The winners of the 25 FREE  Shutterfly Christmas card sets are:

1) #13 – Emily Gerow

2) #32 – Lauren

3) #14 – Sieglaff Scoop

Congratulations ladies! Please email me within 48 hours to claim your cards or I will redraw.

Speaking of cards …

Anyone interested in a card swap?

I used to do it every year with my online coupon group and loved it. Everyone who wanted to join in got a list of 10 names to send cards to. I loved getting all those cards in the mail from all over the country and connecting with other women who shared my same interest. Let me know in the comments below if you’d be interested. If there’s a big enough group, I’ll get it going.

And one last thing …

****And ladies, please, please check your blogger profile and make sure you list an email address! ****

If you don’t, I can’t contact you, respond to your comments or send you prizes. EIGHT … EIGHT of you were drawn for these Christmas cards but didn’t have emails listed on your profile so I had to redraw. That’s good new for Emily, Lauren and Sieglaff Scoop, but I feel bad for those who missed out. So please, update your profiles.

Not sure if you have an email listed? Or not sure how to change it?

Log into blogger and go to your dashboard:

Click View Profile and see if you have an email address listed.

If you don’t have an email listed, no one can respond to your comments or contact you. Please add an email!

Back later today with the rest of my wall decor to go with the Thanksgiving Chevron Frame.

Thank you all so much for helping THRIVE celebrate one year of Rockin’ What Ya Got!

We have a winner – well, actually SEVEN winners!

Thanks to Random.org, here are the lucky ladies …

Denim Purse from Artfully Caroline goes to:

Gorgeous Earrings from Paul Street Shop go to:

$25 Gift Certificate to Peach Street Boutique goes to:

$20 Gift Certificate to Kitty Cats & Airplanes goes to:

Winners of the Carolina Pear stationary sets are:

and

The custom Mohawk Hat from Handcrafted by Natasha Brenchley goes to:

     The custom Christmas lap quilt from Rip’d-n-stchd goes to:

**** Winners – to claim your prize, please email me (choosetothriveblog at gmail dot com) in 48 hours or I will re-draw. ***

Thank you so much to my AWESOME SPONSORS for hosting this giveaway and to all of your for your continued support of THRIVE!

I was in our little duplex in Nampa, Idaho doing my hair in front of the bathroom mirror so I’d look presentable when my visiting teachers dropped by later that morning.  My precious five month old son was fresh out of the tub, wrapped in a towel, and sitting contently in his bouncer with his favorite binky.

I remember …

… my mom calling and telling me to turn on the TV and standing in total shock at the images of those burning towers …

… hearing my son crying and going back to pick him up, and walking back into the living room just as the North Tower came down …

…holding him as I sobbed and dropped to my knees—overwhelmed with knowing that the world had changed forever …

… looking at his tiny little face and being filled with fear as I wondered, “What kind of a world will you grow up in?”

Ten years later, I still remember the terror of that day as I know each of you must, too. I know you remember where you were, how you felt, who you needed to call just to hear their voice and know that they were safe.  That you joined with everyone across the nation in pulling out every flag, flag shirt, flag bumper sticker, flag pin, flag hat, flag coat, flag button in an instinctive need to do something—anything—to show our resolve and solidarity.

I remember driving straight to Michael’s Arts & Crafts of all places to buy some red, white and blue ribbon, only to find they were sold out. Instead I grabbed the last 10 yard roll of yellow ribbon and tied it around every tree in the yard where two months before we’d celebrated our son’s first 4th of July.

Tomorrow after church I will sit down with the older kids, watch the memorials and talk about how that day changed everything. 

And as I’ve thought this week about what I will tell them, I keep going back to that moment in my living room when I looked down at my first born and wondered in terror, “What kind of a world will you grow up in?”

Sitting here tonight ten years later, I think I can now answer my own question.

And so I will tell my Dirty Half Dozen kiddos,

I know what kind of a world you’ll grow up in.

You will see good and evil at their finest hours.  You will see more hatred, more atrocities and more cruelty than this world has ever known.  And some of that evil will hurt our family.  That’s part of this whole experience in mortality and is part of this gift of agency.

But you will also see how the strength of the human spirit will always push back and prevail against darkness. 

I saw that on 9/11 when firefighters and police rushed into burning towers and people lined up outside of blood banks to help the wounded.  I’ve seen it every time there’s a natural disaster and people from around the country and the world send food and money and blankets to total strangers to relieve their suffering.  And I’ve seen it every time our troops kiss loved ones good bye as they deploy for missions that may never bring them home.

With all of the darkness out there guys, always remember that there is even more goodness in this world.  Be part of it.

Remembering everyone we lost on 9/11, those left behind and those who serve to keep us safe.

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

Tomorrow I’ll be watching these and remembering: 9/11: From the photographers View; 9/11 Memorial Program With Tom Brokaw & MTC

Thrive Challenge: If you haven’t written/blogged/journalled your memories of 9/11, do it today. Tell your story. Share your memories. Make sure your children and grandchildren know how your life was effected that day.

Hi everyone!

I’m guest posting today over at The CSI Project as part of Clothing Refashion Week.

Hope you’ll come stop by and see what I’ve been up to!

Interchangeable Flower Shirts

Happy Almost Mother’s Day out there to everyone from me and my half dozen kiddos who test my patience, sanity and soda sobriety daily.

This week an entire gallon of milk, three pounds of cereal, a 6.4 oz. tube of Crest Sparkle KIDS toothpaste, two packs of Trident, a box of Crystal Light packs, a Jiffy cornbread mix, a pound of Country Time lemonade powder and a full bottle of mouthwash were sacrificed on the alter of This-Is-What-Kids-Do-To-Make-You-Crazy.

Add to that three hours in a dental waiting room with five kids, a camera plunging to its death and a toddler who refuses to be potty trained and it’s been a long week.

And yet … and yet …

Sunday will be an awesome day because ten years ago my greatest heart ache was lifted and I became a momma. And this year, like each year before, I remember just how badly I wanted this day … how much it hurt to be left out on this day … how much I prayed for someday.

And on Sunday I celebrate that someday came.

And though my children have declared that I will be poor with stained carpet ‘til the end of days, I give thanks for all six of the miracles that came to this broken, infertile woman.

Because even now, I still remember those first three years being married and the heartache of watching everyone around us start families and feeling like we never would …

And just like it was yesterday, I remember:

~ Driving into work one morning with the worst case of nausea and feeling bitter—like it was some sort of cruel joke to go through this regular cycle of missed periods, heavy nausea and then negative pregnancy tests–and then to start my cycle a day or two after the test came back negative.  I was so desperate all through my shift to make the nausea go away that I decided to run next door to the store and get a pregnancy test so that it would hurry up and be negative and I could feel better soon …

~ Taking that test in the employee bathroom and screaming out loud when that faint little line appeared … and stumbling out of the bathroom shaking and crying so hard that my co-worker ran over to see what was going on … and her giving me a hug when I showed her the test … and me pushing back and shaking my head and telling her through sobs that it wasn’t real—that she didn’t understand–because I have two doctors and two miscarriages that say can’t have kids … and her grabbing me by my shoulders and gently shaking me until I stopped talking and her looking straight into my eyes and saying, “Nike, you’re going to be a mother” … and me losing it completely as her words pierced my soul and I began to believe …

~ Being so horribly sick the whole nine months and throwing up several times a day, everyday …

~ The false alarms, the day-and-a-half in labor, the c-section and all the complications …

But mostly I remember looking at my son and knowing that I was a mother now.

And despite how overwhelming and scary that was, there was so much joy and gratitude. And I think there really must be an extra measure of sweetness to those feelings of new motherhood when it has been withheld for a time.

I am moved to tears each time I read of Hannah in 1 Samuel and read the tender words, “And the Lord remembered her ….”

And like Hannah I can truly say, “For this child I prayed ….”

And being able to share this experience with my sisters, sisters-in-law, neighbors and friends is all sorts of wonderful. Because they’re amazing mommas … and they love their kids fiercely … and they get what it’s like to go through a week of toothpaste and milk and lemonade and waiting rooms from hell.

And in the six months since I started this little blogging thing, I’ve been privileged to “meet” so many incredible women who are mommas and bloggers and crafters-to-stay-saners who get it, too.

And being surrounded by all of you gives me the hope that I can someday be like the women in my life that I look up to most—women like:

Mr. Thrive’s Mother

who recognized my post-partum depression immediately and watched me like a hawk—calling and emailing me everyday for a year with the encouragement and adult conversation I desperately needed. And even though I was struggling to know which end was up, she believed in the mother that I could become.

… and …

Mr. Thrive’s Step-Mother:

who rushed in last year when Mr. Thrive and I were on the verge of cracking up and even divorce because of the crushing stress of the whole young-family-with-six-kids-and-autism-and-layoffs-and-poverty-and-never-ever-ever-ever-ever-ever-having-any-time-or-money-for-ourselves thing. And that weekend way was magic … and restored our hope … and helped us get to the good place we are today.

… and …

My Amazing Mother

who has always been the one to call me on my crap and make me accountable for what I’m doing and not doing—and I love her for it. And last October she sat across the booth from me at Taco Bell on the last day of her visit and told me that I needed to stop procrastinating and worrying and waiting for the perfect moment to started THRIVE. She told me to not be scared of failure, but to leap … and trust that this was the right thing to do … and that answers to some of my questions and family challenges would come through doing this.

And so I did.

And two weeks later my first post went up.

Thanks, Mom.

So Happy Mother’s Day to all of us.

Hope tomorrow brings you the chance to remember your first someday and to celebrate the women in your life who make each day a little easier to get through.

And to the woman out there who still carry the heartache of someday … please know how many of us out there know your hurt, pray for you always and never give up hope that your someday will come.

Post like this make me feel really, really stupid. Because seeing your faults glaring back at you can be awfully tough to take in sometimes.

As some of you saw, I posted a note on THRIVE’s Facebook page on Wednesday that my cheapie Kodak EasyShare camera was completely toast.

I was in the middle of taking pictures of the inserts for the cabinet door tutorial and the camera was resting on the kitchen counter. But as kids wandered in and out to see what mom was doing … and as I climbed on and off bar stools to reach the top cabinets … and spun around to grab the camera for the next shot … somehow I caught the edge of the strap and looked back just in time to see my camera crash hard on the floor. The batteries immediately splattered across the floor as the camera skidded on its side and then came to rest lens-down next to the dishwasher.

And the second it hit, I knew it was gone.

I could see right away that the battery door had busted off completely, and a long history of small children and cheap cameras has taught me that this was an electronic fatality not worth the money to repair.  Even still, I tried the whole duct tape thing, hoping to limp through the rest of my pictures–but it was pointless. In desperation I called my neighbor as soon as she got home and borrowed her camera to get enough pictures to finish the post and get it up minutes before midnight.

I always figured that I’d be screwed without a camera because I’m one of those people who takes lots of pictures. I mean lots and lots of pictures—easily 1,200+ a month. So missing the goofy things my kids do and not being able to work on projects for THRIVE immediately worried me. But what I wasn’t at all prepared for though was the grief.

I sobbed.

Not just because I had no idea how we’d afford to replace it, but because this adventure behind the lens has opened a whole new world for me. I’ve loved capturing our family’s life, our adventures and especially our struggle to thrive in a place we never thought we’d be. Taking pictures has been a way for me to capture and constantly remind myself just how blessed we’ve been when it feels so hard, so much of the time.

And so I woke up Wednesday depressed  and unbelievably sad. Mr. Thrive had the day off so we sat in bed as I fought back tears and worried out loud about what to do. After I had gotten everything out of my system, Mr. Thrive quietly told me that he received a bonus from work—his very first in this new position and nothing huge—but enough for me to replace the camera with an entry level DSLR.

And I was left speechless, absolutely speechless, by the selflessness of my husband. Speechless that he’d immediately put his own wants and needs aside to take care of mine. Speechless that he’d so completely declared his belief in me and what I’m doing that he’d make buying a real camera more important than the laundry list of needs our family has.

And all Wednesday morning, I was floating.

I happily checked prices online, compared features for the hundredth time and thrilled at the chance to finally, finally be doing something I’d dreamed about for years. And in the excitement of being able to get just what I wanted instead of having to make due, my gratitude for that simple little camera started to slip away.

But the longer I looked, the more than little voice told me that it wasn’t right. (Not that I didn’t keep searching and looking anyway). I didn’t want to give up a DSLR—didn’t want to have to Rock What I Got—but the prompting was unmistakable: I needed to look at the other end of the camera spectrum, back near the $100 cheapie model that had just died. And so I reluctantly started paring back that search and looking at simpler and simpler models.

But instead of trusting that prompting voice with gladness and faith, I felt more and more resentful about being this close yet again and having something important to me slip away.

Instead of seeing the miracle in having a camera break the same day as an unexpected bonus, I was disappointed that I wasn’t getting something bigger, better or cooler.

Instead of being filled with the love of my husband and his care and support of me, I inwardly pouted like a spoiled brat.

And so once again, I got spiritually whacked up side the head and loving told to stopping the whining and be grateful. As I closed out the camera websites and returned to my homepage, the images from the tornadoes in Mississippi and Alabama stared back at me and seared holes in my conscience.

My heart ached for all of those families without homes, without possessions, without loved ones. And I was reminded again just how much disasters like this have the amazing ability to clear away the crap and pettiness in our lives and conduct.

So in the last three days, there have been a lot of prayers for the people so hurt by the storms in the South … and a lot of reflection about selfishness and attitude and learning Rock What Ya Got … and a profound sense of thankfulness for what I learned with my old camera with all of its limits.

This whole time I’ve wanted to become a better photographer and thought that a big girl camera would do the trick. And while I know that that day will eventually come, I’m beginning to see now just how much my prayers have been answered by not having one after all. Having to stretch and make do with the basics has forced me to get creative, to study and most of all, to practice like crazy.

Like in those first few nervous weeks of blogging when I needed that perfect project shot to submit to my favorite blogs for features, it took dozens and dozens of dozens tries, but my camera came through for me.

And when I wanted to imitate all those gorgeous pictures in blogland with the soft blurred out background … it took hundreds and hundreds of shots, but I finally figured how to make my camera fake it.

Respect the Point ‘n’ Shoot, eh?

And I really don’t know if I would have made this much progress or tried as hard if taking good pictures was handed to me on a silver DSLR platter.

So a new camera has joined our family and I’m loving it. It didn’t cost much more than our old model and even has some upgrades that will be fun to start practicing with. The old, broken camera now sits on my shelf and will probably stay there since I don’t have the heart to throw it away—it taught me too much. Right now I like having a reminder of just how much I have to be grateful for.

It all seemed so easy on paper: swap bedrooms … build new beds … spackle/sand/paint new beds … get rid of the crib … make a few runs to the dump.

Except I should have known better.

House projects never, ever go as fast, easy, cheap or clean as you plan. Toss little kids and a few unexpected snow days into the mix and you “up” the mess/money/time factor by ten. Ha!

For over six months we’ve been working and saving towards getting new beds for the kids—all six of them. And while beds and mattresses aren’t remodeling projects per se, I still wanted find ways to incorporate Thrive-friendly projects and savings to keep the costs way down.

Step One: Move Rooms

To better maximize our 1900 sq. ft., we’ve been looking at switching the bedrooms around and consolidating all the boys from two rooms into a single, large dorm room.

Here’s how the house was laid out to start:

The first though was to give them our master bedroom and move into boy room #1, but after measuring out the rooms we decided to give them the downstairs playroom/family room. While that may seem nuts, there were so many great reasons to do it. For starters, my boys play together all.the.time, “camp out” in the same room a lot and get along great. The other thing is that the playroom was the most under utilized space in our house. As a playroom it was a huge waste of space and always covered in the kids’ toys and cheerios. When my sister pointed out that keeping that room dedicated to just toys on the floor was like reducing our living space from 1900 sq. ft. to more like 1600, I couldn’t wait to move stuff around.

Mr. Thrive was a little skeptical about the switch at first because that’s not what you do—not what other families do. But part of this whole THRIVE remodel project has been to embrace this house and make it work for us.  And I knew the playroom would work perfectly as a bedroom for our boys.

To start, we moved everything into a small downstairs bedroom and hauled away the couch. This was the same couch whose cushions were painted in this little incident and never recovered. The fabric was ripped, the foam coming apart and the springs were poking through.

And even though this picture is surprisingly flattering, it’s still so hard to post a picture of how bad this room looked even after the toys were removed.  This room with it’s destroyed couch, terrible stained carpet, unfinished and colored on walls and trim was one of the biggest things I was thinking about when I wrote that I had given up on my house. But after an hour’s worth of heavy spot cleaning, a thorough wall wash down, broken toys and couches removed and two shampoo jobs (yeah, it was that bad), the room looked so much better.

The original plan was to make bunk beds because they’re cheap to make and save space. But I was sooooo ready to be done with them and the jumping/swinging/leaping/climbing/injuring/destroying that goes with them. Plus, if all the boys were going to share a room, I wanted a bed that would have space just for them, transition better into their tween years and be sturdy–really, really, sturdy. Mr. Thrive and I went back and forth on bed designs and finally picked this one from Ana White.

We nixed the corner unit, added some additional storage cubbies underneath and swapped out some of the materials to lower the costs even more. When everything was said and done, we managed to build four awesome, rock solid beds for cheaper than we could have found them used on Craiglist or eBay. What a blessing!

And since we don’t have a garage and Mother Nature tossed an unexpected winter storm our way, Mr. Thrive brought the whole project inside and built all four beds right in the playroom.

Next Step:  Mattresses

Four of the six mattresses had. to. go. They were hand-me-downs to start and beyond hope. The three toddler mattresses had been through several kids and had been jumped on, moved around, picked at, torn apart and duct taped so many times that I couldn’t wait to get them out of the house. My son’s full size mattress from his bunk bed had springs that were starting to poke through so those went as well.

The next trick was to find four new mattresses for cheap. After hunting and searching every store/outlet/warehouse in the valley for weeks, we were blessed a find a store owner blowing out his inventory to consolidate two stores. When he heard we needed mattresses for all of our kids, he cut us a great deal and we walked out of there with four new twin pillow top mattresses for the cost of two base models. Another blessing!

When we got them home, we put them in the bedroom with all the other stored furniture until we realize our 2 yr. old was scaling them. And tearing holes in the mattress cover of the older mattresses that were staying. Thank you so much, kiddo ….

So we moved the mattresses into another bedroom, only to have the same kid find them again … and climb up on all of them … and jump … and sneak Girl Scout Cookies … and pretend to take a nap Princess and The Pea style. Is it bad I never want to take the plastic off?

The boys were so excited to sleep on their own beds in their new room that we caved and put bedding on last night.

Here they all are. Didn’t Mr. Thrive do a great job?

The beds have been puttied and sanded, but still need the painting finished up. The finish work has been my favorite part since I’ve been doing that in THRIVE style: F-R-E-E!

In the next few weeks I’ll show you the painted, finished beds with their lovely {free} paint from our local landfill recycling center,  storage bins made out of one of my favorite {free} mediums and fun {free} room decorations to help each kid carve out their own little space.

So now our house looks like this, which means I got an unexpected, but so needed gift: my own office for THRIVE!

  Up to this point Mr. Thrive and I have had to fit our bed, the computer desk and all of my Thrive stuff in our bedroom. We’ve made it work, but it’s been really tight and often messy. The girls’ stuff has been moved downstairs and I’ve started the processes of sorting through all my Thrive projects and moving them over. Right now it’s a total disaster, see?

(I know, I know. I need to wrap up this post, get off the computer and finish cleaning up!)

I’m so looking forward to having my own space for Thrive–being able to keep blog/family stuff separate is going to huge. I can’t wait!

So, that’s the meelllion little projects going on at our house right now-ha! Thanks so much for stopping by!