11 month old adorableness

finally, new oven mitts!

Nearly 12 years ago, Jeremy and I were gifted with a set of oven mitts we registered for when we got married.  Once upon a time they matched our dishes, kitchen towels, and hot pads.  They have seen a lot of love and not nearly enough washings.  It was time for some new ones...  So when I saw THIS tutorial over at Finding My Feet by Raechel Myers, I knew this was the project for me!  Bye bye old, holey, and faded ones...

Hello new, bright, and cheery ones! 

For me to sew anything, it has to be

 relatively quick to put together. 

This was just the ticket... and I

loved picking out fabric for these. 

The fabric is from Moda's Central Park

line just incase you were wondering...

I had never quilted anything before, so I just gave that my best effort and was really pleased at how they turned out!  The brown one with the geometric square spiral was an absolute experiement because after just one try at diagonals on the first mitt I was already bored... so I was SO happy I didn't ruin the only material I had by going rogue and doing my own thing without having the first clue about how to do it. 

As you'll see on Raechel's tutorial, all you need to make these is 1/2 yard of fabric for each mitt, Insul-Bright (the heat barrier layer that comes in a bag, with enough for 2 or more mitts), thread, and an inside layer.  You can use flannel, chenille, or an old towel like I used.  I happened to have an old green towel that matched the green in my fabric exactly.  Score! 

I love, love, love the way they turned out and plan to make more to give as gifts in the future. 

And you'll bet I'm so careful when using them, I just can't bear to get them all stained up just yet. 

But then again, I could always make more.... 

you're His, little one... His.

Finally, as I sit at my keyboard tonight, I'm feeling as I'd imagined I'd feel all along.  I have proverbially been holding my breath until today.  Until now.  The tears are flowing and I'm astounded that our Father loves us the way He does.  That He loves Gabrielle the way He does.  Our beautiful daughter has been home with us for nine months.  It has been an utterly divine nine months with her.  But two court hearings and no finalization of her adoption have put our faith through the wringer.  We have steadily trusted in His plan for Gabrielle's future and our faith has seen huge mountains moved over and over again.  How could we not trust?

A few weeks after her birth, Gabrielle's birthparents decided that adoption was in her best interest.  They had met us, and decided... even through the pain and uncertainty of it, that we were the best choice for her future.  I'm still in awe that those two brave souls, who will always be precious to us, chose life for her and chose us for her.  And at nine weeks old, we had the sheer pleasure of welcoming her into our fold.  She has been the light and love of our already bustling home the same amount of time she grew and developed in her birthmother's womb.  She has been our daughter.  But on paper she has had another name.  On paper she has had another mother and another father.  No piece of paper or judge's decree could ever change the way our hearts feel... nor does it make her more our daughter.  But oh, the sweetness of it now!  Today marks the end of a long road to finalize Gabrielle's adoption! She has a new name, a new mother and father.  And we humbly get to be her parents.   Adoptions, no matter what kind, are wrought with emotion on all sides.  We're all human and we all pull and struggle against what we want to do and what we know is right.  This adoption has been no stranger to high emotions and humanness.  (mostly from me!) 

June 26, 2010

Getting ready to bring her home for the first time. 

I honestly thought I understood God's love after giving birth to our first four children. 

I thought I understood that He would do anything to be with us, anything to bring us into a relationship with Himself.  But I don't think I truly grasped how far He would go to reach down, zero in, and grab on for dear life, gently propping us up in the place where we belong.  I see that so clearly now. 

He would do anything for us to be His. 

And He did just that.  He gave His Son for us. 

The bunch of messes we are. 

Indescribable.

It was so natural that when our children were born to us, they were ours.  No questions asked.  No one came over to check where our medications were kept, or if we had enough smoke detectors.  No one made sure we were all on the same page before allowing us the chance at getting pregnant.  It just was. 

So many times down this adoption road we've been on, I've wanted to growl to everyone, "Step back, she's mine!"  Don't even think about changing your mind.  You can't have her.  Don't even think about it.  As any mother can attest, a mama's love is fierce. 

And I have a fierce love for this daughter of mine. 

For all of my children. 

And in the middle of it all, I have come to understand God's love. 

His love is fierce. 

For all of His children.

He says, "Step back, everyone! You can't have her, she's MINE." 

I'm His. 

She's His.  Not mine.  

I understand now. 

He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

(Ephesians 1:4-6)

LEGO mania

If you have boys above the toddler stage, chances are you have some LEGO lovin' boys.  Mine have been obsessed with LEGOs for years...  recently they made swords!  Aren't they cool? 

the end is in sight

Well, the end of March for us, means then end of this journey to a finalized adoption!

In 2 short days, we'll officially officially

be the legal parents of Gabrielle!!!!!! 

I could fill the rest of this post with exclamation points,

 but I'll spare you.  The judge wanted something else to

 happen before he'd sign off on our adoption and the day is fast

approaching and we're THRILLED. 

yay

yay

yay!

Our little munchkin is now the proud owner of 3 new teeth and is ever so close to walking.  She stands like a champ and will soon be taking her first steps..  that went fast!  Also, child safely locks are on several of our cupboards... she's a curious little one.  :) 

Here we are enjoying a candlelit dinner of waffles a few weeks ago, before we gained a bunch of daylight like we have now...  our kids ask for these regularly.  Also, who knew you could fit so many people around our little table?  Gavin is sitting on the window ledge as seat too.  :)  (Also we took the leaf out of the table so we could fit the table tent on that day... the "tablecloth" is actually a table tent that my mom made for us a couple years ago, complete with a tie back door! So creative.)  

just a beautiful homeschooling moment to me

Finding things like this on my kitchen counter brighten my day and make me wonder what sort of entertainment I'd have if I wasn't a mama. 



what a difference 9 months makes!

Here's Gabrielle on Day 1 home with us,
she was 9 weeks old...

Here she is 9 months later! 



Annika Scarlet turns 3

This year Annika picked a "rainbow" theme for her 3rd birthday!

We had a simple family party this year to celebrate Annie turning the big 3 with her grandparents.  I made a cupcake rainbow and we had rainbow sherbet too!  It was all super simple and took no time to throw together.  I love parties, but I'm not a spend a lot of money and slave all day making it happen kind of gal.  To add to the rainbow theme, for food we had rainbow goldfish, rainbow tie-dye fruit roll-ups, a colorful veggie platter, skittles,  fresh strawberries and oranges, and a sandwich platter.  Yum! 

I remember this day so clearly.  I can remember who else was in the room just then, and had JUST gotten home from giving birth a few hours earlier.  Wow, this tiny babe has grown!  Three years flies by in a rush. 

But I wouldn't reverse it one bit, I love this little girl I have now too much. 

We are so thankful you're our daughter, sweet Annika. 

We proudly call you our silliest kiddo yet, and love your energy and beautiful smile. 

You are so caring and love to care for your baby sister and anyone else that will let you. 

You're SO big now, your Mommy and Daddy love you SO dearly. 

We're so happy that God saw fit to bless us with YOU.

She was super excited about her new bee pillow!



Happy Birthday to you!

from the country's freezer section

Hello friends,

I'm so happy to be posting my entry today for a contest giveaway to win a full scholarship to the 2011 She Speaks Conference held in North Carolina this coming summer!  She Speaks is an annual conference put on by Proverbs 31 Ministries (which I LOVE), for women that sense God is calling them into speaking, writing, or leading women in ministry for the glory of God. There's even a chance to meet with publishers and editors in the writing track... wow! I have been eyeing this conference for a couple years now and am praying God thinks this year is the year for me to go!



God has led me into speaking, writing, and women's ministry at one time or another these past few years... and I thank him for the opportunities he has provided.  I love to share God's good news in my sphere of influence and beyond, and I have sensed God has been setting me up for this for a very long time.  Currently, I have been focusing on the writing aspect with a few speaking engagements thrown in and am working on projects that will give women a fresh outlook on their lives as mothers. But also, I am thankful for the opportunities I've been given to connect with women on marriage, adoption, and homeschooling as well.  God has given me a fresh voice who is right in there with these women who are changing poopy diapers for the bazillionth time that day and who also have an honorary degree in PB&J.   I hope to be published in God's timing and for his glory to be used as a vessel (as weak as I am) to reach women deep in the trenches of this life. I can only imagine the kind of information that will be available at She Speaks, and I'm so thrilled about the possibilities.

God has moved me, changed me, and shown me immeasurable grace in my life - I just can't keep silent! 

God's best for you today,  Amanda

How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of those who

 bring good news, who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,

who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion,
“Your God reigns!”

Isaiah 52:7

Thank you, Proverbs 31 Ministries and Cecil Murphey for giving this woman, wife, and mama to five a chance to hone the gifts God has given me.

nothing - well, maybe something

Hey guys...  well, I've once again been at a loss for words when it comes to blogging.  I had a couple weeks of feeling cruddy, and now I'm pretty much back to the old Amanda, and still have no words for you.  Life is good, it's great actually.  Here's why: 


Well first, life is good simply because God made each day, and purposed that we be here living in this generation to impact the world around us for His glory.  Now that's something to celebrate!

We have more daylight, and that makes us all happier around here after the long winter days.

Gabrielle finally cut her first two teeth, started crawling, and is cruising around the furniture - and that all happened in about one week!  When she smiles (which is all the time) her new little pearly whites look so adorable.

We have a new lease on homeschooling.  I'm learning, thanks to two women who've been there, done that - that I need to relax and enjoy my kids and not push to barrell through curriculum, but to stop and smell the roses, so to say.  So we're doing more as a group, not pushing to keep up with any guidebook schedule... and are enjoying our time MUCH more.  It's been a freeing couple weeks around here.  Remember this post?  Well, my problem was the pressure I was putting on myself. 

I am floored almost daily at the life God has given our family.  Though we may not be blessed monetarily in our culture, we are rich in the most important of ways, and are storing up treaures in heaven.  This verse has been given new life to me this last winter:   "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."  Ephesians 3:20-21

God truly has done more that we can think or imagine in our lives and hearts, and we couldn't be more thankful. 

I have amazingly supportive and caring family and friends.  It's so nice to know people care. 



I'm gonna sign off and hit the sack.  I got around 2-3 hrs of sleep last night and it's just not cutting it.  We stayed the night with some friends last night (SO FUN) and some nights I have a really hard time falling asleep... last night was one of them.  Laying in bed for 4 hours, then finally falling asleep after 4am, and having to get up at 6:30am was no picnic.  But it was all worth it, because Jeremy and I got to head out on an early morning breakfast date with the Governor and Ravi Zacharias!  Well, and a thousand or more other people too. Our good friends kept all the kiddos so we could go, and we were just 20 minutes away from the event that way.   It was fabulous, let me tell you. 

So goodnight, sleep tight, I'm gonna go try to catch those elusive ZZZzzzzz's.

baby buddies

We had the pleasure of babysitting cute one-year old Adia

the other day!  Our girls all LOVE Adia. 

(it's pronounced AY-dee-uh -

incase you were curious how to say her name)

I also love that Gabrielle will grow up with a cousin and for now,

one little buddy that has a similar story. 

That is such a blessing to us, and

will be to these girls

in the years to come. 

Silly, silly!

I can just picture them down the road...

They're just 7 months apart!



It's also a huge blessing to have families surrounding us

that have adopted and people that were adopted

to walk this road with us.  We're so thankful!

happy valentine's day!

sweetheart.

cutie pie.

adorableness.

doll baby.

Happy Valentine's Day from our home to yours!

And a Happy First Valentine's to our Gabi baby. 

blogging/computer break & rough week

Hi friends,


Blogging has been hard as of late, because I've been easing off my computer usage and trying to be much more intentional with my time. 


I took a 6 day break from facebook last week, and it was good and sad for me to realize just how much I clicked onto facebook in the past out of boredom.  I also realized in those 6 days that I didn't miss it a bit.  While it's fun to look at what friends are up to and pictures of how their kids are growing, I just know I need to focus on my growing brood right here under this roof. 

We had a rough couple days this week.  Actually, I had a couple rough days this week.  It was related to homeschooling...  I was going through some frustrations with my older kiddos.  They weren't doing anything out of the ordinary, or anything blatantly wrong.  It has just been a growing feeling that their hearts just aren't in it, they're just going through the motions because their parents say so.  I want so badly for them to love our time together, and not rush off to something they'd rather be doing.  So, I had just had it up to my eyebrows one morning this week.  And I said some things I shouldn't have said to my wide-eyed youngsters while we were attempting to have our Bible and prayer time.  Nice, I know.  The baby was being good, but noisy with her toys.  And there kept being interuptions, and I was frustrated that they weren't even listening to what I was saying.  Then I got the feeling like I was wasting my time and my breath - and that is a feeling that has come all too often lately, and I despised it. 


So I lost it, slammed the book (The Bible!) shut, and told them I hated homeschooling.  Yep, I said that.  Aren't I a gem?  Well, I'm real, you can't fault me for that.  :)


 I wanted to retract it the moment it came out of my mouth, but I couldn't.  After that, I just stared into deep space for a few minutes with tears welling up in my eyes, and my kids repeating, "We're so sorry, Mom..."


Shortly after, I explained to them that I shouldn't have said that, asked for their forgiveness, and told them that I absolutely didn't hate homeschooling.  And that I loved being home with them and that this is what God wants from our family.  It was a hard two days as we hashed out some new expectations... and talked about completing our work during school and my teaching as unto the Lord.  Not because we have to, but because we love God and we want to do our best work for him. 
 
 
Jeremy was really helpful at helping me look at everything from a new angle, and he helped me form a game plan for the next morning that would continue in our days together. 
 
We're moving forward, thankful that each day is new and fresh with no mistakes in it.  And it's a new day to glorify God with our every move... and that's what we're striving to do. 
 
If you have experience with this, please share... we're always looking for ways to spruce up an fine tune school time. 

bits and pieces

Every once in a while, it's just time for me to dump my brain in a post. Today's that day!  What's been going on that isn't worth writing a full post about?  Let's see here:


This is our 5th day in a row home, and my 5th day in my glasses.  We've had colds running amongst our girls, and I have an infection in my eye.  (boo)  But we're on the mend, and I hope to be seeing with my contacts again soon.  On a funny side note, my glasses are new and I love them... but the rims are much thicker and darker (they're black) than my previous brown glasses.  Every once in a while I'll startle, as I think I'm seeing someone or something out of the corner of my eye out the window... but it's just my new, thicker glasses playing tricks on me! 

I'm super excited about this weekend!  For Christmas, Jeremy got me a night and a day away in a hotel and he even picked the dear friend that's going with me!!  He's a keeper for sure.  :)  So we're gonna shop til we drop, dress up for dinner, do some much needed catching up and just spend time together.  We get to be gone from Friday afternoon until Saturday night... WOOHOO!!!! 

Cute pic, but the heels and dress are out for these chicks!

But I have to say, I would heart that dress if it was a bit longer... 

moving on....

If you're looking for a fun, educational game for your kids (or the whole family) - we've got the game for you!  The Scrambled States of America has been the favorite family game lately... we get loud, shout, laugh, and learn all at the same time... it's great, give it a try!  Thanks Marla Kay!! 

In the cute baby department, we have a little Gabi who is pulling up on things like there's no tomorrow!  This is how I found her the other day when I went in to get her up from her nap:

She was VERY pleased with her 9 month old self. 

She now pulls up to a stand on anything that is higher than ground level. 

This morning's favorite place was the newly installed baby gate!

We've always had a tension gate that dug holes in our drywall and drove us insane because we had to crawl over it all the time.  But now our gate is permanent, swings both ways and we love it! 

It was time for new play-doh and today was the day for that too!  We mixed cherry and grape kool-aid to make this cool violet colored dough.  Annika kneaded her little heart out in her backwards shirt. 

As a side note, I'm so proud of this little one of mine... she's been wearing her big girl underwear for days now and has only had 2 accidents, both of which were because the both of us forgot she wasn't in a diaper.  Oops!  But thankfully, both accidents were on the kitchen floor - Thank God for his mercy on me!

It was impossible for my little camera to do this sunrise out the kitchen window justice. 

BEAUTIFUL. 

Annika and her Bitty Baby wearing their accidental matching outfits.

I love her so much. 

Another random thing to share is that I'm still having awful joint pain with the weather changes that came with the dreadful, nightmarish bout of Fifth Disease I had last June.  I read then that the joint pain will come and go for months afterwards... but I was sorta thinking it would be a couple months and am wondering if it's gonna scram or not.  It's not a huge deal, but it's bothersome when it happens and makes getting out of bed in the morning my least favorite thing to do!  I have a greater appreciation and so much compassion now for those suffering from arthritus or similar ailments.  It's no fun. 

I took a bath tonight because the cabin fever was starting to get to me, and my body was hurting... it was lovely.  I put in a herbal bath tea that was gifted to me, and watched Father of the Bride on my laptop.  That cheered me up in a flash!  One of my all-time favorites. 

Okay, I'm almost done.

But one last thing I wanted to share is that I've started doing pilates these last couple weeks and love it.  For a person with dance and gymnastics in my background, it's amazing it took me this long to give it a go.  I was just feeling so tired of getting crazy sweaty and jumping around everywhere working out.  That's a huge reason why I start and stop so often.  I just get burned out doing such strenuous exercise.  I love pilates!  It's mellow, but hurts like the dickens...  I'm super sore and weak today, but it hurts so good.  I love that I can do it, and get away with not taking a shower after, or if I've already showered that day all is not ruined.  One of my biggest issues in the past with exercising, is fitting in a stinkin' shower AND exercising somewhere in my crazy day.  It's a real challenge.  But for now, I've found something I love, and it's so good for my body and my future health as I (GULP) age. 

Well, my bed is calling me...  hope you've enjoyed my randomness.  I know I sure enjoy being random. 

oops

I'm always laughing at the funny, mixed up things my kids say.  And now it's my turn to laugh at myself! 

Gavin and I were playing our second game of Stratego (great game) and I was all out of powerful pieces that would take his army down and find his flag... and the whole family had now gathered around to watch the end of the game and we were all laughing and whooping... and Gavin was jumping up and down because he thought he had the game in the bag... and my mind started racing... "What's that saying?  Don't count your... don't hatch your..." 

And I shouted out, "uh... uh...uh... Don't pluck your chickens before they hatch!!!"  Then everyone REALLY started laughing, and right after it came out of my mouth I knew I'd messed it up.  It took us a while to compose ourselves, Jeremy actually laughed so hard he cried! 

I was caught.  And now I won't "count" my chickens before they hatch.