Simple and sweet are his requests… a full day of gardening together as a family, and a full day is what he got. We worked together all day Saturday cleaning up the backyard and working on more garden projects. Then, we had had a nice family dinner outside. It felt like it should be a burger night, so I made homemade burgers paired with oven baked zucchini fries. Both were delicious, and when I find time to recreate it, I will share a recipe soon. On Sunday, we made him his usual breakfast, but served in bed, and then we came home Sunday night to family movie night and I made him his favorite dish (this recipe).

God has grown and stretched this guy in so many areas this year. I’m so thankful that the ripple effect of God growing his love for Jesus trickles down to our marriage and how he leads this family. He certainly exemplifies loving, servant leadership. Loved him when I first met him and love him even more with each passing day. (And sometimes I get pretty annoyed with him too, but thankful we eventually kiss and make up.)

I’m back in the floral design game and did a wedding last weekend. It was my first time in a long while. Flowers used to be my favorite to work with, but it became difficult with little ones, but with them getting older and Ben’s new schedule this year, I’m going back to it. (Clearly, I wear a lot of hats from vintage shop to macrame, and a lot of other things in between.)

I took two girls with me to the LA Flower Market, so 1) I could take the carpool lane, and 2) extra hands to hold and pull a flower filled wagon. True and Soul got the job of coming along. Brave has her injured foot, and Glow didn’t want to go, so #1 and #3 it is! As we were flower shopping and flower making, it hit me… these girls will likely choose jobs outside of the box. They’ve grown up seeing me work in a lot of creative areas, that I think they have more a creative, entrepreneurial spirit in them.

My hope is that they aren’t afraid to pursue things outside of the box. I know I certainly was scared, so when it came time to choose a career to study, I chose teaching. It was safe. Part of me wishes I picked art, which was the other major I considered, but my fear of not being good enough and what to do for a job after, stopped me. I think all my side hustles over the years, have exposed the girls to thinking outside of the box. It has encouraged them to explore things they love and also, they don’t have to limit themselves to pursue just one thing. I love macrame, sewing, writing, crafting, floral designing, collecting vintage, and I’m thankful that I’ve been able to do all of these things (and teach my girls how to do these things), while staying home to raise my girls. It’s fun watching these girls grow up and their passions develop.

I’m so excited to be headed to the Twin Cities for a couple macrame workshops next week. I’ll be doing a wall hanging and plant hanging class at Pinners, get more info here. But if you want a more intimate setting (Pinners is huge and fast!), and we get to chat a little more, I will doing a workshop on Saturday, June 23 from 7-8pm at Kinoko Kids. The class fee is $40 and we only have 10 spots, so make sure to reserve yours! Get your tickets here! I hope to meet some of you there!

School is almost out and I can’t wait to do a deep purge and some redecorating. I love big, old mirrors, especially ones that show the age on the glass. I’m not in the need of any mirrors, but it’s hard to turn down a good one when I find one. There was one I had found a couple months ago, that I slightly regret not buying, but Ben didn’t like it and we didn’t need one (though I’m sure I could have found a place for it). All these mirrors pictured above are so lovely and are getting me excited to a summer refresh on our spaces.

from top to bottom: elemente architecten, image unknown (do share if you know who to credit), coco and kelley, sfgirlbybay, fusion d,

Well, the baby has lost her first tooth. She’s been anxiously anticipating this day. She’s almost 7 and has been a little jealous that her big sisters were losing teeth and she wasn’t. Then it happened… a few weeks ago, I picked her up for school and she excitedly said, “Guess what, mommy?! I have a loose tooth!” While she was jazzed, my heart sunk a bit because this was it, my last baby and she’s on her way to not being a baby anymore. And then it hit again yesterday, when her tooth came off during lunch.

She didn’t want to say she was excited because she knew I was a teensy bit sad, but she was so happy about it. I was happy for her too, but my heart already misses them being little. I know they’re cray and I’m a cray mom, and mothering is hard for me, but I do cherish these kid years. Cray and all, I know I’m going to wish I could rewind this time.

With tooth in hand, she didn’t waste any time and she immediately put it under her pillow. On the other hand, my Soul, hasn’t put any of her teeth under the pillow because she says, “I’m saving it so I can get a lot of money.” Thankfully, Ben remembered at night and did that switch-a-roo. I’m really bad at remembering to do that. There have been times when the older girls woke up and still had their tooth under the pillow.

So here we are… the baby has lost her first tooth, and for her, it’s onward and upward. Their milestones are my milestones, and while she enthusiastically sees this as a sign of growing up, it’s a bittersweet moment for me because my babies are really growing up. There’s nothing I can do to stop time; it just keeps going.

Luke 12:26-27 “If then you’re not able to do even a little thing, why worry about the rest? “Consider how the wildflowers grow: they don’t labor or spin thread. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these! If that’s how God clothes the grass, which is in the field today and is thrown into the furnace tomorrow, how much more will He do for you-you of little faith?”

A friend of mine recently said that 2018 will go down in Bratcher history as a crazy year, and that’s a definite for sure. Crazy might even be an understatement. This year has definitely stretched our faith in more ways than one. I’m not really a worry wart, but I am a control freak, so with trials that are going on that are completely out of my control, it does leave me a bit unsettled. At the same time, I know God’s got this and I trust that. Completely. So while I try to plan for every possible outcome, at the end of the day, I have to surrender everything to God.

I know we aren’t the only one wrestling with trials and uncertainty. I’m sure many of you are too. We are all so much more alike than we think. The verse above gives me comfort and I hope it does for you too. My hope is found in Christ alone, and while life will always have tumultuous seasons, each crazy I go through, increases my faith and I see God at work. Jesus died to set me free from trusting myself, and I can trust God is writing a better story than I ever could.