Thankful for blankets

Aren't baby blankets wonderful?   I really love the ones that people have made for us.  I often wonder if the person that made us a blanket has any idea how much use it has had.  I had no idea 19 years ago when I covered my first little baby, Alex, with the blanket that my aunt made him, that 19 years later it would still be used to cover another one of our precious babies.  Isn't God so good.  As I was laying Isabella down for a nap the other day I covered her with a blanket that someone had made for Sierra.  It is a large blanket that has silky edging and I started thinking back to the lady who made that blanket.  I often think of the maker of the blanket, even if it's just "that is my mom's, or Aunt Wanda's, or Pamela's blanket," as I choose a blanket.  It just brings warm feelings and I feel blessed by such thoughtfulness of someone to make a blanket for me.  Some of our blankets are MIA (missing in action), via misplaced or used as a doll blanket but when they reappear I get so excited, "Oh, there is the blanket Pastor Wells wife made us."  It is a visual reminder of the creator of the blanket.  Some blankets, I have even studied the patterns and made them for someone else.  Once an ultra sound had said a cousin of mine was having a boy so I made her a cute blue teddy bear blanket and sent it to her.  Upon the birth of the baby we discovered the ultra sound was wrong and it was very much a little girl.  So, I quickly made another pink blanket.  Silly I know, but I enjoy crocheting and the blankets patterns were ones I copied from other blankets .  The Bible is a precious work from our Creator.  When I see my Bible or a Bible verse hung on my wall, I think of our Father and His heart He has shared with us in his work, the Bible.   The other day my Bible was MIA and what a joy it was to get it back and dig into it again.  Even the work of God's hand in all of creation sings of his love for us.  The Bible is an obvious reminder of our Lord but why stop there, all creation speaks of the Creators love and hard work to bless us.   As you look at your Bible, your child, or even the sky today may it remind you of the Creators love for you.   If you are someone that blesses others with hand made blankets, know that your gift is a reminder of you.  And thank you, Father, for making us so many blessings that remind us of you.

Just wanted to share a little of my own creativity today as I used some of God creativity :).  This morning I took some of my apricot jam I just made and added it to my pancake mix, threw in a hand full of chocolate chips and topped with apricot syrup.  Wow.  God Bless you all and have a blessed day.

Alicia

What Did She Just Say?

Cassandra is constantly bringing me such joy.  I love that time when kids start to embrace vocabulary and come up with their own funny twists on word interpretations.  When Cassandra asks me a question if my answer is "I don't know, we'll see" or "Maybe later,"  her reply is "so, that's a yes Mom."  Then we have a conversation of how that is a not yes but a let me think about it and I'll get back to you.  She just can't grasp that and says "So, it is a yes."  Let your yes be yes and your no be no.  Right?  The other one that confuses her is "Tomorrow."  She will ask "is it church today?"  I'll say "tomorrow."  She says, "so after breakfast?"  "No, after we go to sleep and wake up."  "The next day then."  "Yes, the next day."  The funny thing is we have had this conversation more then once.  

Cassandra Saying cheese

 Isabella on the other hand doesn't talk.  She show's little interest in talking and prefers to just scream for things.  We say "Drink, you want a drink?"  and she replays "aaaaahhhh".   The other day she caught me totally off guard.  Cassandra and Isabella were eating pancakes and I asked Cassandra "Are the pancakes good?"  To which Isabella replied "pancakes good."  Cassie's mouth dropped and said "Mom!"  I said "yes, it sounded like Isabella said pancakes good."  

Her vocabulary might improve if she didn't have her thumb in her mouth so much.

Latisha trying a cute bun and braid combo.  Real cute.  She does a lot of cute things with her hair.

 Oh and last but not least, I finished my blanket.  I made it for our church's Girls Ministry fund raiser.  I had some yarn left over so I decided to start another blanket.  Of course that is kind of silly because I will have to go and get more yarn and hope they have the same color.  But I really enjoy trying out new patterns and it relaxes me as I listen to the girls read.

The finished product.

 Well, now were off to another fun filled weekend.  The conference last weekend was very good.  This weekend Sierra and Danika have their last Bible quiz match of the season.  Have a great weekend.

God Bless
Alicia

Reading time

Yikes, learning to read.  My how that can grate on my nerves.  I can get so very impatient listening to a beginner reader.  "No that is that  not shat, shat is not even a word!!!  Th says th not sh."  Oh my.  I want to correct every word or help them read faster or just say that is enough after 5 minutes.  Not my most patient moments.  When one of my children was learning to read it was not going real smooth.  I knew we needed to read more but I just didn't want too.  I recieved some great words of advise from a wonderful homeschool mom.  She encouraged me to work on something while listening to my child read.  I love to knit and crochet.  So I started crocheting while my child read.  We were both more relaxed.  I didn't feel like it was such a big deal.  I could relax doing some project while assisting where needed.  Since then I have been able to teach reading and not stress so much over every stumbled word.  I also get to make some pretty blankets and sweaters at the same time.  People ask me where I find time to make them, well I guess when you spend 30 minutes reading with someone each day you can get it done.  Here's my latest blanket I just finished.  I hope to use it in our raffle at our family reunion.  Every year people in our family donate something to use in the raffle.  This way we make money for the rental of where we go and we get to get something special someone in the family made.  My grandparents had seven children so now with the children, grandchildren and great grandchildren we can have a large gathering.  I have never donated anything for the raffle just bought tickets, so it is past time.  I hope someone can enjoy it and all the reading time it took to make it.  Now for my next project.  Have a great day,  Alicia 

Yeah, just go it done.

Reading time.