for your viewing pleasure

Some photos of life around here over the last week or so:

Home Made Pizza!

And Crazy Bread

Silly Kitty, Sinks are for Kids!

Remind you of anything?

Happy Birthday Elizabeth

Don't give up on me yet!!!!

I have been sooo busy this month - tons of doctor/therapy appointments, plus trying to do things with the kids to prepare for Christmas, knitting hats like mad (it takes a lot of time to knit 11 hats, but I'm over half done now!).

News around here - Esther got stitches, but they are out and she will have a scar above her eye, but nothing serious.   Esther has not been sick even once since we started thickening her liquids back in September - YEAH!!!  Dayton is feeling better after exrays revealed that he was all blocked up - things are working much better now, poor guy.  Elizabeth is now 5 years old, and I am one year older as well.  Our front yard turned into a lake last weekend, but the flood waters receded quickly.  I got a wonderful tuned wind chime for my birthday from Daryl - I've wanted one for years!  And I have been nearly swamped with sewing for orders as I try to use up our remaining fabrics to fill orders...

I have a few good blog subjects floating around in my head, so you can look forward to those next month!

That's all I have time for - I promise to be a better blogger after the holidays!

The Big Snow and other things

Esther last month...getting so grown up! And her hair is so long!

Here's a great comparison of how much Esther has grown in the last year!

Esther was a little chunkier at 1 year...and don't you love that diaper???

Now for some recent happenings around here.  We got SNOW!!!  And it stayed for over a week - first was a doozy of a snow/wind storm, so windy that we had snow plasted to our siding 5 feet up under our 10 foot porch roof!!

It was an amazing night - wind whistling through the porches, snow blowing so thick at times you couldn't see past the porch,  and watching Pirates of the Caribbean!

Esther got her first adventure in the snow earlier that day...we had woken up to a dusting of snow...we had no idea what was coming our way...over and over again!  It snowed off and on for almost a week, and then Thanksgiving day we got snow all day - about 5 inches in all!  The kids were even attempting to snowboard and ski down our drainfield slope (didn't work well, but they had fun trying!).  Here you can see how the snow was impailed on the side of the house despite that huge porch roof!  So much for a safe, dry place to keep your boots and chairs!!!

And here's my mountain of laundry that I did the weekend before Thanksgiving...I even got it all put away for the first time since we moved into this house, I think...what with being pregnant, bed rest, Esther's adventurous first year, running the business and all...I never seem to quite catch up...it was a wonderful feeling to know that all the clothes were in the drawers and easily found by all!
I have so much more to share, but, alas, it is shopping day and I must get a move on!  I have a bunch more photos to share with you and I will do my best to get them posted soon...but I have really been enjoying my time away from the computer and spent with my family!

And the winner is.....

Melissa - she is a follower on this blog and live in Texas!  So, Melissa, you need to send me your full name and address to my email and I'll ship the coffee and hot pad to you next week!

Sorry I didn't blog at all this week - I thought about it and took some great photos, but I was super busy staying at home and catching up on laundry and working to get our inventory of fabrics, notions and snaps up for sale...I'll take some time next week, I hope, to blog about some of the great, funny, wonderful, weird and happy moments that have been happening around here!

Thanks for posting and following!  Stay tuned as I might do another contest before Christmas!

I need a little kick off....

I haven't had very many people follow my new blog yet...and I love feedback, and the comments have been few and far between as well....so here goes my first contest here!

I have a box of some of the best coffee I've ever tasted...Gavalia French Vanilla (This is some great coffee! ;~), and a hand knit hot pad made from yarn left overs....check it out, I really liked this little guy:

 

If you would like to win this box of coffee, please post a comment to this post, telling me how you first heard about this blog!

You can get your name entered in the drawing a second time if you click on "follow me"...I will automatically enter those who are already following me (all 9 of you ;).

You can get your name entered a third time if you will leave a comment on one other post I have made since I moved over to blogger on October 20.

I am willing to ship these to anywhere in the world, so location does not prohibit you from winning....but it would be awesome if someone local won!

I look forward to meeting you all!

I'll draw the winner using a random number generator a week from tomorrow, so you need to have all your entries in by 6 pm PST on November 19.

Thankful week #2

OK, so I am not getting time to blog everyday...that's just not realistic for me right now...so I'm going to post occasionally what I am thankful for during this month of Thanksgiving!  I'll post some random photos between my thoughts on what I am thankful for this week...but I reserve the right to post more often than once a week ;)

Elizabeth fell asleep reading Calvin and Hobbs...
wonder what she dreamed of that night???

I am thankful for a church that believes in the inerrancy of Scripture - Christ Alone, Scripture Alone, Salvation by Grace Alone...and doesn't pussy foot around the truth to tickle our ears...

Esther loves her rocking chair and reading!

 I am also thankful for God working in me and through me to minister to other women...speaking the truth in love, having empathy for trials they are having that I have gone through, and a God who hears our prayers for others and always answers them (maybe not the way we expected, but He always answers them)

Did I say she loves looking at books?

I am so thankful that God has blessed us with 11 wonderful children, all sovereignly chosen for me by my loving Heavenly Father and brought into our family in His perfect timing.   I am so thankful for my friends who were willing to speak the truth to me in love about God's sovereignty and trusting God for our family planning so many years ago - in my weak, frail and finite human understanding I could not have imagined caring for, teaching, feeding, and loving 11 children, but I would not now want to live without any one of them!  Placing my trust in Him was a huge turning point for me - one of peace knowing that I didn't have to "worry" about planning our family anymore...you just can't understand this until you do it...do I struggle at time with leaving it in God's hand?  Yes, but that is when I lose that peace that God gives when we place ourselves in His loving hand to do with as He wills.

Esther loves board books, can you tell?

 I am thankful for days that I do not have to leave home...more time to love on my kids, cuddle with Esther, enjoy watching Jessica's horse graze in the front yard, enjoy my morning coffee slowly (had to nuke it I took so long)...and have friends over for coffee, knitting and great conversation!

Did I say she loves to sit in her rocking chair?
She looked a little hippy yesterday, but it was just too cute!
And her hair - it's getting so long!

 I am thankful that God gave me a blessing I would not have chosen for myself or our family - a child with trisomy 21...yet He gave us exactly what we needed...a blessing in disguise!  She is the light of our home, and laughter in our ears, and the hugs around our necks...I can not imagine life without her!

what can I say?  Our kids are a little goofy at times! 
Reuben is always ready to make us laugh, that is for sure!

This is what I get to do every night - check on sleeping Esther,
make sure she's snuggled and warm, and just love the sound of her soft breathing!

What are you thankful for that you would not have requested from God?  Something to think about!

Things I am looking forward to doing again....

There are many things that don't get done when a mom is too busy...and some of these little things can be so satisfying, so here's my list of things that I am thankful that I will soon have the opportunity to do again:
Put away folded laundry
match all socks
make bread from scratch
bake cookies
sew curtains/valances
sew clothes for my kids
catch up in my family scrapbook
read books to the kids
crochet and knit
Do a thanksgiving devotional every day the week of Thanksgiving
play games
take walks
bake oodles of Christmas cookies and candies
rock my baby
read to the kids before bed
pick up the violin again
Bake cinnamon rolls
teach piano lessons
being consistent in my discipline
string popcorn for the Christmas Tree
sing in a choir
play piano again
make handmade Christmas gift 
gardening (well, next spring)
canning (next year anyway)
teaching the kids as things come up
just sitting still and watching all the wonderful things that happen around here...

It's not that I haven't done any of these things in the last 6 years, but I have had so little time to spare, that the opportunities to do these things are few and far between, where-as before I was running a home business, most of those things I did almost every day, or every week, or every season....

Sorry no photos today, but I hope my list has brought mental photos to your mind and maybe gave you some inspiration of how you could bless your family this holiday season!  I am so excited to celebrate the holidays with out the pressures I usually have...I am hoping that in a couple of weeks things will be settled enough for Jessica to pretty much run things until they wind down....(probably wishful thinking, but I can hope, can't I??)

Thanksliving day #2 and 3

First of all, I am thankful for found things...I lost both an old coin and the memory card for my camera on Tuesday, and just could not locate them!  In the last few minutes, Jeremy found the coin and I found the memory card!
This is the 1943 dime I found earlier this week - I have had an offer to purchase this from me for $2 already!

The second thing I am thankful for (I missed yesterday) is my wonderful husband.  I am so thankful that God in His sovereignty put a road block in my way, showing me that I needed to break off an engagement.  After some time of bitterness, I once again returned to my Lord, and told Him that I would never look for a husband again...he's have to hit me over the head with one...and he did...2 weeks later!  My friend of over 4 years was God's sovereign choice for me. I am so glad that God loved me enough to not let me go my own way, but chose a much better path for me.  Daryl is the perfect person for me - calms me down when I'm freaking out, encourages me when I'd rather not even try, dislikes shopping when I would break the bank and over spend, and so much more! 
Now on to more mundane things...the last few days have been crazy for me - we were swamped with orders, so I have been working extra hours to help Jessica, sew inserts, cut fabric orders, and getting cuts ready for sewing.  I am sooo looking forward to the day when I no longer have to work, it's so hard on my family when I must work extra hours, especially hard on Esther. 
On top of that, I committed back in September to doing the activity/learning portion of our church's Keepers At Home program - teaching about sewing and home industry.  I had no idea when I committed to it that I would actually be going out of business, but isn't God's timing a little humerus at times!  So I prepared a 15 minute talk about different sewing skills, using them to bless our family and home, giving gifts, and potential for income.  The most important thing I shared in my opinion is that we should not take our husband/fathers income for granted - he works hard to supply our needs, and often never gets a say in how the money is spent...and sometime we spend it on frivolous things or misuse the things we have purchased with his hard earned income.   We can make the most of his income by being frugal, making things from scratch, purchasing materials and supplies for crafts second hand, giving hand made gifts instead of purchasing them, and shopping at second hand stores for our clothes and home things.  The evening was so much fun - I didn't get nervous at all, and had a great time teaching the 6 - 8 year-olds how to crochet...I am hoping a few of these girls come to my Sit and Knit tomorrow!
Yesterday was especially busy - it started out with work, then Jessica, Rebekah, Rachel, Reuben and I headed to court!  Jessica was in a car accident back in September where she had hit a stopped car from behind - she couldn't see it in time due to the intense rain, and she lost traction due to all the water on the road.  The ticket the police sent in the mail was for "following too closely" - which she wasn't doing...so she contested her ticket, and the judge threw it out as she was, by definition, not doing what the police officer charge her with.  That was a great learning experience for all the kids - Rachel was even called as a witness as she had been a passenger in the vehicle!  We also got to watch many other traffic violation rulings...it was awesome!  She was 1 of only 2 that was successful in contesting the traffic violation.  Rebekah used the opportunity to put her artistic skills to practice and made this wonderful sketch...

ThanksLiving...

You may think my title is a typo, but it's not.  Years ago we ordered a little box called "Thanks Living"...and it had a once-a-day-for-a-week little book of devotionals that taught about the pilgrims journey and survival.  We have used this little book almost every year since we got it!  It is so good to read about why we have a Thanksgiving holiday...and apply the things they learned to our lives today!
So I am going to blog as many days as I can this month about things that I am thankful for! 
I have so many things to be thankful for, that I will definitely not run out by the end of the month...but as you can tell from my attempt at 31 for 21, it is impossible for me to blog every day!
Since I didn't blog yesterday, I'll share two things I am thankful for today!

First of all, I am thankful that my Sovereign Lord and Savior chose me before the foundations of the earth to be His child, that He send His only Son, Jesus Christ, to this sinful earth, to live a perfect life and allow Himself to be cruelly killed by the very people He had come to save, and pay the price for my sins by taking them on Himself as He died and paid the price for my sin.  I am especially thankful that God chose to call me at a young age, so that I have served Him since I was young...not perfectly, and I definitely had time where I turned my back on Him, but I always knew that God had not walked away from me, but I from Him and all I had to do was turn from my wicked ways and He would welcome me back with loving arms and complete forgiveness for my sins. 

Secondly, I am thankful that my God also chose to save my children...those who are old enough to choose to accept Christ's offered salvation, have, and I rejoice that Jeremy, Jessica and Rachel have all made the step to be baptized, and that Jason, Jonathan and Rebekah have all decided to be baptized at the next opportunity!  Reuben has also shown interest in baptism, but we are encouraging him to wait until he is older and fully understands what a wonderful thing baptism is and what it means for him.

I lost my memory card while trying to add photos of Rachel's baptism this past summer (seemingly vanished into thin air), so you'll have to be content with this beautiful photo taken by my friend, Merianne, when we hiked up to Heather Lake last summer...it was God's amazing creation at it's best:

21 Things about Esther

This post is inspired by Ruby's Mom!
1.Esther is loved by God, and made in His image.
2.Esther is loved by her ten siblings, two parents, three grandparents, and lots of uncles, aunts and cousins!
3.Esther's Daddy knew she was going to be a special child even before she was born.
4. Esther Heavenly Father blessed her with an extra Chromosome that made her special before she was born.
5. Esther spent 11 of her first 16 weeks in in the hospital.
6. Esther had a VSD and an ASD that were repaired when she was just 3 months old.
7. Esther has low thyroid, and has trouble with aspirating liquids when drinking, but we thicken all her liquids and she does great now!
8. Esther loves unconditionally
9. Esther loves to laugh!  She also love to make others laugh
10. Esther learned to sit up at 8 months.
11. Esther learned to crawl just past 1 year of age
12. Esther learned to walk just last week (she is 25 months old)
13  Esther LOVES to read books!
14. Esther loves to push things around the house while walking behind them!
15. Esther loves it when we clap for her accomplishments
16. Esther can do most of the motions for "Itsy Bitsy Spider"!
17. Esther loves to give hugs (she pats you on the back - it's so sweet!)
18. Esther sucks her thumb.
19. Esther loves music...especially when falling asleep!
20. Esther loves ice cream
21. Esther loves to climb the stairs...up and down...up and down...up and down....

A Thief in the Night...

We have a robber who keeps stealing from us!  I've seen his foot prints, we see him running off when we come home, and he disturbs the peaceful tranquility of our cats...but he's just to stinking cute!

This was taken around 5:30 am earlier this week using my Iphone...

I have always loved Racoons, and I just love watching them...their hands are fascinating!  Their foot prints looks like little baby feet...just to cute!  Too bad they can be dangerous or I would love to have one as a pet! We try always feed the cats in the morning, so there isn't any left by evening, but I think he checks every night just in case...Jessica found a hole dug under her dog kennel gate, so we think Bandit was going for the dog food there...the cute little stinker is getting more creative!

I just found this photo again, sent to me by my friend, Nicole...her daughter was taking photos at the picnic:

Elizabeth and her new-found friend at the Christian Heritage Picnic (Photo by Jessica P)

And I finally got around to taking photos off my phone, 

so here's some things we have been doing in the last month or so!

The girls with Amy Vest at the Pure Heart Conference!

Jessica with her new horse, Celine...isn't she gorgeous? 
(I meant the horse, silly, but you are right, Jessica is beautiful, inside and out!)

Esther was being so cute - goofing off with Jason...she loves to make him smile!

 And this is me and my girls...they love to cuddle when I am in my recliner.
While posting these photos, Esther is sitting in my lap and totally enjoying the photos, laughing and pointing and waving...she especially liked the one with Jason - she was waving at Jason.  She's such a fun baby!

And one last note - can you pray for my friend, J., she had a beautiful little girl this summer with Down syndrome and she was diagnosed with a rare cancer...pray for God's peace in the midst of this storm...