Tiny table redo

 I bought this old little table from a yard sale for $3.

 It was a little rickety so I tightened the screws on the legs, primed it, painted it and distressed it very slightly. I needed a little something for under these frames my husband made for me and though the table is a bit small for the space, it will substitute nicely until I can find something a little bigger to replace it! This blue is my new favorite color and I'm finding fun ways to incorporate it into my home!

Thanks for stopping by! More to come! (Family photos courtesy of Victoria Lewis, fall 2010 at our home.)

Opa

On Thursday, August 11th, just before 6:30 pm, surrounded by several of his family members, Crue "Sarge" Russell took his last breaths on this earth. My grandfather. My Opa.
He was such a strong man. You'd have to be to marry a beautiful German woman and to raise 3 girls and move them all over the world and country while serving in the US Army. But he was more than that. He was more than an officer serving our country. He was truly patriotic. Truly proud. Boy, was he proud! Anyone who met my Opa would be forced to hear about how amazing his 9 grand-children and 10 great-grandchildren are! I truly believe he was my #1 fan! He was always telling me (and anyone who would listen) how beautiful I sing and would fuss at me when he would come to church and I wasn't leading a song by myself. I often teased him that the songs weren't for him that we sing at church on Sundays, but I'm pretty sure he secretly believed that when I sang one of his favorites "I Stand Amazed" that I had specifically sang it that day just because he liked it. He would tell everyone (much to my embarrassment) that I could sing better than Faith Hill and that he would be the first one to buy my album when I recorded one. I wish I had recorded one just for him. I wish that I had come over every day and sang to him but whenever I visited him, I just didn't think to sing to him. I hope he can still hear me when I sing.

Opa always held my Oma's hand. He loved her so much! When Oma and Opa took my cousin Davy and I (the oldest grandson and oldest granddaughter and don't the rest of you forget it!) to Germany, I was in awe of how they'd pick at each other for a minute and then go right back to normal, holding hands. They truly were a match!
They showed us around Germany as if we were their prized possessions. I remember I used a burnt matchstick to draw a sketch of a horse on a napkin at one restaurant and the owner (a friend of my grandparent's) insisted on keeping it and pinning it to the wall in the bar. When Opa saw this, he of course was proud but then made sure I made another one just for him to have. He acted like it was a work of art! I was 13 so of course this made my confidence soar. He boosted my confidence often.
Opa was so generous. Not just with Oma, though he loved showering her with beautiful things, but with everyone! He was always giving. He would always offer us a "stick of chewing gum" from his shirt pocket and to this day when I smell Wrigleys Doublemint gum, it takes me back to riding in his big blue pick up truck. I have scores of memories of my Opa. We grew up knowing him, being with him, they were always around and even the past several years, not a week went by where we didn't see Opa--even if it was just at Mom's house on Sundays for lunch after church.

Opa sure loved Stone. He was always talking about his smile and how he could close his eyes and as clear as a picture was Stone's big huge grin! I am so thankful that my children all got a chance to meet and spend time with their great-grandfather. I will make sure they know who he was and remember the man that I remember.
We all know that part of life is death. We all know that cancer is a deadly thief that can steal away those we love. But my Opa was a fighter. He was strong. And I believe that he is better now. As a friend put it: "whole". I have hope that he gave his life to the Lord and is now bragging to all the saints about how awesome his family is! I'm thankful that this earth is not our home and that I will reunite with Opa one day!
He was a great patriarch. He loved his family. He passed down a stubborness that many of us inherited. He passed down the ability to be opinionated to ALL of us. But he also left us a legacy.
Do I wish I went and visited him more? Of course. There are always regrets. But even as I sit here, the memories I do have are almost overwhelming: summers at "The Lake" as we called it, before it became their lakehouse home, yearly trips to the circus where we would watch Opa in his Al Chymia Shrine maroon velveteen hat with the tassel, his curly hair then his crew cut hair and finally his mohawk hair, the days he used to smell like cigarettes and chewing gum combined, but then he kicked the habit and it was just the gum, the way he would sit back in his recliner and let us always sit with him and watch his soaps or watch HeeHaw, how all you had to do was mention something to him once and he'd never forget it, invite him to something and he'd make sure he was there, how everything had to be even, so.much.more...I could go on.
My word, I have enough memories of my sweet Opa to make a book and I bet I know who would buy the first copy if he were still here... :)

I've Met My Match

I have truly met my match. Her name is Haven Barker.

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I honestly do not know what the future holds but I do know that Haven Barker will get.the.job.done. 

Happy birthday to my sweet Haven Elizabeth. She turns 4 years old May 24th and I cannot believe how fast the time has flown by! This little pistol is as much of a joy as she is a pain, and of course I mean that lovingly! Well, mostly lovingly....Haven is hands-down, THE most strong-willed child I have ever known. Ever. And I know a LOT of people. I've seriously met my match. It's a daily battle of the wills. She is hard headed and spirited and has a will of steel. Like her mom. But oh, somehow more.

Let's put it this way: my daily prayer for Haven is that the Lord "breaks her will but not her spirit" and let me explain.

I want Haven to have determination. I want her to have a severe passion for what she believes in, so much so that she never ever backs down from it. I want her to be so self-disciplined that no one can talk her out of following the dreams she has her heart set on making come true. I do want these things for my child and I believe her strong-willed personality will allow her to do these things and so much more! What I mean when I want the Lord to 'break her will' is that I want her to submit to authority: mine and her father's of course, but more importantly her heavenly Father's authority. I want her to have such a fierce passion for the ways of the Lord that she never backs down from a challenge of her faith. I want her to believe so strongly in the TRUTH of the Gospel that she wins hundreds of people to Christ and that she makes an impact on this world and for eternity!

I believe she can.

The Lord made Haven the way she is and its my job to help mold her to be a submissive child, and ultimately a submissive wife and submissive Christian woman. Its my job to train her in the way she should go. Its my job to be the example of the Proverbs 31 woman she should be come. 

I doubt myself every day. 

What a huge task that is so difficult at times! Especially when we are butting heads in Hobby Lobby and all the other shoppers and employees are staring at me with Stone tucked in his sling and Micah obediently pushing the shopping cart treading lightly not to make me even more mad and I am literally dragging my middle child through the store while she is screaming "OW OW OW MOM YOU'RE HURTING MY ARM!! OW OW OW!!!!!!!!!!!!" and the poor woman cutting the fabric is almost afraid to wait on me because she fears that she too, will be subject to my uncontrollable wrath and temper that inevitably causes me to spank my child in a public place while still wearing my baby on my chest and still managing to shop (because I am a multi-tasker after all and by golly I am BUYING my stinkin' fabric) and still somehow I am managing to pick up the GIANT rolls of fabric that said middle child has managed to knock down off of the racks and are now unraveling across the Hobby Lobby aisles while I chase after them in my 4 inch wedge heels...

but I digress...

I know that days like today will be a part of the stepping stones that form Haven into the spirited young lady she will one day become. I know that when she doesn't have a nap that she is more irritable and that it was my choice to leave the house at naptime to run errands and take all 3 kids to Stone's 9 month check up. I know that when Haven is a teenager that I will long for the days I could drag her by her arm through a Hobby Lobby. But I will not give up. I will continue to try my best to train my strong-willed child and help her to become strong-willed for the Lord. I will pray every day that God leads me in the right direction regarding the precious gift He has entrusted me in Haven Elizabeth. 

And I will never ever give up or back down. I learned that from my middle child. She too, has met her match.

Happy 4th Birthday, my sweet Haven. You bring me joy and make me laugh every single day. I love you more than you will ever know!