if you

instagram 

then you may want to

followgram!

followgram gives you a unique space to view

 your instagram photos online.

there are so many things i love about this site already!

the best part is...you can share your photos with someone 

who may not have an iphone or facebook account.

another great feature...

you can drag and drop your photos from followgram

directly to you blog-or desktop-or wherever!!

enjoy! 

animal prints

lately, i've had my eye on dogs.

olivia has been begging for a puppy party

for her 6th birthday.

so, i went searching for the hippest, 

most coolest party decor.

i have almost found everything i was looking for, 
and, i also

 ran across a few other

animally fun things i thought i would share... 

1.moddog prints
i adore these modern dog prints.
we are dog lovahs!  our entire family
are lovahs too.  how cool would it be
to have a grouping of the 8 dogs that
are/were  in our family.

{ r.i.p. monster and webster }

2.animals font
countless fun with this new font!

3.animal templates
you could do so many fabulous things
with these templates...shadow puppets..
matting and framing them in wild colors..  
there are so many to choose from on this site!

4.elephant collage

i love elephants!  

i can't wait to do this with liv...and will..someday.

vintage fabric is the key.

5.alphabeasties
i am enamored with everything about these alphabeasties...everything!

little Mm Aa Nn

that's right.

lock up your daughters!

he just keeps getting cuter and more snuggly...

i just had to share some sugar.

we took little man and songbird

to artprize today.

will wanted to eat the entire time...

olivia, wanted to place a vote-for each

piece of art that we saw...the entire time. (:

thank goodness for snacks.

that took her mind off of voting...for a while.

these were just a few of our favs-we had lots more.

good thing we have 2 more weeks!

ben and i went out friday night and 

saw these very cool pieces...

Loose Fit

by Monica Ponce de Leon

this piece was made completely of plastic...

it is actually quite large and has several other

tunnels like this.  

{we may or may not have crawled through the smallest one.}

Mother Earth

by Jessica Horst

this was by far my most favorite!  

she had 3 or 4 others 

in her collection.

her medium was felt and

i couldn't love a material

more than i LoVe-oV FELT!!

if you haven't been out to artprize...you must-you must!

and here is the app that makes voting a snap.

seriously, if my 5 year old can do it-anyone can. 

hope to see you out there!

random thoughts from my songbird

i have so many random thoughts-most of them

stem from my conversations with my songbird, olivia.

she may be small...but she has mighty inside of her.

the thoughts and questions she thinks of...

here are this week's conversations in a nutshell.

about her brother jack...mommy, i miss jack.

hmmm. what made you think about jack?

mommy, i think about him all the time.

wow.  this one stopped me in my tracks.

if you don't know our story, we lost jack when he was full term.

there was a tear in his umbilical chord.

olivia misses having a big brother...

**we will always miss him too olivia.

she is very excited about her new baby brother..

which brings up a whole new realm of ponderings.

thoughts about will...mommy, it's too bad will didn't come out of your belly.

really liv?  why is that?  

well, it means he isn't a part of our family.  

he is a part of deborah's family.  but not really ours. 

{deborah is our amazing birth mom}

 what makes you think he isn't a part of ours?  

well, in our family, everyone has blue eyes.  will has brown eyes.

{this topic came up a few weeks ago, and i thought it was resolved...but, apparently it wasn't.} (:

okay, so what makes a family?  

a family is when everyone has the same of something.

so, i brought up one of her friends and said, i am so glad to know that.  

i guess your friend is really my other daughter because she has blue eyes like us!!  

no mommy, wait...she has a mommy.  she isn't your daughter.

well, i thought that you said...

and our conversation kept going.

where we ended was a very different place then where we started.

i'm grateful that she is open with me about her big thoughts, her doubts, her concerns.

i'm equally grateful that God reminds me to slow down and listen to her...really listen.  and to ask her questions-questions that help me understand where she is coming from and where she may be going...

we landed in the place that our family may look different than other families...but, it doesn't change the fact that we are family.  that will is our son and he is olivia's brother.  

that that little boy has forever changed our lives for the better.

and, that we collectively couldn't imagine our lives without our little man.

he has definitely won our hearts OVER. 

lastly, thoughts about a friend that lied to her.

mommy, i just wish she would have told me

that she was a friend that would lie to me right 

when we decided to become friends.

then i would be ready to feel this way.

oh, olivia...what a great thought.

i wish we all came with tags saying how broken we are...

mine would say,

i may not be able to call you back when you would like me to

or

i'm someone who thinks about your acts of kindness all the time, but i just get hung up on how to put my gratitude into words on paper for a thank you note...

or

how about this, i will, more than likely forget about a coffee date,

disappoint by not following through on something...i'm just another broken friend.

but, i'm a good friend.  one that is loyal and loves to see you succeed as a woman in this great big hodgepodge world of ours. (:  

releasing others from our high expectations is such a gift of grace.

i long to be a woman of grace...to offer it freely.

my prayer is for my little ones to see this in my life and 

to experience the power of grace so that they may offer to others as well.


i guess to sum up my thoughts on her thoughts...her thoughts slow me down.
they create a pause button-they make me take the time to really think through my everyday and 
understand what my purpose truly is.

it is to love God and to love people.
double-love command

homemade happy meal

tonight i wasn't going to do it...

to go through one more drive thru!

now, i'm not boycotting forever-i'm just tired of forking

over $4.25 or whatever the price is-to pay for

fried up- pieced together chicken,

apples that taste like they have been dipped in chlorine,

carmel dip that has been drizzeled across the door handle and back...

and a toy that gets lost or broken in less than 3 hours flat.

as we were driving home from fort wayne tonight, it occurred to me...

we should just make our own happy meals.  

olivia could decorate the bag while

 we unpack the truck!

she was so excited!  

i know i'm not re-inventing any wheels here.

i'm sure this has been done by many of you-but, it was our first time.

and wow...did we enjoy every minute of it! (:

the best part was finding a toy that olivia hasn't played with in so long-

she didn't even remember having it.  

i love recyling toys.

The Sexy 7-10

a little background perhaps, may be necessary with this hot title!

it all started *ahem 10 years ago- 

or somewhere around there, 

that i met up with these crazy girls that became roommates, 

apartment groupies, and connoisseurs of all good and outstanding men...

{which, by the way, we are all equally blessed to have found and married one.} 

*a shout out to one in particular-ben nash- ;)

 now, for the real reason for this post.

 it's to introduce 

this precious group of  rumble. 

 17 children (4 were out of town) the last time we got together. 

21 kiddos total. 

 it really isn't that insane-it's completely manageable.

and so much fun!

 the number that really blows me away 

is

 6.

6 of the rumble are adopted.

 4 of the 6 were adopted within the last 3 months into 3 separate homes!

it is mindblowing to think it all began as college besties, 

figuring out so much about life.

and, during that time...God knew the plans He had for each of us.

while we were just trying to make life work for us...He was seeing the bigger picture,  

of what real life was going to look like when college life was over.  

our priorities, at that time, were all over the board.

like, making sure we had a lower level dorm room. 

who knew that it would have such great advantages! 

i mean, really..it had a fantastic view of the campus bell.

that was rung every time a couple got engaged. 

priceless *and somewhat humurous at times*
to see so many happy people 

climbing that pole striving to ring that bell in blissful glee 

of pronouncing their undying love to one another. 

it also gave us great 24 hour access-

which, we were very cautious to use this access 

only in emergent situations.  

*ahem, anyhow...

we were planners.

we stratagized every aspect of life possible:

we made sure we wore the trendiest styles, 

got jobs at the same restaurant so we could

carpool to work together,

 ensured a few of us were chapel checkers-

so that none of us missed chapel. (:  

experimented with hair dying kits,

megan's nickname still remains sunshine to this day.

we witnessed each other's nail biting break-ups
and celebrated some of them too! ha!

we had the full college experience. 

and now, we share this life. 

our grown-up, beautiful, colorful lives.

i love that when i get together with the sexy 7-10 and their children, 

that Will, will have other playmates -that are a constant in his life. 

that share more than a similar skin color-

they will share the beautiful story of adoption.

and one of the most beautiful pieces of our story 

is that we have this rich history of friendship
 that started way back when.  

 and, our story, in my book, is just beginning to unfold. 

 God started something amazing
when He brought these girls into my life.