Thankful Thursday, on Saturday, again... week 55 :)

We've had an interesting week, to say the least! Peter's first birthday was on the 23d, and Daddy made it home to celebrate it with us, so that was a great blessing :). I'll have a post up, hopefully within the next few day, for his birthday pictures :).
Daddy had to leave the morning after Peter's big day, while we started getting ready for a family to come and look at our house that evening. We did lots of yard work (and I broke the fence, although it was repairable... that terrified me for a minute ;).), before we found out that they will be coming next week, instead. So, I finished up outside, then came inside to get cleaned up and make some granola bars, complete with chocolate chips ;). We visited some friends we hadn't seen for a few months the next morning, and we had a great time with them :). We then took a very interesting shopping trip, going without a list for the first time in so long that I can't even say when the last time was, along with many other interesting incidents along the way :P. After we got home, we worked some more on the fence, planted a bush, put away the groceries, and put the little ones down for quite time, which they greatly needed by this time :P. Tori and I played a few games during quiet time, but as soon as we were done, I promptly crashed just in time for the little ones quiet time to be over, haha. I started supper when I woke up, and got the bright idea (yep, another one) to make, not only a double recipe of the spaghetti sauce I was making, but also to cook up all the hamburger we bought that morning, and make a meal of creamy italian chicken, all at the same time, heeheehee. We then had a "furry creature" in our garage, which led me to doing a quick clean up of our inside fridge, so that I could put the meals I just made in here rather than our outside fridge, which we're not very thrilled at the idea of taking a trip to ;). We cleaned up the huge mess I made in the kitchen, got the little ones in bed, and sat down to watch a movie, during which Bethi woke up sick, which happened a total of five times that night, along with Abbi having a dream that terrified her. We ended up breaking into the granola bars I had made for emergency "we're ten minutes from your house, can we come look at it" calls, and worked in the garden again, which is growing weeds even faster than peas, and those were up in two days! It has been very interesting, slightly hectic, and very, very busy, haha!!!
But, despite one "calamity" after the other, there are still these, and many other, things to be thankful for (such as getting many laughs at the ridiculousness of the past few days ;).)...
~Big boy Peter, 1 year old :)!
~Abbi's great job learning the crochet chain stitch last week.
~That Daddy was able to make it home for several days over the weekend, not just Peter's birthday :).
~Daddy's help with my tatting. It is amazing how much he can help without knowing exactly how it works (and it is equally amazing how long it takes me to understand his suggestions, heeheehee :)...)
~Historical sights :).
~Picnics.
~Peter's delight in the lamb I knit him... too sweet!!!!
~Peter's little hands working on "working" with his new Melissa and Doug toolbox fill-and-spill :).
~Visits with friends.
~A beautiful yard.
~Lots of flowers around the house.
~That we own a steam cleaner.
~Fresh fruit cake.
~A shrinking to-do list, haha ;)...
~"Little laughables" (I've got a few to share sometime soon ;)...).
~Fun with little ones, watering plants, pulling weeds, reading books :).
~Meals sitting in the fridge to be pulled out when we're in a hurry.
~A clean house.
~And, (Daddy should find this especially impressive), I did not burn our grilled cheese sandwiches yesterday ;).
~Tori's help in counting a couple hundred books that we hope to sell soon, haha!
~That each day takes us closer to the day that we'll be in VA!

Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of his, 

and give thanks at the 

remembrance of his holiness. 

                                       ~Psalm 30:4

Thankful Thursday, Week 53

(Slipped in where it should have been, though posted much later...)

~That, though the things that were done to this little boy are heartbreaking, he has a family to love him!
~And that the Lord is in control!
~A biography of Albert Einstein.
~The sun shining.
~Peter toddling around the yard.
~Family projects.
~Family stories to laugh at in years to come :).
~Grass.
~Seeds.
~Watering hoses.
~Tori's herb plants.
~The chore of weeding.
~The excitement of new plants coming up.
~That we can use our garlic press with out the pin... I wrote this post awhile back and forgot to post it...

"Am I wrong in thinking that I am just a bit obsessed with knitting?...

...because that is what I find myself thinking every time I use our garlic press. We lost the pin that holds it together. A size five knitting needles takes on the job well. Does that count as a knitter's tip, or a cook's tip?! (A meat thermometer also works with ours ;).)"

Heehee :).

Happy 1st birthday, Peter!!!

We love you sooo much, baby boy! This past year we have spent with you has been a delight, and we are so thankful for you!!!
We were so excited when Mommy and Daddy told us you were on the way! We were so thankful when you were born, and it was wonderful to see Andrew start bonding with a brother for the first time :). We all love you to pieces, and we didn't put you down very much until you started rolling over, when that became so sweet that we put you down just to watch ;). That skill was soon followed by crawling, cruising, and just over the past couple weeks, walking. Each milestone, these and smaller ones, have made us cheer, and each of your laughs makes us smile... You are a true blessing from the Lord, and we are so thankful that the Lord has given you to us. I pray that you may continue to grow, learn to love the Lord, and follow him!
I love you, Peter. Happy birthday!!!

In honor of Peter's birthday...

I finished a project I have been working on since Peter was three months old...

Sadly, I didn't take, or can't find, pictures from the right dates for when Peter was 2 months while Emmi was 2, or 4 months while Abbi was 4. (And, of course, Peter has matched all of us if you count weeks or days, but I'm not for this project ;).) I just thought that his age correlations (he has matched somebody in their age number eight months out of his little twelve month life!) was really neat :).
Happy birthday Peter :)!

Tatted bookmarks: Hearts

I created this pattern late last year, during our trip to VA. After you've become comfortable with tatting and have made a few these should take about twenty minutes to make. I hope you enjoy! On a side note, I tat using a shuttle, so I'm not sure that these instructions can be used in needle tatting.

 Heart bookmark:

This pattern uses consecutive rings:

1. Wind tatting shuttle with color of choice.
2. First ring (right side): 2-1-1-1-1--1-1-2
3. Second ring (left side): 2-1-1--1-1-1-1-2
4. Third ring (bottom): 2-1-1-1--1-1-1-2
5. Leave approx. five inches (more or less as desired :)) of uts.
6. End ring: 5-5-5-5. Close ring. 

Tatting abbreviations: (-) equals picot
(--) equals long picot
(numbers, (8, 5, and 1)) equals number of double stitches to tat.
uts equals un-worked thread space

I hope you enjoy! :)

-

Thankful Thursday, week 54

Thursday is here again! It seems like it can't have been a whole week yet, but I have been eager to write this since last Friday- it's one of my favorite blog "chores" :)! This week I am thankful for...
~Daddy's longer-than-usual visit home this weekend :)!
~That God is in control of this situation, today  and everyday.
~Coffee. Caffeine is good for your memory! I am sticking with my joke that this is the reason that I am finding Romans easier to memorize than some other passages have been for me in the past- while Katie and I were reading through Romans together, I would often sip some coffee while I read ;).  (Gives me a good excuse for drinking it ;).)
~Speaking of which... I am thankful that Katie and I decided to go ahead and memorize Romans 1-7 while it was still fresh in our minds- I am enjoying it immensely!
~This "last week" with a little baby in the house... Peter's birthday is next Wednesday...
~And he is now graduating into being our walking toddler, with many instances of five+ steps in a row under his belt... bittersweet milestones, sniff, sniff :)...
~Visits with friends, who we hadn't seen for two years (they moved back here last October). We had such a blessed time with them, and some of you may like to know...
~... that this is the family that many of you joined us in prayer for two years ago, right after they moved... and that the Lord is continuing to heal Miss Rhonda further than the doctors ever thought possible!!!
~Millefori (that word isn't even in my spell check, haha!) beads- Tori is awesome ;). They are beautiful clay beads... I'll have to post a picture when she is finished :).
~Another work day in the yard that now looks much better :).
~Little plants coming up in the garden we planted last Saturday (Bethi's peas were up by Monday!) :).
~Lots of yarn to use over the next... several years ;).
~Cleaners.
~Rags.
~That it looks like I might have officially mastered tatted split rings, INCLUDING ones with picots, which were proving more difficult than plain rings!
~Gentle rain...
~...coupled with bright sun. I love that combination almost as much as heavy rain and a thunderstorm :).
~Azalea plants.
~Encouragement to keep recording my blessings.
~Animal crackers... Emmi LOVES the song "Animal Crackers in My Soup", so it was fun to give her some for the first time the other day :).
~To-do lists (is that odd? I love marking stuff off, haha! Bethi is even more list minded than I am, though, and I used to think that I was pretty hard to beat ;).)
~The smell of supper drifting through the house, the sound of little ones playing, and a houseful of loved ones :)... I'm going to go help clean up the kitchen a bit before supper now, with some of the blessings God has graciously  given me to be thankful for!...

Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice,

O righteous, and shout for joy,

all you upright in heart!

                                ~Psalms 32:11

On the dangers of trying to be brilliant at seven in the morning... (Part three)

(Part one)
(Part two)
I was going to make one half batch with white flour, and one half batch with white wheat. I was going to pour half of the milk into another bowl. It would be hard to half the salt and sugar that I had already mixed, but I could do it. I would mix them really well, and then do the best I could.
I still didn't want to wake up Mommy, especially if this all ended in her still having to go get donuts. I carried our grain grinder into my room, and shut the door, leaving the wheat grinding while I melted the butter one half at a time, and stirred the yeast into the milk. I then let the white cinnamon rolls knead in the mixer, but, by this time I was thoroughly fed up with the kitchen ;), so I decided to knead the wheat cinnamon rolls by hand to save time. They couldn't get much worse, I was sure.
I set them in the oven to rise, purposing to go have my bible time. I glanced at the clock as I left. I had been baking for almost an hour. I had thought I would be done in fifteen minutes. Ha.
They rose nicely. I started to have some hope again.
Then I dumped the wheat dough on the counter. They worked beautifully- but I forgot that it was only half of a batch, and rolled it out too thin, so they were rather small, although we did get more out of it that way ;).
I was very careful to roll the dough out thicker the second time. But the white dough was rather sticky, and as I tried to roll the dough up, it just stretched. I was glad I hadn't rolled it out more than it should have been, because they ended up thin anyway. I was definitely using parchment paper on these pans.
And they didn't rise the second time.
Mommy came out while I was typing this post out, so that I could throw the paper draft away ;), wanting to know what I had been doing with aluminum foil. I told her it wasn't aluminum foil, it was parchment paper. I then proceeded to tell her the story- starting with the bug incident, as she went and started snuggling Emmi in my bed. I couldn't resist.
As I finished, she asked, "We've already used all that flour that is on the top shelf of the freezer in here?!"
There had been a bag of white flour in the inside freezer behind the ice cream all this time. Which just shows how observant I am. And that ice cream isn't the cure for everything, even if it is the cure for ALMOST everything. Haha.
We ended up turning on the oven and baking the cinnamon rolls even though they hadn't risen, and you know what? They rose while they baked. And they were actually good. And the icing actually beat smooth, instead of having butter lumps in it (a common occurrence for me). And Abbi actually said that eating them was her favorite part of the day. And I'm actually laughing at the whole thing. And if it had happened to anybody else, I would say that I had to much fun writing this story. But it wasn't anybody else, so I'll just keep having fun with it ;)...
The rest of the day was spent listening to the special sermon we always listen to on Resurrection; Talking about the deepness of Christ's sacrifice, and the joy we have to live in him; finishing a documentary we had been watching on economics; getting items sent in for the Hidden Treasures auction; I finished the pieces to the bible cover I'm making, leaving only the sewing together, which was so fun (but I later discovered I hadn't made the straps... grrr... :P...); we had a fun lunch; and finished up the little ones day by watching "The Secrets of Johnathan Sperry"... in the middle of which we stopped to repair the washer, which we discovered was coming apart when we went to switch my bedsheets (I was not sleeping in them again without washing them after that bug, haha!). It took forever, but Mommy did it, despite my attempts to help that resulted in my worsening it :P. ...Partly due to the fact that I was laughing at the washer, because if Daddy had been coming home when he usually does, he would have been here to fix it (I told you they waited for him, they just haven't figured out he changed his schedule!), partly because I didn't know what I was doing, and partly because I had been up since seven thirty, which was showing through by this time in the form of being able to do absolutely nothing but laugh over anything... very common for me when I am tired. Tori says that when I get that way, I will laugh at the wiggling of a finger... and I did as she gave Mommy that example, it's true. Hahaha...
After which Tori, Mommy and I stayed up and watched a movie while we ate ice cream ;)...

Sending you to another post....

You will have to read this post on "The Blessing of Verity".
An eleven year old should not be that tiny from neglect, and his life should have much more value in the sight of others, who created in the image of God just as he is, than was obviously thought of Tommy by those around him when this picture was taken. Mistreating children should not be used for gain, and those who need the most help should not be thrown in beds alone for all but a few minutes in the days.
Much is happening. And the youngest one among us can do something to help.... Pray to God, the orchestrator of all things; For families to rescue these children and show them Christ's love; For continued care, that continues to get better as more resources come in from those unable to adopt, while they are still waiting for their forever families; For strength for the new director, who is facing so much opposition; For the former director, that the Lord would break her heart to her sin and bring him to a saving knowledge of Him; For wisdom and a mind of justice to be given to the judges who are working on this case, as this woman tries to get back into a place of power over these little souls.

Albert Einstein: Young Thinker

First off, I'll remind you that I read some children's history books this year, the ones that the younger ones got for Christmas :P. I love history! And these happen to be the perfect size to finish in a day without much effort, with short chapters, so I can fit them in at odd times of the day ;). Think of them as productive boredom killers (what is boredom?...). Haha!
No, really, in all truthfulness, now, I'll tell you the real reason I picked the first one up, and why it lead to more. It was because there was one about Albert Einstein. I had heard a lot about him in different places over the past few months (more than usual), and although I had a basic idea, I wanted to learn more about who he was, and what he did.
This great scientist, and mathematician, who loved people, and especially children, and who remained humble and helpful even in fame, was born into a Jewish family in Germany, a family that included his Father, Mother, one sister, and uncle Jacob. As a child he was a very good thinker. He often visited his father's electrical shop next door, and, on at least one occasion, was left in the office, due to having fallen asleep trying to come to an answer to a question he was puzzling over while watching the men work..
Although he was very good at mathematics and science, with most other school subjects he struggled. His family left for Italy, but he stayed behind to finish school. There was a little problem, though... he asked questions. And he was asked to leave due to that fact- it didn't sit well with the teachers, who often found it difficult to answer his deep, thoughtful questions, which he asked in front of the rest of the class.
He tried to get into a college a few years later, but as his grades were so poor in everything but math and science, it was impossible to let him in without a diploma. He headed back to school, and eventually made it back with his diploma to college.
Later he became a citizen of Switzerland, where he took a job as a patent examiner. He later became a professor, and moved back to Germany. A few years later he moved to the United States, though, during the time that Hitler was persecuting the Jews. He was considered one of the world's greatest scientists.

Things of Spring....

The sun shines down, as one of Peter's little hands clings to me, the other clutching a plastic shovel. His tiny feet work so hard to walk for the first time in the grass with shoes on. A car drives slowly by, and I wonder if they may have been looking into our house. I can tell Daddy is wondering, too, and he asks me to shut the garage door. Peter and I then continue our trip around the yard, again, and again, and again. Daddy instructs Tori on how to plant her herbs. A butterfly lazily glides by us. Peter bends down to dig at the grass. I love how he gets so into all this "gardening stuff". I can hear the rest of my family laughing together at the garden beds. Emmi trots across the yard, and I smile to hear her little sigh, as she gives a look that only Emmi can. She comes to me and tells me "Today was such a good day for you to find a worm." She squeezes my neck, and I squeeze her back. She goes off to "help weed" again, and Peter decides that the grass looks fun to eat. Before he can put his plan to action, I stand him back up, and we start walking slowly back to the rest of the family, his hand still gripping mine. By the end of this day, as we do a family project once again, we will have planted a garden, enjoyed each other, learned some things, and laughed together often. All these things come from the hand of God. And I am truly blessed.