Graduation Bags

Hello!! This is a much happier, much more 'crafty' post. YAY!! Normally on a working vacation with Jason, he goes to a meeting in a town a few hours from here, Jackson (the little man) and I tag along in the car; kiss him goodbye in the mornings, and go our separate ways. This trip started that way (innocently enough), Jackson and I headed to the Portland Zoo...AMAZING. We learned all sorts of things, of course all Jackson remembers is that one gray wolf had a hurt ear, and we could not see the giraffes because they were getting a new home. But anyway... the little man feel asleep before I was even out of the parking lot thus it was on to the FABRIC STORE!! Fabric Depot to be exact where I knew I would find a great deal and a variety of fabric. Sure-nuf! I got some really incrediable stuff, a lot of Laura Gunn designs (I LOVE her style!!), and some clearance stuff that went right along. The little man slept in the stroller 'most' of the time. By the end he was his normal post nap cranky self. Luckily the cutting man seemed to go with the flow, and tried to work around my screaming/crying child who was demanding I buy the ENTIRE bolt of coral minky! (Really. I did NOT put him up to it.) We made it out under a $100 and we were off to eat dinner at Red Robin by ourselves (boo to post-meeting dinners :-p) and for mom to get her sewing machine up to the room and get to work. I got lots done the next 3 days, and by the time I was dropped off at the State Track hotel my bags were nearly finished. So all in all our work-vacation really was work on both ends, and I think Jackson got a good mix of mom and dad time.

Without further delay here are two of the three finished products (I forgot to get pictures of one of the best ones).

My heart reachith out...

There are times I feel (maybe most of you do), that God puts things in your path; tough things, things you never saw coming. Today (yesterday actually) was one of those days. I coach high school track. It hasn't been the easiest year, for the team or myself. Before the season even started my Grammie died. I missed the first two weeks to be with my family. I left sunny warm North Carolina, where my heart sings as the red cardinal in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and came back to Eastern Oregon... a much cooler climate, and my heart filled with less singing, more like the quail clicking away in the field scaried of being too loud should enemies hear. I have already mentioned the depression, it was settling in before, and worsened by the loss. Yet for some reason I decided I should keep coaching. It wasn't easy. Cold weather, long hours, sweat...lots of cold sweat. But it was good, good for me, and I hoped good for the kids. Two weeks ago the injuries started. My top girl, out for three weeks (till districts) and then only *maybe*. Other kids fell in behind her, my 'team' was injured. But most of our 'core-group' was still together. Then yesterday my heart reachith out more than ever... one of 'my girls', my 'core-group', out for the season. But it was more than that...as it always is. I can't say much, it's not my place to share. And that's not the point of this post. The point is God put a stone in my path, and I hope I've done what He wants me to do with it.

It's tough being a Mom. In grad school I was always referred to as"team-mom". I thought then it was for all the pies and muffins I made. Looking back, maybe it was all the advice I dished out, hoping it would find some dirt and take root. I feel like that now. I've offered help, and tried to be there. I've prayed that God will open doors. Now I just have to wait for the rain and hope the seed takes root in this young girls life. That all my silly sayings the past 2 months will have sunk in. It's hard to trust what you don't know. It's called Faith. Reading this it all might sound a bit rambling and it is. But here's the thing, a young girl needs some prayer. And for some reason God put her in my path. My painful path of depression and loss, with of love of running shared. Maybe in the future I can say more, when it's not just my words. For now, thanks for reading...if your a mom, go give your kids a hug, and a kiss, and a "I'm proud of you no matter what." (and mean it). We never know the extent to which our influence reaches. We are all Moms and Dads...good or bad to those we are closest to. Hillary Clinton might have coined it, but she didn't develop it: "It takes a village". And it does. I wish I could tell you how it's all connected, I wish God would show me how it all works out. How the pain of one could bring happiness to another, but I can't. Something things are without words. If nothing else it has inspired me to be more faith-filled not just faithful. To smile to all, and to know God is in control.

Love...Mary

P.S. i got really pretty fabric today. I'm just not up for showing it off. Maybe tomorrow will be Sunny and filled again with the songs of cardinals.