Early grave party of 1

Let me explain....

Big E is going to put me in an early grave. Again on Thursday I received a phone call from his school that he shattered his elbow in football practice. Ben went to get him from the school and was told that he dislocated his elbow. When I met Ben at the hospital the doctor told us it was not dislocated, but broken. We have been at this hospital so many times they are going to think he is in an unstable home!



It turns out that under all of the blood and sand on his arm he has a couple of little cuts and bruises. That is it! Not broken, not dislocated, not shattered. He has an angel looking out for him.

Unfortunately for me I am only a little kidding about the hospital calling me in. Here is a little photo proof of the last couple of months.







Need I say more!

It's off

Today the famous pink cast was removed from Big E's wrist.



Thank goodness. It was stinky!

Fall is here!

As usual this post is long overdue.

We have a few memorable events the last 3 weeks.

We started school.



Big E wouldn't let me take his picture.

Big E is a freshman, Little E & J are in second grade.

Big E crashed his new bike (birthday present) on his birthday. He broke his right ring finger and has been unable to practice or play football. We received permission for him to at least practice if it was in a cast. He now looks like this.


He insisted on the pink cast!

Our evenings have been filled with football and cheerleading. Big E is playing on the JV team.

Little E is on the 7 & 8 year old football team. J is cheering for his team.


This weekend was Benton City Daze. It is a local festival celebrating our little city. There was a parade, which of course all three of the kids were in.






This weekend we had their first official game. Little E is the Center. They looked so cute! Their team lost by 6 points in the last minute of the game. :(
They had the best time though.

My baby is 15

Today my baby went from looking like this...



To looking like this...



He is becoming a man right before my eyes and I don't think I'm ready for it.

Here it is...

I promised another post today and here it is.

Little E has started football.



J has started cheerleading.


She is the one in blue.


Big E has started high school football.

(Sorry no picture yet, but I promise they are coming)

This weekend was a big one for us. Little E & J were in a local parade. Little E was in for his Cub Scout pack.


Little E is in the red helmet.

Ben was in the parade too.



J was in for her cheerleading team.




They all did an amazing job!

Today I took Big E and a couple of his friends to go paintballing for his birthday. On Tuesday he will be 15! OMG where did the last 15 years go? He is getting so big so fast.



I will post again next week. I am going to try to post every Sunday and see if it works a little better.

A Long Time....

It seems like it has been forever since I posted. Our lives have been so busy this summer. I like that we have been so busy, but at the same time we are wiped.

My last post was a month ago and it has been a whirl wind. On July 15th I went on a trip for a family reunion of sorts. My sisters, brother and I went to Las Vegas for a cousins family reunion. (Almost) all of my cousins on my mother's side of the family were there. There are 13 of us total!




We had the best time!

The next weekend was our niece's 20th birthday. We went down to the river and went tubing. It was sort like a family reunion for Ben's dad's side of the family.




The weekend after that we had J's 7th birthday party. We had a big pool/luau party in our backyard. She had the best time!





The next weekend I took Little E and J to a baseball game.



Last weekend we went with Little E's Cub Scout pack to a water park. We had a great time, but as it was so hot I was in the water most of the time and not taking pictures. So you will have to just have these few.





I will post again tomorrow, but now I am going to join my family for family movie night.

You have to read this!!

One of my favorite blogs is doing something amazing! You have to read her post that I will link to here. I am also re-posting her entire post right here on my blog. Please go and make a difference. The pictures are not showing up on my blog, so please head over to hers.

Little Bit Funky


are ya'll ready for this?

I am SO excited to be writing this post. You really have no idea...I am almost day before Christmas excited...but not why you think. Well maybe...if you know me...if you can beleive it...the finished quilt is not the most exciting part to me.

It's the fulfillment of a promise that is making me all giddy with excitement.

You see...a couple of months ago I felt the nudge to do more with my blog than just write and share...I felt like I was being led to use my blog as a catapult for showing God's love...
Honestly, I was like...ok...just what do you mean God?
And I waited...and prayed. And then things started clicking...I found the quilt pattern over at Film in the Fridge. You can find it HERE.
"YES!" Is what I wanted to scream when I saw it...I knew what I was supposed to do...and how.
And quickly, because I am human and humans both chicken out AND forget easily what God tells them to do...I emailed a small group of women that I trust and love...some who I knew would kindly remind me of what I had shared with them that God told me to do.

Basically, I told them..."God told me to do this...please call me out on it if I don't".
Then I contacted sweet Jody from Fabric Shoppe...and told her what I was on a mission to do...wouldn't you know it...she is a pastors wife and hopes to adopt from Africa one day. She almost immediately offered to donate ALL of the fabric I would need to make the quilt.

Thinking about it...that is a pretty crazy thing. That is a LOT of fabric to just send to a stranger who promises to make a quilt to benefit a charity. I cried in the parking lot after getting her email.
Then a good friend offered to pay for the batting and the shipping.
God is SO good.
God is responsible for all of this coming together. God loves all people. God loves Africa...and all those sweet people who are suffering from something that is SO easily helped...
To me...each piece of fabric in this quilt stands for a family or person...or BABY...that together we can help...and this may sound crazy...but if you are one of the many who have told me of plans to adopt from Africa...the net you buy just may save YOUR future baby. Crazy cool, right?
Malaria kills over 1 MILLION precious people PER YEAR!!!
In fact, there are 10 new cases of malaria every second.

Every 30 seconds, a child in Africa dies from a malaria infection. A child that is no less precious or loved or held dear by his parents than our own children.
By buying ONE net a family of four can sleep under an insecticide-treated bed net, safe from malaria, for four to five years.
AND
The benefits of bed nets extend even further than protecting those sleeping underneath them. The insecticide woven into each net makes entire communities safer – killing and repelling mosquitoes so that they can’t go on to bite others who may not be protected by a net.
Although $10 for a bed net may not sound like much, the cost makes them out of reach for most people at risk of malaria, many of whom survive on less than $1 a day.

Just think...to us $10 is a couple of latte's...a movie...a shirt...a lunch out...a CD...a couple of magazines...any number of frivolous things that we all throw money at...can I challenge us all to give those up for a day...or a week or a month...and give a net or two or three instead?
Can you help me show God's love to people in Africa? And wait with me for God to show up in a big way? Each net you buy is ONE entry into the raffle to win this quilt!




It's a beauty...if I do say so myself...considering that I only started sewing a little over two years ago...I feel so BLESSED that God would use me in this way to do something big.
It is approx 51in by 73in. It would be cute as a twin coverlet...or on a couch...or hanging on a wall.
And fyi--my home is smoke and pet free. :)
And as a special little touch...to help you remember what this quilt represents...I added this cute little tag. :)

God IS SO GOOD!!!

And now for the begging...
PLEASE go buy a net...you can click HERE to go to our page.
If only each daily visitor to this blog bought ONE...we would more than double or triple our goal. So YES...one net DOES make a difference!

PLEASE feel free to copy this ENTIRE post and repost it on your blog...you will probably have to check the links but feel free to post away....anyway you choose. I would LOVE nothing more than to go through my reader and see this post over and over and over again!!

We will choose a winner NEXT FRIDAY the 23rd!! So every net bought by Thursday the 22nd at midnight will count as ONE entry...and I have a totally unbiased judged in mind to do a VIDEO reveal of the winner!!!

AND there will be other prizes as well. If you would like to donate a prize PLEASE contact me...I already have several offers and I would like to extend the deadline to donate.

You guys are awesome. And I love you...truly. I can't wait to hit "publish" post...I feel like all of this before was like heading up to the highest point of a roller coaster and hitting "publish" will push it over the edge...

Now...pretty, pretty, PLEASE...go BUY A NET...and spread the word!!
GOD IS SO GOOD!
xo