Fun in the sun

We sure are enjoying these beautiful spring days. Most of our time is spent outdoors playing in the sand and water table, swinging on the playset, or making mud puddles. Welcome, spring!

Limiting God

"And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread."
Mark 8:16

I literally laughed out loud when I read this passage. I don't ever remember reading it before, and it caught me off guard. In the very same chapter in Mark, Jesus fed the 4,000 with seven loaves. Two chapters before that, He fed 5,000+ with 5 loaves and 2 fishes. I don't know how much time passes between these verses, but it seems like a relatively short time after the feeding of the 4,000 that they get in the boat with Jesus, and He is taking an opportunity to teach them about the leaven of the Pharisees. The apostles are listening closely soaking in every word of Jesus' teaching. Not quite. They are whispering among themselves about forgetting to bring bread on the boat with them.

I love Jesus' response starting in vs. 17:
Knowing what they were talking about, Jesus asked them, "Why are you talking about not having bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your minds closed? 18 You have eyes, but you don't really see. You have ears, but you don't really listen. Remember when 19 I divided five loaves of bread for the five thousand? How many baskets did you fill with leftover pieces of food?" They answered, "Twelve." 20 "And when I divided seven loaves of bread for the four thousand, how many baskets did you fill with leftover pieces of food?" They answered, "Seven." 21 Then Jesus said to them, "Don't you understand yet?"

How many times do I do this same thing? In so many areas of my life, I limit God. I see His wondrous works, I know He can do anything, but I get anxious - worried - about little things. I doubt that He has time, or cares enough to take care of the "little" things.

31Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Matthew 7:31-33

This mama's been sewing again!

I "met" Ashley via her blog several months ago. Since then, I've adored the things she makes for her daughter using recycled t-shirts. I was so excited when she started selling her patterns, and I couldn't wait to try them out on my little girls. Does is seem like I'm partial to one little girl when making clothes?? Well, this dress was actually intended for Kathryn, but the size was a little off. Don't worry, though, Kate will not be left out. She is so excited about designing her own dress and can't wait until next Wednesday to go with Nana to the thrift store. We go with Nana on Wednesdays so we can get the senior citizen's discount ;). You can't beat $0.70 a shirt! I made this little dress for under $3.00!! And look how much fun she's having in it ;).

You can buy Ashley's patterns here
This is the Sienna dress with a few alterations. I like short sleeves better, and I liked the idea of them being cuffed, so I bought some ribbed knit for the neck and sleeves. There are a couple of changes I will make next time I make it, but overall the pattern was very easy to use and the dress was so fun to create. I've tried out another one of Ashley's patterns, and I can't wait to show you pictures, but you'll have to wait until a certain someone has a birthday :).

Only One Thing is Important

"But the Lord answered her, 'Martha, Martha, you are getting worried and upset about too many things. Only one thing is important. Mary has chosen the right thing, and it will never be taken away from her.' " Luke 10:41-42, New International Children's Bible

I love reading out of different versions. It makes passages I've read over and over come to life in a whole new way. This was one of them for me. I was reading out loud to the girl's today, and their Bible was closest to me when I sat down, so I read them Luke 10, and the story of Mary and Martha jumped out at me in a way it never had before. I know I've probably read it a thousand times, and yes, I got the main jest of it, but today, I really saw myself.

I have had so much going on the last two weeks, and between sickness, taking care of kids, sick husband, laundry, house cleaning, sewing business, dishes, meals, etc, etc, etc, I had forgotten "the one thing that is important". When I read this passage today, this is what I heard, "Micah, Micah, you are getting worried and upset about too many things."

Today is a new day.
This is the day I will start fresh, and will not worry or be upset about all the things that I think have to be done.
This is the day I will put all my trust in the LORD.

Pigtails

A big loss, and a BIG birthday

It started good, then it took a turn for the worse... I'm tired of reliving the loss over and over again. That's part of living in the city of the losing Superbowl team. It's everywhere you turn. At least we had a good party...

Somebody had to take care of the kids, while the rest of us sat on the edge of our seats. Thanks, Trent, for not caring who won the game, and wiping the icing off my little girl's face :)

Click on the picture to enlarge, then check out who our "pizza experience" was managed by. No wonder it was so good!

Happy 70th, PawPaw!!! It was a great way to celebrate!

The whole gang. Can you tell this was before the game was over?? ;)

Cut and paste, cut and paste

Livie is my little crafter. She loves to help me with my sewing projects. Whenever I say, "Okay girls, I need to get some orders done!" She is quick to say, "I'll help!" Usually that means she wants to hand me the pins, or put them away after I'm done, or "push the green go button" on my sewing machine. But her very favorite thing to do is cut and paste. She gets in a zone and will do this for an hour without coming up for air.

Sweetness...

Go Colts!!!

We had a super fun night last night watching the game with friends and family, and celebrating our huge victory over the Jets. Superbowl, and Saints, here we come!!
Go Colts!!!!
For those not interested in football, or even worse, those who don't like the Colts (haters! ;), here's a picture of my cutie patootie. Happy Monday!

Be sure to head on over to Jamie's blog, and check out her hairbow giveaway. You can enter, just don't win, because I'm going to ;).

Christmas at Opryland

This is one of our very favorite Christmas traditions. Every year we head to Opryland to see the lights and eat at a fabulous dinner buffet. This year we went on Christmas Eve and expected it to be crazy busy. Thankfully, it was just about right. There were still lots of people there, but not as many as we expected. Dinner was sooo good, and the sights were amazing.

Christmas with our second family

After the stocking stuffer we went to have another Christmas with friends who are just like family. Can you believe all these girls?? And another on the way! Poor Michael... (I would have slept through this picture too!)


Yes, I know the picture is fuzzy, but it was too sweet. They must be telling secrets. That's something that little girls do best.

Vince taking the afternoon off after a big win...


These girls are just like sisters to me. We have been through so much together.

Christmas

Just a *little* late ;). We had such a wonderful Christmas this year. We were able to fit in so many visits with friends and family - some that we hadn't seen in way too long. We are so blessed.

Christmas started with Brad's extended family annual Christmas Stocking Stuffer. Maggie was a ham all night. I have about 100 pictures of her looking just like this. She would stare someone down until they would look at her and smile, then she would try to charm them with her ways. She's crazy....


Opening her stocking...


Trust me when I say *I tried* to find a family photo with Brad's eyes opened. There were 3 total, and his eyes were completely closed in the other two. Not sure where Kate is here - probably eating candy ;)


One of Brad's cousin's little girl was cracking me up with her "makeup". She couldn't get enough on. She was putting lipstick everywhere!

44th Street Fabric

I just found this a-mazing fabric blog with the CUTEST fabric ever. I can't WAIT to get my hands on some new Moda fabrics and make some cute, cute skirts for my shop just in time for Valentine's Day!

I'm blogging about it, in hopes of winning their drawing this week, and getting my prize DOUBLED! Yeah!! So if you're into fabrics, head over and check out 44th Street Fabric and enter to win!!

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas

We finally put up our Christmas tree and got down a few of our decorations after Kate's constant nagging. I pulled out last year's stack of Christmas cards and the girls went through them one by one, especially stopping to look at the Sleeping Beauty card from Shelby, and all the photos. They have their own little tree in their room that they have decorated, redecorated, and drug around from one room to the other. This is what Christmas is all about.

Livie found this Santa hat and fell in love with it. "Mom, I just love this hat like Santa. Can I please sleep in it tonight?"

We had our first snow last night! Kate could not think of anything else except getting her coat on and going outside. When she had asked me one too many times, I said, "Kate, it's not time yet. When it is, I will tell you. Don't ask again." So she found herself a little chair and set it up in front of the window so she could "watch it" :). I finally scrounged around and found some warm things, and like any good mother, I am watching them play from the warmth of my office window :).

Making Cider