Sweet, sweet fellowship...

I finally remembered to snap some photos... this was from our fellowship dinner on Saturday evening with the L's and B's.  :)  Precious, precious blessings in our lives.  I didn't get pictures of everyone because the littles had scattered to the yard and driveway, lol

Some of each of the families

Isaac, Jadon, Elijah

Sweet Sabre

Lovely girlies... McKenna, Isabelle and Carese

Caleb and Joseph

I wanted to share this video of 'Sweet Fellowship' by Acappella.  They are one of our favorite groups and this song just kept playing in my mind all evening.

Our 2014 Father's Day Get-Together... in pictures

2014 - Father's Day Fellowship

We invited "all" of our SC friends to celebrate with us!  We provided Tony's favorite (Taco Salad) and our friends provided their 'Daddy's' favorite add-ons and each family also honored their 'Daddy' by sharing his favorite dessert with all of us!  It was such a fun time!  We invited the B's, S's, other B's, L's, and R's... all in all, including our family, we had 51 here for the afternoon and evening.  We finished up the evening with a hymn sing and sharing time led by the R's elder son, Scott (who did a fabulous job).

Getting ready... tables and chairs everywhere!

So grateful for a lovely day and a big front porch

The boys made some side tables to go with the chairs on the porch so everyone had a place to sit

So glad to have a moveable island, made the serving go so much more smoothly

Since it was Father's Day, we insisted the Daddy's go first... they were really not sure about that!  LOL

Taco Salad... a family favorite and seems to be a favorite of everyone!

Eating and more eating

Riding bikes... looks like a parking lot... lol

Mr. R and Tony, eating and talking

Some of the fine young men we love

Children, children everywhere!  What a blessing!!

Nehemiah and the  young ladies

View from the loft

And now the starving children get to eat... hahaha

Such great fellowship

Soccer?  Or football? 

Judah... chowing down!

I wonder how many different games were going all at the same time?

Sweet little ladies... and dirt... a great combination!  Ally and Katharine... having so much fun!

Looks like they heard the dinner call!

Is this all the children?  No, no, I didn't think so!  They were getting ready for our hymn sing.

Everyone is all ready... what's the first song, Scott?

Darkness is no reason to stop Dodge Ball!

Ally Grace!

And they played and played and played... and rested a little...

Kayte and Isabelle

Mom L, Mom S and Mom B... just chatting!

We all had such a great time... maybe we should make this an annual event?! 

Is it April already? How can that be?

And, actually, nearly May!  Winter just flew on by and we loved watching spring just gently unfold in our lovely new home state of South Carolina.  It's just so beautiful here and there are so many precious and lovely people in our lives, we are truly blessed.
As I sit here listening to the Poikas playing with Legos, Luke singing along with an Acappella cd... as most of us are preparing for tonight's dinner guests... I realized it's been a while since we've posted an update so here goes!
Dec 31 We hosted our Annual New Year's Eve Fellowship and it was such a fun time.  It always amazes me (though by now it really shouldn't) how we can have people from so many different walks of life, who have never met, all get together and really enjoy one another.
January found us blessed with busyness.  We have weekly fellowship dinners and enjoy our time together with dear friends so very much.  Tony's office is being remodeled so he has spent a lot of late nights and weekends supervising that process.  He's been gone a lot but we are grateful for a good job and knowing there is eventually an end in sight.  Joseph started a new relationship with the orthodontist.  LOL... We've been there a lot this winter and spring. 
February We were so happy to be able to visit with the Wissmann Family again as they came to our area for their annual ministry and singing.  They are a precious family and a real blessing to our family. Elijah celebrated his big 13th birthday and the following week Sam celebrated his 19th.  My babies are growing up.  We enjoyed weekly fellowship dinners all month and Tony, again, worked crazy hours.  Our 'biggest' event in February was a visit from our dear friends from Wisconsin!  They were here from the 17th to the 24th.  We all battled with various aspects of a nasty cold while they were here but it was still such a good visit. 
March Still more ortho visits for Joey... I have a feeling this is going to be a long-term relationship with Dr. Johnson... lol.  Another blessed month with weekly fellowship dinners and the opportunity to host a birthday party for a sweet young fella we love.  And, yes, still more crazy work hours for Tony. 
April found us dealing with allergies and sick friends and we were not able to host our fellowship dinners quite as much as we wanted to.  We did have the chance to invite the Landry family over and it was nice meeting them and getting to know 'new' people :)  Tony's remodeling project is hopefully wrapping up and we are looking forward to more 'Daddy time' soon.

The days become years so quickly... I am constantly mindful of this fact and try so hard to live in the moment and enjoy each smile, each laugh, each meal, each moment of life with my precious family.

A Stroll Down Quilting Memory Lane

One of my very favorite things to make... quilts for babies, toddlers, young children... really, anyone!  I like quilts that are small so I can make them in one day... (maybe a little ADD going on here?  lol)
I finished one for a friend's new baby and got all nostalgic and started looking through others I've made through the years.  I try to always get a photo of each item I've sewn but sometimes I don't remember... or can't find the picture... lol.
Baby Quilts...

I love to add baby's name... when we know it... :)

These are more toddler/young child sized.  They were made for a children's cancer center.

This one was for Joseph's birthday :)

A "My Favorite Things" quilt for my nephew.

This one and the ones below were a commission.  A Grandmother ordered them for her granddaughters.