A bit of news and a book review!!

I'll start out with the news... our family is sooo excited! We have a contract on a house! It is a beautiful house with lots of room for our family, for us to (once again... finally) be able to entertain guests, and with a backyard for our little girl to have room to run!! I'm eager for that closing date to get here, but I've been keeping very busy with packing! Can you believe it's been almost two years since we sold our last home? I'm sooo ready to be in a home again!! And we are thrilled to be able to move into the neighborhood that we have dreamed about for years! (it just feels like home!) :) Prayers are very much appreciated though... that all will go well and that the transition will be smooth. :) In the mean time, I have a cute little helper!!! :)

A second item of news, my friends Brittany and Jenny have started a great new blog: Chapel Cottage Chicks!!! I love they're vintage cottage style, and I am working on getting them to make a "house call" after we get settled a bit!! ;)

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And now for the book review: I saw this book and thought, what a fun book to review for the 4th! So what better time to (finally) get this review posted! ;) I grew up with the Berenstain Bears as I'm sure many of you did as well. Both Stan and Jan Berenstain have passed away, but their son Mike continues to write and illustrate new books. These new books, under the Living Light series, are based on Christian principles! (you can read a bit more in this article.) So now, these favorite bears aren't just cute stories, but they are helping kids learn about God!

God Bless Our Country is a very fun book that has a brief overview of our country's history. I love that the illustrations are in part bear versions of famous paintings from America's history (including Washington crossing the Delaware and the signers of the Declaration of Independence.) Is it a history book? no... but it is a fun introduction to our nation's beginning appropriate for young children.

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Thanks to BookLook for the review copy... my opinions are my own. :)

Feeling a bit crafty!

Well, I've found a bit of my crafty spirit! :) I made this fun fall bow for Joy! She has a candy corn shirt and it makes such a fun accessory!

I've also been feeling a bit of knitting inspiration!! I fell in love with this pin a while back, and since I've yet to finish a hat for Joy (so sad, I know!) I decided she needed a fun hat from mommy before the cold weather sets in! This hat has gone very quickly, I'm already on the decreases! And it IS fun to knit something other than dishcloths! :)

 

So thank you, ladies, for your encouragement! It's fun to feel the knitting spirit again! I'm not sure if I'll start a whole bunch more projects, but this sure has been a fun one to get back into the groove for a bit! :) 

Valentine's Day Mantel

I hope you all are having a good week!! It has already been a busy week for us! I wanted to pop in and share our Valentine's Day mantel.



I didn't do much different from last year, but I have been enjoying it. Although with some of the beautiful weather we had last week, I was about ready to go ahead and put my spring decor up. Not this week though... it's been cold and rainy, perfect weather for enjoying my cozy winter decor a few days longer. :)

I hope you each have a very happy Valentine's day!! 

It's a new year!

And, WOW, did it start off with a bang for us! I'll back up a bit though.... After spending a "Texas Christmas" with my family, we left Christmas Eve and headed to Tennessee to be with Mark's family. Part of the time we celebrated with his aunt and uncle in the southern part of the state, then the day after Christmas the whole crew headed up to the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area. We had rented a couple of cabins at a small retreat center there.

Hubby and I on a "hike" in the mountains.

We enjoyed spending time with family! We had a lot of fun playing games and visiting (and eating YUMMY food!) Our favorite attraction at Pigeon Forge was the Titanic Museum. Of course, I like about any museum, and this one was very well done. Another plus was that it wasn't overcrowded.  

We went with Mark's brother Ryan and his wife Mary while most of the rest of the family enjoyed the wild and crazy (and jam packed) Wonderworks. :) (Let's just say that the week between Christmas and New Years isn't the easiest time to enjoy this area of the Smokies... WAY too many people!)

On the way home, we spent Sunday with some wonderful friends: 

(Thanks for the picture, Brittany!) :)

We really enjoyed our visit with them, although as always, it was way too short!

After our stop in Alabama, it was homeward bound!! We got home with just a few hours to spare to celebrate the new year with my family!! The next day, disaster struck... the flu bug bit. Hard. Mark went down first and I followed close behind.  (Although my recovery wasn't quite as easy as his, my "bug" settled in my sinus and necessitated a trip to the dr for some antibiotics! Painful yuckiness!) We are so grateful to recover from that!

 This past weekend was also a big one for us as we celebrated Mark and Ryan's birthdays! Ryan's birthday is the 12th and he turned the big 3-0 this year! Mark's birthday was the next day, so as you might have guessed, I had two cakes to make this weekend!! :)  (But you'll have to wait to see... one of the cakes will be my finished object on Friday - just a week late...) :)

And thus explains my long blog absence!! :)  I will try to be a bit more faithful to this little blog, but it seems this year is already promising to be a busy and hectic one. I'm holding onto faith for good things this year! :)

Our 4th in Instagram

I hope that each of you had a happy holiday! I felt that this year I was able to take more time to celebrate, that the celebration had more meaning. Also our family was seeing the celebration through new eyes - our good friend, Andrew, is a newlywed and his new bride is from Belize. She was excited to celebrate the Fourth of July for the first time! (and we were excited to introduce her to American tradition!) ;)

I thought I would do something a little different and share snippets of our holiday from my phone pictures. If you are not familiar with Instagram, it is a popular smartphone picture editing application. Very easy and fun to use!

We started our celebration early by going to a local church on Monday and enjoying their holiday program.

It's always fun to celebrate with my hubby!

Our young friends enjoyed getting in on the celebration as well. (The fireworks show especially was a hit with the littlest one!) :)

We had fun making "pinteresting" things to eat!

I hope you had a safe and enjoyable holiday as well!

A little more patriotism

My new wreath isn't the only summer decorating that I have going on around here. I had fun putting my mantle together as well as a few more patriotic touches here and there.

Not sure if you can read it, but the "parchment" in the frame is the Pledge of Allegiance. :)

Our living room has a bit of a different set up recently:

We sold our couch to some newlywed friends. Although I do miss having a couch every now and then, I do enjoy the open feel of my living room. (Don't look to closely at that side table though... it is a work in progress!) ;) Here's a post showing how our living room used to be set up. Yes, I DO like the more open feel. Eventually we may purchase another couch, but it may be when we change homes. :)

On the piano:

I am enjoying changing the decor in my cloche - I love having that New Testament in there. Such a piece of my family's history! :) (It was the NT my grandfather received as a soldier in the Pacific in World War 2.)

How about you? Anyone else done some summery/patriotic decorating? I am going to put Mr. Linky up just for fun! Feel free to share your decorating post, or anything else really... I think I'm kindof missing linking up every other week... ;)

Finished Object Friday - Patriotic Wreath

As I said earlier, I've been doing a bit of redecorating around our house. I really enjoy decorating for the seasons - not only Christmas, but for each new time of the year. So, since it is now June and basically summer here in Texas, it was time to put away my springtime things and get out my summery decor.

I haven't been super thrilled with the little welcome sign I had on our door in previous years. So I decided to make a wreath. I bought a spool of burlap "ribbon" and wrapped a 12 inch wreath. (With 30 feet of ribbon, I had about a yard leftover.)

 Then Angie and I made flowers out of fabric and buttons that I had on hand. We attached them to clippies so they are removable! I can remake my burlap wreath any way that I want to... and having them on clippies helped us to be able to reposition them until they were where we wanted them. (This is where sis really came in handy. I knew if I kept working with them I'd probably never be satisfied with the placement. I just had her put them on, and it turned out really cute - and I wasn't tempted to keep fiddling with them! It's great to have her home for the summer!!) :) Cost for the wreath about $7.00.

So have you been making something patriotic? I'm excited to see what you all have been up to the past month!

Whirlwind

Not a literal whirlwind, thankfully! I hope we don't get too many of those this spring! (Although I've heard it's a good year for them, we haven't had too many in our area.) It just feels like my life is a whirlwind that just. won't. stop!

April absolutely flew by!! We had a big Easter - with a Kids' Easter program and a big church picnic - so fun!

Hubby and I on Easter Sunday

Then I had a small "spa party" at my house, then came  our church's revival services, and two more birthdays to help celebrate.

Spa Party - lip treatments :)

I also got to play "mommy" for a weekend. Faithie stayed with us while her parents went to a conference. We had a blast - getting dressed up for church, combing hair pretty, shopping for new shoes (and a few outfits) and reading Betsy-Tacy and the Bible before bed. Such a sweet girlie!

Thrifting with Faithie and my Mom

May has already started full blast, with company, helping a friend move and a big Sunday dinner at my house. Oh, my. :)

But it's a fun busy! And I've already got a mental to-do list for today... including some spray painting!

Speaking of projects... I've been thinking that FOF should probably be once a month. I don't like to keep putting it off, but I haven't seemed to be crafting quite as much as I used to, and (as you may have noticed) my posts don't always get up on the designated day. Any thoughts on that? I love sharing projects especially seeing what you all have been up to. I just feel like blogging (obviously) has taken a back burner to all the business of life... That can be good and bad... But I love this platform and sharing thoughts, events, and projects with my group of "blogging buddies!" Some of you I have never even met, but I feel that you are absolutely among my circle of friends, and I don't want to lose that! :)

Off I go to get some of those projects done.... ;)

Finished Object Friday: A Good Friday Object Lesson

As many of you know, Mark and I attend a small church here in East Texas. One of my main jobs in the church has been helping with the children. We have had kids off and on through the years, but we have had one family of kids that have been coming almost two years! They are such a joy to teach because they love to learn about Jesus. We have several more kids in our class, including the little girls that you see pop in here every now and then. My friend Lorie and I have been co-teaching (and Angie too, when she is home). We have several other helpers as well - my mom, for one, who plays the keyboard in our classroom. Sometime in the future I would like to do a post just to show the setup of our classroom and tell some of the things that we are using for discipline techniques and memory keys.

Anyway, for today I wanted to share the special activity I did with them Wednesday night to help us all to think on the awesome sacrifice that Jesus made when He died on the cross. First I read this book to them - a story about a town that was so caught up in all the fancy part of Easter, that they forgot what it was all about. Then I talked about why Jesus had to die on the cross and that He took on Himself the sins of the world - all of our sins. We read scripture verses about the burden He took to Calvary. Then each of us (teachers included) wrote the phrase "My Sins" on a piece of paper and nailed it to the cross. We talked about how we can leave our sins on the cross, that we don't have to carry them anymore.

(Sorry about the shabby phone pic... wish I would have grabbed my real camera...)

It was rather a hectic evening - everyone was kindof wound up. But I hope that even years down the road, that they will remember this lesson and the prayer we prayed!

And I hope that you can take something away from this as well. Maybe you have kids (or church kids) of your own and you are inspired by my little activity. On this Good Friday, may we remember that Jesus took our sins on Himself and bore our burden.

Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; 

Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 

But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities;

The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. 

Isaiah 53:4-5

Happy Valentine's Day!

Many blessings from our home to yours!

Share the Love!

I just wanted to share some of my Winter/Valentine decor.

I was so ready to get all my Christmas stuff put away (our tree takes up a lot of space in our living room!) And, yes, I've had it all down for a while! :) I'm just now posting, even though I've had it up a while, because... well... it took me a while to finish it. :)

I know that Valentine's Day isn't always "Sweetheart" day. Some of my close friends don't have a "Sweetheart." So, in my decor, I wanted to remind us of the most important Love that we all share - God's love! The New Testament above belonged to my grandfather. It was given to him by a chaplain in World War II. It is very special to me and I love incorporating God's Word into my decor!

I enjoyed making this wreath. I've been admiring the yarn wreathes on Pinterest for quite a while, and had fun making this one! (By the way, you can find me here on Pinterest! Come follow me, and I'll follow you back!) ;)
The whole mantle: The last finished bit was the frame with the vintage "valentines." Just finished that! 

(and in my hurry to finish this post, I didn't get a super clear picture. It's pretty cloudy today... oh, well. )

I really like how my wintery decor turned out, especially my piano!

I hope you enjoyed my little tour! :) I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day next week!

A Heart Full of Thanks

Each holiday is so full of expectation for me - especially at this time of the year. I hope for a picture-perfect holiday. But sometimes the picture doesn't look exactly like we had imagined it. I know we're not the only ones whose holiday isn't quite what they thought it would be. But that doesn't mean we don't celebrate, because we have so much to be thankful for!

Early this year I read the book 1,000 Gifts by Ann Voskamp. Her challenge to herself was to chronicle 1,000 things that she is thankful for. She kept a notebook nearby to write things down as she thought of them. I have been keeping my own list - though it is still quite short (I'm up to 83!) But I wanted to share some of the things I have been thankful for through this year.

1. God's Salvation plan for me
2. The mockingbird song in the night
11. A little girl excited to be knitting

18. Restful sleep
19. Yellow chair

 

20. Quiet mornings with God

29. Friday Shopping

31. My Piano!

48. Air Conditioning

68. The joy of spending time with family

69. Cornhole!

75. A hard working husband!

I'm also thankful for all of you!! Thank you for your support to us in the past year! Thank you for taking time to read my little blog and for coming on our adoption journey with us! Many blessings!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Chari Tree Chat

I didn't think it would be too hard for some of you to figure out where we've been! :)  Yes, I got to visit the famous Painted Parsonage!! :)  Yes, I got to go help spoil Baby Weston! Here we are shortly after our arrival:



We enjoyed worshiping at their church and seeing other dear friends!


And of course celebrating the 4th - Weston's first holiday!


Boys and noise!


Lots of fun times!
First bath:


Shopping trips:


We all had a blast together! Visiting, laughing, eating... The boys enjoyed having more people to play with. It was so enjoyable to be in their home. Brittany, as you know, has turned their house into a beautiful home. And it certainly is homey! Such a cozy place! I enjoyed making myself right at home and being able to help Brittany during the first week after Weston's birth. It was a privilege to be there and enjoy the newborn stage! :) Thank you, Brittany (Dave and boys, too!), for allowing us to come visit!!

And of course it was hard to leave! I got in a few last minute snuggles at lunch!


On the way home, we drove through Tuscaloosa and saw some of the damage from the tornado. They are still picking up the pieces of that terrible storm. It was a reminder to me of all the hurt that people have gone through and how they still need prayer as they put their lives and homes back together.



Crossing the Mississippi on the way back west.


The time we spent with our friends, celebrating their new little miracle, has made Mark and I even more eager to hold our little miracle. We spent some of the time on the road working on paperwork, and Mark has been working a bit more as I have been writing this post. There is sooo much for us to do, but it will all be worth it!

Happy Independence Day!

“You will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom! I hope you will make a good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven that I ever took half the pains to preserve it.”

– John Adams in a letter to his wife Abigail, April 26 1777

A List

Foseball.
and Laughter.
Bible stories.
Hot Tamales.
Prayer.
and Laughter.
Stick shift lessons.
Target practice.
and more laughter.

What do all these things have in common? These few (and many more) are some of the things I remember doing with my dad and some of them I STILL do with my dad!

Thanks, Dad, for being there. Thanks for the prayers and thanks for the laughter!! I love you!! Happy Father's Day!!

We Remember

Happy Memorial Day!

Finished Object Friday

First off - please remember those that were affected by the tornadoes in the last week! Quite a frightening experience! Those same storms were over us on Tuesday evening, but there wasn't the widespread damage as they have experienced. I certainly was relieved to hear from Brittany Wed. evening - they are all ok, but maybe still without power.
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Thanks all for the sweet comments on my Easter post. We had a wonderful day! But now it's time for Finished Object Friday! So here is my "object:"


Oh, wait... you've seen that picture before, haven't  you? Well, my sweater is my finished object! :)

I had my outfit together with a basic white jacket, but I wanted to find something a little more feminine/springy! After a bit of shopping (first online then at the store...) I figured I didn't want to pay $30.00 for what I wanted, and decided after looking at a few sweaters, "I can do this!" So I did!! (This sweater was my inspiration.) So I found this sweater on clearance:



Bought some fabric and cut out circles:

I bought a 1/4 of a yard and ironed it into thirds. Then cut the circles out (cutting three out at a time went soo fast! I ended up with more than I needed!) I then folded them into fourths before pinning them for placement. I used my sewing machine to sew them securely down - much faster than hand stitching! :) (Oh and the inside window of a paper cd sleeve was the perfect size circle!) :)

Here it is up close:


The whole project came together very fast with minimal frustration. (Although I did tack the collar down once while sewing a "petal." Out came the seam ripper!) :)  And I had my fun, fluttery, feminine cardigan for Easter morning! :) 

So now it's your turn to share! What fun projects have you had up your sleeve? :)

Easter

I hope you all had a joyfilled Easter day! We certainly did. I wanted to share a few pictures from our day.


Hubby and I in our Easter finery! :)



Family picture!


The girlies were precious decked out in their Easter dresses!


Our church had an Easter picnic - so fun to be all together on a very special day!



After the meal, the kiddos had an egg hunt.


After a busy weekend, this is about how we all felt:

That picture totally cracks me up! :)

Coming up this week - I have a couple of books to review and then Finished Object Friday! :)