Fingerprint Friday { sisters & laughter }

Little sisters can be a lot of things - and my sister has been most of them at some point in her life. Of course, I have been most of the big-sister things at some point, myself. Thank you, God, for grace!

Today I'm thinking about how she makes me laugh. Like when she jokes that she needs money for lunch & poses a dive into the beautiful fountain we were walking by. Stuff like that. Even her own laugh is infectious. God made her with a great sense of humor for a reason - He knew she would need it, and that others around her would, too.

There is a song by Steven Curtis Chapman that says:
I can see the fingerprints of God
When I look at you
I can see the fingerprints of God
And I know its true
You're a masterpiece
That all creation quietly applauds
And you're covered with the fingerprints of God

So look around you and see where YOU can see God's fingerprints. Is it in nature? Kids? Animals? Where do you see them? Here's how to join in:

1. Blog with your interpretation of God's fingerprints.

2. Be sure to link so others can find the entire list of participants! Go over to PamperingBeki's blog to add your link to the list of participants.

Self Portrait Challenge - { introductions }

February is "Introductions" on SPC... the group changed venues a few months back to Flickr, which changed the participants a bit. Thus the theme, so we can get reacquainted with one another.

I found SPC in the summer of '07. This month seems to have flown by for me! I had lots of ideas for this challenge, but life got in the way.

I love my life, with all it's ups and downs, because it's unique and it's in the palm of God's hand. My family, my business, my friends, my talents - none of it is truly mine, I am simply a steward of the things God decided to put in me.

it's a no brainer

**Update** - HUGE thanks to all who voted! I tied for 4th place :) I belong to a group of crafters that support one another on etsy - TeamEtsyTX - and on the last Monday of each month they have a design challenge. The challenge theme is what is used to base design ideas on... I decided to enter the contest this month because the theme suited me so well.

The theme is "No Brainer Day".

I have so many projects sitting around, either on shelves or in my head, that beg to be done, yet so little time to really get all of them done. These flowers have been sitting around for at least a year, patiently waiting for me to turn them into something. The No Brainer Challenge was an excuse to pull them out and work on them, and I now have the satisfaction of a project completed in less time than my sewing takes.

Toile Blue Peony



Scarlet Rose




So here's the part I need your help with:
If you like one of these flowers, please take just a minute to go vote for it! You don't have to register for anything, enter your email address, promise your firstborn to anyone - nothing like that. Just choose the one you like & click "Vote"! Be sure to vote before Friday (2/27) when the poll closes.

Here's the link - Go Vote (please!)

Click here if you want to view all the contest entries from TeamEtsyTX.

Fingerprint Friday { two years }

My nephew is two years old today.

He is

smart
inquisitive
good-natured
caring
a gift from God

Happy Birthday, Drew, we love you.



There is a song by Steven Curtis Chapman that says:
I can see the fingerprints of God
When I look at you
I can see the fingerprints of God
And I know its true
You're a masterpiece
That all creation quietly applauds
And you're covered with the fingerprints of God

So look around you and see where YOU can see God's fingerprints. Is it in nature? Kids? Animals? Where do you see them? Here's how to join in:

1. Blog with your interpretation of God's fingerprints.

2. Be sure to link so others can find the entire list of participants! Go over to PamperingBeki's blog to add your link to the list of participants.

...ponderings...

my girls & I have been discussing these things today...

If Danny is a nickname for Daniel, what is Denny a nickname for?

How do you read the fraction 5/21 out loud? Five-twenty-firsts? Does that sound as weird to you as it does to me?

Why do jeans curl up at the hems when you wash and dry them?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After reading this hilarious post (and this one, too), I decided to check out some of the google searches that have led people to my blog. I was met with plenty of things to consider:

free vintage farm labels to put on blogspot
Yikes, I have no clue where to find those... do you own a vintage farm? work on one? wish you did? just curious.

hoops & yoyo costume for kids
Sorry, while I can sew up a storm, I don't do costumes... have you seen the things I sew? Because I don't think I'm even in the top 10 most-likely-to-be-able-to for making something that looks like Hoops or Yoyo...

self portrait in a shoe
I haven't tried that one yet! Maybe if SPC does a Nursery Rhyme challenge, I'll give that a try...

sunnybrook farm meat animation
I cannot even begin to comprehend how you would animate meat.

women are supposed to be very calm generally
Says who???

house smells gym socks
Perhaps it's time to get those teenage sons in on helping you with the laundry?

sheep design costume
As I previously stated, I'm not a costume seamstress. But I think I can help with this one - would white shirts with glued on cotton balls work?

sunnybrook farms cottage cheese
Yes, please, I'd love some. Is that a brand name for a real dairy farm, or are you making suggestions for other career paths I ought to try out? I don't think my neighbors would appreciate cows in my yard - can you imagine the smells?

strange smell in my brand new home
I feel for you, I've been there. I suggest you take my advice to not add to the problem by opening a dairy farm in your yard, no matter how much people beg you to help meet their cottage cheese cravings.

the twelve days of birthdays

If your kids were born twelve days apart, with one of them having been born on Valentine's Day, then you know how crazy it can be with all the gifts, cake, parties (both birthday AND Valentine's varieties), cupcakes, candy, cake, cards & tissue paper, and oh, did I mention cake???

First came Nicole's birthday. This started off with a gift for each sent home with daddy from their uncle, aunt & cousin - Webkinz pink dragons! Can we say, ecstatic?!!



Ah, this was precious - the card that Claire made for Nicole...



Mmmm, every year Nicole asks for chocolate cake with chocolate frosting (a girl after my own heart), and I added a huge helping of sprinkles because I know she loves them, even at nine years old.



Four days later came the joint party - a pajama party complete with pajamas (of course), pizza, a movie & Funfetti cupcakes.

Here's all the girls in their pajamas, eager to get their sugar rush on.



The girls received a couple of joint gifts at the party... this particular one was so fun - two hands shot up from amidst the crowd for all to see and squeals of delight from all the girls arose - apparently Cooking With Mama for the Wii is quite popular among the young folks these days. Kit Kittridge, too.



Our sweet Skye had only been with us for a day when the party descended on her.



Two days later we were at Gramma & Grampa's for another little party, including one of their Auntie's famous cakes. I've mentioned before how my sister is talented in areas I am not - case in point, cake decorating. No one would ever want to eat her masterpieces, if it wasn't for the fact that it was chocolate cake under all the pretty frosting. The ladybugs and bumblebees were edible, too.



Doesn't every family turn the lights out when the candlelit cake comes to the table, to get the fullest effect?



A few more days pass, and we reach the finish line of the birthday race... Claire's and St. Valentine's Day.

Leapster headphones are more fun than the Leapster itself...



Yeah, no looking back at my sister's cake now, alright? M&M's are another art form in and of themselves, didn't you know that? Claire has asked for a rainbow cake every year for three years in a row. I got this idea from Beki. Oh, and the flavor is lemon, in case you're curious.




So if you've been wondering why I've been scarce here on my blog, now you know. I hope to now return to my LBB - Life Before Birthdays. Oh, wait - my nephew's birthday is Friday...

At least I can get one last slice of cake.

:: sweet! ::

Thank you, Nana & Pawpaw & Aunt Libbie!

Right after we smiled nicely for this picture, we each carefully ate one.
OK, we actually devoured every crumb of the one we were each allowed to have because they were so delicious.


Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

Kari Jobe

Last night, we went to a CD release party for Kari Jobe, a worship leader from our church, who has a new CD coming out tomorrow on the Integrity label... Sony has picked it up, too, and it will be available at Target, Walmart, etc.

Anyway, Kari is so lovely, inside and out - her voice is like crystal clear water, and her worship comes straight from a heart in love with God. My girls were enamored by her, which was so sweet to me because, truthfully, Kari is the kind of young woman I want my girls looking up to. My hope is that one day, no matter what they are doing with their lives, my girls' eyes will shine with the love of Jesus the way Kari shines.



I bought my copy of Kari's new CD last night - truly beautiful! So full of her heart and God's as well...

I also have one of her songs on my playlist in the sidebar of this blog, if you want to hear more.

Visit Kari's site here...

You don't see this every day...

...at least, not around here!

Last sighting of this kind in my household was maybe 8 years ago...

I have been very busy yesterday & today - not only did we get get the new doggie, we're also having a joint birthday party tonight for both the girls! So Chad needed a little patch job on his shirt, and I found him doing it himself. I was touched that he did not ask me, in all my busy-ness, to do it, he just did it on his own.

our newest little girl

As of yesterday, we are so excited to say that we have an addition to our family...

Fingerprint Friday { forgiveness }

I have struggled the last couple of days with how to forgive selfishness and unkindness shown toward me. I know in my spirit that I needed to do this, yet it has been almost a physical struggle and I could feel it like raging pain inside. I know that holding on to unforgiveness can cause serious side effects - mental stress, sleep deprivation, and even sickness - but the war to choose to forgive is a great one and the battlefield is your mind.

This morning, I was reminded of a study on forgiveness that I did this past fall, and some wise principles I learned there.

Forgiveness is not saying what others did to you was ok.

It is simply a choice to allow God to work instead of trying to work it yourself.

When you choose to do something and begin to do it, even when you don't feel like it, the feelings will follow.

And then, as I was doing schoolwork with my daughter later this morning, I looked down at her Bible verse of the week, and was astonished that the Lord would choose to speak to me straight from my daughter's school paper:

"Be gentle and ready to forgive;
never hold grudges.
Remember, the Lord forgave you,
you must forgive others."
Colossians 3:13

I am not always gentle. I have made many mistakes of my own. And God freely chose to pay the price so that I could be forgiven of all these things - I cannot even begin to express my gratitude. So I can choose to forgive the offenses against me, and my feelings will follow.

This is the greatest fingerprint God left on earth -
Forgiveness paid for by His Son.

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There is a song by Steven Curtis Chapman that says:
I can see the fingerprints of God
When I look at you
I can see the fingerprints of God
And I know its true
You're a masterpiece
That all creation quietly applauds
And you're covered with the fingerprints of God

So look around you and see where YOU can see God's fingerprints. Is it in nature? Kids? Animals? Where do you see them? Here's how to join in:

1. Blog with your interpretation of God's fingerprints.

2. Be sure to link so others can find the entire list of participants! Go over to PamperingBeki's blog to add your link to the list of participants.

++ ready for spring ++

I know Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow this morning, but I am ready to start designing for spring!

Here's a sneak peek at something I'll be listing for a special launch tomorrow on eBay:

You can click here on Tuesday to find it!