Monday, May 31, 2010

Home again!

Hannah and I are home from our 12 day trip to Europe! Our flight arrived at midnight last night which made for a *very* long last day of our trip... up for 26 hours straight. It felt so good to sleep in my own bed last night and wake to my enthusiastic welcome home in the morning from the children. Oh how I missed those hugs!

Coming soon, photos from the UK and Paris once I catch up on hugs, laundry and other responsibilities here. I can hardly wait to share about our trip with you. We made some fabulous memories.


Lord willing, I'll be back soon!

Saturday, May 15, 2010

The new Sense and Sensibility site!

Ladies.... I wanted to take a minute away from my pre-trip cooking, sewing and other preparations to be sure to let you know that one of Hannah and I's absolute favorite sewing pattern web sites, Sense and Sensibility patterns has a totally new look!

Hannah and I have sewn a number of Jennie Chancey's patterns. They are absolutely beautiful and come with many many detailed instructions, diagrams and loads of optional variations.

In addition, on her web site there are tutorials, message boards and inspirational photos of finished sewing projects too! Take a look around Sense and Sensibility Patterns and be inspired!

Happy sewing!



Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Radical

I have not yet read this book... but it has definitely gone on my Amazon "wish list." What do you think?

Radical by David Platt from Taylor Robinson on Vimeo.





Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Project Life 4/30-5/1



A

warm welcome to everyone visiting from Ali's blog. So many beautiful examples of "A Week in the Life" albums were featured there yesterday and today.

I am still working on finishing my album.... all I need to do is add the journaling that I wrote down each day. I hope to do that in the next few days. Here are a few pages from the album as it is now....


Now for another week's worth of photos for my "Project Life" album. Not to be confused with my "Week in the Life" album! LOL! For this album, I am simply taking a photo a day and slipping it into a large 12" x 12" album and adding some journaling for each photo. I can't begin to tell you how much I am already enjoying this album~ a fabulous glimpse into our (very normal) lives right now. If I can do this, I'm sure you can. No time-consuming embellishments, just an emphasis on the photos and journaling.

Friday 4/30/2010
Jon's eighth birthday. What a fun age! One of our quieter children, Jon is incredibly tender-hearted toward both his siblings and the Lord. Love watching him grow up, but physically and spiritually.

::Saturday 5/1/2010
The boys discovered that they could race their little cars on the table in my herb garden (which really, really needs to be repainted!) They discovered that if they aimed carefully, they could drive the cars into the hole in the middle of the table~ what fun!

::Sunday 5/2/2010
Believe it or not, this really was a light-hearted, fun family game of football here. Jacob looks incredibly intense, but Caleb is still alive and smiling. Having 9 boys in the family can make for some really competitive games!

::Monday 5/3/2010
Just to show you Jake's "other side"... I caught this picture of him climbing a tree. See? He *really* is nice, not as mean as he looks in the above photo!

::Tuesday 5/4/2010
An impromptu family photo. I decided that I needed a quick picture to go in the front of my "A Week in the Life" album. Everyone was so good-natured to gather-round for this picture. I put my camera on a tripod, set the timer then sprinted back to the deck to slide into place. We had several pretty funny pictures as I almost tripped over Great Dane puppy "Dude" trying to get into the photo before the camera "clicked!"

::Wednesday 5/5/2010
My roses are loving this spring weather....

::Thursday 5/6/2010
Do you remember how fun it is to run as fast as you can down a hill? Jon and Dan were running as fast as they could here~ pure fun!

::Bonus photo
I decided to include this picture of Dan as well this week~ so cute! I sized it to go into one of the smaller "journaling" pockets included on each page. "Look Mom! Take my picture! A green and a brown egg!"

Linking up with:


Thanks, Jessica, for hosting!

Have a wonderful Wednesday, friends!

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

And the winner is....

Your comments were all so kind and encouraging... I wish I could give a journal to everyone who left a comment! But, alas, I can't so I went to Random.org and the winner is....... #10

Blogger Noel said...

What a creative way to keep a journal! So much better than just words. I would love to be entered in your drawing :)

April 29, 2010 6:54 AM

Congratulations Noel!

Email me with your address and I'll get the journal shipped right out to you!

my email:
joyfulmomofmany (AT) gmail (DOT) com



Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Project Life 4/23- 4/29



W

ow! What can I say but thanks *so* much for all the kind comments on my journal giveaway post here. If you haven't yet left a comment to enter the drawing, you have until tomorrow, Wednesday the 5th to do so~ and I'm not fishing for compliments! I found myself totally humbled by the things you shared. I *loved* hearing about all of you who have found great delight in compiling a thankfulness journal. So, so cool.

Time for me to post the last week's worth of photos, one each day, for Project Life.

::Friday 4/23/2010
I think this was my favorite photo from the "Week in the Life" project. Photos where I grab a glimpse of relationships are really valuable to me. This totally captured Hannah and Abbie's relationship right now.

::Saturday 4/24/2010
Jon and our Great Pyreneese Lance. Lance gets scads of attention in our large family, but it is never enough, it seems!

::Sunday 4/25/2010
"Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; they have no storeroom nor barn, and yet God feeds them; how much more valuable you are than the birds!" Luke 12:24

::Monday 4/26/2010
One of the most vivid double rainbows that we have seen in a long, long time! Fleetingly beautiful!


::Tuesday 4/27/2010
The chives in my herb garden bring me great delight this time of year....

::Wednesday 4/28/2010
Tom leaving for his job as a police sergeant. Our 24th anniversary is next week... I can't even begin to tell you how much I passionately love this man. He leads our family so well, follows hard after the Lord himself and loves me sacrificially. I can ask nothing more.

::Thursday 4/29/2010
Timmy's curls. Probably time for a little trim, but not too much~ I *love* those curls!

Linking up with:



A big thanks to Sara, who is hosting Project Life this week while Jessica is in the Dominican Republic with World Vision! You can follow Jessica's adventures there on her blog. What a fabulous life-changing experience that is sure to be!

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Look to Jesus



D

oes your "To-Do list" grow exponentially each day like mine does? In the next 2 1/2 weeks I have:
  • two birthdays in our family
  • one daughter graduating from high school
  • Mother's Day
  • 5k Mother's Day run/walk with oldest daughter Micah
  • a twelve day trip to London/Paris ~*fabulous* graduation gift from my parents for Hannah's graduation. (clothes to sew, meals to prepare before I leave, etc.)
  • a garden to plant
Plus the ordinary daily responsibilities that go along with mothering a dozen children. Aaaaack! I know, all good things, so, so silly for me to get stressed, but I struggle with that when the "to-do list" grows.

In my quiet time this morning I was reminded where I should be looking (other than at my list!).

Isa 31:1 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help And rely on horses, And trust in chariots because they are many And in horsemen because they are very strong, But they do not look to the Holy One of Israel, nor seek the LORD!

2Co 4:18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Psa 121:1,2 I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From where shall my help come? My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth.

Mat 11:28-30 "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. "For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."


I vividly remember the lists of things I would want to accomplish before each of our babies were born. At the time those things seemed *so* important to me. Can I remember any of those uber-important things now? Um, ......... no. I propose that the same will be true in a few years (or even months) when I look back on the next few weeks.


Oh to walk, joyfully, eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and perfecter of my faith. Certainly there is need for me to make lists and work diligently to accomplish all that is set before me, but worrying and fretting about what I might not be able to accomplish is not glorifying to the Lord.

I've never been to England or Paris before... any readers with tips on places to visit, etc? Any of my readers actually *live* in London or Paris? If so, please email me... I'd really like to ask you some questions!

Also, if you haven't entered my journal give-away, there's still time! You have until Wednesday, May 5 to leave a comment on this post. I'll be doing a random drawing from those names then. So excited about this!