knitting for nephew

I'm so excited to share the news about my newest nephew! Tristan Lucas arrived on April 28th, joining his proud Momma, Daddy and two big brothers! Praise the Lord for a safe delivery and a healthy baby boy! Congratulations to my big brother and sister-in-law. Tristan is very blessed to have you as parents. PLUS...he's such a cutie! I'm also excited to say that a very special project I've been working on arrived just days before Tristan. And here he is...clearly enjoying it! (He also seems to be enjoying cuddling with his Grandma.)



Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one's youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. Psalm 127:3-5


I LOVE having a picture of him in his new blanket!

Here are a few more pictures that I took before I sent it off. I love, love, love the color- it's so sunny and cheery. And I wish we had feel-a-vision (yeah, I just made that up) because this is just about the softest yarn ever.






Hooray for Ravelry, where I found the pattern and have more info and pictures. Are you on Ravelry? Look me up- you'll find me as cobrawife!

Easter in Real Life

When I woke up yesterday I was excited to be spending the day celebrating our risen Savior. First a sunrise service at church, lunch with friends and then a relaxing afternoon and evening for Ev's last day off for two weeks. Unfortunately it didn't turn out that way. After showering and dressing, it became clear that I would be spending the day in bed, sick with the same virus the boys had last week. I'm not going to lie, I was feeling pretty sorry for myself. I missed the boys hunting for their Resurrection Eggs that I had hidden the night before. I barely got to see Fiona in her pretty Easter dress on her first Easter. Everett took all three kids to church (Super Dad), and I was left home alone, feeling miserable. I turned on some praise music and started to reflect on Christ's suffering instead of my own: Sure, I was feeling pretty rotten, but not compared to what Christ went through. In fact, though we are told that we will suffer for our faith, I've never come close to experiencing what many Christians around the world suffer each day. I was feeling lonely, but what do I know of loneliness? My Lord knew true loneliness as he cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me." That spiritual separation from His father, with whom he is one, is unlike anything I will ever experience.

I was still sick, but it did give me a chance to reflect deeply on some things that might have been missed otherwise in the bustle of activity. I also experienced blessing through an unusual avenue- Facebook. My pointer finger was still functional, so I was able to check FB from my phone. I was so encouraged by other brothers and sisters in Christ posting praises to God. I admit, I'm still a little sad there isn't a nice family picture for Fiona's first Easter. In fact, these are the only pictures form the whole day. By the afternoon, I was feeling a little better so I snapped these from my spot in bed.



Somehow, the boys' Easter shirts managed to make it through the whole day without any stains and still looked nice enough for a precious picture. Fiona had long since been changed into a pajama shirt, but I made her Daddy put on her Easter bow. (which he purposefully accidentally neglected to do for church)



Maybe next year these pictures will help remember to be more focused on what Easter is all about.


But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
Isaiah 53:5

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!" Luke 24:1-5

Praise the Lord, He is risen!!

Sick Days

I kept thinking how amazing it was that we hadn't had anyone get sick in a long time. I guess I jinxed it because yesterday both boys were sick. I'd like to tell you that we spent the day cuddled up on the couch enjoying some down time and reading classic children's literature. But I can't do that. Instead, they enjoyed a rare day of back-to-back movies. Wait- does it count if they were movies of classic children's literature? While they vegged, I ran around trying to decontaminate the house. All the moments like this from the past few days went from sweet to germy.



I spent the day doing mountains of laundry and washing my hands every minute, hoping that no one else gets whatever-it-was. Fiona spent the day as far from the contamination zone as I could keep her. It made me thankful for days like today when I make forward progress. I can't wait to show you some of the progress I've made today, as well as the progress Fiona has been making over the past few weeks. So exciting!

DINO-mite Party

Every once in a while, we have a special birthday party complete with invitations, special decorations and games. This was Braden's turn. I had a great time making the invitations, planning all the dinosaur games (pin the tooth on the dino, dinosaur egg relay race, dinosaur bone drop and more) and thinking up fun decorations. The kids were all 4 or 5 years old- which is such a great age for a theme like this, which takes a little imagination. They were so enthusiastic about the Milk Bone "dinosaur bones" and the first thing they each said at the door was, "did you know we saw dinosaur footprints on the sidewalk??!"



One activity didn't quite work out the way I planned. The pint-sized palaeontologists were having a little trouble with their pint-sized tools, so we had to call in the big guns.





Happily, the cupcakes were a huge success, especially the fondant dinos on top. I know, I swore off fondant after Trevor's 5th birthday. But it was so much easier this time....maybe because I wasn't trying to cover a ridiculously gigantic medieval castle. But I digress. I found a tutorial for these little guys, and they were actually fun to make- although I'm still glad I only had to make six.






They were a surprise to Braden, and he loved them. His smile is all the thanks I need!

Desert Fields

I don't know if I've ever mentioned it, but I am constantly amazed by the desert. One of the more amazing things, to me, is how fertile the desert can be if there is water. Our city is the Lettuce Capital of the world. Isn't that crazy? It is such a contrast to see the beautiful, neat rows of the fields against the backdrop of our desert mountains. All winter, the fields are filled with vegetables. I've wanted to photograph them ever since we moved here, and I finally took the time to do it. One evening, I packed everybody into the van and just drove around looking for fields being harvested. The kids patiently sat in the van, listening to Odyssey, while I snapped pictures. The next day when we got in the van, Braden asked, "Mom, are we going somewhere, or just driving around again?" Some day he will appreciate looking at these pictures; they will remind him of a place that was his home for a while.