Oh man, this is a fun post! I’m about to introduce you to some great people.
In my previous post, I shared the story behind the name Fernway and the purpose of this blog.
To give the Sparknotes version,
I want this blog to be a source of inspiration and encouragement to live life to the fullest, by embracing the gifts you’ve been given…
which is why I’m writing a blog post titled, “My People.”
I want to introduce you to some pros in this field. People who have a contagious excitement and constant creativity towards life.
No one has taught me this better than the people I love most in this world, my family. (& my future husband. I love saying that.)
For each introduction, I’m going to simply list off a few of the practical things they do that have inspired me, in hopes to give you some ideas you’ve never thought of! Or, by sharing the ways each of them started, you’ll get the courage to actually try one of them! (First projects are rarely our best work, but starting is the hardest part…)
As the blog progresses, I’ll be featuring some of their projects, so if something inspires you, stay tuned!
I share these ideas in hopes that maybe the way my people are intentionally pursuing their gifts could inspire or encourage you to do the same with yours.
Without further ado…
Meet my mom, Melissa Skidmore.
I figured it was only right to introduce my parents first since they were the ones who fostered our creative hearts since day one.
She uses her gifts of creating beauty- whether it be decorating our house or tending to our backyard- as a vessel for bringing people together…
1. Collected vintage linens from yard sales & Goodwill and sewed them into adorable aprons. (She sold them in a local coffee shop & store downtown!)
2. Always picks up pretty paper plates & napkins (Meri Meri is a favorite brand) to keep handy for throwing a party together last minute.
3. Had the idea to host ‘Smores at the Skidmores’ where we open invite anyone & everyone to our backyard for a night of smores. (We’ve been doing these for years now! It’s ‘Cereal at the Skidmores’ in the winter & everyone brings a box of cereal! We provide the milk, bowls, & spoons!)
4. Created a front door wreath for a friend, which slowly grew into a wreath making business.
5. Started a blog….& publisher found her blog years later, & led her through the process of writing a BOOK! You can but it HERE! Go Mom!
6. Has shopped yard sales for years & reads decorating magazines & blogs to gather ideas for creating a welcoming home.
Meet my dad, David Skidmore.
The man who survives a house with four girls on a daily basis & the man who keeps us constantly laughing. Though his creativity may look different than his girls’, he’s our go-to guy when it comes to creative storytelling, writing, or teaching.
1. Works the newspaper crossword puzzle every day & ‘phones a friend’ when he needs help on a certain word.
2. Watched the TV show LOST weekly with a group of friends & stayed up late to analyze the show & write his thoughts…which grew to become an email list of thousands of people across the world known as “LOST Thoughts.”
3. Always carries around a stack of books…typically including one on Mister Rogers.
4. Choreographs an epic lip dub on our mission trip every year in Mexico…including over a hundred people & dozens of costumes.
5. Dressed up like Waldo on Good Morning America just to make his family laugh.
6. Speaks to thousands of teens every year using powerpoint visuals & great stories to encourage teens.
Then there’s Anna Belle, my middle sister!
She’s the peacemaker of the family. Always chill & making us laugh with her comments.
1. Picked up running her junior year of high school and wake ups early to run before school every morning. Takes joy in designing her own workouts.
2. Learned how to watercolor & focused in on perfecting watercolor florals & sells them on note cards.
3. To document her senior, she recorded every day in a scrapbook & filled it with tiny pictures, stickers, scrapbook paper & momentos capturing random moments. (It truly is a work of art, can’t wait to show you!)
4. Since high school sports felt too consuming, she found a flag football league in a neighboring town & a local indoor soccer league and jumped right in!
5. Eats a mini bowl of homemade granola every night (made by her & Lila Mae)! You can find the recipe in this cookbook!
6. Developed a passion to learn Spanish on our family mission trips to Mexico & took 5 years of Spanish in school so she could communicate to the people there…which led to tutoring in high school & pursuing a job to teach English as a second language to kids here!
Meet, Lila Mae. (AKA. Pookie. Squishy. Itchy Scratchy. Hoss. Gramps.)
My littlest sister, who forever goes by a nickname in our house.
1. Reads cookbooks like novels, & always has one by her side. (Here are two of her favorites…this one & this one.)
2. Taught herself how to weave at the age of 11 off of a loom she received as a Christmas gift & now sells her weavings in local shops & off her Instagram account, Lila Mae Looms!
3. Taught herself the art of hand lettering by lots & lots & lots of practice. No blank page was safe at this house!
4. Through her love of textiles, she’s branched off into learning macrame & punch needling!
5. She’s had a love of listening to music since she was a toddler! In our car, the shotgun seat is saved for the DJ, which is always her!
6. We call her ‘mom’ because she’s taken over the role of menu planning & cooking for the week. Her style of cooking is wholesome & fresh…typically featuring veggies & herbs from the garden!
& finally, meet my future husband, Elijah Montgomery!
He looks at the world with rose colored glasses & is always excited about the next idea. He’s got quite the entrepreneurial spirit, which makes me so excited about life by his side.
1. Always keeps a fishing pole in his truck to fish on a whim. It isn’t rare to see his truck pulled over on the side of a random road!
2. He’s passionate about duck hunting & takes pride in creating the equipment himself! (Building racks for rangers, brushing giant duck blinds, welding winches & engineering decoy machines.)
3. Built my entire shiplap wall craft show display by himself, where he first realized his building skills!
4. Created a business, Fernway, where he sells daybed swings, raised garden beds, planter boxes, Christmas tree boxes, lanterns & wooden ladders!
5. He’s a 50 year old man inside a 21 year old’s body, always checking up on real estate & the latest farms for sale. He’s never let age determine what he can or can’t do!
6. He’s been collecting power tools since he was 15 & is always prepared for the next project.
& then there’s me, Daisy Sue.
The girl who loves to create because of the people listed above!
1. In 7th grade, I started hosting “Crafternoons” at my house, where I led 10-12 girls in a couple of guided crafts!
2. In high school, I hosted several fundraiser dances with my best friends who all brought their skillset to create the most fun atmosphere….& the money always benefitted our friends who live at a children’s home in Mexico!
3. In middle school, I entered the Pottery Barn Teen contest online! With help from my dad creating a video of my room, I won a trip to tour their headquarters in California & was SO inspired by all the creatives who worked there!
4. One day, I sat in my front yard & drew my house, which led to drawing & watercoloring lots of custom houses.
5. Feeling nostalgic my senior year, I drew a picture of my high school that I gave to all of my teachers, which slowly led to Daisy Sue Design.
6. & my latest venture is this blog…where I can’t wait to elaborate on all of these ideas!
I hope that some of these ideas might have sparked one for you.
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Just keep in mind, every story will look different, but when we seek the Lord, I truly believe no story or gifts are better than another.
Let’s disregard what the world says you’re ‘supposed to do’ for what you were called to do. Use those gifts you’ve been given!
In what way could you be more intentional about pursuing one of your gifts today?
Daisy
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