Walking In Daddy's Shoes

Daddy's shoes are a big attraction for Maya these days. She likes to pull them off the shelf, eat them (yuck) and most recently wear them. She's not exactly save trying to walk with them, but that doesn't seem to stop her from trying.

This picture of Katie was taking in February, she did a little better walking in them than Maya, but or course they're still WAY too big;)

It reminds me of how Jesus came to earth and did put on our shoes. He understands what we go through, our struggles, fears and joys. I am so blessed to be a daughter of the Heavenly Father. He knows me through and through and still loves me more than I can ever understand.

Itty Bitty Stitches

Yes, I know I sound like an old lady, but I really do enjoy quilting. Our church has a group of ladies that get together every Wednesday to quilt. Since I started going I've helped quilt 5 different ones.
The girls come along and ususally play quite nicely in the nursery (it's all in the same room) and I get visit with the ladies and do some stitching. It takes us about 3-4 months to finish a quilt.

Now that Maya is mobile and wants to be on the move, it makes it a bit more challenging to be able to sit and actually stay at quilting for more than 5 min at a time, but for now it is still worth the effort for me to go out. A change of scenery is always helpful, even if I don't get to be as productive as I would like to be.

My Little Helper
Katie loves to help me bake. Based on the pic, you can probably guess what her main motivation behind that is. Yup, she's definitely her Daddy's daughter when it comes to "helping" me bake. I love it though that she's interested to be with me in the kitchen

Between a rock and a hard spot

I was working away yesterday when I heard Maya using her frustrated and angry cry/scream. When I found her she was wedged between my desk and the wall. (I was able to distract her long enough to take a nice picture, but then the crying was on again.)

The only way she was able to come out was when I held her hand and pulled her up to standing. She was unable to get herself out of the predicament she got herself in. Oh, and she did this at least 3 times in just one day.

Aren't we often just the same in our own lives. We see something that looks like fun, and it just fits, not hard to get into. But all of a sudden we find ourselves stuck in exactly that "fun" place and we cannot get out without help. We may fuss and scream, sometime we just sit there and hope that somehow either the rock or the hard spot change (good luck on that), or we try to get out by our own might without much success, either way we're still stuck.

We need someone's help to get out. Sometimes it's the Lord's soft wisper and promise that we can cling to, other times God sends another person to help us up.

I am so glad that He doesn't leave us to our own devices, but comes to the rescue every time (even if we, too, keep getting stuck in the same place)

Weekend OFF!!!!

A whole weekend (Fri 7p.m. - Sun 5 p.m.) of scrapbooking - Sans kids! Knowing I get to go away for this has been my lifeline for the last months. I had a great time at my friend's house of just focusing on my computer, my pictures and making a beautiful photobook for Maya (her first year) and then starting on our family book for 2010. Shelley provided the space, excellent and plenty of food, a comfortable bed, inspiration and encouragement. It was just an absolutely wonderful weekend away. I'm already looking forward to the next scrapbooking weekend in April.

I am so thankful to my inlaws for looking after the girls for the weekend. Even though Katie was troubled by some kind of intestinal bug, they were still willing to have them. When our group at the mission cancelled last minute, Jeff was able to go along too, get in a couple of hunts and just hang out with the girls and his parents for the weekend.

Katie is feeling much better now, but we're all glad to be back home. We're looking ahead to a busy month, so this downtime came just at the right time.

Yogurt and Meatballs

Lately Maya has been "asking" to use cutlery to eat (Katie on the other hand still prefers her fingers...sigh). Anyway, this morning she gave yogurt a try. Not exactly sure if it was a success, but Maya had fun at least.

Look at me she says;)

EASIEST "MEATBALLS" EVER

Katie was helping me make some meatballs this morning. I started with 1 lbs ground beef

Katie then cracked the egg, added 1/4c bread crumbs

Added some onion soup mix, and then told me she was all done, so I did the mixing.

Then instead of rolling balls out of the meat mixture, I just put in on a cookie sheet, cut with a knife (but didn't separate them).

Baked at 375F for about 15-20 min. Ta da!

I rinsed them to get rid of some of the fat and added them to my sweet & sour sauce. (They are also great for spagetti)

They are great for making ahead of time and freeze too.

Snuggle Time

I love our early morning routine!

My alarm goes off at 6:00, 6:04 and then at 6:08. I get up, go make some coffee, start emptying the dishwasher - or more recently turn on the dishwasher because I forgot the night before (smart meters suck) and then go back to our room to spend some time reading the Bible and praying. Usually by 6:20 to 6:30 we hear the door open and Katie comes out of her room. She has like the most amazing bedhead ever!! (see below) She walks over to Daddy (still in bed), climbs in and just snuggles with him quietly for about 5 -10 minutes.

After a while, she comes over to the desk, picks up the clothes on the chair next to me and puts them on the bed and climbs up. Sometimes I just read the passage I was looking at that day to her. Today she came up and stated: "That's enough reading today"

Off we go to the living room, she gets her milk and a show and I'm now sitting writing this blog. This might turn out to be the time I have time regularly to post. We'll see.

Hope you all have a wonderful day!!

Got a few minutes

Last Sunday was a gorgeous fall day, perfect weather for our hike at a local conservation area with our church family. On the way there I realized that I haven't spent any time outside for the last 4 days (other than to and from the van) so I was really looking forward to some fresh air, small amout of exercise (it was more of a stroll) and some time visiting with friends.



Some of the beautiful scenery we saw. I thank God for his beautiful creation, for our 5 senses and the mind to take it all in.

My family, including our two young German volunteers who are living and working with us for the next 9 months or so.

My spoiled girls ;) Unless we want a 1/2 hour walk to take 2+ Katie and Maya will ride at least some of the time in the wagon or stroller. I have to get out more and get her walking. I'll just add that to my To Do list. There's always hoping.

Gotta go.

Let's give this a whirl

So, here I am trying to do this blog thing. Not making any promises, but from my experience it's a great way to connect with friends and family who are far away.



So today I'll just share some pictures from the last couple of months, maybe I'll get around to telling the full story behind some of them, but likely this will just give you a bit of a background and I'll just post about the everyday going ons from here on.

Katie and Maya the day of Maya's 1st B-day party.

Jeff and the girls in July.

So much for the flash from the past, I have some guests here to play games so I'll continue this, hopefully tomorrow.