i can't stop making these
appliqued onesies! the two above, plus another green airplane, went to a little newborn named miles who i met for the first time at a baby shower on saturday. he's precious!
i can't explain the joy i find in creating. making things with my hands, ending up with a tangible product—these things matter to me. i feel like at 26, i am finally hitting my creative stride. i never felt comfortable labeling myself as a creative type because i felt like an impostor—i have zero formal training in anything artistic. in fact, one of the women at saturday's baby shower (who has known me for many, many years) stated that she had no idea of my creative side—in high school, she thought i was just a jock. that absolutely cracked me up!
but my mom raised us to be creative. she stayed up late reading the fantastical narnia to us when my dad was away on business trips. we painted noodles and strung them to make necklaces. we practiced spelling by writing with our fingers in a pan of powdered jello.
i'm about to go through a life-altering, job-related change in the next few weeks. one of the results of this change is that i will be spending a lot more time at home.
i desire to spend some of that time in creative endeavors that bless those around me—the first being my husband. i want to bless him through well-thought-out meals and a comfortable, beautiful home. he has been so sweetly affirming of these creative activities lately. he told me that i am a good wife because i sew gifts and bake cakes for birthdays and put care into wrapping presents for people. these words mean more to me than i can express.
but i think one reason i treasure these words is that they highlight differences between me and ben, differences that show that we were meant to complement one another. men and women are not the same. ben and i are so, so different—not just in they way we're wired but in our God-given skills, gifts, talents, and interests. i can't think about budgets and economics like ben does and he can't maneuver fabric beneath a sewing-machine needle like i can. and that's good. because we have each other and we make a perfect team. and truly, being married to him—and submitting to him in a covenant marriage—has freed me to be the creative person i am. that comment from an old friend about who i was in high school was exactly right. i'm flourishing in my marriage because i am free to be who God made me to be. submission to God and ben is not stifling—in these relationships, i am freed to use the gifts and talents God gave me that are unique from my husband. and that is all God. and it is all beauty.
whenever i write a (rare) long post like this, i feel compelled to thank you, dear reader. the emails, kind words, and comments i receive from you are such a sweet encouragement on this grand experiment. thanks for hanging in there with me. i've got plans for this blog, but God establishes the steps of man, so we'll see what he has in store. :)
