I had the privilege of hearing my two oldest sing yesterday at the Ridgecrest Youth Conference.

After living through a horrific tragedy and watching  God make beautiful things from dust, this song is my grateful anthem.

You think you’re raising your kids but they’re really raising you. (Thank you to my mother-in-law for that very true statement.)

Blessed Lent.

It was a magical night…..

perfect weather, perfect spring night

and just the right amount of banjo music

and pulled pork BBQ!

There are so many things to love about a square dance

but one of the most appealing is that it’s just a big bundle of fun  for the whole family,

regardless of age or ability.

And all the girls in boots and sundresses just makes me smile.

I do think it’s the one activity in which

almost noone was texting and checking their phone.

Just good clean knee-slapping, sweat pouring fun.

You cannot do this activity without laughing.  A lot!

Score!

These kids and their friends and cousins had such a fun night together.

Andrew looks like a pro and NOONE outdanced my little Elea.

She was bringin’ it baby!

Doug and Cindy (Andrew and Morgan’s parents–and my good friends) seem to know a thing or two

about southern shindigs!

My brother in law, Mark, is one of those half empty kinda people.

He’s very high on my list of people I love and I have a tremendous amount of respect for him.

But I’ve heard him say—-and I quote

“So why are we having ANOTHER square dance?”

My photographic evidence would show that he was having more fun

than ANYbody else.   He was fun to watch!

And this party simply would not have happened without my wonderful sister.

She made the pork (recipe later), brought nearly all the

heavy equipment, decorated, undecorated, told me to breathe,

danced all night long and then sat with me at midnight and

ate cake while we talked about the night’s happenings.

I’m so thankful!

And that’s their son and my handsome nephew Corey,

being such a good sport and dancing with

his cousins and sisters!   He’s so darn cute.

Think ‘Jacob’ from Twilight.

And this little square (full of cousins and siblings) kept getting all twisted up.

Everytime I turned around they were in a big tangle, laughing and

yelling at each other.  I don’t think they ever got through the last

dance without being in a 8 people pile up.

They were Hi-Larry-Us and provided much needed comic relief.

Mike Hoose, our awesome square dance caller, finally gave up on them too.

Marcus and Katilin got the hang of it pretty quick.   I was

so proud of Marcus, who was clearly out of his element.

He’s such a good sport and in general such a joy to be around!

Taylor is my first-born, compliant good-natured boy.

He’s almost always smiling and is THE most helpful person ever.

Always with the pleasant attitude to go along with it.

He did so much work for me that day.   Lifting, hanging, hauling, moving, driving!

I don’t know how I manage without him now that he’s away at college.

I miss him so much when he’s gone.

See, they’re tangled up again.

I’m not sure who’s to blame (could be Taylor and Corey?!)  but at least they’re still smiling.
Doesn’t it look like the most fun ever?  Well it was and I’ll be back soon with more.

Most importantly,  Caiti was so happy

and said it was her favorite party of all time!

Enjoy this little video and pay close attention to the cutie in the red hat!

One of the fun things I did  {or, I should say my girls did in the sweat shop}   for Caiti’s graduation was make these CD’s for everyone to take home.

There are about 20 songs and it’s a great mix of tunes Caiti and I love including some Brandi Carlile, Mumford and Sons, Jewel, Tim McGraw,  The Dixie Chicks and more.

I knew people would forget to take them.   So I have about 10 left and I’d love to send you one.

Just leave a comment and tell me the last band you saw in concert and what year it was and we’ll pick some winners tomorrow.

I’m hoping for a “Rod Stewart 1988″  but I’d die of jealousy is you say  ”Avett Brothers 2010″  or “Mumford and Sons 2011″.

And two more things:

1.  I promise you that the square dance pics will be worth the wait.

2.  My super talented designer, Darlene and I, are working feverishly on my living room.    Like mad, I tell you.    I can’t wait to show you but I feel I must warn you that her debut pricing is about to expire.  You simply should take advantage of her special prices—–that will end in one week.   Before I publish this post, I’m reserving her for one more slot because I know how y’all are.   She has been such a joy to work with.    She takes my millions of colorful ideas and reigns them in and makes sense of them for me.    I love that about her.

Last week,  I sent her an email that said this:

“this lamp=i die”

and she responds with praise and adoration and  27 exclamation points.

See why I love her.   She gets me.    And she is  in that stage of growing her business where she’s still excited and fresh and not too overwhelmed.

You’ll be able to say you knew her back when.

Okay, so now tell me about your sketchy concert goings.   Or your perfectly respectable concert goings.

I’ll let you know tomorrow who gets the CD’s.

I have so many things to tell you.
But I have a house full of family and pulled pork that all need attention so I’ll be back soon!
It was amazing!
And you should call your local square dance club and reserve a caller for your next shindig.
xo,
edie, self-proclaimed square dancer and line dancer

p.s.  there are videos but they must be carefully edited to protect those of us who are old and awkward!   {The 18 yo’s, of course,  need no editing or photoshop.}

Of these four dear children of mine, three of them have blue eyes.
Blue eyes that they got from me, which I got from my daddy.
Mine have known a river of tears and it’s always been easy to let them fall.
Today, in the wee hours, before the hustle and bustle of the day,
I sit here quiet with eyes to the brim.
Thankful that most of all she knows the One who counts her tears and keeps them in a bottle.
Hoping she forgives this mother who fails and falters daily.
Praying she finds her purpose and peace in Christ and Him alone.

*********************

I remember my daddy whistling this song while Willie sang.
Wish he were here tonight.
Clear eyes, full hearts!

Well, this is Cait’s big week.   Her grad-jee-ation square dance party is Thursday and she graduates on Saturday.

We spent some time yesterday chatting about life at Starbucks.

I’m so proud of her.

She has such a level head and seems more like 25 instead of 18.

This week’s gonna be so busy making all the preparations but I’m so thankful to

be able to do this for her.

Her prom was a couple weeks ago and these two looked just perfect!

They tolerated my incessant picture-taking like champs.

Can’t wait to see them do-si-do!

Love you sis

Caiti was pretty sure she didn’t want a graduation party per se. Then she agreed to a pool party at Aunt Gina’s. Then I remembered how fun it was to learn to square dance. So, that’s it.

We’re having a square dance for Caiti’s graduation party!

Not the kind where you wear puffy dresses and bolo’s, although that’d be okay too. The kind where you wear whatever you want–although it does beg for cowboy boots—and you invite your friends and family, young and old, and have an old fashioned hoe-down/throwdown of a good time. I went to Shawna’s 40th birthday party, square-dance style, a couple years ago and it was so much fun that I’ve been dreaming up excuses to have one ever since.  You should see the look on people’s faces when I tell them we’re having a square dance.  You’re gonna be jealous when you see the videos.

And there will be videos.

Caiti is perfectly ready to do-si-do, in her sundress and boots and I’m looking for some good western party treats and ideas if you have any spare time to plan a shindig for me.  Think hay bales and mason jars and red bandanas and burlap.

My sister, who is the saintliest person I know, came to my house and brought lots of pictures of Caiti as a wee one so that I can begin making a video.  Isn’t she the cutest thing you’ve ever seen?  So I’m scanning old photos and listening to all manner of musical options.   I’m determined not to let the haze of the past few months put a damper on her celebration.  I only have 4 weeks to plan this and my sister has declined my offer for her to move in with me for a month.   Any takers?

I’ve also asked my dear talented friend Patty to photograph the momentous occasion.

She said yes.

Yeeee-Hawwwww!

We tried every way in the world to get a ‘real’ photographer.

Unfortunately, most of my favorite ones aren’t that easily accessible.   So, alas, she’s stuck with me.

At least I have my new great camera, the Nikon d7000, along with Karen’s photography class, which I’m currently auditing. Those things along with Jody’s MCP photoshop actions and plenty of inspiration from my favorite photographers, we got some shots that Caiti loves. We plan to do a second shoot during the golden hours, with an outfit change, if the weather will ever cooperate. I thought, overall, they turned out pretty good. We drove to Knoxville for part of the shoot and ate a yummy lunch and did a little shopping. It was a great day. I love this girl. Her funny self-deprecating coupled with her easy confidence make her lots of fun to be around. She makes me proud to be a mom and she has quite the talent for photography herself. Which makes her almost as picky as me. Which makes finding a shot we both like nearly impossible. But here’s a few that made the cut.
You would have cracked up if you’d seen us pull off a very busy highway to shoot at this roadside junkyard.   But this is probably my favorite picture so it was totally worth it.
she laughs and calls this the glamour photo—but I insisted we keep it






In other news, our house is ready to begin. The demo was complete in three days and we’re just waiting for a spell of dry weather. It’s so exciting to dream about. I’m frantically looking at house stuff on the internet and in magazines. I’m still debating about hiring a little help.
One thing I’ve become a huge fan of is ONE KING’S LANE. Follow this link to join their mailing list and I will get a $25 credit if you ever make a purchase. Then you can invite your friends and you can get the same credit. I followed the link from my sweet friend the Nester sometime last year but I was slow to come around to it’s wonderfulness.   Now, I check their sales everyday and have made several purchases. They have great deals on furniture, rugs, bedding, etc.  I bought a few things from this line, like this sign and pillow.

Hope you are having a great week so far.  I’ve listened to this Issues podcast twice now and will certainly listen again.  Pastor Jared Melius is interviewed about the consequences of the fall into sin.  Very enlightening and fresh take on ‘the fall’—definitely worth a listen.  His wife, Jan, has a great blog called Just Imagine Heaven which I’ve recently discovered.  You’ll enjoy her recipes and her photography and you’ll admire her immensely for homeschooling 6 kids!

Blessed Lent,

love to you all,

edie