Merry Christmas!

May your Christmas be full of all the things you hold dear and may the love of Jesus fill your hearts all year long.

Easy enough for an 8 year old!

 A Christmas present...

 Was afraid that I wouldn't be able to get presents for family.  

Couldn't afford as much as I wanted to, but there are presents under the tree.  

And for that I am thankful.

 Christmas dress #1...

Christmas dress #2...with 11 buttons/button holes.

Expected them to take me forever.

But they didn't.

The dress took me the entire day to make...

...the buttonholes didn't take long at all.

In fact, my 8 year old told the computerized machine what to do...

I just helped her place the dress in the right spot.

And then, the computerized machine sewed the buttons on for me as well.

Love this new machine that God brought me!

New projects on the new machine

 Last special order of the year.  Little man's tool belt/apron.

Made for a cutie!

 Christmas jumper for Ch.

Christmas jumper for K.

It has been a lot of fun sewing on the new computerized sewing machine.

Love that it stops with the needle down...

very convenient.

After Christmas, maybe I can get a quilt made.  

haven't done that for awhile.

2010 Christmas Letter

Dear friends and family,
     This year has had some super low lows but it has also been filled to the brim with God's provision, love, mercy, and hope.  January brought on an ending and a new beginning.  Started the year married and 11 days in was no longer.  The three of us girls moved to a two bedroom apartment and said goodbye to our house when it sold.  We were surrounded by people who willingly loved on us, allowed us to cry on their shoulders, and helped us find a way to laugh again, and helped us move twice.  In the short time we were at the apartment, January to May, Hannah battled strep throat every other two weeks and I was diagnosed with Angioedema, scaring everyone with a 2 AM trip to the ER and swollen tongue.  Again, the people who surrounded us kept us going with encouragement and prayer.  God was there in it all.  We even had the opportunity to send our dentist on his summer vacation after the three of us had thousands of dollars of work done.  Hannah's strep finally finished its crazy cycle after having oral surgery where she had five teeth removed and spacers put in.  We had an apartment that filled with smoke from a neighbor, but that ended up being the thing that God used to move us out of the apartment a month early and on to the next adventure.   Our small group packed us up, again, and we tearfully said our goodbyes and moved three hours away from the life we had made in Jefferson City over the last ten years.  And came to Kansas City.  Where the hits kept coming, but God's provision kept shining through. 
Our summer adventure was full of four girls (4, 6, almost 8, and almost 10), a whopping round of poison ivy (twice for two of us), strep throat for me along with sinus infections, a torn meniscus (also mine) and making the rounds to every park I could find.  Along with a month of living in the upstairs only while we waited for the moldy carpet to be replaced.  The wait was worth it and both girls were in love with their rooms and the colors they finally got to have on the walls again.  We blew through our entire savings, for the second time this year by then and watched God supply the money to keep the bills paid...even when it looked impossible.  God worked in our landlord's heart and our rent was lowered $200 a month.  Purse orders came in when needed most and groceries were kept on the table. 
Then school started and the girls went from a school of 300 kids to a school of 820 and had to get used to new rules, new people, and new building.  Their teachers were handpicked for them by God Himself...even tho this year I had forgotten to pray for that.  Tori's is from a divorced childhood, at the same age, and super understanding providing her with an outlet to talk about things that are bugging her with someone she knows truely understands.  And Tori has just brought her math grade up to the same as the rest so that this quarter she WILL be on the Honor Roll.  (She was super disappointed last time when she got a C+ in math that kept her off.)  Hannah's teacher is a Fancy Nancy fan and shares the same favorite color...and she notices when things come too easy for Hannah and pushes her...something I absolutely love her for (and Hannah has all A's...which is amazing to me).  The school adjustment has not been an easy thing for either daughter, but they both are excelling where they are at.  God knew exactly what He was doing in this. 
The school year has brought on more health surprises for me...more things I never knew anything about.  I went to the doctor for a yearly female appt (one that I had put off for 8 years) due to some swelling and pain.  Ended up that I had PID (and was scared to death after being told to expect to have STDs and an abnormal PAP) and swollen lymph nodes from that.  I was given a shot of antibiotics and put on two more while waiting for test results and praying (along with a bunch of others praying with me).  Contrary to the doctor's prediction, and showing God's sense of humor and answers to prayers, there were no STDs or abnormalities.  But still incredible pain and discomfort.  A trip back to the doctor after the test results had me sent over for an ultrasound.  And then more waiting.  And then another diagnosis of something that had to be looked up by the doctor (similar to March's angioedema diagnosis) before passing on.  This time Pelvic Congestion Syndrome and an internet full of information that seemed dismal and discouraging.  After having the Doctor that was supposed to start helping me with this tell me yesterday that she was not allowed to see me (due to Medicaid deciding to cover me for birth control only, but still being on Medicaid), I still don't know what if anything will be happening to help control this...but it too is in God's hands.  Along with the rest of the year.
We brought November in with high hopes and Christmas decorations.  We took a three-some vote and decided that the first was perfect for decorating and that we were going to make this a season to remember.  As a family we started trying to come up with at least five things to be thankful for when we were down...and it really seemed to help.  And right when we thought we were going to have to invent a dinner made out of nothing but pasta, we went to a craft show and made enough for groceries...again.  God has provided over and over and over...right when we thought we were going to have to give up.  I ended the month by hopping a median and popping both tires on the driver's side of the car.  God provided a nice police officer with a coupon for a great tow truck driver.  No one was hurt and the kids were at their dad's so they weren't even involved.  And since the road was empty at the time, I didn't even cream anyone when I over corrected.  The car isn't completely the same, but it is back to drive-able and the "new" rim cut the wobbling down incredibly.  I am super thankful that it was not worse and that my angels were watching over me.
As December flies by and we are getting ready for Christmas, I have said good-bye to another piece of my "old" life...my sewing machine.  And before I even had a chance to mourn its loss, God had already provided a new one from a very unexpected source.
We, all three of us, are determined that God is going to get our best this Christmas season.  Yes, we had a really rough year...what is mentioned above was just highlights with a lot skipped.  But through it all, God has surrounded us with His love for us.  He has helped us to physically be able to keep going.  He has provided when there was no way we should have been able to pay the bills.  He has surrounded us with people who care about us and involve us in their lives so that we don't just sit around and wallow in self pity.  He enables me to get out of bed each morning and most often fills my house with sunshine (knowing exactly how badly I need it).  He is EVERYTHING that we need...and reminds us of that often. 
I probably have had more than my fair share of miracles this year.  And that is only because of Him.
So, this month, we celebrate His birth!  We know that the reason we have HOPE and can keep going is because God sent His one and only Son, Jesus, to die on the cross so that we could have a relationship with God Himself and a reason to keep going despite the hard knocks.  He has used each and every one of you, at some point this summer, to be His hands and feet.
Merry Christmas!  and thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

My Christmas Miracle

Have you ever run a sewing machine into the ground (or just felt as if you, yourself, was run into the ground...I can relate to that this year too)?
My little machine is just a basic Kenmore model.  Got it b/c my mom has had her Kenmore since the year I was born.  I have had mine since my oldest was born...ten years now.
It has worked hard in those ten years and never harder than the last two years. 
Just this year it has made at least 100 purses/bags, multiple quilts, 15 or so aprons, stuffed animals, a coat and a Mater. 
Every time I have thought that I abused it to the point of it being done...one point it even made some awful loud noises and I thought I had killed it for sure...my dad has been able to take it apart, clean and oil it and have it running quieter than when I bought it.  This time, sure of my dad's patience, and knowing that my sewing machine was not quite right anymore...I took it to my dad and begged him to work on it.  It has been less then two months since the last time he worked on it, but has endured so much...including a full luggage set.  Anyways, Dad was not thrilled to have to take it all apart again, but I did at least find the book this time, and he did.  He spent over an hour with it, thouroughly cleaned and oiled it...and put it back together. 

Got on it and started stitching...the needle and presser foot and feed dogs do exactly what they are supposed to do...they all move the way they are supposed to.  The bobbin appears to be doing exactly what it is supposed to do.  But the material, when going through, just randomly stops feeding through.  The feed dogs keep moving as does the needle, but the material still stops and then goes again.  So there will be a continous line of stitches, with a small piece of thread going horizontal across the vertical line on the back...but not a broken seam...with smaller stitches or a knot of stitches at the snippet of thread.  Nothing broken from the bobbin or the top.  And cleaning didn't fix.  Changing the tension doesn't change it.  Changing the needle doesn't change it.  Rethreading top and/or bottom doesn't change it.  Dad and I looked at each other and we commented that it had had a good run.  (Then dad answered that he was not a sewing machine repair man and that maybe someone could do something.)  This machine has had a good run.  A really good run.  Once I make up my collage of all the stuff it made this year alone, I would say we can retire this good friend with fond memories.  I really, really have USED this machine.
In a way, it is bittersweet.  First of all, there is no money to buy another machine (don't feel sorry for me...keep reading) or to see if it could possibly be fixed.  Second of all, I have made probably 10x-20x the amount of money from stuff made with this machine (just in its last two years) then I paid for it over ten years ago.  But the bittersweet part comes in the fact that I have had this machine since making baby clothes for the first pregnancy that resulted in a baby I got to hold.  It helped me stay busy through the last year of my marriage when things were just more than I could handle...while listening to KLove and Spirit FM to keep my spirits up.  I learned to quilt, for myself and for others, on this machine...three years ago.  I have made lots of things for my girls on this machine.  And I started my business with this machine.  We have spent countless hours together.  And after the divorce, God used this machine to give me hope that He and I together could make this new life work...not to just survive, but to thrive.
And yet, there seems to be a blessing associated with this as well.  See, God KNOWS.  He knows what we are going through and HE CARES!!!  And He uses others to be His hands and feet.  Since starting to write this post, I have already received an email from a good friend and her husband.  They saw my comment on Facebook about maybe having to say goodbye to my trusted machine that has so been there for me.  Within 15 minutes of reading my post, her husband (who may I add...has never met me) got online and looked at sewing machines.  The email contained a link of a machine that they were wondering if would do what I needed it to do with a note saying that they knew I didn't need this on my plate right now and still have a business to run.  And the comment that if I wanted I could just pay it back with orders that I know will be coming (she is my best customer...at times I think she makes up need to keep me hopping knowing how much it means to me...and she would never want any attention for this at all...).  Today was a rough day anyways, so of course this offer reduced me to tears.  You see, I haven't even seen this friend in over 10 years.  We got to reunite on Facebook.  I have never met her husband but I know him to be a phenomenal man and a perfect match for her.  They have the biggest hearts of anyone I have ever met.  Giving of themselves beyond what anyone would expect (and sometimes I expect beyond what they would think their budget could do).  And even tho I have not seen her in over 10 years, she has been there for me on this crazy new walk I find myself on this year.  One of my biggest cheerleaders.  Letting me cry on her shoulder with each new hard spot...despite the fact that we live states away from each other.  She knows enough to know how hard this would be for me.  And for her husband, who has only heard what she has shared with him, to decide they wanted to do this for me...I don't think there are words to express what I am feeling right now.  Talk about being God's hands and feet.  This precious couple showed me God today in a way that I will never forget.
And I had been asking God lately, in the midst of the health issues causing depression that sometimes feels overwhelming, to help me to FEEL Him like my head knowledge knows Him.  He hears...I know He does...and He already knew before I did that I would have this need.  And He softened this precious couple's heart to be willing to step in and do this.  Something that to some may be a small thing.  But to me...was part of a Christmas miracle that I have been praying for.  I will not ever forget this.
And I am so thankful to God, and this couple that allowed Him to use them to touch my heart at the very core.  Thank you!  May God bless you, too, beyond your wildest imaginations and continue to bless your marriage making you each the partner that the other needs.  And may YOUR Christmas be filled to overflowing with love and family and blessings galore!  I love you!!!

Home-made Christmas #1

 

Meet my version of Mater.

No, he does not have towing capabilities.

But, he is incredibly snuggly.

And built for sitting on the back or the front.

For a precious, energy-filled three year old, for Christmas.

I didn't have a pattern, just pictures of Mater from Disney.com

Made from Blizzard Fleece.

And I used my mom's embroidery machine to write Tow Mater  Sweet Springs on the side.

Whatcha think of my homemade Christmas so far?

Love this look! Finished luggage set

Two large duffle bags, carry on bag, small duffle, makeup bag, two luggage tags, and a cell phone bag.
Love it!
I even love the free-motion quilting on it.  And the batik fabrics!
And of course, the person who ordered it, that allowed me to work with the great fabrics and put together an entire luggage set.
Thinking that I hope to have this opp again!