Beloved Sister and a New Brother~

My precious youngest sister Mattie Grace found her beloved.
And married him today.

I wasn't able to be there since this baby's birth is now a couple weeks away
and the trip home to Chico is a good 18 hours one way.  Varicose veins and such, don'tcha know.

I'm not sure who caught whom, but it looks like they're in a for a future filled with fun!

We are so thrilled to add this new brother Jeremy to the Uncles :-) and OH how I wish
we could have been there today, to witness the beginning of such a precious union.

Here's my sister (almost 4) with me just before my own wedding nearly 17 years ago.
My Aloria is her clone, I think :-)

For Mattie and Jeremy:  Congratulations dear ones!
With all my heart I love you.

~Your Sis

...Under His wings you will find refuge...

Psalm 91:1-4

"He that dwelleth in the secret place of 

the Most High

shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say of the Lord

HE is my refuge and my fortress

in HIM will I trust.

Surely He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler;

and from the noisome pestilence.

He shall cover thee with His feathers

and under His wings shalt thou trust:

His truth shall be thy shield and buckler."

***********************

This painting entered my heart last year and at that time a sketch was formed.

Not until this winter did I tackle the water color and complete the thought.

Sometimes you create with someone in mind

but in this case, this is me.

My life, my story, my heart and knowledge (albeit minuscule) of God

in His tender care of me - even in the midst of raging storm 

- perhaps even storms that rage only within my flawed human flesh and incomprehension

of what's necessary for God's glory to be revealed.

I am so glad to say that in this season I find my spirit rejoicing in His feathers

as if I were the baby bird in a cozy springtime nest.

But my heart aches for those I know of even now who are pummeled by the noisome pestilence.

It is their heart I pray, experiences the refuge of His wings.

His love ever tender.  

Ever present.

Everlasting.

Creative Explosion

The dad was on a little business trip not long ago, and while he was away
we jumped into hyperdrive and knocked out a few projects that have been
on my want-to-do list.

One of the projects I'd been dreaming up for the last year and a half, was putting
some kind of light-colored false wall in this cubby of our entertainment center.
Since it's not full of a big screen TV, it feels akin to a black hole and I'd really like to
see it become a reading nook of sorts when it grows up :-)

I picked up some cedar fence boards (because they're cheap) and my
two very capable boys cut and sanded them, and built a free-standing panel.

Wow.  You know, I am so amazed and blessed by these guys who are becoming so able!

Below is a picture of our trial fit.

Completing the panel, the boys measured for trim and holes for access to outlets.
Zachary did all my figures and cutting, and by golly!  He did a fantastic job!
I'm pretty sure there's no way I could have tackled this project alone, and I'm
certain my outlet holes would have been cut in the wrong places.

Thank you Zack!
And thank you Clay, for all that sanding you did.  Cedar fencing never looked
so beautiful!

The fellas let me help some, so I applied a whitewash to the wood to lighten it further.

Then too, Zack did such a great job cutting the trim to fit just so, but because of

my inexperienced false wall-applying abilities, there was a certain amount of 

shimming that had to be done in order to get it all tidy.

Just don't look too closely - any discord would be all my own responsibility.

And Ta-da!  

I should have taken a final picture with my laborers in it, shouldn't I? Oops.

Wonderful wonderful wonderful!  I'm so pleased.  Now to add a photo canvas 

and maybe a reading lamp?  Hmm... Creative juices still flowing on this one :-)

Meanwhile, there were other endeavors en process.

The big girls are each working on a mini quilt as a first go at piecing a quilt.

And they had had quite a lot of help as well  - the kind of help that makes you keep your

scissors off the ground and watch your cord! 

Miles is just big enough now that his little hands reach up to grip the table tops, and 

whatever happens to be near the edge is considered fair game haha!

Pretty stuff going on here.  Can't wait to produce pictures of the finished creations!

The other thing the boys did for me during the week, was to handle all the shop work
pertaining to a school assignment "station" where I wanted to hang clipboards permanently.

It takes a lot of extra effort for me (and use of a limited supply of brain cells) to figure
how to measure, cut, and hang things strait and evenly spaced. I've never been accused
of perfectionistic tendencies. Ha!
The boys were a lot of help where those things were concerned, and I wanted to do
it for the dad - if he (who notices such) was going to have to walk by it every day :-)

Bryce and Carolina and Aloria made stars with me while the boys were working
in the shop.  They then painted them, and we glittered them all!   Low and behold...
accent art to make the school assignments sparkle!

I love.

We are kind of getting a rainbow theme going in this house, aren't we!
And now, there is glitter everywhere and a few more stray stars to enjoy here and there as well.

Also, I made a first attempt at chalkboard art!  I just love hand lettering.
It's so therapeutic to be artistic on something that feels predictable like
a word or letter.
I definitely want to try my hand at it again before long.

Well friends, this is just the tip of the iceberg as regards the
sawdust and fabric scraps that are flying these days.

Isn't it a wonder that the Lord gives us the pleasure of creating, just as He
Himself delights in creating?  I sometimes marvel with the kids that while God
created everything out of nothing, we have to use the ingredients He has already
made when we get creative :-)

And because this post is a little short on baby faces (some of my favorite creations),
here are a couple to close on.

Love you all!

Afterglow

Sitting in the semi-darkness with my feet up on the coffee table,
white lights sparkle softly over my bed and behind me on my
"Every Day is a Party..." sign.

It's ten o'clock at night, but things are just finally quieting
as two big fellas turn down the volume of their boyish laughter,
and two toddlers find their eyelids too heavy to continue in their
after-being-tucked-in hooliganism.  My littlest chub has been
sleeping peacefully for a while.

This afternoon I taped an invitation to my big girl's bedroom door.
"Come join me for a Girl Date tonight!"  it said, and promptly
at 8:00 they did.
First we painted nails - so unique from one another, my girls.
One wants light pink, one wants red on her toes and glittery green
on her fingernails.  My eldest wants only a bit of glitter on her toes.
She doesn't like to be noticed.

After that, we made chocolate muffins  - one minute each, in a mug -
then topped them with yogurt and raspberries.  I offered a dollar to
whoever finished the whole thing.
Only Olivia.
The other two will have a lovely breakfast of left-overs in the morning :-)

Finally, all hunkered into my bed (which I find, now barely fits four of
us at the sizes these young ladies are!) plus the addition of three dolls who
joined us for our date, we watched a short Shirley Temple.

Now they too, are tucked.

So the sign over my loveseat ~ "Every day is a Party..."
apparently it's true.
At least it was tonight.  Or it can be if I make it so.
Not only that, but even after the "guests" have left my room and it's
less giggly and more peaceful, I believe there's a bit more party to be had.

Shall it be a movie?  Maybe a little bloggy chatter?  Or perhaps...
perhaps I'll pick up a pencil and whittle away at a new piece of artwork.
Whatever, it will be lovely.
I have my twinkle lights and a candle and the day's not over quite yet!
And don't you know?

Every day's a party :-)

~A work in Progress~

Promised Snippets of Life

Life is just so full every day.  I'm thankful in this season, that we are home.
The only thing that calls us out is our once a week swimming lessons,
and the instructors were so gracious to work 6 children into three classes
that overlap and we're only by the pool for an hour total.

I know that one day we're likely to be driving hither and yon, but I love
being at home, and I love the lack of strain on relationships in not herding
everyone out the door to be places on time!

This is Aloria trying out the new baby's new carseat.
Looks comfy?




























And what's going on here?
Three hoodlums are talking into the floor vent trying to get the attention
of big brothers and sisters downstairs :-)






















Zachary has had an interest in building model airplanes.
From scratch, this is no simple task, but we've been very proud of his legwork, industry,
and follow-through as he's built one already and is on to the next.
All these pieces have been hand cut with the scroll saw and glued together using plans
Zack found and modified.
Dad has offered some help and some instruction, but he's wanted Z to muddle through on
his own steam because dad knows that learning skills comes from the actual DOING of
these projects.  Imperfection and mishap is part of the education :-)  It's a humbling way to learn.

Well done Zachary!  Very well done.

His other venture I haven't posted pictures of yet, is the acquisition of 3 Cockatiels.
My young son is a bit of a visionary, and so when he set his sights on getting a bird,
the reason I was ready to entertain the idea was that he had originally studied up
on ordering a baby Alligator.
No joke.
From an Alligator he transitioned to an Iguana - which after his first fixation, was looking
strangly do-able to me.

This was last year in Idaho, so when moved into a spacious "normal" house for the
winter and he decided he wanted a bird... I was nothing but supportive.

From an Alligator to a bird is a big jump, and he was smart to start working on me
with such an impossible creature!

Why 3, you ask?
Zachary was searching for just the right thing on craigslist, when he came upon a
lady getting rid of 3 birds for an unknown price.  He called, went to check them
out, and discovered that she just wanted them to have a good home.
Apparently she was expecting #2, and wanted to give them a break from her two
year old who was "terrorizing" them.
I don't think anyone volunteered to her what our home would entail, which I find
humorous.  Poor birds.  Out of the frying pan into the fire! :-D

Even Dad has a soft spot for Myrtle, Barney, and Burt.

Here's my first attempt at a mixed media piece of art.  I definitely don't have the
hang of decoupage yet!

And the Absolutely FANTABULOUS little pillow that Susanna and Clay made
me for Valentines day.  Clayton stuffed it with sawdust from the shop.
I LOVE it.

Bryce assembling a nightstand for me.
This picture is dejavu of Zack when he was this age.  Hardly seen without a screwdriver in hand!

This is the face of one who slips through the cracks.
Beats me how she does it, because in this instance I was sitting at the same table
while she was not only embellishing her cute little cheeks but also her hair.

I asked the boys if they would come up with a wood shop creation we could send to
cousin Evan for his first birthday.  This is what Clayton came up with!
It is an Ant toy.
Absolutely wonderful in my opinion!
We sent it along to him with a pair of robot Quick Change Trousers I made.

Getting outside on a warm day.

A sign I made for our bedroom.

Mom gets spoiled with a foot rub!

Saturday morning being perfectly Saturday morning-ish with a bit of book reading
together with dad.

And just one last picture to wrap it up!

Living Proof.
His favor abounds here!

Cherished

That is me.
I am the one cherished.

My beloved built this beautiful bed for me.
We've always had very comfortable beds, but never a headboard and foot board.

I showed my man a picture of roughly what I had in mind, and he undertook
to create it.  I am so thrilled!

Meanwhile this nesting urge made me buy fabrics, hack into them, and begin
sewing like mad to complete this quilt just in time to christen the new bed.

Now when I walk into the room,
when I climb into bed,
when I pull up the down comforter and quilt...
I think only one thing.

I am cherished.

I know I am loved.

One more down.

Stocking #7... check.

Just in time for me to take a breath before Christmas - I can focus on what fills the stockings now!
Just a little break until I have to design the next one :-)  I hope my inspiration's not entirely tapped out
by this time next year.

My childhood stocking was a sequin kit stocking made by the loving hands of my
great grandmother, Gee-Gee.  Gee-Gee made seven stockings for my siblings and I
and quite a few more for my cousins, as well as some extended family!

My desire was to replicate the feel of the stocking I grew up with, but recreate it
with something of a personal for each of my children from their mom.

You can take a peek at the others here, here, and here.