Friends and Family

Well it happened. My bed quilt is ruined. It finally is falling apart and I had to flip it over and cover the back side with a much-to-small cover up quilt. Now I have no choice but to get that pink and brown queen size quilt done. I think it was just the push I needed. As soon as Emerson's quilt is done, I will get a few little projects done and then get to my bed quilt.

We have had a pretty nice weekend. On Friday, little Emily came to visit from Wisconsin. She is my good friend's granddaughter and her and TJ are the same age.

They went for a swim in the pool and had a snack. They did some bird watching...
loved on each other (well, TJ did the lovin...Emily looks a little scared)
And built sand castles.
It was a fun day for them.

Friday night Rachel and Bud spent 6 hours having contractions. They took a trip to the hospital where they were told they were in early labor. NOT! It all stopped and she was sent home.
Saturday we went to the store and walked Rachel for a while. Still no contractions. God's timing is best. It is still early, though I doubt she will go til her due date.

Sunday morning we went to church. Isn't Pine Grove Church pretty?
It is set back in a beautiful wooded area and the view from the sanctuary is like you are in a forest. The best part was we all went...yes, even Sweetheart. It was so nice, and he really did enjoy it. I had a very hard Sunday. My head was pounding most of the day, but this evening it seems better. I am just wiped out tired from it. It is not yet 10 pm, but I am heading for bed very shortly. Tomorrow the kids will come for a cookout. Hopefully it will not be another head-ache kind of day. Praying your Labor Day is safe and fun!

A Clean Heart

Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
Psalm 51:9-13

"I then shall live as one who's been forgiven"

Gloria Gaither

My Soul Knoweth Right Well

Don't you love that phrase? I read it in scripture this morning. It is my prayer...that my soul knoweth right well. I also love that old Hymn..."It is Well With My Soul". Well today it feels like that because.....It has finally happened!!! Coppers Wife is back and blogging again!! She has a beautiful new look but the same wonderful posts. Welcome back Cheryl! You were greatly missed!
Today will be a day filled with home school lessons and homemaking tasks. I want to get things finished so we can enjoy Labor Day weekend without inviting Hazel and her friends! I am planning a nice cookout here for just us. We may take the kids to the same park where we celebrated last weekend. Just a quiet family holiday. Do you have any plans?
I am thinking about updating the "My Home" post. I looked at it and I have changed so much in my house since I wrote that post in June of 07. It will be a big job though. I think it would be easier to just re-do the whole thing. You may see a new "My Home" post. A group of bloggers did this a while back. I enjoyed taking the tours of their homes. It is not about the decor, or the elegance, or the furnishings, which is good, cause my home is not about any of those things, but it is about the warmth of being "invited" in to "sit a spell". Many of us spend our entire days keeping our homes, which is not at all just about mopping floors and cleaning toilets. Those who work outside, spend alot of their effort to keep things up when they are home. Think about doing a tour of your home. You do not have to show every room. I left the entire upstairs out of my post.
Have you enjoyed the pictures? They are of the Glacial Pond we visited behind the Freeport Tourist Center. It was full of fish and the kids really enjoyed themselves. Summer has been enjoyable and full of great memories, but I am so ready for fall. I can not wait to sit in front of the fireplace wrapped in my warm shawl, with my new granddaughter in my arms and the kids sitting near by reading books to TJ on a quilt spread out across the floor. Music playing softly in the background and all of Emerson's little fingers curled around my one as she breaths that rhythm of newborn sleep. I can almost smell her. That newborn smell that only lasts a short time. I pray for that little one daily as God knits her together in perfection.

" For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.
I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well "

Psalm 139:13-14

Freeport

My Mother knows I have a love of old things, and a love of books. When she and a friend went to Freeport for lunch last week, they stopped at a little grill that was attached to an antique store. She told me they had such a wonderful selection of school texts from the 1800's. We decided to take the kids and go have a look. I knew I had already spent my book money until close to Christmas, but there is no harm in looking and it would be a nice drive. Freeport is about 45 minutes west of here. We arrived at The Swan's Nest about lunch time. We ordered our lunch and my mom kept the kids while I went and looked at the books. She was right. There were McGuffey Readers, Union Readers, and just about every other kind of reader you could imagine. They also had a "Physical Geography" book from about 1880 that had the most wonderful ink drawn maps. But my favorites were a 1921 edition of The Pilgrims Progress by John Bunyan and right next to it was a 1930 copy of John Bunyan: The Man and His Work. Oh they were wonderful. They were so reasonably priced too. I set them back on the shelf and prayed they would still be there in November.

Lunch was very good and the kids really enjoyed it. I promised them we would come back in November and get the Bunyan books along with some other treasures we would certainly find.

Zach and I went outside while Mom and Charlotte used the ladies room. Zach posed for a couple of pictures while we waited....it sure took them a long time. Out they finally came with a bag in hand. Inside were the Bunyan books. I could have cried!!!
There is an inscription in the front of this one...
Gertrude Carlson

"Petty"

Swedish Free Church

Sunday School 1921
The illustrations are incredible!! The book on John Bunyan's life is going to be so interesting. I can hardly wait to read it aloud to my kids.
It is dated 1932 in pencil on the inside binding. The bindings on both of these books are well intact. It is also wonderfully illustrated.Tucked in the pages of this book, I found a photograph of a woman circa 1930 and a postcard with a coffee advertisement on the back.
I look forward to passing these books on to my Grandchildren someday.

On the way home, we stopped at the Stephenson County Tourist Center. It is the 150th Anniversary of the Lincoln Douglas Debate which took place in Freeport, IL

The area residents put on display, carriages, furniture and clothing from this time.This wedding dress was made by a local man for his Bride-to-be.It is beautiful.

We also visited a Glacial Water Display, but I will save those pictures for another time.

Hope you have a blessed day!

Ahhhhh That Smell!

The other morning I came down stairs after taking my shower and doing my hair and make up. Zachary came in the room and said

"Ahhhhh that smell!! I love that smell. It smells like home now."

I thought for a minute. That did not make sense. I had no bread baking. No candle burning. No smell really to speak of.

I asked him "What smell is that Zachary? I don't smell anything."

He replied, "It's the smell of Mom."

What would I do without that kid????

Lot's of PINK!!!!

Our first day of school went very well. The kids followed their schedules and it was smooth sailing. The first week is ALWAYS good! I plan for most of the year to go that way with the curriculum we have planned out. I went to the dentist yesterday. Not a planned visit, as I was having some pain in an upper molar. I was not sure if it was the tooth or my sinus pressure, which has been bad. It was only hurting at night, but it hurt bad! Well, it is both sinus and the tooth. No infection in the tooth, but he said I have signs of "tight clenching and grinding" which has irritated the bone. Add in the sinus pressure and it hurts. He gave me medication and I need to get a night guard. He said, "That is some pretty tight clenching you are doing. Any stress??" Well, gee, let's see....YEAH!!!! I need to work on letting it go. Prayers are appreciated!! It is amazing what stress will do to your body, even to your jaw and neck, both of which are extremely tight on me.

OK, on to a brighter subject....and this is BRIGHT!! Emerson's room is done and beautiful!The kids worked really hard in here. They primed the walls, painted, painted the ceiling, all the woodwork is fresh white, and they ripped up the carpet to expose beautiful hardwood flooring, which they stripped, stained, and polyurethaned. The crib and bedding are in place. Curtains are hung on both windows (I made one and then forgot the other until the day they were hanging them!) Rachel has a couple of really sweet wall signs she still needs to hang. One says (in glitter, I think) "I found my Prince Charming....his name is Daddy."I bought that little dolly the day we found out Rachel was expecting! She has all of Emerson's clothing washed and put away. Her diaper bag is packed and ready to go! The Sunbonnet Sue is too big even if it was finished, but the gorgeous pink afghan that Niki made her is perfect, and packed in that diaper bag! She will come home wrapped in it.So...Grandma can't show pics of Emerson's room and not show TJ's room too. He is very pleased with his new bedroom! It is a gorgeous green with blue accents! He has wall stickers that "he" has decorated with. Excuse any toys out...he was playing when I came to capture his room on film!Speaking of toys....do you think the kid has enough????My kids love to go play in TJ's room!! TJ has the dresser/hutch combo that Rachel used while growing up. She re-did it to match his room, but it is meaningful!Look at that DVD collection...like I said, my kids love to go to TJ's!!! He has the start of a wonderful library also. Rachel keeps these in the livingroom in a great build in shelf unit. She stores all of his coloring books, crayons, play-doh, etc. in the cupboard of the unit.
Well it is time to round the troops!! School starts at 9 and it is almost 7:30! May you all have a blessed day!!

Awesome!

(one of Rachel's flowers)

Prayer works!!! In the same day I prayed for Wisdom, God JUMPED and gave it to me. It was not at all how I expected, but then, with God it never is! First, I will share that Saturday ended up being anything but, the Jane Austin movie and hand quilting. The sun came out and TJ came over. His parents had errands, but that was fine. I needed to cook anyway. I had to make dishes to pass for the Ladies Night Out and the Church picnic on Sunday. I made Rachel's Famous Grape Salad...Niki can vouch for how wonderful it is.
All the ladies loved it and many asked for the recipe. It is easy to make...I will post the recipe later in the week.

Then I made my homemade Macaroni Salad for the potluck....

This is one of Sweetheart's favorites.

I left for LNO (Ladies Night Out), grape salad in hand, at about 6:15. It was my first time there, and BOY WAS IT FUN!!! We played Bunko!!! It was such a great way to meet everyone. These ladies were all wonderful. I felt like me again. Fellowship is so important and I had been missing it. I use to go to a local guild meeting in my old town, but for the last 8 years (when I needed it the most) I have not had it. There were about 17 women there.

They gave out lots of prizes....I was tied for the most losses!! Yes, you can win for losing! I was shocked I had lost 11 of the 18 rounds, as I had way too much fun to lose! I lost the roll for that prize (no surprise) but was given a beautiful gift just for coming...
A beautiful ceramic box. Perfect for holding sewing tools!
Now, enter wisdom....follow me here, cause I am going to tell a story. You all know how I struggle with parenting Charlotte. I feel most of the time I am failing her. I feel mean, unloving, guilty, sad, heartless, etc. When I started the women's bible study, there is a young woman there. She is about mid 30's. SWEET as can be. She shared alot about her life. She is adopted. Her mother got her at close to 2. She shared how much she loves and respects her mom...how unbelievably close they are. She is the only girl and her mom and her are like best friends! They go on "dates" together for brunch and shopping...a fairy tale. How great for them! So on LNO I was introduced to this wonderful mother....
That is her sitting on the very far right. This lady has the softest eyes I have ever seen. She looks at you and you can feel the love pouring off of her. NO WONDER her adopted daughter loves her so much. I actually thought, "poor Charlotte, should have gotten someone like her for a mom." I shared with this lady how much her daughter loves her and how she talks so highly of her. She looked a little surprised and then said, "That is good to hear...it was not always that way." She then proceeded to tell me about her years raising this little girl. I am not kidding...it was like she described me and Charlotte!!!!! She told how people thought she was mean and how her daughter changed personalities for different people, especially her husband. How she stole and lied. How she was diagnosed reactive attachment disorder and was told she would only ever hold a minimum wage job (maybe)...I have been told that same thing...By the way, this girl works in a local Doctors office who sees 80+ patients a day and she is in charge of the whole office....She told me how she felt there was no relationship and that her daughter did not love her and would never love her. I stood there with tears in my eyes at the awesomeness of God. HE knew what I needed. I needed to see a success story from both sides. I also heard from the daughter how she was afraid her mother would stop loving her...how she loved her mother all along, but did not want to show it incase she left her. She said she knew in her heart she would not leave, but her head lied to her often. I plan to spend more time with the daughter...she is where the wisdom is. She can tell me how my daughter is feeling and what she needs. I know she said the hardness of her mother setting boundaries was important and that she would not have survived without it. Anyway...isn't that AWESOME!!!??? That night I went to sleep feeling hope for the first time in....well I can't remember when.

Want some more awesome???? Sunday we all...ALL.... our whole family.....went to the Church picnic. We had a really good time. So much fun that I did not get pictures. The kids got some clam shells which they were thrilled about.....From there we went to our son's house. Emerson's room is done. I will show pics later this week, maybe tomorrow. You are greeted by these flowers as you go up the steps to my son's front door.Aren't they beautiful??!! TJ was in his room playing with his ABC's.
I asked him, "Where is the "I"?" He said, "It's right here." and pointed to an eye on his face! I just laughed!

My Rachel has a love for family photos and she has such a wonderful display. This frame is HUGE....
I love these from their wedding...Rachel dancing with her Grandfather and Bud dancing with me.
I am really proud of my oldest child. He has an incredible family! Kyle snapped this picture of us yesterday. He is such a man! How did that happen???!!!