Archives for January 2016

January 12, 2016 By 7 Comments

Creating & Our Words

I finished up the last of my custom orders for 2015 around the 2nd week in December and then I just chilled.  I made a canvas for my SIL and a few other things here and there, but mostly just took a break.  And breaks are good, but I have a major need to create bent.  So kicking off the new year with new orders and projects has been crazy good for my heart.  The days are super lengthy feeling, the sun doesn’t shine as long and emotions are running rather high and intense around our house lately, so it’s easy to get swept in.  Creating something new is like a good dose of sunshine for me.  And school starting back was like another good dose of sunshine for me…in particular the littles school starting back 🙂  Toddlers are like “whoa”.

Still working on this one, but it’s been good to paint again.

I am still taking orders, so you can message me HERE or email at pitterpatterart at gmail dot com if you are interested.

So excited to get back into teaching the Bible journaling classes.  I have one tomorrow night in Hendersonille and I just can’t even say how excited I am.  The next class I’m hosting at our house on January 23rd.  I do still have 6 spots available if you are interested.  You can check out all the details HERE.

Also, I know it may be weird, but I would love to hear from ladies going to the Created For Care retreats…if any of you are out there.  I’m teaching the Bible Journaling sessions…going completely solo…I don’t even know my roommates’ name…this is hard stuff for an introvert who really longs to be an extravert…easier said than done.  Come say hi to me…I am a hugger though…you have been warned.

And James might not have been the best book to start for the new year.  Holy cow.  So many many emotions and thoughts and I can’t even begin to gather them all up.  Far too many right now.  James is pretty much killing me and chipping away at all the craptasticness in my heart.  Geez.

I will leave you with this bit of in your face goodness from James 3:5-6 the message:

“By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it…”

Yes, I know.  How dare James.  Gigantic slap in my face today.  I say it 1000 times a week…There is the power of life or death in our words.  Will we choose to build people up or tear them down?  My mom said this to me often and she picked it up from a little book called The Bible 🙂

Happy Tuesday.

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January 11, 2016 By 7 Comments

Ethiopian Christmas

January 7th was Ethiopian Christmas.  This is the first year we’ve celebrated it, but we’re making it a tradition.  I like traditions.  I also like that traditions can form at any time.

One of the things I’ve felt like a failure in is making sure our family has strong roots in the Ethiopian culture.  We have two amazing, beautiful Ethiopian sons and I never want them to look back and think we don’t value this incredibly important part of who they are.  We talk about Ethiopia and we all know some facts…we talk about birth stories and one day going back together as a family…we have Ethiopian items displayed in our house, but we’ve never really done any celebrating…any traditional things.

So early in December we sent out a very fancy text invite to all our family and asked them to join us for a traditional Ethiopian dinner on January 8 to celebrate Ethiopian Christmas.  We read up on this important holiday and then we just did our best.  The kids were insanely excited which we loved!!!!  We decorated just a bit…sewn crate paper streamers, a new chalkboard message and butcher paper on the table for coloring.  Simple and easy.

We kicked it off by lighting candles and praying over our food and thanking God for the sweet boys who brought Ethiopia into our family.  We then shared a little about the food.  I might have cried.  I was incredibly emotional because talking about their birth place and thinking about their incredible birthparents makes me want to cry a river…a full fledged river.

I did not attempt to make any of the food.  Maybe one year I will, but for now we called in reinforcements…and by reinforcements I mean GoJo Ethiopian Cafe & Restaurant and Chickfila 🙂  We wanted good, traditional foods, but also did not want to make any young cousins cry.  I was a picky eater as a child…I did not like trying new or different things, so I feel for kiddos who feel the same.  All the Ethiopian dishes we chose we’re Kelley kid approved by one or more of our kiddos…we assumed if our kids liked them then the adults would probably too.

We ordered Miser W’et (lentils), Shiro W’et (chickpeas), Yebeg Alicha (lamb), Beef Tibs (beef), Minchet Abish Deqa (ground beef), Chicken Curry & Peas and lots of injera bread.  We also had chickfila nuggets, fruit cups, veggies and popcorn for kiddos who weren’t so interested in the Ethiopian food.

Large glass bottle sodas were a must…straight from Mexico 🙂  In Ethiopia they have ridiculously large glass bottle sodas and we have such sweet fond memories surrounding them.  I remember holding Solomon the day we met and watching two sets of adorable twins who had just met their parent’s as well…their faces and bodies covered in stickers, devouring sweet treats and turning up these large glass bottle drinks during our coffee ceremony.  It makes me smile and get teary eyed.

I remember watching 5-year-old Harper drink those same glass bottle sodas on our first trip to meet Amon.  She was crazy excited to meet her new brother…it’s where there story began.

I remember sitting in the hotel room with my best friend Ashley for less then 48 hours with Amon…her telling me all about the new Batman movie, eating pizza and drinking these same large glass bottled cokes.  We acted as if we weren’t about to take the most stress filled, scary plane ride of our lives…together…with small baby Amon and his precious heart which needed some fixing.  So many more memories surrounding something so simple and small like glass bottle sodas.

Solomon is quite the dessert master.  Every time he gets to pick a dessert for a celebration…his Gotcha Days and birthdays…he comes up with quite elaborate and detailed concoctions.  It’s one of his gifts.  I let him pick our dessert.  He chose homemade brownies, peppermint ice-cream, mint chocolate chip ice-cream, homemade chocolate sauce and whip cream.  It was just as divine as it sounds.  When I asked him what his favorite part of the night was he said, “When Big Daddy cut his brownie in half and put his ice-cream in the middle making it an ice-cream sandwich.”  Well planned desserts might be one of his love languages.

The rest of the night the kids just ran around like wild children…playing, laughing and drinking far too many sodas and juice boxes.  There was lots of zombie tag outside because zombie tag is a very traditional Ethiopian Christmas game 🙂  The adults sat around chatting and laughing and exchanging stories which I so loved.  Everyone stayed as late as they liked.  No set time to go home…just whenever you wanted to.  We partied pretty hard.

Near the end of the night, Sol came by and grabbed me around the waist.  I leaned into him and he said lowly, “Can we do this every year?”  Absolutely!  We might not have done everything completely authentic.  We might not have done everything right, but we celebrate a rich culture that is deeply entwined into our family and that we are forever grateful for.  And no matter what, I think that is a successful celebration.

Happy Monday.

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January 6, 2016 By 2 Comments

Wednesday Thoughts

All our kiddos went back to school today.  I am sitting in our house…alone…and I hear…wait for it…nothing but the grumbling of my own stomach.  It’s lunch time and I’m going to eat a quick lunch and share none of it.  Whoa.

I went to Target solo this morning.  I grabbed supplies for some orders at Joanns and I was in and out in 10 minutes.  It was a Wednesday miracle you guys.

I finally broke down and bought a brand new pack of Micron pens for my Bible journaling. Micron is my pen jam. I’ve been using the same pack for about 18 months and figured it was time to re-stock. I love the classic black. If you are wondering about Bible journaling supplies I use you can read THIS POST which I’ve added some updates to.

As we drove to school this morning I prayed over the kids’ day, their teachers and friends.  I cried.  80% of the time I do because I’m a lost cause when it comes to my wild little tribe.  They are mine and my love is fierce like a momma bear.

Speaking of momma bears…Hudson and Amon were sick on New Year’s Eve unable to attend a family party, so we watched Bears.  Amon loves bears and Hudson knows it and he pretty much has a heart of gold so he chose Bears because he knew Amon would be giddy.  During the avalanche part I overheard Hudson talking under his breath to himself, “That must be so hard on the bears, so so hard.”  I died from his empathy and sweetness.

Yesterday while driving I made all the kids jam to Everclear.  They are pretty much the soundtrack to my middle school days.  Forget the majority of their music makes you depressed upon taking a listen to the actual words and probably isn’t that appropriate for children.  Great beat though.  Parenting win #1.

At dinner last night we all chatted about our hopes and dreams and things we are looking forward to about 2016.  After all our clamoring voices chilled a bit I thought I would try and have a good spiritual parenting moment.  I said something along the lines of, “Okay you guys.  What’s really the greatest thing we can do in 2016?  What will really matter?”  I just knew they were all going to say “To love Jesus and love others. ”  I just knew it.  And then they all yelled simultaneously “Go to Disney World.”  Parenting win #2.  You can send all your parenting book requests for Josh Kelley and myself to my email.  We will begin writing immediately.  Chapter 1: Creating Spiritual Discipline In Your Children’s Hearts

Tomorrow is Ethiopian Christmas and Friday we are having all our family over for a traditional Ethiopian dinner.  We are so excited.  I didn’t even attempt the food, but alas acknowledged my limitations and ordered food from a great little Ethiopian restaurant in Nashville.  I love traditions and use to be so hindered by thinking traditions had to be something we’ve done since the beginning of us, but then a new day dawned and I realized traditions can begin at any time…you just have to start them.  This is our first Ethiopian Christmas dinner and it’s not perfect or totally authentic…we won’t be walking around our place of worship 3 times with lit candles while praying…but we’re going to gather together with people we love and light candles, eat yummy Ethiopian food, snack on popcorn, drink Mexican glass bottle cokes and devour homemade brownies and ice-cream…per Solomon’s dessert request.  I think it’s going to be one fine tradition.

 We had a home visit this morning.  While intently talking to our caseworker I looked over and our current littlest had opened a bottle of fingernail polish, dumped it on the floor and was painting her fingernails vigorously.  This should probably count as parenting win #3.  I told our caseworker “All she needs is just a second.  That’s it.”  Thankful for our sweet caseworker who just laughed her head off.

 My new favorite go-to lunch consists of:  deli chicken, almond crackers, carrots, mustard, pickles and some cheese all throw into a bowl.  Then I devour.  The pickle obsession around here is getting a tad out of hand.  Viva la pickles.

And I’m making THIS for dinner tonight.

 Thanks for stopping by to read.  Thanks for always being kind and crazy encouraging.

Happiest of Wednesdays!

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January 5, 2016 By 6 Comments

A Break

First a bit of housekeeping.  January’s Bible journaling class has 6 spots left.  You can read all the details HERE.  I was talking to my cousin Rebecca yesterday about Bible journaling and it just makes me all kinds of crazy excited.  I simply love this class because I love reading the Bible now…total game changer…which is insane-o-town for someone who has never been a Bible reader before like myself.  And how fun is this, Rebecca lives in Memphis, so I might be coming to Memphis to teach a class!!!!  Let me know if anyone is interested.

Also, Debora Guy…I know you want to come to January’s class and I’m looking for you my lady.  For some reason all your emails are bouncing back and I never want someone to think I’m ignoring their emails…ever 🙂  Email me at pitterpatterart at gmail dot com  

I am open for orders.  Winter break has been a long one, but all 5 children will exit the house Wednesday morning for some sort of school/MDO and I will be singing all the hallelujahs and getting to work on current orders.  I would insert all the praise hand emojis here if my computer had emojis.  Message me HERE if you would like to place a custom order.

We are still putting together our Swaziland team.  You can read more details HERE.  I would love for you to join us.  It is going to be one amazing trip and I can barely contain my excitement.  If you’re interested or have any questions let me know.

Alright…housekeeping done.

So foster care is hard.  I toyed with a million different ways to say that, but what it all comes down to is simply that…it’s hard.  Is it rewarding and amazing and beautiful and God-relying…a resounding yes to all of the above, and so much more, but it’s also crazy hard and sometimes the hard just wins and over shadows all the goodness.  I don’t like this part about the whole thing or about myself.  I don’t like when some days I’m pretty much toast because of exhaustion and sadness and the high demands.  I don’t like when some days I just feel down and out and choose not to see the joy and the hope.  That’s the ugly part of my heart.  It’s hard to do the right thing…more often the wrong route is so much easier…so it’s a constant battle to choose right…and to take the harder path.

And sometimes you just have to break away from the whole the thing to re-set.  This past weekend Josh Kelley booked us two nights at Montgomery Bell State Park.  We even lined up family to keep our current littlest because speaking of hard, almost 2-year-olds are hard y’all.  She is completely loved, but she is completely a firecracker too 🙂  Plus swimming and hiking and biking didn’t sound too pleasant with a small child who could do none of those things.

So off we went and it was a great break.  Josh, Hudson and Solomon hit up a mountain bike course.  There was swimming in the weirdest, indoor, terrarium pool ever…people had literally etched their names in the pool algae.

Solomon’s faces have now gone from weird to diabolical…like he’s a master mind taking over the world one photo at a time.

We played tons of games.  We all hiked and Amon killed it…dude keeps up.  They created outdoor hideaways.  Josh Kelley made 1000 fires in the outdoor fireplace.

We ate yummy food and cooked smores in the microwave when Josh Kelley’s fire wasn’t quite cutting it.  We watched movies in bed on cable TV…oh em gee.  We rode bikes around and around and around our cabin loop.  It was just right.

And when we went to pick our littlest up she squealed with delight and then held onto Josh’s mom a little bit longer.  She’s 1 of 5 at our house…and she spent the whole weekend apparently soaking up all the solo attention.  Yes, a break was good for everyone.

School is in session tomorrow and our regular routine is on the horizon.  I can totally see it.  Cheers.

Happy Tuesday.

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January 4, 2016 By 2 Comments

New Year Goals

The start of a new year always sends my anxiety fluttering.  Setting goals makes me sweaty.  It all feels like a need and yet also, applies pressure.  Sometimes I need the pressure, but most of the time I just need a crap ton of grace.  It’s a hard line for me to walk.  I’m not good at balance.  I do love actually putting pen to paper and getting goals written down.  I’m a visual person so writing them down and then seeing them helps my head out a bit.  9 times out of 10 I start writing down goals and then it kind of morphs into more of a to-do list.  I like to feel like I accomplished something so a “bake on Sundays” and “fold clothes” throws me a bone every now and then.  This might not be wise in the goal making department, but you do what you have to do.

I have already accomplished a few things, I mean, I haven’t bitten my fingernails in 4 whole days.  THIS IS HUGE.  I did paint them on January 1st with 5 coats of fingernail polish.

Sidenote:  Having painted fingernails instantly makes me feel fancier and pretty sure I should be a hand model.  I hold things a little differently and a little longer.  Need a hand model…hire me now.  End sidenote.

  Seriously, it’s sad, but when I discover a lady who bites her nails I’m all “Let’s be best friends and make each other feel better about our nervous habit.”  Last year on our Swaziland trip, one of my new friends bit her nails too and it immediately boosted my own self confidence.  Nail biters unite.

Also in the goal department I have already scheduled our photos with Cheyenne and cleaned up my Pinterest boards.  Again, with the more “To-Do list” VS “Goals”.  Our photos with Cheyenne totally deserve a goal placement though.  And now I can cross two things off.  Riding pretty high on my horse.

Eating healthy…well, I ate pizza for dinner.  You win some, you lose some.

Don’t stress as much…Ummmmm, I drove two full laps around the perimeter of Kroger’s parking lot today trying to convince my very tired self that I could indeed take all 5 kids into Kroger and grocery shop very close to lunch and nap time due to a very very empty refrigerator at home and 3 extra guests staying the night with us.

Myself:  I can do this.  Mom’s with way more than 5 kids take them all grocery shopping…I bet, some even during nap time.

Myself again:  I can do this.  I can do this.

Myself again again:  I’m bailing.  We can all split 3 tortillas, 2 pieces of salami and 4 strawberries.

Myself again again again:  Nope.  We’re doing this.  I am the boss.

Myself again again again again:  Okay guys.  We can do this.  We’re getting in and out and going home.

Harper:  Mom, we can do this!

I then almost broke down into tears in the deli because we had already been in the store for 30 minutes and hadn’t even made it past produce…which is at the beginning…due to 2 different bathroom trips.  Sigh.

Some goals are just easier than others and it just so happened on January 1st I wrapped up Hebrews.  I loved Hebrews.  Shockingly loved Hebrews.  And as we were starting this new year Hebrews rang so wild and true “All we care about is living well before God”.

In all the real reality…I’m a giant failure and a big ole’ sinner…so I’m just going to try my best for God…goals accomplished or not.  I want to love and give and try to not grow weary as I so often do.  I want to dream and ask God to do crazy things…things He can only do.  And then I want to keep expectant eyes ready…ready for His crazy goodness whatever it may look like.

So maybe I’ll get to go to Swaziland and encourage people by handing out flowers in pickle jars and finally have a new vanity installed and spend less time on my phone, but no matter what, I really really just want to live well before God…I want to make Him proud…and I kind of don’t think He cares if I bite my fingernails or not 🙂

Happy Monday.

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