I’m happy to bring you Day Nine of the Grow With Love project.  I hope you’ve enjoyed following along so far!  We’re nearing the close of week two of the prompts and the halfway mark for the project!  Don’t forget you can join in any time and we hope you do!  Crystal and I have loved seeing your pages so far!  What a heartfelt journey!

So, as per usual, we are hopping back and forth between my blog and Crystal’s blog for the prompts and yesterday Crystal had us considering “all the good things” as we focused on and thought about the positive things our spouses and loved ones do for us and with us.  And that exercise in finding the good sets the stage for today’s prompt:

As I looked over my list and considered my page from yesterday, I noticed a common thread woven in and around the things I love so much about my husband and the things he does for me and for our family: integrity.  And so I reflected on that characteristic and scrapped about it and gave thanks to him for it.

And just look at this gorgeous page by Crystal.  It’s so emotive and you can just feel the love jumping off the page.

You’ll notice we call this an “act” prompt because we hope you will actually let this one touch your life in a more tangible way.  Actually literally give thanks to your loved one..maybe by sharing your page, or maybe in a love note, or just out loud as you notice your spouse doing something positive.

This is something I’ve personally been aiming to do more often…because I certainly feel grateful for all that he is and does, but I don’t always put voice to that.  And when I do, even in those moments when maybe I don’t really feel like it because I’m angry or I’m preoccupied, or because I figure he already knows, it really makes a difference.

We hope that you’ll enjoy reflecting and giving earnest thanks to your spouse or loved one through your scrapping and “in real life”.  And don’t forget to visit Crystal’s blog tomorrow for Day Ten and prompt 10.

And then you’ll see me back here on Monday for the start of week three and Day Eleven.

Until then, Happy Scrapping!

Hope everyone is having a beautiful Friday!!  I’m sorry to say this post will be a bit on the brief side.  My daughter has been quite unwell in the past couple days and the only remedy has been mommy loves and cuddles, so my time is short today.

But I really hope you all have been enjoying following along with week one of the Grow With Love project! If you’re just discovering us for the first time, I hope you’ll feel comfortable to just dive right in..either at the beginning or at any time.  This is a self-paced kind of adventure so you are welcome to join us at any time.  to review all the details feel free to peek at the introduction and day one post.  Then you will just hop back and forth between my blog and Crystal’s blog to follow all the prompts.

We have spent week one reflecting on memories and feelings and our thoughts/ideas about love.  All of this has been meant to build a kind of foundation from which we will delve deeper and get a little more specific as we reflect, remember, share, and act in our love lives.

Today, Day Five, is one step into a more specific look back into our love history.  But it’s a fun and light kind of prompt that we hope will leave you feeling both fond and grateful for your loved one.  Here’s our day five prompt:

I know that gifts can sometimes read as “symbols” in our relationships…symbols of thoughtfulness, of caring, of being plugged in, romantic or otherwise signs of appreciativeness and kindness.  I hope that reflection on a gift, or little gestures, or any of the times your spouse/loved one has expressed care and love for you with a gift has you feeling a little warm fuzzy inside.  Here’s a bit of inspiration for you from the ever amazing Crystal who reflected on a gesture that touched her heart.  And goodness is it stunning:

I’ll be back with more inspiration once my little sweetie is feeling better.

In the meantime, we hope you enjoy a beautiful weekend.  Remember week two picks up on Monday with prompt 6 on Crystal’s blog.  Until then, have fun reminiscing and sharing!!

Hope you have enjoyed following along with the first couple days of the project as we set our compasses for the remainder of the project and start to get a little nostalgic about our loves and relationships.  We have looooved seeing your pages so far and hearing the positive responses to the project!  If you haven’t started yet, that’s okay, there’s still plenty of time to dive in!  Really, this is a go-at-your-own-pace kind of project.  And if you need to catch up on the organizational posts (schedule, giveaway/prize details and such) feel free to check out the first post to capture all that information.

These first few prompts have been kind of easing us into the mind-frame of getting reflective and remembering the core of goodness that is in every relationship.  I know I’ve really appreciated setting aside some time to consider my hopes for my relationship and in looking back at the earlier days. I’ve been feeling really full of happy, I have to confess, as I think back to beginning.  I’ve been reminded of all the fun little goofy and sweet and romantic moments of falling in love with this man by my side.  The falling in love part is different from the staying in love part.  Both are beautiful, but the falling part is….special.

And that’s where we are with day three.  We’re in the thick and the thrill of the falling.

With this prompt, let yourself really dive into those feelings.  Maybe you still feel them, or maybe they are long gone, but I think there’s a lot of happy and calm to be found in letting yourself relive them a little bit.

Some things to consider…what kinds of activities did you and your loved one do together then?  How did you speak to one another?  Did you give lots of gifts, share lots of affection, get more romantic?  Did you spend hours talking?  Did you spoon?  Did you make people roll their eyes with your gooped-up-in-love behavior?  Could you not stop smiling?  Could you not stop thinking of your sweetie?  Did you daydream about your future?

Start thinking of these things and others and then put the figurative pen to paper and just scrap about those feelings.  Maybe a stream of consciousness kind of journaling, maybe a list, maybe a story of a special moment, or THE moment you knew you were really in love.  This is the courtship page.  We hope you’ll just have fun and get a little giggly and full of fond memories as you remember.

Maybe you can dig up some photos from those first days.  Or if you don’t have many, maybe just use a more recent photo, or go photoless.  I think you’ll find the main objective with this prompt is *mood*.  Most importantly just have fun and scrap as you are comfortable.

Here’s our plays for remembering the courtship…

I just love Crystal’s fun photo and her beautiful use of color and tones to convey a wonderful calmness and cohesiveness.  The whole page has a fabulous love worn look to it that I just fell in love with the moment I saw it.

and mine…which boo! is missing at the moment.  I’ve been fighting with Photoshop this evening (which is mostly why this post is so dreadfully late today) so I will be back as soon as it bends to my will to share my take on this prompt too.  I wanted to get this post up though before today became tomorrow.  lol!

We hope you’ll have fun meandering down memory lane and hope you kind of feel like I did…almost as though I was re-feeling the falling.  Fun fun!!

Please come back and link us to your page for day three, whenever you can.  We’d love to share in this journey with you!

And don’t forget to hop over to Crystal’s blog tomorrow for day four when we start to get into a little meatier (but fun!) territory.

Happy Scrapping!!