Hello friends! Happy Monday to you all!
Well, we have successfully navigated another Spring Break and lived to tell!
The boys went to my parents for half the week, then we picked up the twins (our foster respite kids!) and had them with us for the remainder of the week, which was amazing and exhausting and wonderful and exhausting. In part because I was determined that we would not just all sit on our devices all week (myself included, even though I get to call what I do “work.”) I was determined that we would both play and work – outdoors. Spring on the farm – even on a hobby farm – is a busy time, and with four extra sets of hands home for a few days it was the perfect time to tackle one of the projects that has been on our list since we moved here in 2014 – cleaning out the old potting shed behind the barn.
Hard work, stewardship, and teamwork (also known as mutual obedience in the monastic world) are values that Sweet Man and I work hard to instill in our boys and practice in our everyday lives. These are some of the tools we are using to make ourselves at home in this life. Some of the practices we are using to become rooted to our home, our land, to God and to each other. And they are the values and lessons I first learned when we still lived in town, when I was stuck in a life I didn’t want, but one I also knew God wanted me to make myself at home within.
Which is what my new book, At Home in this Life, is all about. It is the story of how everything came undone (including my heart) and how God used spiritual and monastic practices – such as stewardship and hard work and listening – to stitch me back together again.
Which is why this embroidery pattern, inspired by At Home in this Life, and designed by the AMAZINGLY TALENTED Mollie Johanson, is such a perfect complement to the book and a great visual reminder that making ourselves at home in this life is always worth the mess and the mistakes and the hard work and it is always full of happy surprises if we will just stop running long enough to notice them!
Isn’t Mollie’s work just incredible? And did you notice how the smoke stack heart is an homage to the unraveling heart on the cover of At Home in this Life? Simply perfect,
And guess what??? You too can have this beautiful reminder to make yourself at home in your life!
How? There are 2 ways!
- Pre-Order At Home in this Life and receive this pattern (and other printables and downloads) for FREE!! Simply order At Home from your favorite bookseller, then come back and fill out there form on the bottom of THIS page. The pattern and other printables will be emailed to you within 7 business days. (If you have already pre-ordered, you too will receive this pattern in the next week!)
- Wait until May when this pattern and several other amazing handcrafted items inspired by At Home in this Life will be for sale as part of the Simply Sacred Everyday Collection! (More about that coming soon…)
Want more Wild Olive designs in the meantime? Make sure to check out Mollie’s online shop and her blog – SO MUCH inspiration both places!
And make sure to tag me and use the hashtag #athomeinthislife when you post pics of your work in progress or finished project! I would love to see how everyone is making this design their own!
much love-
That it adorable!