Another Miracle!

I wanted to share a wonderful little miracle that God saw fit to bless us with:

The check engine light has been on in our van for a few months now. We haven't been able to afford getting it checked out, and we hadn't really had problems with it; so we just got used to seeing it on. Last week, I think it might have been on our way home from church on Thursday, the van was acting funny and it actually died at a stop light. Matt was able to start it right back up, but it was acting very sluggish. We were very close to home, but I was worried that we wouldn't make it. I told the kids to pray that we would make it home.

Our van was waaaaay overdue for an oil change. I wondered if somehow this had contributed to the engine trouble. I told Matt that we were going to have to spend the money to get the oil changed. I had a coupon for a place and I made an appointment to get the oil changed on Saturday. When I went in, they ended up being behind too much; so they had to bump my appointment to Tuesday (today) I found out that they could diagnose the check engine light for no charge so I planned to have it checked out today when I went in.

We drove the van to church on Sunday, and Matt and I both drove it around yesterday with no real troubles. On my way to get the oil changed I was thinking about how I was going to have them check out why the check engine light has been on. I looked down on the dashboard AND THE LIGHT WAS NOT ON ANYMORE! I almost cried with relief! I had been praying so hard since our problems Thursday night. I had no idea how we would pay for van repairs. That light had been on constantly for months! And now, since we have actually been praying about it, it has just turned off. I do not think that this is a coincidence! There hasn't been problems with the van acting sluggish anymore either. When I told Matt about it, he said that the light had been on yesterday. I'm just so glad that God has done this for us. I just didn't want to fail to give credit where credit is due!

Diligence

diligence: persistent and hard-working effort in doing something.



Sunday morning we seemed to have a little bit of time left, and I thought it would be good if I read the children a chapter in the Bible. I just read the chapter where my bookmark was. I always neglect my Bible reading, but it always amazes me how when I do decide to pick up my Bible and read I always read just what I need to.



I know we've all heard and read this scripture many times, but I was glad to be reminded.

II Peter 1:4-11

"Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge;

And to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness;

And to Godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity.

For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.

Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:

For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

The word diligence is what really caught my attention. It is mentioned twice in this scripture. Lately I have known that I have not been where I should be spiritually. I believe it is this diligence that is missing. I feel like I have been barren and unfruitful. Because of this lack I can see where I haven't been able to see afar off. I haven't been able to see the big picture. I don't want to forget how empty and lost I felt before coming into the faith, and then the great thankfulness I felt when God drew me in. I want to make my calling and election sure that I could have a place in that everlasting kingdom. I want to be a partaker of this Divine nature so that I can escape the corruption that is in the world. I don't want my short sightedness because of my lack of diligence to keep me from making Heaven my home. I have not been working hard at living the faith, and I really need prayers that I could have this diligence that I know is required of me.

Anthony's First Day of School

My little Anthony started Head Start preschool this year. Out of all my children Anthony is my challenge. He seems to have a different thought process or something. It's been hard figuring out how to deal with him sometimes. I was hoping that going to school might help him. After almost 2 months of school I really think I can see a positive change in him. Here are some pictures of him on his first day of school.

This is a cute picture of him and Garrison we took while we were waiting for the bus.

There he is getting ready to get on!

Here's one of himself by the tree. Daddy did the hair spiked hair-do!

He was pretty excited!

It was kind of nice that Daddy could be there for his first day of school. This is usually something he misses out on.

So far I haven't really noticed any academic improvement in him. I think right now they are mostly working on things like manners and socialization. Anyway, I'm really glad that Anthony made it in. I really think that it's good for him. I went to a head start meeting last night. It showed that in the Portland area there were 566 kids that were in Head Start Pre-school. There are 300-400 kids still on the waiting list! I'm very thankful that he got in!

Life's Potholes

I'm not exactly sure what caused me to think of him; but as I was sitting in meeting Thursday night I remembered a boy I went to school with. His name was Johnny, he was older than me, but he was simple minded. I remembered how it always seemed like he was happy, and nice to everyone, even those who made fun of him. It seemed like he saw the world differently than most people.

Johnny rode on my bus. I was remembering how there was one really bad pot hole that the bus would go over every day. It was so bad that it really bounced us all around, even though the bus driver tried to go over it carefully. Johnny got to where he remembered that pothole. He knew where it was and he would get ready, and then when the bus would go over the pothole he would jump up and exaggerate the bounce. It got to where a lot of the kids on the bus would copy him, and the majority of us would jump up when the bus hit the pothole. It still brings a smile to my face to remember it. He would say "get ready every body"! And then we would all jump together! I'm sure there were a lot of people that got frustrated at that pothole, but because of Johnny we all looked forward to it! It was the best part of our bus ride! (Of course there were quite a few times that we all got overzealous and the bus driver had to get on to us!)

I thought about the potholes of life. The different obstacles that come our way. I look at our life so far, and it doesn't really seem like we've had to endure any really huge trials yet. Mostly just annoying potholes. I would like to have Johnny's outlook and see the joys instead of the frustrations. When I really look at the different problems I have, and all the blessings, I know that the blessings far outweigh the problems. For some reason I've noticed that I dwell on the negative more than I dwell on the positive. I want to have that happy, joyful outlook on life. I want to be able to see the silver lining, especially when I know that my clouds are really more silver lining than storm clouds. I would like to be able to jump with my potholes, and enjoy the blessings rather than get irritated and frustrated at every little thing that doesn't quite go my way.

Thank the Lord for Remembrances

Last night I was laying in bed. For whatever reason I couldn't go to sleep. I was laying there with all kinds of things going through my mind. I told myself that if I couldn't go to sleep I should at least think of good things. I lay there remembering how in meeting Bro. Jerry (who was visiting our assembly) started the song "Jesus Reigns". That song always reminds me of Bro. Benny. He also started "When the Saints go Marching in" which reminds me of my Dad. Then I got to thinking about how certain things remind me of certain people. I remember last week I made cinnamon rolls. I got the recipe from a certain sister who is not doing good spiritually now. I thought and prayed for her the whole time I was making the cinnamon rolls. Then I remembered how every time I make homemade noodles it reminds me of Sis. Cindy. Shortly after I was married she gave me the recipe and showed me how to make homemade noodles. She said "Every sister ought to know how to make homemade noodles"!

Somehow my thoughts strayed to the scrap quilt I made for my brother. I know that the many hours I spent on it I thought of him, and prayed for the different struggles I knew he was going through at the time. He wasn't baptized yet, and he wasn't living at home; so I was kind of hoping that somehow the quilt could be there when he was baptized since I knew I probably wouldn't get to be there. That reminded me of my "baptism blanket"...

The night I was baptized my mother wrapped a certain blanket around me. It was just a plain blanket; nothing special really, but from that time on it was my own personal blanket, and I used it all the time and took it with me everywhere. One year at the Colorado camp-out I was at a baptism of a young man that I had known for a long time. I had brought my blanket to the waters edge with me, and ended up putting it over him after he came out of the water. I told him how it was my blanket from when I was baptized and how maybe someday he could pass it on to someone else. Sometime after that I talked to him again, and he told me that he had passed it on to someone else. I laid in my bed last night wondering where all that blanket has been. I thought it would be neat if I saw it again somewhere unexpectedly. I thought about how maybe I will make special quilts for each of my children to drape over them when they are baptized. (If it works out that way.) My brother's quilt didn't make it to his baptism, but that's ok.

Anyway, I was thankful for my wondering thoughts as I lay on my pillow last night and thought I would share them with you all. Do any of you have certain things that remind you of certain people? As I lay there remembering all this I hoped that if people remembered me from time to time that it was good things they thought of.

Zaccheus Pictures

I decided that it's been a long time since I posted more recent pictures of Zaccheus; so here they are...

In the wagon with his big brothers!Everyone comments on his bright blue eyes!
Yes, he climbs the stairs on a regular basis now. This was taken when he first started.

You can see all his teeth! He has 5 teeth, and for some reason hasn't gotten any more for a few months now. Five seems like kind of an odd number. Usually they come in pairs. Oh, well, I'm sure they will all be here soon enough!

This is a picture of his first couple of teeth. He did like his big brother Garrison, and they came in opposite of each other.

I just love his beautiful smile!

I love pictures like this of him with his Papa!

All About Ruby

Well, I've noticed how some of you give a whole post dedicated to your child when their Birthday comes along. I'm such a follower that I've decided that would be a good idea! I'm going to try to do this to. Considering that Ruby's Birthday was over a month ago, I'm not doing to well! Let me tell you a little about my one and only girl and then you can look at all the many pictures of her that have been piling up for the last couple of months just waiting for me to post them on my blog!
Ruby is now 6! She's already started losing her teeth. When her first tooth was loose Matt had us rush to Wal-Mart to get her picture taken before she started loosing them. He was worried she would look funny. I think a child with missing teeth looks cute! Anyway, here is her most recent professional picture (pre-tooth gaps). Sometimes Wal-Mart pictures are kind of mediocre, but I think they did a pretty good job.

These pictures aren't in order; so I guess I will tell you about her Birthday first and then her first day of school, even though it really happened the other way around. We didn't do anything really big, we just had some people over for some cake and ice-cream. I made the cake. We only got her one gift because it was really BIG! (and expensive). Sadly I don't have a picture of her with her new dog biscuit, but here she is opening the gift. You can imagine by the size of the box how big the dog is.

She wanted Biscuit for Christmas last year. When we saw that he cost $180 we sadly had to tell her there was no way we were going to be able to buy her Biscuit! Biscuit is a life sized, I believe Golden retriever, He is mechanical and has certain commands that he hears or feels and he will do them. He is very neat, but definitely not worth that much money for me, even to please my daughter! A month or so after Christmas last year Matt found one lonely little biscuit on clearance at Target. I believe he was 75% off. He was still pretty expensive, but we decided to buy him! He has been stored up in our attic ever since then waiting for Ruby's Birthday! She loves him!

Here she is posing by her gifts!

Getting ready to light the candles.

Since Ruby started school I've been consulting that web-site for new hair ideas. I've tried out quite a few of them, sadly I haven't taken very many pictures, but here is a few pictures of one particular hairstyle that I tried. It's similar to a french braid, but you only take hair from the bottom. This makes the braid kind of stand out, and it makes the hair on top flatter.

For this time they had me take the braid all the way around. Since then I have done 2 braids from each side, and then continued to braid them for a ways, then connected them together with a rubber band. I liked this way better, but I don't have pictures of it.

Ruby never went to pre-school. This year she is in Kindergarten, and she really likes it! She is in afternoon Kindergarten. She catches the bus in the mid-morning and then rides home on the bus with Christian in the afternoon. Anthony is actually in pre-school this year. He goes in the afternoon too. So for a couple of hours in the afternoon I only have 2 children. It is very nice!

Here is Ruby getting on the bus for the first time!

Look at that adorable gap in her teeth!

Here she is all dressed up in her new school clothes, and back-pack waiting for the bus:

Ruby is only 6, but she is a pretty good helper. I think she does a pretty good job of being Mommy's only little girl! There are times that she whines about the chores I ask her to do, but when she does them she is a big help to me. She is showing signs of wanting to help me cook. I've been trying to find ways to introduce her to cooking, and helping me in the kitchen that are appropriate for her age, and not too hard or dangerous. It is easier to just shoo her away and do it myself, but I want her to learn the things she should learn. I know I should take advantage of her eagerness now because in a few years she might not be so eager. I just pray that I can be the Mother I should be to her; so that she can grow up to be the woman that God would want her to be.

Can We Have Two Daddies?

Today I was driving down the road with just Anthony and me in the van. This doesn't happen very much; so we were taking the time to visit with each other. He asked me if I told him he was cute when he was a baby like Zaccheus. I told him that he was a very cute baby and that I did tell him he was cute. Then I told him that someday he could be a Daddy and have baby's of his own. He spoke up and asked me "Can we have two Daddies?" I was slightly alarmed, and told him that we could only have one Daddy at a time. He started crying! It took me a little while (sometimes it's hard to figure out a child's thought process), but I figured out that he was upset because he thought that him and his Daddy could both be the Daddy of the house at the same time. I explained to him that when he was a Daddy he would have his own wife and kids and that he would live in his own house. He started crying harder! He said he didn't ever want to be a Daddy because he didn't want to live somewhere different from us. I swiftly told him that he didn't ever have to be a Daddy and that he could live with us forever! That made him happy!

It's nice to know that he will stick around to take care of us in our old age. ;D I will probably have to remind him of this conversation in about 15 years!

I Found a Great Blog!

My little Ruby is starting Kindergarten this year. She's very excited! I'm excited for her too, but a little nervous...

I want her school experience to be a good one. One of the things I've been worried about is coming up with some cute hairstyles that will actually STAY cute during school! It seems like most days you can't even tell that I fix her hair!

Anyway, I googled hairstyles for girls, and stumbled upon this great blog! This woman has, I think 4 girls, and she mostly uses this blog to give you step by step instructions for different hairstyles! I put her blog on my list of blogs at the edge of my page. I plan to read her blog often, and also read her archives to get some great hairstyle ideas! I know that a lot of you have girls with long hair, and it's so hard to come up with new things. I just thought I would let you all know about this blog! Her blog is called "Adopt a 'Do- Cute Girls Hairstyles"

Laughter IS the best medicine...

Lately I have been going through a rough time. When I step back and look at what I've been going through it really isn't that bad; but it has been really hard for me emotionally. Let's just say life has not been going the way I think it should and I've been very frustrated!

Last night after all the kids were in bed, Matt and I were going to bed like any normal night. I can't even remember now how it got started, but one of us said something that we thought was hilarious! After that we kept laughing, and laughing over stupid stuff. We were literally rolling around on our bad cracking up! I had tears rolling down my face I was laughing so hard; and we just couldn't stop! We were trying to be quiet because the baby was asleep in our room, but it felt so nice to just let go and be silly together!

After we finally calmed down and said our nightly prayers I was laying there thinking about how good it felt to laugh together like that. It really did seem to relieve the tension of the past few weeks a little bit. It also felt nice to know that Matt and I could still be like that together. Sometimes with the responsibilities of life we sometimes forget to just enjoy each other and be friends. I honestly believe that Matt is my best friend. Last night really showed me how important laughter is in a marriage. Even though it was really dumb and silly, it was just what I needed. Even though my problems haven't changed I feel better somehow...



Also I read this Bible verse this morning, it was a nice little reminder:

"Use hospitality one to another without grudging.

As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God."

I Peter 4:9-10

My Baby is Amazing!

I know I have been silent for too long. My life seems like it's been pretty crazy lately. I haven't read anybodies blog in a long time. Someday I will take the time to catch up on every body's lives! Right now I decided to take a little extra time from the crazies of my life to thank the Lord for my amazing baby!

I have said it many times, but I really believe that the Lord looked down on us and saw that we really couldn't handle a difficult baby, and he blessed us with Zaccheus! He is SUCH a good baby, I am often amazed by it! It's not like he never cries, but when he does, there's something I can do about it! He really is a blessing from the Lord! So why am I blogging about this now?...

Last night I didn't get much sleep. I feel like a walking zombie today. Zaccheus had a restless night. I really think he was running a slight fever. He seems fine today, by the way. So what is so amazing about staying up all night with a baby who doesn't feel good you say? Just that, he was only restless and a little whiny. Enough so that Mommy couldn't get much sleep, but not so much that he drove me crazy with his cries when there wasn't really anything I could do for him.

So even though I didn't get much sleep last night. I am not as grumpy and stressed out as I would normally be after a night of staying up with a baby who doesn't feel well. For that I am truly thankful! I am, however, hoping that I can get a little more sleep tonight ;D !!!

My diaper Bag

Here are some pictures of the diaper bag that I made for myself! I like it! I would have liked it to be a little bigger, but since I made it from jeans, it had to be a certain size.

Let it be none that I do not like this picture of me! But it shows my bag pretty good.

This is the inside view!

Here is a close up of the front.

We have 2 sisters here who are expecting babies, and I plan to make them each a bag. I thought I would make one and see how good it does on ebay. Also, my sister sells her Avon stuff at a flea market & said that if I ever wanted to try to sell my bags there I could, or she could try to sell them for me. If I can get some made up I might try that. Miminko Apparel where I have my blankets for sell said they might check out about selling these bags next month. I really enjoy making these bags, it would be nice if I could make a little bit of money from them! With the small jean scraps that I have from making the bags I'm making a crazy quilt bag. I will have to post pictures when I get it done. It will be awhile though because I'm doing fancy embroidery on it. I'm thinking when I get it done I will keep it for myself! I think it will look really neat!

Late Night Smoothie

The other night I was looking at the strawberries I had picked from my strawberry patch; trying to decide what to do with them. Then I noticed the one lonely banana sitting on my counter that needed to be used. I thought maybe I could make a smoothie, but the fruit wasn't frozen. I de-stemmed the berries, peeled the banana & put them in the freezer for a little while. This is the recipe we came up with: It was REALLY good!

1-2 cups strawberries
1 banana
1 small tub of Tillamook orange cream yogurt (not frozen
2 dreamscicles (for those of you who don't know, this is vanilla ice-cream covered with orange sherbet type stuff) We, of course, pulled the sticks out first!

We blended everything together, along with a small amount of milk to help it blend better. It was yummy!

Weights

I've recently blogged about my struggle with prophesy. Last night I was laying in bed thinking about how it really shouldn't be as hard as it is for me. I was thinking about some things that I've allowed in my life that may be making serving the Lord harder. They aren't really bad things, but I was thinking about how they may be keeping me from being as close to the Lord as I should be.

Again, I was laying in bed thinking about things and I wasn't able to go to sleep. I decided to get up and read the Bible again. Here is the very first verse that I read:

Hebrews 12:1

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.

So...., I guess the Lord agrees with me that these things are weights that I need to set aside if I want to serve the Lord to the fullest. Please pray for me.

Did You Know...

I was racking my brain for some blog worthy material when I thought of this...

Many people who know me do not realize that my left hand looks like this:

When I was 2 (so I don't remember, but people have told me) we were visiting my Uncle Gene & Aunt Nadine. At that time they lived out in the country, and they had a bonfire. I guess the fire wasn't going, but there were hot coals. I was walking on the rocks around the fire and slipped. My cousin Brenda had some fast reflexes and grabbed me by the shirt before I could fall all the way in. These pictures show the scars from that fall. I'm sure the burns were bad, but I'm very thankful that the Lord watched out for me as a little child. If I had fallen all the way in it would have been so much worse.

Even people who know about the scars forget that I have them because they are not that noticeable. The scars have given my fingers a web look. They really don't affect me very much, except that I can't grasp things that are very big around, like large cups.

Anyway, so there's a little bit of information about me. If any of you are running out of blog worthy stuff, maybe you could post about some little known fact about yourself!

Reading the Bible

More than once, but once just recently, Bro. Rusty got up and talked about how the Lord would wake him up in the night, or early in the morning to read the Bible. Sometimes he does it and sometimes he doesn't.

Well, last night, I went to bed late, but I could NOT go to sleep. I laid there and had different things running through my mind. Eventually I remembered what Bro. Rusty had said, and I thought "maybe I need to go read my Bible," but then I would try to tell myself that what I really needed to do was go to sleep. I eventually did decide to get up and read my Bible. It seems like I always tell myself I should read a chapter or 2 in my Bible every day, but I never do. Here was a perfect opportunity for some uninterrupted Bible reading.

I have slowly been trying to read the New Testament, and last time I left off in Hebrews, so that's what I read. A lot of it didn't really seem to apply to me because it had a lot to do with the changing from the Jewish law to the Christian law, but I decided to read until something caught my attention. It is very interesting how it seems like the times that I take the time to read I find something that really boosts me up, and is just what I need. Here is what I read:

Hebrews 10:22-25:

"Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful who promised;)

And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works:

Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another, and so much the more as ye see the day approaching."

As I was reading this I had to ask myself if I could honesty say that I had a true heart in full assurance of faith; also is my faith unwavering? I really am not sure if my faith was truly tested how I would deal with it. The big thing that caught my attention about this scripture is how we hear the scripture about "forsake not the assembling of ourselves together" a lot. Most of the time I don't think of this scripture as applying to me because I always go to church! But as I read this I thought how I could be (and often am) forsaking assembling myself even when I'm going to church! When I read the scripture around that quote, I could see how most of the time I go to church I'm not fulfilling that scripture because I don't really do anything to help my brethren. I really need to stop just going through the motions and really try to do the works God wants me to do.

Here is some more scripture a little farther down:

Hebrews 10:35-39:

"Cast now away therefore your confidence; which hath great recompense of reward.

For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

For yet a little while, and he that shall come shall come, and will not tarry.

Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.

But we are not of them who draw back into perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul."

This scripture brought to mind the scripture: "grow not weary in well doing" I think there is a lot of times that I do grow weary in well doing, so I slack off. Too many time I get caught up in the things of this life and I forget what the true goal is, and how great a thing I would be missing out on if I don't press in. Like this scripture says, God will not tarry. I surely do not want to miss out.

The last part of this scripture brought to mind something that I've been thinking a lot about lately. I think it really hit me after the Brewster camp out. My mom told me that my sister had spoken her first prophesy. I was really pleased for her, but I have to admit I was a little saddened by it too. As I think I've blogged about before, I really struggle with this gift. When I heard my sister had spoken a prophesy I was reminded about the parable of the talents. We've heard it a lot, but I thought about the part where the one talent that was buried was given to the man who had used his talents wisely. Even though I draw back from using my gift, I'm horrified by the thought of the Lord taking it away and giving it to someone else! Because if the Lord can't trust me with this one gift, how will he entrust me with any others? Now when my sister reads this I don't want her to be saddened too, because I believe that the Lord has used her use of this gift to open up my eyes to the ramifications of drawing back from using my gifts. I want the Lord to have pleasure in me, I want to be like the man in the parable who received more gifts after using his original ones wisely.

Anyway, I thought I would share my little time of meditation with all of you. Please pray for me, that I can embrace it all and apply it to my life, and I want to READ MY BIBLE MORE OFTEN!

"No More Baskets!"

"MOM!", he said frantically!

His mom whipped her head around to see what was wrong.

This is what she saw (minus the smile):

"I don't have any more baskets", he said!

She laughed at him hysterically as she fixed his hat for him!

Craft Project pictures

Well, I finally got done with the camp out quilt, and sent it on it's way back home. I think it looks great! I plan to buy some tickets at the camp out in hopes of winning it! Here is a picture of the whole quilt...

Here's a close up of the center.

The quilt was sent to a few different assemblies to make a border. Each assembly put somewhere on their border, their assembly name. Ours didn't show up real well on the big picture so here is ours:

For our border we decided on the dark brown, and since there are so many children in our assembly we decided to outline our children's hands in different fabrics and sew them onto our border. I think it turned out really cute; so here are some close ups of the corners where we put our hands...

Here is the other project I made. I made this diaper bag for Sis. Cherrie as sort of a going away gift, but I remembered to take some pictures of it before I gave it to her. I was very happy with how it looked. I think it turned out to be a good size. There are lots of pockets for all the little do-dads that mothers need to haul along with them everywhere! I have plans to make one for myself. I thought about waiting to post until I got that one done too, but I wasn't sure when I would get around to it; so here are these pictures. The first one is a view of the inside. I have some ideas of some different embellishments for mine rather than the bow. We will see if they work out. When I get it done I will try to make another post.

An a slightly different note, I sold 2 of my blankets through Maminko, and got my check! The woman in charge is away on her honeymoon, when she gets back I will find out if she wants me to make more to replace them!

I have other pictures to make some more posts. Hopefully you all will be seeing them soon...

Walking With a Child

I splurged and bought myself a Women's World magazine at the grocery store the other day. In it was a diet. The diet was mostly just a low calorie balanced diet, with lots of raisins. It also required walking. It said to aim for 12,000 steps a day. Somehow eating the raisins along with the walking burned more calories than without the raisins. Anyway, I followed the diet for a little while, but it is very difficult to follow a diet when I also have to feed my family. I basically had to fix 2 separate meals every meal time! Anyway, I didn't do that very long! I have been trying to downsize my portions (the diet helped me see what was an appropriate portion), and still eat the raisins and do the walking. I bought a pedometer and yesterday I walked over 14,000 steps!

Since the diet I have been trying to take walks after Matt gets home from work. I was taking the dog with me, but I decided that it might help Matt more if I took one of the kids with me. So yesterday after dinner I put Anthony in our umbrella stroller and took off.

As I was briskly walking along I was reminded of Sis. Trina's blog about putting herself out there. I am from a small town where everybody knows everyone else; so if you are walking around you almost always say at least a few words to anyone you meet. Somehow in the big city I don't follow the same pattern. We've lived in this house for a year, and we still don't know our neighbors very well. I've thought about planning a block party for everyone to get to know each other better, but Matt's not sure if he wants to do that. Anyway, I'm rambling a little...

Normally on my walks with the dog I would walk along and just mind my own business and not really talk to anyone; however with Anthony with me it was a different story! Anyone we passed by Anthony would say "Hi, my name is Anthony! What's your name?", then he would go off and ramble about anything that popped into his head! There were a few times I had to stop so that Anthony could carry on his conversations! I do think he was a little excessive with his friendliness, but I saw how I could learn from his childish innocence. I decided to try to be more friendly on my future walks, and at least say Hi to those I meet.

You really can learn a lot from a child if you take the time to watch and learn...

P.S.

I have other things I want to blog about, and as soon as I get the pictures ready I will; so hopefully I will be posting more blogs soon.

Working again! And so Much More!

I've been racking my brain for something blog-worthy to blog about; and I wasn't thinking of the best thing!

For the past few weeks Matt has been working full time again! We're not sure how long it will last, but we are very thankful for the full paychecks coming in. God really has been taking care of us. I am very thankful for it.

There are some things I would like to get pictures of, but since I don't know when that will be; here is a little update on how our life has been:

A few weeks ago Ruby and Anthony found my sewing scissors (I did leave them out :(, but used this incident as a good excuse to get some new sewing storage containers!). When I found them with my scissors, Anthony had very short hair right in front. So now his haircut that I liked some much is gone; and he now has a buzz. I'm very thankful that Ruby didn't decide to cut her hair. I think they knew that was a bad thing to do. Isn't it odd how they will do one bad thing, but not do another because it's bad? I'm glad they used their children type logic in this instance though.

Bro. Lee & Sis. Cherrie are leaving us. :( We are sorry to see them go. For a good bye party; had a BBQ at our house on Sunday, and a singing later. It was a very nice day. I really enjoyed having the brethren in our home. there were a few visiting brethren at church, and then even more came for the singing. It was wonderful to hear the brethren lifting their voices in praise to the Lord in my home. The time I spent in my kitchen was great because I had the brethren serenading me!

Next week is my 8th wedding Anniversary. Matt & I decided that since we would have to take the baby wherever we went that we would make this year a family celebration. We've made reservations at the coast; and we are all going to spend this weekend at the coast. Matt's Mom is supposed to meet us there. I'm really looking forward to it!

I have had a few sewing projects that I've been working on. I really enjoy sewing, but don't usually take the time to sew. It really is hard to do with so many small children. Lately my house has been neglected a little so I can work on these projects. Sis. Cindy F. has been sewing some purses. She showed me how to do it, and I decided I would like to try. So far I have made a purse for Sis. Alyssa E. and a diaper bag for Sis. Cherrie B. I didn't get pictures of the purse, but I did of the diaper bag. I might post them later. I'm thinking about trying to make more and sell them on the same website as my quilts (of course none of those have sold yet... but maybe they will). Sis. Bridget D. also saw the purses and wanted to learn to make them to. After Sis. Cindy showed me; I have showed Sis. Bridget. It has been nice to spend some time with Sis. Bridget, and she has made a cute purse also.

For the Oregon camp out they always make a quilt to raffle off. This year they decided to send the quilt around to the different assembly's that are usually represented at the camp out and have them each add a border to the quilt. We are the last assembly to receive it, and I have been working on that too. For our border we traced the hand prints of our children; and I am sewing them on by hand.

So, with getting ready for the singing, going to the coast, and all my sewing projects. Plus Matt has been working so I don't have him to help around the house and with the kids so much; my life has been VERY busy. But it is a happy kind of busy! Just remember that if any of you happen to stop by! My house really isn't at it's best! Maybe I will concentrate more on that next week...

Happy 4th Birthday Anthony

Of all my children, Anthony is the most quirky. He definitely dances to his own drummer, that's for sure! I think it's the aspects of his personality that make him extra special also make him the most aggravating sometimes! He seems to be very creative. I've blogged before about pattern making. He's also very creative in his play. He'll take ordinary things and say that he's making things like a Birthday or a circus. He'll also bust up laughing about the weirdest things! I've applied to get him into head start. I think this might be good for him. Here is a picture of him being his little quirky self!

I would like to draw your attention to his hair cut. I've always thought this kind of hair cut looks really cute on little boys. For some reason this haircut won't work on Christian, but I gave Anthony this haircut and I think it looks very cute on him! I call it the "mushroom" hair cut.

For Anthony's Birthday we went to Shari's. On the weekends kids eat free; which is an awesome deal for us with all of our kids! On the actual day of his birthday we just had cake and presents by ourselves. Anthony got to pick out his own cake. I thought he would want a dinosaur cake, or something else that seemed more exciting for a boy his age, but this is the one he wanted. He definitely knows his own mind. Which is good, except for when what he wants is contrary to what I want.

Wow! My oldest is 7!

It is hard for me to believe I have a 7 year old! Christian is in first grade. He seems pretty smart for his age, but maybe I'm his mother and a little prejudice! I am amazed at the big words he can read. There are 6 students in his class that have harder spelling words than the other kids; and he is one of them. When we practice his math skills, he comes up with the answers pretty fast. I'm pretty proud of him!

As the oldest of 5 I feel like we expect more out of him. In some ways I feel bad about this, in other ways I feel like it is good for him. He's pretty good about helping around the house when he's not at school. Yesterday he gave the baby his bottle and I think that was one chore he didn't mind doing! I'm just amazed at how grown up he already is. I feel like he's a pretty good boy & I hope that we can do our part in bringing him up to be an excellent young man.

Christian's Birthday was actually last month, but it has just taken me this long to get the pictures on my computer.

Christian was actually pretty sick on his Birthday; so we celebrated it late. We took him to Chevy's for his Birthday. Here is a picture of him eating his ice-cream:

They gave him a cool hat that he got to keep and sang him Happy Birthday. It was a nice family outing together. We all enjoyed it. As the oldest of 5, I think Christian isn't the center of attention very often. I think it was nice for him to have this time in the spotlight. Our camera went dead so I didn't get a picture of him with his hat at the restaurant, but I just took some later:

Christian also had a party with Levi M. All the brethren here came over for cake and ice-cream. The boys opened their presents and then we all went skating. It was fun to spend the time with the brethren. I really enjoyed skating! Last time we all went I didn't get to skate because I was pregnant. My feet and back were sore, but I had a good time, and I think everyone else did too. Christian tried roller blades and did pretty good I thought.

HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY CHRISTIAN!

Finally put more pictures on my computer!

I finally got around to putting my pictures onto my computer today; so now I have some things to blog about! I have pictures of Christian and Anthony's Birthdays, but they will have their own special post. Now for this first picture...

Most of our tax return went into paying off some bills, but we did take a little bit to buy a few things we've been wanting. We took a trip to Wal-Mart! In the big city we live in there is not a Wal-Mart very close; so we don't hardly ever go there, but we went with some tax return money and bought some things for ourselves. This bed set came with the comforter, bed ruffle, shams, complete sheet set, and the 4 decorative pillows for only $64 on clearance! For a King sized set I felt like I had scored an awesome deal! We also had to buy 2 more pillows so we could make use of the pillow shams. Here is the new look in my bedroom. I'm very pleased with it:

Here are a couple of pictures I just had to take. It's just one of those Awwwwe moments!

I handed the baby over to Matt so I could do something and they both fell asleep.

Don't they look comfortable!

Selling Quilts

Awhile back I answered an ad on Craigslist. They were looking for people in my area who made unique, homemade baby items that they could sell on their website. To be honest I wondered if they were for real because you do have to be a little cautious, but I decided to answer the ad and see what became of it. I sent them pictures of these quilts that I make. (To give credit where credit is due, I want to thank Sis. Cindy for showing me how to make them.) They are incredible soft and easy to make. One side is soft flannel, and the other side is a soft fur material. The more boy type quilts have a triangle edging like this:

And the girl one's have a ruffle edging like this:

After a few contacts back and forth they decided to try selling my quilts on consignment, and I decided that the amount of money I would get from them would be worth it. To tell the truth it's not a whole lot, but I enjoy making the quilts and it's nice to make a little bit of extra money. By the way they do have the above star blanket for sale, but minus the pillow because that was not part of the deal.

From what I can gather a couple of moms got together and decided to start this website that exclusively sells unique, homemade baby items. I even got to meet one of the moms, and they seem like very nice people.

Anyway, I've been checking the site periodically since I signed the selling contract and they received my quilts; and finally today they had my quilts posted! They can be found under the toys and accessories section. I'm also in their featured designers section! This is kind of exciting for me! We'll see how these one's sell. If my quilts do good, then obviously they will want me to make more.

The website is: http://miminkoapparel.com/index.html I will try to figure out how to make a link to them on the sidebar of my blog.

Anyway, wish me luck on my new endeavor!