Monday, October 31, 2011

Helping her momma

Last week, Delaney wanted to be a big girl helper.  I needed to make cookies for a birthday party, so she thought she could help.  Actually, I think she just wanted to lick the icing, so she's a girl after my own heart.

By the way, that is cream cheese icing she is licking off her lip, not snot.  This time.
 Yes, I know my daughter is standing on a stool feeding icing to an 80 lb. dog.  But she was having a good time and our dog enjoys icing too.


 Hmm...I just noticed she's holding a knife in this picture.  But, it had icing on it, so...
 Our finished product- pumpkin spice cookies with cream cheese icing and candy corn.  Delicious.
Sticky mess.

"what?!  We're all done!  There's no more icing!  There's no more cookies to eat!  This is NOT okay!"

So, she helped her momma clean the kitchen.  

Yeah, I see all the crud on my kitchen floors too.  That's why I made her swiffer them after she swept.
**********************************************************************************



Thursday, October 27, 2011

Embrace the Family Photos

Who doesn't like a good old-fashioned family photo shoot?  haha.

We were actually ALL able to make it to a family cook-out a few weekends ago, which means we needed to take a family picture.

Although my mom's entire family lives within 30 minutes of one another, we are never all able to make it to a get together.

Brodi and I came straight from a Tag...You're It! show, so I had flat hair and although the trees make it look like it was 60 degrees, it was actually 85 degrees, so we were all sweatin' through our sweaters (or maybe it was just me).






Are you embracing the camera today?  I hope so.


Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Inspiration. New Designs. [hopefully]

I'm feeling inspired today.  Yay!  I'm in the mood to make some new designs in time for the Holiday season.  Do I know the designs yet? 
No. 
Have I spent a month on an inspiration board putting my ideas down? 
No. 
But, I plan on whipping out some new designs by the end of the day, 'cause that's how I roll.
I always did my best work last minute, so let's hope that is the case today. 
There are a few new pieces in our shop that I haven't introduced yet that I wanted to share. 

Hand Stamped Mommy Necklace with Sterling Silver Bars and Children's Names, Personalized
 
hand stamped sterling silver i love you to the moon and back keyring with rocket ship for men or women

Christmas ornament hand stamped personalized custom holly leaves pewter wedding gift
Pewter Couples Holly Ornament

We close our shop during the month of December for family time, so only about a month left to shop for Christmas! 

Monday, October 24, 2011

Weekend in Pictures

Alright, technically I'm not sharing my "weekend in pictures."  These photos are from 4 weekends ago when we went to the pumpkin patch, so it was still my weekend, just not this past weekend.  Make sense?

I didn't really take any photos this past weekend.  I think I'm getting tired of taking fall photos.  I had a great fall-filled-festival weekend, but I didn't even take my camera 'cause I just wanted to enjoy the time and not worry about whether or not I need a flash.

Or maybe I'm just tired.  I am wearing my hair in a side ponytail today, so I think I might be coming down with something. 




 This looks like I posed her and had her sit for a nice pumpkin patch shot.  Actually, she was walking, tripped, and fell and was just getting up when I snapped her picture.
 A perfect toddler-sized pumpkin.  I wish you could see the bite marks that it ended up with by the time we left.  She enjoyed a little green un-ripe pumpkin snack.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Embracing the Camera with Wild Women



Time to embrace the camera!  It has been a long week here and I guess it is only Thursday.  Sometimes it is hard to work on jewelry with two little ones running around.  I decided to take a break and watch some Sesame Street with the girls.  Please excuse my lack of make-up and stringy hair, but I guess that is what embracing the camera is all about.  I didn't realize how um...uncomfortable Delaney was, but she didn't complain and I guess Harper had to get comfortable.
  
Are you embracing the camera this week?
embrace the camera

Monday, October 17, 2011

A Thorn in My Flesh

So a bit of a more serious post today.  I don't share much about my faith on this blog.  Why not?  
I don't know.  I guess because I struggle with what kind of blog this is- is a personal blog to share family photos, a blog to share inspiration, or a blog for the jewelry biz?  

I mean it is named after the jewelry company, so do I not share what is on my heart or about my faith?  
Well, today I'm going to share more about myself because my faith is more a part of me than a piece of sterling silver.
Sterling Silver Hand Stamped Domed Faith Necklace with Cross

Not to be Debbie Downer, but in 2006 I was diagnosed with scleroderma?  Sclerowhata?  I know- it sounds like somekind of nasty skin condition like leprosy.  I feel they chose a horrible name for it and I wish I could rename it to sound less gross.  But, my skin is fine.

It is an autoimmune disease and it affects many people differently.  For me, it affected my lungs.  I was told I had interstitial lung disease.  I remember I was in the hallway at my church praise team practice when my doctor called me with the news of the disease.

I cried in the hallway and then went back to practice as if everything was fine.  And it was fine in a sense.  I was put on medication and within a few months, my lungs were looking good again.

So for the last few years, I have had a yearly breathing test and everything always looked good.  It was never a huge concern and I will confess- I never really prayed about it.  I thought that it was an issue that was taken care of.  God had healed me with the medication.

Thanks God for the healing.  I got it from here.

Three months ago,  I switched my doctor and he wanted a new CT scan since I hadn't had one in 6 years.  I went into the appointment ready for him to tell me "looks good."  Instead, he asked me a lot of questions.

"Do you have trouble breathing." no
"Chest pains?" no
"Do you ever gasp for air" no
"coughing" no

He looked at me with a very confused look on his face.

"Well, your chest scan did not come out like I was expecting it to." huh?

He went on to tell me that my lungs looked pretty bad.  I don't know the technical stuff, but there was a lot of scarring and it looked like only about 60% of my lungs were "working".  From the way my lungs looked,  I should be having symptoms- a lot symptoms and it was a MIRACLE that I didn't.

So, I cried.
I had only met this doctor once and I sat in his office and cried.  Because I wasn't expecting that news.  Because I thought God had decided to heal me and send me on my way.  And I cried the most because now I have a daughter.




Before I had kids, I wasn't really afraid to die.  I know Christ as my Savior, I have asked forgiveness for my sins, and I have a relationship with Jesus.  I know that I am going to heaven and I look forward to that day.
 I was only sad to die because I know that my family on earth would miss me and I didn't know if Mr. H could survive without me.

Having a kid changed everything.

I am now terrified to die.  Not for MY sake- I'll be singing my heart out to Jesus for eternity.  I'm terrified because I don't want to leave Delaney here without a mommy.  A girl needs her mom.

And Mr. H and I plan on having more kids.  I was crying in this doctor's office for my unborn children that I could possibly leave motherless.  I think I told the doctor about five times "I just didn't expect this."  He kept saying, "I didn't either."

I went home that evening and was in a complete depression.  I literally couldn't get out of bed.  It is like I was overtaken by fear.  The "funny" thing is that my lungs were also that bad when I was first diagnosed six years ago, but I don't remember being too worried. 

But, I didn't have a child then.

My fear consumed me that evening.  I cried and I cried because of fear of the unknown.  I made a HUGE mistake a googled scleroderma and lung disease and read that it was the number one cause of death in scleroderma patients.  I cried harder.  Mr. H and I prayed together and I still cried.  When worry consumes you it is a horrible feeling, but when fear consumes you it is absolutely crippling.

And then I took out my Bible.
No, it wasn't a generation old underlined worn leather bound copy.  It was actually the Holy Bible app on my iphone, but it was still God's Word.  I typed in fear and anxiety and started reading.  I needed my heavenly Father to talk to me and calm down and He did.  I came across this verse, which I have read many times but it never held much meaning.

"...I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.

Three different times I begged the Lord to take it awayEach time he said, 

My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.”

So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. 


For when I am weak, then I am strong."

I don't think I ever really understood that verse until that night.  That it is in your weakest times that you cling tightest to God, making your faith in Him stronger.  I realized at that moment that maybe my faith wasn't strong enough.  

Maybe God needed to give me a wake up call to strengthen my faith in Him.  If that's what I needed- a thorn in my flesh (or literally in my lungs) to keep me dependent on Him and crying out to Him, then I can deal with that.  

I was still afraid, but I also came to realize that He knew when I was created and when I was going to die.  It's not like He saw my CT and said "oh no, that does NOT look good.  What now?"  He has always known and this new scan did not change his plans.  

I still have daily fears, but my faith has grown because of this and all I can do is trust in my Father.  

Last week, I had another CT scan and my lungs had improved by 20%.  My doctor doesn't know if they will ever be at 100% again, but I am praising the Lord still.  People have said that God doesn't perform modern day miracles.  However, God created and gave wisdom to those who invented medicines and those medicines are healing my body.  In the end, with or without medication, I know that God is the Great Physician.
Now I'm not to the point where I am rejoicing daily for my scleroderma, but I do think it was given to me to keep my dependence on Him and not on myself.  I do not know what the future holds, but no one does.  

My disease could worsen or I could live to be 90.  But really, none of us know what tomorrow holds, which is why we're reminded in Matthew,

"Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own."

AMEN to that.

Sorry it was a bit heavy for a Monday, but I'm sure some more fall festival pics will be up later in the week to lighten the mood.  :)

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Embracing the Camera and other weekly happenings

1. um... Brodi and Isaac held my iphone hostage.  This was supposed to be jewelry making time.
2. looks like Delaney loves pulled pork, which happens to be MY favorite food.
3. been busy filling orders from a jewelry show last weekend.
4. went to Brown County, Indiana this week, which included some great shopping.
5. loved looking at Halloween decorations in little shops, although I haven't even put out a pumpkin this year.
6. i had to pay Isaac $1.00 to rub my shoulders earlier this week.  it was a painful experience and i really wanted my dollar back, but you can't ask for money back from a 6- year-old (by the way, the dollar burned a HOLE in his pocket.  We were at Dollar Tree two hours later).
7 & 8.  enjoyed embracing the camera with Del in Brown County

Monday, October 10, 2011

Weekend Snapshots


Yeah, "turtle" is spelled wrong.  It bothers me, but the caramel apples help distract the error.
 My awesome in-laws who can't seem to get enough of Delaney.  We like to try to hit as many "fall festivals" as we can during October.
our happy girl.
A horse named Joey.  How cute is that?

Del blowing her bubbles.  It requires intense concentration and this lasted about five full minutes.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Embrace the Camera!

It's Thursday- time to look through photos of the week and embrace one of yourself. 

We went to the pumpkin patch this past weekend, and had a great time.   


I finally took a self portrait of myself that I didn't immediately laugh at and delete.  Yay!
 
Hope you are embracing the camera this week!

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Pumpk-inspiration

This Friday I am spending the day at a huge fall festival.  What am I looking forward to most?
pumpkin rolls.  
I love love love pumpkin rolls and I got an email that Dairy Queen started their Pumpkin Pie Blizzards this week, so I am definitely in the pumpkin mood.

(Um, yes, I am enrolled in the Blizzard of the Month Club.  They give me coupons and Blizzards are delicious).

I hate cooking, so I'm not sharing any pumpkin soup recipes, but I do enjoy baking, so I thought I'd share some dessert pumpkin blog recipes that I found on the world wide web.  

Pinned Image

This one has an ice cream/Chai concentrate filling.  Ever since I worked at Starbucks, I have LOVED Chai flavor, so it sounds like a winner.  It also includes a free printable if you are having a PAR-TAY...

One of my very favorite blogs.  You might get distracted and be reading all day...

Okay, another pumpkin cookie recipe BUT this one involves a cake mix, canned pumpkin, and chocolate chips.  
That's it? (you ask).
  Yes.  
Oh, AND it is a weight watchers recipe, so it's pretty much like eating a vegetable.  You're welcome.
My Little Gems


Yeah, okay the next one is kind of a lot of work and a lot of ingredients and it even involved a diagram.  BUT, it also involves pumpkin pie frosting, so you decide.

une-deux senses

And finally...This one actually looks really easy and doesn't involve a lot of ingredients but it
DOES involve cheesecake.

Inside BruCrew Life


Do you have any delicious pumpkin recipes to share or links to other blog recipes?


Enjoy!

Monday, October 3, 2011

Saturday Snapshots





Enjoyed some fall time with my parents on Saturday.  Mr. H had to study (boo), but I couldn't waste an October Saturday sitting at home.  So, I opened the newspaper and found a local event-
 a scarecrow festival in a small Indiana town (woot woot, don't be jealous). 

Although we were only entertained for about an hour, we enjoyed walking around the courthouse, listening to a Beatles cover band made up of 3 women in their sixties with a fiddle and some geetars, and some fun and original scarecrows.  My favorite was the Spongebob, of course.

 I also finally ate a Chicago style hot dog with a dill pickle on it, which I have been craving ever since I saw it on a commercial last month, so that goal was accomplished.


 
Hope you had a great weekend!

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...