Music Brings Joy | Family Brings Joy

A Mom Makes A Home

August 13, 2012 By Shan 2 Comments

I’m continuing my list of one thousand gifts…not of gifts I want, but gifts I have.

I am writing them down, one to one thousand.

22. Grateful my internet was repaired!

23. New music! Loving the group Tanlines. Listening to their album Mixed Emotions right now. I heart their All Of Me song…great beat and makes me feel happy.

24. Time spent with my Mom & oldest Daughter on Saturday.

25. The beautiful handmade quilted bed runner my Mom gave me as an early {3 weeks} Birthday gift.

26. Time doing crafty stuff in my craft room. It’s been neglected lately and craft therapy is wonderful. The creative side of me was having withdrawals.

27. Kids back in school brings some much needed uninterrupted time for me. Let’s face it, who likes to listen to their kids quarrel all the time? Not me!

{good thing they’re so cute! ;)}

28. Opportunity to learn & grow spiritually by giving a talk and teaching a lesson at church yesterday. With that being said, glad it is over…double duty is exhausting. 😉

29. Youngest saw this new art plaque I bought and said out loud, “This is true.” The little things like this make my heart melt.

Check out that awesome price!

30. When my husband calls me beautiful.

31. Having far away friends come for a weekend visit.

32. Listened to another awesome fantasy book: The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead. It’s part of the Bloodlines series. Just finished it & can’t wait for the next one!

Joining:

Gifts Bring Joy,

We Are A Symphony

July 15, 2012 By Shan 1 Comment

I don’t normally post on Sundays.

Today I’m making an exception.

I shared what I like to call a goose bump song with my class at church today. You know, one of those songs that brings goose bumps every time you listen to it.

Glorious

Written by Stephanie Mabey, Performed by Russ Dixon

There are times when you might feel aimless

And can’t see the places where you belong

But you will find that there is a purpose

It’s been there within you all along

And when you’re near it

You can almost hear it

It’s like a symphony just keep listening
And pretty soon you’ll start to figure out your part
Everyone plays a piece and there are melodies
In each one of us, oh, it’s glorious
You will know how to let it ring out

As you discover who you are

Others around you will start to wake up

To the sounds that are in their hearts

It’s so amazing

What we’re all creating

It’s like a symphony just keep listening
And pretty soon you’ll start to figure out your part
Everyone plays a piece and there are melodies
In each one of us, oh, it’s glorious

And as you feel, the notes build, you will see

It’s like a symphony just keep listening
And pretty soon you’ll start to figure out your part
Everyone plays a piece and there are melodies
In each one of us, oh, it’s glorious

Thank you TigerLilly4495 for this well done video.

Oh, It’s GLORIOUS,

Filed Under: Music Brings Joy, Values Bring Joy

Music For Your Love

July 12, 2012 By Shan 2 Comments

Welcome back to the 4th day of the Anniversary Gifts Made With Love series.

If you are just joining us, click here to see what this is all about.

2 of the 8 anniversary gifts I made for my husband were CD’s.

Both discs have 18 songs for 18 years.

One disc has 18 love songs that are meaningful to us.

The other disc has 18 of my favorite running songs.

My husband had mentioned he needed some new running music to listen to. Maybe your husband needs songs for his commute to work, fishing, working out, or whatever hobby he’s into. This is the perfect gift!
Day 2: Couples Poster
Day 3: Framed With Love
Day 5: Last 3 Gifts

Simple but meaningful,

Filed Under: Music Brings Joy, MY Family Brings Joy, Photography Brings Joy, Running Brings Joy, Values Bring Joy

Excellent Advice!!!! Gotta Listen!

June 1, 2012 By Shan 2 Comments

Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of ’99 (Really for EVERYONE)

WEAR SUNSCREEN.

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it.

The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience…I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; oh nevermind; you will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded. But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked….You’re not as fat as you imagine. (This is so true!)

Don’t worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing everyday that scares you. (I take this to mean do something different.)

Sing

Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours. (AMEN!)

Floss

Don’t waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind…the race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself. (LOVE THIS!)

Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you succeed in doing this, tell me how. (LOL!)

Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch

Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life…the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don’t.

Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone.

Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll have children,maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary…what ever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either – your choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s.

Enjoy your body, use it every way you can…don’t be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own.. Dance…even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room. (Here, here!)

Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them. (Yes!)

Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly. (For Sure!)

Get to know your parents, you never know when they’ll be gone for good.

Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go,but for the precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young. (This is why I love facebook!)

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. (won’t be following this one)

Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do you’ll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders. (Please!)

Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one might run out.

Don’t mess too much with your hair, or by the time you’re 40, it will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth. But trust me on the sunscreen…

Repost from April 7, 2009

True Words,

Filed Under: Music Brings Joy, Values Bring Joy

Love The One Your With

May 28, 2012 By Shan 8 Comments

Oh How The Years Go By

In our times of trouble
We only had ourselves
Nobody else
No one there to save us
We had to save ourselves

And when the storms came through
They found me and you
Back to back together
And when the sun would shine
It was yours and mine
Yours and mine forever

Oh how the years go by
Oh how the love brings tears to my eyes
All through the changes the soul never dies
We fight, we laugh, we cry
As the years go by

There were times we stumbled
They thought they had us down
But we came around
How we rolled and rambled
We got lost and we got found
Now we’re back on solid ground, yeah

We took everything
All our times would bring
In this world of dangers
‘Cause when your heart is strong
You know you’re not alone
In this world of strangers

Oh how the years go by
Oh how the love brings tears to my eyes
All through the changes the soul never dies
We fight, we laugh, we cry
As the years go by

And if we lose our way
Any night or day
Well we’ll always be
Where we should be
I’m there for you
And I know you’re there for me

Oh how the years go by
Oh how the love brings tears to my eyes
All through the changes the soul never dies
We fight, we laugh, we cry
As the years go by

– Amy Grant

On this day, 18 years ago my life changed.

Two became one.

As with most things with me, {grand ideas at the last minute} I decided Saturday I would spend Sunday working on a few things to celebrate our anniversary. We haven’t really celebrated in a grand way…our love for each other…in a while. My daughter’s dance recital is always the Friday of Memorial Day weekend. {One year it was on our anniversary.} I wouldn’t miss her recital for anything. It is one of the highlights of my year to be able to see her dance. I’m also very grateful to have family who travel from afar to see her recital and visit. Thus our reason for not celebrating. Don’t get me wrong, we still try to have a date with a dinner & movie, but not anything out of the ordinary or special, just kind of the same old thing we always do when we manage to go on a date in our small town.

So here I am at 1:11am typing this post.

I came up with a ~~few things to do~~ lot of things I wanted to do:

18 gifts given on each hour on the 18th minute {made 5 of the 18 today}
CD titled 18 Running Songs of various running music
CD titled 18 Year Anniversary Mix filled with love songs
18 balloons with a love note attached to each

I didn’t want to spend money for these expressions of love. You see, we have an all inclusive beach trip planned to celebrate our anniversary for a later date. It will be the first vacation we’ve had in 7 years ALONE together WITHOUT KIDS. It is long overdue! This trip was our gift to each other. We agreed NOT to exchange gifts because of the trip. However, I still wanted to do something special for him and for us.

What I will DO

Here’s the deal, I realized we won’t be AWAKE for 18 hours of this special day. {Duh! Shan…sigh…it’s been a crazy month.} Plus, I only have 8 gifts to give him, not 18. I made 7 {2 are the CD’s mentioned above} and found 1 in the closet {it was a Christmas gift I forgot to give him because it was buried underneath all the piles…sheesh} So instead of 18 gifts, he will receive 8 at 9:18am, 10:18am, 11:18am, 12:18pm, 1:18pm, 2:18pm, 3:18pm, 4:18pm. Again, these are things I made him. Maybe next year I can plan on doing the balloon idea. I just didn’t have my act together to do that this year.

I’ll share with you photos and more information about the gifts in a future post this. If he happens to read this before 9:18am he already knows what 2 of the gifts are. It’s okay, because he doesn’t like surprises near as much as I do. As a matter of fact, it’ll probably kill him to not be able to open ALL the gifts right away. The essence of surprise will be what I enjoy about this plan. 😉

Happy Anniversary to my Husband.

Above current photos taken by Blue Lily Photography

Love the one your with,

Filed Under: Crafts Bring Joy, Music Brings Joy, MY Family Brings Joy, Photography Brings Joy, Values Bring Joy

What Songs are You Teaching Your Children?

April 26, 2012 By Shan 2 Comments

This is so funny! But, props to the Dad for making a boring drive FUN! Check out the toddler in the back seat singing right along with his head banger hand motions. Had to share with you: