Things I love...

 I love a lot of things, but there were a few today that made me stop and just be grateful for a little while...

My rings on the windowsill

I don't know what it is, but I love seeing my rings sitting there on the windowsill while I wash dishes.  Maybe its because I think about the man who gave me the engagement ring and the Great Grandmother who my wedding band belonged to. Maybe its something about the little pieces of beauty in messes, or the fact that it screams real day-to-day nitty-gritty marriage and I LOVE it!    

My hands on my baby belly

 I still don't feel like a mom per se.  I feel like a baby is growing inside me and I can't wait to meet her, but I often feel like a little girl inside myself.  Except when I see my hands on my growing tummy.  I don't know what it is, but they look like mom hands to me and mom hands have a very unique look.   They never looked like mom hands until she was under them, but now, sometimes, I just stand or sit there and stare at them. I feel her moving beneath them and I just marvel that God would let me be a mommy... her mommy.  (it usually makes me cry. ;-) )

Cranberries

 I LOVE Cranberries.   I love the way they look and smell and while I don't care for eating them, I could look at them all day long!   I had a terrible time finding any this season, but Costco came through and I am well stocked now!   One of my favorite things, is to put them in a pan with water and lemons and cloves and let them simmer on the stove all day and listen to them pop when they get hot!

Wind chimes

 My Sister-in-law got these wind-chimes as a gift, but didn't have anywhere to put them, so she is letting me keep them at my house until she has a place of her own to hang them.   I love the way they cheerfully dance and sing outside my window and how the sun shines through them and makes ever changing patterns on the wall.     Wind chimes sound like warmth, and coziness, and love, and home to me... maybe that is why I am partial to them.  

My Front door wreath

I am determined to find a way to use this wreath for every season.  This is its winter/Christmas look, and I just love having a front door that displays a wreath well.  Wreathes, like wind chimes, look like home to me and if there is anything I want in my decor, its to look like home.   I want there to be something cheerful to greet my man when he gets home even before I get to him.  ;-)

My Kitchen (CLEAN!) 

I love our kitchen.  It was the first thing we fell in love with about this house.   We did NOT remotely expect to find anything nearly as nice within our budget!   Imagine our surprise when we walked in through the door and there it was, redone, open, with an island and right in the middle of the house!  All things I wanted but never dreamed of getting.   Also, its clean,  I actually cleaned it twice today.  ( I cooked.)   I haven't gone to bed with a kitchen I cleaned in at least a month or two.  I've cleaned it in the morning and my darling has cleaned it for me, but usually by the time I've  made supper and 8PM hits, I am so exhausted it is all I can do to crash into bed.   Today, I had extra energy for some reason and not only got the kitchen cleaned, but the laundry room cleaned and organized!  Miracle of miracles!  (Pictures of that later)



I am so grateful for the life and little home and family God has given us.  If you had asked me a few years ago what I thought my future would hold I would have never guessed it.  I would not have dared to hope for such... but we serve a Great God and sometimes it brings us hard times so that we grow and appreciate the good times.