I want to share something with y'all!

Bring Them Home

This is the store for a lovely young lady, my 'adopted niece' Lauren. Her family is adopting a family of five from Ethiopia. She is wanting to do her part to contribute to the air fare needed to bring them home. She takes beautiful photography and created graphic art with text, etc... Here is one example:

"Before I formed you in the womb I new you" was the inspiration for this original graphically designed piece of art. Sepia tone print inset with a warm cocoa brown mat and 16x13 Walnut frame."
Lauren has taken our family photographs for the past several years. Her mother is my dearest friend in MO. Many of you remember our Luke's drowning accident last summer... this young lady, Lauren, is the one of the sisters who administered CPR to Luke. Please go look at her site! Her work is lovely and her cause is a wonderful one...

I'd like to share two more of my favorites and then I'll stop gushing...




"This beautiful and tender sketch expresses the precious relationship between father and child. Showcased in a charcoal black mat encased in beautiful black frame (15x12")."Text reads: "A father reaches for a hand, but touches a heart."
"Text reads: "One of the GREATEST things in the world is to learn to see Beauty in the Commonplace"Black 12x12" frame with cream mat."
A note from Lauren: Not all are called to adopt, however, we are all called to minister to orphans in their distress. Anyone can love and minister to orphan children by helping other families adopt. Our family is adopting a sibling group of 5 orphaned children from Africa. The children were once a part of a loving Christian family, but death and disease took their toll leaving the children without parents and without hope. What if the roles were reversed? What if it were us in the desperate situation pleading for a Christian family to take our children and give them a life and teach them about Jesus? What if everyone turned their heads because of there were so many children, or it took so much money....Heaven forbid. The cost of international adoption is huge, and the goal of raising children from a vastly difference culture a lofty one. Later this year, my parents will be traveling to Africa to bring our 5 children home. 100% of the proceeds from my art sales will go toward their airfare. I am excited to do my part to "minister to orphans in their distress." With that goal in mind...I present my photographic art!
A note from Dana: I have a favor to ask of you all, my blogging friends. Please share this story with everyone you know, blog about it, share any way you can. As Lauren said "Not everyone is called to adopt" but we are all called to minister to orphans. Sharing the word about Lauren's store is one very easy way we can all be involved in Bringing Them Home!
Please, go look at her store now and share the link with everyone!!
Bring Them Home on etsy. Thank you all!

Sewing Frenzy: Pillowcase-Style Dresses DONE

Pictures here

Woohoo!!!!

Welcome Titus Anthony Hunter

We love you sweet baby...
Born July 24
8:20 am
8 lb 5 oz

If you are reading this post...

Would you please reply to this post with a comment. I changed the commenting options to try and make it easier for everyone.

Mama, Rebecca, Judy, etc... please post a comment.

Thanks!!

Newest Children Group Picture

Here's a close-up.
Aren't they precious!!!

Sweet Molly's Birthday

Happy Birthday my sweet Molly.

I can't believe you are fifteen. The time is just flying by. I love you so much and I am so proud of the wonderful young woman you are becoming.

Meet My Children

I guess technically I should say our children... :)

Caleb

Caleb will be 17 in November. He is a very thoughful young man. He is not rash at all and takes a lot of time to think through decisions. He's a lot like his Daddy (most of my children have a personality similar to Tony's). He enjoys reading and researching, especially deep topics of religious nature. He questions a lot and wants to understand things. He is a black/white thinker. He is very strong in his convictions and causes me to think deeply about my own.

Molly
Molly is 15. I can't really believe it. She is seriously my right arm and my brain. She knows where everything is, it's uncanny. She can find anything. Really. She is incredibly organized, loves photography and is very much like her Daddy in a lot of ways. She's very easy-going and doesn't really have strong opinions about very many things. She is a delight and a joy in my life.

Sam
Sam is 13. A young man. How did that happen? or rather, 'when'? He loves to be outside and is happiest just exploring in the woods. He loves animals and has an enormous amount of animal information stored in his brain. He's always saying "Mama, did you know..." Sam has a very gentle heart and is friendly to everyone. He loves, loves babies and is the one of my children who is the first to ask to hold the new babies at church.

Luke
Luke is eleven and a lot of fun. He loves to create and build things. He is enjoying learning to bake different breakfast meals. He is a delight to my soul. I love his smile. He loves to read like his siblings. He is often found in his bed with a book in hand.

MaryVance
MaryVance is nine. She's growing up so fast. She's the 'big sister' of the youngers and she knows it. :bow: She loves to organize and coordinate play time. She loves to read. She is very much a 'physical touch' person and will hug you when she meets you (just fair warning Lori :lol: ) She is my most out-going child. She enjoys people of all ages and will often be found at church visiting with the 'grandparents' there.

Elijah
Elijah is seven. He is hilarious. He has a fun sense of humor and loves to 'big brother' his little brothers. He has a quick temper but he is quick to get over it too. He has a sweet heart and is quick to forgive and ask forgiveness.

Isaac
Isaac is five and a half. He is a delight. He loves to play dress up too and is often either a cowboy or Robin Hood. He's in that fun stage of little boy/big boy and it's neat to watch him grow up. Isaac loves to snuggle too. He has a very sweet temperment, he hardly ever gets upset or angry. He's very mellow. He has an infectious smile.

Joseph
Joseph is very fun! He loves to dress up and is usually a sheriff, cowboy, Woody... sometimes 'Goober' (which he pronouces 'Duffer' :lol: ) He has a very sweet servant's heart and is anxious to please and help. He really surprises me sometimes with the things he does. He is generous and thoughtful. We call him 'Joey', 'Joe Joe', 'Duffer', he calls himself 'Joefuss' :lol:, he is 'this many' (3). Joey is a snuggler

Nehemiah
Nehemiah is the best baby. He has a wonderfully sweet temperment and is very easy going. He loves to snuggle and is very smiley.

MaryVance is writing a story!

You can read it here as she's writing it. [Click on the title below.]

Shadows in the Night by MaryVance Lewis

Dana's Sewing Frenzy ~ Day 2

Okay, so I guess "technically" two garments does not a 'frenzy' make. But I did teach Jennifer to sew two garments and I did pick out fabric and ribbon for about a dozen more dresses ;) Maybe it was a pre-frenzy day! LOL

Me-Mi and Lambo "Hey buddy, wanna play?"

:)

They are so sweet together. They are both teething and felt bad but were so sweet playing.

Jennifer's Sewing

Matt, Jenn and Landon came over for the day yesterday. Jennifer said "Let's sew something!" So I helped her a little and she made this cute outfit for Landon. He loves it, really he does. He's teething so he doesn't feel very good :( And then Jennifer wanted me to show her how to make a pillowcase style dress. She made this for her niece. Didn't she do a great job?!

The picture doesn't do it justice. It's a lovely warm pink color with brown ties.

Great job Jennifer! Anytime you want to sew... you know where I am!

My Turtley Ones

Aren't they cute!

Linkies for skirts

In the market for skirts? Check out these links!
http://www.denimskirts.com/ http://www.tznius.com/cgi-bin/group.pl?id=26 http://www.travelsmith.com/jump.jsp?itemID=525&itemType=CATEGORY&path=1%2C2%2C250%2C525 http://www.theskirtsite.com/alllongskirts.html http://www.devorafashions.com/womens.html http://www.christopherandbanks.com/family/index.jsp?cp=2958666&categoryId=2958727&view=all http://www.roamans.com/department.aspx?DeptId=15461&12PerPage=1 http://www.mydenimskirt.com/ http://www.mapleclothing.com/apparel/longskirts.asp?pn=1 http://www.justlongskirts.com/cgi-bin/index.pl

Dana's Sewing Frenzy ~ Day 1

It's Alexas's fault... really, it is. She said "Are you up for some little girl sewing?" An innocent enough question but my brain went "Ooohhhh little girl sewing...oooohhhhh" and I went straight to the fabric shelves and pulled out this fabric. I made a peasant dress (size 2-3ish). And I found a 360 skirt that I had cut out last year and never made -blush-

Here's the dress! Molly is trying to convince me that it needs a matching hairbow!

And here's the skirt. It's the same fabric as the sleeves on the dress.

See? It's is a 360 skirt.

My little boys are such sports. I couldn't remember what size I cut it out to be so they all tried it on for me. Don't tell them I told you. Anyway, it fits Joseph (3 yr), Isaac (5 yr) and Elijah (7 yr). Isn't it cute?

My Sweet Toothless Baby...

is toothless no longer.

MaryVance's new dress

When I saw these fabrics I just had to have them! They are loud and fun and very summery! I think I like them so much because they remind me of some of Eric Carle's artwork (and we love his books!)

I made 'John-John's (shortalls) for the two little boys and this dress for MaryVance. I'll take a group picture when I'm all done with Joseph's.

Fab Friday Foods (updated)

BREAKFAST: Luke made these lovely Quick Danishes this morning -- all by himself!

On the lunch menu:

Molly made homemade pizza

and for supper:

Caleb slow roasted a beef roast today and made oven roasted potatoes and broccoli with cheese sauce

Thursday's Eats (updated for supper)

MaryVance made breakfast. Cinnamon sugar breakfast cake and eggs, just imagine there are eggs there! LOL
And for lunch... Sam was our chef. He made homemade buns.

Aren't they pretty?

While the buns were rising he made Broccoli Salad.

mmmm....

And here are the Sloppy Joes!

The Finished Lunch

And on the menu for supper? Molly's making lasagna, homemade bread and salad (I think... hoping we have salad greens!) Stay tuned...

And now for supper:

Molly made some yummy homemade rolls...

Lasagna, salad and rolls.

Very extremely yummy!

So I had this bright idea last week...

when I was working on our menu for the next two weeks. Caleb and Molly (mostly Molly) have been making breakfasts for a long time. A few weeks ago I gave Luke and MaryVance each a day to make breakfast.

I decided that Caleb, Molly and Sam would get to make lunch M-S. Wasn't that sweet of me! And they each have one night a week to make supper. I'm so self-sacrificing, really. It's true.

Really. My intentions are good. I want them to have more experience in the kitchen. I love to cook and I want to share that with them. It's been a lot of fun. They made their own menus and everything!

I didn't think of this until a little while ago but I should have been blogging our cooking week. So I am starting today. Following this post I will begin blogging my children's daily fun in the kitchen.

Sam is making homemade buns for lunch. Yes, that's a teaser... stay tuned!

35 More Days....