Sounds amazing!

Saving big on groceries .....a guide...amazing!

Sweet 7.

Seven years seems like a long period of time unless you're talking about your child's age. It was only yesterday she was just learning to feed herself, walk, and get herself dressed. "No, me do!" Was one of her favorite phrases and it so frustrated me because it was just a sign of times to come that she was slowly transforming from that little toddler that needed help to a young child who didn't. Those years pass by all too quickly, especially when there is just the one child in your family. The heartbreak of 5 miscarriages can really take a toll on your life, but when you are finally blessed with that one special little angel it makes it all worthwhile.

I know all parents think their child is special and wonderful and we are no exception. There is just something more there. People have noticed it. She just has that little extra something. I guess my main focus is making sure to water and nourish that little seedling with plenty of good stuff so that it can become all God meant for it. I can already see Olivia touching the world with her faith and her heart for Jesus. I know that in this world she is going to face persecution for her faith. We are guaranteed this in Romans 8:35-39

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long;we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Our job is to make sure she knows she is loved and that she can do all things through Christ who gives us strength. No matter what curve balls life may throw our way we can rest in the knowledge that we are in Christ's care and control.

Olivia and Johnathan have a special bond that is just precious to witness. He does his best to make sure she knows that no matter what she does wrong, we will never stop loving her. He reminds her that our true beauty comes from within and that our mistakes do not define us. We often feel God as our heavenly father has the same attributes are our earthly father since we cannot always fathom the lengths of his love and sacrifice for us. It is so important for daddy's to have that unconditional love, that forgiving kind spirit, and that faithful patience.

Words will never be able to express the love I have for this child God has given us to raise. I feel blessed beyond measure to interact with her each and every day and to learn from her as much, if not more, than she learns from me. No cup of coffee can pep me up in the morning like that sweet, happy face of hers that always manages to be bright and cheerful.
Olivia,

My sweet and precious baby girl, my heart is overflowing with love for you. Your sweet heart melts mine and just a smile my direction makes my cup runneth over. You will never know how your life has changed mine. I will do all that is in my power to love and to protect you all the days of my life. You are my treasure and I thank God for entrusting your life to your daddy and I. We are so proud of you and all you have accomplished. I know God has great plans for your life and I can't wait to be a part of that. You are my peanut, my sweet pea, my baby girl and I shall love you for all time.

Love Always,
Mommy

Pattern Pieces - a necessary evil

One of the things I dread most about sewing is trying to get all those flimsy tissue pattern pieces back into that itty bitty envelope. Sure, you can just fold them up haphazardly, but then the next time you go to use that pattern you have to open each piece and they have a gazillion little folds all over them that make pinning them flat nearly impossible.

I decided to devise a plan and document it for anyone else wanting to reduce pattern frustration.

1: Cut out all the pattern pieces, not just the ones you need for the current project. (Hint: if you are using a pattern that can make 2 or 3 different sizes and you plan to make a few different sized items from the pattern, make the largest sized item first.)

2: Iron all the pieces so they lay flat. Use a low setting with no steam or the edges will curl up on you. Cut out the fabric for your project and when it is complete, continue with the following steps.

3: Take all the pieces and the pattern envelope back to the ironing board. (Now, if you don't own an ironing board and iron you probably aren't the kind of person who is going to give a rip about whether the pattern pieces are put back nicely or not...just sayin'.) Fold each pattern piece so that each piece's number can be easily seen and in a folded into a size that is close to the size of the envelope. Iron them so they are as flat as can be and place the patterns in numerical order.

4: Sandwich the pattern pieces between the 2 (or more) pages of instructions to keep them from ripping or catching on the envelope opening.














5: They will now easily slide back in. When you go to use the pattern the next time you can easily pick out the pieces you need. (I would iron them again at this point so they will lie flat on my fabric for easier cutting.

Additional Notes: I found that an easy way to transfer circles and squares onto the pattern below is to cut them out on the actual pattern piece. I use a hole punch for the small and large circles and a small, sharp pair of scissors for the squares and triangles. Like so:





It is very easy to then draw a circle in the circle opening or a square in the square opening, etc. on your fabric pieces.

A Little Rusty

I decided to dust off my sewing skills and make a gift for my niece who just turned 4. Like my daughter, she has a love for all thinks bright pink. I had found some cute fleece on clearance and had never found a good use for it, so I thought it would be perfect.

Once I had the fleece out I quickly determined it was not going to be adequate for the project because it was quite thin. It would probably be fine for a Texas winter, but not for the sub-zero temps the Midwest can bring.

I went out to Hobby Lobby and found a cute pattern and a coordinating hot pink fleece. I hurried home to get started and things quickly went south. It has been at least 6 years since I have sewn anything to my best recollection. Sitting on a hard floor cutting out the pattern pieces with a dull pair of craft scissors soon dashed my excitement. I broke a rule my grandmother taught me and used hair cutting scissors on my fabric.

I will spare you the gory details, but instead focus on the positive and show you my before and after pics of the project. I ended up doubling the thickness of the zebra print fleece for the scarf since it was so thin. I got to practice my blanket stitch when applying the hearts to the hat and mittens. And my favorite part is that the mittens have a little finger cover than can be folded back to expose little fingers so they don't have to take off the gloves and possibly lose them to use be able to use their fingers.

Olivia's Adventures Aug - Oct 2011

We got to meet with Olivia's teacher, Mrs. Brinson, last week. She is a sweet woman that has been teaching for 27 years, 5 of those have been at Willis Lane Elementary. Our meeting went pretty much as we thought. Olivia is such a smart girl. She is at Mastery level in almost every area of first grade at the 6 week mark. The only 2 areas she is on par with the rest of the class is her handwriting and her problem-solving skills. Mrs. Brinson also mentioned a lack of focus and some disorganization issues....all of which came as no surprise to us. : )

Because she is doing so well, Mrs. Brinson said she was recommending Olivia for the Talented & Gifted program. They don't pull kids from class in first grade for that, but Mrs. Brinson is a certified T&G teacher, so she had a few students she would be pulling from the main group and having them do more challenging work.

If you ask Olivia what her favorite subject is in school her answer can vary a little. She loves gym now that she has learned to do pushups, but it used to be her least favorite. If she can't do it well, she doesn't want any part of it. While we love that she doesn't settle for mediocrity, it does challenge us to keep reminding her that, with practice, she can master most anything she puts her mind to. I mean, have you heard the girl snap her fingers or whistle? Amazing.

One other area of note the teacher brought up was Olivia's ability to make friends. We have struggled with this for the past few years. She seems to feel no one ever likes her and that she never has any friends, which isn't true at all. One negative comment or puzzled look in her direction from a fellow classmate leads her to believe with all her heart that they don't like her. We have been working on some role-playing to help her feel more confident in the friend-making department. "You have to be a friend to have a friend, " we remind her. "The world doesn't revolve around you, your likes and your wants." To which she has responded, "Really?" LOL

On the flip side, when she is in big group at Sunday School, she will get up in front and lead the whole group during the singing/praise time. She knows all the words and all the motions to the songs and is happy to "help" everyone else do it right as well. She is convinced that she is going to be famous for singing. I even found a note in her room that she wrote, "Some day I am going to be a pop star."

Did I mention this girl loves to read? She devours books daily, reading up to 160 words a minute, which the teacher tells us makes her abilities equal to that of a third grader. Her favorite series right now is Junie B. Jones. She can read one of these 70 page chapter books in about an hour. I don't know how many times I have sensed the uncommon silence and wondered what she was up to. She is seldom THAT quiet for THAT long, you see. I go searching and she is either on her loft bed reading or sitting at her desk with her little light on with her feet propped up on the desk, just reading away.

One of her favorite times of day is reading at bedtime. Her favorite book to bring us is her children's bible. She will want us to read 20 pages, so she can hear the whole story of Moses and his journey in the basket to ending up wandering the desert for 40 years, not just her favorite page of the burning bush.

Our current projects include: Preparing for Trunk or Treat, a pumpkin decorating contest at school, and planning her 7th birthday party.

Sisters in Christ

Olivia and I have discussed the act of accepting Christ and what that means several times over the past few months. Last week I simply asked Olivia if she wanted to accept Christ and be baptized. She was all for it...except for being wet in her clothes at church. The child hates bathing or having something spilled on her.

(In this shot, we see that Daddy gets to baptize Olivia.) While helping put bulletins together in the church office Thursday afternoon, I told one of the church staff ladies, Mitzie, about Olivia's seeming interest in being baptized and her distaste for being wet...except when we go swimming. Well, Mitzie loves Olivia and kindly offered the use of her pool for the event.

That night, I started up a conversation with her again about accepting Christ and being baptized in Ms Mitzie's pool. She was all for the idea. Johnathan overheard us talking and came in to be able to hear what we were talking about more clearly. We all sat at the table and asked Olivia if she wanted God to be her boss and if she knew the ABC's of being "saved." She knew that A stood for Accept that I am a sinner, B stands for believe that Christ died on the cross for our sins and rose again after 3 days, and C is for Confess your sins to God. Johnathan offered to help her pray the Sinner's Prayer, but she wanted to do it herself. She did a great job and Johnathan helped her fill in a few gaps. I can't tell you how touching that moment was and how I'll never forget how serious and grown-up she seemed.

The following day I took her to lunch and we went and got her a "big girl bible." She wasn't happy that there weren't many pictures, but she thought it looked really cool and she would learn to use it with our help. I also explained to her that she and I were now sisters. Since God is our Father, that makes us sisters in Christ. She thought that was pretty cool. I also told her how glad I was that now all my babies would be with me in Heaven and it choked me up enough that I started to just sob sitting there, being filled with such joy. Olivia patted me on the back to console me and I told her I was crying tears of joy. She said, "I know. I do that too sometimes. It's OK, Mommy."

Friends and family that came to celebrate with us.