Busy

We very happily have 4 young men with the African Children's Choir staying with us for the next 5 days.  This is a group of young adults (17-19) instead of the young ones you may have seen.  Meet Jonathan, Nicolas, Issac and Samuel very sweet young men who are having a great time learning a new game!

My Completed Project

I am pretty happy with he final product Hannah and I worked on for her birthday!

I really did not have any pattern, it was pretty much free-styled.

Hannah had picked out the fabric last year with big sister, Erinn.

Then the fabric sat and sat!

Oh you know you do it too.....

Sometime after Christmas I got he idea to get started on this, but alas my precious older daughter took her sewing machine with her when she moved to Hawaii.

In steps my sweet sister-in-law, Joy, to offer me her seldom used machine to get this project done.

It was fun to do with Hannah.

Oh and the funny story is that when I was quilting it together I noticed a large amount of dog hair on it, hence the discovery that our sweet Liberty has been sneaking out into our front room at night and sleeping on the couch!

Interesting that she was always laying in the other room where she belonged when we came down in the morning!

Smart dog, but she is busted back to being tied up at night :/

Enjoy your quilt sweet Hannah.

Some Amazing Sights

 We had the opportunity yesterday to go to a friends taxidermy shop as a home school field trip.

We saw this amazing albino elk!

 And this beautiful antelope.

 And this gigantic Buffalo just getting ready to get started.

 It was fun to have David with us since it was a holiday off work.

And yes that is a whole herd of elk drying to be sent off to a Cab*las Store.

 Hannah demonstrating just how tall these guy are, and there were 5 of them.

 Here Hannah is enjoying watching them put teeth into a jaw for a bear skin rug.

 Both the kids getting a close up of how large a moose's antlers really are!!

A herd of elk with a herd of kids, or do you call them a pack, or a flock.......

My Beautiful Girl is 9--No Way!

 Our beautiful Hannah is 9 years old today!!!

What a joy it has been to have her as part of our family.

People are always telling us how blessed she is to have us, but the reality is that the blessing does flow both ways in great abundance.

We have learned so much from having Hannah as our youngest treasure.

We have learned compassion, patience, and love that knows no boundaries with this girl.

Thank you Lord for this amazing gift--The gift of life and family!

 Hannah was first presented with this cute little Singer kids sewing machine that is older than I am!

My  mom and older sister found it for her.

And at her party one ingenious mom and daughter had seen this on facebook and presented her with new scissors and fabric as a gift! 

 Hannah's absolute favorite is this amazing "castle/tent" her grandma Fogliasso made her.

As you can see it is very tall, from almost ceiling to floor. 

And big enough inside that she has already slept in it once.

 This beautiful doll was actually her Great Grandma Mae's--I think.  

It was unearthed in a move and no one wanted it.

My mom made her a new dress and hat and her others were very old and delicate.

This will actually be going to Grandma's house for a while.

 Hannah actually chose this year to have more than one person over for her birthday.

For my peer shy child this is an amazing step.

She was very excited, and I knew that I needed to keep the time short and very scheduled to keep Hannah involved.

So we played games.

 And we painted castles!

 And we had cake.

Princesses of course!

 And we opened presents.

You can not tell from this picture, but she is grinning from ear to ear.

This doll has actually been going everywhere, including family walks with us:)

 I think they all had a great time.

HAPPY 9TH BIRTHDAY OUR TREASURE!!!!!

Amazing New to Share!!

Danielle and Ryan are making David and I grandparents!!!!

We are very thrilled!

I think September seems really far off, don't you!!

Catching UP!!!

 David and I were just discussing this week how much has been happening in our lives in the recent past.

I have been neglectful of my blog and many family and friends keep up with the goings on through this, so here goes some major catch up.

ENJOY!

 Danielle and Ryan have been settling into their new house and making it a home.

Lots of remodeling and make overs happening in their little place.

They are trying to stay ahead of Justice tearing it all apart:)

Ryan has just received a promotion at his work also!

Congratulations Ryan!

 Erinn and Michael are FINALLY settling into their new home in Wahiawa, Hawaii (please don't ask me to try to say that)!

They spent one month in Texas with no furniture and 2 months in Hawaii living out of suitcases in a hotel---it was on the beach though.

They are looking forward to settling into one place and being together for more than 3 months without having to move:)

Erinn has just accepted a position with Hawaii Behavioral Health.  She will be working with kids with disabilities helping them to become more independent.

Congratulations Erinn!

 Drew has won his last two college indoor mile races setting a personal best each time!

He is looking forward to racing on a longer track hopefully on the 11th in Seattle, which we are hoping to go see.  For those of you who do not know WSU has a small 200m non-banked indoor track.  Racing 1 mile on that is slower than on longer tracks and harder on the legs.  Still he ran a 4:13 mile!

As you can see from the picture there is more going on in his life!

He is referring for flag football for a couple of months.  It is at the college and they work around his schedule.  It is a perfect opportunity for him to earn a few extra bucks while still keeping up his commitments with running and school, both of which are important and he receives scholarship money for both, so he can't let them slack.

Congrats Drew on all your hard work!

 Caleb and Hannah both learned to cross country ski this last week.  

It was very icy and not such great snow to learn in, but they were both troopers.

As you can see from the difference in their attire, Caleb was a little over dressed for the weather!  I think he sweated through three of his 6 layers-LOL!

Sweet Hannah has finished 1st grade!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a major accomplishment.

Not only that, but she finished it in a calendar year----the first time that has happened with any of her schooling.

The only subject she is still in first grade for is math, a more troublesome concept for many African children!

We are so proud of her effort and the amazing strides she is making.

She also wants to have LOTS of girls over for her birthday party.

This is also big as she is usually fairly afraid of her peers.  We are hoping having them all on her turf will be good for her!

Congratulations Sweet Girl!

David had the sweet privilege of finishing a marathon relay with his friends, Nate and Dustin!

The marathon was split three ways giving them the marathon feel without all the miles, which David's body is having a hard time dealing with.

After the marathon he was out for a few weeks, but I am happy to say he may already be back on the running road.

He is a much happier and content person when he is able to run.

He is also trying a new medicine for his arthritis.  With his first shot this week, he is not ready to say whether it works any better than his old stuff yet, but he is loving that he will only need a shot every two weeks instead of every week!

I love you my man!

This is what I have been spending a lot of time on.

It is Hannah's Birthday quilt.

It is not finished yet, but close.

I am slowly adjusting to having just littles at home and missing my big kids!

This project kept me busy.

We are so thankful for the many blessing and stretching things that fill our lives---

Hopefully you enjoyed the catch up too!