The Sleeping Willow

I sat here and stared at this screen for awhile… Not exactly sure where to start this blog post. I am extremely grateful for all of the positive response, sweet words, supportive emails, understanding to my newness at this whole experience, and for taking the time to share all of your beautiful creations with me.  The last few days have been a blur of staring at the computer screen, replying to emails, dealing with technical support, and just trying to answer as many questions as possible through out the whole day and even through the night.  I can tell you right now I might need a new coffee pot as I  have basically used it non stop for a constant energy boost for 4 days straight. 😉

When I created our Christmas cards.. I had no idea this would turn out the way it has… and I can’t even describe what this has done for our family.  Just know that this whole template made some wonderful things possible that we have prayed over for a long time, and you all made that happen for us.  I have been an emotional roller coaster through it all, and am just a mushy, happy mess. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

When we sat down after out Thanksgiving dinner last night it was near impossible to choose 1o favorites out of all of the amazingness posted to my page… so we narrowed them down to categories and chose from there… and we still ended up with way more than 10!  And I wish I could have posted 50! Loved every single one from all of you, from beginning to advanced!  They were so fun!

These winners will all be receiving my newest template (that hasn’t been released yet) for free… and they will be the first owners of it!! I will be contacting these winners either tonight or tomorrow via email with my newest template. Again, thank you all!!! (And feel free to keep posting images to my facebook page, I love seeing them, and will continue to reshare favorites from there!)
Our favorite Black and White Conversion goes to Melissa Becerra Photography – we love the musical version of this!

 

Our favorite family version goes to Aimee Grenier Photography – Great edit with the parents in the background!

Most complicated edit goes to Lilly Belle Rose Photography – I love how she put each child in the globe representing their favorite things.

Most Dreamy Edit goes to the very famous Meg Bitton Photography

Most Humorous goes to Capture Me Pretty Photography. – Love their smooshed faces against there! So clever!
Best Fairytale Version goes to Special Memories Photography. Best Toddler Version goes to Amanda Berube Photography – Happy Birthday little man! Best Thanksgiving Edition goes to Son Kissed Photograpy – Love love the background in hers! 

The Childrens Favorite goes to Mary Beth Flatau Photography – All of my kiddos and nieces loved this one!!

Most Touching goes to Shot from the Heart Photography – her own hero was home for Thanksgiving this year and she was extremely grateful for that, as am I. Most beautiful background change goes to Blue Earth Photography – I love what they did with theirs! So pretty! Excellent edit! Favorite Wedding Image goes to Cindy Scholtz Photography – Love the edit, the bride, and the balloons! Beautiful! Most beautiful Mother/Daughter Version goes to Oh So Posh Photography – Such a pretty Mama and little girl!! 

Most Beautiful Image all in all goes to Lori Waddell Photography – Gorgeous lady, outfit, edit, and background! 

Favorite Santa Image goes to Snips and Snails Photography – She did a great job at making this look SO real!! Best Newborn Image goes to Lauren Elizabeth Photography – {Bed from MY Mama at Woodsy Wonders Props!! }AH! I just realized this one never uploaded, sorry Sandra!! Favorite Child Image goes to Sandra Bianco Photography!! 

I recently read an article about finding traits you like and dislike about yourself, recognizing them, taking pride in the pro’s and finding a change in the con’s.  It doesn’t come naturally for everyone to just be able to define who they are…in fact, it is difficult for many to identify pieces of themselves, I am one of them.  So in my thought process I challenged myself to quickly say the first word that comes to mind when I think of myself… “mom”.  That is the single word that rang through my head. “Mom”.  It is all who I am, or ever want to be.  It is who God had known I would become before I did, even after going through such hardships. It is the best of who I am.  It is the most natural, unforced part of my whole being.  For me, it is easy.  There is so much of me that is flawed, so much that I am uncomfortable with, and can quickly find fault in… but I just hope that I make up for all of that in my “Momness” (<– yes, I made that word up).  I mean, don’t get me wrong… we have hard days… when one has a bad day, it seems all do.  So much of parenting seems to be in the “grey” area, even when you read every Parenting 101 book you can find. Where you just hold your breath and pray you make the right decision. You learn from it, you move on. I love my sweet girls, and am so beyond grateful to have my incredible “bonus” son in my life.  Each one of our children make up a piece of our puzzle, and I can’t imagine life any other way. 

Autumn was amongst us today… we all are a little foggy with the sniffles, and desperately needed out of the house. We took a walk around the farm in the crisp air and jumped in the crunchy leaves.  I think I needed out as much as the kiddos did.  We even discovered one of the chickens nests that we have been looking for over the last week or two. But nothing is better than coming back inside to a toasty warm fire, a frothy latte, and some fresh baked bread.  So glad my girls love this beautiful season as much as I do…

I just couldn’t imagine a prettier place than here on this Oregon mountain for Autumn.  I love all the yellows, oranges, and shades of green that are coming back from the Summers heat, it truly makes it easy to remember all the beauty God provides when its consistently surrounding you. Most of all, I love that my children will have so many wonderful memories of chasing chickens, running in the fields wet grass, and rolling through the crunchy, colorful leaves. We are so blessed to be able to live so close to my wonderful sister in law, and her family.  All of the animals here give us so much joy and entertainment. One of the mama pigs had a few babies yesterday, and we got to walk down and see them squealing and nursing.  Two more mama’s will be having their babies any day now, and I can’t wait to see how many they each have.

{It was getting pretty dark by the end of the day (thanks a lot daylight savings time) so I apologize for the grainy images} 😉

Well, I was nervous about getting any images of all three of them together… but with some pixie dust, whispering stories of fairies, and their imagination, I believe it was a success.  We had so much fun creating this fairy tale series, and I can not wait to give my each of my children their very own story book of all of these images combined.  This whole week has been a blur of chaos and franticness… but in the moments I walked outside with them… it was quiet… still… and they reminded me how wonderful it is to be a child again…

And as Sweet Pea said, “Mama… if you are quiet… and you believe… you will see them too.”