Sponsor Giveaway! ~ Beloved Inc.

 

UPDATE: (only a WHOLE WEEK late… sorry people.)

The winner is…. Kerri!

“When I was about 5 years old, my Daddy made me a wooden doll bed for my barbie doll.  It was very simply made.  We painted it pink (my fav color at the time) and I made a little mattress, blanket and pillow for it.  Hmmm, already sewing at 5?  It was so special to me because my Daddy made it for me!”

Thank you to both Jasmin and Kerri for participating and letting me know a little more about you! 

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Today is a special day! It’s the very first giveaway for Roots & Wings! 

This is one of my greatest friends, Carrie Lynn. She owns Beloved Inc. Photography and Design, which is very much a reflection of the many gifts she has. She is a seamstress, knitter, photographer, and an artist. Not to mention one of the most amazing girls on the planet. She has been around in my world for almost 10 years now! The whole time I’ve known her she has always been about creating something out of the forgotten, the stuff no one else notices. If you’d like to read more about Carrie and how she began Beloved Inc. hop right on over here and see what she’s about. 

Last month Scarlet received the CUTEST sock monkey in the mail from her Auntie Carrie. It took no time at all for her to bond with this sweet button-eyed monkey how’s name is “Yawn.” Why would she name a monkey yawn? I have no idea. But he has definitely won her heart.

Today she’s offering this adorable stationary set that she has created from vintage children’s books! So cute!

(sorry the photo is so small. it wouldn’t make it bigger 😦 )

Just leave a comment here telling me what your favorite thing you played with or what you played with most as a child. Just so we can get to know each other a little better. I mean really. I’m ALWAYS talking. You barely say a word. Common, speak up! Comments will close next Saturday at 9 pm EST. The winner will be announced Sunday afternoon sometime. 

Also, Carrie is offering 10% off of anything from Beloved Inc. through the month of September to anyone who uses the password “Roots&Wings.” Just type it in the comments section when you check out. You can also check out some of her photography  on Flickr. She’s got some great stuff! Go see!

Who We Are :: Living the Simple Life

I’m loving this little list of ours. It is constantly getting talked about, thought about, and added to. It has become a process that we are proud to be a part of at this moment in our lives. One thing I would like to say before you read on is that our world is very much made up of extremists. There seems to be very little balance in anything at all. We, as human beings, are constantly having to bring balance back into our already extreme ideas. So as you read our little list please know that we are always in motion, working to find a groove that works for us. 

I am going to write about one at a time so that you don’t feel like your sitting down to read a novel. :0 

 Live a Simple Life. I was in the grocery store last night and I realized it takes me twice as long to get my shopping done as it used to. Most of my time is spent scanning the overloaded shelves for the simple calamine lotion, or soap, or borax etc. Did you know there are around 12 different brands of first aid cream?? Everyone is trying to come up with something “new” that you just cannot live without. Let’s not even talk about what all you have to have to bring a baby into the world. That alone could take up every square inch of our home. When we moved in the apartment last year was when we really got serious about what stuff was floating around in our home. Ever since then it’s been fun to see which ways we can cut corners to save money and live more simply. 

For us, we make most of our own products (for laundry, dishes, cleaners, and toiletries) from natural items, we try not to buy packaged food (I buy from the farmers market once a week), we reuse and repurpose most of the cloth in our home, and we have recently converted from using paper towels, baby wipes, napkins, and tissues to using cloth alternatives. I am also in a constant purging process in our home. All four of us share the same closet and in it is a box for clothing that is done with it’s life as it is and needs to be made into something useful.

Note: Many people would call this “living green.” Joseph says, “We don’t live like this to live green we live like this to save our green.” And we do! We save a LOT of money every month by just going without the 12 different bottles of soap in our bathtub. The whole world is in an uproar because we are destroying mother nature and she is a sad, sad earth. We as christians understand that we are not here to save the planet and all the animals on it, but the ones who are living on the planet. The ones created in His image. The ones who are so busy saving the earth that they forget they need a Savior. And so… we live this way to be good stewards of what God did give to us. But our focus is not on earth but the people on the earth. Just to be clear. 😉 

Honestly, we started this journey to a simple life in a very extreme way. (Like I mentioned above) We read books about being called to live poor and how God isn’t going to blessed you with more than you need…etc. Then we found the other extreme. God wants you to have ten houses and three convertibles and live your life just to have stuff on the earth. Then… we found the balance. We want to live this way so that we have more to give to our church who is actively helping needy families, helping to build churches across the world, and raising up a generation of young people that can carry on our legacy. THAT is where we want our money.

We live simply to give hugely. That is who we are.

Redirection

Have you ever woke up one morning and realized life carried you to a totally different place than you were aiming at going? Then realized you didn’t do as much aiming as you thought? Well, that’s where  we are.

Over the past few months we have really learned the importance of having a direction as a family, knowing what we’re accomplishing, working together on one common goal. It’s a good thing Scarlet and Adelai are too young to remember this time of redirection. I want them to grow up knowing how to focus on the same goal and be able to add their talents and abilities to ours. Since they are so small right now, it’s been Joseph and I who have had to learn this hard lesson. As a wife, mother, and homemaker it is easy to fill my life with many things, but I’ve realized that a lot of the things I’ve filled my life with have ended up unimportant in the grand scheme of things. I think I totally blew Joseph out of the water when a few weeks ago we woke up and I asked him, “so, I understand that you are the leader of this little pack of ours, so where are we headed today? What should I be accomplishing?” I believe he thought he’d woken up with a new wife completely. Because I had been so busy thinking about where I’d like to be and he was so busy thinking about where he’d like to be that we lost sight of where we were going. So we got together and wrote down our absolutes. Have you ever done one of those lists? Most people do them when they’re looking for someone to marry. Must be tall, dark, handsome…etc. Well, this list is filled with the non-negotiables of where our family is headed and what we are accomplishing. A beautiful little list of who we are. Now it is so easy to say, “oops, that doesn’t really fit into our plan.” I have become great at living a simple life on the outside, but I needed a little cleaning out on the inside. I feel like I can breathe better already and now I’m heading straight for the goal. 

Even with Joseph working long hours right now, we have become closer as a family. The few hours that we have together have become sacred. Scarlet is talking all the time, dancing, and always entertaining. Adelai is rolling over, pushing up, and smiling all the time. I have been working assembly line style trying to get stuff ready to sell, and Joseph is getting snuggled back into the band at LWFC while working in the studio. Busy Busy Busy! But all in one direction, with one goal.

Resting Up

Resting up for the buzz of the next few days. Today is the beginning of birthday celebrations!! We’ll be spending the day with family. It’s always a celebration when grandparents come to town!

Hope you find something to party about today!

:: Looking Forward ::

As I am getting back in the groove around here, I am also learning to prepare ahead, to the season coming up. There are many things in the works around here to plan for the colder season. You’ll get a sneak peak of a few over the next few days. 

The very first of the winter-wear for the season:

Adelai’s Winter Hat

I did this with no pattern (because I couldn’t find what I wanted) and it turned out okay. I pretty much just measured his head and did a swatch until I got it right and then knit until it fit over his head the way I wanted it too.

I put a double ribbed stitch at the beginning and the end and then folded them over and weaved them together. The one thing I would have done differently is.. well, not been so anxious about it. I couldn’t find my darning needle so instead I crocheted the sides together. It looks fine but I should have held out until I could get out to buy a new needle. But I didn’t. 

Working with my hands has become something so natural. I feel strange sitting anywhere for any length of time without a project of some sort in hand. I have been crocheting for a few years now and love it. Knitting is something I’ve wanted to do but it just felt so much harder than crocheting… all that blocking, and swatching, and gauging… but after this post I really dug in my heels and sought people out who would watch and correct. I have come a long way since that post. My plans are that it will pay off this winter. But the truth is that every time I sit down to knit, I breathe a little deeper, listen to what’s around me, slow down my mind and relax. It really is one of the healthiest things for me (since I tend to be a little high-strung. 🙂 ). How do you prepare for a new season? Is there a craft or hobby that helps you relax? I love to hear the way others do things!

Hope there’s a happy Wednesday in your future! 

Getting our Groove Back

So this is how it went… 

I took a job. A night job, 9:30 pm – 5:30 am. I kept saying it was only for four weeks. I could do anything for four weeks. The job? Oh, the job was fun. I loved getting back out into the job world (even if it was in the middle of the night) But in trying to balance sleep, work, babes and home it wasn’t doable. I didn’t even finish out the job, but in the past four weeks my plants have died, my meal plans are all messed up, our laundry is in all kinds of weird places, and my body (and Adelai’s food source)  is still recovering from the weird sleep schedule. In the midst of that, Joseph has been working 50 hours a week plus trying to get in about 10 hours in the studio. Why did I think that job would be a good decision? Because I didn’t fully understand my role in our home right now. I realized that whether I like it or not (I do like it most of the time) I am the center of our home. Everyday when I wake up (or come home from work) I set the mood around the house. Joseph does have an amazing closeness to both of his kids in a different way, but many times through the week when he just can’t be here, I become the glue between him and them. I become the glue that bonds us all together into an intertwined, knit together… family. It’s a challenging, exciting place to be in. I have so much purpose in being wife, mother, and homemaker and that makes me feel good and know that I am needed. But it also means that just because there is something I would like to do or I think would be good for our family doesn’t always mean it’s the way to go. If I am absent then the rhythm we have as a family is off. How have we gotten our groove back? Well, let me show you!

:: A walk through the woods with cousins!

 

:: Through the woods to the LAKE. This is our favorite little spot.

:: Farmer’s Market for Peach Day

:: Some very special guests came to town!

:: Enjoying the lots and lots of rain around here.

So right now my days have been spent following our little rhythm which puts us and our little home all back together.