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!

New Skills

 We are working on a new project around here.

Pretty--and no, the giraffe print is not part of it, it is a blanket.

Someone has a special day coming up and we are working on something special.

Can you guess who?

 No, I would never have her help on her own gift!

Actually she was having lots of fun learning how to use the iron.

She picked out the fabric, with help.

She picked out the pattern.

Hopefully it turns out well.

The Dignity of Human Life

Wow! Well done! The Dignity of Human Life by Focus on the family

New Stuff

 Caleb is sporting his new glasses picked up this afternoon.

We are thankful that the eye doc was able to see some of the issues we have been dealing with and is hoping these new duds will help with his focusing issues.

Praying!

Thankful he will only need to wear them for school and such, since his record with breaking things is so high!

Hannah is sporting a new do too!!

I have been leaving her styles in longer than usual to try to give her hair a break without taking the braids out.  

I use the last week to get some good scrubbing in on her scalp and some longer scalp treatments in, as it is very difficult to reach her scalp when her braids are out-LOL.

We tried a little bang type thing since she has such a long, skinny face and she is loving it--she likes the "long" in my face kinda thing.

PR and Record

Congratulations Drew on an early season PR and a meet record!

WSU Open Indoor Meet Produces Records

PULLMAN - Four meet records were broken and two more were tied Saturday at the 10th Annual Washington State Open Indoor track and field meet at the Indoor Facility on the Pullman campus. A trio of Cougar men broke the mile meet record in a first through fourth sweep. Drew Jordan won the event with a lifetime-best time of 4:15.36, besting teammate Andrew Kimpel's 2010 time of 4:17.03. Andrew Gonzales' 4:16.36 and Justin Englund's 4:16.79 were also faster than the record while Jono Lafler finished fourth in a time of 4:19.51.

http://www.wsucougars.com/sports/c-track/recaps/011412aaa.html

Hearing That Still Small Voice.....

 Sometimes parenting can be hard work.

Sometimes we make it harder on ourselves by trying to go it alone or giving into our pride or listening to wrong advice.

I am very thankful that yesterday I had ears to hear the Still Small Voice whispering into "my" plans and busyness.


Yesterday as I was heading home I heard that Still Small Voice say check _______.   I thought that was odd because this had never been something that had been a problem, but it persisted.

So I immediately checked ________ when I got home and yes it did need to be checked.  Yes, this was a first time and Praise His Name it was caught the first time.

Now I gave this precious treasure every opportunity to confess, but as any of you who have treasures from the hard places know, things first learned for survival are hard to let go.

Sadly he did not take the opportunity and I showed him _____.  He then confessed.

Now that, Praise be to God, is not the end!!!!

Again, that Still Small Voice spoke into my heart.

I let him know how a small seed of sin can grow if left hidden and that I was thankful for this revelation.

I asked him what this made him and he said, "Liar, Cheater".

Yea your right, it makes you a sinner.....

Just like ME!

Because you know sin is sin.

And we all sin.

Praise God He is not finished with us yet!

I am praising Him today for His speaking to me that I may have  the privilege anew to speak truth and love into my precious son's life.

Caleb this is all part of becoming like Jesus.

Learning to turn from sin.

Learning to confess our sin.

Learning to uncover our sin and be cleansed anew.

Learning to love those who correct us because they love us and want the best for us.

You know as part of his punishment he had to scrub the shower walls, twice.

And he went into Hannah's room, got the portable radio and brought it into the bathroom and was singing praise hymns while he was scrubbing!!!

A soul being washed in truth.

A soul being trained in righteousness.

A soul learning to love.

God is so very good.

What a Savior we serve.

Rescued

Rescued: The Heart of Adoption and Caring for Orphans - Trailer from Rescued The Movie on Vimeo.

Watch it!~   Make a choice to take some action!

The Annual Egg Nog Mile

 So I am way, way behind, but I have to get some pictures up.

Back on December 22, the longest night of 2011 our community does the longest night mile.

Lots of crazy folks coming out on a very cold, dark night to run a fast mile.

If you are not a runner you will  not get it at all.

Caleb chugged out his mile.

 Hannah ran one with no training at all.  

I joined her on the last lap as an encouragement.

She is really starting to get this running thing down.

 Drew was off in the 'fast' heat.  

With his Santa hat!

He enjoyed a quick mile with a bunch of college friends home for the holiday.

I think they used it as a warm up for the big event.

 The Annual Egg Nog Mile.

The guys, and yes this year it was all guys.

Drink one of these glasses of egg nog and run a lap, then another glass and another lap, till they throw up or finish!

I know, I don't get it either.

Hannah and I were in charge of the egg nog.

 Drew was in charge.

This year they did it right after the Longest Night Mile, thinking they would get a good turn out that way.  

Think the numbers were about the same--30 or so.

 Gotta love how some of them have to plug their noses even to drink the stuff.

Drew was the official winner again this year.

How he can stop after each lap and down a glass of this stuff and still run a sub 5 minute mile is beyond me!

Though he has gotten smart and made himself throw it all up afterwords.

No great pictures this year with the night time.

And not too much going on as the kids were taking the mile pretty easy.

I think next year they will switch it back to early morning when everyone is a little more geared up.

A Warm Day for Pictures

 We had a wonderful visit with Danielle and Ryan over Christmas weekend.

And though I am sure after growing up in Southern California that I spent many a warm Christmas's as a child, but this was the first in a very long time!

 I do not know what kind of plant this is, but I am sure Dr. Seuss must have been looking out his window at one when he created many of his characters--LOL

I love the plants and trees in Santa Barbara.

 What do you think?

Like mother, like daughter?

I have no idea what we were talking about here, possibly the amazingly large number of stairs we were going to have to go down to get to the beach.

And sadly that meant having to go back up them later-HA

 But you must agree it was a beautiful view!

 See what I meant about the flowers.

 Isn't it great all the diversity in creation our wonderful God gave us!

 Now this one is just too cute for words.

And with a skinny little body like hers she might make a great model when she gets a little older-LOL

 Even cactus can look beautiful, especially with the beautiful Pacific in the background.

 This is what we were hoping to get while on the beach.

A family picture, minus Erinn and Michael.

Don't know what Caleb was going for?

He actually has a beautiful smile.

 Our treasures hidden in a 'cleft of the rock'.

 Some of the local wildlife.

 And a fallen log meant there needed to be a challenge to see who could go up the farthest.

 Ryan on his way up.

 And on his way down!

 Danielle and I gave it a try, but it was actually lots harder than it looked,

Especially on a slick log with sandy feet.

 Drew on his way up, he made it the farthest.

Drew on his way down!

 Drew holding on for dear life-Ha.

 Please tell me that you all get pictures like this!

Everyone looking at the camera and someone thinks it is a great time to give a thumbs up!

This kid is making me old before my time.

 Here we all are somewhat looking at the camera, but very squinty!

 Danielle and Ryan 2011

 Those of us left at home 2011.

Me and my best friend of 26 years!