Monday thoughts, May and the Mill St. Market

It's May, it's Monday, and the first Mill St. Market was last weekend. 

My body is trying to keep up with all that life crammed into one sentence. 

For starters, how in the world is it May?! My girls are almost out of preschool for the year and that fact alone is blowing my mind.  Anna Ruth will turn FIVE this summer people! My tiny, firstborn....FIVE.  To answer the question I get almost daily, no she isn't going to kindergarten yet.  We are waiting until the following year when she turns six.  

Well, bringing my thoughts back to the present, the opening day for Mill St. Market was last Saturday.  This is the new farmer's market/handmade market in downtown Springdale.  I was honored to be a part of opening day and it went amazing!  The crowd was well...crowded! The people were so incredibly nice and that was my favorite part.  My sales were good too which is always a big yeah! But getting to meet and connect with people and hear them say "your art is so happy!" over and over just felt good.  I've been asked a lot if I will be selling every Saturday and my answer right now is that I'm hoping to be set up once a month.  I'll keep you in the loop about when I'll be there next but in the meantime, go visit the market! You can go every Tuesday evening or Saturday morning! 

In other news, it's May already. I know, I know, I already said that.  But it definitely feels like a Monday here today.  We've turned the page on the calendar and what a great month April was.  My niece and nephews stayed with us for our very first sleepover and it went great!  With all the kiddos combined I nicknamed them the "fab five" and they were certainly fabulous! You mamas of five kiddos--bravo, bravo!! From early in the morning until evening my feet were going this way and that, never a dull or quiet moment. Ever.  I'm hoping to have the kiddos over again this summer when their new baby brother is born!  My girls absolutely LOVED having company overnight! 

We've been enjoying hot days, feeding our baby calf, farm drives, gardening, mowing, weeding, playing in the pool, and eating outdoors.  The inside of my house looks like a wrecking ball or a dirt storm came through most days but who wants to clean when the sun is so brilliantly shining outside?! 

There is something about this time of year that just gladdens my heart.  I mean, even those dreamy shadows in this photo....just make me sigh a big, happy sigh.  So many of you have asked about our adoption, I'll briefly say we haven't been matched yet.  I'll have a longer post with longer thoughts later this week, but for now we wait.  These beautiful shadows and sunshine and gentle breezes don't make the waiting any easier, but they are gentle reminders of God's strong presence, right here, right now. 

With summer approaching I'm looking forward to more time at home including art activities, journal time, science experiments, and time in the kiddie pool. I'll share some of my ideas for summer, as well as what's to come in my art life soon!  So basically all that to say, this has kind of been a "Good morning week" post and I have so much more to share with you this week.  I do hope you'll come back. One of the best parts of my weekend was receiving the sweetest email from a member of Gather, my online art class.  That combined with being surrounded by so many creative folks at the market just left me with the reminder that creativity is contagious.  It's wonderful and healing to retreat alone and paint and pray.  But it's as equally wonderful to sit at a table together with others, whether literally or figuratively, and create together.  I'm so glad you creative dreamers are on this journey with me. 

Let the little ones inspire you today.  Do they hold back with fear? Second guess themselves? Nope. They just go for it. 

Go for it today friends. 

See ya tomorrow!