Let's Do a Month of Photos

Here it is October and I haven't had a single month so far this year that I have posted a photo every day for a month like I have in the past.  Since I actually thought of this on the first day of the month, I think I will start this today!

Today's photo is not one I actually took today, but I can make up any rules I want for this Post a Photo Every Day This Month Quest. Because this being my blog and all, you know.

These are photos of a flannel quilt I made for my son-in-law's birthday.  It's measures 56x72.

This was a kit that I bought last spring. I had never made a quilt with flannel before. This flannel was thinner than flannel I have bought in the past to make nightgowns, or shirts.
 

I had left over fabric, so I made a smaller star block for the back. I love how it turned out!

 As usual, I sent the quilt to the Missouri Star Quilt Company for the quilting. (Sandwiching a quilt and then trying to quilt it with my machine is not my favorite.) I was not sure about the square design I chose for the quilting, but it turns out that I really love it! It works for the star design and it works that this quilt is for a man.

I try to make the label blend into the backing. I think I made this one blend in a little bit too well. Oh well, lesson learned.

After I washed it, this quilt felt so very soft. Loved it! I hope my son-in-law enjoys it this winter (and many to come.)

Fourteen Points on the 14th

I've been thinking about this blog all week, trying to figure out a specific subject to bore my readers with write about. Now it's Friday night and I haven't come up with anything. So I think that means a random-thought post is the solution:::

1. I've meant to write about our weekends for the last three or four weekends. Let's just do a little photo recap.

2. Mmmmm.... my favorite pizza was consumed last weekend. Love that thick wheat crust. They even have honey in the restaurant to squeeze into the crust. Mmmmm....

3. Several weekends ago we went to visit our parents. On Sunday we got to worship with my parents at the church where Hubby and I were married. We hadn't been there for a long time. It was good to be back and good to see a friend from high school days. I sneaked this photo during a prayer. Shhh... don't tell.

4. The skies on the drive back home were fantastic. There were several storm cells around us.

5. Labor Day weekend we had honest-to-goodness-real-live-company! Our daughter and son-in-law came for the weekend. (And Charley!)

6. We had fun at a picnic:

7. Someone had fun chasing a ball and a frisbee:::

8. And that puppy had even more fun hanging his head out the window. 

Seriously, doesn't he look so happy?  

 9. That puppy LOVED his Pup Cup at our local ice cream shop.

10. I can't even begin to say how much we enjoyed having Megan, Zach and Charley here for the weekend. We rarely get company so it was such a treat to plan and fix meals for them and just to have more voices in the house.

11. Have you ever started a project with a great goal in mind only when it was almost done you realized it's not going to turn out quite like you envisioned? I've been working on finishing up a quilt top I started while I was watching the Olympics. I think it is mostly the fabric I chose that is bugging me. I like the fabric, but just not for the pattern I am using. Hubby convinced me it will be a great take-outside quilt. So today I finished the borders. I guess I learned not everything turns out like I pictured in my head and what type of fabric works better for that specific pattern.

12. This weekend is a quite one at home. Hopefully I can finish the backing for my take-outside-quilt and get it ready to put in the mail to The Missouri Star Quilt Company on Monday. I've had two quilts quilted there and just love the work they do.

13. The city has put a ban on lawn watering due to the lack of rain. Right after Hubby (& Megan and
Zach) worked hard to re-seed part of the lawn that was dead due to the lack of rain. Ugh. All week long I have noticed county highway trucks filling up tanks from the fire hydrant on the corner of our property. Hmmmm... Should I let the city know where all their water is going? :)

14. I'm going for fourteen random comments, but can't really think of anything else, so this non-comment will have to suffice as a fill-in. :)

Two Years

Happy 2nd Anniversary to my daughter and son-in-law!

It was a rainy day, but a perfect day! And besides, who cares about the rain when the bride and groom were (and are) so happy?

Day 23 of Thankfulness

I am thankful for......

....and the rest of the family is on their way!!!!!

Weekend Recap

It's Tuesday, but I can still do a Weekend Recap can't I? Of course I can! It's my blog and I can do what I want!

Believe it or not, we had company last weekend! Real company. And the best part? It was our daughter and son-in-law (and their puppy)!

We watched Charley play in the lake. He just loves to swim! (and he did leave the family of ducks alone.)

We watched Megan and Zach and Charley play.

(This looks like Zach is holding Megan up with just his arms,
but he really is supporting her with his legs, too.
He's not quite that super-human!)

Megan cut these flowers in our yard! I didn't even realize we had so many varieties. They are so pretty.

I think the funnest and sweetest part of the weekend was when Megan and Zach fixed dinner for us all on Saturday night! Yes, they came to visit us and fixed us dinner in our house! How sweet are they? It was such a blessing to us. They made a totally Thai meal. I sat at the kitchen island and watched and directed Megan around the kitchen since we've moved and she doesn't know her way around this kitchen at all. This was the appetizer and my favorite part of the meal, even though everything they made was scrumptious! In the picture: Julienned Mango, Cucumber and Carrots, Frizzled Shallots, and Shrimp marinated in lime zest, rice vinegar and I don't remember what else. It was sooo tasty!

We went to church together on Sunday and I was able to introduce my daughter to a woman I have met through a Tuesday morning Bible study I've been going to! I miss worshiping on Sundays with my girl. She's the best. And she married a pretty terrific guy, too!

Having their dog in our house was a new experience for us  non-pet people. It was fun since he is a good puppy (except when he decided to not go outside and use the yard and used our living room carpet instead...) and Megan and Zach do a great job of taking care of him. I thought it was pretty funny watching Charley slide around on the wood floors and how worried he was when everyone else was outside. He kept pacing back and forth looking out various windows trying to find his buddy, Zach. Now we have nose prints on the windows. :)

A side note here. We don't like to do garage sales, but had some pretty big things we wanted to get rid of. So we (and when I say "we" I mean hubby, of course) put a coffee table, end table, giant speakers, lawn chairs, and an area rug on the front lawn with signs on them. We sold every single one! Now we are $74 richer! Woohoo! Now that's my kind of garage sale. :)

A Man of Integrity

 I am thankful for my son-in-law.

He is God's answer the prayers I prayed for our daughter Megan's future husband throughout their childhoods. I prayed he would know the Lord personally. I prayed for a happy childhood. I prayed that he would have integrity. (I don't know if I used that exact word, but it is certainly what I desired.) God so graciously and mercifully answered those prayers in Zach.

My daughter posted this video on her FB wall today that is a tribute to the coach Zach played football under when he was in high school. This man had a big role in molding Zach into the man he is today. I believe God used this man to answer those prayers of mine. Watch the video. You'll be in tears by the end. It's 10 minutes well spent.

We Left

 When we heard the winter weather was coming back to Minnesota, we took off.

Well, we really had planned the trip several months ago. We just got lucky and missed the snow. (Yes, it snowed up north. In late April.)  (I know!)

We headed to Kansas to see our kids. Sunday morning these four ran a race:

This is a friend of my daughter's, my son-in-law, my daughter and my hubby!

These three ran a 10K race. (That's 6.2 miles) They were all very happy with their times.

This guy ran a half marathon. (13.1 miles) He was happy with his time too.










Me? Yes, I was there, and yes, it was early, and yes, I was tired. But I managed a few photos to document the event.





After all that excitement, Hubby and I escaped to here:

This is in the woods in southern Missouri. This cabin is called The Refuge. It is so peaceful here we may never leave. :) Last night we were outside and the woods were noisy! It was oh so awesome to listen to.

This afternoon a thunderstorm rolled through complete with some hail. Our car was sitting out in it and the lights started flashing and the horn was honking. I think it was saying, "Ow!"

 It will be a shelter and shade from the heat of the day, and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and rain. Isaiah 4:6

Music Monday

The Wonderful Cross

Megan and Zach chose this song for their wedding. We sang it while they took communion and prayed together as husband and wife. Powerful words.

Music Monday

Come Thou Fount

A song from Megan and Zach's wedding. I had a hard time finding a version that was the same. I think this is lacking a few verses, but you get the idea. Good hymn. Great words.

Music Monday

Lead Me to the Cross
 
This is a  song from Megan and Zach's wedding. I actually bought the Hillsong CD this is on just for this song. 

I watched Megan singing this during the rehearsal and the wedding, and the love and passion she had on her face was something I just can't put into words. It does send me to my knees in thankfulness for her love for Christ.

Here's a picture of them singing during the wedding.

See what I mean?

Daily Photo Journal - January 31

I wasn't sure I would actually post a picture for every day this month, but I did and I am glad I did. Now I am going to decide if I want to continue doing that. If I do I think I will save the week's photos and post them all on either Saturday or Sunday. I have obviously neglected writing any of my amazingly, **cough** humorous, **cough** and thoughtful posts. 

On Sundays we go out for lunch after church and our almost-son-in-law comes along with us. It's a great time to connect with him and buy him a meal. Today our church wasn't able to meet at the community center we usually meet at because of a previously scheduled event, and it's too stinking cold to have Church In The Park, so the leaders decided to have the church split up into our small groups and have House Church. (We have about 85-90% of the people in our congregation involved in a small group.) We had 12 people here this morning and had brunch together before a well-planned worship service.

Because of the brunch, we delayed our eating out with the almost-son-in-law until an early supper. I took a couple of pictures of Zach enjoying his fajitas. Both are Classic Zach. So I think I have to post both.

Your welcome.

 

Gotta Love Him. :)

 

Daily Photo Journal - January 24

I couldn't think of anything to take a picture of today, so I think I will post some engagement pictures of Megan and Zach.

Our son, Caleb took all the pictures. It was a great Minnesota winter day with a high of ZERO!

Megan and Zach

The big news around here is that we are going to add to our family again! (No, not a baby. And HEAVENS no not a dog or any other kind of a pet)

Last weekend our daughter, Megan and her boyfriend, Zach became engaged! We are so happy for them! No date set quite yet, but likely this summer.

Don't they look happy?
Here's the beautiful ring. The diamond is from Zach's great-grandmother's wedding ring. The amethysts on either side are Megan's birthstone. Zach designed the ring himself. Pretty talented, huh?


We are so incredibly happy for them!
:D :D :D :D

Happy Birthday, Zach!

Today is the birthday of a pretty special guy. REALLY special to my daughter, Megan. And because of that, special to the rest of us. Zach and Megan have been dating a little more than a year. Zach has been in our lives a bit longer than that. He and Peter have been meeting and studying the Bible and talking engineering stuff. I admire Zach's strong faith in God. He has definitely challenged me in my Christian walk. I think Paul knew what he was talking about when he told Timothy Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.

That's Zach: he sets an example in speech, life, love, faith and purity. Thanks for sharing that with this family, Zach.

I just had to post this great picture of Zach. It's taken by the photographer for Caleb and Amanda's wedding. It makes me laugh.

Megan and Zach. Aren't they cute?

Happy Birthday Zachy!