Charlotte sitting on the sky

smooth water reflections. Upside down or right side up?

Brigid's Dolls

Brigid has been working hard these past months creating these precious beauties. On Oct 17th they were part of a Craft Bazaar (sale). She didn't sell one! But she did sell some other dolls she made last year so that made up for it. Just this week though a friend of ours bought one, so she's off and running.

Jessica gets complete credit for the faces. Completely done with pens. Just marvelous!

Sorry about the selection of photos and blur, I guess with all this creative talent, photography isn't in the mix.

Brigid hopes to get a space on ETSY real soon to sell. She's thinking of calling them Vintage Remnant dolls. She's managed to make 4 whole dolls with scraps and remnants we've been collecting over the past 2 or 3 years.

Gunne Sax

Ok, this may date me, but who cares!! Yesterday a woman from church gave Jessica a dress. I was home with a cold so I didn't get to see what happened, all I knew was when my family got home, Jess was carrying this dark blue bundle of what appeared to be a nice hand me down. I took a hold of it and it fell to it's full length. One look at the label and my whole world went back to jr. high! Gunne Sax. This name brand was the hit back then. All the girls who could, got one for the special 8th grade dance and or wore them to the graduation. My sister and I didn't get a real Gunne Sax. I'm not asking for pity. My mom ended up making us each a copy and we loved them just the same as the expensive store bought ones. FUNNY how time goes and by and what goes around comes around. Here is my daughter (same age as me back then) with her very own Gunne Sax dress. She dashed upstairs for a quick try on. It fits her especially well. I finally found out the whole story of the dress today. I guess my cold is making my head foggy, but as it turns out the woman from church wore that dress way back when, it was hers! Kept all this time. It's in great condition. She thought our girls would make use out of it somehow, maybe take it apart and use the fabric or something! AHH! NO! I did a google search thinking maybe this would be a source for some unique feminine dresses for our girlies, looking for patterns or something. Apparently it's considered vintage now. I'll keep looking.

The Loft

This isn't the loft that most modern people would think of. It's a pigeon loft. Clanc and Joe Persing worked many hours getting this structure built. This is how they moved it to our back woods. I know...moved...why didn't they build it on sight? I kept a low profile with my opinions. ZIP it. It was fun to watch and not be involved, smile. ANYWAY. It was built in Joe's garage workshop because he has the tools and space. Finally it got to a point to be moved. Clanc was risking it a bit by bringing our car and trailer over so much grass yard (kind of soggy) and down a bit of a slope. Not to mention needing 5 guys to lift it and move it. Wohoo, all is well. They still have to put the metal roof on and the aviary in the back side this week.

Jess is so appreciative of everyone's work and effort to get her closer to having a place for a potential flock to reside.

Crazy September

Where in the world has the time gone. Not one post for the month of September. We fell off the face of the earth. Actually, we didn't...we just started school. This week we're completing week 7, not bad huh? In two weeks we will be taking our first week off.

The girls and I are crafting and sewing for a local craft show we've rented a space in. It's called a bazarre and will be Oct. 17th. So our days are divided into school in the morning and sewing/painting in the afternoon. There is only time left for me to go crazy and cook and do laundry (the girls do the cleaning).

I'd like to share what I mean by crazy...I do feel like I am going out of my mind more often than I used to. There were times when my troubled uncertainty, or impatience was easy to see and fix or wait it out a day...now it is so much more complicated that it takes several days to work through, coming out on the end wiped out. And recently I don't even get to pat myself on the back for accomplishing some great super mom/wife miracles after all the tension is past. Instead the whole family is involved, batten down the hatches mom's brew'n, storm on the horizon. And I leave a wake of destruction behind. This sounds like I'm not getting to my point, but that's just it, I CAN'T find the point! What for!? God's changing me. I think it best to describe these days as "uncertain". I do (great emphasis on do) like certainty, not it's opposite. Being a woman, wife, mother, home educator, friend, Christian, and sinner is really difficult for me at this time of my life. There really are days when I do not feel like myself, the self that is so comfortable, the one that can do it all. And with great success. Now I'm finding just how little I really do succeed at, all on my own. It's the Lord bringing me to these days of weakness so He can be my strength. That is so much easier to write than be convinced of. Clanc asked me to share on our blog. He and I know that many woman go through these kinds of days and it all works out in the end. I am not the only one, but when I'm searching for the "certain me" it sure feels like I'm the only one.

Ps 118: 13, 17: I was pushed hard, so that I was falling, but the Lord helped me...I shall not die but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the Lord.

Aug 19, 2009

This is the day I found out that my dad was diagnosed with terminal cancer. I feel compelled to make a note of this for my friends and family because I know you all will pray. My dad has multiple miloma. It is cancer of the blood cells in the bone marrow. The average life expectancy of this is 3 years. My dad is very grateful to have the time to prepare my mom for the life that will come once he passes away. He says "each day we have computer lessons (my mom isn't savvy with modern technology), finances, handyman house repair". Wow!

Through some very recent studies and readings God has been preparing me for this day, I have been with out communication with my dad for over a year and a half, then the phone rang. With tears I openly expressed my heart and how God brought him to my mind even this week, with a fresh and new understanding of my father. I didn't need to compose the letter or make the phone call that I thought I should make to express my renewed daughterly love, God arranged it to happen in this way. Wow!

...Who can fathom immeasurable love?

As far as the rational soul exceeds the senses,

so does the spirit exceed the rational in its knowledge of thee.

Thou hast given me understanding to compass the earth,

measure the sun, moon, stars, universe,

but above all to know thee the only true God.

I marvel that the finite can know the Infinite,

here a little, afterwards in full-orbed truth;

now I know but a small portion of what I shall know,

here in part, there in perfection,

here a glimpse, there a glory.

To enjoy thee is life eternal, and to enjoy is to know.

Keep me in the freedom of experiencing they salvation continually.

Prayer from The Valley of Vision

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The chalkboard

Clanc painted us a chalkboard on our kitchen wall. I was wondering what we were going to do with that open space. Imagine all the possibilities. It is a very easy project with store bought chalkboard paint. We use a spray bottle and one of those micro fiber dusting cloths to get it super clean. Its fun drawing on the wall!!! :)