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 :)!!!

Thankful Thursday, Week 101, 102, 103, and 104... yep, the whole month...

The past month I've been thankful for....

~Emmi Joy joining me for my morning bible time.
~To be in the next phase of Mark, chapters 9-12 :)!

~Abbi and Emmi's little voices asking me questions about a bible passage I'm reading to them. They are quite hilarious at times!
~Daddy's four day weekend home :).
~Peterbug the snugglebug falling asleep on my lap, he doesn't do that much anymore (neither does he usually overfill his diaper while he is sitting on me anymore... haha...)!
~That the baby blanket turned out nicely.
~That our dough hook got here!
~A visit from a girl I have been writing here in VA earlier this month. We had a really good time, it was a lot of fun to finally meet her :). Abbi stuck to her like a leech about the whole time she was here, heehee :).
~To be done sewing up all the little knit/crocheted toys that needed repairs, plus finishing a doll vest and helping Andrew pick up some dropped stitches, and mending a couple of Mommy's afghans... now, I just have to finish a set of doll booties, and maybe finish a hat, and all the knit/crochet projects that have needed done for up to eight years will be done... yes, it's pathetic ;)...
~Grapes... I believe I could find them addicting, haha.
~Wild life outside the window... this big visitor (in this very fuzzy picture, I know...) was sitting on a tree right next to our deck. I'm quite shocked by what we do get here, even in a neighborhood we've seen deer in our back yard!

~These little faces... Peter climbed right up onto  Emmi's lap to snuggle :)... Look at Emmi... I don't know how easy it will be to tell from this and past pictures, but she just *grew up* over night a couple weeks ago... it was the oddest thing!

~Emmi's love for this blanket... it was started by one of Mommy's friends, she gave it to me to finish, and Emmi uses it all the time, it's cute :).

~Peter's love to shop... he was so cute while we were at Goodwill, he was pointing to everything, "Lookie! Aw! That!" Haha :). He pointed to a rack of baby girl clothes and said "Awww, baby!!!", it was hilarious!
~Oh, and his "Hi". He has started saying hi to everyone, all day long, it's cute :).
~Unpacking baby clothes... Peter has grown *soooo* much, it was so sweet to pull out the little boy socks, Peter's feet are so big now, haha! We look at him as so little, but he is going to be such a giant when Baby gets here!
~Oh, and that Mommy found the baby boy clothes... randomly, after we gave up for the time being, after looking for an hour....
~And this sight... will we be using the brown or the pink here soon, what do you think :)?!

~Blueberry muffins.
~That our room is fully put together, heehee :). We've been shuffling people since we moved, now that we've finished, I think that I can safely say that the whole house is organized and complete, at least until we decide to move more shelves ;).
~Abbi's love for funny fruit... "Mommy, can I have THIS apple?!" She asked. "'Cause it's funny!". Oh, and the to blueberries that were stuck together were "GREAT", because "They looked like eyeballs!", haha :).
~These two young men enjoying their "guy movie" (Narnia) together at quite time, since Andrew doesn't like Monopoly, heehee...

 
~...so we three older girls played that while enjoying popcorn, and I won ;). But Bethi didn't ever officially go into debt, so that was the most exciting aspect of the game for her... ahem..
~Beading fun :)! These turned out so well, I love them :)! You could bid on them to win them at the next Hidden Treasures auction, the first week of April ;)...

~Finally finding a crocheted mushroom pattern!
~To be enjoying working on a tatted doily. I've wanted to try this for years, but have never had the time, when I didn't have a more demanding project, before :). I think next time I'll go with a larger pattern, though, it isn't turning out quite as big as I thought it would.
~Peter's love to be with "bubby"...

 Cooking together...

 ~...and copy buddy :).

 Working on Rubik's cubes together :).

~The amazing ways little ones can sleep (and the squish-able yummy goodness of the sweet cheeks :)...)

~Godly men and women like St. Patrick who have gone before.
~And "The Princess Adelina"... I got the whim to read it again when St. Patrick's day rolled around, and I was kind of shocked at all the neat stuff I had forgotten, haha :).
~Green iced cinnamon rolls. Yummy ;)!
~Oh, and green speckled popcorn. That was quite the experiment ;)...

~Funny pranks (Abbi stuck a clothespin on everybody else (without us knowing it, gulp!!! She CAN be stealthy when she wants!), and so we all got her back ;)...).

~Schoolwork done while cleaning ;). Andrew and Bethi were helping clean the walls, and I turned around to find that they were using the time to teach Abbi and Emmi their ABC's, haha!

~Rolling a ball back and forth with Peter :).
~Finding a very creative hairdo to try on Bethi... I'll share pictures when it happens ;)...
~"Many hands making light work" :).
~To be waking up "earlier" again... by 8:30 most mornings ain't bad. I told a friend that I'll get up at the time that I WANT someday... on accident ;)...
~The wonderful articles in this King's Blooming Rose magazine... it deals with serving the Lord cheerfully, and it has been such a blessing as some of the things they talk about have been things that the Lord has specifically laid on my heart lately!
~A vacuum that is working so much better than the last one, haha :).
~Clean windows.
~Our little "rainbow noise machine", a.k.a., Abbi ;)...
~A visit from our Grandparents this week :).
~Creative inspiration :)...

~... in the form of brightly colored flowers :). Grandma brought them over when she decided it would be fun to celebrate Seaweed's birthday, since they won't be here the day Seaweed actually eventually decides to arrive ;). We sang a mix of "Happy almost birthday", and "Happy waiting for you birthday", haha :). Grandma bought a cake, but couldn't bring herself to ask the bakery to write "Seaweed" on it, so we did that ourselves ;)...

~Gentle raindrops.
~Geo-caching with my family. We went to let Grandpa find "Luigi" Tuesday, and then we spent about four hours caching yesterday, heehee!
~AND, we found a cache we have looked for before and gave up. Daddy was going to give up (again ;)...), come back on a warm day, and see if it was hidden in a log in the water... but we found it at the base of a tree... it looked like this...

and yes, all but the net was buried in the ground.

 Ah! She's looking at the camera :)!!!! Yay!

Your guess is as good as mine as to what I was showing Tori, haha. Oh, no, I remember, we were actually getting something ready to put in the cache container, never mind :).

                                            ♥ This cutie :)...
~Interesting nature :).

~Green moss (and a Daddy who sees a photograph shoot chance in everything :).)

~Daffodils... they are my *favorite* spring flowers... We  saw quite a few while we were out caching the past couple days :).
~Lots of little ones piled on my bed :)...
~Abbi's love to build little block houses with Peter. I woke up about a week ago, and they were playing together... I woke up today, and she was carrying them in again to play with him, ready to spend some time "babysitting" him until we got up, without being asked :).
~That little Seaweed will be arriving any day now!!!! I can't wait to meet him/her :)!

"Praise the Lord!

Praise God in his sanctuary;

praise him in his mighty heavens!"

                              ~Psalms 150:1

Sharing A Little Bit From Our Weekend

We got out of the house last Friday late, not unusual for us, haha :). Partly because we were told that there would be another house showing the next day, and so we ended up doing our best to get it show-ready before we left. There actually ended up being two showings Saturday! That was really neat, we have never got two showings in one day before...

We got to Mommy's parents in the late afternoon, and had a great time catching up :).Aunt Tessa and Aunt Amber slept over at Grandpa and Grandma's, as well, that first night, and on into the next day. I'm sure Grandma was grateful for their help when we left all the little ones Bethi and down with her the next day ;). I know Andrew and Bethani enjoyed going with Aunt Amber to feed the ducks :).

The memorial service for Uncle Jerry was beautiful. Uncle Jerry, or Jericho, as I used to call him (and nobody will let me forget it, it stuck throughout the family ;).) will definitely be missed, but we know that he is waiting for us with the Lord. I think he became such a big part of our lives over the past two years, even though we lived about two hours away. I am thankful for that time with him :). There were some very thought provoking things shared, and it was very special to be able to be there to remember him that way, although it had it's share of tears.

After the service we went "home' (we always call Grandpa and Grandma's home while we're up there :).) to have lunch and pick up the little ones. We then headed for Aunt Donna's for the afternoon. Cousin Melissa had brought bubbles and balls, and ended up passing out popsicles, as well, the little ones were thrilled, although Andrew's favorite part was the tire swing, haha :). He loved that thing! Tori says that Parker also tried to teach him how to play checkers, I hear that was quite the cute and humorous story ;). Peter was adorable, he is usually quite the stinker when others want to hold him, he nestles into Mommy or I and won't even look at anybody else if they so much as touch him, heehee, but he actually went up to several people and asked to be picked up, it was amazing! There were several family members and friends who dropped by over the course of the day. I was told a dozen times that Tori was just about as tall as me (ya, she's catching up fast...), and asked almost as many times when I was going to drive (nope, no desire, haha!) ;). Just add that to trivia about me... I'm short, don't like the thought of driving, and don't care if that is known ;). We also went over to Aunt Donna's Sunday afternoon. Aunt Donna gave Bethi one of the elephants from Uncle Jerry's elephant collection. Bethi and Uncle Jerry shared a love for all things elephants, and Bethi told Mommy that she'll never look at an elephant without thinking of Uncle Jerry from now on. Aunt Donna heard that and knew Bethi would be blessed by one of his elephant figurines, a very special, thoughtful, gift :)! It was raining that second day, but it wasn't bad and the porch is covered, so we ended up out there a lot both days, I love a porch-full of loved ones, babies, and rocking chairs :)... bubbles don't hurt either, heehee... the bubbles where a big hit ;). We didn't take pictures, we either forgot our camera or didn't take the time to find it most of the time we were at both family's houses. I wish I had thought more about it while we were there, it may be awhile before we make it back after we get to VA, we're not sure how long it will take to settle down there. I am thankful for this time we had with both sides of the family though :)!

Monday morning we stayed at Grandpa and Grandma's, and Aunt Tessa was also there. I was beading some hairpins and got to listen in on quite the game of "Memory", haha! Aunt Tessa then asked me to show her how I was making the pins, but we didn't make it very far, haha :P. She blessed us with some beads she had, thanks Aunt Tessa :)!

That afternoon Grandpa took us geocaching. It had rained off and on all morning, we were afraid we wouldn't be able to make it, and with it being our last visit before we move, that was a sad thought! But the sun finally showed up, and we had a great time :)! We found three caches... it's always an adventure :). The first one was at a beautiful covered bridge, the last one in SC :). Grandma has told us about it for two years now, I wish I had brought my camera, it was as pretty as she said it was :). That cache was more difficult, Aunt Tessa finally found it :).

Aunt Amber was able to join us for supper, and when we left to head home we swung by our Aunts' new home. It is adorable, and very cozy :). The only bad part is they can't bring their cats, Grandma is stuck with those, heehee ;). Grandma says Penny (one of the cats) is awful... she did throw some fits while we were there, but on the whole she is really lovable. She is rather a cat after Abbi's own heart ;)... I won't mention what hour it was when we got home... I will say that Grandma, who is a very early riser, wasn't too far from from waking up when we finally got to sleep after baths and unpacking, haha... I feel bad for the rest of the family, I ended up crashing right before supper last night and being of absolutely no help to all the other sleepy family members, haha. I think I rather made things more difficult when I did wake up and try to help, heehee ;).

This trip was such a blessing :). It will most likely be the last one we take until we leave for VA here in a couple weeks... such a neat thought that we are actually going :). Although I am a person who hates change when it comes, I always see that the change was always for the better afterwards (which makes the next change just as difficult... haha!), so I am really excited to see what the Lord has in store for us :)!!! I am just so thankful that Daddy has finally found a house that the owners will rent to us even with seven children in our family, in fact, they were looking for someone who was a fellow believer, how special is that :)? I can't wait to see what it looks like, haha! It sounds like it is really large, and wonderful in many ways, and I am sure that we will see that these past few months have been worth the wait and lessons learned, and I am so thankful that this time is ending and we will be together again! O my soul, forget not HIS benefits :)...