Trees for Troops

Christmas time is the most wonderful time of the year!  For most people, the family is together and everything is special and magical. Military families often have a different take. Often a piece to their Christmas puzzle is missing. Even if they don't have a servicemember deployed,  many times they are stationed away from their families and are unable to travel home  to celebrate.

There are several organizations who that really bless military families during the holiday season. Amongst those are the USO, Operation Homefront, and Trees for Troops.

This year, our servicemember is  deployed. It's an extra special Christmas because it's our baby girl's first, and it's the first in our new house.  And it's extra sad because daddy will miss it.  What a blessing it was to be able to take the kids to Ft. Story and pick out the perfect tree.

When we brought  it home and got it all set up to drink up some water, I discovered the sweetest little drawing on the card attached. It must have been from a child about 5 years old.  I instantly got misty-eyed. How sweet to have a link to the lovely family who blessed us with such a beautiful tree.
Our tree brings an extra sense of comfort to our little family, and is a reminder that we are thought of by others. We will be sure to pay it forward.  On behalf of all military families who have received trees, I'd like to thank Trees for Troops and all the families who have donated for their kindness, and pray that they have a blessed Christmas!

Vintage Style Burlap and Lace Stocking

It's a tradition in our families to make our children their stockings. When Jacob was born, I didn't have the means to make a stocking from scratch for him, so I just embroidered his name on a store bought one. This time around, however, I happened to have some materials lying around.

I am currently in love with the look of burlap. I had some scrap quilt batting left over and some lace, purple ribbon, and shimmering purple embroidery floss.

I used Jacob's stocking as a pattern, and traced around it, with about a half inch between the actual stocking and my tracing line. Flipped it over and did the same. Then I pinned the batting and the burlap together and cut. I sewed each of the sides of the stocking together first, (batting to burlap) and then the sides together inside out (burlap touching burlap.) Once the stocking is all sewn together and pulled right-side-out, I folded the top down enough to fit lettering. (Keeping in mind that I would need to sew the bottom of the fold (or the very top of the stocking) up under the fold to give it a more put-together look.) Then, I wrote her name in pen on the batting. I embroidered it out using the entire thickness of the floss to give it a nice thick look.

Then I took single strands of floss and wove them through the burlap to make just a bit of shimmer throughout the burlap.

Then I made flowers for the stocking. Here is a great tutorial on the way I made them. http://youtu.be/73S_FyL7DaU You can use strips of cut fabric in place of ribbon.

Add a pretty lace bow, and there you have it!

We're Pregnant! (August 2010)

We are pregnant! We had made the decision to start trying, and got my Mirena removed on August 2nd. A few weeks after removing it, a very gifted three-year-old Jacob disclosed to us, "You have a big ol' butt, and a cute little baby in your belly." On August 26th, I took a test, and it was positive! (For Paul's sake, I took a second, just to be sure.) How did Jacob know?

I knew that I'd conceived on August 4th, which put my due date at April 27th. After going to the doctor on September 28th, they gave me an ultrasound, which put me at a due date of May 8th. I was a bit bummmed. It's never pleasant finding out you've got to wait longer than expected to meet your new baby!

So, weeks progressed, and we were so excited! We prayed for a girl, and disagreed for months on names. Finally we came to a conclusion: Eliana Lois (God has answered) for a girl, or Elijah David (my God is Lord). Hoping for an Ellie all the while. Finally, we were far enough along to find out the gender!

We were given our Ellie after all! (And she already looked like her daddy!) We were so thrilled to see our healthy baby girl bouncing around in my belly. What a beautiful and wonderful gift from God. And Jacob knew all along, sticking to his theory that he would have a baby sister.

Time flew by. Paul was home, going on several work-ups, but this was the longest time we'd had with him, getting to spend Christmas, Valentine's Day, Jacob's birthday AND our anniversary together! I was very active, walking or swimming everyday. Gaining only 12 pounds! (What a blessing!)

I got huge!

(37 weeks)

On April 27th, I sat on the couch in the den of our new home, just getting over a cold, I coughed...and that was it. My water had broken, for real this time! I called my sweet hubby at work, and in a panic he rushed home! I wanted a shower, so he took Jacob to school, and when he returned, I was finally ready to go! Portsmouth Naval Medical Center here we come!!

Time Changes Everything

It's been over a year since my last blog, so, it occured to me that perhaps it's time to fire this thing back up. So much has changed. Since my last post, my hubby has returned from his first deployment, we went on a vacation, had our first Christmas together, celebrated our second anniversary (the first we've been able to celebrate together), bought a house, sent our boy off to his first year of preschool, brought a baby girl into the world and shipped hubby off for deployment number 2. I'll catch up in different posts, so things are bound to be a bit out of order, but c'est la vie. ;)