Ordinarily Extraordinary

The Name is Staying

So the blog name is staying. I am however considering changing my twitter name to my full name. I have always gone by Amy Kiane online. Kiane is my middle name and it is so unique I have always loved it. (I’m researching it and plan to write about it here soon.) I have some ideas and hopes though causing me to think maybe it would be good to change it to my name that everyone knows me by in life. Still thinking through it as of now. 

When I posted about changing the blog name my twitter and blog friend Preston Yancey replied that he wanted to think about the name change, that Ordinarily Extraordinary seemed so right. Preston has been such an encouragement to me in my writing. His writing never fails to make me think and wonder. God has given Preston an amazing gift with words. So later that day I asked him why it ‘seemed right’ to him? This was his reply.

“Because when I think of Amy, I think of quiet, home, fires, simplicity, wood floors. These are ordinary things, made extraordinary.”

Then when he posts something like this in his Formica Friday about my blog and writing...well you can see why he is such an encouragement. (You have to scroll down a bit to read it.)

Thank you Preston. You made me remember why I chose the name in the beginning. While the focus and purpose of my blog has changed the heart behind Ordinarily Extraordinary hasn’t. I still want to see the extraordinary in what most see as ordinary. 

As I said in a recent post “For these ordinary moments of our days can become extraordinary in His grace.” 

Several other friends also replied they liked Ordinarily Extraordinary so after much thought and some prayer the name is staying. Thank you to all my friends who gave suggestions and their thoughts. 

The next month or so will still be a bit quieter than usual here as I begin the switch to the new platform and hosting and take care of some other projects on my list as well as simply enjoying what remains of our summer. I hope you'll keep checking back. I appreciate each of you who read and I can't wait to share the words God is giving me and the plans I have for the new blog. Thank you all so much for being a part of my journey!

 

This is Me.

Hi! I'm Amy. Welcome to my blog, Ordinarily Extraordinary. Thank you so much for stopping by. If you follow me on twitter you know me by @amykiane.

I decided to write this about me page after noticing new readers and well....I'm not sure I ever really wrote one. 

I'm a stay at home mom who works part time doing photography and substitute teaching. I've been married to my husband since 1997. We met at Jacksonville State University while in college. We have an amazing, creative and artistic child who prefers to be called Squirt here on the blog. I'm a native of Alabama having been raised in northeast Alabama and now live in the east central part of the state.

I have loved to read and write for as long as I can remember. Blogging and writing are my outlets. It's how I process. I laugh and say it keeps me out of therapy. 

When you don't find me doing laundry or substituting you can catch me writing, scrapbooking or with a camera around my neck or wrist and lately painting. I love music which is usually blaring loudly during the day when I'm home alone. There is never enough time for me to play the piano as much as I would like. I'm a plain jane. I've had gray hair since the age of twenty-two and I refuse to color it. I don't wear make-up and I'm okay with that. I'm a rebel in that way. 

Why did I choose Ordinarily Extraordinary? Because every life, no matter how ordinary it may seem, is extraordinary. Sometimes we have to look, but every day is filled with the extraordinary masquerading as ordinary. It's up to us to slow down and see the extraordinary gifts of grace God gives us. Every person has their own extraordinary story to tell.

My blog first began about four years ago as a way to share my crafting, photography and our family life with friends and family. But as with everything in life it has evolved. I still share those, but I'm also finding my voice to share more of my faith journey. You can read more of that here and here. As my Squirt has grown he likes less and less for his photo to be taken and while I still share a lot about him it's becoming more of his own story to one day tell and less of mine. So just as he has grown and I've grown and changed so has my blog. It's my place to share my thoughts. I can write without needing to be perfect, write to process all God teaches me and hopefully encourage others along the way.

I hope you'll visit again soon. And say hello so I can visit you. 

 

Piano Practice

He was supposed to be practicing his song for lessons this week. Instead he was composing his own song. I let him go for awhile, but then had to be the mean mom and insist he practice for his lessons. (And yes this post is mainly for the grandparents and family.) :)

Active

I chose two words at the beginning of 2010: active and story. How these two words played out in my life surprised me. First let me tell you about active.

I have never been a very active person. Not physically, socially or in any way really. I'm not using this as an excuse. It's how God made me. I'm perfectly content to sit snuggled on the couch with a blanket and a good book. Being the introvert that I am I don't need a great deal of social interaction. I have a few close friends and I'm content.

I have never enjoyed exercise or any physical activity really. But as I slowly inch closer to 40 my body doesn't keep weight off as easily. So active was my primary word for the year.

I failed miserably at being active the first half of the year. I tried to get back into a routine of walking and did okay, but age creeping up on me seemed to be halting my metabolism. I give up easily.

Summer arrives and while Squirt is in golf clinic I decide to walk on the treadmill at the fitness center. I also decide to try running. I barely make it one-tenth of a mile and my lungs and shins are killing me. I try several times but always end up with the same pain. So I settle for simply walking. And for about 6 weeks I do pretty good. But something begins to bother me. I've never been a runner. I'm the girl who finagled ways to get out of running that mile in the one semester of PE I had to take in high school.

I ask my chiropractor about my shins. Shin splints just as I suspected. He tells me two simple things to do to improve them.

Then the motivation I needed happened. My sister gets engaged. That though is only part of the motivation. While trying to find a dress for her wedding I happen across one at a store where I never buy clothing. I try on a size ten. It fits, but is a smidge snug. My mother advises me to get the size twelve.

I won't repeat the thoughts slashing through my mind at that moment. This is a family friendly blog after all. I bought the size ten.

So I begin again trying to run. A tenth of a mile during my three mile walk. The two simple things recommended for the shin-splints work. The pain is much less and decreases each time I run. Slowly I try building up my distance.

By this time it is September and time for my sister's engagement photos. She was so skinny I knew I had to kick it in gear. I couldn't be the pudgy sister in the photos.

Determination set in and every few days I added more running. I also went up to a total of 4 miles run/walk five or six days a week. Soon I was up to half mile intervals.

And to my surprise the weight started melting off. My metabolism had been jump started. My dress fit great for the wedding.

But I didn't give up. Even after the wedding I stuck to it. I never weighed before I started running so I'm not sure about exact weight lost, but it's close to fifteen pounds. Two pants sizes down. I even miss it on days when I don't run. I can walk up stairs or walk around all day on a field trip and never have to catch my breath.

I had a set back the weekend before Thanksgiving. Somehow I hurt my ankle. It seemed okay on Monday so I ran/walked pushing harder. Bad idea. The ankle was unhappy. I am still not sure how I injured it, but running on it must have ended up spraining it. It was swollen and bruised. Being the week of Thanksgiving and the Alabama/Auburn game I couldn't keep off my feet. After three weeks of trying to stay off of it, it felt well enough to start back. Fortunately my metabolism didn't slow down too much during the three weeks off and I'm back to running the distance before the injury. I only run a mile at a time and I alternate running/walking which seems to be the key to the metabolism boost.

I would be lying if I said I wasn't pretty stinking proud of myself. I never thought I would be able to run. I know though that none of it is done on my own. Most of my running is done while praying. Never could I have done this in my own strength or determination.

A friend shared a quote with me when I first started running. I don't know who to give credit to, but I say it to myself often when exercising.

"Pain is weakness leaving the body."

It has been painful, but I am stronger for it. For every step I run a little less weakness, a little bit stronger. I’m not kidding myself though. It’s not my own strength. And for that I’m thankful.

Now how to tell about story? Until next time.

My Little James Bond

My Squirt has never worn a suit. He's never worn a tie. He's never worn a tuxedo. I guess there's a first time for everything though so when my sister married he was a junior groomsman and wore a tuxedo.

He pretended to be James Bond all day. Love that imagination. So here's photo overload of my little James Bond.

Meeting Lisa Leonard

I'm a bit behind in blogging about meeting my favorite jewelry designer. Lisa Leonard was in Alabama and asked Rachel of Alabama Bloggers and a couple of other bloggers to host a meet-up.

It was the day before my sister's wedding so knowing I would be in Birmingham anyway I figured out a way to get to the meet-up. I love both the Be Still necklace as well as the mini open circle necklace. The pieces are perfect for me. Simple yet meaningful.

Meeting Lisa was such a pleasure. She is so down to earth and kind. I wish I had been able to hang out longer and spent more time getting to know her. Thanks to the world of blogging though I can keep up with Lisa via her blog and twitter. (I'm sure if you're reading my blog you already know about her though.)

Oh and of course I bought another necklace.  :)

Whitney and Ben

My little sister got married so of course I have to share photos. Still tons more to edit, but thought I would share these few for now.

Of course she had to have a bouquet of gerber daisies. Hers and my favorite flower.

My sis and her new husband. And yes we like him. Squirt adores him and is thrilled he can now call him Uncle Ben so that's all that needs to be said. Sorry Whit you are now further down on Squirt's list like I am.

She wore yellow shoes. Yes she has to be different.

These are their 'boys'. Prince and little Chip all dressed up in their bow ties for the occassion. (I still wonder about my new brother-in-law with his choice of a poodle for a dog.)

The city of Gardendale was so nice to color their fountain to match my dress for my sister's wedding. Not really. It was colored for breast cancer awareness month, but seriously how cool that is was this color on her wedding day? I only had my sunglasses on me so I think I look a bit odd without my glasses on in this photo. Oh and that quilt she's sitting on was made by one of our great grandmothers.

They all wore yellow shoes.

And of course one of my Squirt all dressed up in his tuxedo. He's never even worn a tie or suit before. He thought he looked like James Bond. His coolness factor was definitely very high that day. Isn't he handsome?

This one might be my favorite photo of the day. She doesn't like that her mouth is so wide open, but I love how she's laughing. Wish I knew what she was laughing about.

And of course she has to be different to the very end. Most brides have bird seed thrown or bubbles blown. Not her. Nope. Let's be fire harzardous as well and do sparklers. Very appropriate though since her favorite holiday is 4th of July and Ben proposed on July 4th. Yes. She managed to plan a wedding without any snafus in just 3 months. Only my sister could manage that.

Project Life: August 16 - 22, 2010

Welcome back to another week of my Project Life photos. Be sure to check out Jessica Turner's blog for more Project Life links on Tuesdays. Also check out the last photo's caption for a link to a music giveaway I have going on over at Alabama Bloggers.

Monday, August 16, 2010 - DH sat down pecking out keys on the piano and the little cat kept going back and forth, up and down underneath the piano hearing the sounds. It was so funny, but of course by the time I got the video camera out he was tired of the game.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010 - Every few summers when we have a hot, dry summer these spider webs or whatever they are show up in the trees. It's not very pretty.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010 - I spent a couple of days last week and this week helping a dear teacher friend of mine fluency test students at two of our schools.

Thursday, August 19, 2010 - I made the ultimatum. Either get some of the legos put away or else. So DH and Squirt pulled them out and tore the kits down and put each kit in its own extra large ziploc bag.

Friday, August 20, 2010 - Could it be? Can I actually see the carpet? I spent the day cleaning house which was much needed and thanks to DH and Squirt his room is clean. Now how long will it last?

Saturday, August 21, 2010 - As I was making my way back home from downtown I noticed a tree at the corner of the student parking lot had been rolled. Probably in celebration of the football team's football win the night before.

Sunday, August 22, 2010 - I didn't get a personal photo for today, but I had an afternoon session with a friend of ours who needed some updated photos for his website. I laughed so much during this session. He couldn't keep a serious face when I was taking photos of him and would burst out laughing which didn't help my camera shake at all, but we managed to get some good shots I think. At least I hope he thinks so. And I have a giveaway open to anyone in the U.S. of some of his music in a guest post over on Alabama Bloggers. Just leave a comment on this post for a chance to win.

It's time to jump.

As I mentioned in this post a couple of months ago, I was approached by a friend to consider beginning a Backpack Buddies program in our schools.

To be honest when she approached me I wasn’t exactly sure what she was thinking asking me. At the time I had enough going on with family that I really didn’t think much more about it.

Fast forward a few months. Summer begins. And well……God started changing my heart about it.

Could I really do this? Could God really use little me to begin this here in our small town? I have no experience in beginning a program like this. I have never liked being in charge of anything. (Okay there is that exception of bossing my sister around when we were young.)

I really wasn’t sure. But again and again this need kept coming to my mind.

And then this verse:

“For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place……………And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?” – Esther 4:14.

Maybe. Just maybe.

So I began. Ever so slowly I began. Researching. Contacting a program like this in the Birmingham area. Speaking with the principle and superintendent.  Asking a friend with more experience in volunteer work to help me. Prayerfully approaching my Sunday school class to ask them to consider taking it on as a mission project.

I’m a turtle when it comes to beginning projects without a real deadline.

So here I am. I will be introducing the program next week to the teachers at the school where we plan to begin. Making contacts to get donations. Waiting to see how many children will need this. And I'm sure many other things I have no idea about yet.

It’s all a bit overwhelming really, but here I am. Wondering where this part of my journey will take me. And with prayerful steps.....I jump.  

What about you? Have you had to say a prayer and take that jump?

Peace

The magical time when daylight merges with dusk.

As the tinge of pink sky melts into the darker blue of night.

Birds still chatter as the crickets and cicadas crescendo and decrescendo warming up for their nightly songs.

This time, this merging....

This is when my soul feels at peace.