Freebies - McKenzie Sue Makes

After taking the month of November off of Instagra

After taking the month of November off of Instagram, I am back and I learned that as much as I missed being uplifted from seeing other people’s posts and creative content, I was very happily content without it. I am excited to begin the traditional celebrations of the season and honoring the reason we celebrate: The Great Jehovah of the Old Testament, the Word and Creator and Light of the world, becoming flesh and coming down to earth to experience life in it’s fullness. All the glory of it, all the holy mundaneness it is, and all the pain and suffering that comes with living here on this broken world. But not only did he suffer for experience sake, but He suffered all of our pains for each of us. So that we could ascend up with Him, as undeserving and lovely as we are, and He can be our true and all-understanding Advocate. Just because He and Heavenly Father and Mother love us. What a wondrous reason to celebrate. ✨

We celebrated James’ birthday a week late since

We celebrated James’ birthday a week late since he was sick for his birthday and this little bud needs a post all to himself. He is our bright and shining guy who brings so much happiness to this world. He makes me want to have at least 5 more kids because of how easy-going, adorable, flirty, chill, and happy he is. He gets comments all the time from strangers about his smile, but not as many comments about his scooter skills! His special talent, among many, is napping for 3-4 hours almost every day and then ~12 at night. He loves to very very slowly wake up and will chill in his bed for 40 minutes just doing nothing. Hazel and I love to come into his room and help him out where he instantly goes right to my shoulder for a cuddle. He ate 4 servings of orange chicken on his birthday and is really into painting and coloring - his pencil hand-hold is pretty spectacular. He loves his mom more than anything and I love him more than words can say - so we’re pretty much a match made in heaven 😉. He loves cuddles from mom, his Papas, or a select few others. He flirts with all the adults and his vocabulary is booming lately. Can’t imagine our family without him - Happy 2nd Jimmy boy!

Happy Halloween! Our first Halloween trick or trea

Happy Halloween! Our first Halloween trick or treating and the kids had a blast! Hazel was a unicorn and then a witch and for James he was “Hell on Wheels” — or with no scooter, just your plain old devil. 🥰🎃

Candied orange peels. So easy and so delicious! 🍊🧡

The amount of giggles this bunny has brought into

The amount of giggles this bunny has brought into our home is the best thing ever. We’ve had Pinkie for almost a month now and she is the most chill, amazing rabbit ever!

While cleaning out my desk with little assistant H

While cleaning out my desk with little assistant Hazel, we found a bunch of Christ prints I didn’t need and she asked to paint them all. So we had a creative messy afternoon and it was fun seeing what colors she chose. She specifically asked for red of Jesus’ owies and she practiced her yellow sunshine and her black clouds. Teaching any gospel principle to kids under 4 is pretty hard, so it makes me smile that she knows the simple profound truth that Jesus died on the cross for us. This beautiful print is from @val.lineart ✨

As our #saviorsundaystudies of Jesus’ Crucifixio

As our #saviorsundaystudies of Jesus’ Crucifixion and Atonement end this week, what stands out to me the most is how precious and endless this priceless gift is to have Christ’s Atonement in our life. Jesus broke, agonized, and suffered on the cross to pay ransom for me and the whole world. He did it willfully and by fully knowing and understanding me. To end this study on Infant and Pregnancy Loss Awareness day does not feel like a coincidence. So many people have deep sorrow in their life due to this loss. I have seen it in many family and friend’s experiences and in my own. After my own miscarriage, I became enthralled by the idea of kintsugi — it is the ancient Japanese art of repairing broken objects with lacquer and gold. Instead of taking super glue and making it look like it was never damaged, the cracks are highlighted and the object is viewed more beautiful than the original product. This cracks are mended in gold to show respect for the vessel’s history and showcase the beauty of a broken thing made whole. We all feel broken in one way or another. Illness, loss, loneliness — this list is endless. What can we do when we feel broken? ✨ Let Jesus Christ fill your cracks with His Atonement - like a golden glue. ✨ Take your shattered pieces to Christ. He is interweaved through every part of you. He sees the beauty in you when you can't and He pieces you back together. He fills you with His Atonement and makes you into a priceless masterpiece. Gilding cracks in this way celebrates and honors the beauty of our Experience and enhances the value of whatever pottery was once broken, ✨ just as the Atonement of Jesus Christ does in our lives. ✨ He enhances us to a level we can never achieve without His brokenness. Embrace your damages, flaws, and imperfections.
Recognize beauty in the broken things. There is restoration in brokenness. As we are made whole again, through time and through Christ’s Atonement and we become even more beautiful than before. A quote from a beautiful talk about brokenness in comments. ✨Beautiful artwork by @paigepayne_creations 💛 Third photo is from Tuesday when the young women in my ward made kintsugi pieces with me