our thankful tree

hello, darlings!

how have you all been?

i don't even know where in the world to begin.

i have had about a million posts in my head swirling around but nothing has made it over here.

do you ever write blog posts in your head when you are lying in bed at night?

or when you get a RARE quiet moment during the day?

i do it ALL the time, but they rarely make it to the big screen(haha!).

i know for a fact that the Lord has prompted me to tell you certain things that have been on my heart, but i have failed to do it.

i have sort of been using instagram as a mini blog, but it doesn't replace me sharing the thoughts that are constantly running through my head, the meaning behind each photo that i take, or the lessons that HE is teaching me along the way.

i could litralee write a blog post for each IG photo,

but i tend to get overwhelmed thinking about it and so i don't do anything at all.

fail.

well, not today!

i'm going to start right here. right now.

what we did today.

and maybe someday i'll rewind and share some other really special moments we've been having, too.

if you would like to follow me on instagram, my username is mary_krause.

so, today we made a thankful tree.

a simple and inexpensive way to count our blessings.

because you can never, ever give thanks too much.

i started with an antique cast iron urn and a fake branch that i bought at 50% off from hobby lobby.

i think it was $4.

i know there are oodles of free branches outside, but this one looked really real(hubby didn't know it was fake), and i can reuse it over and over again.  that's my justification.  :)

my girls balled up paper and shoved it around the stick in the urn and then we added river rock on top.

you could use a ball jar, galvanized pail or a pretty white pitcher, too.  anything goes!

then i took an old trixie belden novel we had been using for other projects, ripped out some pages, drew a leaf template and started cutting!

we hole punched each one and then tied string to some of them for variety.

it sure didn't take long for the attitude to change in our home once the kids and i started writing down our lists of gratitude.

there's definitely something that changes in the air when you turn your eyes off of what you feel you may be lacking and focus on the many blessings that we already have.

our tree is already SO full of leaves!

the kids just kept adding to it all day long and it did this mama's heart good to see them get excited about what God has given us.

it's only day one and the branches are bulging(there's more now than in the picture below).

that's a very good sign.  :)

i don't have time for big fancy projects, and this one definitely passes the, 'i-have-so-much-laundry-to-fold- my-head-is-going-to-pop-off-and-i-need-to-make-supper-and-you-need-to-erase-those-letters-again-and-redo-them' test for this mama.  for reals.

hope you make one, too.

you're gonna love it.

xo,

mary

p.s.  want to know what i am really thankful for tonight?  living in a country where i can VOTE!  i am SO stinkin' excited to vote tomorrow i can hardly stand it!  i hope that you do, too!