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.

Hearing His Voice

"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me." John 10:27

Something that has been on my mind recently is how closely am I really listening for the Lord's voice? If a decision were to arise, would I know how He wants me to go?

This came about even more so just over the past few days as I thought of my new job, which I started in August. I have been praising the Lord for providing a sweet new friendship through this job, and that that is, from what I can see right now, the primary reason why the Lord provided this job. But back in May, when I applied for the new position, I didn't have an overwhelming feeling from the Lord in which I knew without a doubt to apply and take the job.
I applied for worldly reasons- a shorter drive to work each day and a pay raise. When I got the job offer, I praised the Lord because it was a great blessing for sure and a surprise that I got it. I knew the Lord provided it 100%.
Now, on this side of the job change decision- I see what other great blessings have come along with it. My question to myself is- would I have taken the job back in May if the Lord would have said "Trust me, take the job. There is someone you'll work with at this school I want you to meet."? Was He leading me like this but I'm not listening to Him enough to hear? Do I need enticing with convenience and money to get me in the right place? What other things am I missing out on because I'm not walking closely enough with my God to hear His voice leading in everything?
But just think- I applied for the job for convenience and money. And through God's grace I got those things but SO much more- relationships/people/friendship/camaraderie trump money by a million. HIS GRACE is so GOOD!
I am reminded of Phillip in Acts 8:26.
"Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." This is a desert place. And he rose and went."

Lord- may I hear your voice and rise up and go- wherever you lead- knowing that your thoughts are so much higher than mine and you plan to accomplish abundantly more than I ask or imagine!

Striving to be Thankful

Thanksgiving is just around the corner. The holiday, that is. But as a believer, I'm called to be thankful all the time. To exude in thanksgiving to my Lord. This month, as kids are writing reasons why they are thankful on leaves of orange, red, and brown paper, I'm finding it harder to be thankful in all things. I am so abundantly blessed, and so I wanted to make sure that I'm not just thankful in all the "high points" of my day, and just pass over the "low points" without stopping to praise the Lord for them too. Praising Him in all circumstances- that is my desired heart-attitude.

Continuing in my list- my ever failing, oh-too-narrow list of what I'm praising the Lord for today.

74. A heated house when the weather turns nippy.
75. Clothes to wear. Though I currently desire to buy some new clothes, I am so very grateful to have an abundance of good clothes to wear.
76. I am so thankful that yesterday, when my car died while driving, that I did not get in a wreck, get rear ended, that I was not on the interstate or in downtown Louisville, and that the Lord was so gracious to actually let me be able to coast into our neighborhood, so that I was close enough to walk home. Praise Him!
77. Thankful for a precious friend who served me by picking me up for work and taking me home afterwards- and that this amounts to more time to chat!
78. Praise the Lord that my identity is in Christ! I am hidden in Him- though I stumble with this, my identity is not in how I look, how I do in life, ect. It is in Christ alone! Amen!
79. Praising God for seeing fit to bring the Cantwell's back to Louisville- Praising Him that I got to see sweet Emily last Sunday!
80. I am So grateful to have felt peace with buying plane tickets to Colorado for Thanksgiving. Thankful for my husband's leadership on this decision.
81. Praising Him for providing our place to live through dear friends, and that the Gibson's came to visit last weekend. Praising Him for their encouragement and their continued generosity.
82. The blessing of getting to meet Celia's family and spend time there!
83. Praising the Father for pastor Jeff King and his preaching of the Word last Sunday.
84. Sweet potato casserole
85. Nutella

Ok, so I digressed at the end. But I AM thankful for those last two. seriously.

Praise the Lord, oh my Soul, and all that is within me, praise His holy name!

From the Squalor

Squalor- isn't that a word that provokes mental visualizations? (at work, in my 2nd/3rd grade class we've been learning about text visualizations, so that is on my mind :)

Dictionary.com defines squalid this way :
"foul and repulsive, as from lack of care or cleanliness; neglected and filthy.wretched; miserable; degraded; sordid."

If you knew a hotel room was described as squalid, you'd flee from even one night there, right? Well, Christ CHOSE to come from His throne to our squalor. He came here, not for one night, not just as a baby, but stayed here, until His work on the cross was accomplished. Read the lyrics of this beautiful song, meditate on the deep Gospel truth. Allow your soul to rejoice in it today!

Verse 1
From the squalor of a borrowed stable
By the Spirit and a virgin's faith
To the anguish and the shame of scandal
Came the Savior of the human race
But the skies were filled
With the praise of heav'n
Shepherds listen as the angels tell
Of the gift of God come down to man
At the dawning of Immanuel

Verse 2
King of heaven now the friend of sinners
Humble servant in the Father's hands
Filled with power and the Holy Spirit
Filled with mercy for the broken man
Yes He walked my road and He felt my pain
Joys and sorrows that I know so well
Yet His righteous steps give me hope again
I will follow my Immanuel

Verse 3
Through the kisses of a friend's betrayal
He was lifted on a cruel cross
He was punished for a world's transgressions
He was suffering to save the lost
He fights for breath He fights for me
Loosing sinners from the claims of hell
And with a shout our souls are free
Death defeated by Immanuel

Verse 4
Now He's standing in the place of honor
Crowned with glory on the highest throne
Interceding for His own beloved
'Til His Father calls to bring them home
Then the skies will part as the trumpet sounds
Hope of heaven or the fear of hell
But the bride will run to her lover's arms
Giving glory to Immanuel