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Monday, July 30, 2007

grateful...

Lately, sometimes it seems that has been one thing after another. I'm sure you know what I mean. Honestly, when I look at the big picture, it is all minor. The latest is that the transmission went on my car after replacing the engine just a few months ago, and after replacing what seems like every other part on this car. The good news we hope, is that every major thing has been replaced or repaired so with the help of God that will be all for a while. I am strangely grateful for these trials because without them I wouldn't have the renewed awareness of how much our family and friends love us and are always willing to help out. From Grandma and Grandpa driving our son to and from work-even though it is late. To our next door neighbor offering the use of their vehicle and the offering of bringing me to the store while our car is out of commission and hubby is at work. I am grateful for friends that listened to me on the phone as I was close to dispair about this stupid car. For Heather and her husband bringing over their other car early Sunday morning so we could get to Mass. Wow! My cup overflows!
I have been wanting to get a picture of the three kids together on the blog for a while. It's been just the girls so far. We had a kodak moment out by the garden this evening as daddy was gathering the fruits of his labor.
Daddy's little helper.
She loves those tomatoes!
Guess what I'm doing tomorrow..........making a lot of tomato sauce. We look forward to this all year and enjoy it out of the freezer for months to come. This will be the third batch so far. It is easy and a great way to use up the tomatoes, onion, garlic, basil, oregano and parsley from the garden.

Saturday, July 21, 2007

a blessed day...

I participated as a vendor at The New Holland Farmer's Market this morning. It was a wonderful day in many ways. It was rewarding when lots of sweet people were complimentary about my handcrafted "wares". I sold more items than I expected to. But, what was even better was... The unexpected blessing of sharing a stand with a lovely woman who sold beautiful flowers from her garden. She had her 4, very well behaved children with her. I learned early on in the morning that her husband had passed away just 5 months ago from cancer. Her husband had been a landscaper and there are lots of flowers around their home. This is one of her arrangements;
The blessing I received today was not only to witness the determination, creativity and faith of this young mother. It is also the very loud, fog horn-like reminder of how incredibly
blessed I am.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

fall fashion preview...

I made these ponchos out of felted wool/wool. I was brainstorming on what to use besides fleece and my friend Beth suggested the felted wool idea. It worked out very nicely. I picked up some wool scraps at a new favorite thrift store Re-Uzit in New Holland. All proceeds go to Mennonite Central Committee, a very worthy cause. All their stores are kept so organized and clean as well.
This one is from McCalls M4962. It is a pattern calling for fleece. I really enjoyed using the wool and fringing the ends.
I whipped up this wool flower from the scraps (from the scraps) and added the blanket stitching around the neckline.
This one is from an old Simplicity Pattern 9531 from 1971.

Sorry for the bad pictures.

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Happy Birthday Little Miss Sunshine!

Today is our daughter's 15th birthday. I am overwhelmed with gratitude to God as I write this. This child has brought more joy to our lives than I can express. She has had more than her share of trials in her life than most her age and has only flourised through them. When Annie was 22 months old she was diagnosed as being hearing impaired as was her older brother. Getting a toddler to wear hearing aids, correction-getting a toddler to do anything can be a challenge and oh, how she was and still is a stubborn one. When she was 6 years old she began having some health issues and when she was 7 she was diagnosed with Kidney Disease which had already claimed 1/3 of each of her kidneys. The doctors told us it was an extremely rare disease in children and they could not be certain of the progression. However, due to the fact she had lost so much kidney tissue it was likely the disease would progress-it did not. Through God's grace she is and has been in full remission for several years and will be watched for the rest of her life. We believe, as well as some doctors that I have spoken to that this was a miracle.
She is the very best big sister, little sister, daughter, grandaughter, friend that one could hope to have. She has a heart to serve others, full of compassion.
She is creative, funny, hard-working and I can't wait to see what God's plans are for her as an adult. See Jeremiah 29:11.
The older she gets the more she thirsts for adventure and freedom. This makes me a little nervous. But I know this beautiful girl has favor with God and He will continue to protect her as he always has.

Saturday, July 7, 2007

Eastern Market

Today, my friend Beth and I were standholders at Eastern Market in Downtown Lancaster. It was a nice day. The weather was beautiful, the company was great and we even sold some things. We will be there again in August.


My daughter made me the cool sign.


Some of my pillows...

mini pillows...
travel tissue holders...
Here is a picture of Beth's quilts and other things. Check out her blog for better pictures. This one does not do justice to her beautiful work.



Hope you are having a great weekend. We are off to grandma's for dinner-thank God I don't have to cook this evening.


I did a lot of sewing this week. Next week will be all about cooking and preserving veggies from the garden.





Friday, July 6, 2007

zucchini bread...

Good Morning!

It's been a busy week with sewing and getting ready for market day, my sister and brother-in-law came for a visit on the 4th and lots of other stuff.

All the moms I talked to yesterday remarked how they thought that summer is going too fast. I really hadn't noticed. For the most part it's been really nice around here with the more relaxed pace, there is less carpooling, less back and fourth to school and more fun stuff. Although, there can always be more fun stuff I really have to plan a couple of the things we talked about so summer doesn't slip by without doing them.

It's that time of the year to break out the zucchini bread recipe. This makes a very moist, delicious bread. Again, like the strawberry bread, I have been using mini loaf pans and freezing them individually to pull out as needed. I also freeze the grated zucchini in 1 1/2 cup portions so I have it on hand to make the bread at another time.


Zucchini Bread

1 1/2 Cups granulated sugar

1/3 cups brown sugar

3/4 cups vegetable oil

2 eggs

2 cups flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 1/2 finely chopped zucchini

3/4 cups walnut pieces (optional)

cinnamon sugar


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine sugar oil, and eggs and mix. In another bowl, mix flour, baking powder, soda, salt and cinnamon. Add to sugar/oil/egg mixture to moisten. Carefully fold in zucchini and nuts. Divide mixture into 2 greased loaf pans sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. Bake 55 minutes or until done. Enjoy!