this is life

... and this, this is the stuff of life...

 

the simultaneous way that grief and joy can exist. the changing emotional landscape echoing the changing beach that is, by turns, pounded furiously and then caressed gently by endless waves. the events of days on end changing our perception, much as the clouds moving across a sky change our view. the ache in our souls thrumming with every beat of our hearts - and even then a memory comes to cause our eyes to light and our mouths to smile in joy. gratitude floods our hearts as memories fill our minds, and it is as if the echoing chambers of our heart begin to play music again, instead of the lonely slow cadence of mourning...

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Desperately Seeking Sweet Sweater Pumpkins?!

It never fails. Every year at this time,

the blog stats blow up with visits from ALLLLL over,

from people searching for my original creation,

'Sweet Sweater Pumpkins' ' TM

Since 2007, they've been a HUGE hit!

Every fall, my blog is inundated with hits for the tutorial that I shared here years ago.
MANY people have bought it and made their own pumpkins.

I started up a new DIY seasonal home decor blog in the fall of 2012, called 'homeward found decor',  
and relocated the tutorial over there. 
Find my FREE Sweet Sweater Pumpkin Tutorial HERE

If you want to see more of my original Sweet Sweater Pumpkins 
on homeward found, click here

oh, by the way... as of Spring 2026, I have now created
  27 Original Sweet Sweater products!

continue reading for more information about my most 'famous' creations...

Walking Through the Valley...

I came here to write about something on my mind, 

and discovered that I never shared photos and news from our family reunion last July.
 

LAST July. 

But a lot has happened since then, and I guess it all plays into the same story....

 You've probably heard 'The Lord's Prayer' at some point in your life, right?

I discovered a hidden meaning in one of the verses in that prayer over the past few months...

The line was 'Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death....'

Well, I learned something about that concept recently.
Continue reading for more...