So here I am in Kampala Uganda! It's hard to believe I'm actually
here! The flights went well, with a minor hiccup with the other girls
being delayed and me trying not to panic when they didn't show up.
We've been here since Sat night and so far it's been quite the
experience. We have gone to church, gone to a couple different
markets, a concert, cuddled babies in an orphanage, done lots of
driving and looking at the sites and had some meetings to set up
plans. It has been such a learning experience and I'm madly in love
with this country already and wish I could just move here. God is
opening up SO many opportunities. Here is one quick example. Last
night we were with our friend John Mark and his car broke down. We
were crossing a busy intersection and a chunk of his car actually fell
off. So after an interesting experience waiting on a busy road we got
picked up by his acquaintance Mbazira in his taxi cab. Now tonight
Mbazira picked us up again for the concert and we had a great talk.
He really opened up and shared his heart, he is a born again Christian
who loves the Word of God and is passionate about learning more. He
really wants to go to a good bible school and has pursued some options
in the states and Japan, but is frustrated that it's not working out.
People don't take him seriously when the only thing he can do is write
a letter. But tonight we really got to see his genuine passion and
excitement to study the Word so he can do Gods work with his people
here in Uganda. So we exchanged contact info and he was really
interested in our own experience at bible school. So who knows what
God has planned for Mbazira, I don't want to give him false hope. But
to be honest I'm dreaming about somehow getting him into bible school
somewhere, and wouldn't it be amazing if it was PRBI?!?! It's about
us saying yes to what God has planned and allowing his plans to come
to life.
Tomorrow we are going to the drop in center for boys that live on
the streets. The Frontline team works with them and has quite the
program set up so it's easy for us to fit into what they already have
going. After that we will go to the slums with the boys to see what
their world is like and just spend some time there with them. I will
try to take some amazing pictures. John Mark has a dream of putting
together a photo exhibit to show how the boys live and raise awareness
and money to help them.
Please pray for us, that God would continue to give us
opportunities and that we could keep being faithful and not get
overwhelmed. Also pray for our health and energy, we haven't been
sleeping great and the heat is very tiring. Pray for John Mark, he
has been such a blessing to us. He is a doctor and has such a passion
for helping people, he needs supportive people behind him to back him
up on his big dreams. Pray that God would provide Aggies Home for
orphans with funds to finish some projects. Pray for us tomorrow as
we are with the boys, that their hearts would be open and there could
be a response as we show them Gods love.
Thank you all so much for your love, support, prayers and
everything we need you! I can't wait to show you pictures! I forgot
my camera cord, so it will have to wait sorry. Love you and miss you!
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
God is our Provider
I have learned more about God and experienced more of Him during the planning of this trip than I have in a long long time. It has been such an adventure to see Him provide and feel the excitement that comes with saying YES to Him. You guys are part of that and I am so thankful for your generosity in donations, food, flights, support, prayers, etc. The past couple days have been a big struggle for me, and I'm about to be very open about that. Satan does not want the work of God to happen, and he has been attacking me and my family this week. He is crafty and gets me in ways that he knows will work. Like losing my patience with the kids, stressing about money, feeling dis-connected with Matthew, and sickness. Satan also wants me to keep silent and suffer alone because he knows I'm a control freak. But I'm choosing to let God take control, and asking my support network for help. Please pray for us! We also still need help with finances. Matthew and I have no money right now and expenses for the trip are coming up. I need money once I'm there to pay for a hotel, driver, and food. We also really wanted to be able to put beds and cribs in the building for Mama Florence. If we raise enough we can host a meal in the village for all the people, and buy a bunch of mosquito nets, medical supplies, blankets and whatever else comes up once we're there. I'm not trying to pressure people, but if God is asking you to give, please say Yes, it's always fulfilling to say yes to Him. It's been a struggle for me to leave this in God's hands and I'm being really honest in saying that. I am trusting Him to provide, and we've already seen SO much answer to prayer in this way. Thank you Lord!
p.s. 10 sleeps until we fly out!!!!!
p.s. 10 sleeps until we fly out!!!!!
Monday, February 06, 2012
Whooohoooo! Three Grand!
Yup, it's official, we just got the rest of the money for the building in today, whoohoo!!! Thank you everyone so much! We still need donations to be able to provide meals, medical supplies, and whatever other needs come up while were' there.
K, one cool story then I have to jet. So in my head I was kind of thinking I really wanted to send the money, or at least have the 3000.00 all together by Monday, today. I've been praying a lot and trusting this all to God, and obviously he pulls through and provides. Today my sis-in-law came over and said she still wanted to donate and had a number in her head after she had prayed about donating. So she asked how much we still needed and I said "Oh I don't know something like 440.00" Then another friend texted to say there was a donation of 40.00 on the weekend. So then we laughed because her number in her head was exactly 400.00. That is no coincidence! We weren't even really surprised, we just laughed and thanked God. He's so amazing! To provide the 3000.00 to the last dollar like that, so amazing. That's not to say that we are limiting him though. We know that more can come in for other needs, it's in His hands and it's SO exciting to watch Him
work!
So now what? Well the money goes to Uganda and Godfrey sets up a crew and buys material to start this building for Mama Florence! When we get there we will help finish it up, get it cleaned up and ready to start using! I get chills when I think about actually being in the building and knowing what this means for the people that live around there. Thank you all again SO much for being part of this. I can't wait to show you pictures of what we've been working towards!
K, one cool story then I have to jet. So in my head I was kind of thinking I really wanted to send the money, or at least have the 3000.00 all together by Monday, today. I've been praying a lot and trusting this all to God, and obviously he pulls through and provides. Today my sis-in-law came over and said she still wanted to donate and had a number in her head after she had prayed about donating. So she asked how much we still needed and I said "Oh I don't know something like 440.00" Then another friend texted to say there was a donation of 40.00 on the weekend. So then we laughed because her number in her head was exactly 400.00. That is no coincidence! We weren't even really surprised, we just laughed and thanked God. He's so amazing! To provide the 3000.00 to the last dollar like that, so amazing. That's not to say that we are limiting him though. We know that more can come in for other needs, it's in His hands and it's SO exciting to watch Him
work!
So now what? Well the money goes to Uganda and Godfrey sets up a crew and buys material to start this building for Mama Florence! When we get there we will help finish it up, get it cleaned up and ready to start using! I get chills when I think about actually being in the building and knowing what this means for the people that live around there. Thank you all again SO much for being part of this. I can't wait to show you pictures of what we've been working towards!
Friday, January 27, 2012
Tickets are Booked!!!!!
Well the tickets are booked, this makes the trip seem SO much more real! I'm giddy with excitement, and can't even believe this is happening. We fly out of Calgary Feb 24th and return March 11th. I've had the biggest smile on my face every time I stop and think about this:-) So now that we're reeeeeeeeaaaally doing this it's time I introduce you to the team. I don't even know where to begin. It's been truly amazing to see God bring this team together. We have already been learning SO much together. These girls are amazing it's hard to use words to explain, so just bear with me.
I'll start with Ruth because in my mind she's our unofficial leader. She brings such maturity and insight to our times together. Her focused attitude towards doing Gods will drives us and continually encourages us. She has always wanted to be involved in missions and finally now God is putting things together and she's being faithful in that. Ruth has been contacting Frontline Ministries in Kampala and setting up some opportunities for us there. She has such a heart for the people living on the streets. She is also raising money to provide HIV tests to a doctor in Kampala once we get there. If you want to donate HIV tests please do so! You can just let us know to designate your donation for that cause. She is also looking forward to snuggling adorable little black babies:-)
Next there is Andrea. At one point in all this trip planning I thought I was going to end up going over to Uganda alone. I kept asking God to just put people on my mind and I would ask them to come too. God put Andrea on my mind, and I dismissed it because I didn't even really know her, how crazy am I!? BUT I got a second chance. The next week Andrea found out about our trip through her parents (her dad is our pastor), and jumped at the chance to come along. When we finally connected I got goosebumps because it was NOT a coincidence that we were put together like this! Andrea has also always wanted to do something like this, and now things are really just falling into place perfectly. I dub her our enthusiasm leader, because she brings such excitement and joy to our group, it's contagious. While we're in Uganda she's looking forward to getting a feel for the need there and helping out where God would have her be. We will also be keeping on eye on her to make sure she doesn't smuggle a baby home;-)
Then there is moi. I have loved Africa for as long as I can remember. My sister went to visit my Auntie in Kenya about 15 years ago, and I always wished I could go SOOO bad. I'm thrilled that it's finally being put in place and working out so well. I've been learning to listen and obey God, submit to Him and His plans, and rejoice in seeing His hand in my life. I sooo look forward to meeting the people over there, meeting some practical needs, but mostly just being the church with them and for them. I don't want to get into a theological sermon her about Christ loving the church like His own beautiful bride. I just want to say how much I look forward to meeting other people no matter where they are in their walk of life and walking with them. Oh, and I should also mention that the cute black babies will very much be affecting me too;-)
So there we are. Three girls who have always had this desire from God to go and minister to people. After all these years God has brought us together, and now off we go. There is no way we would be doing this if it wasn't for the desire God gave us, and now God putting things into place and working it all out. We are also so thankful for the support we have, we just wouldn't be able to do this without our peops. We all have wonderful families and friends backing us up in enthusiasm, prayer, and love. We are also super thankful for people donating to the Mama Florence project, may you be richly blessed in this! If you want to donate to the building project or HIV tests we still need more and we're trusting God to provide. I have a pay pal button or you could mail cheques in to Box 501 Sexsmith AB T0H 3C0, make the cheque out to Pathway Christian Communities. Any money raised above the building project and our HIV goal will go to meals, mosquito nets, medical supplies, blankets etc. Thanks again SO much faithful readers, we love you!
I'll start with Ruth because in my mind she's our unofficial leader. She brings such maturity and insight to our times together. Her focused attitude towards doing Gods will drives us and continually encourages us. She has always wanted to be involved in missions and finally now God is putting things together and she's being faithful in that. Ruth has been contacting Frontline Ministries in Kampala and setting up some opportunities for us there. She has such a heart for the people living on the streets. She is also raising money to provide HIV tests to a doctor in Kampala once we get there. If you want to donate HIV tests please do so! You can just let us know to designate your donation for that cause. She is also looking forward to snuggling adorable little black babies:-)
Next there is Andrea. At one point in all this trip planning I thought I was going to end up going over to Uganda alone. I kept asking God to just put people on my mind and I would ask them to come too. God put Andrea on my mind, and I dismissed it because I didn't even really know her, how crazy am I!? BUT I got a second chance. The next week Andrea found out about our trip through her parents (her dad is our pastor), and jumped at the chance to come along. When we finally connected I got goosebumps because it was NOT a coincidence that we were put together like this! Andrea has also always wanted to do something like this, and now things are really just falling into place perfectly. I dub her our enthusiasm leader, because she brings such excitement and joy to our group, it's contagious. While we're in Uganda she's looking forward to getting a feel for the need there and helping out where God would have her be. We will also be keeping on eye on her to make sure she doesn't smuggle a baby home;-)
Then there is moi. I have loved Africa for as long as I can remember. My sister went to visit my Auntie in Kenya about 15 years ago, and I always wished I could go SOOO bad. I'm thrilled that it's finally being put in place and working out so well. I've been learning to listen and obey God, submit to Him and His plans, and rejoice in seeing His hand in my life. I sooo look forward to meeting the people over there, meeting some practical needs, but mostly just being the church with them and for them. I don't want to get into a theological sermon her about Christ loving the church like His own beautiful bride. I just want to say how much I look forward to meeting other people no matter where they are in their walk of life and walking with them. Oh, and I should also mention that the cute black babies will very much be affecting me too;-)
So there we are. Three girls who have always had this desire from God to go and minister to people. After all these years God has brought us together, and now off we go. There is no way we would be doing this if it wasn't for the desire God gave us, and now God putting things into place and working it all out. We are also so thankful for the support we have, we just wouldn't be able to do this without our peops. We all have wonderful families and friends backing us up in enthusiasm, prayer, and love. We are also super thankful for people donating to the Mama Florence project, may you be richly blessed in this! If you want to donate to the building project or HIV tests we still need more and we're trusting God to provide. I have a pay pal button or you could mail cheques in to Box 501 Sexsmith AB T0H 3C0, make the cheque out to Pathway Christian Communities. Any money raised above the building project and our HIV goal will go to meals, mosquito nets, medical supplies, blankets etc. Thanks again SO much faithful readers, we love you!
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Let's Raise Some Money!!!
Official Fundraiser Day, whoohoo! God is moving and putting things into place. We have seen His hand and faithfulness as He shows us His plans, brings people together, and meets needs. You are being used by God as you give towards a delivery room for Mama Florence in Kamengo Uganda. We are giving people a better chance at life, right from the very beginning. By providing this building it is allowing for healthier babies, and who knows what they will be capable of as they grow up. We are not only meeting physical needs here, but we are showing Christs love.
I am so excited to see that thermometer go red over the next few days. As soon as the 3000.00 is raised the money will be sent to Uganda and the building will be started! Any amount helps, don't feel like you have to give a ton. If a ton of people give a little we will make a huge difference! Thank you all for joining with us in this project!
There are so many other things that we can help with in the future. Most people, especially in the villages depend on agriculture for their income and well being. This is another area we can equip these people with, with tools, information, etc.
This is the bed in the current delivery room at Mama Florence's house. Very humble. The new building will have three beds.
A typical Kamengo house, this would be for about 6 people. It's probably the size of our bathroom.
Monday, January 09, 2012
Let's Build It!
This is Mama Florence standing at the door to the current room she uses for delivering babies. It is the middle room of her house. The new building will be very close to her house. She is raising her three grandchildren, so she needs to be close to home. This picture was taken by Kelties friend Tanya who was just in Kamengo last month. She has been a huge help as I've asked her hundreds of questions.
What are we fund raising for?
Project: A building to be used by Mama Florence (a mid-wife) to deliver babies. This building will have a roof high enough to feel like you can breath in the building, it will have three beds, two cribs, and shelves. Sounds pretty simple doesn't it? Compared to the 8x8 room with low tin roof that is used right now, it is far from simple. The building will get started as soon as the money is raised, we are hoping it will be done by the time us girls visit Kamengo next month.
Place: Kamengo, a remote village 45 km south west of Kampala Uganda
People: Mama Florence is the midwife, she delivers 3 to 4 babies a week. She is a woman who loves the Lord and His word. The women that come to her live very simple lives. They are happy people, and don't need lots of "stuff", they do need some basic needs met, like regular healthy food, and a safe place to deliver their babies. Godfrey is a man in Kampala with a very big heart. He is the one who will actually be getting the building done.
What's your role?: We need to raise 3000.00 to get this building started. It will only take a couple weeks to build it. I'm asking that you join me and get excited about this project. Look at the pictures and think about these people. If you can donate money then great! If everyone donates even just a bit we can get this building started no problem. I made it really easy to donate, look over there to the right, a paypal button! How convenient!
Ok, now I'm going to blab a bit. Actually not that much because I have three kids running around the house and I need to get this done. Just a quick update on how the planning for the trip is going. We now have a team of four women who are leaving Feb 10th and staying in Kampala until Feb 22. There is myself, Keltie, Ruth, and Andrea. I really believe that this team is handpicked and this trip is being planned by God. We all have different interests and abilities and putting us together makes for a well rounded group of individuals willing to let God be the guide. We all feel like this is the first trip of many like this. Who knows who will be coming on the next one, wink wink nudge nudge. We want to go and do a few different things on the trip to see what the needs are over there. There is orphanage work, street ministry, medical training, and spending time in Kamengo. I will post more of a schedule after our next planning meeting, but for now that kind of gives you an idea of what we'll be up to. Because the building will (hopefully) be done before we get there, we will spend our time in Kamengo playing with the kids, sewing with the ladies, getting the building cleaned up and set up nice, and hosting at least one community meal and a celebration for the completion of the building. I want you guys to feel involved in this, so shot me your questions! I'm hosting a supper fundraiser this Saturday night, come! I'll be doing a short presentation, showing some amazing pictures of the village, and of course there will be good food! Here is the facebook invitation, check it out for more details on the fundraiser. If you can't come, you can still be involved. I will post the pictures here on the weekend and there's that special little button over there too;-)
I'm bringing a suitcase of stuff to share with the people there, here is a list of items that would be great to bring over. Drop them off at my house any time. We are flying out of Calgary, so if my Calgary peops want to send stuff over drop them off at Felicia's house, ask me for more details on that if you don't know where she lives.
baby blankets
baby hats
children's clothes
children's underwear
baby washcloths
sandles
sewing supplies (needles, thread, buttons, ribbons, scissors, embroidery hoops)
small rubbermaid containers for Mama Florence to store supplies in
sheets (single bed size)
towels
tank tops (the kind with extra support in the top would be great)
hankies, farm supply stores and I think Marks Work Wear House sell these
deflated soccer balls and hand pumps for them
I also have a sewing project that I would love to delegate to someone, if you're a sewer and want to help out with some stuff, let me know and I'll send you the info on that.
Now for some pictures! These were taken by Charity, a lady that was there last summer for adoption. This first one is the children in Kamengo. I'm not sure what they were doing, but she said at the beginning of the day they had about 100 children, and by the end of the day 400-500!
Mama Florence, I can't wait to meet her!
Godfrey. They carry their water from a well, usually they carry it on their heads. I'm pretty sure this picture was taken last summer, the day they got their new well. I saw a picture of the old water source, it looked like a dirty pond. Soooo thankful it's no longer used! Godfrey really has a heart for this village and we couldn't do all of this without him.
Monday, January 02, 2012
Uganda, the journey in my heart
Africa has always been on my mind and heart in some way. Now here I am in my 30th year of life and I'm praying that I will finally get to GO! I want to share with you this past year, the journey in my heart.
March 7 2011 - Sad but true, my story kind of starts at McDonald's. Some wonderful ladies from church got together for lunch and play time for the kids. I asked my friend Keltie about her experience in Uganda because she had recently adopted two children from there. As our kids played we got talking about this wonderful place and how amazing it would be to go and love people there. We started dreaming and praying about a trip there in the next year.
Oct 2011 - Since March I've had a really totally crappy time. Through many trials, (death, bitterness, and depression to name a few), I have been drawn to God as my only strength. I am so thankful to come through this hard year, knowing more about God and his incredible love for me. This is important to note here because God has been laying the ground works in my heart for this journey. Around this time Keltie and I started writing back and forth about our Uganda dream. Dream. And prayer. That's what it was at this point, but God knew our hearts, and He had a plan.
Dec - One week before Christmas and Keltie calls to say there are seat sales in Feb to Uganda. That was just the fire under my butt that I needed. It really got me into action. Got me on the phone to our pastor to ask for prayer, help, and support from him and the other leadership. Keltie and I got together with her friend Ruth to talk about the trip and what we would be doing. Like I said, Keltie has been there before and knows wonderful people there that we could stay with, help, bless, be driven around by, etc. God has been giving her the desire to bless Mama Florence, who is a midwife in a small village Kamengo. There are also a couple different orphanages we could help out in. We would want to be in country for at least 10 days. We want to be as much help to people there as we can in such a short time.
New Year 2012!!!! And with the new year, new plans. Keltie can no longer come on the trip:-( I was so disappointed to find out, BUT I was still totally in if that's what God had for me. I really believe that God makes his will known in the Bible. Back in October I read James 1:27 "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world" We are also told to love our neighbour as ourselves, and how many references are there to feeding people in need? God gives us all different abilities, interests, talents, and desires. So following His will may look different for different people. This wasn't meant to become a theology discussion, I'm just trying to say that I'm trying to be faithful and let God ordain this trip. I want to stay within His plan as I follow His will. So in the last week I've really been talking with God a lot, asking for His guidance and asking Him to please take over. It's been amazing to watch it all come together. When Keltie first told me she couldn't come I thought of a few other people I could ask. In my circle of peeps not many people can just drop everything and run off to Uganda with me for a couple weeks, heeehmmmm next month! I wrote to my good friend Lindsay, who is also my #1 fan of this once lonely blog:-) She lives in England and it would be so amazing to meet up with her there. Then just today I get a call from Pastor Dean saying his daughter might be interested in coming. Are you surprised to find out that she was someone on my mind last week when I went over my list of possible travel companions? Well you should be, because I hardly know her and it's totally a God thing that she was brought to mind at all. So we got together and acted like giddy school girls looking at pictures of Kamengo, dreaming, and trying to come back down to earth.
So now what? Well by the end of the week I'd like to know for sure if I'm going, and who else is coming. Then we need to get tickets, which is another cool story for another time. Then I'd like to raise money for a building for Mama Florence, but that is also another story. I will keep you all posted on up coming events in this wonderful journey that is going on. Oh one more note before I head off to sweet beddy by. My mother-in-law was in Uganda when our eldest Munchkin was born. She brought back a necklace (I think it was supposed to be for the Munchkin, but I claimed it, ha ha), it's a green stone cut out to look like Africa. I've been wearing it a lot lately, and I LOVE it. God is amazing and I marvel at how he gets people involved in things like this in such different ways. So I'm asking you to be involved and excited with me for this journey as it goes from my heart into the real world.
* Disclaimer: This last paragraph used to be pretty good and eloquent before it somehow got erased. Now the hour is late and the thinking things inside my head aren't working so well. Goodnight:-)
March 7 2011 - Sad but true, my story kind of starts at McDonald's. Some wonderful ladies from church got together for lunch and play time for the kids. I asked my friend Keltie about her experience in Uganda because she had recently adopted two children from there. As our kids played we got talking about this wonderful place and how amazing it would be to go and love people there. We started dreaming and praying about a trip there in the next year.
Oct 2011 - Since March I've had a really totally crappy time. Through many trials, (death, bitterness, and depression to name a few), I have been drawn to God as my only strength. I am so thankful to come through this hard year, knowing more about God and his incredible love for me. This is important to note here because God has been laying the ground works in my heart for this journey. Around this time Keltie and I started writing back and forth about our Uganda dream. Dream. And prayer. That's what it was at this point, but God knew our hearts, and He had a plan.
Dec - One week before Christmas and Keltie calls to say there are seat sales in Feb to Uganda. That was just the fire under my butt that I needed. It really got me into action. Got me on the phone to our pastor to ask for prayer, help, and support from him and the other leadership. Keltie and I got together with her friend Ruth to talk about the trip and what we would be doing. Like I said, Keltie has been there before and knows wonderful people there that we could stay with, help, bless, be driven around by, etc. God has been giving her the desire to bless Mama Florence, who is a midwife in a small village Kamengo. There are also a couple different orphanages we could help out in. We would want to be in country for at least 10 days. We want to be as much help to people there as we can in such a short time.
New Year 2012!!!! And with the new year, new plans. Keltie can no longer come on the trip:-( I was so disappointed to find out, BUT I was still totally in if that's what God had for me. I really believe that God makes his will known in the Bible. Back in October I read James 1:27 "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world" We are also told to love our neighbour as ourselves, and how many references are there to feeding people in need? God gives us all different abilities, interests, talents, and desires. So following His will may look different for different people. This wasn't meant to become a theology discussion, I'm just trying to say that I'm trying to be faithful and let God ordain this trip. I want to stay within His plan as I follow His will. So in the last week I've really been talking with God a lot, asking for His guidance and asking Him to please take over. It's been amazing to watch it all come together. When Keltie first told me she couldn't come I thought of a few other people I could ask. In my circle of peeps not many people can just drop everything and run off to Uganda with me for a couple weeks, heeehmmmm next month! I wrote to my good friend Lindsay, who is also my #1 fan of this once lonely blog:-) She lives in England and it would be so amazing to meet up with her there. Then just today I get a call from Pastor Dean saying his daughter might be interested in coming. Are you surprised to find out that she was someone on my mind last week when I went over my list of possible travel companions? Well you should be, because I hardly know her and it's totally a God thing that she was brought to mind at all. So we got together and acted like giddy school girls looking at pictures of Kamengo, dreaming, and trying to come back down to earth.
So now what? Well by the end of the week I'd like to know for sure if I'm going, and who else is coming. Then we need to get tickets, which is another cool story for another time. Then I'd like to raise money for a building for Mama Florence, but that is also another story. I will keep you all posted on up coming events in this wonderful journey that is going on. Oh one more note before I head off to sweet beddy by. My mother-in-law was in Uganda when our eldest Munchkin was born. She brought back a necklace (I think it was supposed to be for the Munchkin, but I claimed it, ha ha), it's a green stone cut out to look like Africa. I've been wearing it a lot lately, and I LOVE it. God is amazing and I marvel at how he gets people involved in things like this in such different ways. So I'm asking you to be involved and excited with me for this journey as it goes from my heart into the real world.
* Disclaimer: This last paragraph used to be pretty good and eloquent before it somehow got erased. Now the hour is late and the thinking things inside my head aren't working so well. Goodnight:-)
Saturday, July 02, 2011
Summer is not for Sewing, so I Cheated.
Here's a couple projects I did a few months ago. I've been saving these pictures to blog about during this craft lull to make myself feel better for doing nothing in my poor abandoned sewing spot. Soooooo here's my sweet little Princess and Prince. I was inspired by this blog post to make these fun crowns. This was a fun spontaneous project and gave me great satisfaction to finish both of them. I spent two afternoons working on these. Now that I've made them I could do another one super fast. These would be a great birthday present for people who would appreciate them. Some people would not like this style, even Miss June Bug isn't totally crazy about it, but she does like the fact that it won't get stepped on and broken like the cheap loonie store ones. I like run on sentences, sue me. Moving along now.
I made Prince O's crown second so it's a lot better. I didn't follow the instructions, it's just not how I roll, but they worked out great anyways.
The Princess wanted lots of sparkly beads on hers and even helped me sew them on, she's getting really good at hand sewing and embroidery.
I love this wonderful friendship they have, they worked so hard on getting their arms around each other just right for a picture.
Here's my segway to my next project, new chair covers. Our chairs came with off white, which looked super great for the first five minutes. Then we blinked, had three kids, and booom our chairs looked so bad they would make Monica (from Friends) have a hissy fit. So I got this great oil cloth and my wonderful hubbie took the chairs apart which forced me to have to finish a project, yay!
Cute foot on pretty chair
The monkey fell asleep on the pretty chairs one day, such a funny kid. He doesn't really nap anymore, unless he just falls asleep in his creative spots, like the big toy box.
Seeing him like this just makes me want to curl up in my comfy bed. He slept like that for about 15 minutes!
Here's June Bug working away writing the names of her family. She has memorized everyone except the 'lil meatball.
Such a sweetie. Hubbie likes to buy camera equipment a lot, which normally really bothers me because it's expensive and he really doesn't even use it all that often. However, his newest purchase is a new favorite for me. A 1.8 50mm lens gently used for only 50$, boo yeah.
Another project by June Bug, for some reason she is always the biggest person in her family pictures. I wonder what the meaning is behind that. We also have a dog in this picture, which we don't have in reality. It's a little easier to decode that meaning: June Bug wants a dog.
Even though it kinda looks like he's pooping in this picture I included it because it really shows what the 50mm lens does. Love it.
And that's it for fun pictures. The fam has fallen into a great summer routine this month. Lots of backyard play, watermelon eating, gardening, and trying to stay on top of keeping the house at least tidy and some kind of decent food on the table a few times a day. I was debating on doing this blog post or doing a special one for baby Eva, but I guess I'll do that one next week. Most of you know what's going on with her anyways, so for now I'll just say how happy I am that she is doing SO much better, praise God! I'll go more into depth with it all later, it's been an emotional couple weeks that's for sure. Gotta go to bed, so sleepy, night!
I made Prince O's crown second so it's a lot better. I didn't follow the instructions, it's just not how I roll, but they worked out great anyways.
The Princess wanted lots of sparkly beads on hers and even helped me sew them on, she's getting really good at hand sewing and embroidery.
I love this wonderful friendship they have, they worked so hard on getting their arms around each other just right for a picture.
Here's my segway to my next project, new chair covers. Our chairs came with off white, which looked super great for the first five minutes. Then we blinked, had three kids, and booom our chairs looked so bad they would make Monica (from Friends) have a hissy fit. So I got this great oil cloth and my wonderful hubbie took the chairs apart which forced me to have to finish a project, yay!
Cute foot on pretty chair
The monkey fell asleep on the pretty chairs one day, such a funny kid. He doesn't really nap anymore, unless he just falls asleep in his creative spots, like the big toy box.
Seeing him like this just makes me want to curl up in my comfy bed. He slept like that for about 15 minutes!
Here's June Bug working away writing the names of her family. She has memorized everyone except the 'lil meatball.
Such a sweetie. Hubbie likes to buy camera equipment a lot, which normally really bothers me because it's expensive and he really doesn't even use it all that often. However, his newest purchase is a new favorite for me. A 1.8 50mm lens gently used for only 50$, boo yeah.
Another project by June Bug, for some reason she is always the biggest person in her family pictures. I wonder what the meaning is behind that. We also have a dog in this picture, which we don't have in reality. It's a little easier to decode that meaning: June Bug wants a dog.
Even though it kinda looks like he's pooping in this picture I included it because it really shows what the 50mm lens does. Love it.
And that's it for fun pictures. The fam has fallen into a great summer routine this month. Lots of backyard play, watermelon eating, gardening, and trying to stay on top of keeping the house at least tidy and some kind of decent food on the table a few times a day. I was debating on doing this blog post or doing a special one for baby Eva, but I guess I'll do that one next week. Most of you know what's going on with her anyways, so for now I'll just say how happy I am that she is doing SO much better, praise God! I'll go more into depth with it all later, it's been an emotional couple weeks that's for sure. Gotta go to bed, so sleepy, night!
Wednesday, June 01, 2011
While the Cat's Away
My sweet girl just finished up pre-school this week. It has been so good for her to get out and do her thing, I feel like she thrived in that environment and gained a lot of confidence with the interaction. (Here they are after her pre-school field trip to the fire hall.)
Poor Monkey Moo on the other hand did not like his big sis ditching him all the time. I really tried to avoid the temptation of having him watch T.V. all the time, which is the only thing he really wanted to do. So instead of me having that chunk of time to bake, sew, or whatever, I was stuck playing lego, cars, toss the ball, chase, you name it. Ok I'm not actually complaining, it was fun of course. It was nice for him to have Mommy all to himself ('lil Meatball naps in the morning still so he's a pretty boring play mate). The best time I had with Monkey during the last few months was when he asked me to paint his face like a pirate. I had remembered this blog post I had recently read, so I wanted to make his life as a pirate a little more realistic. I didn't do nearly the quality job that Dana did, just a blanket pinned to the wall for a sail, and an empty toilet paper roll for a telescope. He didn't want a patch, so that made it easier too. Even though it looks like he had fun, it was just different without his sister to play with. Poor little guy looked pretty lonely in that ship all alone.
"Land ho!"
Using the crib, his quilt, and a "sail" made it feel totally authentic, ha ha.
"Arr!"
His pet pirate monkey
How can a pirate even be that cute?!
Even pirates need to pick their noses, especially bored lonely pirates.
Pirate popcorn, because pirates have to eat a lot of coconuts on all those tropical islands. We saved the rum for mommy and daddy, ha ha. I just melted this coconut stuff with butter and put it on their popcorn, it was super yummy.
Of course when June Bug got home she wanted to dress up too. And yes, pirates are still tuff whilst drinking milk from a sippy cup.
Look at those sweet pouty pirate lips! So sweet.
Sweet angel face.
And how could I do a post with no baby in it? Here's the cutey looking at a stuffed giraffe rattle I made him. It was a quick satisfying project, sorry it's blurry here I don't actually have a good picture of it.
Here it is unstuffed to give you a better idea of what it looks like. I love fast projects that actually make me feel like I accomplish things.
Well the sweet boy is awake now so off I go.
Poor Monkey Moo on the other hand did not like his big sis ditching him all the time. I really tried to avoid the temptation of having him watch T.V. all the time, which is the only thing he really wanted to do. So instead of me having that chunk of time to bake, sew, or whatever, I was stuck playing lego, cars, toss the ball, chase, you name it. Ok I'm not actually complaining, it was fun of course. It was nice for him to have Mommy all to himself ('lil Meatball naps in the morning still so he's a pretty boring play mate). The best time I had with Monkey during the last few months was when he asked me to paint his face like a pirate. I had remembered this blog post I had recently read, so I wanted to make his life as a pirate a little more realistic. I didn't do nearly the quality job that Dana did, just a blanket pinned to the wall for a sail, and an empty toilet paper roll for a telescope. He didn't want a patch, so that made it easier too. Even though it looks like he had fun, it was just different without his sister to play with. Poor little guy looked pretty lonely in that ship all alone.
"Land ho!"
Using the crib, his quilt, and a "sail" made it feel totally authentic, ha ha.
"Arr!"
His pet pirate monkey
How can a pirate even be that cute?!
Even pirates need to pick their noses, especially bored lonely pirates.
Pirate popcorn, because pirates have to eat a lot of coconuts on all those tropical islands. We saved the rum for mommy and daddy, ha ha. I just melted this coconut stuff with butter and put it on their popcorn, it was super yummy.
Of course when June Bug got home she wanted to dress up too. And yes, pirates are still tuff whilst drinking milk from a sippy cup.
Look at those sweet pouty pirate lips! So sweet.
Sweet angel face.
And how could I do a post with no baby in it? Here's the cutey looking at a stuffed giraffe rattle I made him. It was a quick satisfying project, sorry it's blurry here I don't actually have a good picture of it.
Here it is unstuffed to give you a better idea of what it looks like. I love fast projects that actually make me feel like I accomplish things.
Well the sweet boy is awake now so off I go.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
More on Gardening
Ryan just bear with me, I promise I don't try to bore you to death. My poor brother likes to complain about my blogging if I drag on too much about boring domestic things, like gardens. Well I just wanted to finish talking about my garden because I kind of got cut off from my last post. I also wanted to clarify that the photos of the beautiful green luscious gardens are from last year. AND when I said the beds were 4 feet deep, I meant deep as in that's how wide across they are, not how deep the dirt is. Does that make sense? Matthew finished my second box today, so now I have two that are 6x20, one that is 2x20 and a massive one out at the farm that's about 7x30. It's the most garden I've ever had, I hardly know what to do with it. Other than go to the Farmers Market this weekend and buy more tomato and pepper plants because I didn't have my act together in April to actually plant those things ahead of time. Ok, so now that I've totally bored Ryan to death, here's some pictures for you.
This is what my one garden bed looks like right now, there is one exactly the same right next to it. Not very much happening here, but yet still so exciting. Some dill, garlic, and some random flower or something are coming up from last year, eekk!
Last weekend my neighbour and I decided to ditch the kids and jet into town for some trees. We came back with some great stuff. I'll start with our yard, which is this picture. The front big tree is a Shuburt something berry, can't quite remember. I also got Lilacs, Hydrangeas, a dwarf cranberry bush, and another bush with white stuff on it. I'm going to fill in the spaces with colourful flowers. My husband got rocks to intersperse into the beds, he was quite proud. Next door (which our neighbours rent from us) we got a Hawthorne, a Muckleberry plum (with pretty pink blossoms) and some cool bushy shrubberies. A Shrubbery. Thanks Montey Python. Anyways. It's been fun to get some stuff put in and get things looking nicer. Matthew and I have lots of plans for the yard and house. We want to make the pillar on our deck look chunkier and more Craftsman style, and of course we'll one day put rock instead of that ugly paper stuff with the spray painted house number.
This is my rough sketch of our yard 'n stuff. Don't know if you can see it very well. We want to eventually build a patio around the fire pit. The area out side our fence isn't ours technically, but man we get a lot of use out of it. We call it "the back 40" even though it's only 10 feet squarish.
Here's part of our backyard. You can see into "the back 40", it will have a gate going out there soon. Gates! Can't wait. That's an apple tree. Real apples, not crab apples, I'm excited to see what we actually get. I'm so excited about all the things we can grow up here now. Apparently we can even grow grapes up here! They work on different varieties of plants and make them hardy for our climate, love it!
Beer can chicken on our new (free) BBQ. This is a super delicious and easy meal to make when we're out in the yard all day. Our neighbours put this bbq on the curb for town clean up day, intending to send it to the dump. That is, until my wonderful hubby spotted it. We replaced our older crappier, but also free bbq with this one instead. Oh but it gets better. The next weekend we sold our old crappy bbq for 5$ at the garage sale, ha ha. So sweet!
And here is the number one reason why the rest of the garden isn't put in yet. He's well worth it though, don't you think. He actually really loves it outside, but he just doesn't last out there as long as the "big" kids do. His favorite thing about outside is eating grass. At first I tried to stop him, since he doesn't even eat real food yet 'n all. But he doesn't choke on it and it's almost impossible to stop him from eating it, he just loves it. So I don't try very hard anymore to prevent it. What a funny kid, love him!
Well friends, I'll be back in blog town in a couple days. I have tons of new pics on the computer now so I have lots to blog about. I have to do it fast because the kids change so fast and there is more fun to be had. Oh and a brief explanation about the chicks is in order I guess. Fran (from "the farm") is wonderful and lets me raise chickens with her every year, even though it means she gets stuck with most of the work. Last year she got some wonderful heirloom birds which means we could save their eggs and let them hatch instead of getting them new from the hatchery. So I got the pleasure of having the incubator here so I could take on a bit more of the work load. Let me tell you though, they aren't a lot of work at this point. It was amazing to watch them hatch, I had never seen that before. The first day I was downstairs the whole time and had half the neighbourhood over to watch. It was incredible! Now they're getting stinky and loud so I'll kick them out to the garage at some point soon. I have another batch in the incubator now, so pretty soon I'll have about 60 chicks all together, yikes! We'll take them out to the farm when all their feathers are in and they're ready to be outside. Anyhoo, that's all for now, happy spring everyone!
This is what my one garden bed looks like right now, there is one exactly the same right next to it. Not very much happening here, but yet still so exciting. Some dill, garlic, and some random flower or something are coming up from last year, eekk!
Last weekend my neighbour and I decided to ditch the kids and jet into town for some trees. We came back with some great stuff. I'll start with our yard, which is this picture. The front big tree is a Shuburt something berry, can't quite remember. I also got Lilacs, Hydrangeas, a dwarf cranberry bush, and another bush with white stuff on it. I'm going to fill in the spaces with colourful flowers. My husband got rocks to intersperse into the beds, he was quite proud. Next door (which our neighbours rent from us) we got a Hawthorne, a Muckleberry plum (with pretty pink blossoms) and some cool bushy shrubberies. A Shrubbery. Thanks Montey Python. Anyways. It's been fun to get some stuff put in and get things looking nicer. Matthew and I have lots of plans for the yard and house. We want to make the pillar on our deck look chunkier and more Craftsman style, and of course we'll one day put rock instead of that ugly paper stuff with the spray painted house number.
This is my rough sketch of our yard 'n stuff. Don't know if you can see it very well. We want to eventually build a patio around the fire pit. The area out side our fence isn't ours technically, but man we get a lot of use out of it. We call it "the back 40" even though it's only 10 feet squarish.
Here's part of our backyard. You can see into "the back 40", it will have a gate going out there soon. Gates! Can't wait. That's an apple tree. Real apples, not crab apples, I'm excited to see what we actually get. I'm so excited about all the things we can grow up here now. Apparently we can even grow grapes up here! They work on different varieties of plants and make them hardy for our climate, love it!
Beer can chicken on our new (free) BBQ. This is a super delicious and easy meal to make when we're out in the yard all day. Our neighbours put this bbq on the curb for town clean up day, intending to send it to the dump. That is, until my wonderful hubby spotted it. We replaced our older crappier, but also free bbq with this one instead. Oh but it gets better. The next weekend we sold our old crappy bbq for 5$ at the garage sale, ha ha. So sweet!
And here is the number one reason why the rest of the garden isn't put in yet. He's well worth it though, don't you think. He actually really loves it outside, but he just doesn't last out there as long as the "big" kids do. His favorite thing about outside is eating grass. At first I tried to stop him, since he doesn't even eat real food yet 'n all. But he doesn't choke on it and it's almost impossible to stop him from eating it, he just loves it. So I don't try very hard anymore to prevent it. What a funny kid, love him!
Well friends, I'll be back in blog town in a couple days. I have tons of new pics on the computer now so I have lots to blog about. I have to do it fast because the kids change so fast and there is more fun to be had. Oh and a brief explanation about the chicks is in order I guess. Fran (from "the farm") is wonderful and lets me raise chickens with her every year, even though it means she gets stuck with most of the work. Last year she got some wonderful heirloom birds which means we could save their eggs and let them hatch instead of getting them new from the hatchery. So I got the pleasure of having the incubator here so I could take on a bit more of the work load. Let me tell you though, they aren't a lot of work at this point. It was amazing to watch them hatch, I had never seen that before. The first day I was downstairs the whole time and had half the neighbourhood over to watch. It was incredible! Now they're getting stinky and loud so I'll kick them out to the garage at some point soon. I have another batch in the incubator now, so pretty soon I'll have about 60 chicks all together, yikes! We'll take them out to the farm when all their feathers are in and they're ready to be outside. Anyhoo, that's all for now, happy spring everyone!
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