It's been so long, I'm not even going to attempt to catch up! 

I'm now teaching an Awana class at church on Wednesday nights, a class full of middle school girls :)  They have taught me so much this year and I wanted to find a way to show them how much I love them, but also something that would help them remember our class and something that would help them share their faith with others.  A wonderfully crafty friend helped me come up with the idea of a necklace made from a washer....of course I went straight to the source of all things good...Pinterest....and found a number of great ideas!  So here's my first ever "tutorial"  of these sweet necklaces!

Materials needed - Washers (I got a bag of 20...lots of room for error)!  There are a million different sizes of washers out there (who knew) I got ones that I felt were big enough for my word to fit on.

A letter punch kit, I got mine (or my mom - she's my in town shopper) from Hobby Lobby, it was the most expensive part of this project, I'm sure if you had the time to look around you could find one cheaper.

A hammer, I'm pretty sure you know what one of those looks like, all though I think I ended up using a mallet, the little hammer didn't work as well, (that's where those 20 washers come in handy, trial and error)

A spool of leather, you could use any material you'd like, I just really enjoyed the look of the leather.

Some sparkle...they are teenagers after all...

And something to glue your sparkle down, I tried my BFF hot glue, but it didn't work very well, I ended up using a craft glue, and the excess came off with no problem after it had dried.

Take your washers, hammer/mallet, and punch set outside to a hard surface, I ended up using the sidewalk.  I strongly recommend having a tester washer.  It took me a few tries to get the hang of hammering (since that isn't an activity I usually participate it).  It's also helpful to count how many times you hammer one letter, that way they will all look the same.  For example I hit each of my letters 10 times, if you are stronger than me, (which you most likely are) it might not take as many hits for your letters to look right. 

please excuse the poor phone picture :)

I then glued all my little gems on and waited for them to dry.  I then cut the leather and threaded it through each washer.  I played with the idea of adding a bead to the leather, but decided against it. 

To package them up for them up for the girls, I got little tulle wedding favor bags, and added a verse to the outside.

"Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9

Ta-Dah....they loved them!  What meant even more to them was the fact that they came up with the word for their necklaces, they just didn't know what I was doing with the word!  Our class this year has focused on the Israelites journey out of Egypt.  The girls had to come up with a word that they felt summarized what we had learned all year, and they came up with "Faith".  I hope that these necklaces will open up doors for my girls when they are asked about them, I hope they can share their faith, their testimonies and God's love with those around them.

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God"

Ephseians 2:8

They made me cry...

And in a good way today!  Which is a good thing, because we've been spending A LOT of time together lately and we've had some not good tears. 
Since Ellie got here, I've been amazed at how well Noah has transitioned.  It's like nothing changed around here.  He doesn't get jealous, he's not mean to her, and he doesn't get all that mad when I tell him to hold on a minute (which is like 20 times a day) and he only tattles on her a few times a day. 

Today we were playing in Ellie's room and she grabbed a hold of his shirt.  I took a deep breath because I just knew I was going to have the "she's just a baby" convo with him again.  He started to whine, stopped and laughed and said "she likes my shirt...she grabbed, babies just do that Mommy"  Ahhh...I can breath...no melt down because she touched him.  He then put his sleeve out again so that she could grab it.  Laughed his big ol belly laugh and smiled.  Then he put his hand out so she could grab it and said "look Mommy we're holding hands!"  My eyes filled with tears, and flashes of them walking together everywhere came into my head.  I just know he's going to be such a good big brother (if he can ever stop tattling on her).  I stopped, thanked God for my children and my husband.  I love little moments like that where God shows you just what He's done for you in your life...make sure you thank Him!

(shiver me timbers...I gotta go be Captain Hook...with the Veggie Tales...and possibly Batman)

Busy Hands

While on maternity leave with Ellie I taught myself how to crochet, with the hopes of making a few headbands for her....well I accomplished the few headbands goal...but then exceeded it tremendously. I can't help myself and I can't stop. I enjoy this so much, but I'm quickly running out of girls to crochet for. Do I dare attempt to sell them, the thought keeps crossing my mind and with an entire summer in front of me, it's an enticing idea.

Any ideas or suggestions???

God Sighting

While I was driving to work this morning, the guys on the radio were talking about God sightings, I have a long ride to work, so I started thinking.

Almost two years ago, Richard was in a car accident, not his first, but by far the worst. He was rear ended while at a stop. I had to drive past the accident on my way to UVA to get him and when I passed, his car was still there, with Noah's car seat sitting on top of the car. Noah wasn't with him, thank God, but that's a wake up call and a half to any momma! I cried and prayed my whole car ride, got lost, cried some more, had my mom pulling up maps on her computer at her house to get me to Richard.

The car was totalled as you can imagine, a mustang where the odometer has stopped working, is probably ready to retire anyway. A mustang you can replace, a husband you can't. God watched over Richard that day, he was pretty banged up, but he was still here.

Whenever I pass by the spot where Richard's accident took place I always say a prayer and thank God for my husband and protecting him. Sometimes it gets overwhelming and I shed a tear, at the thought of what could have been. A few months ago as I drove by, it hit my harder than normal and as I got past the spot, I looked up and there was a sign that read "Jesus Loves You". Perfectly placed! Thank you Lord for loving us so much and thank you for protecting this family!

30, 3 months and almost 3!

Wow...a whole month has come and gone again! Time continues to fly on by, sometimes a little too fast. My boys made me a fantastic cake for my birthday and mother's day. Listening to them attempt to decorate it themselves was quite entertaining...I heard phrases like "is it supposed to do that?" and "Noah get your fingers out of there" but I happily stayed in the living room to listen and giggle. Turning 30 wasn't so bad at all! I had a great day celebrating with my family and friends. Ellie's almost 4 months, but here's the 3 month picture...I'm so behind...with everything! I have yet to write in her baby book or get any pictures of her printed, poor second kid. If we ever had a third one, it would have to raise itself. Luckily this little lady is such a happy camper, she's okay with pretty much anything. She's loving life and we are loving her. Her smile takes away every bad thing in my mind and heart and makes me pause and thank the Lord for my sweet girl.

And then there's Noah...what can you say about him. He'll be 3 in a few weeks! He continues to make us laugh like no other and frustrates us the same. His vocabulary is a little to extensive for his own good and he's really struggling with who is allowed to tell him what to do and who he's not allowed to tell what to do. He still loves his sister and is not bothered by her in the least. He's still my cuddler, I cherish those moments when he curls up in my lap and even if its only for a minute, it gives me all the purpose I need. It encourages me to keep doing what we're doing, because even though we're hard on him, he still loves us (even though lately he says he only loves his Nana).

Maybe once school is over I'll catch up on my blog, maybe then I'll get pictures of Ellie printed, write in a baby book, crochet a million hats, get the basment finished, get my sister moved in, and really clean my house...............or maybe I'll just enjoy my kids and not stress the other stuff!

Naked Cowboy eat your heart out!

Ellie pooped today...aren't you excited! She sure was, it's been like four days! It was the kind of poop that required two parents, an entire package of wipes, a gas mask and a trash bag...luckily we had all those things, well except the gas mask. So in the midst of this breath holding diaper change, in runs.... ...The Naked Cowboy! All we could do is bust out in laughter...how could you not. The last time we had seen him, he had all his clothes on. He didn't actually call himself the Naked Cowboy...but that's all I could think of. He returned a few minutes later with nothing on...but Richard wasn't laughing anymore at that point...maybe the Ellie fumes had gotten to him.

Needless to say, we have a very happy little girl now!

Hiking

We needed some fresh air before I went back to work, so we took a family trip up to Skyline Drive a few weeks ago. We packed our picnic and off we went. Hoping to find a trail we could all walk, we set off. Noah said we were going to look for mountains with our binoculars! Believe it or not, Noah walked the entire 1.3 mile trail. He never really cried to be carried. He more cried when he had his "hiking stick" taken away because he was going to poke his eye out, or when he had to hold hands because the trail we picked had an incline like Mt. Everest! (Please note Daddy has the binoculars with us...to look for mountains of course)

Noah was so excited to see some snow!

Ellie hung (literally) in there with me! She barely made a peep the entire time!

More from that day.

Ellie's in there...somewhere!