Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Nativity cross-stitch

Over the past two months, I made a new cross-stitch project that I've been wanting to make for several years. My mom had made several Nativity scene cross-stitch scenes when I was younger, and I always wanted one for my own home. My mom was going through her craft room this past spring and found the pattern, some fabric, two frames, nails and a hanger for the back. She gave them to me and I intended to begin them over the summer. Well, the time off from school got away from me, and this project did not get pulled out during the summer. After we got into the groove of school this fall, I pulled it out again and began to work on it in October. Cross-stitching makes my back hurt if I work on it too long, so it was a slow process. It seemed like I made Mary, Joseph and Jesus pretty quickly, but the rest came along slowly. 
 I'm very pleased with how it turned out. I am glad that the work is done. There are several mistakes, but I don't mind. That's what makes it my own, right? I found the French knots to be pretty tricky. I don't like to do them, but since I made more than ten on this project I did get better at making them. I'm thankful for videos on YouTube to help when I needed it!
 While I made it, I thought a lot about how Jesus left his kingly home in heaven and came to our lowly, dirty earth, to be welcomed into a cold cow's stable. What a gift His life is to all who truly know Him!

 Here I am showing off the finished product after my hubby helped me frame it!
Here is my mom with her Nativity scene and me with mine... they are slightly different!


Part of the Christmas story from the book of Luke, chapter two...

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. (v. 16-20)

So thankful that Christ left His heavenly home for us! Praise be to God for His indescribable gift!

Friday, December 15, 2017

Bethany's 9th birthday!

We had a delightful time celebrating our Bethany's 9th birthday last week! We're so thankful that God has blessed us with her sweet personality, silliness, love of Avengers and sports, crazy hair and love of reading!

She decided that she wanted to have a "Calvin and Hobbes" themed birthday party, since she has loved the comic books so much. It was a challenge, but a fun one! She helped me bake her cupcakes...
 We had birthday pancakes on the night of her birthday, since we're not often together in the morning these days...
 We gave her a new Lite Brite... it is different from the ones we had as kids. It has shaped pegs, (some like dogs and fish!) square pegs, and even flashing lights!
 This was the centerpiece for her party table... we found printables and boxes to fold on Pinterest!
 The food table (except for the pizza and green jello!)...
 The striped cupcakes... some like Hobbes and some like Calvin... (he wears a red shirt!)
 Opening gifts with friends and family...
 A pretty pony!
 A talking tiger from Mallory...
 A new book from Grandma and Grandpa...
 Awesome camo fleece-lined pants!
Her tiger was here too!

We also had a pre-birthday party when we were with family in Denver, so here are some photos from that...
 New socks and boots from Nana...

 Cool Avengers cards and books from the cousins...
 She loves the books!

 Cute Disney leggings from Auntie Allie...
 A black tiger shirt too... (which she wore at her party!)
 And a fun gray and black dress!
 She loves her Captain America bobblehead too!
 So cute in her new clothes (and boots)
Here with her cousin Lydia, who shared in the birthday party,  in her new clothes too! They love being together!

What a great way to celebrate our big 9-year-old girl! She is growing up so quickly, and figuring so many things out, even big words when she reads! Thanks to our family and friends for spoiling her! She loves all of her gifts! 



Psalm 8:1
Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens.

John 11:1-3
Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”

This is her life verse, since her name means, "Promise."

Acts 2:39  The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Thanksgiving 2017 highlights

Last week we ventured off to the big city to celebrate Thanksgiving! We had a wonderful time visiting Joshua's family for 4+ days. While we were there, our oldest daughter, Rebekah decided to cut off her long, gorgeous hair for a big change! Her angled bob is very cute on her! I do miss her mane of locks though! She will donate the hair soon.
 Caleb had gotten a new 5 X 5 Rubik's cube for his birthday, and he was still working on it, as well as another mega cube that he had. The boys working on the cubes was a very common sight.
 Nana and the grand girls (my 3 daughters and my 3 nieces) baked pies on Wednesday. They made the dough and rolled it out. We had six pies!
 Note Mallory's amazing hairdo...
Here's the baking group in their cute aprons:
 My niece & nephew on the other side of my family came by, so my sister could take us to the hair salon. It was cute to see the girls all together. Love them!
 On Thursday morning we watched the Macy's Thanksgiving parade (with a few of their friends)...
 Bethany wrote a list of what she is thankful for... (which is amazing because she doesn't like to write!)
 The kids watching a video on Rebekah's phone...
 The crew all ready to eat! (including my brother-in-law's parents)
 The next morning, the girls were looking at old pictures on Nana's laptop...
 We had a little birthday party with these two girls, and here they are wearing their new outfits! (including new boots!) Thanks Nana and Auntie Allie! We are loving comfy LuLaRoe!
 We are thankful for our family, which are also some of our best friends! We love getting together and were sad to leave, but so happy to be in our own beds! What a blessing! We are thankful for the delicious food, fun games that we played, lots of laughing, Bunco (which may be a new tradition!), and mostly for our Lord, Jesus and His saving grace for each one of us! What a great God we serve!

What are you thankful for this year?

Psalm 136:1Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
His love endures forever.

Psalm 100
A psalm. For giving grateful praise.


1 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his[a];
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Monday, November 20, 2017

MFW- The ten plagues of Egypt

In our homeschool this fall, we have been reading through Genesis and Exodus. We have been reading recently about the ten plagues of Egypt in the book of Exodus. Our curriculum from My Father's World encourages the kids to dress up and act them out. My girls have really enjoyed doing this... what a neat way to bring Bible learning to life! Their pictures have cracked me up with all of their goofy facial expressions. My BFF is doing the same curriculum with her boys, so we exchange pictures with each other. I thhnk acting it out gives them a better glimpse of what it was like. Of course, we didn't have thousands of frogs, only 50. Our water was turned red by food coloring, not really blood, but you get the idea.
Plague of frogs and water into blood...

 Plague of flies and death of livestock...

 The plague of boils...


 Plague of the death of the firstborn...

 We didn't act out the plagues of gnats and locusts, since they are similar to flies. We also didn't act out the plagues of hail and darkness, since the kids could understand those. We did see a video of a locust invasion though... EW! To think that God hardened Pharoah's heart through ALL of the plagues, causing hardship on all the people of Egypt, and Pharaoh wouldn't let them go! WOW!

You can read more about the plagues of Egypt in Exodus 6-11 here. 

Exodus 9  The Plague on Livestock

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: “Let my people go, so that they may worshipme.” 2 If you refuse to let them go and continue to hold them back, 3 the hand of the Lord will bring a terrible plague on your livestock in the field—on your horses, donkeys and camels and on your cattle, sheep and goats. 4 But the Lord will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and that of Egypt, so that no animal belonging to the Israelites will die.’”

5 The Lord set a time and said, “Tomorrow the Lord will do this in the land.” 6 And the next day the Lord did it: All the livestock of the Egyptians died, but not one animal belonging to the Israelites died. 7 Pharaoh investigated and found that not even one of the animals of the Israelites had died. Yet his heart was unyielding and he would not let the people go.

Exodus 9:13-15   The Plague of Hail

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning, confront Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me, or this time I will send the full force of my plagues against you and against your officials and your people, so you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth. For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth.

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Caleb's 15th birthday!

Our boy Caleb is 15 already!?! We had a nice party celebrating him this past weekend. He decided to have a drum theme, it was cool! We had drumsticks and music as decorations, and he loved the gifts. 

 He loves his new FLASH wallet from his cousins...
We got him a new Broncos jersey and shirt to wear under it...
 Since he was in the pep band earlier in the day, we decided to order pizza rather than make something, it was a nice change! The pizza was delicious and easy!
 A new sweatshirt and sweatpants from grandparents...
 Reading his card while Auntie and Nana look on...
 A cool new z-cube... he already figured out how to solve it! What a smart kid!
 He loves his new drummer mug from Nana...
 And the handmade Broncos scarf!
 New tech deck (finger skateboard) ramps from his friend...
 Cool LED drumsticks from Grandpa...
 And a fun Darth Vader shirt! Thankful for the great gifts!
 The birthday boy with his cake...
Our drum cake with drumsticks....

We are thankful to God for our fine young man and time celebrate another year with him! He's a pretty great teenager so far!



Joshua 1:9
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”


Proverbs 4:1
Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction; pay attention and gain understanding.

Proverbs 3:11-12
My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline, and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.
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