She is Nine

She is Evangeline Joy, joyful good news. On the heels of two big brothers, she was the sparkle and pink icing God saw fit to pour upon us. She is fiery, energetic, spunky, brave, independent, determined. She is tender, graceful, poised, empathetic, strong. She can be so tiny yet dominate a room. She can be so loud yet fear being unseen. She can be so quiet that we can’t help but listen intently. This embodied dichotomy of ginger spice and nuanced sweet. Dark red hair down to her thigh, indecisive eyes that vacillate from blue to grey to green, slender ivory fingers and freckle-doppled face.

She wanted an American Girl doll tea party with her cousins and brothers. She baked all the goodies herself, after reading cookbooks and creating the menu as well as the shopping list. I didn’t know she could bake a double batch of cupcakes without assistance. Maybe she hadn’t known either. We both know now. And I’m not sure who is prouder.

She is a lover of words. Spoken, written, sung, read, recited. I found some little notes recently where she had written down one thought per tiny square of paper. She is like her mama, where ink on paper solidifies wonder into reality. She writes notes to people – child and adult alike – for any or every or no reason at all. She writes poems and songs and stories and letters. She writes even to me, especially when she isn’t sure that speaking would be as well articulated.

She is a graceful dancer, a powerful musician, and a determined sister. (With two brothers above and two below, I suppose she has to be.) She is calmed by a back scratch and filled up by conversation, delighted by pigtails & braids and emboldened by stories.

She is capable and confident, and sometimes I forget that she is still my little girl – who needs cuddled and encouraged and led gently by the hand. She is mature beyond her years. She is my baby doll.

She is nine.

Evangeline Joy ~ Good News & Great Joy

It is with great joy that I have the blessing of announcing our good news to you:
our daughter is born!

Luke 2:10
…for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy…

Evangeline Joy was delivered safely to our arms by our kind Father of all mercies, on February 3rd 2013 at 5:11am. She is 6lbs and 19″ of loveliness.

Psalm 106:1
Praise the Lord!
Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.

Creative Juices

Here are some of the ways my creative juices have been flowing in recent months and weeks.

Christmas gifts (I also made gifts for our nieces’ and nephews’ spring birthdays, but can’t show & tell those yet):

There were also Family Night in a Bag gifts, some themed gift basket type gifts, dry erase/chalkboard roll-ups/placemats, some photography and other artwork… but I didn’t take pictures of everything. Definitely had a good time crafting and sewing my way through the autumn months though!

Curtains for the kitchen area and master bedroom, which happened right before Christmas since I had no more gifts or holiday crafts to do:

What am I currently doing to create? Well, making a couple of things with Tiny Ten’s real name on them (arrow tag, metal stamped jewelry, baby spoon, and Christmas stocking), sewing some little things for the nursery (think pink!), stocking up the freezer with homecooked goods (I’ve got around twenty dinners in there right now so I should be able to give myself permission to take it easy after she’s born for a while; plus desserts, snacks, and bread to boot)…

And oh yeah… I guess I’m helping to make THIS too. 🙂 Only for a few more weeks though! She’s nearly here.

Filled With Joy

2 Corinthians 7:4
“I am filled with comfort. I am exceedingly joyful…”

With great joy, we wanted to share that we recently found out that God has been knitting together a perfectly healthy and whole baby girl in the depths of my womb. The Lord is good, and His mercies endure forever ~ please rejoice with us over His handiwork!

Summer Sweetness

And while I’m not ready to divulge details or pictures or anything much pertaining to Tiny Ten… please know that YES, our Tiny Ten is growing and strong! The mercy of God in this is incredibly kind and beyond humbling!