We Moved

I'm trying this on my phone... Until we have Internet next week. Our move went smoothly. Just trying to unpack and settle in. Will return next week...See you then!

Still Here

Hello, I am back.... Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year...
Sorry I have not been blogging lately.. it has been a rough beginning for my family. As you all know we moved out of our place to stay with my Mom for a while until my hubby finds a calling in ministry. We tried to settle in best we could...among my Gramma being very ill, my mom falling and breaking her shoulder completely, my Gramma going back into the hospital due to her illness, trying to adjust to the way others live and trying to find our own normalcy.

My dear Freckles and I have also been sick for the last week and a half with a bad cold...We also attempted to start back up our home school routine and morning tea with Bible. We are ever so grateful for my parents taking us in....Yet, there is and will always be a yearning inside me for our own home.

This New Year I plan on doing my artwork as much as possible, to keep my mind on other things, to spend lot's of quality time with my kids...For now it looks like our boy will be heading out on his own sooner than we thought. More on that another time. For now we are just trying to figure out how God wants to use us. One thing is for certain I am learning more about having a servants heart and being content and leaning not on my own understanding but, on His.
Please keep my family in prayer... 

Reminising...

My son went by our old house in Washington the other day, and took this picture. It really brought back some memories of this little home. So, I gathered up some of those old memories to share with you. It was just about 11 years ago we would go down to Snohomish on weekends to scour the book shops and Antique Malls...We loved it so much there, that one day we went around a little cul de sac and saw a for rent sign. We loved the town so much and the little house, that we had to jump on it...
We moved in shortly after.
 





 
The little house was surrounded by other cute old homes...It was the sweetest little spot... Our backyard overlooked the Snohomish River which you can see in the second picture of this post. I was in love. The little house on your far right was the house we moved into. It was built in 1897, it was small, yet quaint. I am uncertain if I really believe in ghosts, but something lived with us for the time we were there. Sometimes it would scare me. I always felt someone was there. My son who was about 7 at the time remembers vividly seeing a child's shadow going from his room into his sisters room. I can tell you this though as the history of the house was sought after by our Landlord who told me that there was a child who lived there and drown in a fountain that used to be where you see the lavender bushes and benches. (sigh)..This was a home where we shared so much in. A home where our son would learn to play piano, our daughter took her first steps, we started home schooling there, we would learn of the tragedy of the New York Twin Towers collapsing. 

   
This was the home where I learned how to garden, I would pick wild blackberries and rhubard out my back door and bake pies, I would learn how to can fruit and make jam, we would have 400 people come through our home in one day for the annual Christmas Parlor Tour, we would grow many friendships here, host Bible studies and baby showers and just hang out some evenings chatting with our neighbors till the sun went down.
   
Mind you...I was not into blogging or taking pictures back then....I wish I would have taken more pictures of our time here, for these are the only pictures I have on the inside. Crazy...I could just smack myself for not taking stinkin pictures. Anyhoo...This was our little living room parlor...You can say, I was really into SIMPLE Primitive Country and boy was it dark in there with all that dark decor...
No wonder I like COLOR so much now.
 
I just realized as I was posting this photo to my computer, my baby girl is sitting there at the table. Many meals were spent here as many lessons were also taught and many prayers were given.
We took walks almost daily downtown for we were only just right around the corner from all of our favorite places. This was the first place I would sell my handmade dolls and wares, in a Country Store called Speckled Hen. The owner had invited me two years in a row to be a featured Artist during her Christmas Open House. My stuff sold like hot cakes...Those were the days.

 


After a while, we ended up moving into the house next door...Yeah crazy...Only next door. Why? Well, It had an extra room and it was a bit larger...AND, I loved the lay out. The extra room became our school room. And would you believe???? Because I don't...I never took pictures of the house inside. It was cozy with french doors, wood banister, a sweet little claw foot tub and a huge kitchen with original evrything in it. This little house was built in 1902. Not long after living there, we finally bought our first home....It was a cookie cutter brand new home which didn't have character... Oh how I missed living here after that. Often I think back of our time here...Our neighbors were all wonderful, the gardens grew to be so beautiful, everyone loved the same thing, it was simple, it was sweet and was perfect for our family at that season.

  
It was truly a blessing that we had the few years
we did there in that little town.
I miss it.
 I will always remember it. and treasure the
moments and memories we made.
XOXO

This & That

I spent the last couple days preparing for this school year...So glad to be done with that part. Now, we're ready to go starting after this next weekend. Thanks again for all your prayers regarding my illness. Well, I am still sick with bronchitus and getting over the flu...No fun...no fun at all. It has really worn me out....Yet, I am trying my hardest to stay on track with my everyday duties. I have really been enjoying listening to a bunch of old records I found thrifting a while back. Each record cost 99 cents. I love them....Music from the 30's & 40's...like Artie Shaw, Leroy Anderson, Jo Stafford and others.

 There's nothing like the sound of an old record playing on a phonograph.

In other news...Freckles spent a lovely long weekend a couple weeks back with her friend, celebrating her birthday. They went to The American Girl store in L.A, had a sleep over with a few girls one night, watched movies, had many giggles and sang songs all weekend long.

They also hung out at the mall and had another sleepover with their friend Cozi

( The young actress from the movie, Dolphin Tale.)

If you haven't seen the movie...see it...What a sweet story inspired

by the true story about a dolphin named Winter.

It's a Great, wholesome family film.

It was a great way to end the Summer.

Now to get ready for school next week.

Bring on the 7th grade.

Mug Swap....

Hey there. Sorry it has been quiet around here. I have been fighting this bronchitis for almost three weeks already and it has really hit me bad. I have already been through a bout of antibiotics since it wasn't going away...But, I am still not getting better. So, off to the doctors again this morning to see what's going on. Last week I took some cough syrup and thought I was supposed to take two table spoons...well, I was actually supposed to take two teaspoons. That really did a number on me. My heart was racing and I felt shaky and weird for two days. Note to self...Follow directions on medications. It was a doozy. I managed to keep up on some house chores and getting this mug swap I signed up for ready to send to a gal in Illinois.
 I hope she likes the mug I found. I also made her a scrappy colorful mug rug...Just a little extra fun treat. Who doesn't love a mug? I have a thing for mugs...There are so many cute ones out there just waiting to be filled with a cuppa Joe or lovely warm tea...and not to forget some hot coco. Oh yeah. I don't know who my swapper is though since this swap is set up anonymously. I send a mug to someone, but I get a mug from someone else...cleaver. Can't wait to get mine. Well, I must get going. Please if you could take a teensy minute to pray for my health...I would so greatly appreciate it. Have a wonderful Wednesday.

This & That...

 Today I am writing a miscellaneous post...Since I am really sick right now. I started feeling sick over the weekend., so went to the doctor today...Unfortunately I have bronchitis again. My son is sick too...He's been feeling down and out since his trip to the Sierra's. Hopefully we'll start feeling back to ourselves soon.

  

Thank you to all who stopped in and took their time to wish my daughter a Happy Birthday. She had a great 12th b-day. She had birthday waffles, we roamed around the bookstore...a favorite place we go...I love flipping through and keeping up with all the magazines I can't afford. LOL.
 Then we took her to see Spider Man ( her request ) After the movie we took her to Red Robin for dinner.
 She got some presents and cards and a couple birthday calls. It was a good day indeed.

     

Over the weekend we celebrated our really good friend, Geoff's wedding to a sweet gal. Some ladies from church have a catering business and hosted the reception for our friends. I was also hired to take pictures of the food and tables for the ladies business. Above is just one that I took. I will probably share more later...just to make y'all hungry. HA... It was a wonderful occasion.
We are thrilled beyond mention that they got hitched.

Here's some owl art my daughter has done.
Above is a sweet painting she did for her friends birthday.
It is adorable isn't it? Her friend loved it.

She also sculpted this owl in a clay class she took over the Summer.
So cute.

I can't believe Summer is almost over. We'll be starting school soon.
There's still some things off our Summer Bucket list we have to accomplish before Summer ends. I'm happy we crossed off quite a bit so far. Have you all had the chance to do what you wanted to do this Summer?
 Hope y'all are having a great Summer end.