Dustin's Story- A True Miracle

There are those times when as a parent you could not be more proud of your son or daughter. This is one of those times. Dustin has been through hell and back and is now willing to put himself out there so that he can possibly help others understand that there is hope. As hopeless as a situation can be, please remember to never give up on either yourself or someone that you love. It is one of my profound life lessons. If a year and a half ago someone had asked me if there was any chance for Dustin to recover enough to live a normal, healthy life and be able to function well as a contributing member of society, my answer would have been no. As much as I would try to even imagine it possibly happening, I just couldn't do it. There had been too many years of destruction, too many years of lies and manipulation, too many years of watching his addictions take away the Dustin that we had raised and loved. For years I carried a tremendous amount of guilt believing that as a mother I had failed my son. It took me a long time, too long, to understand and truly internalize that it was not my fault. Letting go of that emotional baggage was such a relief. It was truly a life changing experience and a profound lesson for me as a mother. We cannot control those we love, even as good and sincere as our intentions are, we cannot make them choose happiness. I didn't understand that and so I ran myself crazy trying to fix all the consequenses of Dustin's behavior, thinking that if I loved him enough I could turn things around. There is a fine line between loving someone, and enabling their destructive behavior, and it can be extremely hard distinguishing between the two. Brent saw it clearly long before I did. As soon as I was able to emotionally let go and turn the responsibility of his life and his agency back to Dustin, my ability to handle the stress that his addiction brought improved drastically. It was one of the hardest things I have ever done but one of the best decisions I could have made. Once we stopped trying to solve all the problems his choices were bringing and he had to face the full consequences of his actions, he had to literally choose life or death. He has told us that was the best thing we could have done for him and was the turning point of him choosing to get help. His battle is far from over but to see him reach the point that he is at now is absolute heaven. He was in his recovery program for 16 months and came out a truly changed man. He is back living his dream playing college baseball and this spring we get to watch him do one of the things he used to live for, and that has always been his one true love. I am thankful for the lessons that I have learned. I am thankful to know that I can love my children with every piece of my heart but my love can't and shouldn't control their choices. We are all blessed with the gift of agency. I misused my gift in the most sincere way a mother can by trying to control Dustin's gift. As good and as heartfelt as my actions were, they were wrong. I am thankful for a loving God who loves us enough to let us choose our way. He is always there ready to give us the help that we need when we are ready to turn our lives over to Him. Dustin could not have done this without understanding that he couldn't do it alone. The transformation in him over this past year and a half is nothing short of a miracle. I am thankful every day to have my son back. 

Never give up.

Never lose hope.

Never stop praying for those you love

Bailey's Redecorated Bedroom

Bailey has been wanting her bedroom redone for awhile.  Her friends mom gave her a comforter set in the colors she has been dying to have.  So we shopped thrift stores and sales to add a few new things.  We love it. :) 

She didn't want to use the headboard she had before, so we used this framed print in it's place.  I got the pillows at target for pretty cheap.  The colors are perfect.

Okay, this lamp is my favorite.  When we first saw it at the thrift shop my thought was, "That thing is huge!"  And then the more I looked at it the more I loved it.  I died when I looked at the price tag and thought it must be marked wrong, so I asked a worker and it was the right price...$4.75.  That's right!  I told Bailey that it may look stupid once we get home but for that price I will re-donate it. :)  We found the black lamp shade at Fred Meyer for a resonable price.  Love, love.  We got the two end tables at a consignment store for a good price.  We rocked that day!

We found some of these at Goodwill and I already had some of them.  The big gold one we got for $2.75.  The walls are painted gray and we weren't sure if gold accents would look okay with the color but it looks great.

I found the clock at Walmart for $5.00 and she already had the rack to hang our necklaces.

I repainted her dresser and the rest of the accents we already had.

The curtains came with the bed set.  I love it when people are willing to share when they are done with something.  We did give her other bed set and accessories to a good friend of ours. :)  My theory is it's better to share than to sell.

Bailey loves her room now.  This is the place she wants to hang out.  I love you Bailey and I am so glad you love it.  It was worth all the hard work.  (painting stinks)











Bailey's First Day of 8th Grade

I have been such a loser at blogging ever since I got back on facebook.  I have used facebook as a tool to help my cupcake business and so far it has been very beneficial.  I wanted to post pictures of Bailey's first day for those who live out of state.  She is going to a new school this year for her final year of middle school.  We toured the school last week and met most of her teachers and have been very impressed with the school and the faculty.  It was not an easy decision regarding whether to have her stay in a stressful situation at her old school or have her start a new school and the stresses that that could bring on.  She only knows a few girls that attend Heritage.  But after a lot of prayer and fasting we felt good about this decision.  I have been praying for her all day and I am anxious to hear how the day went.  She looked darling this morning and was very nervous but she did it!  I am so proud of her.

Here's to a good year!  :)

Get Creative

We were at Meridian's Farmers Market a few weeks ago and there was a booth that was selling dessert stands.  The woman had gotten so creative.  I have seen some ideas online before but hadn't really followed through with any of it.  Hobby Lobby was having a great clearance sell and so I got some things to try out.  I found some of these at Goodwill too. You can take any thick candles, candle sticks or vases, add a plate or platter on top and there you go.  You can either use hot glue or a craft glue to secure them. Some of the coloring is off in a few pictures, everything is a deep black.

Before

 After

I have decided that my Crazy Lady Cupcake signature colors are a black damask accented with teal.  I am actually turning our downstairs guest room into my cupcake room also.  Fun stuff.

Crazy Lady Cupcakes- C.L.C

Custom wrap is available

My containers

 I found the recipe for these Muffin Top Cupcakes online.  I tried them out tonight and they are so cute and yummy.  They are equal to two cupcakes.  I am not sure if I will sell them yet. These ones I made are peanut butter cup.

This is a dangerous business. :)

The muffin top tin is from Bed, Bath and Beyond- $14.99

Definitely a two person treat!

"Race for Your Sanity"

I need laughter in my life.  Sometimes things just seem hard and humor can give me a much needed boost.  That is one of the things I love about Brent- always the joker.  Anyway, I have been making cupcakes for months and was for the most part taking them to people just to share the cupcake love.  Recently I have started selling them and I am loving it.  Crazy Lady Cupcakes has been born.  I got a facebook page to help get the word out and let people know when I have cupcakes they can buy. It seems to be going well.  Anyway, last Sunday I had some left after baking some for Brent to take to one of his home teaching families.  We were trying to think who we could take them to, and then an idea was born.  (I love that!)  I had two plates of cupcakes so I took a picture of Bailey holding the plates and posted it on facebook saying that the first two people at the house got the cupcakes for free.

What a great response! Heather and Susanne Thames were there pretty dang quick, Jacki Buchanan a close second, and Traci Brown got third.  We had so much fun and so I decided to start a Sunday Night "Race for Your Sanity" contest each week.  Each week I will post on my facebook profile sometime Sunday afternoon/evening that the race is on and the first ones to the house will win.  I wasn't sure how it would go over tonight but I was not disappointed.  I made Coconut Pecan cupcakes and took the picture of Dani and Bailey.

We had just finished dinner when I put it on facebook.  Dani and Ryan and our friend Patty were over and we were all guessing how long before someone knocked on the door.  I said four minutes and sure enough four minutes later, our doorbell rang.  Adrian Alvi, our neighbor and friend that lives on our street, was the winner tonight. (His wife Jennifer wasn't home so she sent Adrian to pick up the prize.  Way to play smart!)

The Man- Adrian Alvi

We had barely opened the door for him when Heather and Susanne Thames came roaring into the driveway to win a close second.  Susanne was even in her bathrobe!  Now, does that tell you something about my cupcakes?!!!  Two seconds later, Taylor Bakow shows up for a close third.  His sister Katie lives a bit farther away and so Taylor was her running partner and then even took them to her house for her.  What a nice brother.  If you want to know Taylor's funny story about being third instead of first, just ask him. :)

Heather and Susanne- 2nd place & Taylor Bakow- 3rd place

This is opened to anyone who lives close by.  If we aren't friends on facebook, just send me a request and join the fun.  Happy racing!

Cupcakes and stuff...

Dani & Bailey after Sunday dinner

Brent and Bailey take rides on the motorcycle all the time.  The other day they went to the Snake River Birds of Prey Area.  They took some great pics.  I am so glad that they get to spend this father/daughter time together. :)

Have a good week!