Sweet Sister!!!

Baby Girl is getting so big!!!!

She has started walking and can say ma-ma and da-da....

She turned 10 months just the other day.

Where did the time go! :)

I love her sweet smile!!!

This is on e of my favorites!!

Such a sweetheart!

She loves playing with her beads....

I tried to do a vintage theme in these.

Found an old baby dress and used one of Mom's old quilts...

Isn't she too cute?!

I love her soooo much!!!

Very thankful to have her as a sister!

Sisters are different flowers from the same garden. ~Author Unknown

How do people make it through life without a sister? ~Sara Corpening

Recent Family Project......

I thought I would share our most recent family project with all you.

Dad bought a rent house last year and in March we had some people who were interested in renting it!

So, since then and until about a week ago we have spent most of our Saturdays and spare time up there working on it.

As you can tell from the pictures it was quite a task!

The people who lived in it previously did not take very good care of it. Several times I wondered if we could actually get it finished!

But praise the Lord, we finally did!!!!!!

These are all the before pictures:

*Warning* They are not at all pretty! :)

Hideous dark green tile in the bathroom......






This is the kitchen after the counters were taken out.

Oh, and the lights were all on when these pictures were taken.

It was just super dark and yucky in there. :)






This is the dining room.

It has a really cute built in corner cabinet in it.







The garage was my biggest job!

As you can tell it took me awhile. :)



Sweet Guy mowing the grass in the back yard.

It has a lovely big back yard with great trees for shade!



Everyone pitched in to help!

Aren't they so big?!


Ok, now onto brighter things!
Here are the after pictures:
Prepare to be amazed! :)


This is the front door that mom found a Habitat for Humanity!
Isn't it pretty?
Sorry I didn't get a close up.
The old door was just a solid door with a peep hole.
Oh, and the exterior side was bright blue!



Here is the bathroom now!!!!!

It turned out wonderfully!

It's amazing what new tile and paint can do for a room.

Here is the corner cabinet I was telling you about!

Sorry about the cleaning supplies. Oops! :)

We also spray painted the light fixture in the dining room!

It was green before!

Back to the kitchen!

This is before we got the stove in place, but doesn't look 100% better?

It took several talented guys to make it look this good! :)

Much brighter now too!

The ceiling light fixture we got at Habitat also.

The new linoleum in the kitchen.

It looks like tile!

We also painted, fixed holes, added doors, scrubbed, pulled up carpets etc.

in the 3 bedrooms, walk-in closets and the living room.

I think I could even live in it now! :)

I'm so thankful to have this project done.

It was so fun to be able to work on it as a family (my uncle also was a big help)

We got to spend a lot of great time together!

"Many hands make light work"

Meet My Siblings!!!

Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.~Jane Howard

I love my siblings!!!!
I'm so glad the Lord gave them to me!

In honor of my siblings, I thought I'd put together a post that tells a little bit about them!

I don't think I've ever really introduced all of them! :)

This is my Special Brother....

He was adopted into this family when he was 2 and now he is 10!!!

I love his sweet smile and the funny songs he makes up.

He is an avid reader and has recently shown a interest in nature (as you can tell by the picture!)

Here is Little Man with Baby Girl......

I chose this name for him because that is exactly his personality!!

You can usually find him with a old cell phone in his pocket and other office supplies not to far away. :)

He has a great interest in becoming a firefighter and loves to draw pictures to cheer you up!

He is five years old.

Baby Girl is such a blessing to our family!

Her smile lights up a room and she has recently started to babble. :)

She just turned 8 months old!!

I really never thought I'd have a sister, but the Lord had other ideas!!!

This is Sweet Guy......

He has been my closest friend and partner in crime. ;)

He turned fifteen this year! Wow! I'm getting really old!

I really enjoy spending time with him (we set aside Saturday nights to do something special together)!

He has a love for books as strong as my own!

And is a great human spell check! :)

So, there you have it, a bit about my sweet siblings!!!

We all have bad days but in the end I can't imagine life without them all!!!

Here are some fun quotes on siblings I found:

I don't believe an accident of birth makes people sisters or brothers. It makes them siblings, gives them mutuality of parentage. Sisterhood and brotherhood is a condition people have to work at. ~Maya Angelou

You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you,as you are to them.~Desmond Tutu

If you want to know how your girl will treat you after marriage, just listen to her talking to her little brother. ~Sam Levenson

I thought the last one was good! :)

What do you enjoy about your siblings? Sometimes it they seem to be the hardest people to get along with. But I see it as such a great learning and growing experience for myself! Is there a special way you show your siblings you love them? Please share!!!!

Hope you are all having a restful day in the Lord!!

Blessings!!

An Idea for Mother's Day.....

With Mother's day this weekend I started thinking about ways to express how thankful I am for my Mom!!

How much of a blessing and a encouragement she is to me.

So, the Lord gave me the idea to write out Proverbs 31 the way it fits to my Mom's life to give as a gift to her.

For example in verse 16 it says: "She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard."

Sometimes it can be hard to see how a scripture fits to the presents day. My mom isn't going to go buy a field anytime soon, but she does plant a garden every year and she is also very good at being frugal.

So I wrote down this verse like this:

You get out your gardening books, ready to plan a fruit filled garden.
You are very knowledgeable in the art of being frugal.
You enjoy the challenge of improvising to save Dad’s money.

You still get the heart of what the scripture is about,

but it is encouraging to Mom because she can apply it to her daily life!!!

(We do this with a lot of scriptures at my house)

Here is the whole thing:

(Sorry its a bit long)

My Proverbs 31 Mom

Such a good women is hard to find…
And is priceless to all who know her!

Dad trusts you whole-heartedly.
You are never spiteful, you treat him with love your entire life.

Your closet is full of beautiful fabric.
You delight in making things with your hands!

You are like a trading ship that sails away to far away places
and brings back enjoyed surprises.

You arise while it is still dark to care for the needs of your baby.
You always have a listening ear ready to catch the sound of a crying child.

You get out your gardening books, ready to plan a fruit filled garden.
You are very knowledgeable in the art of being frugal.
You enjoy the challenge of improvising to save Dad’s money.

In the morning, you dress for the work ahead of you.
You are eager to get the job started

The work you put yourself into is priceless.
You have learned to put your trust in the Lord and lean on Him.

You are a skilled homemaker, a diligent wife and mother!

You will tramp through the snow and mud to assist someone the Lord has put on your heart.
You bless people with your art of letter writing. Many people speak highly of you!

When it is cold outside we don’t fear. Our clothing is already in our closets!
You see to it that our needs are taken care of!

You attend to the schooling of your children.
We love to learn and adore books because of you!

Dad is greatly respected and well know in town.
You are always willing to help him wherever you are needed.
You bring honor to his name!

You create beautiful things. Your house is a cozy home by the thoughtfulness of your hands.

You face tomorrow with a smile on your face!
And thrive in multi-tasking.


When you speak, you always have something worthwhile to say.
You bring forth your words with kindness and humility on your tongue.

You oversee your household well.
Your eye is quick to see what needs to be done.
You keep us all busy and productive.

We, your children respect, honor and bless you. Dad joins in our praise of you!
“Lots of women have done wonderful things, but you outshine them all!”

Charm can be misleading and we all grow old and gray.
But the woman that is praised here is a woman who lives to serves the Lord!

Lets give her all the praise and honor she deserves!

Flood her life and work with praises!!!

I am so blessed to have a wonderful Momma!!!

Even in writing this I still did cover half the things she does!

Sometimes it can be easy to forget the day to day things that our Mom do for us.

Let's be sure and thank them not just on Mother's Day but as often as we can!

(Kind of like talking to Jesus more than just on Christmas and Easter!)

I'd love to hear how you are planning to bless you Mom this Mother's Day!!

Or something you enjoy about her!