Go. Be. Do.

Yesterday afternoon after a morning of glorious worship at church and a delicious lunch of crockpot roast and mashed potatoes at home, we went for a hike at a family favorite place, Cochran's Mill.  As we were preparing to go, I was readying myself for a chilly walk through the woods simply because it is January and even though the sun was shining brightly, it can be a few degrees chillier in the woods.   Much to my surprise, the sunshine warmed me inside and out as we walked through the beautiful creation of the outdoors.  I stopped along the creek to take a photo of the water flowing over the rocks.  I turned around and to my surprise there was a bush full of pink buds.  Oh, the joy of seeing budding flowers again!  Realizing that there could still be a chance for snow in February doesn't even steal the state of happiness that sunshine, longer days, and little colorful splashes bring into life.   However, even the beauty the God gives us to enjoy ...

I have begun sewing together the squares...and rearranged the colors...and added a row of blocks. :)  The lighting wasn't the best for my photo shoot, but it will do for now. Last night I sewed all of the little triangle pieces together and pressed the seams.  Tonight I started sewing the rows of little squares.  So far it isn't evident of how well (or the opposite) I did at cutting out my pieces and lining them up with each other.  It has been several years since I have pieced a quilt, so I'm a little rusty.  Time will tell. It's for our family to enjoy, so I am not going to be too picky along the way...better to finally have an imperfect wall hanging for Christmas than no wall hanging at all. :)  At this pace, it may be done by the time the tree goes up this year! Although we do not celebrate Santa, my favorite block in the quilt is the bottom center...I paired the Santa faces up with a "Letters to Santa" pattern.  It's adorable.

I am either getting a head start or I'm so behind that I think I'm ahead in making a Christmas quilt.  I purchased Christmas fat quarters (fancy term for a rectangle of material) back in late November finally taking the first step of getting a quilted wall hanging made for the Christmas season.  I have wanted one for a couple of years now, but time just always passes and I think, "Maybe next year." This is the year! My awesome sister helped me cut out the blocks while the boys and I were up visiting in Indiana this week.  She had a pattern, "Flies in the Barn", that we used.  Apparently, it is a combination of the patterns, "Shoo-Fly" and "Hole in the Barn Door"...go figure. Anyway, I'm making a 9 block wall hanging.  I have the blocks' colors picked out and matched up, lights and darks.  Now I am in the middle of deciding how to finish the edges.  I can do either of two things...color coordinate the outside triangles with the ...

Top Ten things I am most in denial about these days... Just how many loads of laundry I need to do just to catch up. And, then, how many loads a day I need to do to stay that way!  How much of a sweet tooth I really have. The many hours I daydream in any given day. My intense longing to travel overseas. Finding it hilarious that my heart is in Alaska...and that I have tried to find a way to spend the entire summer there in spite of my love of hot weather. How many Legos are really in my house. That I turn 40 in May. That I do dream of owning a really awesome camera one day... and know how to use it. My Bucket List never seems to get shorter...as I cross something off, I usually add one or two more things to it.

"This is what God the LORD says-  he who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it, who gives breath to its people,  and life to those who walk on it: 'I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you  to be a covenant for the people  and a light for the Gentiles...'"  Isaiah 42:5-6 Making snowflakes to decorate our classroom is always a fun craft for us to do together.  The boys really enjoyed it this year...maybe because it is easier for them to handle cutting through thick layers of paper all by themselves to make their "own" snowflakes.  It may be because these are the only snowflakes in our forecast so far this winter.   Beginning with a white paper circle, we folded it in half.  That half circle was then folded into a tri-fold triangle.  Snip! Snap!  Circles, triangles, squares, slits, hearts, wavy lines...th...

...like a river, attendeth my way... I was inspired to think outside the box on peace the other day. There are times in life when I struggle with peace.  Not with having peace...but almost having too much of it.  In a time of calm in my life, I can become complacent... uninspired... empty. Sometimes I find myself doing daily life on my own because I am not "needing" anything, so to speak. Now, I know better.  I read my Bible.  I pray.  Nothing moves me.  I miss the God moments in times like these. I have been in a calm as of late.  It leaves me longing for something more.  I feel empty...and alone.  I pray and read because I know I want to and need to, but nothing moves me upward. Then, working out last Friday night (yes, I went to the Y on a Friday evening...I needed to clear my mind), a Rich Mullins song, "Hold Me Jesus", rang loud and clear through my earphones.  "You have been King of my glory...won't You be my Prince of Pea...

Browsing today, I found a fun photo meme that I could not pass up.  Ashley at Ramblings and Photos  gives a list of 25 prompts to find a matching photo for from 2011.  Loved browsing through memories finding my photos!  2011 was awesome...I cannot wait for more of 2012! Me...hiking Matanuska Glacier in Alaska! Love You...Christmas Parade with Nana & Pawpaw Still laughing...my niece and her pet chicken. Winter Wonderland...snow on Silver Lake in June. Birthday...celebrating my birthday in Phoenix, AZ. Friends...my bestest and her kiddos Friends...best buds I was inspired...my best friend taught Alex & me to ski. Spring Fever...nothing says spring like Georgia Blues! Vacation!...out West to AZ, CA, & NV Summer Days...nothing's better than Bible Memory Camp! A Day In My Life...always cooking something up! All Smiles Autumn Harvest Family Let's Celebrate!...4th of July in Michigan Let's...

In all my prayers for all of you,  I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:4-6 Scroll down toward the bottom of this blog and you will find a new countdown. It's counting the days until a plane, carrying my luggage and me, will, Lord willing, once again head North to Alaska. This time around is no less exciting than the very first trip in 2008. In fact, it may just be even more exciting. How? one may ask... I have been there.  I have seen God begin a good work.  I believe He will complete it.

Sometime in the past week, I was in conversation about our trip to the Okefenokee Swamp with the fam.  We lovingly refer to it as the "Hokie O Swamp" because that is what Alex (then 2 yrs old) called it at the time. The boys were so little, they maybe only know and remember the trip by hearing about it and seeing photos of our weekend in the swamp.  Nowhere has this trip been recorded, except in our memories...this is my version.  There are others. :) In August 2005, we spent a weekend at the Stephen C. Foster State Park in South Georgia, an entrance into the Okefenokee Swamp.  (As a note to someone thinking of visiting the swamp, please consider another month for your visit.  It was blazing hot!  And, I love hot, but this was a crazy hot kind of thing.)  Our family of four, plus my brother-in-law and his wife, were down for the weekend.  We rented two motor boats, purchased $3 straw hats in the gift shop, and headed out onto the black waters fil...

Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (that is, the Son of Timaeus), was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.” “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.                                                      ...

Again this year, I have gathered all of the quirky things said and done by my boys over the year that made it to my FB status updates.  It is so fun to relive them at the end of a very awesome year! It makes me look forward to what they will say and do in 2012! Alex came out to the living room after having gone to brush his teeth and put on his pajamas.  When he came back out and gave me a hug, I was surprised that he had also put on some cologne.  I sweetly told him he was smelling really well to go to bed.  He just shrugged his shoulders and said, "It's no good to have a gift if you aren't going to use it."  1.2.11 (How those words are resonating with my heart even still today.  How true it is that we are given gifts and we are supposed to use them.) Yogi Bear is so worth seeing. Alex says it's spectacular, wonderful, and hilarious.  1.7.11 Tim, showing me a photo in his science book of a lizard extending his dewlap, ...