together just yet. We finish up school this week and then we’re going to get down to the free art making. I can’t wait.
Here’s to Tuesday morning…even though I’m writing this late Monday night!
Happy Tuesday people!
**CLOSED FOR ENTRIES**
I’m pretty giddy. And nervous. This project has been swirling around in my head and heart for a while, but I just wasn’t sure how to work it all out. Josh Kelley and I have talked and chatted and thought and done some sorting out of thoughts. Then I realized it didn’t really have to be all worked out…I needed to just go for it. So here I am.
I love gift giving. I love picking out just the right gift for people. I like random gifts, surprise gifts for no reason and normal expectant, celebratory gifts. I want to be an encourager and many times I like to give gifts to do so. I like the time and thought you put into the gift…big or small. The best gift I love to give is one I can make. There’s just something about the entire process…the special person in mind, the perfect idea, then the entire creative execution of the idea and then the giving…the reveal. It all makes me a bit swoony on the inside.
Here is where The Gifter Project comes in. I want to help you be an encourager. I want to help you give a gift to that really special someone who could use some extra love and a reminder they are seen and known and valued. And I can do this with free art!
Here’s how it works. Submit your story about your special someone you want to nominate HERE. Tell us why they are special…why they could use a little pick me up…some extra love and care…a special surprise gift. Lay it on us. We want to hear all about this crazy good human you know. Josh Kelley and I are going to read each and every word. Then we are going to start choosing some of these awesome people. I will notify you if your story has been chosen. Then I will set to work creating an art piece with that special person in mind. I’ll get all the details from you and then we’ll ship it out to the recipient with your name and message attached so they know where the love came from. You will be the gifter and art will be the gift.
We’re going to give this a try for the summer and see how it goes. My hope is to share about each person, their snippet of story and their gifted art to go along with it, but I will always ask permission before doing so.
I wish we could choose everyone, but I’m afraid this won’t be a possibility…unless we get a low number of entries and in that case art for everyone 🙂 And feel free to pass along The Gifter Project information to friends and family. The more the merrier.
So that’s it. You fabulous people who want to encourage, submitting special people who need some encouragement and free art. And away we go!
Happy Friday!
**CLOSED FOR ENTRIES**
I won’t even tell you guys what time we arrived home from the ballpark last night! Geesh. And our leaky bathtub had a good solid dirt ring around it after the brownish tinted water emptied out and Josh Kelley told 3 boys to hop out. It was gross…and I think I have kind of embraced our grossness, so I feel like it was really that bad. But I digress.
Today has already been so full, but in a good taking-care-of-business kind of way. Also known as washing-6-loads-of-laundry. Laundry will surely be the death of me. Bring on summer and it’s full on lack of scheduleness…less clothing to wash, no schooling to keep organized, sun and swimming. I’ll take it.
Yesterday Hudson and Solomon had their kindergarten program and graduation. I did great and kept the tears together until Hudson’s teacher broke down in tears and then the rest of us mommas were just a lost cause. I told her thanks for keeping it together and then handed her a piece of cake 🙂 We have had the greatest teachers this year which made our first year at a new school so incredibly wonderful. We’re anticipating amazing things for the next school year.
I like how Sol looks like I’m actually strangling him.
I pretty much loathe dinner time. It’s a thorn in my side. I do my “not a cooker” best, but some dinners are just cereal and others are “Here’s a napkin and a plate of food…work it our yourselves.”
Amon’s favorite part of being potty trained is washing his hands and the hand blowers. He dries his hands for approximately .003 seconds and then the hair blowing ensues. He loves it and it cracks me up.
Some of my recent favorite canvases…9×12, 12×12 and 24×24. Just give me all the colors in the world people. And check back tomorrow for the details on The Gifter Project were going to start…encouraging others through the gift of art.
Date night was success…we hit the gym, then dinner where I talked Josh Kelley into eating his first sushi, then he headed to a meeting and I got my first shower in days, then I picked up kiddos. It was 3 hours of magic.
Anyone else make their kids write thank you notes??? I’m kind of stickler. I don’t care if others do or don’t, but my Mom always made me write them, so no matter how late we are (Harper’s birthday was at the end of March) we push through and get them done! Handwritten mail is becoming a lost art and I want it to live on.
These 2…they are wild and fun and quirky and a tad bit exhausting 😉 She has recently become protective of him, which cracks us up…she’s a sweet firecracker for sure.
Asthma and allergies + high pollen count = this before school.
And there’s still 6 spots open for the June Bible journaling class. Check it out and let me know if you want to join us!
Happy Thursday!
You’re officially invited to June’s Bible Journaling Class. This is a really quick turnaround time for this class so we’re going to see where we land with numbers. Here are the details:
When: Saturday, June 6th
Time: 1pm-4pm
Where: Our house.
Cost: $50
All the money will be used to do some good in this world. March’s class we raised enough money to fund a Fun Day for over 150 kids in Swaziland Africa which will take place on our trip in July. April’s class funds were used to help purchase items and assemble welcome baskets for ladies entering the Magdalene Houses. May’s funds are headed to bless an office of 60 social workers and their supervisors. June’s funds, well, we’re not quite sure where they will be headed yet. We’re praying and brainstorming and keeping our ears and hearts open. I’ll clue you guys in as soon as we know.
This 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 also talk about supplies and 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 and practicing.
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.
There are 7 spaces still available for this class. If you would like a spot email me at pitterpatterart at gmail dot com or Message Me Here. 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.
I hope you will join me. It has been so great meeting all the different women in so many different walks…so much love. I’m excited as always and can’t wait to see what God has in store for June’s class. Let me know if you have any questions!
Happy Wednesday.
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