This and That...Knit and Tat???

Life is so busy, and so much happens around here, so this is going to be a little of this and a little of that today!

Starting last week, I am hosting a weekly Sit N Knit afternoon!  Moms and their kids show up for a few hours of knitting/crocheting/cross stitching or whatever craft...or come to learn a new one!.  We talk and laugh, share what books we are reading, what our children are doing, but most importantly we have coffee and treats!  If you are interested in joining in on the fun, let me know and I'll get you the details!  I plan to continue to host these weekly creative sessions, and I am excited to see who God brings each week!

Today we had a total of 11 children come to play and all went very well...we did end up putting in a movie to help keep the mayhem at bay, but most of the time the kids were playing so nicely...and our kitty got lots of socialization!
Here's some photos from today's fun:

I took this photo to use on the invitations to our weekly Sit N Knit!

Ruth (of course not me!) knitting her second washcloth and doing a great job...she also learned to crochet a zig zag pattern for a baby blanket - her daughter wants to make it and she'll need to know how to help her! 

Jessica was in heaven today because there was this sweet little pink bundle to love on! 

Valle is working on her first hot pad, Rebekah is knitting a wash cloth, and Sharleen is crocheting/knitting a scarf!

 That happened this afternoon - here are some random photos from the last few days around here:

The boys hard at work on an engineering project...

Esther loves to stack anything...

but reading is her first love!

face painting gone crazy...These are Rebekah's legs, Dayton did the left one, Elizabeth did the right one!

God's Amazing Grace...

We have had two instances of God providing and protecting little Esther this weekend...

on Saturday I was outside working with Daryl to get the lawn mower running ( this was a 3 week battle...more on that later), and while I was doing that Esther was eating lunch with the children.  She choked on a piece of pizza...really choked...and Jessica was there and was able to use the first aid training she received while taking the Super Sitter Training Program a year ago.  She first made sure that Esther was in trouble, then removed her from her high chair and turned her over, a few pats on the back and the piece came up, but she intermediately swallowed it again and was choking again..she did that procedure again, and this time got it out of her mouth before she could swallow it again.  Praise God that Jessica had that training and was in the room with Esther when she needed the help!

Secondly, this morning Rachel helped Esther with her breakfast, fixing her "medicine juice" which has her vitamins, prevacid and thyroid medicine in it...then when she was out of the room, Jessica came downstairs and fixed Esther her "medicine juice" as she didn't see any tippy cup around...later we figured out the duplication and were concerned about over dose especially with the thyroid medication...but we found the first "medicine juice" tippy cup behind/under her high chair, nothing missing...phew!  Now I am sure the girls will be more careful about insuring that Esther has not already been served her "juice"...although I would be surprised if Esther would ever be able to drink two full tippy cups in one sitting!


This is what we are seeing more and more of - Esther standing...

Only this was the first time she was interested in trying to open a door...we are in trouble now!

There was a reason I moved over here...

It was in preparation for closing my businesses.  This is a monumental change for our family, but one the Lord has been leading us to ever since Esther was born.

We almost sold it back in early 2009, but it didn't work out at that time.  I won't go into details, but you can read more on the Snap-EZ Blog if you are interested.

For me personally, I am so excited about being able to be wholeheartedly involved in my family...100% of my time can be devoted to serving God, loving and supporting my husband, nurturing and training my children, managing my home...and if I have time left over, I hope to minister to others outside my family, both through hospitality here at home (my Sit and Knit afternoons for example), as well as through church functions. 

Please pray for us as we go through the process of closing the businesses, so that we can be the best stewards of what God has given us, both for now and for the future.

I pray you will have a blessed Lord's Day!

Ruth

Torture session completed this morning

I left at 7:45 am and returned at 11:30, drained, in a little pain, and ready for a long nap....what had I been doing?  Getting yet another tooth prepped for a crown.  Lying down in a quiet environment had it's benefits, but halving your mouth open the entire time (with a rubber dam in there) is just never an enjoyable experience.

I've had two crown's done in the past, but only on the lower teeth - today I learned something new - it is very difficult to numb the roof of the mouth, so they choose to just not do it (it's very painful to have a shot into the roof of you mouth they told me, and I believe them).  So, I felt all the scraping, cutting, whatever done to half of my mouth, and for the last hour I wasn't numb at all...I could handle it without hitting any one, but it took a lot of will power to lay their and not give any indication that I was being hurt by what they were doing to me.  I used a lot of what I have learned to get through childbirth, let me tell you!  I remember a discussion I had recently about sleeping at the dentist, I was tired enough, but I could not possibly sleep with that kind of pain...at least it wasn't constant, just random acts of torture, you know...

So I have survived....

As I got up from the chair, he told me that the tooth next to that one, did have a cavity that they filled as well and that it was so deep that he went ahead and did a build up for that tooth for a future crown...after going through what I just did, that was not good news.  He also told me that he had done a lot of work, and much of it above the gum line (I knew that...).  He said I would be sore for a few days and wondered if I wanted him to prescribe anything for it....man, that was not what I wanted to hear - for some reason doctors and dentists always under-estimate pain...I really think they should undergo these procedures so they can better understand what they are doing and what kind of pain is involved...

I am going to take some prescription pain meds now, as the ibuprophen is not kicking the throbbing...I did get a decent nap, but could not sleep comfortably with the left side of my face on the pillow...

I hope my day has blessed yours...(at the very least, I am sure you had a better day than I did and any problems you had now seem little...at least I hope so!).

To end on a better note, here's a photo of Esther I took last summer, displaying her great flexibility (I have no idea where the camera is at the moment)...

You can see her left foot is behind her head ;)

Welcome to our New Blog Home!

It took some work, but I got everything moved over here! So far I love Blogger...I love their "gadgets" so I can tell you easily about my favorite books, movies, and what I am currently reading (books and blogs!), and now you can follow me and I can tell who is following me! That will be an encouragement to me, for sure!

Let me know if there's something you'd like to see here that I haven't included yet! I still have to edit some of the old posts to remove business related things, but I'm sure you won't mind if I miss some things!
For today, I leave you with this sweet photo taken this summer of Esther enjoying our clover filled front yard:

Life around here...photos galore!

It's been a while since I posted photos, so I'm going to just post a bunch for your enjoyment, but I saved the best for last, so be sure to look at them all!

Above and below you see Esther is learning to walk and really enjoying!



Recently we harvested our potatoes...we had a great start to our garden, but after a few sessions weeding, they got the better of us, but thankfully, potatoes are not effected much by weeds!


Here is Esther reading...we were organizing our books and she took advantage of an empty lower shelf to sit and read a few books...just too cute!

Our days are busy, but that's the way this season of our life is - and I wouldn't have it any other way!

So much to do, so little time...

I'm not referring to my to do list for today, or even tomorrow....but the bigger scope of things...


Psalm 139:16 "Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them."
God knows how many days I have here on earth to do the work He has given me...but since I see through a glass darkly, the number of my days on earth and exactly what all He wants me to accomplish is not something I know.

Lately I have been thinking a lot about this - I have known two young people whose life on this earth was far shorter that I could have ever imagined! One was killed by a drunk driver, my neice, Leah, and the other was a son of a friend on mine who drowned in our local river while cooling off after work....I have heard of so many others whose lives seem to have been cut short, ended suddenly, without any warning....no good byes, no last opportunities to accomplish anything, no time for anything. I can't help but wonder what would go through my mind if I were to suddenly find myself staring imminent death in the face, with only minutes until I will face my Redeemer.



What would go through my mind...how would I finish this sentence:

If only I had......

This is a great thing to think about...for me, I find myself living through each day/week/month with little thought to what I am doing and planning, and before I know it, this day, this week, this month, this year has flown by and I find I really have no idea what I have truly accomplished.

I don't mean to be morbid, but I have been reading "Loving God with all your Mind" by Elizabeth George and she has much to say about the following passage:


Philipians 3:13,14 "I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

Am I pressing on toward the prize? Am I living every day to accomplish God's will in my life? Do I take the responsibilities God has given me seriously every waking moment? Am I loving/supporting/helping my husband as God wants me to? Am I raising my children in the fear and admonition of the Lord? Is my life, all I do and say, showing forth the light of Jesus to those I know and come in contact with?



But most importantly, when I come into the presence of Jesus, will He say to me "well done my good and faithful servant" (Matt 25:21) or will our conversation look more like this:

'Lord, Lord, did I not give my testimony, and go to many Bible Studies, and teach younger women to love their husbands, and do many other works in your name?' and Christ says to me 'I never knew you; depart from me, you worker of lawlessness.' (Matt 7: 22 & 23 with liberties taken)

It comes down to this - I must have a vital relationship with God, through Jesus Christ or everything I do is in vain. How can I have a vital relationship with God? I must spend time getting to know Him (His Word, The Bible), talk to Him every day, share my struggles, my victories, my fears with Him. Allow Him to help me, fill me, work through me...

Spending time everyday with God, is vital to "pressing on toward the goal" because only God sees the big picture, and only He can show me what I need to accomplish today/this week/this month/this year in order to accomplish the ultimate goal...the goal the God has set for my life.

So what am I changing in order to do this? I am trying to spend time in God's Word, trying to remember to ask God to guide me each day, to grant me the wisdom to know what is important for today and to have the strength to accomplish that.



At first it seemed to complicated, mind boggling, to try to figure out what it is that I should be doing...what I would regret not doing...but the answer is so simple....ask God!


Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds (Matt 7:7.8)

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. James 1:5