Category: birthdays

birthdays · faith · giveaways

Birthday Wishes with 163 Design Company

Lindsey P. BrackettLeave a comment
I wore it like a talisman all those long days and nights that went by impossibly quick slow that last week of last year into the first days of a new beginning.
Jennifer, who was my roommate at Allume, and shares more than just a corner of this big internet with me, offered them up as gifts to us when we first spilled our luggage and our hearts onto beds in that hotel room in Greenville back in October.
It is well with my soul.
It takes courage to offer up those words.  It takes courage to make a little piece of yourself and hope others love it and buy it so you can pay the bills but share it so you can know it means something.
The first time I choked on those words I was a senior in high school sitting in a church pew of First Baptist holding a hymnal with shaking hands and mourning the death of a girl I used to run the side streets of town with for cross country practice, a girl I’d known for as long as I could remember, a girl who should have gone on to live a longer life than just nineteen short years.  It wasn’t well with my soul then.
But I grew up and I opened my heart more to faith and I saw the peace that passes understanding on so many whose souls were well.
And I want that.  A well soul.  
I’m 34 years old today and it’s taken me this long to learn and become well with the idea that I am not well. I am broken and scarred and flawed and made in the image of God. And everyday I get to choose to live in grace and forgiveness and joy so that all will be well–
or I get to choose not.
And let me tell you those days of choosing not, those days of choosing despair and self-deprecation and dilemma over delight, those days will eat through your soul and leave you with nothing.

So, everyday I’m trying and somedays, I wear my necklace because I need that little tangible reminder that 

IT. IS. WELL. WITH. MY. SOUL.
Since it’s my birthday, Jen is letting me give one of these beauties away to you!  And since she’s super kind, she’s offering up another one as well, so today’s giveaway will have two winners, which is perfect because she and I share hotel rooms and mom fears and coffee love and husbands who are recovered from perimyocarditis (how crazy is that?!?) and first names (yep, mine’s Jennifer) AND February birthdays. I tell you, no one but God could have crafted together a bonding like ours.
If the It Is Well piece doesn’t speak to you like it does me, perhaps you’d like this one?
 
It reminds me so much of Jennifer because she does seek to Glorify God in all she does whether it’s handcrafting these beautiful wooden necklaces (read about the process here) or designing prints and art to bring a little nautical joy to your home or blogging about ending the slavery of women.
If you’d love to win one of these, here’s the super fun widget from Rafflecopter.  Enter as many times as you want and give me a birthday gift? Share this post even if you’re not interested in winning. Thanks so much!
And if you are yourself or know an expectant mother, send them over here to enter the giveaway for a free newborn session to honor my own baby girl’s birthday. 

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birthdays · motherhood · school

More than Flowers (What May Brought)

Lindsey P. BrackettLeave a comment

So it’s occurring to me while I’m working on a (hopefully) profound post about how I need to slow my life down, that I haven’t done a lot of casual blogging lately about what’s been keeping us so busy.  May is marching on by with its cold snaps and thunderstorms and heartaches too big for words, but here’s a bit of what we’ve been doing.

Gus turned one.  I didn’t even write about it. I wrote this the week before and the week of I was busy with this.

That’s the incredible Mrs. Gibson and her talented students and crew.  Blessed that she allowed me back in the school to help with the annual spring musical.  I almost missed teaching that week.  But then I came home to this and remembered why I left.

We named our children like dwarves last week: Sleepy, Whiny, Sassy, and Screechy.  Guess which one she is?

We’re digging the CSA that’s started up in the past few weeks.  Now I just need a more expansive repertoire of what to do with collards and turnip greens.

Oh, here she is again.  Joshua wants to know why we’re not marketing her so that at least one college education is paid for.

She likes to dress herself, can you tell?  Tomorrow is her last day of preschool this year.  Insane how fast it goes.

That’s my sweet friend Shanna giving Gus his first haircut. I almost cried and she told me I’d be fine.  This from the woman who had to let someone else cut her baby boy’s hair because she didn’t think she could do it.  Love you Shanna!  Thanks for making sweet boy look good.

It’s been field day and field trips and general chaos around school these past couple weeks.  Glad I get to hang with my big girls sometimes!

When I was teaching, we used to have faculty meetings and brainstorm how we could move some of the craziness out of May.  Yes, please.  Let’s figure out how to do that.

birthdays · http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post

dear annabelle {today you are seven}

Lindsey P. Brackett2 Comments

Dear Annabelle,

Today you are seven and Madelynne is exactly eight-and-a-half and Amelia is exactly three-and-a-month, and Gus is left out of the perfect counting because he was born on the 1st and not the 19th.  That sets him apart, just as it binds you and your sisters and makes 19 something of a special number for us.

But I want you to know, today, on your 7th birthday, that just because you share your days with one older and one younger, you do not ever have to be just like your sisters.  You only ever have to be you.

You’re pretty good at being unique.  You’re the only one who really likes to work the garden with daddy, but you’re also the only one who hates being dirty.  You’re the only one who falls asleep the moment you lie down, and you’re the only one who gets up when your alarm rings.  You’re the only one who doesn’t like Chic-fil-a, and you’re the only one who would request meatloaf for a birthday dinner.  You’re the only one who can wear skinny jeans, and you’re the only one with an Angry Birds shirt that you wear at least twice a week.

You’re the only one who’s more stubborn than your daddy and more sensitive than your mama.  You’re the only one who never gives up, not on spelling words, not on two-wheel bike riding, not on memorizing verses for AWANA.

You’re the only one without tonsils, and you’re losing teeth much more slowly than Madelynne did.  You’ve only lost one and I think the new one will be in completely before you lose another!

You’re the only one who doesn’t complain when hiking with Marmie, even though you’re still too small for a real pack.  You’re the only one daddy trusts to help put up the tent, and you’re the only one who remembers to take off your shoes before you go inside.

Daddy thinks you’ll be an engineer or an architect who pays great attention to detail; I think you’ll be a tenacious lawyer righting social injustice.  You want to be a teacher like Mrs. B and right now, your greatest goal is for everything to just be fair.

I’m sorry to tell you that can never be.  Life isn’t fair and as much as we try, nothing is ever exactly equal.  But I hope you are coming to realize that despite those truths, there is another greater one: Jesus is fair and His love is equal and lavished upon you everyday.

Happiest of birthdays to my Annabelle Faith, may your name remind you always to keep the faith, and may your strong-will remind me always that I want to do more than just raise a good child.  I want to raise you to change this world.

Love,
Mama

amelia · birthdays · http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post · monday · pinterest

A Monday Menu & A Saturday Party

Lindsey P. BrackettLeave a comment

So last week my post about what’s been cooking for dinner around here was pretty lame.  It was actually more about snow than food.  But that’s what we were loving last weekend, so that’s what got written.  I did post a picture of my roasted chicken, so this week I give you the source of that deliciousness.  And what is clearly a superior food photo.

Over the weekend, we needed a power breakfast.  You know, something more than cereal because it requires a bit of protein to keep up with a passel of toddlers at a three-year old’s birthday party.  An early Saturday morning Pinterest search revealed this.
Crescent rolls, scrambled eggs, bacon, and cheese.  Yes, please.  Except bacon isn’t a staple in my house unless it’s on sale, so I opted for lining my crescents with deli ham.  Highly recommended.
So here’s a menu idea for you this week.  We’re having leftover soup, church dinner, and a special Valentine’s feast that will include homemade rice-a-roni and brussel sprouts because that’s what they requested.
I know.  My kids are weird.
But you could have this.
My husband gets a kick out of how often I take pictures of the food I’m making.  Sometimes, though, he gets really into it and decides to arrange his supper like he’s in a fancy restaurant.  I made my balsamic pork roast (which is actually a Boston Butt) in the crockpot.  That’s brown rice drizzled with the sauce and these green beans.  Looks more impressive than it probably was.
Okay, that’s a lie.  It was really, really good.  I have only great love for balsamic vinegar.
Party time!  Amelia’s birthday is still a week away, but for various reasons, we had her party this past weekend.  We had gorgeous weather, sweet friends, and only a couple of meltdowns (me and the birthday girl).  Seriously, these parties are really too much work.
Except that morning, she crawled up in my lap and said, “Mama!  Today is my birfday party?”  When I said yes, she flung those arms that are still baby-chubby around my neck and squeezed.
So, the meltdown was worth it after all.

Yes, those are balloons in that horse corral.  She wanted both.  Don’t argue with the birthday girl.  Or the mama who forgot to order the cake and had to buy one off the shelf.
The fence is pretzel sticks.  The horses were borrowed from a game of big sister’s.
I’m not a treat bag fan.  I think party favors should be simple and creative.  We had a horse theme, so this is horse food, i.e. candy corn and dinner mints to represent sugar cubes.
Yes, at the Dollar Tree in Buford you can buy candy corn in February.  Who knew?
These are upcycled baby food jars with tags assembled by the birthday girl’s daddy.
My cowboy.
Opening presents with Sam.  He’s two days older, so he was the helper. He also has one of the sweetest mamas in the world.
Mary Lynn gave her legos.  I think she’s trying to  convince Amelia that it’s okay for her to move far, far away, but we aren’t falling for it.

Linking up with
Miscellany Monday
A Mama’s Story
amelia · birthdays · family · gardening · http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post · joshua · Photos · spring

Months in Photos

Lindsey P. Brackett2 Comments


I gave up on my 365 project because I can’t remember on which days I took certain pictures.And I would hate to lie to myself.Instead I discovered A Month in Photos over atsimple as that
And of course, I’m already behind.But here’s February and Marchso now I’m all caught up.

In Februarywe celebrated Amelia’s 2nd birthday with a Pooh partyand my 32nd with birthday brownieswe did some acts of love and ate fondue for Valentine’s Joshua started a new job so he got a cake, toowe made a banner out of birthday cardsand ate popsicles on the porchBelle had a tonsillectomyand two ER visitsone for stitches in her chinFor such a short month, we sure were busy!

I can’t believe March is overand spring is here and soon we’ll be a family of six.We’ve been enjoying springKayden taught Amelia to shoot some hoopsBelle turned six and had a Hello Kitty party at the park despite the rainLeah Kate turned one and we celebrated with the BarksdalesI shopped the consignment saleand thank goodness, otherwise they’d be nakedJoshua planted the garden with lots of helpwell, sort of help anywaywe’ve already had an Easter celebration at churchand are trying out crazy hats because it’s already hot!
Maybe our April collage will feature a sweet baby boy….