11X14   (SOLD)

“Life’s roughest storms prove the strength of our anchor”

$100

9X12  (SOLD)

“The Lord is my strength & my song.  Exodus 15:2″

$80

9X12  (SOLD)

“She believed she could so she did.”

  $80 //  REDUCED: $60

 9X12

“Do small things with great love”

$70 //  REDUCED: $50

9X12

“paper heart”

$60 // REDUCED: $40

8X8

“tell your story”

$50 // REDUCED: $30

10X10

“you are my sunshine”

$70 // REDUCED: $50

8X8 (SOLD)

“hope is the thing with feathers”

$60 // REDUCED: $40

5X7  (SOLD)

“choose joy”

$35

                          

Speaking of little glimmers of hope…yesterday one of the girls from Reading Club left these on my doorstep (she lives with her grandmother on our street).  They were there when we got home from church, and I cried when I saw them.  Despite the fact that she picked them from a neighbor’s yard (oops), they symbolize so much to me.  They were given in love by a little girl who wasn’t with her mom on Mother’s Day – whose story I don’t fully understand yet.  Those simple blooms remind me that what we’re doing here makes a difference & that something beautiful IS coming from our intentional living and loving in this neighborhood.  It was a sweet reminder and a promise for the hope of what’s to come.

Last week was teacher appreciation week, and I found myself wishing that we had lots and lots of money so I could buy each and every one of my kids’ teachers something really nice.  But alas, they have 13 teachers altogether, so I had to keep it really simple.  There’s no way I could ever adequately express my appreciation for all they do.  Yohannes made his teacher a sweet card, and the inside read “GOOD JOB!” with a huge smiley face – made me laugh!

Speaking of Yohannes, he asked me to take this picture at the school last week.  He says he wants to marry this classmate because she’s smart.  I like his priorities, but I’m not ready for my SIX-year-old to be talking about marriage yet!

A week ago today our friends, Justin & Jessica had their precious baby boy, Luke!  He’s so tiny, and I loved getting to meet him for the first time!  They’re going to be amazing parents, and I’m really happy for them!  Look at him sleeping with his mouth open…haha!

Another sweet baby entered our lives this week, too, and is already gone (sniff, sniff).  Baby M came to stay with our foster parent friends, Jared and Kaitlyn, for a few days.  I got to babysit her today while they were at work, and I might have shed a few tears when I found out that she would be leaving their home this afternoon.  We will continue to pray for her, though.  Check out her perfectly squeezable legs!

Saturday afternoon we had a bunch of people over to watch the Grizzlies play (beat) the Thunder!  Between Mercy Hill friends and neighbor friends, we probably had between 50 & 60 people at our house…so crazy and so fun at the same time!  We mostly hung out on the porch and in the yard because the weather was so nice (& we of course had a TV on the porch)!  There were so many kids…and babies!  And, of course, we played a little ball of our own, too.

I enjoyed hanging out with my boys yesterday for Mother’s Day.  The weather was great again (yay!!!) so we were able to spend some time outside.  I kind of feel like Jamie about Mother’s Day, and it’s always bittersweet because of Yohannes’s story – but I’m so grateful to be their mom!  They’re crazy & we have fun together!

That’s a little bit about what’s been going on around here lately – lots of good stuff!  Thanks for reading along, and I hope you have a JOY-filled week!

                          

Saturday night we celebrated my awesome friend, Kaitlyn’s birthday. Here she is with her husband, Jared.

We walked to Cafe Eclectic with them and a bunch of friends to eat dinner, and then we had Muddy’s cupcakes at their house afterward.  What’s a birthday without some Muddy’s?!?!

To make the night even more special, our friends Matt & Peter serenaded us with a lovely medley of songs…

Today we did our normal Sunday afternoon basketball at the house with some guys from the neighborhood.  I must say that this basketball thing excites me SO much!  I look forward to Sundays every week because we get to hang out with these guys!

On a slightly different note, I saved a baby bird’s life today.  Our one lone little baby cardinal fell out of his nest, and I found him and put him back in it.  His mama came back to take care of him, and I so hope he makes it!  We definitely bonded, and if I wasn’t the crazy bird lady before, I surely am now!

And even though it seems like the weekend couldn’t possibly get better, it did!  Straight from playing basketball, we headed a block up the street to Little Flower Catholic Church’s backyard for a Mercy Hill Church baptism and BBQ…..and our oldest son, Riley, was baptized!  I could write a whole other blog post about it, but for now I’ll just say that we are so proud of him and his decision to love and follow Jesus!  Our friends, Whitney and Laurie were baptized as well, and I’m grateful for their willingness to share their stories with us today.

We were originally supposed to do the baptism/BBQ downtown by the river like last year, but it crested so we couldn’t.  Thankfully St. Therese Little Flower graciously allowed us to use their backyard, and Christ City Church let us borrow their “trough” for baptism!  I’m thankful for the partnership we have with other churches in our community!  It was a beautiful afternoon and evening, and I’ve never been more grateful for this journey we’re on, this neighborhood we’ve been brought to, and the amazing people that we get to do it all with at Mercy Hill!

Whew!  And now it’s time to head to bed with a smile on my face and a very happy, content, joyful heart!  I hope you all have a JOY-filled week!  Thanks for reading and following along!

                          

This has become my favorite post run breakfast…an everything bagel with a little cream cheese – so good!

The weather last weekend was BEAUTIFUL!  I sat out in the sun watching the boys and some neighbor friends play basketball.  It was perfect – except for the fact that I got sunburned!

Speaking of basketball, we do a lot of that these days!  We move our goal to the end of the driveway, and kids just start showing up….sometimes even the big “kids” come out to play!

This is totally random, but did you know that we had a pet squirrel when I was little?  His name was Squeakers.  Check out my hair, paisley shirt and “Born to Shop” button, too!  Way cool.

I just started reading this book today about public education, and I painted my nails this color (mint apple) with this on top!

We took the boys to Sonic for all day (tax day) Happy Hour Monday after school.  It was crazy – so many people there!  We got cherry limeades and they all wanted tots….our very own little Napoleon Dynamites!

Yohannes acted really tired and didn’t want to eat breakfast this morning, and I just wrote it off as him being sleepy.  When I picked him up at school today I could tell he didn’t feel well, and when we got home his temperature was 103.2°.  I asked him if anything hurt or if he felt sick, and he kept saying no.  I just tucked him in for the night, though, and he felt pretty lousy.  He hasn’t been sick much at all since he joined our family, and I hate seeing him feeling so badly.  I hope whatever he has is short-lived.

We’re in the fifth week of the reading club we started, and it’s going well!  It’s a lot of work, and Tuesday and Thursday afternoons are really busy – BUT I’m so glad we’re doing it.  I love these kids and dream big dreams for them!  Here are a few of the club members…

If you follow me on Instagram (I’m katie_joy5) or Facebook, you’ve seen that we have two robins’ nests in our yard and today I also discovered a cardinal’s nest!  Here are some pictures I’ve taken over the past week or so of one set of baby robins…

And here are the cardinal eggs.  I don’t know if the mama bird will lay another one or two, but I read that they usually lay 3-4 eggs at a time.  This nest is right in our front yard by the porch, so you know I’ll be keeping an eye on it…haha (Brad calls me the “crazy bird lady”)!

And I’ll be trying to keep this guy away from all these baby birds!

Happy Wednesday!  I hope you all have a great rest of the week!  Until next time….

                          

Before the party began, Brad, the boys & daddy decided to “christen” the new pool, and it was a little chilly!  We hadn’t brought swimsuits, so we had to improvise a little.  First jump!

The boys had fun with their cousin, Olivia.  She’s so tall…growing up way too fast!

Cake time!  He had a “beach” cake because we go to the beach with them for a week every summer.  This summer will be our 13th year to go, and it’s always my favorite week of the year!

And this is how the day ended…with a beautiful sunset…just perfect!  I’m so thankful for my Daddy and for such a perfect day celebrating him with some of the people who love him most!

                          

This is the only family picture we got & I cut part of Brad’s head off.  You have no idea how much trouble it was to just get this one…I wasn’t about to try again.  At least Brad got a good shot of me and the boys!

But…here’s what it looked like trying to get that picture…

And here was our home away from home for a couple of days…so nice and relaxing!  Thank you SO much to the Dixon family for allowing us to stay at your lake house!  It was perfect, and it gave us some much needed time away as a family!

We drove the two hours back to Memphis Friday morning, and that afternoon Daddy & Joan came to visit for the weekend!  We had a great time with them – just hanging out and eating some good food (of course)!  We took them to Cozy Corner for wings and barbecue.  If you live in Memphis and haven’t been there, shame on you.  Go ASAP and get the wings!  SO good!  We live near downtown Memphis, and when I want to do a six mile run, I run to the Mississippi River downtown and back home (we’re 3 miles from the river).  When I take that route, I run past Cozy Corner at about mile 2 & then again at mile 4).  One day I’m just going to run on in there, sit down, eat and then have to hobble back home because I’m so full!  Anyway, I digress.  You really should go.

Here are some pictures I took with my phone.  You can look at these faces and see how good it is!

We also played some street ball with Grandma and Grandaddy.  They got skillz.

And apparently Brad does, too.

Then we went downtown by the river to play for a bit.  It was really windy, though, so our time there was short and sweet.

It was a good Spring Break, and now I’m ready for Summer!  I keep seeing people’s beach pictures on Facebook, and I want to be there!  It’s chilly & rainy here today, and I just counted that we have 85 days until our beach trip.  Eighty-five days.  But it will be worth the wait!

Happy Easter, friends!  I hope you have a JOY-filled weekend!

                          

We even got to walk part of the way on the Greenline, and it was a beautiful afternoon!  After weeks and weeks of planning, it was fun (and kind of surreal) to be walking through the neighborhood with all these kids!

My friend and fellow reading club co-conspirator, Kelly, made this giant cookie for the kids’ snack, and they loved it!  Thank you, Kelly!

We are working with the school’s nine week grading period, and for the first part of this nine weeks we’ll be focusing on inference.  The kids did a hands on project to introduce the idea.

Tessa did some basic reading level testing.

The first day was a huge success, and we had 10 students!  When 4:00 came they were disappointed that it was already time to go, and one student asked if we could do it everyday….haha!

. . . . . .

Yesterday my friend Robin and I walked with the kids again from the school, and we had 11 kids in attendance (plus my 3 boys who are along for the ride).  We watched this short film and continued talking about inference.  It was a great tool because there are no words, and you must use inference!

We divided into three groups and did 10 minute centers as well.  All in all, I think our first week went very well!

Thanks to everyone who played a part – big or small.  I could NEVER, EVER pull this off without a LOT of help, and I’m thankful for friends to partner with in this endeavor!  A special thanks to our planning team: Kate, Tessa, Robin, Heather, Kaitlyn, Kelly, and Lee!  Also, thanks to everyone who has contributed financially or prayed about this ministry.

Ten things I learned this week:
(1) This takes a LOT of time and energy.  I’m exhausted, and it turned into (at least) a part-time job this week.
(2) Centers (small groups) work better than large group instructional time.  We have to keep it creative and engaging with lots of dialogue.
(3) There are TONS of great resources online.  I found whole Pinterest boards dedicated completely to inference.  I would never have an “Inference” Pinterest board, but apparently some people do & that’s cool!
(4) It is scary crossing Jackson Avenue with 12 children! There are no walk/do not walk signs, and it’s a busy, busy street! However, kids in our neighborhood walk all over the place by themselves all the time and don’t think anything about it, so it’s all about what you’re used to.
(5) You never outgrow thinking that cheeseballs are a fun snack (they’re still fun when you’re 34).
(6) When you let kids use your cell phone to call someone to come pick them up, you might get random calls from people you don’t know later.
(7) Teachers LOVE it when you want to partner with them to help their students. It’s like you become instant friends.
(8) All kids are “smart.”  They all have a lot of potential, and “smart” is relative.  Sometimes they just need someone to help them realize the potential they already have.
(9) Sometimes you just need to play a little Lecrae to break the ice.
(10) No matter how much work it is or how tired you are, it’s worth it at the end of the day to take a risk and kick a door down!

                          

I have some exciting news I want to share with you here today.  I mentioned being impacted recently by the book Love Does.  As I read the book, I felt empowered and challenged to dream BIG and to take a step of faith to begin something new in our neighborhood.  In the book, Bob says, “I used to think God guided us by opening and closing doors, but now I know sometimes God wants us to kick some doors down.”  That phrase really caught my attention because my tendency has been to sit around and wait to see what doors open and close.  As I read that chapter, I began to feel like there was some door that needed to be kicked down….something God was putting on my heart to do.  I just wasn’t sure exactly what it was.  At the very end of the book, Bob encouraged his readers to choose something that already “lights you up….something you already think is beautiful or lasting and meaningful…pick something you aren’t just able to do; instead, pick something you feel like you were made to do and then do lots of that.”

We regularly have a couple of kids from the neighborhood at our house before and/or after school.  I had already noticed that many kids in our neighborhood struggle to keep up in school.  There are so many reasons why – but that’s another blog post altogether.  I had already been thinking that it would be great (in the future) to start a tutoring program, and I’ve grown to truly love these kids.  It just made sense to me to go ahead and knock that door down and start it NOW.

Fast forward a couple of months, and some friends from church and I have been meeting for several weeks now, and the club will begin in TWO WEEKS!  We’ve tailored the tutoring program I had in mind to be a reading club because reading is so foundational to learning.  I’m not a teacher and have no idea how to best teach remedial reading, but God is good, and he has brought very talented people to our community and to Mercy Hill.  Our group includes a current 4th grade teacher, an occupational therapist who has a lot of experience working with kids, a reading specialist, a special education teacher, and a couple of other moms like myself who have a desire to love on some kids and be involved in their lives.  I couldn’t have put together a better team if I’d tried!  We’ve partnered with 4th and 5th grade reading teachers at Snowden School (in our neighborhood & where my boys go to school), and they’ve identified 15 students who could use some extra help with reading.  The teachers are really excited about this, and they’ve been so encouraging and helpful!

I’m letting you know about this new venture because we could use your help if this is something that gets you excited, too!  We need to purchase supplies to begin…things like glue, markers, books, notebooks and snacks.  Mercy Hill church is working together to purchase some of the supplies, and I wanted to give you the opportunity to partner with us.  If you’d like to contribute, you can mail a check payable to Mercy Hill Church to P.O. Box 41463,  Memphis, TN 38174-1463.  Write “reading club” in the memo line, and 100% of your donation will be invested in the kids involved.  I’ll be posting updates here along the way, so you can follow along!  Here’s a little video I put together last week…

Thanks for reading!  I hope you have a JOY-filled week!

. . . . . . . . . .

{If you’ve been reading along here very long, you know that our family relocated to Midtown Memphis in the summer of 2011 to start Mercy Hill Church.  He directed our hearts to the Vollintine Evergreen neighborhood, and we have truly grown to love the people here.  There’s an eclectic mix of residents here, and there are many families that live in poverty all around us.  I blogged a little bit about that HERE a few months ago.  As a church we strive to live intentionally as we interact with friends and neighbors in the community.  We want to live on mission every day and to be a blessing to our community.  Most of the church has moved into the neighborhood, and we are so blessed to partner together to love well.  The reading club is one of many ways we’re investing in this community.  It’s an adventure, sometimes it’s hard, but it’s so worthwhile and purposeful!  If you ever want to know more, just ask…I could talk for days…ha!ha!).

                          

For a couple of years, it was just him and me during the day at home.  We learned together, and I often called him our little baby “guinea pig” because we didn’t know what we were doing!  Twelve years later and he’s almost as tall as me…and we haven’t broken him yet, so I’d say we’re doing alright!

Today we invited his friend, Nati, to celebrate with us.  We had pizza (what’s a kid’s birthday party without pizza, right?!), and played at Incredible Pizza.  I’m going to admit that Incredible Pizza almost made me lose my mind, but Riley had fun so it was worth it.  (BTW, Nati’s not really cross-eyed…just for crazy mom pictures).

Riley is turning into a young man right before my eyes, and I don’t even feel old enough to have a kid his age.  He’s a really great kid, and I’m so proud to be his mom.  He’s as quirky as they come, and I love that about him (when it’s not driving me up the wall).  He’s learning to play the trumpet, and I’m proud of him for taking the initiative to even practice on his own.  I love to hear him play and walk around the house humming the songs they’re working on.  He also drums on everything….tables, doors, windows, the floor, books, the stove…you name it.  I think there might be some drumming in his future.  He’s super imaginative and creative and loves to act things out – especially action movies.  School is so hard for him, but he tries so hard and is diligent about his work.  He’s a good friend, and I can tell the kids at school like him a lot.  He’s the only white boy in his class at school, and I love that it doesn’t phase him.  He really doesn’t care.  Last week he stayed a few minutes after school and helped his 7th period substitute teacher clean up because some of the kids had been mean to her and left the classroom in a big mess.  That made this mama proud!  Just yesterday his reading teacher called to say that he’s making great progress in her class, and she loves having him as a student.  My prayer for Riley is that he’ll always have a tender, caring heart for others…especially those who are hurting and in need.  I pray that he continues to grow in his love for God and his desire to follow Him.  God’s given him a unique personality and interests, and I can’t wait to see what He does with Riley’s life!

Tonight we watched a movie together and ate homemade chocolate chip birthday cookies.  It was fun, and I’m thankful that he still wants to spend a Saturday night hanging out with his mom!  I know that won’t always be the case, so I just soaked it up tonight.  Happy Birthday, Riley!  I love you just the way you are and am so glad to be your mom!

                          

Since it’s the day of LOVE, I wanted to share about a great book I recently read called LOVE DOES by Bob Goff.  Here Bob is talking about the idea behind the book…

I enjoyed this book so much, and it’s made a big impact on my life.  It’s challenged me to DREAM BIG and BE CREATIVE in the way I show love to the people in my life.

As a result of reading Love Does (and already being aware of the need in our neighborhood), some friends and I are starting a reading club for fifteen 4th – 6th grade kids who have little to no educational encouragement at home and are not reading at grade level.  Many of them are failing school because they simply can’t read.  Our goal is to love them by teaching them to be better readers.  This will help them be successful in school and in life in general, and we get to build friendships with them along the way.  It seems like a small thing, but it’s actually really huge!  We have big dreams for these kids, and we’re excited to see how our relationships with them develop.  I really started dreaming about the reading club when I read this quote in Bob’s book:

“I used to think God guided us by opening and closing doors, but now I know sometimes God wants us to kick some doors down.”

I had thought about starting some kind of tutoring program in the neighborhood for several months, and when I read that quote, I knew I just needed to kick this door down.  I already knew what needed to be done.  I just needed to get busy making it happen….and it is (with the help of some teacher friends who know A LOT more about how to do this than me)!

I enjoyed the book so much that I’ve purchased an extra copy and want to give it away to one of you.  Leave a comment here and tell me how you’ve loved someone recently.  What did you do to SHOW them love?  It can be something big you did or something really simple….both are great!  Tomorrow morning I’ll draw a name and we’ll see who wins the book.

Ready. Set. Go!