Loveliness

Ready for a simple project? I made this newsprint piece in about 30 minutes...so easy and fun to do while sitting there watching the kids play. It wasn't so "mind intensive" that I couldn't interact with the littles but I felt super accomplished in the end. I took the back of an old red notebook and cut it to the size to fit this 8X10 frame. Then I used a newspaper and cut hearts out...some of the heart were purposefully cut around larger words I found in the paper...Tree...Truth...Habitat were a few of them. Then I just glued them on the red paper and there she is!!! You could easily do this another shape or even try and make large letters out of newsprint...I might do a giant letter "B" for Brady's room. Funny too because I made it and then went to stick it in this little spot and TOTALLY forgot that the basket there was also newsprint. They obviously were meant to be together. :)

On to other things...I just got my book that I had ordered of off Amazon - The Spirit of Loveliness. The title captivated me the first time I heard of the book and author - I think because "lovely" is honestly who I want to be. I think of the verse in Philippians that says "whatsoever things are lovely...think on these things." Sometimes I wish I just had that word on my arm so that when my head starts dwelling on the ugly I could just snap out of it and be reminded of the things that are true, honest, and pure.

The first chapter of the book so far has really grabbed my attention into how to incorporate loveliness into my home. The author talks a lot about making our homes a huge WELCOME for others...not just our home but ourselves. To invite people in and make them feel important, relaxed...thought of. I never thought of thinking of myself as "welcoming." Oh sure...when I have people over and stuff I do...but to be in Wal Mart or at the park or in church and to be gracious and welcoming to others. Wow. To invite them in...make them feel at ease and comfortable...tis a worthy goal.

Barnes speaks of Home as being a place of refuge. My first thought when I saw this title was "how can it be a place of refuge and quiet with toddlers climbing the walls?"I like this paragraph:

A refuge is not a hole where you disappear to eat and sleep and then emerge to go about the business of life. A welcoming home is where real life happens. It's where personalities are nurtured, where growth is stimulated, where people feel free not only to be themselves but also to develop their best selves. That caring,nurturing quality - not the absence of noise or strife-is what makes a home a refuge.

I love that! That is exactly what I want for my family...a place for us to all become what it is that we were designed to be and to take pleasure in eachother's differences. To see what we all bring to the table...amazing. It's going to be so fun to see who my kids will be someday...what loveliness they are going to bring to this world.

A welcoming has a sense of order. This is how she explains:

Not stiff, stultifying order that goes to pieces over a speck of dust or that sacrifices relationships in the interest of cleanliness, but a comforting, confident sense that life is under control. A sense that people, not possessions, are in charge of the household, that emotions are expressed but never used as weapons, that life is proceeding with a purpose and according to an overall plan.

I give you no "editor's comment" on that note because it speaks for itself. Let me just close with this...

GET THE BOOK! I got mine used on Amazon for 4 dollars...totally worth it.