New Site!

I am super excited to announce the launch of my all-new website:  ajperspective.com!  This has been something I've wanted to do for a long time now and am so excited it's finally happening.  It will be a little of everything I love in life:  my family, crochet, quilts, photography, design work, and crafting in general.  It will house a special showcase of products I am selling as well as a portal for placing orders, including custom work.

Thank you for all for the years you've spent following this blog.  It will always have a special place in my heart.  It was an outlet for me through some of the most crazy, insane, difficult, and wonderful times of my adult life.  I have already transferred all my posts to the new site so I can remember everything that's happened (you know my memory is terrible)!  I will continue to blog through the new site and have already posted a few new things there for you, including a new section called MY QUOTABLE KID!  You're gonna love it!

If you want to receive updates of when I post at the new site, I'll make an RSS link available on the homepage.  You can save it as a bookmark in your web browser.

And finally, here's the link to the new site... go crazy, spread it around, share it with your friends and family:

ajperspective.com

Don't Worry...

... Be happy, mon!  This oh-so-happy hat is my latest completed crochet project and is now for sale in my "shop" to the first person to claim it!  Click read more for all the specs!

For Sale

Hey guys, I've been working the last couple weeks on a few items for sale.  I only have a limited number so the first people to claim them get them!  :)  Check them out!

Back-(B)logged

I've got such a back-log of blogs.  In the last few months I've been busy sewing, crafting, creating, cooking, confronting, and designing... maybe too busy because I haven't been able to blog about any of it.  So... this blog is dedicated to Design Work!

Back in the Kitchen

I cooked my first meal post-Katelyn's-surgery tonight and it really did feel great to be back in my kitchen!  That said, it wasn't my best:  Shepherd's Pie with corn that definitely needed more spices!  I tend to over-salt my Shepherd's Pie so I was trying to avoid that... which I guess I did, I just also avoided any flavor at all.  Oh well - there's just something about eating a meal you cooked in your very own house that makes even the most bland meal taste great!

Faithful to My Heart

I know it's silly.  I know it's irrational.  But it's still what I laid awake thinking about last night.

My child is lying sick in a hospital bed - she's 18 months old and had surgery yesterday.  I should have been thinking about doctors and antibiotics and stitches and gauze.  But all I could think about was her Easter basket.

Katelyn's Story

Click the pic of my baby girl to be taken to the story of what's going on with Katelyn right now.  Thank you all for your many prayers and sweet thoughts - it's really been overwhelming!  We love you!

To the Love of My Life

Happy 8th anniversary to the love of my life!  I can't believe it's gone so fast!  You and I have shared some of the most beautiful and the most devastating moments together and through them all you have been a safe place for me to fall, a shoulder to cry on, and a best friend to laugh with.  I do not deserve you but I thank God everyday for you.

I know this anniversary is bitter sweet.  Even as we grieve together, you have been a source of strength and comfort.  In those moments when I see you beside me, I think of your song, "It's been harder than we dreamed but I believe that's what the promise is for, so let's go dancing in the mine field."  And then I remember... you and I have always been able to dance in dark, haven't we?

I love you!

Happy Belated Valentine's Day!

I wanted to take pictures of Katelyn in her pretty Valentine's dress, which ended up being too big.  Then, on top of it, she wasn't in the picture taking mood, so we got only a few decent pictures of her.  Needless to say, I had to get pretty creative with the wording of her Valentine's card for family.  All in all, I thought it was pretty cute!  You can see the few other pics we got by clicking Read More!

SO in Love with HIM!

My Heart Hurts for This Belief

2011 Goals, Personal & Otherwise

Since I believe firmly that my personal (aka "inner") life is directly related to my professional (aka "outer") life, the following goals blur the lines between work and home.  But I know me, and if I don't find a way to articulate these things, I will inevitably forget what I have set out to this semester / year.  So, in all their relentlessly honest glory, here are my goals for 2011:

• Work out a minimum of 5 times a week
• Read a successive chapter of Celebration of Discipline during the first week of each new month and work to incorporate that discipline into my life during the remainder of that month
• Write a minimum of 1 blog on some aspect of Christianity / faith / religion each week, to be posted here and at sfaxa.org
• Implement and stick to an envelope system of budgeting for our family
• Discover and make steps towards becoming a person who consistently honors the people in my life
• Discover and make steps towards becoming a grateful person

Well, there you have it.  Obviously, if you read the wording carefully on the last two, you will see that I don't know exactly how to DO those.  But I am excited in my life right now to be developing plans to move forward.  No matter how small the step is, as long as you make it, you're making progress, right?  That's my hope, anyway!  That God will honor my feeble attempts to grow in His grace.  I trust that He will make up what I lack if I just give Him what I have!

#3... and 4 & 5???

After having so much fun quilting again (Baby J's Gig 'Em Quilt)... and after Katelyn carried Baby J's quilt around all day while I was trying to quilt it (she REALLY liked that quilt, hee hee), I decided to make Katelyn a quilt she could actually keep for herself - my third quilt of the year!  Look at these yummy fabrics - don't they just scream PRETTY LITTLE GIRL???  Most of these I had left over from previous projects, so I spent little to no money on her quilt.  That said, this was the project of never-ending messes...

Quilting: an Apologetic

I have been quilting again. In the last two weeks I have made two toddler quilts, one for a dear friend who is expecting her first child (a boy) in January and one for my DD (pics and progress to come soon).  I have also spent a good deal of time researching and learning online. I have come across several blogs of quilters who have been amazed and inspired me!

All of this has me thinking: I LOVE quilting! For a lot of reasons, really. But largely I love the taking of something utilitarian (a blanket, to keep us warm, to cuddle and snuggle with, to provide comfort to my little girl) and making it beautiful. I love that I am leaving a piece of myself in this world for as long as thread and fabric hold together... and not just anything, but something meaningful and beautiful. Hopefully, at least. Haha.

To take the ordinary and make it beautiful.

What is this search for beauty? Why do I have this desire in me to make the things (and people) around me beautiful?

100th & 2nd

It's time to celebrate - I have hit my 100th post on this blog!  Yay!

Baby J's Gig 'Em Quilt

Our dear friends, J & T, are expecting their first child in January.  I almost had a heart attack when, after 3 consecutive weeks of missing church for one reason or another, I found out her shower was in one week!

I Dropped Him!

 Meet Snuggle Monster.  I found the pattern for this little guy here a few months ago and have made several, mostly as gifts for friends who are expecting.  I think he is too cute!

I made this little guy last - but I dropped him at the Nac Public Library last week.  Oh, no!

My Black Apple Doll - I Think We Will Call Her...

...Minnie! I made her to look like a mini-Katelyn, so I think we will call her Minnie until Katelyn's old enough to make up her own name. This was my first attempt at making such an intricate toy and I am relatively pleased with the outcome. The hardest part: Turning those oh-so-skinny arms and legs!

Our Little Pumpkin

Last year we were propping her up in her Boppy to take Halloween pictures of Katelyn in her little pumpkin and kitty cat costumes.  Our favorite was a sleeper with jack-o-lanterns all over that said, "Our Little Pumpkin" across the top.  Well, our little pumpkin is not so little anymore.  Today we took her to see her first pumpkin patch - she had a great time and we got some cute pictures!

A Party Fit for a Princess

I am long overdue for posting pics and details on Katelyn's first bday party, but better late than never! I was super pre-prepared for her party, so that makes up for my tardiness in blogging about it, right???

First Steps!

I am testing a new format for loading photos in my blogs... and I thought I'd test it out with a pics of Katelyn's first steps about a month ago! There she goes...