February Review ✽ Hello March

Highlights:

-Daddy and Mama's anniversary :).

-Enjoying some fellowship with a few families from our church.

-Realizing that if I wanted to make chocolate frosting instead of popcorn or chocolate for my snack, I could. I was like, I want frosting, but I don't have time to make a cake.... wait, why make a cake? Lol! 

-Valentine's Day. We always do a little bible study with the story of Isaac and Rebecca, and Daddy gives us each chocolate and roses, and then we do pizza and a movie (we watched the new "Pete's Dragon", and it was actually really cute, but nothing like the first one, lol!)

Daddy during our bible study: "What was Rebecca doing?"
Emmi: "Working."
"What was Isaac doing?"
Josiah: "FINDING HIS KINGDOM."

A little later: "What are we supposed to be focused on?"
Correct answer would have been, you now, the Lord, but Josiah yelled very confidently: "CHOCOLATE!"
Haha. Speaking of chocolate, he refused to eat his fruit filled chocolates. He mashed all of them with his thumb to see what was in them, licked the fruit filling, and was like, this does not go in chocolate, it is gross. So he got a couple chocolate kisses, too.

-Getting to help out at both special needs respites this month, and hearing of another that I may be able toy get involved in. I'm loving helping out with these! Although I have never had so many names I actually needed to remember thrown at me at once, and I'm having such a hard time with them, and it's really bothering me, because knowing people's names is super important to me. Actually, knowing any name is important to me. I felt so bad for forgetting a friend's cat's name one time. Lol1

-Getting to make that bunny hat that I have wanted to make for so long :). Really loved that! I've been able to do so much crafting this month; I just finished another set today, but it's a surprise, so I'll wait to share it :).

-Mama inviting me to study Ephesians with her :). A couple years ago a friend and I read through Ephesians together, and we decided someday we would study Colossians together, because the two books are so similar. We did Colossians 3 last month (which has the most similarities, I think), and then right after Mama asked if I wanted to do Ephesians, and it's fun, because it's like I've come full circle, and it brings even more out when you can compare the two :). While we're going through it, I went through and read all the references for Ephesians, and it was actually a pretty involved church in the NT. Now I want to study all the other churches and see if they were mentioned as much, and it just gets lost in all the places and names, or if Ephesus really was a bigger part of everything, haha :).

-Driving to Walmart WITHOUT running into a pole (I never have yet, but it came close once)... haha!

-Having a several hours long chat with my best friend. It was such a blessing! I love how we can go without talking for a while and then talk for hours; and yet if it's only been a few days, we can talk for forever if we get the chance, too. Andrew was tired of waiting for me to get off the phone, though, haha...

-Mama finding a new youtube channel (Summit Kids) with songs for children that have scripture truths in them, and the little ones, even Josiah, singing along to them every night when I watch music videos with them. It hasn't even been a week and Peter has already memorized the choruses, he's too cute with them stuck in his head, hahaha!

Laughing at:

-The fact that William Tyndale had a friend offer to buy all of Tyndale's bibles for a hostile lord, so that this guy could burn them. He paid Tyndale's friend for giving him that pleasure, this friend then went to Tyndale and they printed 3 times as many bibles with that money. I don't remember that story at all, but it is literally priceless, haha! Nothing shall prevail against God's word and His will!

-Me, teasing Josiah:
"Nooooo, I think you're a bug." *pokes the bugs on his pj shirt*
Josiah: "No, I'm not. I'm just a jamma bug thing." *pauses, realizes that came out wrong* "I have a jamma bug thing. See?"

-Reading through 2 Chronicles in our family bible time, and Daddy getting to the part about King Josiah. We all looked at Josiah to see how he'd take that, and he was asleep.
The second night, chapter 2 on King Josiah: Joey is once again asleep.
The third night, Josiah is awake, but Daddy says, "Funny, he's just called "the king" for like the first 17 verses."
Josiah at about verse 16: *eyelids dropping shut* He never did get to hear it.
And he goes to sleep soooooo fast when he wants!!! He likes for me to be in his room when he goes to sleep. If I leave without snuggling him, I hear he stays awake for a few minutes, but if I agree to lay with him for a minute, he tells me goodnight, very determinedly closes his eyes, and is actually asleep in about 75 seconds. I'm so jealous.

Quotes I liked:

-"He was a brave Lordling, and we need his like: a new weapon of the old metal" -Tolkien Reader, Beorthtnoth (I actually liked this story least out of the book, but I LOVED that "new weapon, old metal" analogy!)

"[Children's] books like their clothes should allow for growth, and their books at any rate should encourage it" -J. R. R. Tolkien

"Let me reckon my old life dead because of crucifixion,
and never feed it as a living thing.
Grant me to stand with my dying Savior,
to be content to be rejected,
to be willing to hold unpopular truthes,
and to hold fast despised teachings until death.
Help me to be resolute and Christ-contained.
Never let me wander from the path of obedience to thy will.
Strengthen me for the battles ahead." -"The Valley of Vision"


Reading:

-"God in a Manger"... because I never finished it at Christmas, lol. I did, like, no optional things during Christmas, haha.

-"The Tolkien Reader", a small collection of stories and essays by Tolkien. I enjoyed this one :).

-Matthew Henry's commentary on Ephesians to go along with our study. I love his commentaries, it just takes a while to get through them, haha :). So much depth -which is a good thing!

I feel like I read a good bit this month (compared to how little I had been doing of it), but I didn't add much to my list. I've still been reading "Foxe's Book of Martyrs", because I didn't finish that last month, and I'm continuing to go through "The Valley of Vision", but that's about it. I'm just happy to have it back as a part of regular life again. I had so many things out of balance, and I'm just trying to egg back to a more consistent way to go about all the lovely things that life holds!

Fails:

-Mama asks me if Polycarp was martyred or just persecuted, before we start a movie about him.
Me, who had just started Foxe's Book of Martyrs, internally: "martyred. oh, but wait, there was that one guy who was just persecuted. that might have been polycarp. now i don't remember."
Me, out loud: "I'm not sure."
Movie starts, and they come to take him.
Me, internally: "drat it. i knew that's how it happened, why didn't i say so?"

I'm sitting on my bed answering emails, Andrew brings me so food.
*pulls the lid off my yogurt*
*goes to take a drink of my yogurt*
Ambrielle, WHAT are you doing, something is wrong with me.

That letter writing challenge I was going to join? Yeah, I wrote 22 letters or cards. I missed six. This is why I never join any challenges. Even the ones that are completely easy and part of my every day life anyway, I somehow end up missing. I HAVE other letters to answer, even, I just haven't found the time to sit down and do them, because once I start I can't stop, and so I didn't finish. Oh well, I'll write the other six, and I'll be glad that I at least gave it a shot. Lol!

-Getting Christmas posts up. I give up, y'all. I'm scrapbooking them instead, and I'll try to do better with my time this next Christmas, and actually do something with myself, ha.

Also, I fail at winning Monoploy Deal. I can't do it. Tori beats me 70% of the time, and the other 30% it's usually someone else...

Grateful for:

-Lemon juice (it makes the fruit tea we drink even better!) Josiah was funny when I first put it in, though. He usually helps me prepare the tea; throws away the tea bags, watches me pour in the ACV, puts the spoon in the sink. He saw me pouring lemon juice in, and he asked me, "What is that even?"
-Noah <3. The little guy is just such a snuggle bug, I love him so much!!! He's a doll. And he loves his feet, haha :).
-Waking up early enough many mornings lately to enjoy listening to the birds singing in the morning. And be productive and have that first little time of quiet to do my bible study, and various other reasons, but hearing the birds singing in the morning and hearing trains at night are two of my favorite favorite "little" noises, and that first morning in forever when I woke up that early again, I was so delighted.
-That Mama knew to give everybody activated charcoal and grape juice when Abbi got a stomach bug. Either it's a really weird coincidence (I don't think she could have been that sick and it's not really be something), or the stuff really works, because nobody else has caught it!
-All the wonderful things that have happened this month :).
-That we are saved by grace as the gift of God.
-That I, as a gentile, was welcomed into the family of God by Christ's sacrifice on my behalf.
-Our new bed spreads :)! Our old ones were looking pretty bad, and these new ones are a lighter color and really brighten up the room. Ad they're cute. I love them :). We went with "matching" ones again, except we each chose a different color of the same print, so that is fun :).
-That Daddy left FCS several years ago to join LifeWay. Now that FCS is closing, it's a big blessing not to be going through that uprooting that so many families are going to be going through now. It's so sad.
-Bibles in different translations, to compare and study.
-All my pillows, haha.
-Finding children's books I used to love that I didn't know we still had, and getting to read them to my little siblings.
-Words, reading, and writing.
-Letters and emails, so I can keep up with friends who are far away (the phone, too, although I don't use it that much).
-Peter's spontaneous hugs.
-People who ask how they can pray for you <3.

I hope you all have had a wonderful month!
Rejoicing in Hope,
Bri :)

Shopping ✽ I love my big family

We're walking through Bi-lo, getting some snacks to eat before we go into Hobby Lobby, and I see a dime: "Josiah, look!"
*stares*
"Hey, look Joey!"
*stares*
"Do you see it?!"
Josiah: "Yes." *stomps on it*
"Donnnnn't you want money?...."
"No." *stalks off*
Whatever, sass monster. I gave it to Peter and he's been carrying it around ever since, lol! They are so different...

We get back out to the car with our snack. Tori: "This fish cracker bag smells like stinky feet. Not the fish crackers, just the bag."
*gag*
A pause, and then, Mama: "What smells like wet dog?"
*smells the fish cracker bag and gags*
?!?!?!?

Also, we met two ladies who had grown up in large families -6 and 8 siblings. That's not very common to run into, especially two in two hours, haha :). Everybody you meet who grew up in that setting though is always so supportive and excited about it. It truly is a blessing to grow up with so many siblings and to have those moments of learning from and with each other and strengthening those bonds <3. Right now Abbi is doing a study on Ephesians with Mama and I; Peter is on this kick of having to lay in Tori's bed with her for a few minutes every night or two to look at her pictures and lay in "a bed that matches his eyes"; Josiah is keeping us all well supplied with love-gifts of scraps of paper he has cut out and stabbed with a pencil, which he calls "doors" (the stab marks are the doorknobs , hahah!); Us older ones' current obsession during the little one's quiet time is Monopoly Deal, and it is becoming very obvious that Tori is the champion (but it's pretty much a game of chance?! I don't get it!!!!). It's the little things that make up life, and each person contributes in some way to making daily life what it is. People who haven't grown up like this assume that it's difficult and annoying to have to deal with so many different personalities all the time, but when you live like this, you don't think in numbers.  Each person is just that; a living person, a close friend, with their own hopes and dreams, quirks and struggles, obsessions and gifts. You divide out the work, you learn to put others first, and you constantly have a support system around you.

And having less children/siblings does not mean no fighting. Also, young children fighting when they are little does not mean they are sworn enemies for life. To this day, Tori and I laugh about the blue cup that used to be our biggest divider. When we were little, for weeks (months?) we argued about who got the dark blue cup. Mama eventually asked us, "When you are on your death bed, will it really matter? Will you lay there and say to yourself 'I wish I had had the blue cup one more time?'  No, you won't even think about it. So you need to stop fighting about it, because your relationship matters more than that cup."

We realized she was right, and we don't fight about the cup anymore... but we do laugh at how silly it was. And we've both vowed to think about the blue cup on our death bed if we are at all conscious, just for, haha! But we're best friends, and we've got lots of new little best friends, too, all of whom stick around no matter where we are :). Also, brothers who share your love for popcorn and siblings who will listen to music with you all night and give you an excuse to read children's books or watch children's shows are pretty handy ;). I love late night chats with my sisters; one of the best parts is when there is silence from all but two of you for 20 minutes and you think everyone else is asleep, and then a third sister answers a comment with a completely intelligible answer, and you are like, wait, weren't you asleep?! And then nobody, including the newly awakened sister, knows for sure, but it just sparks even more chatter and laughter... hahaha! Some nights it feels like a never ending loop of who is awake and talking and who is dozing off, and so many memories come out of those nights!

I don't know where that came from, but there it is... haha!

 
Also, I made a bunny to go with that bunny set, because Gramma shared a pattern that I thought was cute just hours after I finished the set, and I was still in the mode and couldn't help myself, haha.

Tori: *weird squeal while she stares at the dinning room*
Me: *holds Noah tighter, backs up really fast and stares at the wall trying to find out what is going on*
Bethi: "What is wrong with you, Bri?"
Tori: *laughs* "She's waiting for a fifty foot long roach to come running at her."
Actually, that's pretty much what I was thinking. And I think her acting might be a little dangerous for my health ;).

Happy Saturday!

Spilling Words ✽ Spring Bunny

Hello peeps :)!
I don't have anything big to share, so don't get too excited... I'm just talking... again... haha :). I didn't get to blog last week, and I've been waiting to be able to all this week, haha :).
Annnnnd my blog background seems to be missing. Lovely.
I'm kind of tired of Blogger's shenanigans right now...

Josiah, sitting in the car eating a snack before we go into Hobby Lobby: "Why are there truck rails?"
Mama: "Awwwww, the lines are truck rails, that's so smart!"
Josiah: "There are trucks on the truck rails." *points to truck* "There's a broken truck." *points to truck* "There is a broken truck." *points to van* "There is a not broken truck-car."
Haha!

We have this game where we tap Josiah's head and say, "Turn off!" Then he slaps his head and yells, "TURN ON!" We'll do it a couple times, and then, you know, usually that's it, until next time.
I guess he didn't want to play while I was getting him ready for church this Sunday, though, because, as I helped him stand up, I tapped his head...
"Turn off!"
'Siah: "TURN ON". *covers as much of his head as possible with both of his hands* "I have all my buttons."

Something I never would have expected to say:
Me: "Um, no. Actually. I think if you look like a pork chop, you probably are a pork chop."
Tori: "How much pork would a pork chop chop if a pork chop could chop pork?"
It was like 1 in the morning, we don't even remember why we were talking about pork chops.
Also, for your information, we don't eat pork chops anyway.

Me while eating some canned soup: "When we were little, we used to eat canned soup or these little turkey pot pies every Friday and Tuesday."
Abbi: "Were they good?"
"Yeah."
"Do you miss them?"
"Well, I mean they were good, but I'm afraid if we ate them again I would think they were nasty now."
Abbi: *sighs* "I miss them, and I haven't had them. I miss them in my mind, anyway."
I laughed, and Tori was like, "What? I miss walking to the mall for a pretzel, and I've never done that either."
True.
And Mama heard us from her room (?!?!?!) and bought some turkey pies the next day, and we ate them with toast, per tradition, and they actually weren't bad, so I was thankful that bit of nostalgic memory didn't disappoint me, haha :).

Tori: "Who am I in When Call the Heart?"
Me: *thinks* *gives my best answer* "So who would I be?"
Tori: *evil snicker* "Charles."
"Ewww. Please no."
Tori: "I was joking. You're Gowen. NOOOOOOOOO, YOU ARE BILL!!!!"
"Why are you so mean, what even? No!!!"
"No, you're Clara, I think."
"What? Really? I wouldn't have expected that, especially from you. That's not usually the kind of character you pick for me."
"Well, whatever, you're the lady who preaches."
And she just kept throwing out names every single time I asked if she'd settled on one yet. I don't even know.

Also, I know we are behind on the times, but we just finished watching season 2 the other day, and I am so disturbed. Mama and Daddy are laughing at us, because they already know what happens after this, but seriously, when Charles was the one at the end, Tori and I literally both jumped forward and gasped "WHAT?" Like, whyyyyyy!??!
And I'm really annoyed that the Pastor is a former criminal.
And I firmly believe that as annoying as she can be, you can't actually hate Rosemary.
I'm done. Sorry.

And can I just show you what I finished this morning, because, ahhhh, I am so hyped about this one!!!! It was weeks in the making in between other projects, but it's finished now, and I love it! I did it without a pattern, but "recreated" it based off of this Etsy listing, and added a diaper cover because I loved this picture. My Granny asked me if I could make her a baby set to give as a gift, and told me she didn't care what it was, so I got to make that hat, which I have loved since I first saw it, but, um, I wasn't going to make it for a brother, hahaha! Soooooo, I jumped at this chance, and I finished it, and it's so sweet and girly and knit <3. Haha! Also, I forgot that I don't knit as much as crochet partly because it blisters my finger, but I've remembered, haha...  I think I'll be doing more knitting soon anyway, though, because the project has fueled me to do a couple others, haha :).

Rejoicing in Hope,
Bri :)

Happy Saturday ✽ Little things from my week

^^^^ That's my blogging buddy this evening. Although he's not sitting on the bed anymore... as soon as I sat down he came and crawled on my lap, and he's just sitting here. He's been doing that so much lately, he's gotten so snuggly and I love it <3.

I spent half my morning drinking coffee and and reading "Toliken's Reader", because...

:). One of my friends made me that mug, and it's adorable <3!

Also, my morning was spent doing completely unreasonable things, like walking downstairs and getting my arm stuck on the stair railing because I forgot to let go before I turned the corner. Me.

Mama wouldn't take me driving after that, hahaha! Actually, we weren't planning on it anyway, but, she still mentioned it as a definite no, haha.

This was (just one of) my completed projects this past week :). I freehanded the pattern, and I found great satisfaction out of making her feet one piece with her legs without a pattern and having them still come out with some shape to them.. And actually, the shoes delighted me too, although they actually aren't such a much. It's the little things in projects that the creator ends up loving, haha :). The hood, though, was... eh, yeah. I made it four times, and I still am not totally pleased with it, but I couldn't even cheat and use someone else's pattern, because apparently NOBODY else can make the hood either... haha! The thickness of the yarn doesn't allow it to disappear into the dress like the real thing, but, that's okay. This wasn't actually for my shop, I made it up for a little friend, and she requested I leave the hood, so, I went with it, despite wanting to tear it out and throw away the yarn, haha ;). But, along with this, I got several things made or started this week, so watch for new items in Under the Tapestry next week :D!

We went over to a church family's house for lunch last Sunday, along with a couple other families. Of course music/The Piano Guys came up in the conversation. One of the girls leaned forward really eager and asked, "Oh, you listen to the Piano Guys?!"
"Yeah, every night I make some tea, and Josiah and I sit down and watch some of their music videos while we drink it," I told her. (I love this time of the day <3 .)
She got this kind of taken-aback look on her face, leaned back in her chair, and said, "Wow. That's.... sophisticated."
"No, you don't understand," I laughed. "It's fruit tea out of a mason jar."
"Ohhhhh," she answered, and I really think she seemed relieved. "Well, that's about as sophisticated as we southern rednecks can get."

Watching "Cello Wars" as "the Jedi" does his "crazy mind tricks": "You will start cello lessons... now."
Peter, in his matter-of-fact way: "No we won't."
Me: "Wow, Peter, that was pretty defiant for you."
Peter: "Well, we don't even have a cello in this house!"

Tori: "Thank you Peter."
Peter: *pauses, thinks a minute.* "...You are welcome."
*turns to me*
"I didn't hear what she said, but in my mind I heard what she said, so I said she was welcome."
Tori: "He means he guessed."

Rejoicing in Hope,

Bri :)

Happy Anniversary, Mama and Daddy! ✽ More randomness, it's all I do

Mama and Daddy celebrated their wedding anniversary yesterday <3. The little people put on an elaborate show for them, with Abbi on the keyboard, Emmi dancing, 'Siah on the harmonica, and Peter strumming the guitar (...when he remembered, haha! His contribution was my favorite, he was adorable to watch.) Then Andrew gave a show of the singing dog choir, and Abbi put on a puppet show about two pigs who fell in love, and Emmi served them little pieces of bread cut into hearts. It was so much fun to watch... I had been hearing the planning and rehearsals for about a week beforehand, so I had the added benefit of anticipation, haha! And each person's leading act was so fit for their personalities! We were laughing so hard, it was awesome... As they brought out yet another surprise, Mama mentioned that it was a big deal because Tori and I never did this, and I reminded her that we did, once. We put on a show, and they laughed, so I vowed never to set one up again, haha. But I'm very hopeful that this crowd will stay in business (and as one of the "unimportant" people who can hear all behind the scenes production, it sounds like that hope is well grounded).

Then we watched old family videos, because Mama remembered the show we talked about and wanted to see it again, haha! And oh my goodness, Tori acted like Josiah in so many ways when she was little! And looked nothing like Emmi, although Emmi is almost her clone now? Isn't it interesting how that works?!

I am so thankful for my parent's relationship and love for each other. It is a blessing I know not everybody has! They have worked together to bring our family to just the place God has for us, and God has used each of them to strengthen the other, and it is a joy to have this example set before us <3.

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Joey is the King of Working... unless there is anyone

he could boss to do it instead, of course, haha ;).      

 JoJo walks by the garbage can, sees trash laying on the floor: "I threw this. Away. FOR A REASON!"

*picks up trash and slams it back into the trash can*

*Lumbers away like the growling, snarling, cuddly teddy bear he is.*

Daddy examines my glasses: "There is a little spot here, and it's actually part of the glasses."

Me: "Huh?"

"Actually, there is one of each of your lenses. With a 1/25 written under each one."

"I don't know what those numbers mean. Both of my eyes have different prescriptions, and neither one includes a 25? And I've never noticed the circles."

Daddy: "Well, I'm going to assume it doesn't mess with your vision then..."

I *can* see it if I look hard now that I know it's there, but yeah, I've not noticed at all for the past ten months, haha!

By the way, I have zip depth perception without my glasses. I went to get my glasses cloth to clean them before I put them back on, stating I didn't need the glasses to do so, and promptly bumped into the edge of the table. 

Also, I was going to pull my head out of the fridge the other day and almost ripped my glasses off with the freezer handle. Story of my life.

We watched "Miss Potter" earlier this afternoon, and it was fun to watch it knowing this time how closely they had actually stuck to her life. When we were at my aunt's, I was reading a Beatrix Potter journal she has, and I was surprised to find that she mentioned being engaged to Norman Warne in one of the entries. I asked Mama later, "Did you know that that actually happened? I thought you said that was just added to the film, and it disappointed me so much." She answered that she had only found that it was rumored, not confirmed -it was speculated, but his brothers denied it, although that didn't mean it didn't happen, since the engagement was supposed to be a secret. I told her about the journal, and she was like, "Oh. I guess the speculation came from... her journal... then." So, yeah, I enjoyed knowing the movie was pretty accurate AND good, haha :). I love that opening scene... it's "nothing special", "just" washing paintbrushes... and yet they brought out the beauty of it perfectly :).