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a good addiction

Have you ever noticed how addictive creativity is? My friend Rachel just wrote about it after learning how to knit. When you learn something brand new, something you never, ever thought you could do, it’s not like you just learned how to do that one new thing. You learned that you can still learn. And that there are few things that feel more empowering than learning something new, adding a hobby to your everyday, adding a new skill to your list of gifts.

I remember this so specifically after I took my first jessicasprague.com class on photoshop elements. I learned a lot about fonts and photo cropping and color adjusting, but what I really learned was that there are few greater highs than the joy of accomplishing a new trade and how contagious this high is. Suddenly I was empowered to try a whole lot of new things and it felt so good.

The best part is that it doesn’t have to be a huge, new skill. Hearts and Crafts week was evidence of this. Tiny little paper and scissors projects got my creativity pumping again. Those little projects somehow multiplied and now I’ve got some really fun projects that I can’t stop dreaming about.

So go and make some play dough. Get your camera out and take pictures all day long documenting the ordinary. Stop by Archivers and gather up some pink and red paper and heart sparkle stickers. Bake some cookies. Get out your old guitar. Plan a party.

As for me, I just got back from Michaels and bought supplies I have never used before with coupons my mother-in-law gave me. It’s so fun to be inspired!

prayers for Calvin

Baby Calvin is underwent huge surgery today. In the words of his parents on their caring bridge site, "The weight of the surgery is daunting as parents, but not for God. We ask you to pray Calvin and us."

We just got word that the surgery was successful on many fronts. Now they ask for prayers for healing and an uneventful stay while he recovers at the hospital.


I wanted to share these prayer cards I made for Calvin a few months ago. The weight of chronic anything can feel so heavy...for the parents as well as friends and family. It's too much for any one person to carry. So I made 31 cards that had 31 different pictures of Calvin with a different date of the month that the person receiving the card would then pray and show some extra support to Emily and Scott on that specific day each month. The cards read:

The 17th of every month. This is the day I commit to pray and send some extra love Calvin's way.
I can do this by:
Praying and/or fasting: Lift Calvin, Emily and Scott up in my prayers all day
A kind email: Hey, I'm praying for you today! (emily's email)
A check-in phone call: Thinking of you today. How are you? (emily's cell phone number)
Set a time to deliver a meal, make a coffee date, pass on a good magazine, lend a favorite movie, make a mix cd, give a restaurant gift card, or any sort of extra thoughtful gift.

We are walking this road with the Poeschel's and are committed to stand by them and wrap the three of them in love. Remember some months may lend themselves to doing more, others to simply do the most important thing: to pray without ceasing!

I wanted to share these in case you know someone who is carrying a load too heavy. Use the idea or the exact wording if you'd like. I like to know that 31 of us have one of these stuck to our fridge, lifting this family up to God, the only one who can actually carry such a heavy load

And the winner is...

I could have used Random Number Generator, but that's no fun. So instead I cut out all of these hearts and Ivar crumbled each one a bit to increase its odds.

And then I drew Marisa!

Hi Becca,

You don't know me and I am one of your silent followers. I actually found your blog through your cousins Darin and Kristin Jago. I was originally from Fairmont and went to church with Sarah & Kathy and their family. I found your blog and have been hooked ever since. I love reading it and find it encouraging as a mommy of 2. Lets see favorite candy is peanut butter M&M's! Thanks for all the fun and real life blogs!
Marisa

Congrats Marisa! Email me at beccagroves(at)gmail(dot)com with your address and I'll send this package of goodies your way!

I can't tell all of you how fun this giveaway was to find out who is reading. Thanks for throwing your name in the mix! I'll do this again.

Joyfully,
Becca

on marriage

(I'll draw for the winner of the greatest 800th post giveaway ever tonight! Come back by 8 central to see if you're the lucky duck winner! And if you haven't entered yet, there is still time! I just cut out paper hearts and am going to write names on them next. You have until 8. It's fun to win!)

Let's talk about marriage now.

About a week ago my husband walked into the living room and we shared the following exchange:
R: Do you know that you always leave the right cap of your contact case unscrewed?
Becca: mmmhmmm. Yes, I do that.
R: Why do you do that?
B: Well, I guess I unscrew the left side, put that contact in, screw that lid back on, unscrew the right lid, put that contact in and walk away.
R: That’s what I was afraid you were going to say. So you’re pretty much just too busy to screw on the right lid?
B: Yep. I suppose I am.
R: Maybe you could try taking a little more time and screwing that side closed too?
B: (with wide eyes) Oh my word. I am under your skin! Aren’t I?! You are annoyed with me!

(end scene)

There were seasons of our marriage where I might have had this realization that I annoy my husband and curled into a heap of tears, “He thinks I’m his little sister!” boo hoo hoo.

But for some reason that night I was completely amused. He was really bugged.
The next night we shared this conversation:

We were (well, I was. He happened to be in the living room too) watching The Bachelor. (Don’t judge. Just love it with me.) And I said to him aghast, “What on earth does the Bachelor see in that model girl?!! They never ever talk about anything and she is so terrible!”

And he explained how the bachelor will keep her around because of physical attraction, but he’ll never pick her in the end.

I said this was ridiculous. And then followed up, “Are you physically attracted to me?” (break scene. In this moment I realized the error of my question. I was five days without a shower (bathroom under construction…this was not my fault!) with greasy hair, glasses and my usual comfy mom uniform, while watching a show filled with stunning girls. Poor timing for many reasons.)

He chose his words. “Yes. But maybe you could put those festive pajama pants away until next Christmas. It is February now.”

Again I laughed. I found his reply to actually be pretty kind and forgiving and probably the nicest thing he could have said to his ever-growing, moody wife who has been limping around for the last four months, complaining of every single smell under the sun, while sporting no make-up, slick pony tails, throw-up breath and those fancy multi colored pajama pants.

These two conversations helped me snap out of it.

I went to Target the next day I bought all new makeup. It was time to start trying. I got some maternity leggings to wear with skirts, and a cute maternity cardigan.

And best of all, and this was a complete blessing, we had planned our first Ivar-less getaway this past weekend to California. The timing was perfect. We spent three nights in San Diego on an Island with nothing but time to reconnect. We didn’t rent a car, so we walked everywhere, hand in hand, talking, remembering, making new dreams for our future. It was downright miraculous.

And I wore foundation!

And we felt the baby kicking for the first time.

And we played a new game while watching Jeopardy where you try to think of a funny answer before the smart people beep in with the right answer. Like, “The Double Tree Hotel fresh makes this tasty treat for their guests to enjoy upon arrival” my answer: “What are pulled pork sandwiches?” Or, “This 16th century poet is most known for his dark and unexpected endings.” “Who is Shel Silverstein?”

And we ate a lot. And had three picnics out on the beach at the ocean: fish tacos, omlets and hashbrowns and dippin dots.

And we ate at an awesome Italian restaurant called Bice with Groves' cousins Wendy and John, laughing far too much that the c in Bice is pronounced with a ch sound.

And we worshiped on Sunday with a small and devoted body of believers who moved me to tears multiple times and even served breakfast egg rolls during the service. (!!!)

And I moved from Little Sister status back to Wife, and more importantly, Girlfriend. We missed Ivar like crazies by the last day, but this was a good move for us. And Ivar was given unending love and affection from Mimi and Papa and the whole Groves family.

The best news: We decided that we wouldn’t have to fly out of state to have this sort of reconnect again. Our best conversations were the first night and the following day. We decided that we need to do more overnights, dropping Ivar off and the two of us heading somewhere nearby. It was necessary to be out of the house, and out of touch with the outside world, but it doesn’t require an airline ticket, a resort and a three night stay. We’re hopeful to duplicate this reconnect night once a month. It’s that important.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go put on some mascara. And change out of my new muted grey pajama pants.

heart garland

I got pretty excited about hearts and crafts last week. And I've still got some fun projects to go. This one was easy peasy...made out of Behr paint sample cards, I cut the hearts and taped them to the string. The second lightest color on there is called "bridesmaid" which makes me laugh. I remember those dresses from a few decades ago. I think they also had very puffy sleeves and large bows on the butt.

And then I taped it up to our brand new white tile that was just put up this week in our bathroom! We have one bathroom in this house and have had workers here for over a week. It's be a bit tricky, but the starbucks up the street seem fine with me using their facilities, so whatever. The bathroom looks fantastic. I'll show some before and afters next week.

And speaking of hearts... the real, pumping kind, our friends Scott and Emily were featured on Kare 11 last night telling the story of their son Calvin who was born with his heart and liver on the outside of his body. I wrote about his dedication here. Be sure to watch this video from last nights news segment. It tells the story and gives a little glimpse into the road they have traveled and the complete miracle of baby Calvin.