We’re moving (sort of)…
No, not the pack-the-boxes, load-the-van type of move. I’m moving this blog!
You can find me at www.creativlei.com
Pardon the virtual dust as we clean-up and decorate. Trust me it’ll be worth it.
If you are an email subscriber you will need to resubscribe over at the new site so that you still receive posts to your email. The transfer over won’t bring you with me. *insert pout face* I’ll be posting over there after this.
I’ve also added a Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/CreativLEI Join us there too and share with friends!
See you soon…
Sometimes you can’t go back…
In April my milestone dates were quite different than they have been in the previous month. This weekend the Children’s Medical Surgical Center at Johns Hopkins moved to their new building, the Bloomberg Children’s Center. The place where Miranda lived her 28 days of life is now gone. In just about every way I can never go back. I have to move forward.
Last week after our family group the chaplain honored my request for one last walk through the PICU, most of these pictures are from that walk. I was able to go all the way to the end of the hall to the suite where Miranda had been (thankfully the bay she had was not filled with an ECMO bed this time), I also saw the room that I held her body in.
And I left the PICU and will never return.
This was the sign that greeted you as you entered the JHH PICU.
And for this milestone weekend I was away from my family. I attended the 2:1 Conference from the 27th-29th. There were many tears on the drive down to Virginia and a few that first night as well. Thankfully I wasn’t with people who stared at me awkwardly wondering when I’d gain control. I was with sisters in Christ who understood grief.
When Vince and I arrived from UMMC we went up to the 7th floor of the JHH to the PICU and waited to be told what was happening with our little one.
One of my roommates knows what it is like to live life after losing both of her parents tragically without warning.
The sweet friend I shared a dinner table with on Friday lost her sweet 5th child when she was 7 months old.
The dear friend that sat next to me in Amy’s break-out session on Saturday lost her home last year to a fire, and she had brought her precious little one with her.
This is Stephanie's little guy, the first time I saw him I knew he must be about the same age Miranda would be. He is six months old. He blessed my heart.
God knew what I needed this weekend. This was not plan B. There were tears. But they were good.
I’m okay with not being able to go back. We have chosen to go forward since the day Miranda was born. Losing her did not change our direction, it just jostled the path.
This room. It was the first room on the unit we were brought to. It was the room I used to pump for 28 days. It was the last room we sat in after Miranda died. It was the room where we signed all the papers.
He has more planned for us. We don’t know exactly what that is, we just keep walking through the doors He opens:
“For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”-Phillipians 1:6
Ten reasons you need to attend Titus 2:1…
I was blessed to be among the attendees of the Titus 2:1 Conference in Sterling, VA that was April 27-29th. I plan on writing more about the specific break-out sessions I attended but until then I just need to share my excitement with you for why you want to start planning NOW to attend next year!
This post is part of the Top Ten {Tuesday} link up at Many Little Blessings.
10. You get to stay at a hotel that will make your bed, clean your towels, cook your meals, brew your coffee, and change the empty toilet paper roll (a word of caution… there may be a few things they won’t do as Jamie, Lena, Jules and I found out. However, that will only give you more to laugh about so you won’t really mind).
9. You’ll come home with treats to share with your whole family which will be a bit of a consolation prize for the kidlets missing you over the weekend.
8. You’ll have the opportunity to form relationships with companies and organizations that are on the front line to encourage you and fight for what you do. Before this weekend I thought Apologia was all about science curriculum. (yes, I really did) Now I know they are so much more and I look forward to using their tools within our family and homeschool. You’ll realize that HSLDA is more than just legal help for homeschoolers.
7. You might have the opportunity to step out of your comfort zone and share with others a product or company that you love and form a partnership that goes far beyond a seat at the table but joining up with others doing His work for eternity.
6. You’ll meet women for the first time on the same side of a screen and feel like you’ve known them for years and cherish the sisterhood of believers you’re surrounded by (and they all share a love for writing and blogging, double bonus).
5. As much as you will hate that the weekend is ending you will be excited to return home because you miss your husband and your children and you have spent the weekend with women who have encouraged you to do that instead of wallowing in all that is “wrong” with any of it and filling your head with thoughts that “you” are more important anything else.
4. You will realize you are not alone. There are other moms that have days, weeks, months, and years like you have and they will celebrate with you that is is all for His glory and that He will help you not only survive but THRIVE.
3. You will be strengthened for your journey as a Daughter of the Most High, as a wife, as a mother, as a homeschooler, and as a blogger (in that order).
2. You’ll stand in a room full of believers and worship The Creator in song and end the weekend on your knees as He prepares you to return home.
1. God is already preparing speakers for next year. They might not even know who they are but I can assure you this, He will place His words in their hearts and they will be obedient to share them with you and you don’t want to miss a single word because you will hear exactly what your heart needs to know that He loves you and that you are His!!
So who’s in? Will you plan to go along with me next spring?
Are you waiting to hear from God?
Many of you know I had the blessing of a ticket to the Titus 2:1 Conference this past weekend. I am still processing all of the information that was placed before us so that I can effectively share it all with you. There is much more to come in the next coupe of weeks.
In the mean time I want to pass on an opportunity available for everyone. Today is the kick-off of the Ultimate Homeschool Expo. There is an incredible line-up of audio sessions from amazing speakers, including some that I had the pleasure of meeting this weekend (Felice Gerwitz, Maggie Hogan, Heidi St. John, Rachel Carman and so many more.) You can listen for free during the scheduled live sessions or for a small investment ($29.97) you can have an all-access pass to listen to any of the sessions any time you want. I would encourage you to talk to your husband and see if this is a possibility for your family.
I listened in last week to Help for the Unmotivated Homeschooler (Melanie Wilson, PhD). I listened in expecting to hear how I could get my unmotivated children going forward in our homeschool. I was surprised and overwhelmingly blessed to hear her speak and realize that her session was not about my children, but was instead about my heart. Wow!
Even if you are not a homeschooling mom I would encourage you to look into this online expo because there truly is something for everyone that is in need of encouragement. There are even evening sessions for moms that will help encourage you in your marriage.
Let me know if you’ll be listening in and I’ll see you in the live chat room!
**Disclosure: The link to The Ultimate Homeschool Expo is an affiliate link. If you choose to purchase a ticket for the expo I will receive a small portion as a thank you for promoting for Media Angels. My recommendation of the Expo is based on my belief that this event is worthwhile and worth sharing with others. I will not recommend or support products or events that our family does not believe in.**Our Square Foot Garden(2012)…
Hey, how’s is growing?
Yes, I know just how corny that was. I’m sticking by it though. So here we go Family Garden, 2012 edition.
Here are my little plots of outdoor happiness.
It’s only April so there isn’t much planted yet. We’ve had absolutely bizarre temperatures, from 80s one day to 30s the next! Hopefully everything that sprouted early will hold steady in the coming weeks.
I use the raised-bed/square foot gardening method since we have a hill of a yard filled with rocks and dense clay dirt. I love my raised beds. The first year there was a bit of a front-end investment for the lumber and soil amendments but since then the only real cost I have is seeds. If you’re on a budget you could totally form raised beds using salvaged materials. (Be sure to comment below if you have as I’m sure others are curious of the alternatives! ) We created our soil using the formula behind Mel’s Mix, using 1/3 vermiculite, 1/3 peat, and 1/3 compost. It makes gardening a PLEASURE and very productive. My boxes are gridded using nails and twine instead of lattice beams. Since I mostly only have greens and peas planted my boxes aren’t gridded yet, I’ll do that as I start to transplant seedlings out there.
Enough of my rambling here are the pictures you’re waiting for:
These are our boxes in their very humble glory. I have high hopes of adding a nice thick mulched border for weed control around the beds… maybe that will happen this year.
These are radishes, happily growing in two squares of one of my two 2′x5′ beds.
These are our peas happily sprouting in one of the 3′x4′ beds. They’re a bush variety so I’m not messing with trellises for them this spring.
This is one of my four 3′x4′ boxes. All that’s left is the remnants of last year’s grid, but it’s good enough for these early plants. This is my kale, Ruby Swiss chard, beets, spinach, broccoli rabe, and arugula (I think, need to go check that). Once the plants get a little more mature I’ll thin them and transplant (everything but the beets) into properly gridded boxes.
Here are rosemary and lavender. This will be the lavender’s third year growing (it’s second in the herb bed instead of the raised beds).
This is my rhubarb. It is my second year growing it after getting the roots from a dear friend from church last summer. There are two varieties here. Since taking the picture it no longer looks like this. We had some very windy days which blew my cold frame, seen in the back of the plants, on top of them breaking off almost all the stalks (and the flowers of the white one which I found out I was supposed to cut off as soon as I saw the. Oops, lesson learned for next time.)
These are our onions, they own the end of my herb bed on the side of the garage. We have sweet yellow, red and Egyptian walking onions growing.
This may just look like a leaf pile but it’s more. This is our potato patch.We recently had a number of feet cleared on the side of the house and this is where my compost pile used to reside. We’re going to experiment with growing potatoes in mulched leaves… Stay tuned to see how it goes.
This is one of two 2′x12′ beds that house our strawberry patches. This is my third year growing them and they’re looking good so far. I was a bit afraid they started budding too soon when we had the March/April heat waves, but so far so good it seems. (Well mostly, see below)
I’m pretty optimistic that we may actually grow enough strawberries for our dining pleasure this spring… if my children will leave them alone until they’re ripe. I can’t help but love the beauty of blooming strawberry plants.
A few of my strawberry plants are growing a bit, um, crazy this year. I’ve never seen anything quite like it (and I haven’t done any internet detective work just yet). There are a few plants that have these strange wide and flat “stalks” that look like many stems stuck together. there are tons of buds on them but I’m just not sure of how this will turn out. Have you ever encountered this in your patch? Let me know if this is something I should be correcting some how.
We also have asparagus growing. It is planted along the side of our parking pad. I need to plant more roots because right now there just isn’t enough to pick at the same time for even one of our meals since everyone in this house loves it. For the last two (or is it three) years I’ve just been letting it grow and go to seed so that there is more the next season. A few more roots should help a bunch though.
Just in case you’re curious this is my composting area. It’s pretty simple as far as composting goes. The far left section is the slow decay stuff, when I pull weeds and spent plants they get tossed here. I don’t turn it often, it mostly just does it’s thing on it’s own. The middle section is where we toss all of our organic kitchen scraps (aka, anything raw like veggie peels, fruit cores, cucumber ends, wilted cut flowers and also coffee grinds and egg shells). I turn this anytime I add to it because the aeration helps the breakdown happen a little faster. The section to the far right is the ready to use compost from the previous season. It’s dark, rich and ready to go. At least that’s what the bunches of worms that take residence there say, or would say if they spoke.
So there you have it, the start of garden season for 2012. Always lots to be done and always a great reward for doing it!
Do you garden? What method works best for you? What are your “must-plants” each year? What are you trying new this year?
This post is part of a link up at The Homeschool Village
Top 10 Tuesday (2:1 edition)…
Have I told you how thankful I am that thanks to the ticket giveaway hosted by Ultimate Homeschool Expos:
As part of the kick-off I’m joining other attendees and posting
“10 Things #2to1Conf Attendees Should Know About Me”
10. This is the first homeschool, blogging, or homeschool-blogging convention I’ve ever attended. (…and I’m a little intimidated at some of the names I’ll be in attendance with, I respect the voice you all have through your blogs and elsewhere, a little “star-struck” I guess)
9. This is only our second year schooling at home. (…and it’s been harder than I ever could have imagined and excellent for all the same reasons)
8. I am a kinesthetic learner so if I’m in your session and I’m knitting, doodling, drawing or lettering I really am paying attention, it’s just the way I learn. (…I’m sure there are more than a few of you that understand)
7. I’m hoping that the hotel has a hot tub along with the pool. (…but lets face it, it’s been a rough year and I don’t exactly want to put on a swim suit)
6. Although I’m a skirt-wearing, backyard-gardening, bread-baking, laundry soap-making, shawl-knitting, yarn-spinning, wool-dyeing, suburb-living momma I’ll always have an NYC heart deep down. (…but no, I don’t say caw-fee)
5. Because of #6 (and the fact that I’m Italian-American) I’ll always be a food snob. (…and I don’t think it is a bad thing)
4. I’ve been married to my wonderful husband for a little over ten years (he’s so awesome that when I first entered a giveaway for the conference he said “Can I sponsor you?”) and the Lord has blessed us with 6 beautiful children. (…our sweet Miranda went home to Him in October 2011)
3. I’m a little apprehensive about the weekend because the dates are very significant to me and it’s still a bit raw. (…but I know how good God is and that I will be in the company of a number of women who know exactly what it feels like)
2. This year has been a battle in so many ways. (…I am so looking forward for a few days to catch my breath)
1. I can’t wait to see what God has planned for this weekend and the changes that will happen when like-minded women seek Him first and purpose to encourage one another in their work to glorify Him. (Jeremiah 29:13, Matthew 6:23, 1Thessalonians 5:11, Roman 15:5)
always late to the party…
This is my party post for the
What in the world is that you ask?
It’s an excuse for thousands of crazy people that maintain a blog (or facebook, or twitter) to have a “show and tell” across the great wide wonderful virtual world.
…and I wanna play too.
Until now most (if not all) of my readers are those who have a “real-life” connection to me (hello to my beautiful sisters and aunts and mom and nanny and my darling husband and my lovely friends and sisters in Christ). There have also been a few of you that I have known online for a while either through Ravelry or Hyena Cart and the like (love to you all too!).
This past fall when our family went through the darkest hours of letting go of our daughter Miranda I hesitantly blogged about it so that I didn’t have to tell the story one thousand other times and those that loved us could read what was going on in our trial.
…and a funny thing happened.
I started getting readers that I had never met but shared an unimaginable bond with. I was let into an intimate network of sisters who were walking similar paths. Even more amazing was finding a network of sisters that had not forsaken their faith in a Savior that is just, even through the nightmare.
Healing is a process, kind of like a scraped knee. It doesn’t (usually) just get better over night, a scab has to form, that often gets picked or snagged off and must form again, sometimes multiple times, and when it is finally healed the skin is not often the same as it began, there is a scar. The knee probably still works as well as before, but it is forever marked.
For me blogging is a bit like that.
My posts will range from introspective when the scab has been freshly ripped off, or just be a recap of daily life, our home-schooling, or showing off my baking prowess on those days where the scab is there but dulled over a bit.
Our lives are irreversibly changed by the loss of Miranda, but grief does not define me or my family, our faith in a righteous Savior does.
…all the rest are minor details.
I’m Lisa, otherwise known as Lei, Leimarie, Mom, Sis, the woman behind CreativLEI… and this is my blog.
