Together

I was checking out my Pinterest recommendations last week, when I came across this poster. That, I thought, would make a great little piece of embroidery, and it turned out to be the perfect centerpiece for a pillow I wanted to make for my Mom for Mother's Day. The embroidery was done with navy floss on a piece of natural essex linen, and I surrounded it with scraps and charm squares of Happy Go Lucky by Bonnie & Camille. The back of the pillow is from the Everything But the Kitchen Sink collection by RJR Fabrics. I love the vintage look of these fabrics, and thankfully my mom does too!

When my parents, my husband, and I started looking for a house together just over six years ago, everyone thought we were well meaning but crazy. Honestly, I think we wondered if we were a little crazy ourselves. Could we really pull this off, all living together in one house? I won't lie -- that first year of finding a home, buying it, moving in, and then slowly figuring out how everything would work was tough. Really tough. Looking back, we've had plenty of ups and downs over the past six years as we learned how to give and compromise and be patient with each other, but oh the blessings... It has been wonderful to be together, to face painful difficulties and disappointments as a family and to celebrate the victories with each other too. It's not just the big things, it's so many little ones: bringing the girls in every night before bed to Grampa and Nana's room for prayers and hugs and kisses, waking up at 3am and chatting with Mom for an hour in the loft because she was up worrying about the same thing I was, watching my husband and my dad joke with each other while they tackle a home improvement project together.

Last week my parents went off for a few days of vacation in Solvang, leaving us in charge of the house. "You're going to say, 'Free at last! Free at last!' once we're out the door," my dad teased, when I insisted that we were going to miss them. And you know, while we were able to manage all right with them away, the house just wasn't the same. We were all so incredibly glad to have them back again by the end of the week. Life is just better when we're together, and so much of that has to do with the kind of people that my parents are and the love that they have for us. I can't tell you how grateful we are to have them in our lives.

Linking up with Let's Get Acquainted Monday.