Um, ya, Bri...

Duh.
Not half an hour after calling for help from fellow knitters, this "novelty" of an idea occurred to me.
As the designer of the pattern I am going for (Ill tell you if it works... things are not looking promising ;)... read on)... I am also the voice that states what size knitting needles I use. If I use smaller needles, I will end up using a smaller percentage of the space while still using 16 stitches.
Got it....
Although now I have to start over... haha :)...but, hey, I get to use the hourglass cable!

A question for my knitting friends:

I'm trying to find an elegant twist-y knit cable pattern that covers about ten stitches. The closest I've found have been the "Gingerbread" cable, which fits the stitch number I need... or the "hourglass" cable... which looks exactly like I want it to, but covers an area of 16 stitches. I'm not finding any thing that says that I can change the number of stitches I'm suppose to use, and even if I could, this is the first time I'm attempting cables, so I'm not sure if I feel that adventurous.... as if trying to create something on my own while trying to use techniques I'm just now learning isn't adventurous :P...
Have you ever knit a cable that you think fits what I'm looking for? If so, I would love to hear about it!!!

Our house is on the market!!!

We are very excited :)! (And also very "keep-the-house-picked-up-and-throughly-clean" minded at the moment ;).)
Just the latest item of profound interest in our family ;)!
 (By the way, in this Thankful Thursday post, my un-named thankful thought was that we finished painting that morning, January 13!... I was going to write a post just for our newly painted walls that coming Saturday... and needless to say, it didn't happen then, so I decided to wait until we were actually selling it :). Now we are!)

As grains of sand...

One of our friends, Miss Brenda, sent us the link to this site the other day... Sand grains magnified 110-250 times reveal each grain is unique.
These pictures of those tiny, tiny grains of sand are amazing! As Mommy pointed out, they give a whole new meaning to God's promise to Abraham that his decedents would be like the grains of sand. Not only would they be as numerous as the sand that we can not count, but they would each be beautiful in their own special way, just as God created them!
I think all of them are neat, but if you look through them all, I really like the "star" looking ones and the fragments of baby sea urchin shells (sounds kind of gross, but they are pretty :).)
They do mention millions of years in the video, but just in passing, and the rest of it was well worth a peak :).
Mommy showed it to Tori yesterday, and she immediately got her own microscope out, gathered some sand off of some sea shells she has collected, and we got to see those, too :). We would need to buy a certain kind of slide that Tori doesn't own (yet ;)... I'm sure they will be coming in the future after she has enough saved up or someone else helps out), according to a friend at church... But we could still see the shapes perfectly fine, and that was amazing in itself :).
Isn't our God wonderful?! Every snowflake, every grain of sand, every fingerprint, is different, no matter how many there are!

This is so neat...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYVQ1dsRqfE
If you enjoy crocheting, or would like to start... You'll want to watch that video. It is so sweet!
This lady worked on that beautiful bedspread for almost 70 years! Although I'll let you do the math to find out exactly how many doilies she made and exactly how many hours it took her, I'll give you these numbers...
If you paid her minimum wage for that bedspread, you would pay about $44,616.75... and that's just for time, not counting material costs! And, you know what? If you made this spread and listened to an audio bible while you crocheted, you could listen to the whole bible almost fifty times! How neat is that?! :)...
I loved how she mentioned framing the hook with a doily, too. She was so precious! And now I want to crochet ;)...

Romans...

My friend Katie (I really enjoy her blog by the way!) and I have read through the bible several times together, after I invited Tori and several of my friends to join me in reading the bible in three months. After I mention the fact that I was eager to "start reading Romans, and would anybody like to join me?", she asked if she could join me, and so guess what we are doing? :). That's right, reading Romans 1-8 for fifty days :).
You know something?
I didn't know how often the verses in this chapter were used. I found that I am, for the most part, familiar with at least one verse in each topic.
I realized after we started that I was actually really looking forward to copying out the first eight chapters now, rather than thinking of it for something in the future like I had been.
I have noticed things that I have not realized before when reading these passages. Have you every noticed that the bible specifically says "disobedience to parents" is considered just as big a sin as murder? You know how people will talk about 'small sins?' Well, I believe these verses defy that: " 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless." (Romans 1:29-31). And these have been a couple of my favorite verses: "1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." (Romans 5: 1-5).
But just reading through something several times doesn't mean we know everything about it. During church service today, I was reminded of that when we read some verses in Romans 6 (verses 1-15) and I realized that I really didn't know them very well, or even remember reading them very well, in the past five days.
That's not it, though. Katie also invited me to memorize Romans 1, 8, and 12 with her, and I am looking forward to knowing these passages even better :)! We are using this schedule, if you want to check it out :)...

How Emmi became famous...

We didn't think that when Mommy shared this picture on The Piano Guys Facebook page it would get more than a comment from the Piano Guys... we forgot that people can share pictures on Facebook. Over a hundred shares and thousands of likes later, she doesn't even know she is famous...
Is it just me, or is she one cute little "famous" two year old?

Geo-caching

I've never mentioned geo-caching, have I? Haha, I know I have ;)..
Grandpa took us again to go find those addicting little bottles with paper inside to sign your name on and occasionally little trinkets to trade in that are hidden all over the world...

 But first we had to stop at the swings...

 Peter enjoyed his first swing ride...

 He is so sweet!

 

 Yes!

 Abbi found the first one, in between a tree 
and a rock! (Andrew may have helped... 
we're not sure... haha.)

 Cutie :)...

 Ewww... Tori was so excited she found a cicada shell... yuck...

 "Look!" says Emmi. "The sea!"

 Mommy found the next one in a 
brick wall, behind loose stones. 

Andrew dug it out in case there were bugs ;). 

 I love this picture... I wish it didn't have the sign in the background...

 These are a little better...

Love this one, too :).

Andrew 

 

 Andrew found another! (I'm still not sure where... haha.)

 Grandpa sent me over to look in the tree, so,

really, Grandpa found this one.

But he insisted on giving it to me. 

 And Bethi found her first! Yay Bethi!

At this point we looked for one last one, but couldn't find it... well, we think we know where it is, but we were not crossing the river to look for it on a steep hill with five small children ;). 

 Andrew conquered the "dragon" for this "fair lady" ;).

 She got up there all by herself!

 :)

 Emmi loved the swings, too :)...

We had a lot of fun :)... Now, we just have to get Daddy hooked on it, too, if we want go geo-caching in Virginia ;)... I don't think it will be hard!

Thankful Thursday ;)...

This week I'm thankful for...
~(Daddy is home!)
~Daffodils.
~Swings. Peter had so much fun swinging in a swing the other day when we went...
~...Geo-caching with Grandpa.

 Love that face... he is so sweet!!!

~Romans 1-8.
~Being able to memorize passages of Scripture.
~Peter's love for food that has become very apparent this last week (not too long ago, he would gag on almost everything, but right before we went to Grandma's, he decided he liked food, and you should have seen him go after Grandma's blondies! It was so funny!)
~Homemade donuts... these donuts Aunt Tessa made with Bethani and Andrew were delicious!
~Maple glaze... Mommy has talked for years about the donuts Grandpa used to get for her family when she was little that had maple glaze on them, and she can't find them now. It sounds like these taste very similar, which she was very excited about :). I have to say they were really good with the glaze (and,by the way, these are gluten free, and still delicious!

~Bible recordings.
~And Mommy's suggestion to listen to them while uploading pictures onto my blog. Such a wonderful idea! We usually read the ESV bible, although we read a couple other versions occasionally, and this site has audio... http://about.esvbible.org/
~Emmi's dress that "makes her look like Mommy" that she loves so much :)...
~Little ones sharing information they are just bursting to tell.
~New recipes.
~Scrabble.
~Getting to snuggle little ones and read them stories...
~Godly storybooks.
~Proverbs.
~The hymn "When We All Get to Heaven"
~Light bulbs.
~Lasagna... which I need to go make!

 "Praise the LORD! Praise God in his sanctuary; 

praise him in his mighty heavens!"

                        ~Psalm 150:1

You may have heard us talk about Anna and Nora a couple times...

Well, their family needs prayer right now, as does Nora. Because Nora won't be calling "home' what her family thought would be her home.
Nora has a severe heart condition, and it seems that she would not survive the trip home, and even if they got her home alive, she wouldn't really benefit from it. So, they decided it would be better for her to stay where she is. I'm not sure what all is entailed, but you can read Miss Lydia's blog post here.
Please pray for tiny Nora, that the Lord would be with her and strengthen her, and also for the Rosencrants as they have to leave this little girl, and continue to work on bringing Anna home.

Thankful Thoughts, to make up for the lack of week 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, and 40 (is that it?)...haha :)... (And this is by far the longest title to date.)

(Sorry that this is so late... but I'm getting Thankful Thoughts posted to make up for all the Thankful Thursdays that should have been posted over the holidays :). I am warning you now: Although I started this post two months ago, I only really settled down to write it during the past three days. I enjoyed every bit of it once I decided to just finish it. Which means, it's long ;). I tried to do this as neatly as I can. Most pictures will be in order. The rest of it... probably not so much...)

Just some of the many things that I was grateful for over the holidays (and I'm sneaking in a whole lot of holiday pictures in this one ;).)...

~My parent's choice to home school us.
~Knitting tutorials.
~A working sink ;)!
~Abbi's hair :)...
I can not tell you how badly I wanted to do Abbi's hair for her first two and a half years, when she had just about... none ;). Look at the cute little fish tail Mommy gave her last December :)...

 
~Christmas hymns. 
~Precious girlies.

~Mommy's "new" (at that time, anyway) Pinterest account. We've found some fun ideas, like these bear pancakes :).

~Kitchen helpers :)!

~That Daddy was able to make it home often during the holidays.
~Cranberry sauce... I don't eat it, but it has become tradition for our family. "Listen for the popping sound, everybody! Okay, it's done. *Now*. Time for the sniff. NOW it is Christmas..."
 

~Baby wraps.
~Sweet "monkeys".
~Lights Before Christmas.
~Riverbanks zoo.
~The staff at Riverbanks zoo who work from as early as July to set up Lights Before Christmas for our enjoyment...

~Family fun.
~Neighbors...
~One who gave her time to teach me knitting :). I had fun making the little ones these hats in 2011 :), and I use that knowledge often for gifts!

~Mushrooms.

 ~Kangaroos.

~Pies.
~Cookies.
~Tea towel dresses.
~This sight...

~Corn on the cob.
~Little helpers.
~Corn husk dolls.

 ~Baby's first "Thanksgiving" (you may remember we celebrated the first night of Advent, Thanksgiving, and St. Nicholas day while Daddy was home for a three day visit. )
~Our special holiday plates...

It looks like he likes sweet potatoes...

But Peter's do not like sweet potatoes!

~Family traditions... (How many more people do you think we can fit around this tree to keep this tradition up?!)

~(Emmi) Lou-Who...

~My precious siblings.
~That we are still able to match...

~Chunky cheeks...

~Haha! I forgot about this until I was going through pictures. I am very thankful that we did not have to take the door apart while trying to get the house ready to sell when it got jammed after Bethi and Andrew shut a blanket in it. Haha, Emmi looks FAR too pleased that they can't get out, teeheehee... she also look extremely old in this pictures?!!!

~St. Nicholas Day.
~Tommy's candles. Mommy and Daddy got me one for St. Nichols day :). The Christmas Cabin one smells just like our house does during Christmas baking :)!
~Popcorn.

~Air poppers.

 
~Chili.
~Advent.
~Anticipation.
~Preparation.
~The angel's news.
~The shepherd's example.
~The gift of Christ.
~That Christmas pictures were done three hours from starting- I found that highly amazing, haha! I'll share the one of all us siblings together here...

~The yummy muffins Tori made us for breakfast all by herself (the day of the writing of this thankful thought...) (I am usually the resident muffin maker :).) ... They were delicious, thank you, Tori!!!
~"Feliz Navidad".
~Pianos.
~Free sheet music.
~Christmas candies.
~Christmas baking.
~Butter. Although not thankful enough to sit and do this...

~"Knitting parties". I think. At least, that's what they said. I think it looks more like they are playing Cat's Cradle, or tying each other up... but, whatever it was, it looks like fun ;).

~Yarn.
~Creativity...

~Poinsettias.
~Peter's "early attempts" at talking. Believe me or not, he did say "poinsettia". And "button". And "bye-bye". And all the first week of the new year :). Smart Boy...
 (What we find really funny, is that he looks like Abbi, and acts like her with a bit of Andrew thrown in, not to mention the natural mix of his own little self. Anyway, Abbi didn't talk very well until she almost three. (Emmi started about the same time, actually. I think they motivated each other quite nicely. So nicely, in fact, that for a while there, their communication was so similar, you couldn't trust the voice to know who was who...).)

~Christ's generosity in giving up all, including, for time, God's approval, that we might gain God's approval.
~Generous little ones... she is standing by the tree that she just finished putting *all* her toys under to give to everybody for Christmas ;)... Love her :)!

~Cinnamon rolls.
~Candles.
~Documentaries.
Every Christmas morning, we watch a documentary on the birth of Christ, after we sing happy birthday to Jesus, and blow out the candles on the cinnamon rolls :).

~Our new star, as the old one gave out on us...
~Bows.
~Wrapping paper.
~Mommy and Daddy's decision to make all of our decorations center on Christ... 

Our tree doesn't usually look this good ;). 
We have had somebody around six to eighteen 
months at Christmas time for the past seven years. 
Every time an ornament is snitched off the tree, it gets put 
higher up... which causes the bottom 

half to be kind of bare by Christmas ;).

~Peter's first Christmas.

~Abbi's lion hair :)...

~Little one's excitement.

~Puzzles :)! And really neat ones, too...

~Textured stencils!

~Jewelry kits.

~Rory's Story Cubes... now dubbed "Tori's Story Cubes :). 

~Kisses :).

~Siblings :).

~Giraffes. Abbi got a small giraffe from Grandma and Grandpa, and then a big giraffe from Gramma and Papa Nate. She was so thrilled- now she has a baby and a mama!

~Brushes.

~This P.R.E.C.I.O.U.S face!

~Emmi's squeal of utter delight and ecstasy when she saw these bracelets Bethi picked out for her. She is all girl, you all. You made a good choice, Bethi :). 

 Can you tell who is taking the picture in this picture?...

~Peter's cheeks.

~History books!
~Chocolate.
~Cards.
~Drawing kits.

~Candy :)!

Oh dear... does this look to you like it could be called "Unsuspecting Victims"? Heehee :).

Don't worry, she's just brushing our hair! She is a great multi-tasker...

~Godly science DVDs!
~The Elsie Dinsmore books.

~Tori's new colorful socks, which just delight Emmi and Peter... they are so Tori socks :)...

~This little gift...

~And all the other many gifts I have to be thankful for...
~A family to celebrate with.
~The humility of Christ.

~The Twelve Days of Christmas. (Do you know what each of these things are coded as in the song?)

~The Apostle's Creed.
~The Eleven True Disciples.
~The Ten Commandments.
~The Fruit of the Spirit.
~The Beatitudes
~The Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit.
~The Six Days of Creation.
~The Pentateuch.
~The Gospels.
~Gold, Frankincense, and Myrah.
~The Old and New testament.
~Christ on the Cross.

~Sweetness...

~Peter's first New Years :).

 ~Wood.

~Homemade marshmallows.

~Charcoal. (Did I mention that Bethi got Daddy coal for Christmas? Haha :). Charcoal! It was her own idea, may I add! She asked Mommy if she could "so that he can grill us hamburgers if he wants"- heeheehee ;).) 

 ~The beauty of this flame (from a safe distance ;).)

~Graham crackers.

~Napkins.

~Shoes.

~Little girls who hate sticky fingers... :)...

~Little ones loving to sit with Daddy and toast a marshmallow :)...

~Goofballs ;)...

~Buttons.

~Snowflake cups.
~The New Year.
~Visits with family.
~The wonderful time we had as a family celebrating generosity, thankfulness, life, and the birth of our King!!!!