Woodland Road

Top 11 of 2011

2012-01-02T22:46:00.000-06:00

Happy 2012!

A little 2011 recap might be in order. Especially since I haven't posted in such a long time.

But first:

I'd like to share my top 11 photos of 2011 of my kids. Mostly of my youngest as she lets me play around with her and the camera a lot more than the others do. Plus the expressions on her face are priceless.

1. I love this fall sky and her happy smile.

2. My rustic beauty!

3. My daughter that - (shhh...) took this picture of herself - and I for a split second thought it was a picture of me when I was younger.

4. Trail Breakfast :: Family camp :: what a cutie.

5. This is what happens when she sticks her face in my camera... I get lucky!

6. Father and son...

7. June bug dress! I love most of the pictures from this "photo shoot" but this one is the bestest.

8. My middle child reading up on her history. Lincoln memorial.

9. Emma

10. Princess

11. Her eyes

Well, there you have it. I would have put about 11 more pictures on here if I could have.

Looking back on these photos reminds me that this past year wasn't all that bad. I'm so glad that I was able to catch the moments that I did.

Parenting :: Giving them Grace

2011-11-07T15:52:00.000-06:00

I have been very blessed by this book:

This is the hardest thing about parenting. Not the diapering, or feeding, or driving around, but the giving of the gospel. Giving them the law is easy. Telling them to follow your rules and punishing them for disobedience is simple. We just need to be more consistent, right?

Well, what about grace. What about teaching them that righteousness cannot be gained through the law. I don't want Jesus death on the cross to count for nothing in my home. (Gal 2:20-21)

I want Jesus death for sin to be the most important thing.

And here at the end of chapter three:

"Do you want to do the work of God? Okay, then believe. Believe that God is strong enough to save your children, no matter how you fail. Believe that he is loving enough to bring them all the way into relationship with himself, whether you understand "grace parenting" or not. And believe that he is wise enough to know the right way and the right time to do it. What do you need to do? Simply believe...

In the words of Martin Luther, "The law says, 'do this,' and it is never done. Grace says, 'believe in this,' and everything is already done." Everything is already done. Car you believe that? Will you?"

"Even though the tight buckles and restricting harnesses of the law might feel like a welcomed security to you, in the end they will chafe, and you'll want to throw them off. The law may serve for a time to keep your kids from rocking the cage too much, but eventually it will chafe against them, too. They will look for ways around it. The law cannot save them either. Tight buckles and restricting harnesses might make you feel more secure but the shocking truth is that you cannot control the direction of the gondola - you're completely at God's mercy.

Does that frighten you? Why would it? Doesn't the gospel teach us that being at God's mercy is a place of rest and blessing? Isn't falling into his merciful arms a good thing?"

May my family find rest in God alone and not in our "good works".

This Moment::Growing up

2011-09-23T00:13:00.000-05:00

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Linking up here.

My Favorite August Picture

2011-08-31T15:12:00.000-05:00

Family Camp 2011

I was able to take some time for myself and take a walk with my camera.

I only had the kit lens with me but the kit lens is not too bad. I don't have editing software so I only touched up the fill light, highlights, and shadows.

Its fun to take pictures of flowers. I think that I should have moved over a little (or waited for the cloud to move over) to make the cloud off to the right of the picture more and more blue to appear behind the flower. Each picture I look at carefully teaches me something new to look out for next time. Hopefully I'll remember this the next time I'm shooting the sky!

Want to see all the other August favorites? Go here:

Noticing the Gifts:: First Day of Homeschooling

2011-08-29T23:49:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I am so surprised by where God takes me.
I still can't get over that I am here in Minnesota, that I'm a wife and a mother, and that I have five kids!
I'm still amazed at how God carries me through and accomplishes things in my life that I can't imagine doing on my own.

I'm also often surprised by the beauty each day holds. I'm so thankful for how the camera can capture that beauty and since I've been practicing taking pictures I seem to find beauty more and more. I see "the most perfect picture" when my daughter runs up to the open doors of the ballet studio and squeals with delight. I see how the light reflects off the water at the lake, I see the sun falling on the table...

I see the beauty in school supplies!

And it's not just beauty for beauty sake. It is a reflection of our Heavenly Father's beauty. It is His goodness and love and do you know what? It is everywhere!

I'm so thankful that:
34. He is with me and taking me to new places every day.
35. He helps me to plan.

36. And clean.

37. and prettify.

38. and pre-test.

39. And just love schooling at home.

I love these pictures because they make school look so

peaceful

simple

and

CLEAN.

My last post might have worried you a bit. You might have thought that there was no way I was going to start school today. YET, I was able to clean up (with God's help - seriously it was like someone else was cleaning for me!) and things were organized just in time.

oh, so that was number 40 up there: He got me organized just in time.

So to be real let me just tell you that today was not perfect. There was some yelling from mom, a crying three year old, a broken glass in the sink, a bathtub full of seashells, chocolate frosting all over the kitchen, and a lot of TV watching.

Yet, I'm thankful that:
41. Ben is learning to read.
42. My daughter is learning to cook.
43. I am able to leave the house on short notice ALONE!

Remember that our God is good and that we are his beloved children. We are His children!

And yes, I did say a bathtub full of seashells.

The last hurr- (ha ha)

2011-08-26T09:56:00.000-05:00

So this is my attempt to be witty.

Yesterday we went on our last "field trip" of the summer. Our last hurrah, so to speak, and we went to Minnehaha creek. Get it? Hurr-haha. Don't blame me if you hurt yourself laughing.

Anyway.....

Going to the falls was something I've wanted to do since we moved here. I was a little afraid that I would get some grief from my olders about walking around in nature. But a few days stuck in the house with nothing to do really changes ones perspective. They were glad to get out and do something... anything! And guess what? They really enjoyed themselves!

Ok, the picture above really made me laugh when I took it. Do you see there on the right how the middle sister is hanging on the big sister? She posed like that right at the last minute because she knows that big sis would NEVER let her touch her like that! Big sister's face is reflecting the shock and horror. I'm so glad I got to capture this!

So here is the falls. Amazing that this is next to the airport and really close to downtown. We climbed down the stairs and ate lunch. Even though there were a few buses of day care kids (a nightmare for homeschool field trips) the place was still peaceful. See a class of them on the top looking over? They were the yellow t-shirt group.

We walked down the path just a little ways and we reached an area to wade. We really didn't know what to expect on this trip. We could not find much information about this park online or even a map when we got there!

This ended our little trip. It was just long enough to want to come back. We have some plans for Nana and Grandfather!

And this being our last hurrah, homeschool starts on Monday.

Wish me luck! (yes, that is my school room.)

Yarn Along :: 10 on 10 edition

2011-08-10T22:28:00.000-05:00

I'm linking up two places today. Something I said I would never do but I really don't want to do two posts in one day. SO...if you are here for the yarn along and wonder what the 10 on 10 thing is go here and if you are here for the 10 on 10 and you want to see what people are knitting and reading go here.

For the yarn along look for the 4:00 picture.

9:00ish

My coffee brewing. The picture is a bit blurry but it accurately depicts how I felt. Turned off my alarm in my sleep and 9:00 is what happened.

10:00ish

Needing a little pretty in my life.

11:00ish

Collecting the goggles to take to the lake.

12:00ish - 1:00ish

Fudged on this one. We were not having fun. Having a family full of girls sometimes is really hard. We were still home and not very happy.

2:00ish

Their first plunge. Waiting for the life guard to let them in after the hourly safety check. (notice the goggles)

3:00ish

Wafer break. The goggles are very important as you can see.

4:00ish

I am still knitting myself the same sweater. It is taking forever to knit the scarf-y thing that goes around my neck. I still LOVE this grey color and a few months back I was knitting in a group setting and a little girl squeezed the yarn and said, "Oh, soft and squishy." Yes, soft and squishy it is!

I'm reading this EXCELLENT book on prayer. Paul Miller is so real about our human condition and what real prayer is supposed to be like.

Here is a quote:

"This is the gospel, the welcoming heart of God. God cheers when we come to him with our wobbling, unsteady prayers. Jesus does not say, "Come to me, all you who have learned how to concentrate in prayer, whose minds no longer wander, and I will give you rest." No, Jesus opens his arms to his needy children and says, "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest". The criteria for coming to Jesus is weariness. Come overwhelmed with life. Come with your wandering mind. Come messy."

If you ever have struggled with prayer this book is for you! (wow, that sounded like a Reading Rainbow moment - da da da - could you hear that?)

5:00ish

(taken by Emma)

Packing up to leave.

The lake was a much needed breath of fresh air. It was cool and breezy and the puffy clouds gave us breaks from the sun. Praise God for His little blessings!

So this turned out to be 8 on 10. I did enjoy taking pictures today, and knitting, and playing at the lake, and being with my kiddos. (even though that was pretty touch and go for a while!)

I learned... Manual Mode.

2011-08-04T22:51:00.001-05:00

Not so long ago I got brave (about my camera that is) and after reading only a few pages of this book, switched my camera over to manual mode. I had LOVED the pictures I was getting from my new DSLR but I quickly got restless and wanted even better pictures. I set the Fstop to 5.6 like he said and started to shoot. I couldn't believe how easy it really was!

Here is one of my first attempts. On auto my camera would generally be taking pretty dark pictures in this room. I had my son stand by the window and I metered his face and... ta da!

(March 2011)

I couldn't believe that it actually worked! I have been practicing in manual ever since and just this last month I went to visit my dad. He said he had some lenses and I said, "Yea, but not for a Nikon." He said, "Um, yes they are."

AND GUESS WHAT?

HE GAVE THEM TO ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you believe it?

So right now I'm practicing on a lens that has a much higher aperture range (not sure if that is how you actually say it). I love that I can get a blurry background now. The only problem is that the lens doesn't really match up with the camera and it doesn't auto focus. I'm really working hard trying to do everything myself. The kit lens works better when I'm trying to get the kids on an outing but this new lens works nice when I can take time to figure it all out.

Here is a picture from just the other day.

(settings: ISO200, F2.8, ss1/2000)

This is a repeat from my last post but I love this one. I don't think that it is completely in focus but I think that the blurriness makes it look soft. What do you think? What settings would have made this better?

To check out some other really great photos go here:

(who knows, you might be tempted to try manual mode too!)

A Dress by Sunday

2011-08-01T13:15:00.000-05:00

I haven't been blogging all summer. I have some thoughts on that. I might share, not sure.

*BUT*

being on vacation for 3 1/2 weeks really set off my rhythm. Only part of it though! Now on to the post!

When I saw this I knew I had to make it. Here is mine!

I've had this fabric for a while. I bought it at the thrift store for a $2.50. I've kept it on the shelf wondering what I was going to do with it. I knew I had to have the perfect pattern for it and here it is! I still have enough to make another dress if I wanted to! Yay. The fabric is sheer so I needed to line it with white cotton. I makes it pretty thick but still comfy and cute!

And like the last thing I made for my little one we had to do a photo shoot.
Not so sunny this time.

Oh, and just to keep it real...

This is why her face is not in any of the other pictures. I think that she is getting tired of me taking her photo all the time.

And these are cute but don't look to closely at the hose on the deck or the weeds. Yikes.

Hope to see you soon!

My Favorite May Picture

2011-05-25T21:49:00.001-05:00

Wow, I haven't been around in a while.

I haven't been taking many pictures.

I haven't had much to say...

But I wanted to share my favorite picture from May. Courtney from Click it up a notch (awesome website) is hosting another contest.

I chose this picture because I learned something new this month. How to meter someone's face. I think that I was a little off and got it too bright but I LOVE that her face isn't dark! I can't wait to keep trying!

Kids Clothes Week Challenge :: Ruffled Halter

2011-05-16T21:42:00.000-05:00

Last week Elsie Marley hosted a Kids Clothes Week Challenge where you are to sew for an hour a day and make some new spring/summer clothes for your kiddos. Last year I got a shirt done. I am a very slow sewer. This year I totally fudged on the rules. I still only made one shirt but I did it the week before and in two (maybe three) nights. I have no idea how much the whole thing took but my husband was on a trip and after the kids went to bed I could do what I wanted without feeling bad that I was ignoring my "better half".

If you want you can check out the flickr pool. The things that these women pump out are amazing! I do wonder if they really only sewed for an hour each day. I don't think that they are counting all the prep work like washing the fabric and laying the pattern and cutting the pieces out. I could never work that fast!

So here is what I made:

It is the Ruffled Halter from Oliver+S. I've always wanted to make something from one of their patterns and this one is free! I also want to make her a pair of matching Knotted shorts.

Bethany is so willing to have a photo shoot. Enjoy!

Ten on Ten :: Take Two in May

2011-05-10T23:34:00.000-05:00

Last month was my first time trying the Ten on Ten. It was hard. Lugging my camera around on a Sunday was awkward. I was looking forward to this month to try again.

Tuesday!
Then I found out that this month's ten on ten coincided with our churches pastor's conference. Ugh. I was hoping for some outside time. A little nature would be nice.

Turns out that the conference only went until lunch and it was the hottest day! I did manage to get some outside shots. I had to fudge on the times. I really couldn't do one every hour.

So here we go...

6:30ish

I crept outside when the dandelions were still sleeping.

The lilacs are almost there.

7:00am

Made it over to the pastors' conference to have breakfast with my eldest daughter.

7:30am

Driving to school. Gotta love the shoes.

During the conference.

This note fell out of the pew Bible. Gotta love it. NOT even from my own kid.

Picture of the shoes. Just like last time.

After the conference.

I got home and we all dashed out the door to spend our time in the yard.
We were out there a good couple of hours.

The rhubarb is going crazy!

This is why we don't mow our lawn until very late spring.

The seed pods look ready to burst.

My favorite kind of play.

Arboretum

2011-05-06T15:51:00.000-05:00

I love the MN Arboretum.

It took me a year or two of living here before I finally visited to see what it was all about. I really didn't think that the kids would like it. I was wrong and I am so glad I was wrong. The kids had such a great time. I was grinning from ear to ear! Don't you just love it when the kids enjoy something that you enjoy.

One Christmas we were given a family year pass by a dear friend that has since past away. I've been buying family passes ever since. Last year I had this strange feeling when I was buying the pass. It felt like paying the heating bill or the grocery bill. Not in a bad way of paying the bills. More like you don't have to think twice kinda paying the bills. Of course you are going to pay for heating your home, you can't go cold can you? Of course you are going to pay what you need to in order to feed your family, you can't go without eating can you? Of course you are going to get that family pass to the Arboretum, you can't go without seeing the crab-apple trees in bloom and seeing the dahlia's bloom and...

See what I mean. Easy as pie. As simple as breathing.

Now that it is spring I will be posting about our adventures in this lovely place more often.
Stay tuned!

Hello from Skating show land.

2011-05-05T21:28:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to show you a few pictures of my skating girls. The first show was tonight and we have two more to go.

Emma is a twins baseball player and Caitlyn is Lucy from The Peanuts Gang.

Pretty gorgeous.

"Mom, can you hurry up. I want to get inside."

"Snap all you want." (This one is a ham. She gets it from me.)

I'll be back again soon!

My Favorite April Picture

2011-04-29T21:58:00.000-05:00

I'm so excited about this new-to-me site. Click it up a notch is such an amazing resource. If you have been wanting to learn how to take better pictures this is the place to go.

And guess what? Courtney is hosting an April photography contest!

I decided to take a risk and put one of my pictures out there. The photos entered in the contest so far are beautiful!

I picked this one because I love how the smoke from the fire softens things up. I love the warm afternoon sun. I love the color of the chair with the purple flower in my daughter's hair. I love that I took it in manual. Oh, and I love my daughter!

So what do you think? Seriously, tell me the truth!

Knitted lace and if I had time to sew...

2011-04-28T23:17:00.000-05:00

So I missed the Yarn Along yesterday but I still wanted to post. I know not a lot of people come to visit the blog without me linking up to something but I still want to keep things up. It is so hard to know if people are really out there and if people really care about what I'm writing. The blogger stats are very unreliable. AND when it comes right down to it, I'm not writing to gain a public following. I'm writing because I like to write. I like to share pictures and I like to share the things I love. I have a blog because it's fun!

So lets have some fun, shall we?

Knitted lace and Paddle~to~the~Sea.

I call that fun.

(Ok, ok, I never said I was cool, nerdy fun is still fun you know!)

Here is a close up.

The lace sorta looks cable-ly to me. I still haven't tried cables but it's on my list!

Taking pictures in manual mode is also fun.

This isn't the prettiest of shots but I would have never gotten this on auto mode. I am such a newbie at this I still have the f stop at 5.6 all the time. I have a few books and resources and I'm getting better. I'm itching to be able to learn how to fix pictures (I'm actually shocked to find out that most of the awesome pictures I see on the internet are "doctored" in photoshop. Picasa has a few tools and I lighten and darken and change the color temperature on some of the pictures but know that MOST of the pictures on my blog are "Straight out of the camera" I just learned that people call that SOOC.

All right. That was nerdy too wasn't it. Maybe the title of this post should be "All the Nerdy Things I Do" Would it shock you if I said I LOVE Lord of the Rings and X-Files?

AND

If I had time to sew I would love to make this, and this, and this. ALL the things those ladies make are Ah-maze-ing!

So, on the drawing board (or blogger dashboard) are a few posts. One about photography, one with a picture to enter this, one about the Arboretum, and hopefully one "writing exercise" post. As I said in my intro post, "I blog in my head". Too bad it doesn't just flow right out into the computer!

Risen

2011-04-25T23:18:00.000-05:00

He is risen indeed!

34. Good Friday was dark and gloomy. Fitting.

35. Worship was AMAZING

36. After we put our Jesus doll in the tomb Bethany cried because He was dead and we couldn't take Him out.

37. Saturday was also gloomy

38. We celebrated David's birthday with coloring eggs and eating German chocolate cake. (when Bethany took a bite of it she exclaimed, "Mmm. Daddy's birthday cake is GOOD."

39. Sunday Morning was SUNNY. As the sun rose the fog lifted and it was a beautiful day!

40. Sunday worship was also amazing. And I got to sing!

41. We spent the afternoon with some amazing people. The Lord provides His family when you are far away from your family.

42. When my children found out we were the only ones coming they cheered for joy that they got said amazing people all to themselves.

43. Jelly bean hunt. Ready, Set...

Go!

44. We had our first fire AND roasted peeps.

Kinda yucky looking but a very good way to eat peeps.

45. My baby is not a baby anymore.

I found that I used the word amazing quite a few times. God's care IS amazing.
Elizabeth Elliot's words, "You are loved with an everlasting love. And underneath are the everlasting arms."

Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real.

2011-04-21T16:16:00.001-05:00

Pretty

This bench is the one I've wanted for a few years now. We snagged one of the last ones at ikea before they were gone for good. This looks SO much better than the gray futon shoved in this space.

Happy

She is SO happy we finally gave in and got her a pet.

Funny

No caption needed here...

Real

This is the way the table looks most of the time. Well, actually there is usually more school books on it so I'd say this looks pretty good.

Yarn Along :: Yay!

2011-04-13T16:35:00.000-05:00

Yay ~ because it is yarn along day over at Small Things. It is so fun to see other people's knitting and to be able to talk about my own. I know that the ladies over there understand what it feels like to keep passing my knitting project as I walk across the room AND NOT BE ABLE TO KNIT IT! Whew! It's so hard to wait until later to do it!

Yay ~ because I saw a girl wearing a sweater just like the one I'm knitting at church last week. I really liked how it looked and I hope mine will be just as "cool".

Yay ~ because I am almost past the boring part (simple stockinette) and onto the lace.

Yay ~ for yarn overs and knit two togethers and sliping stitches and passing them over! Stuff like that always looks better then my stockinette. I just can't get it to look even and neat.

So here is what I have done so far:

After last time's indecision, I decided to knit the sport yarn on the size 9's in the small size (which is a 36-40 bust size). It still is on the loose side. I was kinda going for a tighter look but I am crossing my fingers in hopes it will not end up too big.

For what I am reading right now.... ummm.... let's say that I'm giving my brain a break? Does that sound good? I really haven't been reading much.

BUT last year I bought for the family (ok, really for me) this book. And you know what? I can't for the life of me think of where it is!

Yay ~ all you yarn along-ers out there. It has been fun to visit you and hope you enjoyed visiting me!

Filling my Heart

2011-04-11T23:43:00.001-05:00

Today is "Multitudes on Mondays" over at Ann Voskamp's blog. Today's post is particularly inspiring because really what good does it do for my children if I am thanking God and not sharing that with them. Can you guess what we are going to start do tomorrow?

For too long I deep down secretly grumbled and complained that my life was too hard, I was too lonely, too tired, deprived of things I really loved. I was starting to not believe that:

"The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance." Psalm 16:6

That verse once was very dear to me. Maybe because I thought that everything was going my way.

But life isn't about things going my way. God's way really is BEST! It may not be the easiest or the most comfortable or the most glamorous but it is my Heavenly Father's way.

In it I am not alone. He is right there with me. He strengthens me, helps me (How Firm a Foundation). I really am upheld by his loving hand. The waters have never overflowed, the flames have never hurt me, and I have never been deserted. And I know that even if all hell should endeavor to shake me, (and boy I have never even been close to that) "in [His] presence there is fullness of joy" (Psalm 16:11)

So I am choosing to be Thankful. Gratefulness really changes your perspective. It helps you to see the truth. I makes you among other things: Sober.

The song "My heart is filled with Thankfulness" has been going through my head lately. Especially these lines:

My heart is filled with thankfulness
To Him who reigns above
Whose wisdom is my perfect peace
Whose every thought is love.

Every thought He has towards me IS love. Thank you!

24. New stairs and new paint! (I will share pictures soon)

25. Spring has finally come! Things really do grow in MN.

26. Crocus. The feeling of Easter swept over me when I saw them.

27. The Arboretum.

28. This girl.

29. Those flowers that pop up in my yard every year.

30. This growing boy.

31. Medicine and how it heals. (Don't worry, we also consumed LOTS of yogurt)

32. Being able to go to ballet and the cheer I received when I walked in the door. Thanks ladies!

And since I am having a hard time ending this post with a picture of Amoxicillin here is one more and another picture...

33. I am rescued.

Ten on Ten :: An April Sunday

2011-04-10T20:43:00.000-05:00

So lately I just haven't felt like taking pictures. I haven't wanted to lug around a heavy camera on my neck. I was feeling a little tired of viewing things through a little square on a black box. I was taking a break.

I missed a lot of beautiful moments... our first spring walk, the last Classical Conversations day, a winning egg protector, some fun times at the water park, really cool trains. I'll just have to remember them in my mind.

But, I also got to be in the beautiful moment. I was fully there and I enjoyed myself.

I wasn't sure how I was going to break out of not bringing my camera along until I realized this.

I have wanted to participate in this photography project for a few months now and this month I didn't miss it! To join in all you need to do is take ten pictures (one every hour) on the tenth of the month.

So here it goes (these pictures may not be that beautiful but they are my life):

8:00am. Breakfast cutie

9:00am. Cleaning the bathroom and getting ready for church.

10:00am. Going in. Doughnut time.

11:00am. Church shoes. (Trying not to be too distracting during worship time.)

12:00pm. Husband at his job.

1:00pm. Oops, I forgot. Too busy getting lunch on the table.
2:00pm. Company lunch mess. Guest mess is always the best kind of mess.

3:00pm. The rhubarb is growing! I'm dreaming about dessert!

4:00pm. Playing at small group. (My girls are super tired)

5:00pm. Small group.

6:00pm. Waiting in the car for dinner.

So there you have it. This was really hard. Today was dark and gray. Humid and and then cold. It didn't feel very natural to have my camera and to take pictures on the hour. But I think that I will try again next month.

See you soon!

This Moment :: My Boys

2011-04-08T21:44:00.000-05:00

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

~SouleMama

Yarn Along

2011-03-31T15:11:00.000-05:00

Joining Ginny again! (a day late...shhh... don't tell)

So I had this birthday money from my mom. I was hanging onto it wondering what I should do.
Yarn? Bird feeders?

(I know, I'm weird)

I really wanted to make myself a sweater from the book I talked about last time. BUT, I think that they are just too involved for me right now. And I really wanted to make something that I could wear this spring.
I picked this.

I stole away to the yarn shop to find something I could afford. I just yesterday learned what "Superwash" means. I bought Cascade 220 Superwash sport. It is actually very soft.
I had to add this picture here because the yarn looks so cozy:

I messed up though. I was supposed to get DK but I ended up with sport! The pattern already calls for thin yarn to be knit on larger needles. I went up a size larger than called for and I am still a little off gauge.

So I was wavering on the size I should knit. Should I go on the smaller size since the fabric is going to stretch a lot or should I go with the larger since I'll be knitting up something just a little smaller then the pattern calls for? What do you think?

The book in the first picture is a homeschooling text. It is so well written and fun to read. The girls are really remembering the stories from it. (and so am I) Did you know that Justinian the Great's wife grew up in a circus, became a famous actress, found Christianity and became a wool spinner?

Giving thanks

2011-03-28T22:36:00.000-05:00

Just popping in to give thanks for the many blessings! Things don't always go as planned and one can get all hung up and cranky that one doesn't get one's way.

I'm choosing to see the good. So here we go:

14. Some serious outside time.

15. Snow that holds together! (usually too cold and the snow is powder-ish)

16. Shedding coats.

17. The crab apple tree is still (mostly) standing. (hoping that it will still bloom)

18. The bright spring sun and how it reflects off the snow and shines in my house!

19. Eager kitchen help.

20. Mister Rogers play clay. I use the second recipe.

21. A van full of kids.

22. A friend willing to pick me up!

23. Sisters

I pray that you are looking on the "bright" side of things.

Loved

2011-03-21T12:50:00.000-05:00

Everyone deals with pain in a different way. As a little girl I remember my father brushing my hair. I would scream out (believe me I was a drama queen. I'm sure I screamed out more than I needed to - wonder where my girls get it from....) and my father would say, "That doesn't hurt!" Other times when I would fall he would say, "That's ok, you are fine, get up, it doesn't hurt, come on."

That's me

And not only physical pain. In my family we ignored the emotional pain too. Stuff it down, don't cry, you are strong and if you ignore it long enough the pain will eventually subside and you can forget.

I've done that all my life. And I've done that with God.

You see I've been doing so well lately. I've been able to rest in my heavenly father's love. I've been able to believe it, to know it, and to be free in it.

But

life has also been going fairly well. Spring is finally here and the snow is melting. The workload hasn't been that overwhelming. I've had a little more fellowship.

And then

I found out that my grandmother's health is failing. We live so far apart and there is nothing I can do.

This hurts.

How do I respond? What is my reaction?

My first reaction: cry. Wow! This is good, I've so often in life just got distant and said, "That is sad." and went on with my life. Crying is good!
But then I had to go on with my day. I had meals to make and kids to take care of. As the day went on and on I could feel my heart getting cold.

I put up my wall. I protect myself. I start to feel that God is not on my side. He won't answer my prayers. His thoughts toward me are indifferent. He doesn't really care.

sunset taken by my daughter

A good friend asked me yesterday how she could pray for me. After I told her she asked me what was I going to do.
I told her I was going to repent.

God has not changed just because my grandmother is getting weak. God did not stop caring for me. He did not stop loving me as his precious daughter. He did not stop answering my prayers!

I am still his child. He is still my shelter. He is still my heavenly father!
I will choose to praise. I will choose to hurt. I will choose the truth.

Choosing to thank Him.

10. I have a shelter in Him
11. In ministering to others I am encouaged
12. Anne Steele
13. My Heavenly Father loves me. He really does.