Thanksgiving Week: My Daughter

It is Kaelan’s day. I am extremely thankful to wear the name tag that says “Momma” or “Mommom” as Kaelan sometimes says. The last year has turned my world upside down, but I have cherished every minute of it. She is such a sweet, loving baby. She has started being very generous with her hugs of late and everyone loves it! She is learning so many new words and is understanding and responding to so much more that I say! It is such a joy to spend my days with her. I am so thankful that I am now the teacher of one little one (for now :-) and that God has blessed me with this awesome responsibility.

Thanksgiving Week: My Husband

Today I'd like to say how thankful I am for my husband. John was brought into my life by the grace of God at a time when I wondered if I would ever be married or have a family. He is exactly what I need. He is incredibly kind, loving, and patient. He is a good listener and sympathizer. He works hard at his job because he sees it as a way to reach the lost for Christ. He works hard to support his family and allows me to stay at home with Kaelan. He is an incredibly gifted writer (and is almost finished with his first novel). Even though he works full-time, he does everything he can to help at home and spend time with Kaelan and me. Above all, he loves the Lord and serves Him with ALL his heart, soul, and strength. That's my favorite part. But it is a really great plus that he's exceptionally good-looking!!

Thanksgiving Week

Since this is the week of Thanksgiving. I want to take some time and express thanks to God for the blessings He has given me. First and foremost, I’m SO thankful that I know the One to whom I am thankful. Everyone celebrates Thanksgiving but not everyone stops to think about to whom they are thankful. He is the One who saw fit to bless my life with goodness. Every good thing comes from the Father. I am so glad that I know Him and my relationship grows deeper in Him every day! He is definitely working on my faith and reliance upon Him this year. One song I know says, “We don’t want blessings. We want You.” I can now truly say that. I want to know Him more this year than I ever have before.

Kaelan's Birthday (Logistics)

For Kaelan's birthday, being the aspiring Martha that I am, I wanted to do as much homemade that I could. I made homemade cupcakes.

I enlisted the help of my fearless husband for the making of the cupcake toppers.

I made a banner that said her name.

I decopauged a notebook for guests to leave her a crayon drawn greeting by following the tutorial here thanks to Grace Violet. I even made her birthday present. It was my first attempt at doll making and I found the process extremely rewarding and slightly addictive. For her birthday, Kaelan received a Molly Monkey, courtesy of mmmcrafts Molly Monkey pattern.


I have to say that the more I craft, the more I get into it. I'm even going mostly handmade for Christmas. Yup. I've already started. :-)

Kaelan's Birthday

Kaelan's birthday week was lots of fun for the whole family. On Monday, November 10th, my grandparents stopped by on their way to Florida and we had a mini-party with them. She was not impressed by the singing birthday candle or the mountain of whipped cream on her cupcake. Nope. Instead, she started crying. She did, however, enjoy the toys that Mamaw and Papaw brought her. On her birthday, we had a small dinner with Nana and Papa Doc. We tried a piece of chocolate cake that night and she said, "Mmmm. More." It was a definite go. So, Saturday, for the big shin-dig I made chocolate cupcakes complete with Kaelan cupcake toppers. But, did she get to partake of these scrumptious delights? Nope. The waiter thought it would be more fun for her to have her own cake (HUGE chocolate cake covered with whipped cream and chocolate sauce). Once she figured out that the white foam that covered her hands was edible, she enjoyed the experience, even sharing with Momma (in the hair). It was so great to have friends and family there to share our wonderful day and the blessing of our one year old daughter! My, how this year has flown!!

Publishing First Scrapblog

OK, I’m trying a new way of doing the scrapblog. Scrapblog.com has discontinued their printing feature and I don’t want all of my hard work stuck on a website, so I have discovered the world of digital scrapbooking. The learning curve was a bit steep because I had to figure out (with John’s help) how to use Photoshop Elements (which he happened to already have a copy of). But once I got the hang of it, I really liked it and found it to be as easy as scrapblogging. So, we’ll try it out together and see how it goes. If you find something that is really annoying or doesn’t work, please let me know and I’ll do my best to make it better. Thanks so much for sharing these special times with us and I hope you enjoy every minute you spend here. We’re praying God’s blessings over you and yours!