Some days I really miss my friends, my church family and my own home!

Don't misunderstand. We chose to be away from our home during this time. We chose to come to Michigan to enjoy a wonderfully cool summer and a great time with family. But....

Well, it is hard not having my friends 10-20 minutes away to get together, to go shopping, to have dinner together, to just be together. It is hard walking into a church that feels so much like our church it is crazy and not knowing anyone. I mean I am starting to recognize faces, I have a new friend or two, but really I do not know anyone else. It is hard.

So while I start to slide into wallowing mode, God snaps me back and says "Wait a minute." He reminds me that while we chose to come her here chose this for us too. He chose this opportunity to happen when it did and he chose to open options to us. He helped us find a church we are really being fed through, and he has provided a few great new friends.

But that is not all. He is reminding me that with all this time that I do not have to spend with my friends I get to really evaluate me. I get to sit back and really see what I have been doing, where I have been steering my life, and what the results of those decisions are. He has allowed me this quiet time away from the active life we have back in Texas to slow down. I am not on the phone hardly at all. I am not jumping into a number of different projects in my home, or outside for the matter. I get to sit back and really think.

What a new idea. I mean really, how much time do we spend each day without the radio, tv, book in our hand, or friend to talk to - to just really think. Or even, better yet, to listen. To listen how God is speaking to our hearts? I can tell you, before this summer happened I did not have much time for that. I mean, I listened to God speak to me through the radio (James Dobson, David Jeremiah, Nancy Leigh Demoss) and through some great books too (to include my Bible) but I rarely if ever sat down and just listened. I have been listening a lot lately.

So while I am missing my life back in Texas I am realize that God is really working in my life right here and right now through everything I am going through and he is continuing to grow me, to grow my faith in him to provide ALL I need, and my peace in who I am and not who I think I need to be because of......(fill in the blank). So this is such a bittersweet time of missing what I have in Texas and treasuring it for its comfort and joy, and receiving the gift of a slower time up here in Michigan and a time of personal growth in Him.

So that is the heavy stuff on my heart. On the other hand, I am getting sewing crazy. I mean, I could jump from sewing blog to sewing blog all day long. I could shop for fabric until me feet hurt and I was starving from lack of food. I could lock myself up in a well outfitted sewing room and live there the rest of my life.... well wait a minute. That may not be entirely true. But I am about as crazy about sewing these days and I am thrilled with homeschooling (you don't want me to get started on all the great stuff we are learning.....).

I would love to just sew sew sew. Oh well. Back to reality, I have other responsibilities, and many other things I enjoy, but there is some great sewing ideas out there! Like this and this or even this! To name a few!

Here are a few things I have been working on while up here in the cool climates of Michigan....

Some modest shorts for our darling little girl...

A few Tag Along Totes...

A couple notebook covers

Enjoy and have a blessed day!