Hearts Full of Joy

a cat in the hat dress for my little one

gracie & i had a blast creating this dress for her to wear to preschool! mia & noah even joined in the design process. we used fabrics from the "Dr.Seuss" collections by robert kaufman fabrics, that we carry in our shop here.

we planned on "Thing 1 & Thing 2" fabric for the sleeves, which i would have liked better, but i forgot when i was cutting....and didn't remember until they were sewn and serged in place.

i used "Little Girl's, Big Style" again, tweaking a pattern. i am just loving this book, and want grace to slow down in her growing so i can keep using indefinitely:

amazon.com suggested this book for me (thank you amazon!), and it is such a bargain. with free shipping, it costs about what one or two patterns would cost, but is full of patterns that can be made so many different ways and combined for even more looks - just wish there were some fun boy patterns too.

the dress turned out fuller than i expected. if i use this pattern again (i'm sure it will), i will take out some of the width.

 

 

 

dear cancer

Dear Cancer,

We have met 3 times before, and have lost 2 beloved family members to you.

But we do not fear you.

You cannot take anything that God doesn't want taken.

You can create positive change that God does want in our lives, if we allow it.

We are better because of our unwanted experiences with you.

We pray that this outcome will be like the one we have had with you, and not the other two.

We put all in God's hands and trust Him far above any power you have over us.

Sincerely,

Our Family

 

...my facebook status from August 23rd.

a bump in the road

what a week this has been! tashi flew to utah to start her new life at BYU (very emotional for us all to let her go, and sad to see how hard it was for the little ones), and as my mom picked her up at the airport, she called and told us that my brother's wife was waiting for a breast cancer biopsy result. this was almost eerie, because last year on the same day, my dad found a lump under his arm, and i got the call that he had cancer just as i was dropping lexi at her college dorm for the first time. both diagnoses, last year and this year, happened at my mother's birthday, which has been very difficult for her.

also this week, our littlest started pre-K, and brock started a doctorate program several states away. he traveled there this week for one round of classes, and he will travel there 2 more times this semester. he was accepted to teh program in may, but we have been waiting for news of a fellowship to determine if we was going to do it or not. he left on wednesday, still not sure of the fellowship, but it has come through. we also had visits from lexi & bear, on their was back to SVU (southern virginia) after their summer in california, and brock's parents. and our garden is producing faster than we can keep up with it, so there has been lots and lots, and lots, of canning, which i love, but we're tired - emotionally, physically, and mentally.

there has been roller coaster news about my sweet sister in law, but things are looking better than at first. my brother has started a blog to follow their journey:

A Bump in the Road

 

my sister lost her husband to bone cancer when he was only 25, my mother survived breast cancer 7 years ago, my father died of neuro-endocrine cancer in april, and so this is our family's fourth time around. we are very hopeful and i do strongly believe there will be a positive outcome.

buster the adoption kitty

buster (or bustard), our adoption kitty, is alive and doing very well. we thought his growth would be permanantly stunted, and that he would forever be a small cat, but he is catching up with the older kittens, and looks like he will be a huge tom cat.his head and paws are already larger than theirs. he is planning to travel to virginia with lexi and bear when they come through on their way back from california.  you can read buster's story here.

here is gigi (the wonder cat), feeding him in the box she would take him to alone, so that he could get a chance to eat without competition fromt eh bigger kittens.

and here he is with the other kittens.

cahokia indian mounds

cahokia indian mounds is a fascinating and little known world heritage site in illinois. other world heritage sites include the great wall of china and the pyramids in giza. we've been planning to go for 3 years, and have driven past it several times, but never made it a destination until a few weeks ago.

it was fascinating, and well worth braving the record-breaking heat wave that most of the central and eastern us was experiencing to explore. the photo above shows the largest mound, which has a foot print that is larger than the largest pyramids. there was once a huge, thriving, well-developed culture that built huge earthen structures here in north america. cahokia is just across the mississippi river (to the east) from st louis, missouri, near collinsville, illinois.

it was a much more strenuous climb to the top of monks mound than our kids make it look in this photo, especially in the extreme heat.

you can see the st. louis skyline, incuding the arch, in the distance from the top of monks mound.  but now that i've uploaded the photo, I'm not seeing the arch...., it's there, i promise!

we forgot to get a photo of one of the most interesting remains at this site, a giant lunar calendar that has been named "woodhenge". it wasn't discovered until excavation for a freeway project in the 60's. it is a huge circle of giant wooden tree poles that line up with the solstices and equinoxes. this trip has opened us up to the little-known, and even at least somewhat covered up, cultures in ancient north america. it is becoming quite a controversial topic, but there is quite a bit of evidence coming to light that there may have been a purposeful mid 1800s governemnt "cover-up" of the artifacts and evidences of how highly developed the ancient peoples here had once been, because it didn't fit in with the plans for american expansion and domination of the native peoples. john wesley powell figures prominently in this supposed cover-up. i can't say for certain if it is true, but it is interesting.

grandma & grandpa came with us, and seemed to enjoy the day as much as we did.

we finished up at the st louis arch, and finally made the trip to the top. (here are the kids at the base of the arch.)

view of downtown st. louis from teh top of the arch.