Whew!

   Late fall is our season of celebrating. We have a birthday each month starting in September and continue right on till we culminate with celebrating Jesus birth in December! So we've been cake baking and gift wrapping for what seems like ages. I have to say it's a pretty fun time at the cottage!
 
   This Month has been especially busy. Sparrow turned 3 and we are especially happy to share some wonderful news about her: She is now off of her reflux medication and her seizure medication. Poor little girl has had a pretty trying time this month with all the changes. Doctor appointments, withdrawal symptoms  and a nasty old cold thrown in to boot.

Who has time???

Life gets so busy sometimes doesn't it? We wake up with babies that need changed, kids that need fed. Making sure teeth are brushed and laundry is started. Then for us home school parents it's right into class and then on to the next thing. By the end of the night you collapse into bed knowing that you will be awake several times to put the baby back to sleep before starting it all over the next day.
 
Here's the thing...don't forget to take the time to put first, first. Make time to be with God and set the tone for the day. No one will benefit from skipping time with God (no matter what time of day you choose to do it).

Just a friendly reminder that I needed myself!

Christmas Time 2014

   This year looks very different from our other Christmases. Grief doesn't look like what it's supposed to look like. It's not on the time schedule we expect. It's messy and confusing and unexpected. It's misunderstood and rejected and embraced. It's rotten. If you have a friend or loved one who is grieving don't put your preconceptions on them. Don't expect anything of them. Don't push them. Let them talk when they want. Don't feel like you need to avoid the person who was lost to them. For the person going through it, their whole world has been shaken and shattered and will never be the same.
  I haven't done half the things I intended for Christmas this year. I did get Meerkat’s stocking made. That was a mile marker for me. The font is called "narnfont" and really looks like Narnia to me. I used some of the fabric my Mom got from the Aunts when they came to see her.

   It is stitched with Hungarian braided chain stitch because I wanted it to stand out from the other letters but not too much. The rest are just basic chain stitches. The feather stitch was just machine sewn for fun! I really want to make him a "baby's first Christmas ornament but I'm running out of time! We'll see. I still have a teddy bear to finish making for Sparrow and several other non-sewn gifts too!
   One Person who has held us together and comforted through everything, Jesus. Christmas isn't about us, it's about celebrating Him. He is so worthy! It really is all about Him!!! There are so many sayings like " put CHRIST in CHRISTmas" but that's all wrong. Christmas is ALL about Christ not just a piece of it. Do you really celebrate HIM? That's what our Christmas is all about! Oh how I love Him!!
May your Christmas be blessed with His presence.

This and That

   We're getting ready to start out first official year of homeschooling. Sparrow doesn't really have to start school this year but she likes school and she is capable so why not? We are both excited! I love all things stationary; comfortable pens, cute pencils, pretty paper, beautiful notebooks, lesson plans, books and an organizer - YES!!! 
   I'm still working on cleaning up the third series of Ackermann's Repository embroidery patterns.

   Also in the works is Meerkat’s  blanket. Somehow it just keeps getting pushed aside for other important things.
   Which leads me to one of my favorite sayings: "Don't let the urgent get in the way of the important".

Hope your summer is wonder-filled and blessed.  
  

The Sad

   The first day of July marked 6 months from the day my twins were born. The tears finally flowed last night. It still hurts and it always will. I miss him. The strangest things and visions come to your mind. I don't mean that in a supernatural way, just your own imaginings. How quiet the delivery room must have been when neither baby cried. Meerkat’s confusion that his brother was not up against him. It was amazing how much they cuddled in my womb.
   I know Listener is better off in Heaven with God. But, I miss him. His Daddy misses him. His sister misses him. His brother misses him. He is not an angel. Angels, the Biblical creatures, cannot attain salvation as people can. They are different created beings and human babies don't change into another creature becoming angels when they die. That is a very good thing indeed. There isn't much in the Bible about whether babies have grown up bodies in heaven (which is the general belief) or if they grow in their new bodies like an earth-bound child does. Either way, my sweet Listener will never know sin. He will never know heartache, sadness, betrayal. Only joy, peace, the presence of God Himself! That's the ultimate comfort.
   God, the God of the Bible, is loving beyond anything we can comprehend. He is love. He is holy too and we should never forget that truth either. In fact He is so very different from us that it will probably take all of eternity to begin to truly understand.
   Oh, that's another comforting gift from God, the length of eternity versus the length of a lifespan on earth. I know that as a human my lifespan is so very short here on earth. Thus my missing him will be short comparatively. I have a job to do here on earth. Several in fact and I will continue to do the best that I can until that sweet day when God calls me home. What a reunion that will be! Until then I'll go on missing Listener while I teach his sister and his twin God's word. I'll teach them about salvation and I'll pray that they choose to follow Christ while they are young. I'll also tell them stories about when Simon was with us on Earth. 
   Do you share God's truth, His word, with your children?