Homemade Gifts

Just a short post to show you the things I made for Christmas this year.
If you don't know, I am big on homemade gifts. To me, giving a homemade gift shows my love for someone way more than a store bought gift, no matter the value. I just can't usually find a store bought gift that means the same.
I have given handmade gifts since I can remember- like age 3 or 4 probably. Now, my handmade gifts were pretty crummy up until, probably, high school or so. But now, I think I have definatly improved :) I also have unfortunately had to stop giving handmade gifts to about 7 family members ans 4 or 5 friends a year and narrow it down to just 2 or 3 people a year. Life is too busy right now to make much more. But, nonetheless, here's what I've done so far.


A simple, quick scarf for Cody's little sister, Echo. She is 8 now- and I thought a fluffy, soft, pink and purple scarf would be perfect. Made this one up in one night while watching a TV show on the laptop with Cody.

Thick and chunky, perfect for a cold Wisconsin winter. For Cody's Mom, Kristi. Vertical stripes in an irregular pattern.


One of my most beautiful crocheted creations to date! A scallop-y, lacy scarf for my beautiful friend, Celia. It was a fun, new pattern for me to figure out, started with a chain which ends up being in the middle, then you work down one side, building the scallops until you flip it and build the other side. Let me know if you want the pattern- it was easy to follow and quick to work up for being so complicated looking. I modified the pattern just a bit to make it longer and wider.

Doesn't she look like a perfect little doll? That is Evera, Celia's niece. In the car on the way to IKEA I decided to try to make a hat for her with some scrap yarn I had. It turned out a bit big, but she'll grow into it. Wish you could see the flower close up- its really nice!


Map Coasters- for Celia and Felix. I have never tried anything like this before, but thanks to Pintrest, I found this fun idea! Just use ceramic tiles from Home Depot, make color copies of maps from atlases checked out from the library, Modge Podge them on, and glue cork to the bottom. The 6 maps I used were of where Celia grew up, map of the college area they met at, where Felix grew up in Brazil, where they got married at, their first home/jobs, and their current home/jobs. The coasters turned out really nice- definatly will be making more of those!


Well- that's it for now. I have 2 days so I'm hoping some more homemade gifts will be happening!

December Life Summary

Ok- for the three friends out there that have now stopped checking this blog because I haven't written in a month, sorry! I've been busy doing life! But now I want to cram my last month of life into a blog post with potentially a lot of pictures. So here goes!

November 30- celebrated my 25th birthday! Can't believe I'm 25-holy moly! I was blessed with an awesome day- I got about 30 handmade cards from kids at school with really sweet things written in them, and some beautiful, heartfelt cards from close friends. Sweet husband got me really nice silver earrings, and a few friends came over for brownies and ice cream. What a great day!

Lovely ladies came to celebrate the big two-five. Husbands there too- sorry guys, didn't take a picture of you!

Dec 2- Light Up LaGrange-the choir kids that I help Celia with performed at this outdoor small-town Christmas festival. It was good times- they did great! I wish I could put a pic up of that, but I can't. I walked around with Celia's family who were in town for the occasion, and completed the night with homemade soup and hours of games, that may or may not have included one called "murder in the dark" until 2 am :)

Dec 4- My mom came into town for my 2nd annual Christmas Tea! It was super fun! This year I tried making scones and clotted cream- not as good as England but not bad. It was a blessed time with some of the very best friends a girl could ever ask for. Our time together went by too fast but we sang a few songs and were even treated with a drop in celloist :) The few who stuck around till the end even got to visit with none other than our lovely Emily Vacek!

Oh my, seriously, LOVE these girls! So glad mom got to be here to celebrate too!

Dec 5- Mom came to zumba with me!

Dec 6- our choir kids do 2 performances- one during the day time for the school and one a night for parents. Mom and Cody come to watch. The kids did great! I have really cute pictures of them signing a song (tear-jerker!) and playing recorders and xylophones, but can't post them to the blog, bummer. Whew- glad that is over though- a big weight lifted off my shoulders now that the performaces are done!

Dec 7- Go to a beautiful orchestra and choir concert to hear Felix play cello for a church. They sounded amazing. It really helped get me in the Christmas spirit! Finished up the evening with BoomBozz, my first taste ever! It was delish pizza!

Dec 8- Zappos! Found cute boots on a great sale! yippee!

Dec 13- Christmas party afterschool for teachers and staff. Fun white elephant gift exchange.

Dec 15- Violas in town for a short visit- I get to catch up on life briefly with Jessi and Tim and hold my precious "nephew"!

Dec 16- LAST DAY OF SCHOOL praise the Lord! A fun but exhausting day with an assembly in the gym (by candelight), and Christmas parties in the afternoon.

Dec 17-18 ROAD TRIP with the Borgeses! Short little trip to Indy. We stayed in the Union Station Crowne Plaza Hotel which we got on Priceline for a great price. It was a fun hotel with old trains in it- though we were lame and didn't take any pictures on the trains. We went to the Indianapolis Children's choir concert- don't diss, they are really good. We celebrated Celia's bday by playing Nertz into the night. Fun Fun!!

For lunch on the way there we stopped in Columbus, IN (violas were out of town :( ) and ate at a cute little ice cream parlor.

Look closely at her food- I had a 2 and a 7 candles stowed in my purse the whole weekend to be used on her B-day. Yayee for blowing out candles on a sandwich, hehehe!

Dec 19- Christmas shopping- 13 stores in one day!

Dec 20- Dinner and visiting with Sarah H!

Dec 21- Buy a new car- traded in my first car. celebrate new car with Pie and Ice Cream Kitchen Date. Give Piper bath- consequently, mop bathroom. Stay up till 1 am working on homemade Christmas gifts (see following post)

Goodbye, Sunfire! You have been so good to me!

Dec 22- Spend the day with the Borgeses in Cinci- IKEA and Jungle Jims (Never been there? You should go!). Dinner at her parents', played games, laughed really hard. They got us a game for Christmas called Quelf- its pretty hilarious!

Husbands laughing hard during Quelf. Watch out with this game, you may end up doing pretty embarrassing things!


OK - whew- so you probably didn't care a lick about all that. And in between it all, fill in cooking, groceries, cleaning, working every day, Cody's final exams (all A's!), reading the Word, going to church, doing life and marriage, zumba, and more.

My December has been immensely blessed. And celebrating our Savior's birth is still yet to come!!

Rocky Mountain High!

The week of Thanksgiving, Cody and I had the great blessing of visiting a dear friend in Colorado. I have been anxiously waiting 2 1/2 years to see her and oh, was it a joy! The 5 days were spent catching up on life, talking, looking at pictures, cooking, relaxing, eating and eating lots of great food, getting to know her great family, playing with a puppy, and a bit of sightseeing around Colorado Springs. I Praise the LORD for this friendship. Let me just recount it:
We met in the summer of 2008 and worked a camp together for 2 months.
Didn't see her for 10 months, then a few days visiting her in Colorado.
Then she came to Illinois to be in my wedding.
Then she was overseas for 2 years.
5 days at her house this Thanksgiving.
Years of encouragement from her and ever-strengthened friendship!

It is SO good and an exceedingly precious thing to have a friendship with someone that extends far beyond the time that you get to hang out together, the time spent doing things. Our friendship is sisterhood in Christ Jesus- and I am ever grateful for putting us on that Fuge staff 3 years ago and for binding our hearts in Him.

Now, a few pics from the trip!







She showed me the correct way to eat the delicious Indian food she cooked for us! Yum!

Long Overdue!

Wow! I have definitely put off updating for far too long!
But with November flying by in a flurry of activity with work, Cody's classes, travel, Thanksgiving, and things with friends, writing about it all went to the back burner.

Praising the Lord for:
86. A safe flight to and from Colorado!
87. Five WONDERFUL days with a sweet sister in the Lord, Kathleen, and being welcomed by her awesome family. Praise the Lord for friends that feel like family :)
88. Praise Him for the strength that sustained my husband through many late nights of studying, and for giving his mind capacity to do well on all final exams!
89. thank you Lord, for keeping my safe when I hit a deer in my car, and that hitting a deer and not getting hut was an answer to the prayer of "should we start looking at getting a new car...?"
90. Thankful for the immense Birthday love shown to me by friends and dozens of little sweet ones at school this week.
91. So thankful for Pastor Ryan and that he preaches faithfully and boldly through Scripture.
92. Thankful for a King who humbled Himself to be born in the lowliest of circumstances- reminded of this as I set out my nativity scene this year.
93. Praise Him for answered prayers- the provision of jobs for friends.
94. Thanking the Lord for the sweet blessing of getting to work with elementary school kid's choir and see the look on kids faces as they perform in front of an audience for perhaps the first time.
95. Thankful that my mom arrived here safe today from Illinois.