Gifts We've Made

This is a plate that I painted as a Thank you to my parents for their generosity to us when we went to visit them. The Christmas tree is made out of the kids hands and then has ornaments with their names on them. I had someone else do the lettering though. Annalina and I had a great day of painting together. We were there about 5 hours!

 Annalina spent time deciding on what to paint and she decided on these hugging salt and pepper shakers and painted them to be she and Grandma. She loves to come and hug grandma and cuddle up on her lap so this was an appropriate gift!

 Front of salt and peppers shakers!

 Annalina's done some wood burning also. She made did this duck scene for

her grandma and grandpa Lysne.

She did this ornament for Uncle Ben. I think it is so cute!

Surprise Gift

My Aunt and Uncle came in their HUGE RV this fall and hung out for awhile. It was great catching up with them again. While here, I was telling them of the memory I had of Christmas time at their house and their ceramic Christmas tree with lights. When I see a ceramic Christmas tree it takes me back to my childhood.

Not to long ago a box showed up and I had no clue what was in it! It was this Christmas tree from my aunt and uncle. How cool is that? How memorable is that? Pretty, pretty special.

The carolers (made by Avon) I got at Salvation Army. I have another wax statue just exactly the same from childhood. Again, the sight and smell of them take me back to Christmas as a child.

Thankful Heart

Is Your All On The Altar?

You have longed for sweet peace,
And for faith to increase,
And have earnestly, fervently prayed;
But you cannot have rest,
Or be perfectly blest,
Until all on the altar is laid.

• Refrain:
  Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid?
  Your heart does the Spirit control?
  You can only be blest,
  And have peace and sweet rest,
  As you yield Him your body and soul.

*************************************************************************************

 Parts of Psalm 9

I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works.
² I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most High.

⁹ The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.
¹⁰ And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.
¹¹ Sing praises to the Lord, which dwelleth in Zion: declare among the people his doings.

************************************************************************************

 A Psalm about Self

by Joseph Bayley (one of my favorite poets-more on him later)

Lord save me

from myself

my settled self

unsettle me

bring to end of rope

but only

if you

are at the end.

My procrastinating self

that can so easy find

side roads

that are more interesting

even ones where

errands can be run.

Send me back

to

my comfort loving self

uncomfort me

pull the covers from me

 on cold night

that I may 

wake. Starve my body

that my soul may feast.

My proud self.

Give me grace to bend myself

And keep me bent

lest you should

one day

bend me to the breaking point.

My righteous self

show me sin

that lurks beneath

my conscious thought

motivating

that pushes me

to settling

comfort pride

and self

rationalizing self

that finds excuse

for what I do

and don't.

Save me from myself

Save me so that

self may die

and save me

from pride

that self is dead.

*************************************************************************************

A Psalm of Praise

by Joseph Bayley

Thank You God

that You see

armies march

a sparrow fall

hear

atom's blast

a baby's cry

smell

volcano's flow

a man's sweat

 feel

contour of mountains

a little lump

taste

ocean's salt

my tears.

*************************************************************************************

This fall has been an interesting time. I know "He's still working on me to make me what I otta be."

Thankful for a loving, patient, holy, merciful God who works on me while loving me. 

He has blessed me and given me salvation.

Blessings of My Week

1) Last week I went from flying kites with the kids or at least attempting too . . . to later on in the day watching the snow come flying down. It was beautiful but my favorite part of the snow coming down was watching the kids ECSTATIC about the snow. They were bouncing off the walls and going out on the deck to enjoy it. I told my mom when I am old and gray and my children are gone and I see the snow start to fall I want to remember what it was like when my children were small and the excitement and joy of that first snow. It warms my heart now. Oh, Ross was convinced it was time for Christmas and that we needed a tree and was it Christmas Eve? Carson was saying "Snow, white" except it didn't come out that clear!:-)
2) I had another similar joy. The kids boots and mittens for winter came in the mail! Oh, my talk about excitement. They had to wear them around the house and they played and played in the living room until they were hot and sweaty. I had found boots for Carson at Goodwill and pulled those out for him and he loved them too.
3) I had some rough days too this week. Thankfully, I have a super husband that I connect with and I become more and more thankful for with each year and a dear Christian friend that I know I am blessed to have. She is a super friend and I am so thankful for her genuiness. If you read this K thanks for being the friend you are. You're a gem.
4)Listening to Annalina sing and play on the piano a solo of "Sweet Hour of Prayer" at our church. And listening to one of our church members during praise time tell that they are thankful for our church and "piano player" as a praise. That was sweet of him. Which leads me to another praise . . . our church . . . it has already made an impact on our children by giving them opportunities and Godly preaching. The people are real people. They act real, they realize they are human and that we are human and live their lives in humility, and treat those around them with love. I LOVE OUR CHURCH!! We have looked for this for so long.
5) Seeing my dad. We had a good time with him and the kids were thrilled Grandpa was here.
6) I have a BIG blessing concerning Gabriel this week but I will wait to write about that until the event occurs!

House Hunting with Annalina

No, this is NOT the yellow car we rented! Although, when the lady in the restaurant started telling us about a yellow car outside Annalina and I paused in our minds thinking "yellow car, we have a yellow car!" This car was decked out in bunny rabbit disguise!

We got a kick out of the back of the car! Yucky Obama bumper sticker though! :-(

Annalina's and A's felt bracelets they made!

Annalina with her missing front tooth at one of our Starbucks breakfasts!

What a fun trip!

Well, Thursday Annalina and I took off from San Francisco to fly to Colorado to do the househunting! We were both so excited we were just about giddy the day before and on Thursday Annalina kept giving me high fives. Tooo cute! Carson was not a happy camper watching us leave. Almost the whole flight Annalina and I played either hang man or a word search. When we got to Colorado and picked out our bright YELLOW little car that was a riot. I told Annalina we were like a bumble bee! We stopped for a really nice dinner and Annalina got steak and a sweet potato! On our trip to Colorado Springs we sang hymns and chorus' and had fun doing that. We finally made it to our room late that night. We had a great day together.

Friday, we were able to get up at our leisure and have devotions reading in Proverbs on wisdom and seeking early for it. Prayed for our day. We were to meet the realtor at a Starbucks so we went early to get breakfast. Wow, we are living high on the hog a Starbucks breakfast! Anyway, it ended up being providential there was a sharp older man sitting very near us since Starbucks was crammed with people and he struck it up with us. He liked Annalina. I found out he was an investor and his business was taking peoples business' and turning them into franchises. I decided to ask him what he thought about the house we really wanted and he gave me a great response and advise. It was like talking to a wise older grandpa!! Very, Very long story short it was a long day seeing 6 very spread out houses. But we have narrowed it down to 3 really probably 2.

Now time for bragging. The realtor had one child that was grown and was in college and very soon after we met her she was telling me what she did with her son and how she thought it was important for kids to be able to talk well to adults, etc. Well, by the end of the day she was so impressed by Annalina she thought she quite something. I do too! She was impressed with her reading she was impressed with her intelligence and I think, above all, her actions. I already knew Annalina has insight beyond her years and would be great to bring on this trip. We had a blast!

I told Annalina as we were ending the trip I was going to take her to Claire's and I would treat her. Claire's is her all time FAVORITE store. She was so excited. She picked out 2 rubbery frogs that stretch and was talking and talking to them before bed.

For dinner tonight we went to a fancy and very busy Italian restaurant and again their was a very sharp older couple next to us that had to talk to Annalina! We had such a nice time with them. The people here are so friendly! We had great meals again tonight with strawberry lemonade with Real strawberries in it! We also had warm chocolate cake and ice cream! After dinner we had to take Annalina's picture outside with a car dressed up like a bunny!

Saturday was exciting because we got to see Quentin, Theo, and A (their foster daughter). Annalina and A really hit it off and we found them to be quite similar! Annalina LOVED her time with A and can't wait to go back to Colorado and be nearer to her. After looking at the last 3 houses again. Theo, A, Annalina, and I went to California Pizza Kitchen and then we went to a Marble Slab type ice cream place at A's request! Great idea! We also got in the making of a craft, playground fun, seeing their new baby chicks, toe painting, and popcorn and a DVD! A lot to cram into what was left of the afternoon and evening! We had a great time despite the fact that my mind was in a fog from 2 days of house hunting! :-)

Sunday we were able to make it to my brother's church in the morning. It is always a treat listening to him teach and preach. I wish I could listen to him preach every week. After church we had a super great Mexican lunch and Annalina and I were off to the airport.

The boys had a great time at home wrestling (Brian said the boys made up their own wrestling move called "the roly poly") and Gabriel and Ross got to stay up late at night 12:30 and 1:00 am to play the board game Axis and Allies. Gabriel and Babe play while Ross sits near and plays his own war with the pieces their not using then falls asleep when he can't make it any more! They also worked on a wood 3D puzzle of an air craft carrier which ended up being very difficult but it looks like an air craft carrier!

We'll see what God has for us for houses. Just don't know!

Monarch Knitting

Awhile back my sister in law was here and started teaching Annalina and I how to knit. She did a great job giving us a taste of knitting and a start on learning! Thanks Theo! Knitting is something that I really have wanted to learn to do so I signed Annalina and I up for 2 knitting lessons in April and will probably sign us up for more. We went to Monarch Knitting in Pacific Grove. When we got done Annalina said "That was fun!" She caught on quite fast. The lady teaching us, Sandy, was an amazing teacher and has been knitting since she was 10 in the 1940's! She is sweet and has a lot of experience! I have been praying that I would be able to learn. I think it would be a great thing to do for mental relaxation!

I copied the Monarch Butterfly Knitting blog because they told me they posted a picture of Annalina. They REALLY REALLY enjoyed having her there. Their blog piece is below . . . .

And now for a cute picture from today's beginner knitting lessons, taught gently and sweetly (and efficiently!) by Sandy Martin. Here, she's helping Annalina, who caught on super-quickly.

It seems like everyone's a natural, but it's Sandy's teaching method!

Her students love her. She does not believe in smacking them on the head to get them going, like I do. No! I don't! I was kidding! Sheesh!