a fun thing from Friday

Happy Tuesday, friends! I hope your week is off to a great start! Why do I love this saying so much? I want it be said of me when I look back at this time in my life. I'm having to be someone I never planned on being: tough, assertive, confrontational, and unafraid to speak my mind. I have undergone a major transformation this summer when my world fell apart, and the old me is forever dead and buried. I don't think this is a bad thing, though, and though I'm surprised at this new version of myself, I'm not going to lie; I kind of love her. I know that's why I'm drawn to this saying above. But enough about all of that...

Speaking of that, here's how my weekend started on Friday:

I picked up my dear friend Marilyn, and we took a little field trip together. I've been wanting another tattoo, and after my dad died, I found an old card and knew immediately what I wanted. I didn't tell anyone I was doing this other than my sons, and two friends: Andrea and Marilyn. I asked Marilyn to come with me, because it's never fun getting a tattoo alone. And it turns out that she had the idea to take pictures for me! 🤣

My face here is terrible and funny all rolled into one. 

I always love the funny things you see in a place like this. I took the card with me to my appointment, and they made a copy of it onto a transparency that had ink on it; Chris applied it to my arm where he thought it would look the best, and after I approved it, he started. By the way, I appreciate that he did what he thought was best. It's a little bigger than I thought it would be, but he said with writing you can't make it too small or it'll look blurry, and he wouldn't go any smaller than what he suggested. 

Here's me looking away, because I never want to see a needle going into my arm, either for bloodwork or for a tattoo. Meanwhile, Marilyn apparently had no issue looking, watching, and getting up close and personal! 🤣 She had never seen anyone get a tattoo before, and was curious and had questions. Chris was incredibly nice and answered them all; I love that he was willing to talk about what he was doing and showing her how the needle worked with injecting ink into the second layer of your skin. 

It got a little awkward since his face was right at my arm, and I kept accidentally grabbing the bottom of his shirt. 🙄🤪

And here was what the finished product looked like. I love it! I wanted it on my right arm facing me so that I could read it; I don't care that other people can't read it, because it's not for them but for me. Here's the story behind it: 

After Dad died this summer, I was looking through cards one day and found one he'd given me for one of my birthdays. I'm a words girl, remember? Whether spoken, written, or shown, words and words of affirmation are extremely important to me. Anyway, I had always loved Dad's handwriting and how neat it was; I also loved how he signed his name to everything with his super swirly D's for either "Daddy" or "Dave". That being said, when I found this card with his signature, I knew that was what I wanted for my third tattoo. 

Since I've been reading the Bible chronologically with The Bible Recap community this year, I've loved hearing how Tara Leigh Cobble refers to us as His kids; one of the names of God is Abba Father which translates into "Daddy" or "Dad" in the original language. God is such a great Dad to His kids, just like my dad was a great dad to me. So seeing this signature of Dad's reminds me of my heavenly Father; He is the ultimate Daddy to me, and He has carried me through the hardest time of my life this summer. I know He will continue to, and I love saying to Him at the end of my prayer time, "I love You, too". So now when I look at this, though it does remind of my precious Daddy that is with Jesus now in Heaven, it also reminds me of my heavenly Father, and how He loves me. I've already looked at it countless times and have told Him in prayer how much I love Him in return.

The Lord shows me His love for me in a million little ways everyday, and He continues to show up and be so very good to me. He is God, therefore He is always good! It's the only way He knows how to be, since it's His nature to be that way. This is why I love keeping a running list of all the ways He cares for me; if you're a believer, you should consider this for part of your quiet time. It is truly life changing, seeing all the ways of how He takes care of us and watches over us. 

I love tattoos, and while they're not for everyone, I love that my three have meaning. Here are the others I have:

The same Chris did my first tattoo of this heart in February of 2020. I remember asking him if it mattered which arm it went on, but I knew I wanted it to be small and on the inside of my wrist. When he answered my question of which arm it should go on, he asked me if I wanted to see it a little or a lot, and was I left or right handed. I said I wanted to see it a lot, and that I was left handed, so he said it should go on that arm. I love that he was knowledgeable and informative about the little details like that. The heart looks crooked, but it's one I designed, and I wanted it like that for a reason. It reminds me Deuteronomy 6:5 and is a visual reminder to pray that over my sons:

Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. That is my greatest prayer for my sons, their future spouses and kids if that Lord has that in store for them in the future, and for all of my bonus kids. I pray it over them every time the Lord lays them on my heart. 

And my second tattoo was one I got last year with Drew; we went in October. 

I love that he and I have this memory together! We went to another place for these that we each got, and though he did a good job on both of us, I will keep recommending the place I went to for my other two. The cross is an obvious symbol, but it was more that Drew said he would get a matching a tattoo with me that made me get this second one. Mine is on the inside of my right wrist, and his is on his left thumb. He told me a few weeks after we got these that the one we got that night was his favorite. He also has three, but his other two are much larger; one is on the underside of his left forearm, and he one on his left thigh as well. 

Here I was the next morning when I took the bandage off. It always stays a little red and puffy for a few days, but that will go down, and it'll be smooth once again. 

Do you have thoughts about tattoos? Would you ever get one? If so, what would be of and where would it be? I'd love to hear from you on this! Thanks for reading my blog today, friends. Love to all! 

I'm linking up with Joanne for today's post.