Our Miracle Baby-1 YEAR AGO & NOW!

I had a hard time sleeping last night just thinking of the miracle performed 1 year ago today.

Twas one year ago today that I was on an airplane to Los Angeles to meet Baby Blakely...

One of the below pictures is our sweet angel exactly one year ago today.

One is of her sibling resting in heaven.

And here she is today!

Is she a miracle or WHAT?

I still have a hard time comprehending God's miracles and goodness especially when it comes to this sweet adopted girl. IT ALL HAPPENED SO FAST! The preparation, pregnancy and birth and now she's a big 4 month old girl already.

Thank you Lord for the gift of Baby Blakely, for seeing us fit to be her parents, for allowing us to experience the miracle of pregnancy & child birth. For the donating parents who chose us. For allowing us to spread the word about embryo adoption. Thank you for knitting her together in my womb. YOUR WORKS ARE WONDERFUL!

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and WONDERFULLY MADE; your works are WONDERFUL, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. ALL the days ordained for me were written in your book BEFORE ONE OF THEM CAME TO BE!"
Psalm 139:13-16

ONE WHOLE HAND!!

We LOVED celebrating our little Aw-Bells "WHOLE HAND" birthday last week!

She WAS supposed to have a LITTLE Mermaid Party but all she got is the cake!

The UPS guy showed up with her LM Party supplies 20 minutes after her friends left-UGH!

Isn't she PRETTY??

WE are SO PROUD of you Caty and all you have accomplished since joining our family!

We LOVE YOU DEARLY!

CLICK HERE to read Caty's amazing adoption story!

Despite the lack of party supplies-she had FUN!

Opening gifts..

Which included Her favorite thing for 3 years running.....MAKEUP!

And playing musical chairs with her friends!

We are SO BLESSED that God chose us to be your parents! 

Fall Wreath TUT!

I'm hooking up with Jennifer Juniper again for TUTORIAL TUESDAY!

Where lots of crafty peeps get together each week and share!

AND

 

I really wanted a new fall wreath.

I used several ideas I had seen and created my own.

The following supplies are needed..

Glue Gun

Plain wreath-$5

Burlap-$2

Felt-$4

Scissors

Ribbon

Scrapbook Paper

Cut the burlap into about 3 inch strips

Wrap and glue burlap around wreath

Cut felt into 1 inch strips, fold in 1/2 and ROLL UP!

Also you can add a second color in to make bi colored flowers

Glue flowers on wreath

Then I just took a piece of brown ribbon, glued it to the back of the wreth, cut out some letters from scrapbooking paper and clipped them on with some tiny clothespins I had from a previous project.

AND VOILA, A PRETTY FALL WREATH! 

I LOVE THE WAY IT TURNED OUT!

HAPPY FALL!

Early Morning FARM EXCITEMENT!

We never know what excitement we will wake up to on the farm..

Can you guess what we are all doing outside at 7:45am?

Even the cat and dog are involved..

Thanks to our little TINKIEBELL

We got to see this...

Do YOU SEE HIM?

Mr. Smearfritz came RUNNING in the house while doing his chores telling us there was a COON up on top of the telephone pole... "AND HE'S ALIVE, he LOOKED RIGHT AT ME" He said..

I said "POOR LITTLE FELLA, we need to CALL SOMEONE and SAVE HIM!"

The Captain calmly replies.. "coons like doing that, they climb, they sleep up in trees and on poles every day,  he will come down when he's ready."

It was NEAT TO SEE!

Reminded me of life before my KING SIZE BED!

Sure enough, THE CAPTAIN WAS RIGHT as he is most of the time.

About 30 minutes later, here he came..

Another reason why CITY LIFE IS NOT FOR ME!

YOU GROW GIRL! 4 Months!

Happy 4 Months to our MIRACLE GIRL!

She is SO HAPPY to be 4 months old!

FOUR MONTH FACTS...

I think you are a bit over 12 pounds. We take you tomorrow for shots, weight and height!

Food-You are still exclusively nursing and starting to CLAMP DOWN at times which hurts mommy!

Diapers-You wear size 2 diapers and we JUST STARTED cloth diapering this week-only at home.

Sleep-you usually sleep between 8-10 hours a night going to bed between 7pm and 9pm. We will be moving you into your big girl crib SOON-you are definitely outgrowing your bassinette!

You can ROLL OVER!! We got it on video. You roll well from tummy to back but not the other way yet. This whole "rolling over gig" has started to cause problems with your sleep. You roll over and then can't figure out how to get back to sleep. Last night you were up 3 times-UGH!

You LOVE to blow bubbles, raspberries and slobber.

Your tongue is RARELY in your mouth, you LOVE to stick it out!

You can actually hold some toys in your hands now, its so neat to watch.

You love to suck on your burp rags and your blanket.

You now like your swing and still adore your bouncy seat!

YOU STILL HATE YOUR CAR SEAT so it's hard to take you places without you crying and mommy stressing!

You like to be worn in a baby carrier but only for a little while.

Daddy moved out of his "office" today and moved in the old toy room! We will start painting your OWN ROOM today and you will get to move in soon!

WE ARE ALL STILL MADLY IN LOVE WITH YOU and EVERY in SINGLE Prayer your brothers and sisters say before meals and at bedtimes-THEY THANK GOD FOR YOU!

78 Cent Jewelry Organizer!

HEY ALL! I'm linking up with Jennifer Juniper over at HOPE STUDIOS for her TUTORIAL TUESDAY!

Usually I am busy checking out what all the crafty peeps over there each week are making but never creative enough to join the party..

 BELIEVE IT OR NOT,

I made my OWN CRAFTY PHENOMENON this week!

I have been GOING BATS on Sunday mornings-not just because I have 7 kids to get ready for church but also LOOKING FOR JEWELRY! It's always all tangled up and mangled up so I have be wracking/racking (dictionary.com says both versions are right.) my brain to find something to declutter this mess.

My post partum brain CLICKED IN today and I did the below project in literally 10 minutes..

I had some old burlap, an old frame and I called THE CAPTAIN while he was at Wally World and said "hey pick me up some type of little hooks." He came home with red ones-2 packs of 5 for 39 cents each .

I took the glass out of the old frame, cut the burlap the size of the cheap cardboard backing inside the frame and covered it.  Put it back in the frame and pushed those little tabs down to hold it in place.

Measured the frame, marked it accordingly with a pencil, drilled 10 tiny pilot holes.

Then I let my 2 four year olds screw those puppies in RED AND ALL, didn't even spray paint them black (like I normally to EVERYTHING) since my bedroom is red!

AND VOILA!!

It took me all of 2 minutes to hang up the earrings..

 And all of 2 minutes to hang up the necklaces & bracelets!

For 78 cents and 10 minutes work

AHHHH! NO MORE TANGLES!

What do you think???
She's CRAFTAY!

 

Fall HARVEST 2010!

FALL HARVEST IS in FULL SWING around here! The Captain should be finished cutting our soybeans today. Then there is wheat to plant and he should be close to being DONE!

My friend Vic from Oklahoma came for a visit last weekend. She pulled in the driveway just in time to take Baby BAKERS on her first combine ride!

The weather has been SO BEAUTIFUL!

While on my daily walk last week I noticed 30 caterpillars.

I decided to take the middle 5 out on a walk while the oldest was at football and baby was napping.

Aren't they sweet? All actually LIKING EACH OTHER for at least 5 seconds.

WE found 15 or so "WORMY SQUIRMY'S". We made them a little temporary home and just watched them for a while. We looked them all up on-line and they all turn into REAL UGLY moths. Perfect for our catch and release program!  It was a fun educational afternoon!

 SEEMS CRAZY that Fall harvest is almost over already. I will MISS THIS when winter hits!

I WILL NOT MISS the Fall Harvest DUST that hangs in the air and the HOUSE day after day.

My heart is SO HEAVY for this family...

Please keep this PRECIOUS family in your prayers..

Leslie Joy Evans has gone home to be with The Lord..

This story really hit me... The tears won't stop falling for a family I never personally knew.

I have been following the blog since I found out about it.

Leslie is Mark's 2nd wife, he lost his first wife to breast cancer leaving him to raise their 3 children.

He later met and married Leslie who delivered premature twins at 21 weeks on September 26 that did not survive.

Soon after, she went in to cardiac arrest and went home to be with the Lord today.

Please stop by their blog and leave an encouraging word and pray for this sweet family who has lost the twins and now Leslie.

I can't even imagine...

So heartwrenching...
God give them strength..

She's CRAF..TAY!

I don't know what on earth has gotten into me...

Possibly the fact that my boys room has had only beds and a dresser in it for YEARS..

And possibly the fact that THE CAPTAIN has been demoted by BABY BAKERS and his office will now be her bedroom..

 so THEREFORE the toy room will now be THE CAPTAINS OFFICE. MAKE SENSE?

After the Toy room revamp this past weekend..

We DONATED SIX TRASHBAGS OF TOYS

On to the CRAF.TAY.NESS..

Here is the inspiration.

I let the boys each pick out ONE ANIMAL from their bedding.

Bit But picked the bear, WyWy the bunny..

I got some blank canvases ($7.99 for 2), and some paint ($5.00).

I drew the bunny..

And the bear both in pencil on the canvas.

Painted a base coat over them so I could still see the pencil out line.

Let the topcoat dry during lunch..

Painted the details after lunch..

AND VOILA-2 Happy Boys!!!!

Oh, and instead of throwing this OL THANG (also from the toy room) out in the garbage

I TRANSFORMED IT INTO THIS

with the leftover paint!!!

Price=FREE!

PERFECT reminder for 2 brothers sharing a room!

I LOVE how everything turned out that I made today.

WHEW, I'm tired but BOY their room looks better! 

This just proves that if I can make stuff, anyone can!

SHE'S CRAF..TAY!!