SHOP UPDATE FOR CHRISTMAS...

WELL, THIS CHRISTMAS WAS A BIT UNEXPECTED. A FEW DAYS BEFORE CHRISTMAS, MY HUSBAND FINALLY TALKED ME INTO GOING INTO THE DOCTOR. HE GRACIOUSLY TOOK ME IN AS MY FEVER WAS TOO DISTRACTING FOR ME TO DRIVE MYSELF. THE DOCTOR TOOK ONE LOOK AT ME AND SAID, THERE IS NO REASON TO CHECK ANYTHING UNTIL WE RUN A FLU TEST. SURE ENOUGH, IT CAME BACK POSITIVE AS THE TYPE"A" FLU-MEANING-HIGHLY CONTAGIOUS. SHE ALSO FOUND THAT I HAD A SINUS INFECTION AND BRONCHITIS ADDING TO THE MESS. AFTER MAKING THE DREADED PHONE CALLS TO FAMILY LETTING THEM KNOW WE WOULD NOT BE LEAVING HOME THIS CHRISTMAS, I GATHERED UP JUST ENOUGH STRENGTH TO BUNDLE UP, SCARF WRAPPED OVER MY FACE, TO MAKE ONE QUICK STOP TO FINISH PICKING UP THE LAST FEW GIFTS I NEEDED FOR MATT AND THE KIDS. I HAVE SINCE THEN, BEEN IN BED TRYING TO SLEEP THIS BUG AWAY. MY POOR LITTLE BELL HAS ALSO NOW CAUGHT IT, SO WE ARE COMISERATING TOGETHER. NOT EXACTLY THE CHRISTMAS WE HAD PLANNED, BUT CERTAINLY TRYING TO REMAIN THANKFUL IN BETWEEN THE MOMENTS OF DISAPPOINTMENT. WE ALL WAVED FROM THE FRONT WINDOW WHEN MOM AND DAD DROPPED OFF GIFTS FROM MY GRANDMA ON OUR DOORSTEP-SO WISHING WE COULD JUST CRACK OPEN THE DOOR AND SNAG A QUICK HUG AT LEAST. BUT THE DOC KINDLY SUGGESTED WE KEEP OUR DISTANCE TO KEEP OTHERS HEALTHY. WE LEARNED HOW TO "SKYPE" SO WE COULD VIDEO CHAT ON LINE TODAY WITH MY FOLKS, SISTER AND BROTHER IN LAW-I WAS THANKFUL FOR THE CONNECTION. WE ARE STILL UP IN THE AIR ABOUT WHEN WE WILL SEE OUR FAMILIES TO CELEBRATE.

I KNEW SOMETHING WAS UP TUESDAY NIGHT WHEN WE RETURNED HOME FROM SLEDDING IN THE BEAUTIFUL WINTER STORM WE WERE HAVING, BECAUSE I JUST COULD NOT GET MY HEART TO SLOW DOWN AND SURE ENOUGH, I WOKE UP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT WITH A NASTY FEVER. SO-I WAS KEEPING UP WITH ALL THE SHOP'S ORDERS UNITL WEDNESDAY, BUT I AM NOW GOING TO NEED TO APOLOGIZE FOR THE FACT THAT THERE WILL BE A BIT OF A DELAY IN GETTING THEM OUT. I AM HOPING TO SEND MOST TOMORROW, BUT ANY ITEMS MADE TO ORDER MAY TAKE ME A DAY OR TWO TO FINISH. I AM SORRY FOR THIS!! BUT I THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR PATIENCE!! I HOPE EACH OF YOU HAD A BEAUTIFUL CHRISTMAS! WHAT A BLESSING TO HAVE A SAVIOR WHO CAME TO EARTH TO SAVE US!! BLESSINGS !!!

Enjoying the Winter Season!

There is something about the winter that even gives Cole the bug to create. He began on this rug almost a year ago and has picked it back up to finish. He had me hunt down jersey sheets for this one in blues, whites, greens and black. He has now finished the rug and it is in his room. I will have to post a picture later. It is the thickest, softest rug my feet have ever felt!

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Many of you have followed along the adventure we have had fitting 7 of us into a tiny old ranch style house. We have struggled with fitting in a dining space for us and I am always rearranging attempting to find a way to make it work! Having company is always difficult ad usually lands us moving furniture into the garage to fit everyone. Well this year, like every year, we moved our dining table out to the garage to put up a Christmas tree. We end up sitting on the couch for dinner, there is nowhere to have friends over, and we are squeezing past one another everyday in our normal activities. After a good friend and her kiddos left one afternoon, I was struggling with this again but came back to a promise. The Lord knows our needs and has given us all that we have, so I just need to figure out the best way to use it! So I worked a few things out on paper and shared the idea with Matt, and got to work. We decided after 6 years in this house, to let go of the idea that our living room has to be upstairs. I purged and rearranged the basement to prepare it for bring down our living room. With Matt's help then, we moved our entertainment center downstairs and brought the dining room table into what has always been our living room. We split up our couch and loveseat set-moving one of them downstairs. We had always hesitated in this because our basement is not finished-but we let go of the idea that it had to be "just right". This change and the comfort it has brought has been just about as exciting as a new house. The table is always ready for meals-there is plenty of room for all of us to sit and watch a movie together, and when friends come over, we are not crawling over each other to get from one place to another! We left a little TV upstairs for school and weather etc, but it is a new place for us to gather around a table now-so fun.
This is how the "living room" looks now.
This is how the "living room" looks now. And when the tree comes down, I am looking forward to creating a whole new little cozy corner in it's place!

This is our new family room in the basement-we love it!!

The girls and Noah slept downstairs around the tree to celebrate their first night of Christmas break.

We had a beautiful snow last night!
Bell fell asleep watching the snow last night.
The girls and I worked on the Christmas village under the tree and getting the train running more smoothly. Noah is loving it!
We went sledding last night in the crazy snow! The hill was pure ice under the snow which made us all a comedy act attempting to make our way up the hill!

It Has Been Awhile....

In with the cold and mittens and hats........but where have the bed linens gone, you ask? I have still been hunting them down on my thrifting trips, but they have been slowly overrunning my cutting table begging for my attention! So yesterday, I finally surrendered to them and now have a fun new variety of prints to work with for the fat quarter bundles. Here is a sneak peek:)

And for those of you who have been following the adventure with my mittens, here are a few new pairs that I have had so much fun making!

These were some of my "Dotty Spotty" collection.

These are some of the "Garden Bloom" collection.

And these were extra fun because Joslyn came up with the design when we were making a pair for one of her leaders at church. They are now titled, "Joslyn's Garden Heart Blooms"

SPECIAL SUNDAY SALE...

SPECIAL SUNDAY SALE.....30% OFF YOUR ENTIRE ORDER OF $100.00 OR MORE. CANNOT BE COMBINED WITH ANY OTHER OFFERS. HAVE A BLESSED SUNDAY!

SHOP UPDATE FOR CHRISTMAS...

A FEW LITTLE TIDBITS FOR THE SHOP...

TODAY ONLY(DEC11TH) THERE IS A SPECIAL SALE RUNNING. ANY ORDER OF $100 OR MORE WILL RECEIVE A 25% DISCOUNT. DOES NOT INCLUDE SHIPPING.

THERE IS ALSO A NORMAL WEEKEND SALE GOING ON OF 20% OFF OF YOUR PURCHASE. THESE DISCOUNTS CANNOT BE COMBINED.

I WILL BE SHIPPING OUT ALL ORDERS ON MONDAY THAT WERE PLACED THIS WEEKEND. THEY WILL GO PRIORITY TO INSURE ARRIVAL FOR CHRISTMAS.

I HOPE EVERYONE'S CHRISTMAS SEASON HAS BEEN A BLESSED ONE!

Holding Loosely to my Plans

Today, the boys(Matt and Cole) were out the door bright and early for a day in Chicago. Matt takes both youth groups to the city every year with the lesson in mind "be ready to fill a need". The kids all bring back packs full of food, hats, mittens, etc to hand out to the homeless. This year, they once again had around 100 with! Quite the sight, all gathered at the train station! It is a long day in the cold and walking, and my little ones would not quite make it, so I stay home-especially since my number one babysitter had the nerve to go with them:)

The girls and I spent a few hours this morning cleaning, and then they all went out to play in the beautiful winter wonderland that had arrived overnight. I never tire of the squeals that occur when they first open their eyes in the morning and see the first snow fall! After lunch, they all suited up again for a second round out in the snow, and I was all set to sew for a few hours.

This was my pile of mittens and hats all ready for me.

But about an hour into sewing, Joslyn came running in to get me. Madi had hurt her wrist and was struggling to get into the house. Madison had rolled a snowball the size of herself! And when it got to heavy to roll anymore, she backed up and took off running at it to get it to move. IT DID NOT MOVE-but her wrist did! After getting her all dewinterized and calmed down, I iced, elevated her wrist, and gave her some IB profen. But in a few hours it was obvious she needed to be seen by a Dr, I could not even move her wrist without causing extreme pain to her. Matt was already on his way home from Chicago by that point, so when they got home, I fed him and Cole when they walked in the door, and we then took Madison to the ER. We were actually a bit surprised to find out from the X Rays, that she did indeed fracture her wrist. So she is in a splint to immobilize the wrist and we will be seeing an Ortho Dr on Monday to get a cast put on.

I think what has really helped me to love being a mama of 5 kiddos, is learning to hold loosely to my own plans, after long weeks of school, ministry, work, etc-the weekend is welcomed with a sort of sigh of relief and especially when it seems that there may even be some quiet time that is unscheduled. But most of you know, that can change in a heartbeat. But instead of getting frustrated, I am learning to take a breath and count my blessings. It is so easy for "plans" to become an idol, to become all important, but they are only things themselves and are just not as important as those we love. Today I needed to put that into practice-all those projects waiting-didn't get done-but I was able to make some memories (even in the hard times) with Madison and Matt. I know some day, she will look back and laugh at this, and hopefully she will not attempt to win a battle with a monster snowball either!

And of course, the Lord's timing is perfect-Ellie once again has been a soothing balm for Madison after a hard week-first with the loss of her guinea pigs and now her wrist. Ellie is playing the roll of Nana from Peter Pan-taking such good care of the kids.

She made sure to help keep Madison's arm elevated.

Just a Little Nap....

Nursing the Pig Back to Health...

We have been sad to lose 4 out of our 6 guinee pigs this fall to some sort of virus that has obviously spread amongst them. The 2 that are still alive are not doing well at all and we have been preparing for the inevitable. It has been especially difficult for Madison since she is the one who has taken such good care of them these past 3 years. Today it looked as though Red was in his last minutes when I checked on him, but Madison and I began to try some new things with him to see if we could help him. So today she has been working hard to nurse "Red" who is our oldest pig, back to health. I found she had cleaned out my coupon drawer in the kitchen, which is where she does school each day, and had made a little bed for him so she could keep him hydrated throughout the day. I am quite proud of her for this. Still are not out of the woods with Red, but certainly hopeful.

A Few New Things.....

November has brought with it many events in our lives that have caused me to step back from work a bit. I have needed to be a bit more present in our family and use those quiet hours to prepare. My husband just married some very special friends of ours, so we traveled back to MN for that and were able to visit our previous church and some friends there. It had been 8 years since we have been back. Time just goes by in a blink. The wedding was the highlight of our year! Nicole was one of our first students and she promised Matt back when she was in high school, that he could do her wedding! So 10 years later, with a friendship blessed by the Lord, Matt married Jay and Nicole with all hope and conviction that they were brought together by the Lord and that He would bless them and use them in a mighty way!

This was at the rehearsal for the wedding-such a fun time!!!Oh-and just a little side note-Nicole asked me to make the tree behind them for the wedding -such a fun project! Eventually-hopefully-I will make it into a quilt for them.The beautiful bride, one of my most precious friends!

This month also brought the loss of my Grandma. It was expected and in some ways even looked forward too because of the amount of pain she has been in consistently for years, but also brought a real sadness. Grandma knew the Lord as her Savior and it is a joy knowing she is with Jesus and out of such intense pain. I was not able to see her before she died, and there is a bit of a sting that I will not be able to see her again. The memorial service was Thanksgiving weekend and my husband had the privilege of giving the message at her service and burial. It was also a time to see family we do not get to see often since we are spread out throughout the country. I was so thrilled to even see my cousin Gabe who had just returned home from his 2nd tour in Iraq! How proud I am of him and his wife and kiddos and all they has fought for and sacrificed!

All of the great grand kids sang "Away In The Manger" for Grandma Lucy at the grave sight. She loved being a Grandma and loved being a Great Grandma who our children called "GG". I have been so blessed to have had my grandma get to meet all 5 of my children before going home to be with Jesus.

We enjoyed having Matt's family stay with us over Thanksgiving and my sister and brother in law stay with us for the funeral. I loved preparing for them.

All prepared for Thanksgiving dinner!

And here is my sister captivating the kids with a funny animal app on her phone-Talk about giggles!!!

There has been so many wonderful events but I am simply exhausted and attempting to catch up on sleep and work. Thank you to all my customers for being so gracious and patient with my schedule!! I am getting back into a normal routine again. I was able to get some new items listed this morning and thought I would share a quick peek.

A new set of grape jelly mittens for women...

Some new dotty coffee cozies....

And a few new sets of button bookmarks...

CYBER MONDAY SALE...

I AM OFFERING A SPECIAL CYBER MONDAY SALE. 30% OFF OF ALL PURCHASES IN THE SHOP. HAPPY SHOPPING!!!

Preparing for the Season

Years past have come and gone in a blink, most decorating was done in a scurried pace or not done at all, hunting for gifts was bittersweet because we put them off and the rush of grumpy, greedy, or angry shoppers does not exactly inspire joy, there have been so many things we wanted to do at Christmas time but when it showed up we felt unprepared and rushed or the things we did were in a sense meaningless or just added "stuff", not reminding us of why we celebrate.

Four years ago, we went through a very difficult Christmas. I was pregnant with Noah and still very very sick. I was unable to do much preparing for the season. My mom and sister did most of my shopping for gifts, we did not attend most of the regular Christmas parties or get togethers, I had been unable to go to church at all, and we were unable to travel to visit family. I remember the night of our kid's Christmas concert, my nurse came over and spent the time with me while Matt attended the concert, I was so heartbroken that I could not make it, but I had just gotten my picc line removed because of complications and could not have the surgery to replace it until after the weekend, which left me unable to function not having the IV fluid and medication. Mary Beth, my nurse was working with me that evening to help me learn to put in my own catheter in my leg for the medication I was needing and could not keep down orally. I needed to change it every 12 hours from one leg to the other because the medication was so irritating to the tissue in my leg-the bruising was horrible and painful I remember. And this was one thing my husband could not do for me because he has a phobia of needles:) I remember even sending all the kids with my folks, over to my Grandma's without me and Matt stayed with me so I did not have to be alone on Christmas eve. It seemed like there was always this battle waging in my soul, every day decisions had to be made how to allow the kids as normal of a day, and yet somehow learn as a family how to cope with me being ill and certainly needing some interaction even when I was in bed.

But the following year felt like a liberation! I was completely healthy, we had this new little miracle in our lives that was worth every ounce of illness and struggle, and I lost a bit of sense when it came to the Christmas season. I think I was so set on making up for the year before, feeling I had been a disappointment, that I especially got lost in all plans on how to make that year wonderful! I remember being more disappointed that year after it was all over, than ever before. And that was where this season began to change for us. We finally began to "rest and reflect" so much more. My plans for Christmas, begin in January-so there is no more rush and missed reflection. I do love Christmas, the excitement, the cozy, the anticipation (hey-I still can't sleep the night before Christmas!) But I absolutely love how we stop and have the freedom to spend at least a whole month focused on the amazing sacrifice our God made by coming to earth as a baby! Seriously-it is breathtaking! And that is what we are getting better at as a family, attempting to walk through the season and depart form it feeling we did not squander the time on meaningless, unfulfilling things. Call me crazy, but I want to be satisfied when I begin my New Year! And things or perfect plans just aren't going to do it!

And that is why we actually begin early Nov in our decorating. We do want to enjoy the preparation but we do not want the preparation to take over as the purpose-does that make sense?

So with that, we began unpacking the Christmas decorations today, Christmas music and all:) I am having Thanksgiving here, and have enjoyed having the house decorated for that day which seems to compliment and begin the Christmas season so perfectly. What better way to begin Christmas than to start with a heart full of gratitude for the blessings from the Lord. We do a bit every day now. Today we decorated the smaller trees that we have in each room. Here are some of the pictures .

Cole and Madison worked on the tree for the kitchen as well as maybe working out those sibling squabbles too;)

Here is the kitchen tree finished. The kitchen just becomes all the better to bake in!

I was able to get the window lights up around the house while the kids worked on their trees.

Bell wanted to work on the tree by our front door. She hung the pretty "silver bells".

Madi pitched in to help her.

Joslyn got a bit anxious and forgot the lights-but the trees in the girl's room look lovely! We will just need to sneak the lights on later!

Cole helped Noah work on their tree. Berries and Bells for the boys.

And a red glow.....insisted on by Noah! He loves RED!

This tree was my project. it sits on a dresser in our dining nook of the living room. The bulbs are something I found for Christmas last year. They are beautifully hand painted with the 12 days of Christmas. Completely unique and amazing-I will have to get some close ups of them. They are my "treasure" because I found them in a big bag of messy broken ornaments at the thrift store for $.99. They were the only ornaments in the bag intact and spared from the dangers of the thrift store shelves-AND-all twelve were there! Even when I bought the bag(that you cannot open or they will not sell it to you) I figured that I would be able to get a few lovely ornaments out it, never did I expect to have the whole set in such beautiful condition! So, they have a tree of their own!

And Ellie, well she is just the icing on the cake, making winter seem all the cozier!

Matt came home from running some errands to find the house aglow with Christmas music on. he said, "Alright, winter will not be so bad. This is cozy." We all sat around the table tonight with a wonderful roast Matt had cooked today, and finished the night with hot cocoa and the beginning of our Christmas readings. It was a good day. I look forward to spending time dwelling on the amazing gift you have given to us, Jesus-yourself!

WeEkEnD sALe-FRIDAY THROUGH MONDAY....

YES! YOU ARE RIGHT-TIME FOR THE WEEKEND SALE ONCE AGAIN. ALL PURCHASES ARE 20% OFF FRIDAY THROUGH MONDAY. HAPPY SHOPPING.



JUST THOUGHT I WOULD SHARE SOME PICS OF THE NEW BOOKMARK BUNDLES I WAS ABLE TO FINISH AND ADD TO THE SHOP YESTERDAY! THEY ARE ALWAYS FUN TO GIVE AS GIFTS AT CHRISTMAS TIME. HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY!