They're here...

We're so excited to have my sister and niece here for a visit.

It's a short one, but we're going to pack in

tons of fun and have a blast!

(photo taken by 3 year old natalie)

The kids are all at school and we're heading to Snooze

and then the fabric store.

For starters...

Tuesday Tidbit

Bible study started up again this morning,

and as usual

I was smacked up-side the head

with some good stuff.

I was thinking that maybe

if I took the time to write some of it down,

it would sink in and last a little longer.

I'm doing the Beth Moore study

To Live Is Christ

and it's about the life of the apostle Paul.

Should be good.

Anyway, in the midst of her teaching

that we were watching

she said...

"God is more interested in our restoration

than in our rescue."

It goes right along with something a friend

said to me yesterday,

that in our constantly searching to know

God's will for our lives,

the one thing we know for sure

is that His will is our sanctification.

UGH! To be honest,

sometimes I just don't like to hear the truth!

But... I believe it to be The Truth,

so I will continue to press on,

knowing that the Lord loves me

in spite of me,

and being so, so thankful

that He is patient with me.

excitement

...in the cul de sac.

There was a brush fire at the entrance to our neighborhood

the other day (which is not exciting, by the way).

This firefighter was sent to our street to fill up his tank with water

and the kids got a front row seat to watch the action.

They were too cute sitting on that rock watching him the whole time.

Thankfully, the fire(s) were all put out fairly quickly and no one was hurt.

Praise God for brave firefighters!

sew cool!

I am sew excited!
(Yes, I know I'm a dork.)
I have been wanting to start sewing for quite a while now
but it just hasn't happened.
Until now!
My friend Katy was visiting from Minnesota last week,
so I drug her down to Old Town to this new and super cute fabric store.
We picked out a pattern and some fabric
and she very patiently helped me get started and I made this!

It's called a Gumdrop Pillow and it was super easy to make, which is a good thing
because the kids have been fighting over it and I think I might need to make three more.
Or at least one more.
With monkeys on it.

Here is one of the many things Kate has been doing with it...

I'm kind of addicted to the whole sewing thing now.
I've made Kate a little tote bag and matching wallet and a quilt for her dolls.
Now I'm working on a tote bag for myself and I also
bought fabric and a pattern to make myself a shirt.
I can't wait for my mom to come out
and help me with that one.
Oh, and the skirt that I want to make but I don't know
how to do an elastic waistband.
And then there's zippers!

Can you say addict?
I think I'm going to have to go get a job to support my new habit.
Maybe that cute fabric store is hiring...

bummer

Mark got poked in the eye today while playing tag at recess,

so I got to go pick him up from school

and take him to the eye doctor to get checked out.

Can you tell he was completely thrilled to be there?

He wanted to push those buttons so badly he was about to crawl out of his skin!

Fortunately, all that is wrong is that his eye is bruised

and he has a small abrasion,

both of which the doctor said should heal up within a couple days.

We're thankful that it wasn't anything worse,

because it sure looked like it might have been.

I think he is a little disappointed he didn't get to go home with an eye patch.

Then he could have been a pirate like his uncle Todd.

silly boy

Gregory was taking pictures of himself

in the car on the way home

from school yesterday.

He was cracking himself up!

first day of school

I can not believe how fast this past summer has gone by!

Here's the kids this morning before heading off to school.

Adam told me that under no circumstances

was I allowed to take a picture of him

once we got to school, so we got a

couple shots in the driveway and off we went.