Time just flies, doesn’t it? It seems like just yesterday I was the 8 yo girl playing games and looking on at the adults as if they were soooo old. Now, at the annual family reunion, I’m part of the “old” crowd….you know, the ones who share their scintillating stories about plumbers, politics, gas prices, teenagers, etc.. Only now, I’m the one sharing the stories of how I’ve been recently wronged by my plumber, politician, gas station, and teenager. I have in fact become my mother. And it’s really not so bad…to be the adult, I mean. I always imagined that surely they were so bored by the topics they yammered on about, but I tell my plumber stories with truth and conviction….I’m not bored at all. And neither is my sister. She has plumber stories too. But have we lost something magical that only the little guys can teach us? There is something so wonderful about being perfectly contented in doing back flips in a pool for hours straight. I do miss that somehow. Enter Rock Band. 
One of the highlights of these gatherings is always time with my sister, Gina and my brother Todd, whom we very affectionately call “brother”…..original, isn’t it? This year my sister has added to her collection of WII games the “Rock Band” game so of course the three of us took to the instruments and let ‘er rip. At least I didn’t throw my shoulder out like I did last year on the bowling game! 
I know you’re skeptical, but you should have heard our version of Dirty Little Secret. We’ve got potential. At least the potential to embarrass our children. The little girls enjoyed this show of raw talent so much that they keep saying to me “remember when you played the drums in Rock Band” ? The only thing we could’ve used in our “band” would’ve been two little homeboy rappers.
I think their teenage siblings have been at work here.
Oh well, it was fun seeing everyone again and making memories (and pictures) that are sure to remind us that there is something wonderful about the gathering together of generations. We all need each other. Uncle Glen, our oldest attendee, was engaging to talk to and it warms the heart to see him still enjoy the trip. God puts us in families for a reason and whether it’s Uncle Troy’s latest joke to Aunt Carol’s new musical instrument to Aunt Rosie’s new potato salad, I always learn something and am always glad I came.
boys will be boys….
I guess I enjoy the whole fireworks thing about as much as Scooter. He may look like he wants to come outside….but trust me, he doesn’t.
Inevitably every July 3rd, I get the phone call from Stevie on his way home from work, “Sooo, I guess those kids will probably want some fireworks, huh?” ….translated ” I am man and I am hard wired to blow things up” . This line is certainly more believable when all our boys our home, but this year it’s just us. Great….. my sweet little innocent daughters will soon be new recruits in the long line of Wadsworth pyromaniacs. Is this written in the y-chromosome somewhere? Some things you just know had to be invented by males. But I have to admit that I enjoy the boyish excitement as he teaches the girls how to twist ninety seven firecrackers together to really make a big bang. Okay, I embellish the story. But not much. As I type this very blog, sparklers are waving dangerously close to my head.
And remember, it’s only July 3rd. So this is just the preview of the bangs and sparks to come. On a more girly note, we painted our nails red and blue with white polka dots. Then Daddy and Emme conspired together to do a little tree climbing.
This is Emme about half way up our tulip poplar (which by the way we planted when we first moved in 8 years ago… it must be 30 ft high already) See is you can spot her below.
Happy 4th!Ahem…
So, I am anxiously awaiting the resurrection of the new Issues, Etc. which will be making its’ mark on the internet radio world in less than two hours. I am highly caffeinated which never helps times of anticipation. If you could hear how fast I’m typing right now, you’d think I was 17 making a “myspace” update. I also woke up disgustingly early this morning with that kind of nervous tummy you get when you have a job interview or are about to have a pap smear. So, to kill some time and relieve my children of my nervous chatter, I thought I’d blog. By the time I’m done, should be time to hear Wilken’s voice again….I can hardly wait. If you want to hear christian radio like you’ve never heard it before, check out the link to your right. In the meantime, thought I’d share with you about my Sunday (that’s yesterday for those of you who are not highly caffeinated.)
So, the little girls amused themselves by making real “stick” people…and by that, I mean paper dolls attached to “sticks”. They named them “little sister” and “big sister”. I suggested “thing one” and “thing two” but I lost. They also can’t stop talking about the new American Girl moving that opens this Wed. July 2nd about the story “Kit”. I bought that doll for Caiti when she was 9, I think. I have such fond memories of lying in her bed with her reading about Kit. Maybe she will join the little girls and I for the movie. It’s fun to see Emme and Elea now going through the same stages…..they just came to ask me to bake Kit a birthday cake. It’s apparently her birthday today. Who knew?
Steve chose “The Great Divorce” as his read for the day which is a masterpiece by C.S. Lewis about the great divorce or chasm between heaven and hell. To wet your appetite, “…life is not like a river but a tree. It does not move toward unity but away from it and the creatures grow further apart as they increase in perfection. Good, as it ripens, becomes continually more different not only from evil but from other good.” Great read, one of my favorites. Then I haphazardly picked up Craig Parton’s book(that brother Jeff gave us, I think) and started perusing. Before I knew it I was hooked and in about 3 hours I finished it. It, also, is a great read. And there is something marvelous about finishing a book. I have several started right now….Pilgrims’s Progress, Don Quixote, Thomas a’ Kempis, ad lib ad nauseum, and I am bleeding from the eyes from all the curriculum reading……so to actually start and finish a book in one evening….now that is closure. The literary equivalent of running a 10K and the antithesis of having 10 half finished books staring at you on your nightstand, which is my MO. 
I pondered reorganizing the laundry room which looks like this when you read a whole book in one day. But I didn’t.
I turned my attention to the soon-to-be schoolroom which was recently painted(floor, walls, and trim) by my mom, myself, my son and Andrew. Yep, this is them “working”. Take careful notice of the pink bedazzled cowgirl hat and the colorful, gardening/hiking boots. These are your tax dollars at work(they both attend the local public school). So, I…….
cleaned the playroom…aka garage…..soon to be schoolroom. This is the “before” picture and the room was actually much worse than this picture portrays. The “after” picture will be forthcoming when the new bookshelves are in.
So, there it is….just another day of reading and playing and organizing in anticipation of Issues’ resurrection and the release of the American girl movie “Kit”.
Meet Edie
Y’all! Come on in!
I’m Edie and I’m honored to have you visiting my online home. I am a Christian writer and the author of a not-yet-finished book to be published by Tyndale next year, called Coming Home—a spiritual memoir of redemption. I write here to remind you that you are loved and to inspire and encourage you to live with intention, love with passion, and serve your people well. It was nearly six years ago that I started this blog and I do not take for granted the privilege to write here. I used to have a job that required me to actually get dressed and leave the house in the mornings but most days now you’ll find me at home, teaching and raising children, cooking up a storm, getting lost in classic books, and learning to enjoy the beauty of ordinary days. I’m obsessed with art and design, all things Texas, banjo music, cowboy boots, colorful, quirky home decor, New Year’s resolutions and Southern-ness.
Six years ago, I decided to give up my career as a family practice physician to stay home full time with my family.
I’m not gonna lie. It ain’t been easy. The next year, I began homeschooling my girls. Whoa, Nelly.
There were days I wasn’t sure I’d make it.
The good news is, I firmly believe in inspiring spaces, so we school in this workroom/craft room/laundry room.
It’s a pretty great place to spend hours on end, even when the days get long and hard.
In short order, this southern belle became a blogger, a homeschooler, a Lutheran, and a self-proclaimed goddess of the domestic arts. I taught myself to cook, to sew, to craft, and am trying to learn how to garden. There just never seems to be enough hours in the day to do it all but I don’t go down without a fight!
I love teaching my girls to be keepers at home. They made this pom-pom wreath recently and are learning to be industrious little women.
I am humbled and grateful to be right where I am doing just what I’m doing, with all its trials and joys.
I document my faith journey, my mother love, my insatiable appetite for classic literature, lipgloss, cooking, C.S. Lewis, and my eclectic, retro-cottage, Southern chic decorating style.
I look for the divine among the mundane and cherish the sacred grace moments that spring up through the stony ground of everyday living. I view my vocation as a wife and mother as nothing short of miraculous—-that God would entrust His beautiful created life to me is an honor of which I am not worthy.
We are one blessed, blended family!
I am making this journey—this amazing life—with my husband of fourteen years, who continually inspires me, who never ceases to ‘raise the bar’ to deeper levels of love and understanding. And who always grabs the book I was just about to read next. Marriage is so hard sometimes, but I’m so thankful to walk this road together with someone who loves us so deeply he literally walked through fire to save us.
(I know what you’re thinking….he’s so darn cute. Yes, yes he is!)
We are truly living LIFE-IN-GRACE— a dream that we do not deserve.
So, welcome to my online home. I am thankful that you have come. I hope you will find here some inspiration and encouragement for your own journey.
Stay awhile and I’ll make some coffee and we’ll sit and chat in my favorite room of the house, the screened in porch.
An introduction wouldn’t be complete without telling you about December of 2010.
Our lives drastically changed, 3 days before Christmas, when we lost everything but a turquoise chair in a devastating house fire.
I thought my broken heart would never mend. Tragedy changes us and if we are willing to see it, God will show us that His grace covers it all.
We learned to say thank you for the winter grace.
(there are links on the sidebar to various rooms in the house!)
And I almost forgot to tell you that BETTER HOMES and GARDENS shot our house in September and will featuring our rebuild story in the January 2013 issue.
I nearly died when we first found out they were gonna run the story. I wrote about the experience here and here.
I haven’t seen the article yet but I’ll be the one squealing at the check out line at Ingles. I’m real subtle like that.
You can sift through six years of archives, if you dare!
If you’d like a particularly long laundry list of stuff about me, which consequently is about as exciting as doing your laundry, click here, and here, and here.
If you’d like you’d like to read a few posts that would give you the ‘essence’ of lifeingrace, visit here or here or here.
If you’ve always wondered about finding your calling in life or whether what you do everyday matters, it happens to be one of my favorite topics.
And in case you get any crazy ideas that our life must be wonderful and gracious all the time, let me clue you in to a little tidbit. This is a blog—-a online journal, if you will, of our lives and my thoughts. This is not reality. My house gets dirty and disorganized, my children scream and fight, the dogs run through the house soakin’ wet and chew all my outdoor cushions; and I am convinced, at times, that my showering schedule is a little lax. We are an ordinary family plagued with the same stresses and messes that you are.
We are trusting God to restore the years—–the years the locusts have eaten; the mess we’ve made with the gifts he’s given us—the disgraceful way we’ve trampled on his goodness time and time again. He makes all things new.
For the sake of Christ, alone.
I leave you with these words that sat on my kitchen counter for years.
I am so glad that you have come.I will pour out everything inside me so that you may leavethis table satisfied and fortified.Blessings on your eyes.Blessings on your children.Blessings on the ground beneath you.My heart is a ladle of sweet water, brimming over.The Red Tent, Anita Diamanti
May God bless you with every good and perfect gift.