Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but my hat is so delightful!!

It's getting cold in Indy, so I made my hat from recycled sweaters. I bought a hat similar to this at Anthropologie and decided I could make one better and much more cost effective. So, here it is.

I added a flower to embelish the hat and add a little flair.

Any color combo works. It has a really comfortable fit to it and doesn't hug your head so tight that you get a headache.

Send me an email to order yours. I'm going to try to get it loaded on ETSY today or tomorrow.
I'm working on a website, but be patient. Estimated time of completion is mid-January.

**We got an inch of snow yesterday!!!!!

Bazaar and boots

That's right, I have my super duper insulated waterproof boots. It has been raining all week and is cold! I may have been born in the north, but I'm a southern girl at heart! It's cold!!! I'm not sure what I'm going to do this winter. We've been told by several people that we need to invest in a snow blower!! What?!

This past weekend was a great weekend for me. I love to sell my things at bazaars and for some reason, Indiana has bazaars almost every weekend from now until Christmas. Not knowing what to expect and realizing that I want to enjoy the holidays with my family in our new surrounds; I registerd for one bazaar at Sophie's school. I had a great time, sold some of my things, met some great people and made some contacts for future opportunities -- it was a good day. I was selling repurposed coffee bag purses and peace tshirts which I was able to sell to a lot of teachers at Sophie's school because the have "peace" day December 1; who knew? I had some Christmas shirts left over from last year that needed a little embelishing with bows and buttons and bells and then they needed matching pants with ruffles, so those were a big hit and also little girl hair clips.

role of step-mom

Not sure why, but I'm feeling a little sentimental over Hallie. I sent her a package last week and she posted the sweetest video for me on Facebook. I can't figure out how to post it on my blog, so I'll have to tell you: it's her holding a sign that says thank you and she keeps lifting it up so you can see it on the video and it says I love you and then she gives me a big smile! That is priceless to me.

When your the stepmom; sometimes you're just along for the ride. You really don't get to have a say-so in raising this child because the biological parents are doing that. Jay & I can talk, but ultimately it's between him and Hallie's mom. Hallie's home has different rules then we have and that had to be ok and I had to explain that to our own kids who live with us. That just because Hallie gets to do something doesn't necessarily mean that they are going to get the same benefits. And, that's hard. However, Hallie is an exceptional kid and her mom did a great job even though I may have done some things different.

Hallie is a nurturer and she says that before she met Christian and I, she had always hoped for a brother or sister. So, when Jay & I started dating and Hallie could mother Christian, he was 2, life was good. She loved coming to our house, she enjoyed our family time and she was able to balance that with her mom's house. Her mom never remarried and so the dynamics at her mom's house was much different than in our house. Initially, Hallie was unsure what to call me after Jay & I got married. I remember the question, "should I call you mom, now?" Although I was very honored that she would ask me that; I knew that "Lori" was what my name would always be; as it should be. I was a stranger to her mother and had to prove myself; right or wrong. In the beginning, never was I the one to coordinate visits or birthday or Christmas presents. I took my time... I needed to earn trust and that was ok. Just a few weeks ago, myself, Sophie and Hallie's mom were in Edmond, OK to visit Hallie. We had a good time and were even able to laugh at what people must be thinking of us sitting together for Hallie's performances at Freshman Fanfare! My, how things have improved. How blessed I am that Trish and I can talk without any problems. She trusted me to go on a mission trip with Hallie to Africa! Can you see God's hand in this? Hallie and I are good friends, my title stepmom really doesn't fully recognize the relationship that we have. Stepmom drums up so many negative feelings.

Hallie & I have talked and tried to examine our relationship. She says it works for her because I never tried to overstep my role. We've always been friends and now we're very close. I just can't say enough about her! I think I've cried through this whole post!

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close at heart

I feel truly honored that my good friend, Ondrea, mentioned me in her blog and my latest creation which happens to be a two sided pendant with a map on it. I have been back from mission trip to Lilongwe, Malawi about 6 months and I'm forever changed. The people, joy, sadness, the smells; everything stays with me. I could spend a big part of my day looking at pictures I took while I was there. One boy, Rafik, in particular just took my heart. So, I decided that I would like a pendant with a map of where he is with a picture of him on the back. This one really makes me laugh when I look at it because Rafik has a large forehead and it's magnified by the crown he made showing that he is a son of The King. And, I had planned on making one for Hallie. And, then I told Ondrea and the rest is history! I started thinking about the map because I'm guessing that's where it starts; with a map and realizing that your child is in this location. This is where your child was born; this is where you will travel to get your child. The orphanage in this location will be forever on your mind. It will also invoke awareness to an underlying issue that there are 147 million orphans who need parents to tuck them in and help with homework.

If your interested in a pendant, I have it listed on my etsy website: www.solstudios.etsy.com or you can email me or leave me a message on the blog and I'll contact you.

8th grade football banquet with Colts' head coach Jim Caldwell

Christian was fortunate enough to play football on his middle school team who had an 0 - 7 record. It was a really tough year to be on the Zionsville West football team, but he stuck it out and it paid off at the middle school banquet held at the Colts' training facility. A teammate's dad is connected with the Colts and he was able to arrange for the team to have their banquet at the training field. But, what made it even better was when Coach Jim Caldwell came in the room to talk to them about their season. He explained that a lot of players are on losing teams at some point. Even he was on a losing team while playing for Iowa. He went on further to tell them that football is about character and perseverance. Anybody can quit and be discouraged from a losing season, but it takes someone with determination, perseverance and character to work during the off season and come back the next year stronger and ready to play. He spoke to them like a head coach would and gave every player something to think about and strive for. He was very inspirational and it was a great night for the team and for the parents. I was very impressed!

I've missed you!!

Sophie, suffering with curlers in her hair for that perfect school picture hair do!!! She was not happy to haver her picture taken.

Just sewed a new witch's costume for my goose! She came with me from Ohio down to Tennessee and now Indiana.

Oh my goodness! I've totally ignored you for a loooong time; too long! I hate to say it, but we are functioning on not much margin these days. We're juggling football games, homework (Lots of it), swimming and for me sewing. That's right. My craft room which is fabulous is up and running and I'm sewing curtains. For some reason, our previous owner took all of her curtains. No big deal because I was going to replace them anyway, but now I feel more pressure to get them done sooner because I'm feeling a little exposed! Our living room has 4 long windows and I was so excited because I had always wanted to make a ruffled tier window treatment with various fabrics and now I was able to. They were just really time consuming!!! I'm really happy with how the curtains turned out. And, the kitchen curtains were something I could do in a day. They are just triangles sewn and then I hot glued magnets to each one to attach to the curtain rod- easy! Of course, in between sewing and everything else we planned a party for Jay's coworkers at work. I think there was 20 or so people in our house which we planned to have inside/outside with our fire pit, but the rain forced us inside. A good time was had by all - the men were in the basement at the pool table and the women were gathered in the kitchen. The kids were all over the place!

Christian and I completed a bike race. We had planned on biking the short course which was 15 miles, but we got a little confused by the markers and ended up doing the whole course .. 26 miles! yippee!! We had a great time and now we need to work on our time; we were too slow, but then we were riding bikes from Target. Christian's bike wouldn't get out of 2nd gear so it took 10 rotations to get 10 feet. He wore his legs out within the first 10 miles!

Oh, and this is for my Tennessee friends--> it's freezing up here!!! It's 45 degrees today; I had to turn my heat on. The living room was registering 67 degrees and I couldn't take it anymore so I had to put the heat on at 70. It's raining, too which makes it even worse. I don't think I'll leave my house all winter. Tonight's Christian's last football game and then next year he'll be playing high school football!!!

why am i doing this?

I have a great friend who is a blogger! She's been doing it for months and her blog ALWAYS make me laugh (she has 4 kids; need I say more?) Well, she convinced me that I needed to set up a blog about Malawi and all my "life." I can't write like her--> I don't think like her and I don't take the time to blog. But, I've tried to keep up with it as best as possible and now I think I finally have something to share.

We've moved and although things could've been worse; we've had some bad days. Christian was in tears the first day of school. He had to eat lunch with 7th graders because of some scheduling problem. Tears over the weekend when his acquaintances weren't available to "hang" and he's missing his Franklin friends. I know, friendships all take time and there's going to be an adjustment period, but I don't want him to hate it here. My biggest fear is that he's NEVER going to make as good of friends here as he had in Franklin and I know they will never be like his Franklin friends I just want him to have good friends that will keep him accountable and true to himself. I don't know the kids that are "potential" friends; I don't know their parents; I don't know if these are good kids. I am not in control....... I am not in control.....

I've been praying about the church we've visited the last 3 Sundays. It's good, but not like home. The minister hasn't spoken (he's on a month sabatical), but I've liked the ministers he's chosen to fill in. The music is a little slow--> nothing can compare to all the talent at People's Church, I will forever be spoiled & ruined! Sophie loves her Sunday School and Christian thinks that this middle school is probably the best around, but not as good as People's Church. So, I'm thinking that we're just settling. I've been praying that God would make it obvious that this is the right church or that we should move on to visit other churches.

I'm guessing about a year and a half ago I started reading passages throughout the bible trying to figure out why there is so much pain & suffering in the world. Our God is huge and He can do anything; so, why doesn't he? Why won't he save the children from starvation? Why doesn't he protect the young mother dying from cancer? And, I never really came up with a real concrete answer and I guess I was ok with that because I know we are supposed to have childlike faith and we'll never have all the answers; my job is to believe. And, I'm not in control...

So, this Sunday at church we're doing a series called the "One thing I want you to know...". And, Kyle Idleman, wanted us to know the one thing is that God is in control and he does care.

He went to scripture and looked in the book of Job. Job has lost everything; his animals, food & his children. His body is in sores and his wife tells him to turn his back on God. God doesn't care. Job, cries out to the Lord. And, finally God answers, but with questions; not really answers. God asks where was Job when he created the world? Where was Job when he told the waters where to stop? What is the way to the creation of light? God is in control; not I, and although there is suffering I have to know that God is in control. In Psalm 8, David is contemplating all that God has created and then that he has created man a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory & honor. God, does love us and he does care.

Kyle Idelman, gave this analogy that really opened my eyes. He said that he had just taken his son (he's 4) to the doctor to have shots. He could've explained why the shots were important and how it would prevent him from getting sick later down the road, but his son was so upset about the pain right now that he couldn't see the future down the road. Picture a father holding his son tight telling him to keep his eyes on him; don't look at the shots; eyes on me I'm in charge. My mind can't get around all the suffering in this world and I wish we could solve it, but I can understand the example explained to me at church and I think that was my answer I was looking for and maybe our new church home.

And, on a lighter note..

The pictures above are from the football game Christian played last night. They are the Frankfort hot dogs and I had to take a picture because my coffee clatch friends will need something to laugh over.

We're here!

We're in our house and the boxes are slowly, but surely leaving! I've found that once I got the boxes unpacked in the living room/kitchen and bedrooms that the rest of the house is unpacking more slowly. No pictures of been hung, so it looks a little blah! And, some of the rooms aren't quite arranged the way I would like. I finally found Sophie's comforter today in the Christmas decoration boxes! She has patiently waited for her comforter and every time I was sure I had the right box it was linens to another bedroom! We had to take out two door frames to get couches into rooms. Now, we're meeting with handymen that can fix it and maybe do some bookshelves in our office. It seems so crazy to me that the builder would put in a smaller than normal door frame going into the basement when he knew the basement was going to be used for a family/game room.

This is the front of our house on move in day. I never thought I would have enough stuff to fill a whole 53' semi.... I've realized that I can't part with any of the kids old toys from when they were toddlers.

This beautiful scene is in our backyard everyday. The horses from the riding stables come down to the back of our yard and we feed them apples and carrots. The brown horse is the bully and he tries to chase the other horses away so he can get all the carrots for himself.

Here is our half pipe getting loaded on Johnny's flatbed truck. Scott's friend volunteered to load the half-pipe and drive it to us; he's probably rethinking this whole deal! I had a hard time watching them load it and then unload it, but it made it in one piece. Christian is so happy to have it.

Our yard is 1/2 an acre and I had to take a picture of Jay using our neighbors riding lawnmower. Initially, he had Christian mow it with our 20" mower which took him about 2 hours to mow our yard (he had nothing else to do anyway -> kept him from getting bored!) But, it started to get too long and so Jay was going to mow it, but our mower kept bogging down because the grass was too long. Our neighbor took pity on him and let him borrow his John Deere. Jay came in the house saying, "we've got to get one of those!"

moving.....

Here's our new house. It's a great house for us.

Well, yesterday & today the movers are here packing up everything. We have much!!! They allowed 2 days to pack and 1 day to load. However, 2 people came yesterday and only finished the 1st floor. We still had the garage, under the deck, craft room (that's a day right there), and the attic! So, today they came with reinforcements. I think they'll get it done. I have to say that if anyone has to move; hiring movers to pack is a great way to go. Although, I probably would never want to pay for it! Thankfully, this one is on the company.

I've been getting a little nostalgic about leaving. I've been living in Tennessee for 15 years; this feels like home to me. We're so settled and Franklin is a great town with every amenity available at your fingertip. We've got great friends and so do our kids. I keep telling myself that it's not forever and that we'll be back and I know we will, but it'll still be different than doing life with my friends on a day to day basis. Let's face it, we've moved to 3 houses in our sub-division so we wouldn't have to leave our friends or our favorite school. Now, I'm not only moving out of the sub-division, but out of the state! I guess I would describe this move as bitter sweet.

I'm going to miss everything about our life in Franklin, but I'm excited about Jay not having to travel as much. I'm excited for Jay & his new job. He seems to be looking forward to the challenge of this promotion. Our new house is beautiful and the schools seem really good. I think Sophie & Christian will be getting a great education and athletics play a big part at the school which will keep Christian interested. The flip side is that I think they both may need tutoring, but that may be another post? Right now, I'm just going to be glad to not be living in boxes! And, my kitchen has double ovens!!!! Ooh, I guess that means I'm going to have to use them. ha! ha!

see you all in a couple days...

Adzuku! Adzuku! Adzuku!

Each morning, we would arrive in Kauma village and begin in the Adziwa office. From there, one group would go to construction and the other would go to either the school or prayer walk. I loved walking to the school and prayer walking. We would begin walking down the red dirt road and the street would be lined with kids shouting, "Adzuku!" "Adzuku!" which means "white person." They were so excited to see white people and it was so funny to me. The kids would point at us and many would follow us all the way to the school and some would try to go to school for the day. Many would hold our hand all the way to the school and some would even fight over who could hold our hands. I remember one time while we were prayer walking the kids just kept chanting "Adzuku!" over and over again; it became almost a song!

Home is relative

Rafik asleep in my arms.

A lady cooking in the refugee camp

Malaylay--a 12 yr. old refugee in the camp without her parents. I'm not sure what happened

to them.

Home sweet home! Robin was my bunkmate.

Metita, is the lady in front leading the other women in song. They are celebrating the finished

school building. We had a ribbon cutting ceremony; the U.S. ambassador came.

I'm home now; safe & sound. For two weeks, my home was in Lilongwe, Malawi. I lived in a 2 person hut and showered with a bucket of heated water. Bathrooms were either a thatched outhouse or a cement hole. We had 3 meals a day which usually included sema (made from maize and similar to grits). We had beans, tomato gravy, cooked pumpkin leaves (not fond of it), rice. The food was great, but different. We woke when the sun came up and went to bed early when the sun went down. We had dinner every night outside, debriefed and shared the ups & downs of the day. We laughed and cried every day and became 24 people who grew into a family. For two weeks, this was home. There were so many highs & lows and if God didn't show up huge for me; you could see him huge in someone else's day. Things were so much clearer while we were there and it was easy to see God's handiwork; I think much because there were no distractions. No tv, no computer, no cell phones---nothing from the outside world. It was just us and the village of Kauma. We were totally focused on the vision that had been cast.

But, I think for most of us, no matter how much we tried to prepare ourselves for what we were going to experience; it really couldn't compare. The kids had nothing. I took a picture of one boy that had ingeniously built a car out of a couple wire hangers and then attached some bobbins for wheels so that it would roll and then inserted a stick so he could push it around with the stick. Paper & crayons are a luxury. But, when they sang they had the most beautiful sound that started in their toes and just bellowed out. All of them sang with such passion and happiness. Where does that come from?

I helped lead two bible studies with village women. There was probably 50-60 women and they clapped when I shared my divorce and the circumstances surrounding it. They were amazed that white people had the same problems they did. They thought that being white meant that we didn't have problems! We were able to talk about being married to an alcoholic. What one woman should do to get her boyfriend to propose to her. What can you do when you don't get along with your mother-in-law. We were able to share that the greatest hope you can have is in Jesus. Without him, there's not much.

And, now I'm home and I'm with my kids and my husband and I'm so glad to be here, but I can't help thinking about Rafik (3 year old that I fell in love with). I wonder how they are getting along and Dorothy the caregiver that has AIDS and has about a year left. She accepted Christ and we were able to get her a bible; I wonder how she's doing? I miss that home because I care for those people. And, I'm getting ready to move to another home. So, I'm coming to realize that home is where you make it and it's not so much the location, but who you're surrounded with.

Moni (hello!)

You know about 2 months ago Jay & I and two other couples finished up a six week bible study on margin in your life. We agreed that when our lives are so full and scheduled everyday that there's not much room for God or what God wants us to accomplish. The idea is to say no to the unnecessary things that just gets us crazy and let God do His thing in us and thru us. Spend more time with him in the bible and be still and let his opportunities come to us. When we're so busy there's not much time for him to work because we've got our days so crammed with "stuff!". We finished the study and I felt pretty good about our schedule. We had quit tae kwon do 3 nights a week and we had softball with Sophie and occasionally boy scouts, but our life seemed settled.

Anything would seem settled compared to the lightning speed we're running now. There is no room in our busy schedules for ANYTHING to go wrong. Jay has accepted a promotion so we're moving this summer. I'm going to Malawi with Hallie. Hallie is going to college. We bought a house in 5 days and are preparing to move out of our old one. THings are busy. I'm so busy that I don't think I've really thought about moving and leaving my friends; that's probably a good thing. I'll probably fall apart after we move and things slow down. I keep telling myself that this is not forever. We'll be back and we will stay in touch with friends.

Did I tell you I'm going to Malawi? I'm leaving this Friday morning and arriving in Malawi Sunday afternoon; that's a long travel time. I don't like to fly; it's definitely not my favorite thing to do. So, why am I going around the world? I've always been intrigued with Africa. I've been reading books on the plight of South Africa probably 20 years ago. You have to read Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane; it will leave you speechless thinking about how some people have to live. As a young boy, Mark dug for food at the dump. While looking for food, he found the corpse of a newborn baby in the garbage dump. It's heartbreaking. I just want to help in some small way. All of us were given talents and if each of us used our talent to help those less fortunate, then I believe there wouldn't be so much suffering. I don't believe we can all do the same thing or that we're called to do the same thing, but I do believe we are called to do something. So, although I'm nervous I'm also excited to be part of something great! I know God is going to do some miraculous things.

love the beach

I love going to the beach with my family! It's the most relaxing vacation we go on. And, one night always ends in family pictures on the beach.

Sophie & Hallie are getting ready to give Christian a kiss and no one can stop laughing.

Hallie & Christian kept calling Sophie the princess during the whole vacation, so this picture seemed appropriate!

Too cute!

Aghhhh!

I know it's been a long time since my last post... sorry! So much is going on. We're moving to the Indianapolis area, I'm still going to Malawi, we just got back from Destin, Florida. We're in the place right now where nothing can go wrong or our schedule will totally be messed up. I don't really like being in this tight schedule. We're constantly working off of lists for each day of things we have to get done. This week we're buying a house; it makes me laugh to think of it! I'm pretty sure my grandparents would have spent months buying a house and try to decide if it was a good decision. My dad is the most layed back person you'll meet and hates a schedule. So, how did I become this hectic list making person? I think it's part of our generation and partly because I like being busy. And, maybe because where there's stress there's faith. Faith is the only thing that can get you thru the stressful times. Really, in all seriousness, I feel at peace with what's going on. I'm so excited to be a part of this mission trip and especially how things were orchestrated so that I could still go. I feel God's hand in it. And, our move, well, it's a little crazy, but I can still see God's work in it. I feel good and my hope is that when we're actually moved and our kids are beginning school and a little anxious about it that I will still have this peace that passes all understanding. I'm sure the bad days will come and I'll be in a pit, but that's when I'll have to call my Friday prayer girls and get me out of it!

graduation

Finally! I have a post. And, I have to tell you, 22 years ago when I graduated from Dover, Ohio population 12,000 we had commencement at 2 pm on the football field .... rain or shine. Well, gone are the days of yesteryear and let me prepare all of you for what is about to come in your near future when your oldest child graduates-> it is a 3 week long graduation! There's graduation festivities with your church, there's festivities for every organization that your child was involved with (chorus, drama, football, basketball - EVERYTHING!) There's a scholarship commencement during the school day where all scholarships are announced and colleges declared. And, then this is a new one for me; Baccalaureate commencement. And, finally graduation! It's exhausting.

So, not only are the festivities exhausting, although worth it for the graduate who has worked their tail off for 4 years, but it's emotionally exhausting. Each ceremony is a reminder that your child has reached their first huge milestone in life and in most cases will be moving out from under your rooftop in 3-4 months. The videos they play at all the ceremonies rip your heart out because you can see how fast time has moved. Gone is the little girl in baby fine pigtails and pink tutu. Now, I am looking at a beautiful Christian woman who is going to college 9 hours away. I'm going to miss that phone call when she would ask if she could come over for dinner or could she just pop in; even if her Dad wasn't home. Yep, I'm the stepmom and sometimes I wish I had another name because stepmom always conjures up such negative feelings. Hallie & I have a sweet relationship and I know she's not leaving just growing up, but sometimes you just long to go back in time. I held a friend's 1 year old baby and he reminds me so much of my own son and I'm proud of the man Christian is becoming, but I'd like to go back one more time and rock him to sleep in my arms and carry him to bed; at 165 lbs. I can't do that anymore!

So, don't rush this time and look forward to the future when they start kindergarten and think that you'll get to do all the things you don't have time for. Because the time is going to come when you're picking out colleges and watching your baby receive their diploma. And, those tears are going to come...

Shots!!!!

How could I have overlooked the dreaded shots. I knew the day was coming and didn't think it would be that bad; did I mention that I haven't had shots since I don't remember when.... I had one shot when I was pregnant with Christian, IV's when I went into labor and then epidurals. But, really no shots in a LOOOOONG time! I don't even remember when I had my last tetanus shot. So, off we go to BRentwood Baptist Church and get in this massive line of people also going on mission trips and needing shots. The service providing the shots was an outreach clinic and mostly retired. They were very nice, but I'm wondering if I got the right shots?! Two hours later we got our shots; I got 5 and the MMR really hurt and Hallie got 4. The nurses said that men and teenage girls kind of freak out about the shots; I assured them that after childbirth I would be fine and I was maybe a little queesy, but ok. Hallie, on the other hand, not so well. Just a couple minutes after her shots she was sitting down with her head between her knees and saying she didn't feel well. The nurses immediately got her to lay down and they gave her a sucker. Within about 10 minutes she was fine, but I was feeling a little nervous for her. Sophie and Christian were also with us and Christian decided that mission trips were not his calling from God; he was sure that God was calling him for something else local!

Anyway, my arms are sore and that's my excuse for not running this week. I've set a goal to run a 5K and I can only run 1 mile and then that's all I can push myself to do. I wish I liked to run, but it's just not my thing. I'll try to get at it tomorrow. I'll hate it if I don't reach my goal. It's just so easy to find an excuse!

Hello Dolly!

This weekend was Hallie's performance in, "Hello Dolly!" She's Dolly and she is amazing! I'm not just saying that because she's my step-daughter, but because she's got some pipes and some fabulous talent. Last night was the opening night and the high school theater was packed and she got a standing ovation. Of course, I was brought to tears along with Jay and Hallie's mom and everyone else that was there supporting her. She has worked so hard; not just for the singing, but for the choreography and the speaking part. She was phenomenal. I'm convinced she's going to be on Broadway! I don't know how she could avoid it. The costumes were amazing; much better than what we had in our old costume wardrobe at my high school and the set and everything was so professional and well done. I couldn't be more proud of Hallie than I am right now. She's amazing and I'm so glad that she allows me to be part of her life. And, if any of you are interested there's one more show Sunday from 2-4 at the David Lipscomb high school theater; you will not be disappointed!

Love your neighbor

I have to share what I watched out my window this morning. Sophie now goes to the bus stop on her own, but I continue to watch her out my window until the bus comes and picks her up. This morning was a little chilly, so she wore her heavier sweatshirt with a long sleeve tshirt underneath. Chloe came to the bus stop without a coat and I saw Sophie try to crowd around her to warm her up. And, it was just a few moments later that Sophie took her coat off and put it on Chloe. Sophie looked back at our house; I'm sure she was waiting to see the door open and me to tell her to put her coat back on and that was my initial reaction, but then I thought "no." God tells us in Luke10:27 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and Love your neighbor as yourself. Sophie was demonstrating what God wants all of us to do and I wasn't going to take away from that. Initially, I wanted to keep her from getting sick or being cold herself, but what she did was far more important than catching a cold.

I'm feeling CREATIVE

bonus room- ALL this in my little craft room

craft room -painted, clean and still cluttered; but manageable!

I am soooo excited! Many of you know we've been living in our house about a year and a half and I have a craft room that is under the eaves of the house. I collect and start a lot of crafts, so I have a ton of stuff! I love fabric and I have books & a steamer and a clothes rack and an iron body form; it's a lot. Unfortunately, when we moved in this room had not been used by the previous owners except for storage and the walls were builder white and dirty. I moved in and piled my stuff. Well, since my sewing machine has been out of commision this week I decided to paint my craft room and tidy things up a bit. I painted two walls apple green and two walls blue and then the small ceiling strip is yellow. It turned out so cute and now I'm feeling really creative; watch out! I had to move everything out of my room to paint it and I realized how much stuff I really have. I could supply crafts for my entire brownie troop for years! I hate to throw anything away because I never know when I might need it and I might want to do a new craft and I'd hate to go back out and buy the stuff again. So, I keep it. Anyway, I moved everything out of my craft room and into our bonus room and it totally filled it up. I never knew I could get so much stuff in such a little space! My craft room looks great; it's still cluttered, but I can't get rid of anything else. My walls are clean and I feel very creative; I need my sewing machine! I've got 4 orders to complete for next week and am going a little crazy waiting for my sewing machine. Here are the pics of my bonus room with all my stuff and my craft room after it's done.

the store is finally open!

Well, if any of you have gone on to my store I'm sure you noticed that it was a little bare and that was totally my fault! You see, because I've been busy sewing shirts & purses, making necklaces & earrings for the store that are carrying my things I haven't been keeping up with my online store. It's always on my list to do, but my list is longer than my week! And, this week was going to be no different than all my other weeks of things to do, but I was forced to get MOST of the things on my list done other than sewing. MY MACHINE BROKE and is in the sewing machine garage somewhere?! It's really been an adjustment not to be able to sew, but I've been able to exercise this week (went for a walk and tae kwon do), got some patterns cut for when I can sew and most importantly added some things to my online store! I'm even thinking of going to Silo Studios Thursday - to get more inspiration! My friend, Ondrea, gave me a great idea of hair clips and I've been making those a couple weeks (just to add to the purses, shirts, earrings, & necklaces) and then she gave me another great idea that I've been working on, too. I need to find somewhere that I can get inexpensive sheet metal in small sizes! Ondrea is turning into my marketing manager.

I am definitely going to do a better job of posting my things for sale on my online store. I met with someone last week who is going to help me out and sew for me in her spare time. I'm really excited about this; hope it works out!

thanks!

cat in the hat

This week was Dr. Seuss week and our school celebrated daily. Sophie chose to dress as Cat in the Hat. She looks so cute and I love what I'm able to do with my new editing software!

Today starts my journey

I have been on the fence for a couple months on going to Malawi on a mission trip. I wanted to go last year and then didn't and I wanted to go this year, but fear almost kept me from going. But, just as Peter got out of the boat and walked on water to Jesus, I too, need to get out of the boat. I feel His calling, but fear was talking a little louder. Not anymore.

I'm going to Malawi and my step-daughter Hallie is going with me. I've been saying that our mission trip begins June 19, but what I realized is that it is beginning for me today. Physically, our trip happens June 19, but today I am mentally preparing myself to go. THere is something so humbling, at least for me the person who needs help from no one, to send out letters to family and friends asking for prayer and financial support if the Lord has enabled them. My journey begins today.

So, I'm sending out letters this week. I'm ordering my shots from world outreach and I need a lot! I need Hepatitis A, Typhoid, Tetanus, polio booster and then I need malaria pills! April 13 is shot day, so I'll probably be a little overwhelmed! We are also starting to break out into small groups to plan vacation bible school for the children. I am most excited because I get to be on the activity group. We will be planning all the crafts - & I love crafts! We are all following and working out of the Youth Life Journal which gives us daily readings from the bible. We will begin sharing at our monthly meetings what God is doing in these readings. I feel so honored to be able to go on this journey with such a great group of kids; I have a feeling that they will teach me much more than I will teach them!

things are changing

Last night was a milestone in my house. Christian had to shave. His mustache has been growing thicker and darker for a couple months, but this week it became noticeable to EVERYONE. You could see it across the room. So, much to Christian's dismay; I told him he would need to shave. He was afraid of cutting his face, but Jay had him practice with shaving cream and no razor. And, then we went live with the razor and we had no nicks! Things happen so quick. Today, I held my friends 9 month old son and it seems like yesterday I was holding Christian. I look at Christian today and I want to hold him so tight that he will never grow up and do the same for Sophie. I want Hallie to live at home and go to college. I want to protect them forever, but I am reminded that that is not my job that God has given me. My job is to prepare my kids for life and teach them to be followers of Christ to love others as they love themselves. They need to know that being a Christian does not protect them from hard times, but it will give them hope. Our job is to raise our kids with Christian values and then let them spread their wings and fly.

Father/Daughter Dance

Can I just say that I have the most awesome husband, ever! Tonight is the Father/Daughter dance for Brownies. The theme is "Under the Sea" and my 6'7" husband is dressed as Triton; Little Mermaid's Father. He has the whole get up and I'm sure his head will be itchy and sweaty after dancing with Sophie and throwing her all around. But, he knows this means a lot to Sophie so he'll probably leave it on all night. She is having the time of her life! I am so lucky!

feeling sentimental

These days I'm feeling a little sentimental. I miss my grandparents and when I could call them up and just feel better at the end of the conversation. I miss my grandma's ways and how her days were like clockwork. Always out to lunch at 10:30; home in time for soaps all afternoon. She watched ANother World for 30 or more years. I miss how her house smelled and when it was time to leave her house she and my grandpa would try to give you all their leftover candies/cookies before you got out the door. She called it Schlekerei! I miss all the made up, combined broken German words & phrases that came out of our family. It's like a secret language that only we know. Jay laughs at me when I say the word out loud without realizing that no one else knows what in the world I'm talking about! My mom still says some of those words. I remember being 20 years old and realizing that I sound ridiculous saying words that don't exist. I swear I'm going to make a small Schenk dictionary to pass on to our kids so that these words aren't forgotten.

So, that's the reason for my music. My grandparents loved big bands. They danced every Saturday night in Canton, Ohio to all the big bands. Grandpa loved this Glenn Miller song and there were others, but this one in particular stands out to me. I never got to see my grandparents dance; I bet they were good. I loved the stories of their dancing days and all the shenanigans that went on. I'd give anything to hear them tell those stories one more time.

Ok, I'm getting too serious and I want to post the inspiration behind Lolly's. Sophie made this little fairy and I think she looks like a Lolly and that's how I came up with my store name. Sophie is an artist and loves to create. I love when we can do things together. Check out miss lolly.

It's official, I have a teenager!

My firstborn is a teenager. I can no longer hold him in my arms and kiss all over his face. I can't pick him up and carry him to his bed and tuck him in. I could go on and on with all the things I can't do now that he's older, but there are a lot of things that I can do. We can have a meaningful conversation. I can look at his life and know that God is working in it and that Christian is a good kid. I can also worry when he's late and be mad as soon as he walks in the door because he made me worry. I can question myself when I realize how much he's texting; I think an average of 2500 in/out messages is a little obsessive. Did I tell you that over Christmas he had 8500 in/out messages? I get to explain why I'm taking his phone away because a "C" in science at midterms is not acceptable. I'm sure my parents are reading this and laughing at me because I brought home "C's" and now I'm punishing my son for the same thing I did. Christian is so much smarter than me and a little effort on his part would allow him to make much better grades than I did. THe problem is that it takes some effort and he's ALWAYS sending text messages. How can anyone study and do homework if you're texting 100 messages per day and 6 of those hours are at school and trust me I've tried to catch him texting at school and he goes by the rules: the phone is turned off at 7:30 and back on at 2:30- on the dot! I get to have conversations that I thought I wouldn't have till later; I'm glad we get to have them, but I thought it would be later and I could ease into this teenager life. Nope! It's 0-60 in 30 seconds! It happens so fast. I am no longer the most important person in his life. He tells me that he's talking to his friends about advice with girls; like they know? It's frightening to think that he's taking advice from peers; that's what I did! So, for all my friends with young kids: love them & be the center of their world, know that this time is short. Teach them all the things they need to know- God loves them, you love them unconditionally and there's nothing that they could do that would change that (it doesn't mean they won't face consequences). They need grace and we need to remember what we were doing at 13 and realize that they are not different. I'm hopeful that Christian is not going to repeat ALL my mistakes, but where would the fun be if he didn't test the boundaries a little? I'm probably going to pay for that last statement!

A new purse!

Just wanted to show everyone a new purse I've been working on the last couple of days. It's made from a recycled coffee bean bag. I found a coffee house in Vermont that is selling me their coffee bags that come from all over the world and they have beautiful pictures and numbers written on them that have something to do with the weight and maybe the date the beans were picked? The bags are a heavy burlap and they're large. That's what allowed me to make the large beach bag featured in an earlier blog. I love this purse; it's so fun for summer. It measures 16 x 7 x 3. it is lined and has a side pocket for a cell phone. I hate when I have to dig for my cell phone at the bottom of my purse. It closes with a magnetic snap. This is the first purse and there are some bugs that needed worked out, so this one is not for sale, but there will be more to follow and should show up on my etsy sight soon or you can call/email me. The cost is $45.