Thanksgiving & Then Some

Hello to everyone here on this warm, 'spring' day in December! Honestly it does seem like spring. The thin dusting of snow that we had is melting & running away & it even smells like spring... I must say though, the weather is nice. It just seems majorly incorrect to me! But since you probably didn't come for a weather report I will continue. It's been goodness how long since I've posted anything? Exactly 27 & 1/4 days to be precise. Since then my one job has quit until march & the other one has slowed down for the winter & the family was all home for thanksgiving & my sister has gone away to be with my other sister & we will go get her next weekend... Got that?

It was fun to have the whole family here again...it had been quite some time since we were all together and this time around there were 2 new additions! :)

 

There were stories to be read....mostly Winnie the Pooh...

 

 And occasionally they fell asleep while being read to...

 We sat and talked. And ate pie. I believe we consumed 15 or 16 or 17 pies over the weekend! 

Random.... 

 Haley majorly loved Colson & often asked if she could take him home. 

 Making horses & turtles & kitties etc. from 'melty beads' .

 Jacob & Dorcas...they make me smile some. Just 'cuz. :)

 

 I just really like this picture for some reason...

Jaden & Lena.

 The whole assortment of us...

I am blessed with family. None of us are the same. But if we were it would be boring! 

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A-random-piece-at-the-end-of-this-post
Lately I've been very intrigued with making things from sheet music. And with redoing old things to make them look like new things etc.... below are 2 of my recent creations...

For the picture board I spray painted an old frame that we've had ever since I was old enough to remember things...than I took cork board that I had on hand and glued it to the backing of the frame. It seems to have worked quite well except that a few of the pictures have a problem sticking.  For the flower I looked around online until I found sheet music that I liked, printed it off, stained it in coffee and made a pattern & then cut 10 pieces & stacked them. Then I stuck a brad in the middle and 'crunched' all the pieces together. Simplicity I tell you!

The card is one I made for my boss when she got married. I didn't feel like buying a present so I settled for giving money since I hear that it never hurts to get a little unexpected funds when one is getting married....correct?  I thought it very boring to just lay funds inside the card so I made a sheet music pocket to dress it up a little. It turned out quite nice but I forgot to take a picture before I wrote in it. :)

Happy Monday to all!!!

Thankful-Grateful-Blessed

I know this time of year everyone and their dog is doing 'thankful' posts and I guess I shall join the ranks with them... it does make me cringe a little though when I think of how many people -including myself- tend to complain about various things in life that we just really think should be different or we think that life should be treating us more fairly then what it is at the current moment and we forget that life isn't all about US & that all things work together for good to them that love the Lord.....and then November comes along in the calendar year and we suddenly turn all thankful for everything & we participate in the "30 days of thanks" challenge....which is all great and wonderful I just need to remind myself that November is indeed not the only month for remembering our blessings and giving God thanks for them. Thus I shall continue:

-20 Thankful things-

• Family- This is big on the list! The picture below is only the ones of us that are still at home which comes out to 0.25 + 1 of us kids and both parents so that totals to 0.50 of the immediate family plus there are 2 sisters & 1 brother that have been added happily as well as 7 grandkids! :) get that? :)

• Gods Grace. This has taken on a whole new meaning for me in the last year which I might blog about later.
• Fall! -yes please!
• Music - if you know me very well at all you know this is true
• Pinterest -actually, I think this is called being thankful for inspiration. :)
• Wonderful bosses at both jobs. -Seriously people. This is a big blessing!
• My new keyboard that I have owned for barely a year. :)
• Black Friday!! -this is an awesome way to buy shoes people! Go to the store & decide what kind/size you want, wait patiently for the sale then buy them online! You don't have to go out in the scurry of fierce people & you can often get a free shipping code... $$$$ are saved! :) 
• Good encouraging books
• Godly friends
• Thrift stores. :)
• Forgiveness
• The power that is available to us through the Holy Spirit 
• Freedom. -Let me never forget the price it cost
• Health
• The privilege of being homeschooled
• A house to live in -and nice people to live with! :)  
• Laughter 
• All the different personalities that make up the people in this world. -and like I tell people who complain about a personality opposite their own: "The world would be severely boring if we were all the same." 
• The very fact that God completes what He starts. -I have thought about this tons & tons in the last while & the verse on the picture below has become a new favorite. This subject deserves a complete post in itself but I will just say a few of my thoughts right now. It is not a new thing heard of that we -without God- are nothing. And I am so thankful that God views us as worth His effort. And because I like illustrations I will illustrate what I mean. Suppose you were trying to help a person that has/had a deep addition to drugs. Lets say that this person has even kicked the habit twice already but always keeps going back.... I don't know about you but I think that after a while one would begin to view this person as helpless & hopeless and all those sorts of things. But what if that's how God viewed us every time we messed up or deliberately went against what we knew he wanted us to do? I'm just so grateful that when God starts something in each one of our lives that He finishes it. To the very last day of our lives.  He doesn't give up. And the great thing is that He has started a work in each one of our lives. Yes, that includes YOURS and He will continue to perfect it until the day it's completed when Christ returns! It's such a glorious thought!

On this November day...

Hello people! I don't know how it is where you are residing today but I am quite aware that this is an absolutely awesome fall day! I went to work at 8 a.m. & got off at precisely 2:26 p.m. and came home & Rhoda and I listened to all sorts of happy music very loudly & made monster cookies! :) 

-The dough. Rhoda just adores pictures like this! ;)-

The finished product.  

You see we really did have to make them because my boss at the bakery wanted the recipe for an extra something to stick in the doughnut case & I had to make sure these were good... y'know how that goes.... :)

After the cookies were done we went on a walk. -please excuse the somewhat blurred self image...as in. this image is not completely clear. :) that's all. :)

 We have this gorgeous maple tree abiding in our front yard! I took this picture the other day while it was losing it's leaves and now the tree is almost completely ready for winter! :)

I am in love with this super simple printable! I so cannot wait for thanksgiving. ( more reasons then one here! ;)) I know for sure that the pie eating part will come to life!

This makes me happy. So much fall goodness that sits on our kitchen table.

What I'm currently reading. I find it surprising that I am reading 2 books at once! I am so not a reader & for me to really like a book it has to be challenging & beneficial to ones spiritual life plus there seems to be very few writing styles that I actually like. This is like the third or fourth time I'm reading 'The Cross & the Switchblade' & 'gods at war' came in the mail today as a birthday present. I can't wait to read through the whole book 'cause it looks really good! 

That is all for now.... I do sincerely hope that y'all have an amazing weekend! :)

In which...

...we find ourselves in Wisconsin again. You see this is how it works. When one has very good friends (even though those friends are 10 1/2 hours from your current place of residence) then you -or at least I do- get quite excited every time you get a chance to go see them which in some cases it happens oftener then others. Such has been the case this past year.  With 2 of our friends getting married we found that we really couldn't not go because this is like a once in a lifetime event and how terrible to miss it!! I am fully aware that we were just up there in august & that to some it might seem like we are addicted to traveling but such is not the case. However, my siblings & I think it would be quite excellent if  we could keep up this 'seeing each other every 2 months' like we have in the very recent past..... I feel that by now some of you are starting to drop your heads in wonderment if I will ever stop writing in such boring detail about the things you really didn't come to read about..... 

 So Micah, Rhoda & I left around 1 or 1:30 and after 10 or 15 or 20 minutes decided we were still close enough to home that it was worth turning around for some important things we had forgotten.... 

we stopped along the way and picked up our sister and continued our travel the next day.  We stayed at our friends place and were at rehearsal and all which made it seem kinda like a family wedding... I don't know why. It just did.  

 

They decide where to stand....

...and practice the grand entering of the bride...

...and the giving away of the bride.... 

And afterwards we went bowling and after bowling we went to Perkins because some people were hungry and Perkins has amazing French Silk pie & a bottomless pot of coffee which sounded like a good idea...

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And then there was the wedding day. We got up and ate breakfast & drank coffee & then there was hair and fun things like that to get ready for the wedding...

         

 And than there are a few pictures of the dress for those of you who are interested....

Mary with her mom and sisters... all ready for the wedding.

and a few random pictures from the morning...

Us kids thought we should take a picture since we were all dressed up anyway and John & Lydia decided to be in the picture as well.... love them! :)

 

 I didn't have any pictures of just Chris & Mary so I 'borrowed' a couple from the photographers facebook page. I hope they don't mind - I don't think they will 'cause it's just a little free advertisement. :)

Godly friends are one of the best things ever I am quite certain. Don't underestimate them & the impact they have on your lives. That's all.

And then we played volley ball till midnight. That turned out to be fun and entertaining. :)

 After volley ball we went home to eat whatever we could find which turned out to be leftover chili for some and nearly a half bag of celery with ranch for another -healthy I tell you...and then we decided to have a little contest. There was a jar of quarters and whoever got the closest guess on the amount of money in the jar would be rewarded with $5... thus we proceed to count the quarters & I began to feel a little mentally declined due to the short hours of sleep on which I was living....

 

Sunday we went on a short walk during the time when it stopped raining and we took pictures ;)

Then it was Monday morning and Kathryn, Dorcas, Rhoda & I got up and made breakfast for everybody. It was fun even though all I did was wash dishes...  :) 

Later in the day we went on a walk.... 

I am in love with the fall colors up there! I know they weren't at their peak but they were nice and bright in contrast to the brown-ish colors we have down here.... I'm not complaining though. We do have an occasional bright colored maple tree stuck in among the oaks every now and then & that makes me happy! :)

 There's also things that I don't have pictures of .... the coffee pot consumed an entire large can of coffee grounds over the weekend and we even fed one of the dear brothers a cup of hot water to stretch our limited resources!  here's how you do it: Take a mug that is black on the inside and pour coffee in it so it has the smell you would expect. Next, pour the coffee out and insert hot water and serve it to the person of choice. In my situation the person to which I served the hot water was intently watching Andy Griffith and drank the ENTIRE cup without noticing! YAY!!!!  I guess that's what happens when you don't pay attention to what your doing. :)

The end.