Crafty Stuff

We are a one income family,  we have talked a lot about me getting a job, somehow a SGT paycheck is just not enough for us to move above what we are and start saving for our future.  I have not worked outside of home in 7 years, I am not qualified for anything.  But what I have spent the last 7 years doing is crafting! Sewing, knitting and hot gluing.  I LOVE IT!  Taking a pile of supplies and using my own hands to make them into something my kids can treasure forever or make their lives easier.

Right now the Etsy shop is pretty small.  I am still trying to figure out what people want that I can make in a timely and affordable manner.  Mainly weighted blankets. Weighted blankets are used in treatment of autism, ADHD, sensory disorders and others.  My oldest niece (I call her Rodent) has a mitochondrial disorder which makes it hard for her to sleep and her entire body is restless. The weight of the blanket is a comfort and helps calm the kids down.  It can make a huge difference for struggling parents and child.  I use minky on one side, cotton on the other and special polly pellets which are washable, so the entire blanket is safe.

Other then the weighted blankets I put stuff in the shop that I have made for Cupcake and Monkey and have been a success.  Like play purses, princess dresses, finger-less gloves, letter pillows, and knit novelty hats blah blah blah, I am adding as much as I can, keep an eye on it.

 I have a lot of stuff in mind for my Etsy shop, alot of projects coming along to sell, but I try to remember why I started doing this, for Cupcake and Monkey.

 Currently I making a line of princess dresses for Cupcake. She woke up to this Elsa (Disney's Frozen) dress and giggled and jumped up and down refusing to take it off all day.  It was wonderful to see her playing in the dirt and jumping on a trampoline in it.  I felt like that summed her up, strong willed and out going little princess who is not going to let anything get in the way of getting dirty, oh and staying that way as long as possible.

Monkey, and I have found, boys in general, are harder to craft for.  I can throw a dress or a purse together in a night, but what comes together so quickly for a boy.  I also hate sewing dress shirts, those collars are the devil :)  But one day I realized how easy pants are! And how Monkey only has "sleeping cloths" no "pajamas." So I dug out some flannel and got a package of while shirts.  Soon he will have his own line of comfy pajama pants with matching shirts....final picture to come!

Be prepared for more crafts to come, I just cannot stop.

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Quotes from Cupcake on Cinderella

Woke up to a sweet little girl who wanted to cuddle and watch "pincess movies." Sitting with her eating popcorn and chocolate milk curled in a blanket has over flowed my heart, and hearing her reactions as she realized who was who and what was going on.

"Here come the pincess!"

"I don't like Ucifer, and those girls are mean to me too cause I a pincess"

"I always be a pincess"

As Cinderella walks into the ball Cupcake gasps then whispers "PINCESS"

As the step sisters walk into the ball she curls against me and tries to not watch.
"I don't like those girls I'm staying with you"

When the horses trample the pumpkin.
"Hey there's a crack in it"

In reference to Gus, the mouse.
"Thems fat"

As the two mice move the key up the stairs.
"Gus Gus is helping!!!"

As the cat traps the mice.
"LET HIM GO!!! LET HIM GO!!!"

"Brunos up, Brunos up YEAH!"

"A KEY A KEY"

"Bye Step Mother Pooppy, hahahahahaha"

She got very excited and tense at the end, it was so cute.  I can't wait to start sewing her princess dresses and introducing her to other awesome movies from my own childhood.

I have been waiting for my Cupcake to find Princesses and fairy tales since she was born, I wanted to share this with her.  Last year she got her first princess dress as well as seeing Disney on Ice.  My little Monkey Prince loved it too.

         

Notice a common factor? Cinderella!! Always has been my favorite princess and I have loved the excitement of dreaming of being a princess all my life. It may seem sexiest to "push" this on her but I want her to find her own prince and know that she deserves to be treated like a princess, and she should settle for nothing less. 

April 9th 2005, when I was a real princess and married my own Prince Charming.  A dream come true.

The Desert

I feel like so far this blog is a little disjointed, I am still trying to get a rhythm, to pick through my ideas for the right ones to post about.  But during church this morning this idea took root and I knew I needed to share it.  The pastor spoke of Luke chapter 4, the temptation of Jesus.  At first I thought this would be straight forward and boring, Jesus is tempted three times and stands strong, not giving into temptation.  Instead I discovered something new about what God is doing in my life when I was scared I was lost.

Have you ever taken a walk through a desert? I want to say I have not, but we live in the middle of one and nature walks through the desert are part of our life. Three years ago I really found the Lord in my heart.  Surrounded by the comfort of my brother, sister-in-law, nieces and my parents, I bloomed into a child of God.  Then we got orders for a new duty station, Georgia! We were very excited, four hours from Disney World (very important :) in a lush green land and a new experience.  Then everything changed when the Army changed their minds and threw us into the middle of the dessert, dry, hot and as far away from my family as we could get without leaving the country.

A walking path not far from our house, through the local mountain.

This desert I am living in has two levels, there is the desert that separates me from my family and what feels like the rest of the world and there is the spiritual desert that separates me from God.  In reality no amount of land can truly separate me from my family and as long as I seek God, nothing can separate Him from me.  But that does not mean it is not a challenge.  

I only realized I was in a spiritual desert this morning at church, a desert where I cannot hear God and am not really sure where He wants me to go. 

Should we have more children?

Should we put the kids in public school? or continue to home school?

Should I get a full time job and become a two income family?

Should I finish my education degree? or something different?

How can I serve in a ministry?

What church should we be apart of?

Should we foster or adopt?

Just where should I focus my prayers and studies?

Where is the Lord leading me? What does he have planned? Even through the Daniel fast I have struggled to hear the Lord's voice, I am in a desert, dry and hot and lost without a drop of water to drink. Very disjointed on how to use my life best to glorify Him.  

 He planted Himself in my heart and helped the growth of my spiritual self through friends and family in Maryland, but then it was time for me to take my own steps and that is what this desert is for.  Stop leaning on others and start leaning solely on Him.  He put me in this desert and he will lead me out.  I am still not sure where I will come out at, what I will be when I grow up, but I will continue to put my faith in God and trust He loves me and will put me where I will be happiest and most fulfilled.

What I want to remember

When my nest is empty and they have flown away, when day by day I am I am not the center of their universe, when they are too big to curl up in my lap.....this is what I want to remember

Monkey being very proud of matching his cloths all by himself.

Realizing out of the blue that Cupcake knows her alphabet and is ready for real lessons.

The overwhelming excitement of  Monkey painting his own toy dinosaurs.

Cupcake falling asleep mid tea party.

But mostly I want to remember how happy Monkey is to help putting groceries away and having strangers in public go out of their way to tell me how polite he is and how wonderful it is to see how much he loves helping me.  And finding friends in the commissary to chase and hug.

And I that smile, that melts hearts, and the friendly woman at Smash Burger who calls Cupcake "Tinker Bell" and just wants a shy little girl to give her a hug. The sounds of singing coming from any room she is in, singing made up lyrics to bring sunshine to every day.    

First Week Back to School, Slow Going

When we got home from our Christmas vacation, first week of 2014 I was so excited to get started with a fresh new life. New school year, revived in faith, cleaner house, healthier life, everything that comes with the new year.  But that is not what I got, what I got was a house full of sickies, and beaten down with it myself.  My doctor called it "death walking" and that is sure what it felt like.  No antibotics for just a virus, wait it out , even though it takes what seems like forever!

"I wear my fancy dress, I love fancy dress"

You know things are bad when the ADHD kid doesn't want to play.

We did not keep this "death walking" to ourselves, we are generous people, we left it with our entire extended family in both Chicago and Maryland.  Aren't we sweet?

We slowly are getting to the exciting fresh start I wanted and did a "light" week of school.  Very sick Mommy and very sick kids can only get so much work done.

Working on the difficult sgwiggly letters

Hand eye coordination with some lace and weaving

Homeschooling allows kindergarten/first grade Monkey to do class work alongside his PreK sister! They help each other and and loving doing it.

Lily's current course work is simple, colors, shapes, numbers...causally only when she has interest in it and only in what she is interested in (with some gentle pushes) 

 All of Cupcake's school stuff and a ton more came from a package from our Papa, every couple weeks and every holiday we get an overflowing package of treats and fun and the kids just loose their minds.  This time it was full of school stuff which really got them excited for the start of our new semester.

      

Here goes with prayers that next week we will all be healthy enough to kick this new year's butt!

Rough Start

I heard something from a pastor once, everyone say "God will not give me more then I can handle." But the truth is God never said that, He said He will never give us more then we can handle WITH HIM.  As long as we have God, faith in Him and lean on Him when things get rough you can get through anything.

"I can do all things through God who strengthens me" - Philippians 4:13

I would not say it was a bad week for me, I struggled my faith, and my dedication.  But people around me, people I care about are truly being tested and pulled at.  I know all I can really do is pray and listen, but at the same time I wonder why what God is doing.  I trust Him, because I know Him.

 Pray with me please
*For Nikki, his health, reunification and future
*For Grams and Pops following God's path with trust and saying goodbye
*For an abused child, "F", healing and a happy life
*For a friend "M", marriage and peace
*For Christine and her family moving to a new duty station
*Healing for all my family still dragging with the flu
*Energy and growth for Baby Dennison 3 and her Momma, Natalie

Daniel Fast, Prayer and Clean Eating

Today is the day I break my massive sugar addiction and I am already regretting it :)  Today is the day I put my God above everything else in my life and turn to Him for comfort instead of my fridge.

This is hanging on my fridge to remind me what is truly important.

Daniel Fast? I did not make this up! It is a rather popular spiritual fast taken from the Book of Daniel based on his eating habits and verses highlighting eating God's food.  

I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, for the full three weeks. -Daniel 10:3

But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself. And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs, and the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, “I fear my lord the king, who assigned your food and your drink; for why should he see that you were in worse condition than the youths who are of your own age? So you would endanger my head with the king.” Then Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, “Test your servants for ten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. -Daniel 1:8-14

Our fridge in prep for 3 weeks on God eating..

The basics, as I understand it, is to be deliberate with what you eat, eating pure and focusing on prayer and hearing God's voice each day as you deprive your body of really unnecessary foods.  I am focusing this 21 days of fasting on my husband and asking the Lord to move his heart towards Himself.

The prayer is the most important part, but clean eating guidelines helps me to focus.  So super simplified for my easily distracted Mommy mind are
1) No sugar, none.  This is difficult in picking things like spaghetti sauce and salsa since most of these have sugar added, so I just make my own.
2) No meat or animal products. No steak, chicken, fish, milk, yogurt, butter...
3) No alcohol or caffeine, ouch! headaches here I come.
4)Drink nothing but water, this is very clear, not even tea or fruit juice!
5) No leaven bread (no yeast) and only whole wheat products.

So basically what I go with it, lots of fresh vegetables and fruits, raw nuts, and whole wheat noodles and brown rice.  The point is to think on God and not on food.

I have a bad sugar addiction, dependence on caffeine and tendency to comfort eat.  I also have been diagnosed with clinic depression and anxiety.  All these things together have caused me to gain a lot of weight, making my depression worse, be tired constantly, develop asthma and restless sitdrom and just hate myself.  There are few pictures of me from the last 6 years, avoiding even special pictures with my kids, so understand how important this fast is to me as I post this.

NO I am not pregnant, yes I get asked a lot.

Even though my point in this fast is to hear God better and ask Him to bring my husband closer to Him, I know that God is the only way to do anything right, even lose weight.  My health and happiness of my family will improve thanks for my Lord.  I have tried tons of diets and fads, I know the only thing that can work in the Lord.

My first temptation has already come upon me in the form of these evil and delicious cookies hiding in my cabinet calling my name.

 But instead of giving in I pulled out the peanut butter and cut a banana and stayed true.

Oh yummmmmmmmmm

I will not lie, the cookies would have tasted better

I love this time of year, everything is fresh.

Although Money and Cupcake are too young to fast quite yet, they will be eating fresh and healthy with Mommy with meat and grains and some little treats.

The Explanation

WELCOME!!!! And thank you for checking out my blog, it fills me with joy to be spreading God's word and love through my life.

 This is my first post of a new blog, and my 4th try to keep a blog going, I am apparently easily distracted. :)  But as 2014 starts I motivated to get back to tracking my kids lives, like I did years ago, and start sharing how the Lord has moved me and continues to move my life.

To start...hummmm....I am a stay at home mom of two (hopefully more one day) crazy, loving, brilliant kids.  We are an Army family, my husband has served for 11 years with 3 deployments and 5 different duty stations.  I was an Army brat, with my dad serving 18 years, I joined the Army reserves myself right out of high school where I meet my solider husband.  My life has never completely been separate from the military. Which is why I wanted to include that aspect heavily in this blog, I know the Army, ups and downs and would not be who I am without it.  I want to support other military wives,husbands, children, service members and any one whose lives have been changed due to the military.

Peace is Coming, my husband found this in a chaplains office in Iraq, moves me to tears.

Now the other major aspect of this blog is Christ.  I have always known who God was, but did not feel a true relationship with Him until March 20, 2011 when He pulled my heart to Himself and never let go. Now I feel the joy and peace of knowing Him and trusting Him in every aspect of my life.  I am a sinner and will never claim to be an expert or never be wrong in what the Lord wants or says, but I have given my heart to Him and strive to do His will.  Here I will share my struggles to understand and serve God, what moves me, what fills me and how I depend on the grace and love of God as I deal with the challenges of military life and parenting.

Don't stop reading now, I have more!!

Those crazy, loving and brilliant kids I mentioned, yep those are the ones who pictures dominate this blog and voices dominate my house.

"Monkey" is 5 years old, due to turn 6 on Saint Patrick's day this year.  He is very loving and needing of love, he loves cuddles and cares for others, hugging every person he meets no matter what.  He was diagnosed ADHD last year after we saw symptoms and sought help. He is literally never ever still.  At the beginning of 2013 when we moved to a new state and started a new Pre K at the local public school we noticed the things we knew he had learned start to disappear.  We made the decision then to remove him from public school and home-school him.  He has thrived at home and I have LOVED watching him learn and spending this time with him.  Next month he will start a 1st grade curriculum.  His favorite subject is science! He loves dinosaurs and animals and learning every fact about them that he can. He never stops asking questions and questions your answers until ever detail has been hammered out.

"Cupcake" is my beautiful 3.5 year old rascal! It is amazing how you can feel like you are raising two children the same way and they turn out so different.  She is spirited and stubborn.  She is a good girl, but does everything on her own terms in her own time.  Her favorite game is "playing Mommy" where she takes my purse and tries to use each item in it like I would, I have lost a LOT of make up this way. She also loves babies and turns any toy, including her brothers giant dinosaurs, into a baby so she can care for it. My little cupcake is beautiful and she knows it, using that sweet smile to distract from her stealing of candy or stubborn refusal to poop on the darn potty.  We don't do much schooling with her yet, though she watches every lesson her brother gets and wants to be included.  This year we will start an official Pre K program and I can't wait to watch her absorb it up.

Homeschooling is for the crazy, yep! As a military family we move every three years at least, for us it has been more often then that.  Monkey had to leave a completely amazing Pre K program half way through the year and entered into a horrible one.  This is the chance we take and if we want to live in on post housing, inside the military community, we have little choice in what school the kids will attend.  It keeps a sense of stability in a unstable world to do school at home, they don't have to worry about standardized testing or new schools every few years...  I have many reasons and I could get defensive and rant, but honestly my biggest reason for teaching the kids myself is that I love spending time with them and keeping them close to me.  I feel our family growing closer and the kids becoming life long friends.

Wait there is more.....

Crafting, my obsession and addiction.  There is not a day that I am not trying to knit, sew, or hot glue something for some reason I think it very important, usually it is not :).  I try to bring in a little money with a small Etsy store selling weighted blankets (for use in treating ADHD and autism), knit hats and other random stuff.  I just feel so fulfilled seeing a pile of fabric or yarn become a usable item. I even knit the kids Halloween costumes this year, it did not save us money :)

So in short what you will find here is
Christ stuff
Military stuff
Kid stuff
Homeschooling stuff
Craft stuff

That is me and I am so excited to share this year with you, I hope you stick it out and learn to read through my dyslexic mistakes :)