I'm dreaming of spring!

Rhododendrons! Variegated Solomons Seal Peonys! Bearded Iris! I am so ready to get out in my garden - however today we are having one of the few snowstorms for the winter. So instead I started a fire in the fireplace, put on some tomato sauce with meatballs and I am going to make Aunt Marges "Pasta with Cauliflower" - which I know sounds weird, but it is delicious! It smells soooo good cooking. Keep warm where ever you are!

Nicks car!!!

Here it is - 2001 Chevy Cavalier - it has 144,500 miles, but it should get him back and forth to school and work. He could not be more proud!! Him and Wendell spent yesterday running to the bank, the state office for plates, and the insurance place - and about 5:30 off he went for gas and about 6:30 to "go out". This is him this morning leaving to pick up some friends to go to breakfast at church - John Hume has breakfast for the kids on Wednesday mornings and then off to school. Doesn't he look cute! I am so proud of him - he is doing great!

Roosters

I finished it, its about 31" long - my first foundation pieced project - not perfect, but I like it. I found another pattern I may try - its square within a square - we'll see.

It is very cold here, 1 degree when we got up this morning - but the sun is shining - so it's not too bad. We are supposed to get some snow in the next 2 days, we'll see, I never believe it until I see it here in Illinois.

I have 2 prayer requests - of course Dr. Fox, also, my oldest son Christopher is up for deployment May - August this year. Last year he spent almost 6 months in Kabul Afghanistan, I am praying he will not have to go this time - please pray about this with me. Also, on not such a serious note, we are looking for a car for Nick - pray the Lord leads us to the right car - it is always hard to tell about a used car - you never know it will be a good one or not. Thanks.

Good Morning - what a mess!

Good morning - the top picture is one that I downloaded off my brothers website in Marquette Michigan. He has a live cam mounted on the top of the Lighthouse in the lower harbor at Marquette and this is the sunrise this morning over Lake Superior - pretty cool and beautiful - huh! If you want to check out his sight - it is - www.ironbay.com/lower_harbor_web_cam.htm

The next picture is 2 different projects - the large block is the quilt I am working on - the 2 small blocks are my first attempt at foundation piecing - I think I like it - it's a real challenge, but fun. I'll post pics when the projects are finished.

The other 2 pictures show you what a mess I have made - I won't be able to stand it much longer, I will have to stop, clean it all up and then get back to work. I love my sewing room - Wendell did such a good job putting it all together for me, I love the fact I can walk away from the mess and not have to worry about anyone seeing it, wait a minute, I just posted it in pictures - I am showing it to everyone. Oh well, if you come to visit I'll show you after I get it picked up!

I had a phone call from a very good friend last night, Dr. Fox, he is in the hospital going through his 3rd round of chemo for acute myeloid leukemia, this will be his last treatment before going through a bone marrow transplant. Please pray for him and his family, this has been a long and difficult time for them and he still has a long way to go. He knows the Lord and is trusting Him through all this, so he is going to be ok. God never leaves us or forsakes, but in each trial is "the shadow on our right hand"(Psalms 121:5)- that means He is very close to us. Thank you Lord for Rick, bless him, strengthen him and heal him according to Your will. Help his family throught this time, we know it is as hard on the family as the patient - thank you in Jesus name. Amen.

Happy Birthday to my baby!

Happy 31st Birthday - Dr Dan! I remember very well the night you were born. You were my shortest and easiest labor. The nurse came in and checked me and said I was ready, I argued with her, because I did not think I was ready, but as you can guess she was right! Back in that day we did not have sonograms unless they were worried about something, so we did not know if you were a boy or a girl. I swore all 9 months that you were a girl, but again, I was wrong! We took a couple days to come up with your name. I wish I could say you were named after Daniel in the Bible - the young Jewish man, who when taken into captivity into Babylon made the statement that I would quote to you guys in your teen years. Daniel was one of the chosen young men that were to be treated specially because they wanted to train them in the ways of the Babylonians. Daniel believed God and followed Him closely, in Daniel 1:8 it says "Daniel purposed in his heart he would not defile himself." He decided he would continue to live Gods way and not accept all the Babylonian world had to give him. I always told you guys that you needed to decide where you drew the lines in your behavior before you got into a tough situation, it is too hard to make the right choice when you are being pressured by other people, so I would say "you need to decide now what your decisions will be in any situation and then when the time comes you will already know your answer.",... But as I said, you were not named after him - we were not very spiritual people when you were born. The song Daniel by Elton John was famous then, and we both liked the name, so that is how you got your first name. Your middle name is my father's first name. A family name handed down through 4 generations (my brother is Alton Fay Conrad IV). No other grandchild had my fathers name, so we decided we would give you his name. Most people want to pronounce it like "allton", but it is actually pronounced like Elton Johns name, my brothers nick name is "Al".

Even though you were not originally named after Daniel in the Bible according to us, I think God led us to that name, because certainly in your life you have chosen the same path as Daniel. You chose to follow the Lord at an early age, and have not wavered, and as Daniel - many came to know of the Lord and praise the Lord because of Daniel's witness - and so the same could be said of you. Happy Birthday son, I love you, I pray you have a great day!

New fabric!

I had the urge to go shopping for new fabric today, so as I was out running errands I just decided to go to Springfield to the Calico Quilt shop and peruse their selection. As you can see I found some things to add to my collection! I actually have started a new quilt, I just started cutting yesterday, I will take a picture of the first block as I start pieceing it. I normally like jewel tones, but I am becoming quite attached to browns and blacks and bright yellows and oranges, so this is a little different for me, we'll see what you all think. What is it in us that makes us want to create? I am always anxious to start a project, to come up with new ideas. I find myself in trouble sometimes on quilts because I always have a different idea and try to change the pattern - it is normally best to stick with the plan! I think God places that desire in us, to give us hope, to know that no matter our circumstance, it can change, it can get better, we can follow His lead and He will create something new, after all, that is what He has done for me and everyone else that has a personal relationship with Him. He changed us, and made us new - II Corinthians 5:17 says "Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." Isn't He a wonderful Lord!

Some of the grandkids and us!

This picture was taken in November of 2006.

Here are 4 of the 7 taken in Dec 2007 - we are looking forward to March - all the kids are going to try to be here for spring break, which will include Easter. I think everyone will be here except Tania's husband Johnny he will not be able to get off work. Hopefully we will get a new picture of us with all 7 of them.

Happy New Year!

May 2008 be the best year yet! Please feel free to "click" on the photos, they will come up full size and if you would like to save them just right click on them and "save as..." Please leave comments - just click on "comment" at the bottom of the post and type your message, then scroll down and click on the circle next to "nickname" and add your name in the nick name field and click on "publish post" at the bottom. Thanks for visiting my blog - I pray you have a Blessed day!