Heavy

Sometimes life is overwhelming. It's easy to feel overwhelmed in our own lives, but the weight is quite another thing when it's the lives of loved ones that overwhelm you.

 A dear friend came home to find the front door of her new house had been attacked. Someone tried to kick it in, and thankfully it held strong. Her two dogs are ok, and we suspect they drove the burglars away. 

Another dear friend is undergoing radiation treatment for cancer, and his sweet family has caught the flu bug that's going around. Thier entire family is weighed down with life right now. 

Still another close friend is going through a serious emotional roller coaster with medical issues in her family. Death is an all-too-real possibility, and distance makes it so much more difficult. 

I look at these lives around me and I wonder why.  Why are we out through these things? I've read that God meets us in suffering, and perhaps that's why? Sometimes it's the only way we will allow Him in? I don't know. We have a big God, this I know, but I also know this does little to ease the fear, pain, and violation my loved ones are experiencing. 

As I lift them up in prayer each day, I ask that He shows Matt and I how we can be there for our friends. We feel so very helpless, but we know there must be something we can do to stand with our loved ones in thier times of need. 

Today, that something is bringing BBQ to the sick family. Tomorrow? Who knows what tomorrow holds? One day at a time, one step at a time. 

Are you ready for this?

As Valentine's Day will now smack us in the face in the next 24 hours I MEAN 2 MONTHS, now is the time to consider a very special gift for that very special someone. Be it yourself, you sexy thing, or someone else, a glamorous photo session with Portland Sirens is a fun, empowering gift that is special and unique to every person.

Book now to have a sensual folio of images in time for Valentine's Day!

5 Things That Make Me Happy

What are the 5 things that make you most happy right now?

1. The way my daughter pops up from whatever she's doing to run and welcome me home with an exuberant hug and words of love.
2. The blessing that is being able to work with a good friend in a position that is well-suited to me, in an organization that values each of us as people.
3. Waking up every day next to the love of my life.
4. Seeing the incredible young woman my daughter is turning into, and the depth of her kindness, personality, intelligence and wit.
5. How close Christmas is!!

What are 5 things that make YOU happy right now?

Question 5 from 30 Things My Child Should Know About Me

Still More Cleaning

In my previous post, I shared the progress of one half of the room we've been cleaning. Now, oh now....NOW we're done with the room!!

Check this craziness out, folks:

Shockingly, there was actually a bit of room in there to move around. Not that you can tell in these photos!!!

The Before was taken at the beginning of December. We had a looming deadline in order to get this in shipshape, because we have two weekends at the end of the month where people are not only visiting, but staying with us! Today, we find ourselves with a room that looks NOTHING like it did previously.

The big reveal after the jump

Cleaning Frenzy

Every so often, I get a wild hair to go through and clean, overhaul, re-organize and completely turn everything upside down in our living quarters.  Recently I had this happen, as the floor of our bedroom had become insanely crowded, to the point that there was quite literally only a path through our room.

Shortly after I began working on boxing everything up to be sorted later (nothing like the GET IT OUT OF MY SIGHT NOOOWWW! plan), we realized that we need to be working on another room in the house, as we have family visiting over the holidays that will need sleeping quarters. This room is what I like to call The Pit, aka the craft room. Being that 2 of us are crafters, of the variety that greatly enjoy amassing tiny bits that we hold onto "just in case", there's...a bit of a mess.

I took some progress pictures today, as a great deal of progress was indeed had! I'm tired, and there's still a significant amount to do, but check it out:

The bins on the right in the After photo are going in a closet for the time being. The dresser is filled with fabric, notions, and yarn.

What you can't really see in the Before picture above is that there was a desk against that wall, and a ton of paper crafting items that were moved to another location.

I'm so proud of this one. The angle is only slightly different in the two images, and the distance is approximately the same. I had SO MUCH crammed into this corner. So much better now.

This is only half the room! The other half I plan to tackle tomorrow. Hopefully I can get it knocked out, because I really detest when projects like this end up being drawn out over days and days. Two days is enough, thank you very much!

I just finished a glass of wine, a tasty, fabulous, well-earned glass that just happened to be served (to myself, by myself) with a side of sea salt dark chocolate. Wow, the service in this place is pretty fantastic, even if they make you work for the goods.

Surrounded By Love

A few little fun photos from this weekend's festivities. I hope you all had a lovely time, whether with family, friends, or something else entirely!

Fall Settings - (c) 2013 Kristin Leamy Photography

Sweet Kiddo - (c) 2013 Kristin Leamy Photography

Two Generations - (c) 2013 Kristin Leamy Photography