It's the Last day of the Miracle of Adoption Christmas Campaign!!!

Hello all!

I just wanted to share with you an update on the Reece's Rainbow adoption agency's Miracle of Christmas Campaign that I have been sharing throughout the month! The goal for this campaign was to raise $1,000 for each of the little ones on the angel tree, to help their future families in the adoption process, and to raise awareness for their need for a home. You can learn more on Reece's Rainbow's site, but I wanted to share a special little boy with you one last time; Scott.

Scott is the little boy that I have been advocating for this year, and I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the help that you have been to this little one. We have raised over 600 dollars for his account, and that is truly amazing. THANK YOU for all the money, prayers, and shares that you have given for this little man!

Scott is about five years old now, and has many special needs... But the most important special need? He needs a family. 

And for a family to adopt him is going to mean adoption fees and for them to see his page, and we have the ability to help that happen! Scott is still under goal, as are many of the children this year, and he needs just over $360 more to get to goal, by midnight tonight. Would you consider helping one more time? A donation of a dollar, five, fifteen, twenty-seven... Whatever you could spare, it has the potential to change this little boy's life forever. And that is amazing! And every time you share Scott's page, it has the potential to change his life forever. So today, would you please consider doing that? Donate to his account, or tell someone about this campaign, or pray for Scott to get the funds and family he needs. We have less than 13 hours left to make a difference for Scott during this campaign! His account can be found here: https://reecesrainbow.org/104445/scott-2 . And thank you, so much, for your help! I appreciate each and every one of you!

And a happy New Year's Eve to everyone <3! 

Rejoicing in Hope,
Bri

Friendship Blessings

We had such a wonderful, happy visit with friends today! Some of our dear friends from our church in Virginia spend almost every October at Myrtle Beach, and since they are "only" 3 hours away from us, they make that time sacrifice to come and see us. Today they even brought lunch with them, so all we had to do was enjoy their visit... they are such sweet, kind people! 

It was so nice to catch up on what is going on at Friendship, to hear how some of our friends that we haven't talked to for a while are doing, and to share some memories and friendship once again <3. As a testimony to how much we love them and they make us feel loved, I was telling Josiah, who was only 3 when we last saw them, that we would be having some friends over, who he "might not remember, but they..." and I as I started describing them, Josiah says, "I remember them." And then follows it up with something about how nice they are to us. I mean, they made an impression on a 3 year old that lasted a whole year (well, minus 8 days according to Tori). Friends like this are definitely one of God's blessings to us in life <3!

After lunch (and a fun ice cream cake, because Miss Karen wanted to celebrate all the birthdays she missed <3), everyone had lots of fun playing games and talking. Josiah soundly won the "Find it Fast" game that Peter pulled out... I am 99% convinced he has just memorized the cards, but, you never know, maybe his eyes really do work that fast ;)... Miss Karen and I also spent a short amount of time discussing a project we are working on, while Noah especially had fun with their little dog, following her around the house, laughing, 'It's walking! It's walking!"... haha! It is hilarious to us that Noah's hair practically looks identical to the puppy's fur. It was also their first time meeting little Isaac - and Miss Karen and Mr. Jim were his first out of state visitors!

It felt like we picked up right where we left off... but the time went by so fast! We are hopeful that they may make it back down once more before they go home, with Miss Karen's sister who is planning to come to the beach for a few days as well, but we are also very thankful that this visit worked out! It's easy to take the normality of seeing people every week for granted when it's a regular part of your life... it makes you stop and realize what a precious thing it was, when you no longer have that ability! And while it is a wonderful thing to be able keep up with people long distance through technology and letters... there is nothing like being able to sit beside someone and just spend some time with them! The Lord is kind to give us these additional earthly gifts on top of His unmerited gift of eternal life <3.

A Look at September ✽ Write 31, 2018

Happy October! It's time for me to share about the past month! This is also the first post in my Write 31 Series this year... because I have decided not to really have a theme this year, I am just going to do one of the free write options ;). I just felt that would be much more manageable this year, and I have several ideas that didn't really relate to each other, so I thought, why not ;)? I'm excited for this year's October blogging challenge :)! For those of you who may be new here thanks to Write 31 - hello! Thank you for stopping by, and feel free to visit my about page and leave a comment to introduce yourself :)!

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Sweet cuddle bear making my work a little more pleasant :)!

Granny gave us these mexican sunflowers this spring, and they 

finally bloomed, haha. They are gorgeous!

Quality time with the two who have been dubbed the twins ;).

I made a taco lasagna, and it was delicious!

Sneak peek at the little blanket set I made for a certain little boy <3. We got pictures of him with it....

but he'd already outgrown the hat. The child won't slow down his growing, haha!

 A terrible picture from my phone, but he smiles the whole ride to church every week, and I love it!!!

 Isaac's beautiful smile <3 <3 <3.

 Josiah waiting very patiently and expectantly for a cookie ;).

Andrew turned 12 yesterday <3!

Our month was really quite wonderful; productive but fairly relaxed, for the most part, barring inventory week for Daddy. I turned 21 (thank you all for the birthday wishes!), and Andrew just turned 12 yesterday! Way back when, he was due the day after my birthday, and I wanted him to come a day early so we could share, but of course he was 17 days late, instead ;). Since his birthday was on a Sunday this year, he and Daddy took his birthday outing (he wanted to go canoeing again) on Saturday, and we made it to church early yesterday to hear our elder's report on the Kenyan mission trip... then we did Andrew's party that evening :). I enjoyed trying out some new recipes this past month (some where a hit, some were... not ;)...), and autumn arrived, so I am very much enjoying all the coziness that I stuff into the season, haha ;). I saw the first leaf shower last week! And I haven't seen one since. But as Mama pointed out, it's still hot, but we CAN sit in the car without the air conditioner running without roasting, so we must really be having a fall this year ;)...

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Noah: *completely scared by thunder and confused as to why "Lighting McQueen" is being so loud tonight*

Noah just a couple weeks later, sees lighting: "Ope, next comes the crash!"

Noah a couple weeks later, as Daddy's camera flashes: "Lightning!!!"
It was a very short lived fear ;).

Peter: "Andrew, how do you spell diary?"
"Why?"
"Someone was rude to me."
Several questions are raised: 1. We call them journals at our house, not diaries. 2. We don't use them that way?!?!?! Where did he get this idea?!

Peter: "Bri should marry."
5 days later, Abbi: "I'm glad Bri is 21 now, that means it's less likely she'll marry."
Twenty. One. And an old maid, hahaha....

Noah, while Mama reads the account of Noah's Ark: "Yeah, I did that."
"Oh, really?"
Tori: "What did you feed the animals?"
Noah: "Tea."

Incidentally, Noah reciting the 7 C's of History is just TOO CUTE. But Noah hearing his own name is just too distracting during bible study, hahaha! The monologue gets longer the more he learns. But, he's listening and retaining. So that's good!

Emmi: "I don't know how to separate eggs. Can someone come do that so I don't ruin the cookies?"
Abbi: "Oh! Oh! I know how, I know how, can I do it for you? Can I do it, Bri?"
*Separates the eggs successfully*
Abbi: "YES!!! I DID know how to do it! I've never done it before, but I watched one time."
Emmi and I: "YOU'D NEVER DONE IT?!?!?!?!"

Bethi, with a touch of concern in her voice: "Would you like me to get you some chocolate?..."
Me: *gestures vaguely at chocolate cookies in the kitchen* "Oh, don't worry. I'm already making me some..."

Josiah eating a new meal: "It's gross, but I like it."
This child is getting worse instead of better as he gets exposed to more foods; he would live off of pizza and cinnamon rolls and cookies if he could, and not much of those foods. So that was actually an A- rating from the Joe, and I felt like I had won, hahaha.

Mama texts me from upstairs: "It's quiet. What happened?"

Me to Bethi: "I put 'start blog post' on my to-do list. If I open blogger and type one line, that is officially starting, right? Please?"

Tori, explains the difference between step siblings and half siblings: "...and then if your mom and new dad have another baby, that baby is your half sister AND your step brother's half sister."
Abbi, so done: "You have to share?"

99% sure I accidentally threw away a paper with 4 funny snippets on it while cleaning out my desk drawers, and it's driving me insane, but it's fine...

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Etsy did some major updating starting in late August, and they finally finalized it a couple weeks ago... and I have to say, I love some of the new changes! There is a new notifications for shops you follow section, which I enjoy, and there was a whole overhaul with the SEO (yep, that again), and it seems so much more streamlined now, it's awesome! I've not created any new products this month, but don't worry! The plan is that you'll be able to see many more items by the end of the month, as I overhaul and add going off of Etsy's new methods! And I'll share a couple of pictures later of two custom orders I am working on right now!

I also mailed out these items:

 Jeremiah 29:11 canvas (link here).

And these dishcloths, requested in a custom color :)! (Link here.)

There are a few new listings added that you can check out at www.etsy.com/shop/underthetapestry, although they are projects that you've already seen revealed before they were official ;).

 Annnnnd, listed today, because, HAPPY OCTOBER!!! is this canvas, one of my all time favorites!

And blog posts from the past month...
-Sunshine Blogger Award
-99 Life Lessons from 21 Years
-Recipe Review: Iced Caramel Macchiatoes
-Summer and Autumn

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And there's a look at my month! Now let's talk about yours! What was one highlight of your September? What is your favorite fall quote? If you are new here, please introduce yourself and leave your blog link down below!

Rejoicing in Hope,
Bri

Grateful Hearts ✽ Joyful Laughter

Issac Charles Lee

August 10th, 2018

9 lbs. 6 oz.

22.75 inches long

Precious gift from God <3

Our little Issac arrived mid-morning last Friday <3. Mama and Baby are doing well, and we are all so thrilled for this new little brother! He is such a content little guy... and he snuggles so well! Mama says he has a very definite pattern; over the past couple months, she has noticed that he is always most active in the morning and in the first little bit after we children go to bed; and that hasn't changed a bit since he's been born!

 He is such an alert little guy. Look at those eyes <3. I love him so much. He just looks all around with those big eyes whenever he is awake - he is sleeping or observing, there seems to be no in between. If ever a baby were intentionally taking the world in, it's this little (big) guy!

And yes, Baby Bear stuck <3. Noah was so confused the first time Baby was called Issac... then he must have just assumed that Issac was a totally different baby, because then the next time we called him Baby Bear, THAT confused Noah... oops, haha. Noah has been so gentle and protective and accepting of him, it has been adorable!

We think Issac looks the most like Josiah, but he has such dark, dark blue eyes that look like Peter's when he was a baby, that we won't be surprised if his eyes end up brown. Mama also says she's seen Andrew in him at times, but for the most part, he looks like Siah... in fact, Mama called Josiah Winnie-the-Pooh SO often when he was a baby, because she felt like he looked like him... she had forgotten about this when I heard her tell Issac last night, "You look like Winnie-the-Pooh right now." Too funny.

We are so grateful for the Lord's protection over Mama and Issac, for the prayers of all our dear friends, and for the joy little Issac has given us. Issac has already met most of our extended family, and had two photo shoots, so lots more pictures will be shared in the future ;). But for now, I just wanted to share our little gift with all of you, and our family rejoices in the kindness of the Lord <3.

Rejoicing in Hope,
Bri

P.S.... go check out this post :D!

On My Book Shelf ✽ Girl Defined + Little Life Moments

Good afternoon everyone! I hope your day has been wonderful and that your week has been blessed! It's hard for me to believe it's already Wednesday for some reason. But I am here to talk about lots of little things of varying importance, for anybody who would like to discuss them with me ;)!

You may have heard of this book before... it was actually really big in the circle of blogs I read for several months, but I was late to the trend, as usual ;). (My tbr list is so long... Mama bought this book like a year ago and I just finished it, hahaha...) It has a gorgeous cover (and interior, actually - the design is so pretty!) When I finally got around to reading it, I had heard enough people mention it that I knew that it was either really, really good, or I was going to be disappointed to find that it was way under the standard I had been told it hit ;). But having finished it, I can say: it was really, really good.

Within 24 hours, I had gone through the first 4 chapters (considering I wasn't skipping the study section and bible studies always seem to take me a while to go through, this is definitely saying something for this book!) Reading through the first chapter I kind of felt like it was going to fall short... until I was hit with a bombshell that I hadn't expected, and then I instantly became excited to go through the rest! I had heard a lot about this book in the context of biblical self image and modesty, and really didn't expect much more from it through most of the first chapter, but then there was just one little sentence that jumped out at me (I think it might have even been in the study questions, not the actual chapter!) about finding our identity in Christ or in... well, literally anything other than Christ, and I got a glimpse of just how deep this book was going to delve, and it truly made me stop and think, and then I couldn't wait to get into the rest of it! This book covered so much... loving the Lord with your whole heart, using your time wisely, finding your identity not in what other's think of you but it who God has called you to be, living bravely for Christ, the jobs a girl could take on (do you think they were able to give an answer that would work for everyone without knowing their circumstances? It was the best way to answer that question I have seen!), how we have been placed here "for such a time as this", and yes, modesty and self-image... directly and indirectly, it dealt with SO much, and I loved it.

Kristen and Bethany write like they are right there, with plenty of stories of their own shortcomings to encourage you that they've been here and they know; but they have also been blessed to see the truth, and they want to share it with all the other woman out there. I truly loved going through this book... it was such an encouraging read, but more than that, it was refreshing. I am going to say that 95% of everything in this book is something that I have thought through in the past. But looked at from a new perspective, it wasn't redundant at all. And it's sisterly advice "spurs on to good works"; whether this is new to you or you are well versed in these matters, whether you are working steadily or are feeling discouraged. It was easy to read, but deep to think through, and I honestly look forward to reading it again! It's definitely going to be one of the top books I recommend after this :)!

(For those of you who wanted to know when I shared the Undivided study, yes, this book (as Undivided did) uses more bible translations than the KJV when sharing verses. I read the ESV and HCSB along with the KJV habitually, so this wasn't a problem for me, but for those of you who's conscience would be hurt by this, I didn't want to accidentally deceive you by not bringing it up. When a translation that I don't feel is the best is shared in a book, I know I can always look it up in my own bible to "rightly divide the word" for myself; if you think that you can do that, I still wholeheartedly recommend this book, because it is such a blessing!)

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In other little news from today...
Noah this afternoon woke up from his nap and yelled for me. I came to lay down with him, and he gave me the tightest squeeze, gave a sleepy smile, and told me, "Oh, so comfortable. It's not 4 o'clocks yet." And went back to sleep <3.
For the curious, "4 o'clocks" means nap time is over. He may get up at 4 o'clock... sometimes he tried to test us by telling us it is 4 o'clocks ahead of time ;). Unfortunately, unlike him, we can read a clock ;). But this is the first time he has voluntarily said it was NOT 4 o'clock just to get to stay at nap time, I found it adorable.

I'm working on a new "thing" for the shop today :D! Daddy suggested this one, and I have to say, I love it. As soon as he suggested it I knew 1. It needed artwork. 2. I wanted it to be a chalkboard (although, now that I have finished the design, I also really want to make a happy, colorful canvas one, so, we'll have to see about that!). So last night, I sat down and freehanded a sketch of an ice cream cone, and today I dug out a chalkboard! I had some issues with my photoshop which was frustrating, but once it cooperated, I loved how the design turned out :D! This was actually my first time using the graphite transfer method on a chalkboard, and it IS possible, soooooo... lots more ideas just opened up where chalkboards are concerned. *wheels turning* And what does everyone else think? Should I add hearts around the ice cream cone, or not? Here's the original sketch...

And I am ridiculously pleased with how that fast draft turned out. I am no artist, y'all, so forgive me my excitement. But I pulled up a pinterest sheet of ice cream doodles and combined about three to make that ^. Peter was sitting beside me, pointing out all the mistakes I was making ("THAT ice cream cone doesn't have a cherry!!!" - he told me I must not know what I was doing, hahaha), but when I finished my pencil sketch and started tracing over it with a permanent marker so it would show up well in photoshop, he goes, "Woahhhhhh, you are a good tracer though!!!" We all have our skills ;).

Speaking of the shop... Under The Tapestry is celebrating 3 years on Friday, and I am holding a contest on my FB page and running sales all week long to celebrate :)! So you'll want to check those out here and here.

How is your week going? Have you read "Girl Defined"? If so, what was your favorite thing about this book? Would you add hearts around the ice cream cone? And are you going to join in Under The Tapestry's contest :D?!

Rejoicing in Hope,
Bri <3

Looking Back at July ✽ Little Moments

Happy August, everyone! I hope your July was wonderful and that this new month will hold lots of blessings for each of you! Life was busy and full in July, and now we are all just wondering when Baby Bear will choose to grace us with his presence ;). Here's a little look at our month...

One night while Mama and Daddy went on a date, I had the little ones make personalized pizzas for supper. It made quite the impression on them. Abbi especially talks about it constantly, and I would say it was definitely a memory maker for them, haha!

Abbi made her pizza shaped like a stocking on accident, lol!

I wuv him <3. He woke up early and came to snuggle me in bed while I did my bible reading, but by the time I was ready to get up he was fast asleep again :).

We were gifted these chairs by a kind couple at church who are moving, so sweet!

Peter drew the kissy-face emoji from memory after seeing it once as I scrolled through instagram. Too cute!

Mama and I have been crafting half the month; she took up fabric stamping (so awesome!), and I have been working on a baby blanket for 3 weeks... hopefully just two more days worth of work to do there! I kind of had a goal to finish in less than 40 days, which is, I think, my current record for how diligent I was on getting one from start to finish. I'm not a very competitive person except against myself, then I am ruthless, haha! But I'm not going to share any pictures, we'll get some with baby eventually ;).

Our garden... haha. Well, the bell peppers and tomato plants started flowering. But it's so late now, I doubt that it really does much good. But, as Bethi says, we did better than last year! We've got three cucumbers that are quite big, and we harvested a whole basil plant (which is currently drying in the dehydrator, and it smells delicious, but it's taking so loooonnnnnng, haha!). Last year we got three basil leaves. And Bethi lost them. This year is, sadly, an improvement. We had such a great garden before we moved to VA, it's sad!

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Josiah: "I am hiding the dice from Noah. He can't see it way up there!"
Yeah, well neither can you, buddy... haha!

Noah, sitting in the van, about to go into church...
"Get pizza!"
After church:
"Get pizza now!"
*babbles about pizza*
Mama: "What if we don't get pizza?"
Noah, little lips quivering: "Because [translated "but"]. It be tasty."
*pizza for lunch*

Noah, with a caution cone on his head: "I'm a birthday!"
*Mama gives him a real birthday hat for fun*
Noah: "Where's a mirror? I sooooooo cute!"

Abbi: "Noah! It's raining!!!"
Noah: "More whipped cream!"
He typically loves rain, but apparently :whipped cream > rain:.

Also, obviously Noah is the family comedian of the year. You can't beat two year olds. (Sorry, Tori.)

Can we all just agree that if you clean the play kitchen set at church and there AREN'T toy cars in the oven, the question begs to be asked, did they even use the nursery last week?

Tori: "Noah calls cardinal birds, caramel birds."
Peter: "...Cardinal birds?...
"...I think I know why...
"...I call them caramel birds, too."

*Me, talking to myself, obviously*
Andrew: "WOULD YOU JUST BE QUIET."
I thought that that habit had died down for some reason, but nope, it's totally still buried in there, and it's resurfacing full force. Honestly it annoys me too when I notice, but it's just so involuntary, lol.

Also, does anyone else find themselves making a conscientious decision to Stop. Singing. In. Their. Head. and breath a sigh of relief when everything is quiet for two minutes before you start again...accidentally? Or no? Is that just me?

Noah, pointing to a cucumber; "Cucomoe!"

Abbi: "We've loved each other all our lives."
"Except you were MISSING for eleven years of my life, and it was sad."
Abbi: "But we have always loved each other in our hearts, even when we didn't know it..."

Abbi and Emmi, pretending to be indian princesses, walk past our organization station:
Emmi: "Ooo! You have a morning schedule! Not many tribes have those."

Josiah, when Tori asked if he liked salsa chicken: "No, but I just keep on eatin' it. And when it spices me, I have to take a big drink."

Andrew: "I didn't want to take my belt to bed with me! I might swallow it while I slept." (???)
Tori: "And then every time you would open your mouth to sing, you would start... BELTING."

Josiah explaining "Duck, duck goose": "You sit, and we'll goose you."

Bethi: "You don't get points for doing nothing."
I mean, she was being sarcastic, but that's a great life lesson right there. Thanks, Bethi.

While mourning the fact that the first baby cucumber I found was eaten by bugs, two much bigger cucumbers were growing and I never even knew it, I was so surprised when I found them, haha.

Noah is only too young for coffee when he wears this shirt....

...If he is wearing literally any other shirt, he says he is big enough. It's hilarious. I will tell him, "You're too young for coffee!!!" and he looks down at his shirt to see whether he is too young today, or not.

I'm turning on the dehydrator for basil...
?!?!?!?!?!
"It won't turn on."
*checks plug*
"Ohhhhhh, good."
*plugs it in* *turns it on*
"It still won't start. Where is the manual? Maybe I forgot something.... nope. Oh dear. Wait a minute... I bet..."
...
"Yep. Y'all, I plugged in the coffee pot."

I take a video of Noah telling me what his "Dino-mite Dude" shirt says, because it's cute, and he asks to see it.
After it's over, he tells me, giggling, "That was Noah. Noah talking like a baby." Like he doesn't talk all day long like a baby for obvious reasons... like, um, being a baby ;).

Abbi and Emmi celebrated Christmas in July... with an umbrella tree, a precious moments figurine, and air cocoa with candy canes in a Christmas cup, hahaha!

Tori, while I edit this post... ""Are you laughing at your own blog?"
Me: "Cardinal Birds?... I think I know why..."

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These knitted washcloths are available in Under the Tapestry :)! I was asked to sell these by a knit-washcloth-fan, and I have several sets available! And Under the Tapestry celebrates it's 3 year opening anniversary on August 10th! How would y'all like to see that celebrated :)? I have some ideas, but I am still finalizing things, so I am open to suggestions!

I also impulse free-handed this little mouse for Noah one night. He had been carrying around a baby's first laptop just to play with the little "computer mouse" on it. So I thought, I bet he'd like one without the laptop attached, and that evening I crocheted it up on the fly in a little over an hour. I finished it after he went to sleep, which made me sad, because I had told him I was making something for him... but then he woke up being carried to bed, and I was like, "Hey Noah..."... and when he saw it, he gasped and grinned from ear to ear, and it was just precious! I told Bethi, "That was worth it!!!", to which Noah replied, "Yeah, Merphett," and shoved the mouse in her face, so now this little guy is called Merphett the Mouse, and the pattern for him is going to be up on Under The Tapestry Handcrafts soon!

And here are the posts I shared on Forget Not His Benefits this month, in case you missed them :).

Life Lately

Undivided: A Study in 1st Samuel 

Whereas it was in Your Heart

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How was your month :)?! Any ideas for Under The Tapestry's 3rd "birthday"? What are you looking forward to in August :)? Many blessings to each of you in our precious Lord and Savior!

Rejoicing in Hope,
Bri :)

Precious Baby Boy...

Noah Robert Lee

Born 03/23/16 at 1:27 a.m.

Thankful Thursday, 07/30/15

So I've just realized it's been a good six weeks since I even considered doing a Thankful Thursday post -or any actual blogging, for that matter. That does not seem possible! I have several post ideas in mind, but we'll have to see if I can manage my time well enough to get around to them! First, though, I want to share some of the awesome things that we have been up to the past month, and then my thankful list for today :).

Early last month, we gave our room a complete redecorating, which included Mama spray painting furniture for hours (upon hours) for us. It turned out sooo cute, and I am so glad that that is finally done :).

And then, we had a WONDERFUL visit from some WONDERFUL people!!! Mama made a friend at her church when she was a teenager, and kept in touch with her off and on through the years. This friend has eight children, and the oldest, Katie, has been my best friend and accountability partner for several years. BUT, we had never actually met in person! It finally worked out that she was able to fly down here with her younger sister, Danielle, and we had such an awesome time! We were able to go to Jamestown and go blueberry picking while they were here, which was fun :). The little boys had never been blueberry picking before, but both of them were picking like old pros by the time we left- Josiah was adorable! The whole week was wonderful, and Katie and Danielle are so precious :). It was sad to send them back home, haha!

We were able to go to Yorktown a few days later. We got to see the Moore house, the battlegrounds, Bacon street... haha ;)... and we walked down to a Ben and Jerry's shop! It was a really nice day... my favorite part, though, may have been carrying Peter back to the car. Man, that little guy was chatty and goofy that evening, haha! It was hilarious!

Soon after that, we all packed up and headed down to SC :)! We got to see our family down there, and they had lots of fun planned into the week. Grandpa took us geocaching, Aunt Tessa and Aunt Amber took us to some art galleries, and Grandma got a kit to make beeswax candles that we enjoyed making up, and we also got to spend one night at Gramma's, as well :). We stopped in to see some dear friends on the way home... and, as has often happened before, their older girls "decided" to see if they could "trick Daddy into driving off with them". I followed along in good fun, because it's never worked before... When it appeared to be working, I started panicking, haha, and earned myself the title of traitor ;), before finding out that it had all been discussed between our parents beforehand, and they were actually coming home with us for a few days! We had a great time :). We  held a couple hymn-singings, which was delightful :). We also got to watch the new movie "Alone Yet Not Alone", and I've been singing that song ever since... I need to either quit it or learn the whole thing, haha! I'm starting to drive myself nuts singing only half of it ;).

It was wonderful to get to visit with so many of our loved ones :). Now we are getting back into the swing of school, and I am trying to knock some stuff off of my two-year-old to-do list :P... I FINALLY got a box of papers cleaned out yesterday! Now I have another one to do today... haha :). I save too much...

And that's the very short version of all that has been going on. If I had been a consistent blogger, you would have got more detail as it happened, but unfortunately that doesn't seem to be one of my strong points when I have stuff that would make interesting blog posts, haha ;). But I think now I am going to share some of the things that I am thankful for this week, and then I'm going to go get busy :).

So, this week I am thankful for...

~The book of James, which we just finished up a study on.
~The smile of pleasure and satisfaction the older gentleman at church gave me as he handed me tomoatoes grown from his own garden :).
~People who are willing to put aside their time to give to others.
~Tori's encouragement to keep practicing at learning piano chords. Despite her laughing at me, she does seem to be tolerating my terribly faulty notes better than I had hoped when I first looked up to see her sorrowfully staring at me in disbelief the first day I sat down at the piano. It had been four years, I think, since I actually attempted any piano playing, hahaha...
~An encouraging phone call from a friend just when I needed it.
~Hugs.
~Making fresh bread.
~Randomly singing dramatic nothings with Tori... and then Bethi enters in with a totally exaggerated squawk for humorous affect, and nobody can sing anymore because we're laughing so hard, haha.
~Josiah's calling for me... melted my heart! He is such a precious little guy <3.
~Blueberry crisp.
~That it looks like the sun will be out today! It has been rainy here the past few days, and though I love a nice, quiet, drizzly day, several in a row makes my motivation go out the window -I can't function in the dark!
~Mornings complete with bible study, coffee, cleaning up, breakfast, blogging, practical conversations with Peter, and not knowing whether to laugh or think "that was obvious" at all of the puns Tori is reading off to me, haha. And Peter is sitting across from me at this moment with such cute bedhead, haha.

I hope each of you have a great day and a blessed week :)!!!

It's a real snow!

You should have seen all the window watching as everybody talked about how much snow they wanted to get last night, haha :). We woke up this morning to over eight inches!

Josiah looked a little bit short in all that snow, heehee :). He tried to walk through it (he has started walking all by himself... it is sooooo sweet!!!! His little feet pitter-pattering -very loudly- on the hardwood floors, haha :).). It was so cute :). He couldn't make it very far though... haha :).

I love this one... looking up at Mommy after he gives up trying to move any farther, haha :).

Peter stuck it out for a looong time (longer than I chose to, haha!), which is even more impressive when you take into account that he spent half of the time floundering like this, because he was having so much trouble walking through the stuff, haha! At one point he asked Mommy to carry his bike (ya... a bike... I'm not sure why...) to the front for him, and when they made it to the front he told her "Whew. Pretend I drived." Haha!

I'm pretty sure Josiah disapproved of whatever they were doing ;)...

An artist works wherever she goes and with whatever she finds :).

And here is Peter  with yet another summer toy in the snow... haha! Andrew and Peter also had a toy car out there. Andrew told Mommy that they were playing rescue, and "Peter's car is stuck in the snow, so I am getting him- Peter, where are you going?!!!". Haha! I guess Peter called the rescue squad a little prematurely ;).

Daddy and Andrew went out this morning to clear the driveway before Daddy went to work, and helped a couple of neighbors to do their driveways, as well :). This mound looked like it would be fun to jump in like a leaf pile... but I couldn't bring myself to do so. It was too cold... (It was just brought to my attention that Tori braved it after I got back inside! Go Tori! Haha!)

The artist's Snow Queen... literally ;).

While we were out, Tori came to me and asked me to take a couple pictures for her. She loves winter and the sea, so she decided to combine them! She took Josiah for a bit while I did so, and she was hilarious... it appears that was the first time she had held him outside in the snow, haha! "It's okay Josiah... you're okay... I'm not going to drop you!... I'm really scared I'm going to drop him. Okay, can somebody just take him before I trip?". It was hilarious, especially given how sure footed she always is!

And then we came inside and enjoyed some hot chocolate... which Peter really enjoyed... enjoyed wearing, if nothing else. Heehee :)!