August 7

August 7, 2013 Jacqui

When you have a creative mind and you don't have a raincoat, you improvise {see above picture of Clayton}. Lol. We were getting cooped up at home, so we went to play at Burger King in the middle of the thunderstorm. Eva finally cut a tooth on the top and she spent all afternoon grinding her teeth together. The kids wrapped up a present for daddy. Blueberry pancakes for dinner again--they are so good!!!

August 5

August 5, 2013 Jacqui

The boys polished off a couple bananas for breakfast this morning, saying "ooh ooh aah aah!" while they ate them. :(|) They are little monkeys. Eva had some, too, or rather the highchair had some. She needed a bath. Moms for lunch, picked up some local goodies, coffee, crafting, then celebrating Poppa's birthday. Busy day!!

August 4

August 4, 2013 Jacqui

National Friendship Day. Ben spoke at church & had an excellent message about the freedom found in Christ. The kids came home from Nana & Popa's with a little furry friend, & Clayton got his first "real" haircut somewhere other than mom's barber shop.

August 2

August 2, 2013 Jacqui

Our yearly trip to the Medina County Fair with my mom, & auntie Jen this year! I look forward to fair fries all year, doused with vinegar and some salt of course, & I got a big bucket full. After I shared some with the kids I happily ate the rest. :) And being the "mom of the year" that I am, I forgot to pack lunch for the baby, so she ate some fries & pizza crust... The kids held the fluffy little bunnies, saw all the animals, & watched Crazy Parker jump off the dock.

July 31

July 31, 2013 Jacqui

Sooo.... You guys. I think I'm kinda obsessed with this stovetop popcorn and might just make it every day. I will go out on a limb and state that it is the single BEST bowl of popcorn I've ever had. You have to try it!! As the kids {and I} were shoving it in our mouths this afternoon, I told them to slow down a little, and Clayton said, "we can't help it!! It's just sooo good!" Thankfully, I'll be so full of popcorn tonight that I won't feel the need to order another pizza. I did get one last night, but I only ate two pieces {it was already 10pm} and we finished the rest for lunch today. I got a Large 3-topping pizza from Papa John's for $8 with the promo code SAVE50 if you feel like pizza tonight. :) It's good for 50% off any regular-priced pizza. And today we had a FREE pizza in our account. :)

July 29

July 30, 2013 Jacqui

Beautiful "fall" day!!! :) Eva is pulling herself up on everything these days. And I think I need to get to Hobby Lobby with some spending money STAT--do you see those adorable decorations?!?!? Ended the baseball season today with a game that didn't happen because the other team didn't show, but they got Honey Hut ice cream instead so I don't think they were too broken up about it. Finished the busy day with a night out with my sisters! We went to the Town Hall in Ohio City & it was fabulous!! LOTS of organic, grass-fed, sustainable, local ingredients and yummy, unique flavor combinations. Can't wait to go back!

July 28

July 30, 2013 Jacqui

Obviously, there was more to the day then this, but it's all I got. Eva {or rather, the floor} tried snack in the nursery at church, the sky was almost completely cloud-covered & looked pretty cool, and I love the brilliance of the green that is the new life on the bush in our front yard. Its such a contrast to the old, weather-beaten branches. There's probably a fabulous metaphor there.

July 27

July 30, 2013 Jacqui

"Banana Swirl" for breakfast--about 4 overripe frozen bananas, 1/4 cup or so coconut milk, and a little cinnamon. Process until smooth. Soooo good!! And it was Clayton's idea. And my orange creamsicles turned into a disaster when my hand slipped and I dumped them all. Over. The. Kitchen. Sticky pulpy mess. Sometimes homemade stuff is overrated. Lots of crafting and playing and laughing after we got past the hectic morning.

July 26

July 26, 2013 Jacqui

The milk thing? They were being kittens. That's what happens when they ask to "get a glass of milk" without supervision...

Short nights make the days seem longer I think. I was tired by dinnertime & got frazzled easily. Trying to get dinner ready quickly while a crying infant is hanging on your pant legs and a very "helpful" two-year old is trying to grate cheese that's still in a wrapper & steal the garlic cloves is more of a recipe for stress then pizza. And stressed I was...

"Toby, mommy just needs a minute."

"Toby, please stop touching."

"No!! You need to go in the other room. Mommy needs a minute!"

Ugh. I took a break to feed the baby dinner. She was so pleasant & ate so well! I breathed a sigh of relief & said, "mommy got really stressed & angry. I'm sorry. Mommy needs to work on handling her stress better."

Her response:

Note the strawberry stained bib and tray from dinner...yesterday... #thecleaningfairyisslacking #momfail

But that's the thing. I didn't need a response. I just needed to sit down, take a deep breath, & let it out. Sometimes you just need to say it like it is, even if the only one listening is an eight month old. :)

July 25

July 25, 2013 Jacqui

Free peppermint milkshakes, the Cardinals won AGAIN {Clayton had some hits & ran some bases!}, & some celebratory ice cream to wrap up a beautiful day.

HELLO!

I'm Jacqui, the mom behind the camera. Wife of one + momma to five. Writer + speaker. Unqualified philosopher + theologian. Accidental mentor. Chaos manager. Lover of coffee + wine, perspective, and Jesus. Truth teller. Freedom fighter. Worth affirmer. Wanna-be author + world changer. Laundry piler. Emoji enthusiast. It's nice to meet you!

I hope you'll stay awhile and take a look at life through my lens, as I seek to find joy in the mess and walk with God through the beauty of everyday life.

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That last-week-of-school hustle is reeeeaaal. 😩👊🏻😴

Oh haaay, summer, haaay!! ✨😎 It’s almost 90 degrees with a breeze here in CLE, & we’re not minding one little bit. We just got back from a Target run, as one does on a Saturday. 🎯 I swept yesterday’s chalk dust and all the helicopters off the porch (as far as propagating strategies go, this is a very good one. Those suckers are EVERYWHERE!), and now I’m watching my little corner of the world go by from my second-hand rocking chair on the porch, iced coffee in hand. And it’s so, so good to be right here. In this moment, in this place: the wind tugging at my hair, the kids arguing about something in the backyard, the wind chimes next door, the dogs sunning themselves at my feet. These are the days. This is the abundant life. And I wouldn’t trade it for the whole wide world. My corner is enough.

I used to think the old woman who lived in a shoe was nuts. I mean, why in the world would you choose live in a shoe? With all those kids?? 😱 And withholding the bread? Straight up neglect. Some versions say she kissed them fondly, but we all know that mean broad spanked the daylights out of them before sending them straight to bed. Then I became a parent. Life has a way of waking you up to realities that are literally impossible to understand until you’re completely immersed in the incessant demands of a sacrificial season, or in some cases, a sacrificial existence. And you can fathom now how life can wear a person down to a shell of who they were, how one unfortunate circumstance can tragically alter a trajectory. And you finally realize that no one chooses to live in a shoe. A shoe is where you live when you have no choices, when you’re out of options, when it’s either a shoe or the streets. She had so many children she didn’t know what to do—so many mouths to feed every day. If broth and bread is all she could afford, there might not have been enough to go around. She didn’t ration out of neglect but rather out of necessity. And she whipped them all soundly before she put them to bed because she didn’t have anything left. Because she’s an overwhelmed, exhausted single mom without a shred of a support system. She never gets a break. Carrying the weight of their survival solely on her weary shoulders, she beats them now so the police won’t later. She whoops them because she cares, and that’s the only way she ever learned how to show it. . ...and what you can see now is, she loves them.

Anyone else feel the pull to show up here every so often to say, “Hey! I’m still busy doing things! My life is still interesting! And it matters! And here’s why…” When I feel compelled or obligated to do something, for whatever reason, one of the best things I can do for myself, at least for a little while, is….don’t. Don’t log on. Don’t post for the heck of posting. Don’t force something that doesn’t want to come. And I let the silence begin to speak for itself. God speaks in a whisper, you know, but how often are we quiet enough to hear it? And how exactly did we arrive at the place where our worth was determined by the number of hearts tapped out on 2x2 squares? It sounds quite ridiculous when it’s all spelled out like that, doesn’t it?

This is how we showed up at church tonight—legit looking like maybe we just crawled out of a garbage dump. Or at least a construction zone. 🚧 It’s actually worse than it looks and literally the best I’ve got this week. Bless it. Also, the nursery worker made them wash hands before snack, so we’re good. What matters is that we showed up. On time, in fact, which is no small miracle in and of itself. . ✨All that is required of us is that we arrive as our truest selves. And today? We’re filthy. So, here’s a gentle reminder to you, fellow traveler: come dirty, come late, come ill-prepared or even irate. Come with a smile on your face, or come because you need some grace. Come stressed, come sweaty, come imperfect, even petty. Just come, in spite of your mess, and trust that God will take care of the rest. He always does. See for yourself. ➡️

These jokers are my favorite. 💖 #happymothersday

‘Tis the season. 💜🌸 The only problem is choosing just one! 🤩 So I didn’t. 😬 Did you know that lilacs only bloom for 1-2 weeks a year? Kinda makes you wonder about humanity’s over-emphasis on “blooming”—always producing, striving, hustling, creating output. Even if we’re blooming where we’re planted, as the saying goes, it’s brief. Stunning, yes. Breathtaking, yes. Colorful, vibrant, full of life, yes please. But also short-lived. Temporary. Fleeting. Seasons are not only temporary but necessary. Don’t focus so much on the fruit that you miss the seasons of watching and waiting, of hunkering down when the landscape is barren and learning to weather the storms. These create the fertile soil in which flowers grow. 💜

*new headshot* 😬

Today is Good Friday, and it arrived exactly how I always picture it—the sky weeping, the earth soaked with tears. This is the inevitable darkness that must come before the morning, the necessary death which precedes resurrection. This heartbreaking pattern of life is something my human heart always struggles to embrace as “the way.” Surely, there has to be another (less painful) avenue toward truth and life? . Selfishly, I want what we all think we want at the end of the day: a life of comfort and ease. We quickly realize, however, that comfort is fleeting and ease is overrated. With each excruciating step up the hill of Calvary, Jesus reminds us again: every good and perfect gift arrives on the other side of death. It is finished, forever and ever. Amen.

Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment. —Rumi

HELLO!

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