Cool, Dude!!!!

Noah's new style!!! Charming, isn't it?

(Rest at ease! This was mid-hair cut. We quickly returned him to his normal state of conservative, unsocialized homeschooling kid lest anyone actually think homeschooled kids are COOL!!!)

Fourth Generational Sewing

"Mom, I want to sit on your lap..." She hikes her tiny leg up, siddles right on in, tucks her warm 'piggle-wiggle' headed top underneath my chin. She is mesmerized at the jumping about of the needle, the whirl of the machine's motor, the inhale-exhale of my chest. Her body becomes limp with concentration and relaxation.

If my grandma has a window in her mansion in Heaven that looks down on my home.......... surely she is smiling!

A Perfect Day for a Picnic

There aren't many things more delightful to a
child than the privilege of nourishing one's body
in the out of doors...

Baby Feet

I don't know what it is about my babies' feet! There's something so magical and captivating about those little toes lined up like peas in a pod, the skin tight across that bony little heal, that pinky toe reaching out for who knows what! And then that little fatty cushion that forms on top signaling growth and health and life. The softness that was fresh from the womb now becomes a bit rougher as those feet explore and step and slide and climb. The feet that were once silent now pitter-pat

The feet that could only kick involuntarily now run and kick and jump on purpose. I cannot change a diaper or undress my baby without taking those little feet into my hands, absorbing each tiny inch of them, stroking them against my cheek, just taking them in like a deep breath of fresh air. I know my babies' feet like the back of my hand, where each wrinkle and crease is, the shape and bend of each tiny toe. If only I could cement those tiny feet into my mind for soon those feet are too busy for studying, too big for absorbing, too active climbing trees and chasing puppies and riding bikes, as they should be.

And so I take her little feet once more, possess them, while I can. For just as feet that have gone before her have, they will grow and get busy and my time for absorbing her little peas lined up in a row will be gone.

Oh, how blessed I am, how very thankful I am, for the eight little feet that I've studied, embraced, cradled, soaked in and treasured.

Introducing....

Family and Friends (and strangers who happen by),
I would like to introduce you to... US!!! We are a happy (most of the time) family of six (unless you count the critters that transform our manor into the menagerie that it is) who love each other (though sometimes our demonstration of such love is in need of editing), love living life (even when it entails scrapped knees, muddy paw prints and dry rot) and are learning to love the One who is leading us through this life, both inside and outside the parenthesis!!!
Further introduction would entail these guys:


The Fabulous Four, they are! Noah, Kaleb, Hannah and Sarah. They are the song God chose for us! They are our decor and our theme, our passion and our ministry. It is through these earthen vessels that we find God so often teaching and training us, refining us, administering compassion and mercy to us, and blessing us abundantly!

And the backbone of it all:

This is my dream-come-true! This man, here, has been making my heart skip a beat for many, many years! I met him for the first time when we were in the second grade and I can remember him only because he had the most alarming orange hair I had ever seen (sadly, he refuses to share this hair, which has now settled down into this lovely, warm red, with any of his offspring!). A few years later, we met again and this time I remembered him not for his hair, but for what he did to my heart! And the rest was history!

And there you have it! One long-winded introduction! Let the blogging begin:)!