Rebecca Sower

eliza jane

I have honestly never seen so many beautiful, old-fashioned names in one place before.  We read and re-read the names over and over, honestly.  It makes me want to create some art pieces paying tribute to each of these names, especially those with your sweet stories behind them.  It is easy to see that many of you have a very special place in your heart for the namesakes you suggested.

In the end, we chose to go with Eliza Jane...I first saw it and loved it, then my mom got in touch with me after seeing my blog and told me that this was her grandmother's name--how exciting!  And my aunt, Ruby Jane (another lovely old southern name) was named after her.  So that sealed it for us.  (Michelle H., you were the first to suggest that name and I've already contacted you via e-mail--you're the winner of the collage piece in the photo here!)

What a special doll for so many to have participated in naming her!  I will print this story along with all the name suggestions and keep it with the doll to be passed down.  Oh thank you ladies--you have made me so happy!

Hope everyone has a beautiful week and it looks like I need to get busy--etsy shoppe is empty again and much else (exciting and otherwise) going on here. :)

help me name her

Technically she's not mine.  This was a doll that was my maternal grandmother's, and before she passed away her wishes were that the doll go to my oldest daughter Madeline (rats, because I want to keep her :)  But I get to enjoy her now and love how my thoughts drift to wonder what my grandmother may have been like as a young girl--oh just to think how her small hands touched this sweet porcelain face.

Anyway...I don't know what her name was or even if she had a name.  My aunt may know and I will ask her when I see her again, but I doubt she will know.  So I thought I might let you guys help me name her.  Just post one comment per person to this blog entry by noon on Sunday, and I'll send a great prize to the winner.  I'll let Madeline help me decide which name we want for her.  {btw, my grandmother's name was artie mae}

Oh and I had delightful fun yesterday [moving around very slowly of course] putting together these happy little crafting emergency kits--i know some have already sold but there are still some good ones left in my etsy shoppe...so hop on over.

Have a fabulous Friday!

and the winner is . . .

oh you didn' t know there was a contest?  that's because i was the only one who voted, well and grandma of course.  The winner of the best-looking guy ever is...ta da!  Luke Sower.  oh i could just sit and stare all day--you know just how that is.  well what you don't know is that he's also winner of the who-can-get-grungy-and-messed-up-the-quickest award.  and since that's how i usually see him, this clean, still, yummy little guy just captivates me {sigh}.

wishing you all a happy thursday!  [it's thursday, right?]

pastoral therapy

I love looking out my windows.  Well when all the junk and clutter has been picked up and things aren't in disarray which they many times are.  I'm a very private person when it comes to many things, one of which is the state of my health.  Which until a couple of weeks ago has been a-ok.  But a few of you know I've been hit with a surprise or two lately and am at home dragging along the path to recovery.  Hospitals are great places when you need someone near to be sweet and make sure you're not in pain, etc., but my all-time favorite healing place is right here at home, clutter and all.

I've been moving slowly that's for sure, but I've been able to put a couple of things in my etsy shoppe, a few collages and several of my paper poppies which I've had several requests for.

So, hope you are all doing well.  Please don't worry over me...I will eventually be just fine.  I have an amazing family doting over me, and will have news soon how my traveling schedule may be affected.  This is but one of life's little unexpected detours that we all should expect to come our way now and then.  Hugs to each of you!

The Beauty of Life

Here are three things I would love for you to do today:

1) don't try to be someone you aren't.  rejoice in who you are and be that person completely...there's a specific reason that you are the way you are.

2) remember that you will never never never ever catch up to your to-do list; it's infinite.  So if you're one of those waiting to rest when you're caught up...stop right now!  take a deep breath and go sit and watch the clouds for at least 15 minutes.  you are not wasting time when you take a break to rest.

3) find a moment to appreciate how beautiful life is.  I know this sounds a little hokey but it's oh so true.  Does the quality of life matter so much as the mere presence of life?  I think not.

On an unrelated note, I will be out of pocket for a few days.  Don't desert me--I'll be back.  I know I have several etsy convos to respond to and I will get to those asap...promise promise promise.  So until next time, may your life be richly blessed.

hope itself is like a star

"Hope itself is like a star--not to be seen in the sunshine of prosperity, and only to be discovered in the night of adversity" {c.h. spurgeon}

Just this week I ran into two special people that I haven't seen in a long while: 1) a good, good young man who beamed when he shared with me that he and his sweet wife are expecting their first child, and 2) a sweet, sweet friend who looked so lively and lovely, so much so that you would never know she had had a bout with cancer just a couple of years ago.  If a new baby and a cancer victory aren't hope, what is?

Hope is so beautiful and so real.  Grasp it tightly.  Your hope will shine it's brightest when it's stormy and dark and you feel like the shadows are just about to swallow you.  I know there are many of you facing things right now that you just weren't expecting.  Life does that sometimes doesn't it?  So when 'it'll never happen to me' turns into 'it just happened to me', cling to hope and know there's a much bigger plan...a bigger destiny!

Thanks to every single one of you who comment on my site and send me emails...I cherish each word and each of you.  What amazing and necessary people you are in my life.  We all need each other so much don't we?

we never know the whole story

"Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad”

 

Oh guys, we never really know the whole story of what's going on with a person do we?  I ran across these words by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow that pricked my heart.  So maybe instead of getting miffed when someone is rude or cold, maybe we could consider that they're going through something deep and painful and reach out to them.

 

On another note, I snapped this shot of a butterfly on my lilacs.  Pretty amazing when you consider it was still March when she was fluttering by my front yard (her and about 12 of her sisters).  Isn't she beautiful?  And I wish I could send the scent of these lilacs through the computer lines--divine!

 

Spring break for my kids this week and boy do they have me running--if you don't hear from me much this week you now know why.

 

A blessed Easter to each of you!