Small Shop Favorites

The sun isn't showing it's face on the Trail this Sunny Saturday.  It has been one of those weeks and despite the rain and clouds, I am just glad it's the weekend.  #amenandamen

A few years back I discovered Instagram.  Once I discovered Instagram, I discovered all the incredible small shops out there that sell handmade goodness.  I was immediately hooked and now when I glance at my phone, Kevin says, 'are you shopping?'  The answer is yes, probably, yes.  I love perusing my feed to seek out something beautiful for myself or my littles.  Let's be honest, it's almost always for my Luke and Lily.

This Sunny Saturday I am sharing a few of my favorite small shops for my littles.  I have so many more, but these are the pieces I'm loving right now.

First up is this gold hair clip and bright pink headband from Little Kate Designs.  Lily has been sporting this clip to church as well as when we make our trips to the city (aka go to Target).  It goes with her Belle and the Bear moccasins perfectly.  The beautiful leather headband just came in the mail and has instantly become a favorite.  I have been questioning whether Lily can still wear headbands anymore because her hair is growing like wildfire.  This fits her head so well and she looks like she is trying to pull off a Molly Ringwald look from Pretty in Pink.  #redheadscanwearpink 

I fell in love with this next shop right away.  Their kimonos are beautiful and the awesome thing is the Momma who runs this shop is right across the river in Nebraska. Her shop used to be called Camden and Kate, but is now Haberdash Soul Company. My mom gifted this to Lily for Christmas for our trip this winter and now that it's getting nice, I am just giddy that I can put her in it.  Not only did Miss Lily get spoiled with one for Christmas, but I did as well.  Matching is so much fun.

I have mentioned Head 2 Hiney in previous posts and I just can't get enough of this shop.  Momma Cassi Reed knows how to put some fabric together.  She just dropped off this set for Lily and it is a little bit of perfection.  Now the weather needs to cooperate so I can squeeze her little white legs into these shorties.

Heart of Gold Apparel is the real deal.  This shop specializes in Christian tees that have fun teachable messages.  Making Jesus known through these tees really is so much fun.  Another HUGE perk, they are gender neutral.  I literally moved one of Luke's tees into Lily's closet the other day.  Cute, meaningful, and practical.

I hope the sun is shining wherever you are today.  And, if it's not then...

A cloudy day is no match for a sunny disposition.

~William Arthur Ward

  

Choose the Light

Last Saturday Kevin and I were able to sneak away for a day date while my parents were in town.  It was absolutely splendid and we were able to reconnect and get 'back on the same page' again.  As we were sitting on a patio casually eating the best bread and butter ever, Kevin mentioned something that came up at work.

At a round table meeting, his colleagues were going around and rating their personal life and work life on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the best.  He settled on 10 for his personal life.  I'm not surprised as Kevin is a glass half full kind of guy, but it got us talking.  When he explained his number, he said that life is as wonderful as a person could expect.  It is not as if we do not have problems in progress, or that our family is perfectly healthy, or that our dog hasn't emptied himself on our basement floor lately; yet the crux is we are living the essence of the dream we set out to live before we were married.

Someday we will look back on this time and think life was so so good.  When (not ‘if’) something bad happens, we will long for this place, this moment in time.  It is like when Luke is getting sick all over everything and Kevin and I long, hope, and pray for him to be well.  We promise we will persistently appreciate Luke being fever free and healthy when he is playing in the sunshine (as we should).  That is life; one day it's going along and all is well and the next you're dealing with something hard that rocks the world you had known. You wish you could go back and be oblivious to that hard thing, but it's impossible. Life doesn't work that way.

On Sunday (the day after our date) our world was rocked a little.  Without getting into too many of the details my family wants to keep private, it was decided that my sister needed to move to California.  She, along with most of my family, have lived in Iowa their whole lives.  A few years back my brother moved out there and she decided it was time to make the move to better her life and the life of her sons.  

We all know this is good, but it's also hard.  Hard because we will miss her and her son.  Hard because one of her sons is staying behind.  Hard because there are so many loose ends to tie up at home.  Hard because we packed her up and got her moved in three days.  Hard because there are so many unknowns for her.

It was a curve ball we didn't see coming and we are all still processing it.  

All this hard stuff had me awake one night this week, way past my bedtime.  I started worrying about her son staying behind and how this transition will affect him for the rest of his life.  I started worrying about her figuring out how to live somewhere different and making a life for herself there.  I could go on and on and on about how my head was worrying.  But, something, or more appropriately, someone, in my heart whispered to me that night around 3 a.m.  

That voice said: 

"Don't worry about this. Do your best. Listen to me. I am here."

I have known God was in this since the beginning.  Things fell into place in a short amount of time and seemed to work out almost too easily.  And as doubt and fear crept in, God silenced it as I looked to Him.

It made me think of the verse some of you might know: 

Trust in the LORD with all your heart 

and lean not on your own understanding; 

in all your ways submit to him, 

and he will make your paths straight.  

Proverbs 3:5-6

This hard thing is just starting its story.  As I look ahead, I do see that the moment in time when Kevin rated his life a ten was really, truly good.  I also see that this time is good, just not in the same way.  Although there is a long road ahead, there is also hope and redemption through this decision and hopefully great change.  God will surely be glorified in this.  It won't be easy, but it will be good.  God makes beauty out of ashes.  #amiright

A bonus to this week was we were able to love on and spend some extra time with our nephews.  They are the sweetest boys and we are thankful we were able to spend so much time with them this week. 

Would Kevin still rate his personal life a 10?  Probably.  Like I said...glass half full.  He has been my rock in this and I could write a few hundred blog posts about what he means to me.  Another time.  

As I process this week, it has been tempting to let darkness prevail.  It’s like light has been only shining on one side of my face, darkness on the other.  I have been vulnerable to let the negative pieces of this week take over, let it seep into this situation and overtake it.  But I need to continually look into the light, right around the corner, beckoning to me.  Don’t allow the darkness to win, choose to focus on the good things in this change, choose the light.