Late October

All photos by my amazing husband Steve

 I love the fall - and living here in the Monadnock region of NH means that for most of this season we live in a picture postcard of swirling leaves and amazing color.

It is a time when - as a friend stated - God pulls out his easel and paints amazing pictures for our enjoyment.

It is also a time of change, reflection and sometimes quiet introspection.  These things can be good or they can be terrifying - sometimes they are a combination of both.

I'm missing dear friends... learning new things... finding new rhythms for my days... some things cause my heart to ache, some are exhilarating and others exhausting and emotionally draining.

My last two children are both in college full-time locally - so commuting to school, and working part-time jobs which means our family dinner time together is sporadic at best.  And keeping track of who is where and when is often a good trick. We are four people sharing 3 vehicles.

For the first time in almost 20 years I have a job.  I'm learning - or trying to re-learn - how to balance being home and being at work... and trying to figure out if this is a good thing for me.  I'm learning new things with my quilting and am tremendously excited about my new studio and machines and the potential they bring to my passion of fabric & thread.

I trust completely that the Lord knows exactly what is needful in my life and will give and take and move as I pour out my heart to him and wait on His providential hand. Unfortunately that waiting is a hard, hard test for me... but He is faithful so I'm trying to be obedient and follow His lead.

Wishing you all blessings on the journey~

Late Summer

It's late summer here in NH and the garden is doing the normal overgrowth due to neglect... at least the flowers are pretty even if I don't dare go int here due to the crazy weeds and garden snakes.

It has been insanely hot/humid here this summer for much longer stretches than is normal for us.  I appreciate the AC on these days, but it's not my favorite thing and I long for cool nights and open windows.

We have just two weeks left before college begins for both Jess & Ben.  Ben also has about 1.5 weeks left of his summer contract at Camp Spofford before he's home again permanently.  It's been a busy, good summer for both of the kids.

I've been muddling around with some sewing, we're creating a new sewing studio space for me over the garage and I'm looking forward to moving everything over there in the coming weeks.

The vegetable gardens are more manageable this year and I've even been mostly keeping up with the weeding, etc.

The new hens are all laying now and we're regularly getting 6-8 eggs a day, the sizes vary, but mostly they are figuring things out nicely. 

I'm really ready for the beginning of September this year in a way that I've not felt before.  Things will be VERY different this year for our family.  Both kids will be completely enrolled in college classes - commuting to two different schools as they pursue the interests and passions that God has put into them.
For me... I'm looking at a few new adventures of my own and am excited to see what God is going to do as the next few months/years unfold.

Blessings on the journey all,
~Deb

A Vacation in Photos

Almost all of these were taken by my amazing husband Steve - except for any of the two of us together - Jess takes those for us.
Our family vacation to Washington, DC lasted less than a week.  We arrived Saturday afternoon and left early Thursday morning.  In those few days we covered a LOT of ground!

Arlington was Ben's 'must see' and it was a moving experience for all of us.

The street where we stayed in Columbia Heights

Ice cream on the front steps.  It was summer in DC already!

Library of Congress was Jessica's 'must see'

Supreme Court

Mount Vernon - a great morning out here that even included a cruise on the Potomac

Me and my girl

Me and my boy

National Cathedral - amazing!

Random Life

There are times when my life feels sort of random and disconnected.  That there is little flow of continuity from one area or subject that requires my attention to the next.  Sometimes it is almost amusing.  This fact is clearly illustrated by these photos from my phone.

Curved quilted pillow I made testing out a new ruler & book of patterns

Buckwheat sprouts on the window sill - growing for my chickens

new quilt rack Steve found for me at a local consignment shop

my brand new quilt labels!

Books I'm reading right now - on the coffee table

My newest fur baby - Gypsy

First Project of 2015

We've been fairly quiet on the house projects since early summer when we did the hang-out space for the kids.  I've been busy with lots of sewing projects and we've had a fair amount of just regular life happening around here.
Since we generally have a two week vacation with Christmas and New Year's, Steve wanted to tackle something good sized with the time.  He knocked off quite a few smaller projects last week and this week we did a really fun photo wall in the living room that I just love and then we started working on painting Jessica's bedroom.  This might be a record... we started on New Year's day in the afternoon and I finished it today (Jan 2nd) just before dinner time.
Of course I don't have before or after photos because it was a marathon of painting and I didn't stop to take any.  Bad excuse, but I'll try to get some shots after we put the furniture back tomorrow and update this post.
The one fun thing we did tonight was this neat little art photography project.

Photographs of signs by my amazing hubby

Sorry for the really awkward picture, but I took it with my phone and it's on a tiny wall just by her door that is awful for trying to photograph.

Steve went out this afternoon and photographed all the street signs in a few different towns and we printed, framed and hung them tonight as a surprise.  She actually hasn't even been upstairs to see it yet.  Hopefully she's going to like it. :-)

Her room done is the 8th room painted in the house and leaves us just 2 more rooms and 2 hallways to paint - all since we moved in less than 2 years ago.  I'm stunned at the progress we've made in such a relatively short space of time.  

Actually her room wasn't awful as it was painted and was fairly neutral in color, but she wanted a light, brighter color on the walls as a backdrop for her eclectic style.  She chose the same light color she'd had in our Merrimack house (Creamy Buttermilk - by Glidden) and we had the very nice paint guy at Home Depot color match it in Behr paint for us.  

Now to figure out some window treatments, and get some things hung on the walls.  Then Steve is going to build her a custom book shelf & storage unit against one of her knee walls (she has a windowed dormer on one wall).  A great way to start the new year and the last semester of high school! 

Praying that God blesses all our projects in 2015 to be as fairly easy as this one. 

Blessings on the journey~

A Sad Goodbye

10 years ago this month we brought Grace home from the ARL shelter.  She was a unique cat, beautifully fluffy and petite and though shy at first, obviously a people oriented cat that had chosen our family to be her own.

Grace's first Christmas with us - 2004

Today she went to wherever it is that good pets go when they pass on from this life.  I like to think that there is a special place in heaven for our animals, though scripture doesn't speak to that specifically.  I trust that the one who loved me enough to let me enjoy Grace's company in this life will possibly allow me to see her again at some point.... God is good all the time and He comforts those who mourn.  A promise for which I am very thankful today.

Grace will be missed dreadfully... our hoity-toity beautiful fur-baby.

I'm thankful for my dear daughter who came with me this morning to the vet and to our awesome vet Dr. Nancy who was so kind during a very difficult morning.

Almost Ready

Happy Almost Merry Christmas - less than a week to go!

This is our new Christmas tree.  We bought a pre-lit one this year and are happy with the fact that that we didn't have to fight with light strings and all that this year.  We did have a minor kitten mishap where Fender ate through one strand on the tree 2 days after we set it up, but thankfully Steve is handy and was able to strip out the bad section and re-wire so it all works again. Yay!

I'm way ahead of myself this year with all shopping done and all but 2 gifts wrapped - even the stocking stuffers are bought & wrapped already!  This never happens and I'm not sure what I did that God has so thoroughly blessed this year in these areas.  I'm beyond thankful for this gracious gift of not stressing about these things.

I managed to finish two special projects and it's killing me to not post photos.  Sometimes being done ahead is a nuisance when you really want to share. :-)

Today I did the first of my holiday baking things and had a minor mishap getting the cake out of the pan.  Thankfully there is a nice glaze that goes over the top and it'll be sliced onto a platter to go to work with Steve tomorrow.  So no one will notice a few cracks and given that it is a rum cake that I only ever make for Christmas, I doubt anyone would care anyway.  Win-win!

Tomorrow and Friday I'll do a few batches of various other yummy goodies to send a platter to youth group with B for the Christmas party on Friday evening.  Then I'll be making a batch of cinnamon rolls on Saturday for our church Christmas breakfast on Sunday morning.  This is our first Christmas at this church and I'm feeling very blessed to be able to offer to do something useful to share.  

Enjoy the last week... be kind to yourself and don't stress!  Things will get done or they won't... but none of it impacts the true love and gracious gift we've already received - Jesus!

Blessings,

Another Birthday - My Amazing Daughter

It seems just a few days ago that I hit publish on this post for her last birthday, and now here we are again and the year has flown!

How can it be that my girl is already 17!

She is the best and I could not be more proud of the amazing young woman she has become.  God has so richly blessed our family to have her as our own.

She has an awesome sense of humor and is a loyal fan of Dr. Who.

She shares important events with her brother and is a great friend to him.
They laugh a lot and are always there for each other.

She is really smart, beautiful, caring, quick witted and sometimes sarcastic, kind, loving,
thoughtful, talented in more ways than I can count, works hard, dreams big, and loves Jesus,
her family, and her orange cat (hopefully in that order!).

Every day I am thankful that God gave me this wonderful person and I'm honored to be her mom. 

Happy Birthday Jess!  I love you more than you can know and I continue to be amazed by your gifts and your joy in life.  Follow Jesus and dream of great things because God has big plans for you my girl!

With all my love always,
Mom