Mini Forest Tree Quilt

It's been a loooooong time since I've been on here! But I wanted to hop on and share a quilt that I made that I've been getting lots of questions about on Instagram. That's where you can find me these days (@naturallymeg) but it would be easier to explain the details of this quilt over here.

I love how my Holiday Patchwork Forest quilt turned out! I really wanted it to look like pine trees in a snowy forest, so that is why all the trees are green and the white background. I used this tutorial for the tree blocks from Diary of a Quilter.

I cut my trees down to 3.5" x 5" so they ended up being pretty small blocks. I tried to make the trees as uniform as I could, but that was tricky since it is kind of a free style pattern. And yes, I wasted half of the fabric. The way that the pattern works you would end up with white trees and a green background too, but I just wanted the green trees. The thrifty girl in me died a little by throwing the other block pieces out, but I think it was worth it to get all green trees with a white background.

I picked about 12 different fabrics to make the trees. I think it was key to have a couple solid greens in there too, so there is a solid dark green and a solid lighter green that I had on every row. The rest of the fabrics were mostly dots and stripes that I had stashed away from other projects. For the white I used kona white solid fabric.

I ended up with 107 tree blocks and 75 blank white squares that I randomly placed so that it had a more foresty look. 182 blocks total with 14 blocks across and 13 rows going down. This still ended up being smaller than I wanted for a lap quilt  (48x58 was the finished size with just the trees) so I added a 6 1/2" white border on all sides of it. It ended up being the perfect size to cuddle on the couch with my kids during the winter, just like I envisioned!

I machine quilted it with a matchstick quilting pattern. I just sewed in the ditch straight down and then measured 1 1/2" over which was down the center of the trees starting in the middle of the quilt and going to the end. Once that was done I went back and sewed another line in the middle of those two seams to finish it off. Then I flipped the quilt and did the other side. I hope this makes sense. If not then check out this great tutorial on straight line quilting by Suzy Quilts.

I picked a super soft minky fabric for the back and a striped binding. I'm so happy with how it turned out!

Meg's Maternity Pictures...

It's been a long, long time since I've written here.... I think last 4th of July my cousin said, "I really like that mermaid tail that you made, but really, time to update your blog." So here we are a year later. No promise that this will become a regular thing. I guess we'll see.

 

A lot happens in a year and a half. We are doing great. Still running around after my two awesome boys, still making projects every chance that I can. My current project has been growing another baby though. I'm currently counting down the unknown days until we get to meet this new little guy. Being pregnant with him has been such a blessing. So different than anything I have ever encountered in pregnancy. Basically, everything is going fine! Which has been awesome!

 

I wanted to capture this time that I get to grow another human in my body. I don't know if I will ever get this chance again, so it needed to be documented. I like doing the Hypnobabies Childbirth Hypnosis course to prepare for my births. When you go into your hypnotic state they have you go to your safe, special place where you can mentally relax. My place is always up in the mountains among the big trees, wearing a white cotton nightgown. So that is where I had my dear friend take some pictures of me in all my pregnancy glory.

 

So here I am, back at the blog... cause I needed a place to share these at. 

We took these in May... and that river was super cold! This is my, 'You want me to do what in that river" face.

 We hit winter and spring up in the mountains because of the time of year we went. So I have my Ice Queen pictures and my Spring pictures.

Thank you so much Corinne for doing this for me!!! I was so hesitant because I feel enormous, but I'm so glad that I did. Pregnancy is something that is so amazing, and I'm honored to be going through this again.

Knit mermaid tail...

My dear friend had a baby girl this summer. She lives by the beach is sort of a mermaid herself ;). So it was only fitting that this new baby have a mermaid tail too. I used this pattern and really loved how it turned out.

This is by far one of the largest items that I've knitted before. Hopefully I get the chance to make another one like this someday, it was really fun.

And here is the sweet little mermaid herself, modeling her new tail!

Triangle quilt...

I finished the triangle quilt for our living room a few months ago and am finally getting around to documenting it here. We snapped some family pictures this fall so I brought the quilt along with us to take a few pictures outside.

My goal was to keep it simple and use the colors that I want in my living room in the quilt. I went for brown, teal, green, and white. Honestly... I love it, but it's a bit busy for me. I think I used too many different patterned fabrics and not enough solid colors. Oh well, it's a quilt! I'm sure it will be one of many around here someday. I used a mossy green flannel on the back so that it would be nice and soft. It's been getting a lot of use around here already.

Changes and answered prayers...

A miracle happened for me this week. That miracle is that I finally found my camera! What makes it a miracle to me is that I prayed and prayed that I could find it, and then I felt really silly for praying for such a worldly thing. But my prayers were answered, and not only did I find my current camera (which had fallen under my cedar chest in my room) but I also found the camera that I lost 2 1/2 YEARS AGO at our family Christmas party! We had just moved into my in laws from Vegas and I had set my camera on the back of the couch during the party, and then it was gone. Nobody saw it, I looked all through the couch cushions and underneath the couch multiple times. It was simply gone! I tried not to think that maybe someone in my husband's family had taken it, or accidentally put it in their diaper bag, but I'd be lying if I said that my mind didn't go there.

We went out to my in laws last week and not having learned my lesson before I put my phone on the back of their couch. Then it disappeared. So we looked for a while and turned the couch upside down and I actually cut the bottom fabric of the couch to see what was inside. Low and behold... my phone AND my old camera (and many other things this couch had swallowed)! Seriously people! I'm never setting anything but my bum on that couch again!

The thing that I'm most relieved about with finding my camera were these pictures of Baby Gray that I had on there. I've snapped a picture of him every month of his little life and the last four months were still on that camera. Pictures that I could never recreate or do again. So as soon as I found it I took his finally birthday picture and got my little collage put together. I love seeing how this boy has grown.

He took his first long string of steps yesterday. His second tooth just popped through his gums and he's starting to shake his head no and yes.

Receiving an answer to this prayer has been interesting to me. Sometimes I forget that God cares about me, thinks about me, that this little life I lead he might actually care about and have an interest in my success. Maybe if he knows about my great desire to find a camera and chooses to help me with that, he also knows of the other great desires I have that are locked away in my heart. He knows my shortcomings, limitations, and the things that I would desperately like to change in my life but don't even have a clue where to start or how to ask. Maybe... it's time for me to have the courage to pray yet again for the big things, and not just for the small.

How funny it is that we tend to forget things like this. Gray is my result of thousands of prayers that God chose to answer for me. He is my daily reminder of hope and love in this world. I'm grateful for the blessing he is in my life.

Woodland mobile...

*** So I've lost my camera. I have no clue where it is. I know that it made it here from the move because I took Baby G's 11 month pictures with it here, but now it is gone and I wish I could figure out where I put it! But I really wanted to share the latest project that I've finished, so please excuse the phone pictures that I have. 

Baby G finally has his own room! I've been having fun making plans to decorate his new space. I want to do a woodland animal theme and started on a mobile for it back in the beginning of the year. I put it away for a while but pulled it out again when we moved to finish it up and get it hanging above his bed.

I used wool felt and pretty much fell in love with it. That stuff is so dreamy to sew with! I just worked on one animal at a time until I had enough to hang it up.

I found an old branch in the yard here and tied all the animals to it with some fishing string. 

 I think this colorful fish is my favorite...

I used four eye hooks screwed into the ceiling to suspend the branches. This little moose guy wasn't pictured above, he was the last one I did before hanging it up.

I'm super happy with how it turned out! I think that Gray likes it too. These pictures just don't do it justice... darn it! I'm happy to have something up in his room for him now.

Summer happenings...

A lot has happened since the last time I was on here. We've had a full and beautiful summer so far. In the last few months we...

moved away from the Pioneer House. It was so hard to leave that place. We really did need to leave, we were packed like sardines in that tiny home. Our land lords sold the home in April and the new owner let us stay a few more months so Blue could finish out the school year and we could find another place to live. We had been waiting to move into a home up in Perry, Utah, but things fell through and we were scrambling to find another place. Anyway, long story short... we found a great home that is more than twice the size of the Pioneer house and on half an acre. We have room to do a big garden here and our chickens have a nice run and barn to live in (seriously... a barn!). We are still trying to get settled in here, but it's starting to feel more like home.

We've been on some really fun vacations! We went to California and Disneyland in May and Steamboat Springs, Colorado, in July. The kids were amazing on both drives in the car.... sleeping in the hotel was a different story though. Yikes! We had a great time in both places though!

And dear Baby Gray turned one this last week! I can hardly believe that he is one! This year has flown by. The other day I was thinking about how the first year of both Blue and Gray's lives have been then best years of my life. Some of the hardest days for sure, but so full of love and hope for these sweet boys. I'm so grateful to be their mom!

Anyway, now that life looks like it's starting to calm down more I hope that I'm able to find some time to write. I really miss it! Hope you are all having a wonderful summer.

National Lump Day...

I'm breaking my blogging silence today for something that I feel is very important. It is actually 3:00 AM (or was when I started this) and my boys will be awake in a few short hours and I am going to be zombie mom.... because I can't sleep with these thoughts flying through my head. What is so important that I am losing precious sleep over???

It's National Lump Day today. 

Yes... I just made that up (I did google it first to see if it already existed).

July 31st is forever marked in my life as the day that I discovered the lump in my neck that was cancerous.

It's been five years since I discovered this strange lump on my body. I was sitting in this very seat in my car driving through the middle of Overton, Nevada, when I discovered it. The lump was right wear my hand rests in this picture, just peeking over my collar bone. I knew from the moment I found this lump that I had to find out exactly what it was before I could move on with my life, and I am so grateful that I did. I've learned a lot about lumps since that day. I would like to say that no I am not a doctor, I have no medical merits to my name that are worth a bean... but I have some life experience under my belt that I would like to share with you today about you guessed it.

Lumps.

Who came up with the word lump anyway? The word lump itself is super awkward don't you think? Well, I'm about to get all sorts of awkward here so hold on tight while I talk all about lumps, m'kay.

As girls (or anyone with nipples for that matter) we've heard to check our lady lumps (see what I did there) for any abnormal lumps, dimples, etc. often. Monthly! Do your self breast exams! They are so important! But boobs are not the only places that cancerous (or non cancerous) lumps can form. I would say that any time you discover a lump ANYWHERE on your body where there didn't used to be one before should be checked out by a health professional. But especially places that your lymph system is.

The most common places to find enlarged lymph nodes are anywhere along your neck, from behind your ears, your jaw line, front and back of your neck, to that little space above your collar bone. Lymph nodes are also in your arm pits and crotch/groinal region (groin... and crotch... other awkward words. You're welcome). So sometime in the next 24 hours go take a nice warm shower and lather up! Check all these places out for abnormal lumps. Don't forget the front of your neck where your thyroid lives and check for any nodules on either side of your thyroid. Not sure where your thyroid is? Touch the front of your throat and swallow. Go ahead and do your monthly breast exam while you're at it (it is the last day of the month after all... time to get that in).

**One more word on lymph nodes. It is normal for lymph nodes to become enlarged when you have been sick. That means they are doing their job. But once you are better, they are supposed to shrink back down to their normal size. If you have an enlarged lymph node and you have not been sick recently, that is concerning and should be checked out.

Here are a few myths about lumps...

If it doesn't hurt then it's probably nothing. Cancer is supposed to be painful.

Nope. Wrong. Actually, from what I have heard and experienced... the early stages of cancer are not painful (depending on the type of course). The lump I found in my neck didn't hurt at all, whatsoever. I would say that a lump that does not hurt would raise more of a red flag to me than a lump that did hurt.

Tumors are supposed to be hard like a rock.

Wrong again. I'm sure that many tumors are hard masses that feel like rocks (or grains of rice... peas) but the enlarged lymph node I found was not hard at all. It felt like a large grape under my skin. It was movable, I could slide it around even. It was not hard like a rock.

Chances are it's not cancerous.

Chances are it may not be. But you wont/can't know that unless you get it checked out. I've had several dear friends and family members (including my own husband) discover lumps on their bodies in the past five years since I found the one in mine. None of them ended up having cancer. NONE! Thank goodness!!!! I was the unlucky lumpy one so far. But you absolutely can't know that unless you have the cells inside of your lump biopsied and studied under a microscope. *** So just after I posted this I remembered that I do have a relative that has undergone treatment for thyroid cancer in the last few years. But to be honest I don't know if they discovered this from a lump or not, we never talked about it.... anyway, check yourself!

My own personal experience with this one. I saw a family practice doctor three days after I discovered my lump who felt it and said, "Ya, I would lose any sleep over that. It's probably just a cyst." and sent me on my way. Had I gone with his "opinion" who knows how long my cancer would have grown before I would have had it checked again. Thankfully my gut told me otherwise and I sought a second opinion. I was told by the nurse practitioner who helped me that the only way to find out what this lump was, was to get a CT scan and a biopsy. Your body is YOUR responsibility. Doctors are very skilled and trained humans, but they are just that... human. Sometimes they make mistakes and it's up to you to be an advocate for your own health.


I sincerely hope that none of you find lumps on National Lump Day. But... I sincerely also hope that you will check. Give yourself a pat down, breath a sigh of relief that there was nothing out of the ordinary, and go have a stellar day!

Unless of course you do find something. And then go find a health professional to do the rest of the work. Now before you drive yourself over to the Mayo Clinic and start checking out wigs... who is the best type of health professional to have a lump checked out by? Well... it depends. I would recommend a family practice doctor or your own personal physician. Your best friend, partner, mother, local pharmacist, or neighbor that's a nurse can not tell you if your lump is something cancerous or not. If you don't have a doctor, find one that will get you in. What if you don't have insurance? This is a tricky one that I don't have great advice for... other than it's still important!! And doctors/ natural health practitioners will still see you if you don't have insurance. I had a friend recently who was in this predicament... and I am so proud of her for taking her lump seriously and finding a way to get it checked out. I'm sure it was a financial and emotional burden to her, but now she knows and she doesn't have the fear of the unknown anymore and she put her health first.

What about going to the ER? My advice on this one is that the ER might not be the best place to go unless you are actually having a serious medical emergency. When I worked in the ER as a physician's scribe there were lots and lots of people who would come in because they found a lump somewhere. Most of the time the doctor would say, "Yep... you have a lump. Here is the name and number of a doctor that you can follow up with to have that checked out." I'm serious. Why would they do that? Because chances are there is someone in the next curtain over who is having a heart attack or was just chewed on by a dog that needs immediate medical attention. There was only one situation when I worked in the ER where a patient came in with a lump and the abnormal cells showed up on a CT scan and they were diagnosed and admitted. Now of course if the ER is your only option then by all means go ahead and go! Or if you are having other symptoms besides a lump (extreme pain, shortness of breath, etc, etc), but just be prepared that you may walk out the door without having your questions answered and a referral to somewhere else.

Maybe you don't want to know if your lump is cancerous or not.

Ignorance is bliss.... for a short amount of time in this case. Cancer doesn't go away if you ignore it. It absolutely will not. The month I spent trying to get my lump diagnosed was one of the most stressful and fear filled times of my life. But knowledge is so powerful! Once you know what is going on with your body you can make a plan to deal with it. Knowledge is power! Even though my answer was that I had Hodgkin lymphoma, I felt so much peace. I felt peace in knowing that there were ways we could take care of it and we made a plan. And I am here five years later to say that it was so worth it.

Why is this so important? Because you are important!

 YOU ARE IMPORTANT!!! And early detection of any type of cancer gives you the best odds of beating it. Don't sit around and wait to see what happens. Do that under a doctor's supervision if you have done the other diagnostic tests already and they have come back negative.

Knowing I would be writing this post I did a little lump hunting myself this morning... being National Lump Day and all. You know that feeling when you are on a roller coaster and it's climbing a huge hill, about to plummet you down to the earth and whip you around till your head spins? That feeling of your gut dropping to your feet during the ride is how it feels to me to look for lumps. I dread it. I get all nervous and sweaty... because I know what it's like to find a lump. But I do it anyway. I also pay a very skilled oncologist to go lump hunting on my body twice a year to check for any recurrent lumps. Thankfully there have not been any, but it still humbles me every time with the possibility that there could be one somewhere. I know it's hard to do, but this is as much a part of taking care of your body as adequate sleep, exercise, and healthy eating is.

Thank you everyone who took a few minutes to read this today. My whole point in sharing this is to just bring awareness to our bodies. Life is busy and checking your body for lumps might be the farthest thing from your mind. But DO IT! Today. Do it because you are important and people love you and want to keep you around. Please feel free to share this with anyone you feel it might benefit.

Virtual Book Tour for The Gift of Giving Life...

This guest post today is a stop on the Virtual Book Tour for The Gift of Giving Life and I'm honored to be a part of it!

I wrote a review of this book here over the summer when I first read it. I love recommending this book to my friends and family members who are having babies and I love hearing the different insights that they gain from it.

I've been thinking the last little while about what it really is that makes me love this book so much. And there is a line from the hymn As Sister's in Zion that keeps coming back to me...

The errand of angels is given to women.

In my experience of having babies, losing babies, bed rest, infertility, and postpartum recovery I have been so very, very blessed by many angels. Sometimes it's been friends who are near and dear to me and other times it's been women who have come out of the woodwork and been absolute miracles in my life. There have also been some very sacred times where it has been women spirits who I can not see but I have felt their calming influence as I've gone on my own journey of womanhood and motherhood.

When I had my first son I had just moved to Las Vegas and really did not have any friends or family around. I remember being completely unprepared for childbirth and feeling incredibly alone. To demonstrate how unprepared I was I remember driving to the hospital because I was going to be induced (sure why not!) and thinking, "Well, I'm not sure how this is really going to go down but somehow I will leave with a baby in my arms." And I did leave with a baby in my arms after having a C-section, which had never even crossed my mind as a possibility. No one in my family had ever had a C-section so why would I? Little did I know then that a C-section has less to do with family history and more to do with the interventions that happened during my labor. (Just for the record...I'm not sharing these thoughts because I think C-sections are bad, they definitely have their place! But this was my reaction and feelings to having one for my first birth experience). I remember going into recovery and calling my sister on the phone and just sobbing to her about how upset I was that this had happened. My sweet sister sobbed with me. I will never forget that moment, and that she had empathized with me and helped me shoulder that sadness in my first few moments as a mother.

 I stayed in the hospital for four days without a single visitor other than my husband. I felt very, very alone. On the final day of my stay my one friend in town came by to see my baby. I was so grateful for her being there! I was grateful to have another female to be with me. Another mom who was there for support. She was an angel to me that day.

Not only had I not really mentally prepared for child birth as I should have, I didn't really spiritually prepare either. I had an easy pregnancy and possibly felt like I didn't really need to call on my Father in Heaven so much to prepare for this role in life because things were humming along so well. Isn't it interesting how sometimes it's when things are harder in life that we really turn to the Lord, but when things are pretty easy we feel a little more independent from our Father?

The birth of my second son was very different. I had problems from the very beginning. I had a wild and crazy one year old boy running a muck in the house while I was on bed rest for four months. Prayer was a constant for me. Petitions that this boy would be okay, that I would be able to carry him to term and things would work out. Women that I did not know started trickling into my life. Meals, offering to take my son for an afternoon... I almost didn't know how to react because I had been so independent in doing it all by myself for so long. Unfortunately at 21 weeks my water broke and my body could no longer support this pregnancy or this tiny boy. We went to the hospital and labor started soon after. It was only myself and my husband who were in the room when this little boy was born. The hospital staff was off preparing for a C-section (since I had one already...) when he made his entrance into this world. But as I laid on the bed and saw our one pound baby boy I realized that the room was filled. I could feel that my bed was surrounded by female spirits. I think back to that moment as one of the most sacred moments in my life. That at one of the darkest hours in my existence, one where I would birth my son alive and then watch him die... that I would not be alone. I am so grateful for those women. I'm not sure who they are (though I have a few guesses) but I look forward to the day that I can give them a hug and say thank you for being there for me. I'm grateful that I was able to feel the errand of those heavenly angels.

Eight months ago I was able to give birth to a third son. This boy comes after four years of sadness, heartache, illness, and road block after road block of trying to grow our family. He is my sweet rainbow baby and I am so grateful for him. I had longed for another baby for so long and many times I felt like this longing would never be fulfilled. I spent the entire time of my pregnancy preparing for his coming. I did all that I could do to prepare for a VBAC. I prepared by finding a health care provider whom I trusted and believed would help me on this journey. I prepared each day with my hypno-babies sound tracks. I prepared by reading The Gift of Giving Life, and for the first time tried to really encompass and understand just how spiritual a birth could be. That I was being blessed with an amazing gift, to be a woman and to be a mother, and I did not want to take this for granted in any way. I prepared by gathering my tribe of women around me who knew what I had been through and would take this journey with me and help give me strength. I was so very blessed to have found a few amazing women who have become some of my closest friends. I believe that Heavenly Father placed these women in my life because he knew that they would be the angels that would rejoice with me in this great miracle.

One of these angels was my dear friend Rachelle (who is Robyn's sister, one of the co-authors of The Gift of Giving Life). She was able to be my doula for this birth. Another was my friend Sacha who is one of the most joyful people I have ever met. These two ladies wanted to give me a mother's blessingway to prepare for the birth. I wasn't really sure about it (I had never been to one before) but they insisted! Timing wasn't working out with finding a date to do the blessingway and we almost pushed it back to right by my due date. But Sacha insisted that we do it soon! So at 35 weeks and 5 days pregnant we had a very small and intimate night with some of the angels that had been surrounding me during this pregnancy. I've never felt so spoiled by love and friendship before. We spent the night eating yummy healthy food, honoring motherhood and celebrating this little spirit that would be entering the world. Each lady brought a bead or charm to make me a birthing necklace. We all cried as the wishes and blessing that went with the beads were read. Each one was so personal to me and it made me feel so much strength and faith.

The very next day I was admitted to the hospital for some complications. And at 35 weeks and 6 days I was able to give birth to my sweet baby boy (birth story here). I didn't have time to pack a hospital bag, so Rachelle stopped by my house and grabbed a few necessary items that I wanted for the birth. She grabbed all the beads and charms that I had been gifted and put them on a chain and I was able to wear it when I delivered my boy.

my mess of charms around my neck as I first met my new son...

 

Once again I felt a heavenly presence in the room as I gave birth to this boy as I had been feeling in the weeks that lead to this birth. Women who had been helping me prepare spiritually and physically from their heavenly home for this event to take place. I loved wearing my birth necklace and felt strength and love as I thought of my friends who were praying for us and eager to be a part of this time in our life. Many woman helped me recover from this difficult birth by bringing meals, taking my older boy, sort through baby clothes, supply us with diapers, wipes, baby clothes, essential oils for healing for months (I still have yet to buy a pack of wipes for this baby). We have been surrounded and carried by women who were busy with their errands for us...

 

I have learned so much in the births of my three boys. But one of the greatest lessons that I learned is that by opening my heart and home to some amazing women, my life has been greatly blessed. I don't have to be alone on this road of motherhood. Heavenly Father has given us the gift of sisterhood to help us all through this calling.

 

 

 

.... and this is a gift that as sisters we claim.

 

As much as I have been blessed by many angels I hope to be able to be an angel in the lives of others when they are in need of my support and my love.

 

So again, back to why I love this book so much... it's the errand of the women who put this book together. It's the stories that are shared that remind us that whatever our situation is Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother love us and are so mindful of us. That wherever we are in our lives as women we don't have to feel alone. However we come to picking up this book and thumbing through the pages we can feel the love of our Heavenly Father and the reminder of our amazing calling as women on this earth. We can find stories of others who have walked similar paths to ours and remember just how amazing and miraculous our bodies are in bringing children into the world.

 

"The errand of angels is given to women; and this is a gift that, as sisters, we claim: to do whatsoever is gentle and human, to cheer and to bless in humanity's name."

** Read more about Mother Centered Baby Showers (pg. 155) and Surrounded by Angels (pg. 171) in The Gift of Giving Life.
 

Thank you for visiting my little space here today! Visit the Gift of Giving Life Virtual Book Tour page for a chance to win some great pregnancy/birth/baby-related prizes!  

 

 

Two gifts...

I saw my cousin Heather recently at her little brother's wedding reception which was really great since I haven't seen her in years and years (we've both taken our turns living out of Utah). She totally surprised me and knocked my socks off with one of the most amazing gifts I've ever received. Well... see for yourself...

She made me this darling custom floor mat for Baby Gray! Holy smokes! I was really touched by this. As someone who also likes to make handmade gifts I was just blown away at the detail and the amount of time I'm sure it took her to do this. And the tree with the initials and birds nest!! Right up my alley...

 

Seriously, I feel very undeserving of such a gift. But whether I deserve it or not... we have been loving it!

She told me that she started it when I was pregnant with Clayton. Then when we lost him she put it away and held onto it for all these years until we announced we were expecting again. That made me get all teary, knowing that she had started it for him and finished it for this baby. Thank you again Heather, so very very much!

Heather also gave me a second gift that night that I don't know if she was aware she was even giving to me. You see, we got into a little argument around the time that Baby Gray was born. I think it's fair to say that we never "came around" to the other persons point of view. We both sort of stood our ground and didn't see eye to eye and we both left that situation with our feelings hurt. I had not seen Heather for years but really I hadn't talked to her much since this situation happened. I was excited to see her and meet some of her kids that I hadn't met yet, but I was also a little nervous as to how our interaction would be with this having happened.

Heather greeted me at the wedding with a smile and a hug. We sat and chit chatted for a long time. It was SO GOOD to see her! But more than that it was so good to not feel a rift in our friendship. It was such a gift to feel like it was okay, we were moving on and not going to let this dampen our relationship. That was an amazing gift that she also gave me. The gift of letting bygones be bygones. The gift of forgiveness and moving on. It was such a wonderful night and I needed that small little tender mercy in my life right then.

So thank you dear cousin, for knowing my taste so well and making this darling floor mat. Thank you for your friendship, your forgiveness, and your example.