Carnival Cruise Quilts

If you read my post regarding our summer I want to talk to you about one of the many blessings the Lord provided us. We have some friends from the historical society of our town. They heard of the news and let another member know. Between everyone working quickly we had that hospital bed we needed. Also when I got home I had a quilt order. For me quilting is essential. It keeps my bipolar depression in check. With my living room now a bedroom my bedroom became my quilting area. I needed some normalcy and this order helped with that. I am so thankful for the Lords provision. They even brought me Orange Juice which I desperately needed.

What was nice about this particular order is the hope within the shirts, these are travel shirts. I have never been out of the US so it was fun to see all the different shirts and think about one day when he would be well enough again to get out there and go on a vacation.

The summer was taxing, it was hard to stay on top of all the bills. I had to keep faith that God would continue to provide orders. This second order came just in time for me to take my oldest back to college. The profit helped with gas there and back.

I am so thankful for each order this summer. Every single one truly made a difference in whether bills were paid, food was on the table or if kids had enough money for Ecuador, camp etc. 

google.com/+JennWellsandSunshineOfAutumnQuilts

Happy 16th Birthday Zekaryah

Happy Birthday 16th Zekaryah
16 Fun Facts about Zekaryah
1. He was born early. I was out moving limbs due to a storm and I guess I pushed the limits. I came home thinking I was just in comfortable and learned that I was in labor. By the time we got to the hospital I was 9 inches dilated and was delayed due to an epidural which I should have never received. Hes been "running" ever since.
2. He was the late on everything- last to walk, talk, never really crawled and to this day is the last out of bed, last to do homework, last one to let you down if your his friend.
3. He Loves Water- he lived in the bathtub, he always tries to swim in Uncle Davids pool at St. Patricks Day, he can be creative with water too like making a Huckleberry Finn Raft one time on vacation.
4. He is my relaxed child. He loves to spend time by himself building forts in our back yard. There are remnants of them everywhere.
5.  It is hard to get a serious photo with him, he has been a HAM forever. I often get upset that I don't get that "good" photo" yet I find those are the ones I always seem to pull up. I am glad I don't delete them.
6. RED DYE is a big no no, esp if we combine that with video games. One year our friends Matt and Stef found that out the hard way..
7. His siblings always complain that he is annoying but they secretly do love him. I capture those moments all the time.
8. He was always into EVERYTHING. Hence photo above in the bottom of my filing cabinet. This past year he tried to fix an electric heater with a can of air cleaner that you use for a computer. It was a terrible mistake. Luckily it just removed his ability to breath for a short time, it cinched some hair and scared the living daylights out of all of us. I know this will not be the last time..
9. He loves to sing. Sometimes this is not a blessing but most of the time I am in awe just to listen. I was very proud last year when he and his sister sang a duet together. I am thankful to the choir teacher that believed in him that he could perform on stage and gave him that opportunity.
10. He loves to Run and is very good at it. I am not sure what High school will hold for Zekaryah with running, up until this years track season he truly loved to run, however lately it seems like the coach pressure may be a little much. I am praying God works that out.
11. Zekaryah loves HUGS. I cannot even express to you how many hugs Zekaryah wants in a day. I see him hug all his friends constantly, i know sometimes they get annoyed by this.
12. He loves God. He does such a good job at showing us constantly that the Lord is first in his life. He prays before meets even if others don't. He prays with friends before he eats. He also is not afraid to talk to others about God.
13. He has an amazing hand with vines. He makes the most beautiful wreaths! He loves to give them as gifts.
14. He is my least picky food wise. He doesn't always mind trying new things. He is the easiest to cook for.
15. He loves with his whole heart, which is huge!
16. He is super sensitive about not learning like other students. This makes him super compassionate towards children with limitations of any kind. He works so hard to achieve A's and B's where possible and I know that patience in his own life transcends into the lives of others.

google.com/+JennWellsandSunshineOfAutumnQuilts

Zekaryah's Surprise 16th Birthday Party from His Friends

Happy Birthday 16th Zekaryah from your friends!

I had planned a birthday party for Sunday since Paul was only home a couple of days and had to leave out again for work. He had asked for five friends to get together, go to the movies, have chili dogs, chips and cheesecake. When we were talking on Friday I came to realize that he really wanted to go to church camp and I could not afford to do both the deposit of $100 and have a get together/movies out. He needed to make a decision. I was very proud of him for choosing camp over the get together, I know it was a hard choice to make but with the lack of money coming in we truly could not afford both right now.

My husband and I missed the surprise party that his friends moms threw for him. I was at an Acadec volunteer day for our oldest and Paul was working a side job. I really wish Paul had known so he could have stepped away from work for a while. I know its hard on him to miss this birthday for Zekaryah not only is he turning 16 but he has never missed one of his birthday's before. I am however super thankful that his friends did this for him. I know they made it such a special birthday. Tonight at church he was able to give the pastor his $100 for camp, now he just needs to raise $300 more. Mekenzei was only able to give $16 but hopefully God will also meet her needs as well.
I think the best photo is the boys praying. I know I capture these moments all the time with cross country, track and choir but this one was just as special. It means a lot to see he is surrounded with such a wonderful group of young men.

google.com/+JennWellsandSunshineOfAutumnQuilts

An Amazing Son

I am so grateful for this child. He is an inspiration to me. He works so hard to be at the top of his class. He studies more than any child I have ever known in my life. He truly wants to be involved in school which is difficult since he has trouble relating to other children and is also seen as arrogant or self centered. If people take the time to get to know him they realize how loving and helpful he is. How he has some great ideas and sometimes some not so great ones. How he can be a good friend.
As his mom I am truly thankful for his I can do it attitude. He always is there to help me in all my volunteering obstacles. Yesterday was one of those. He was the only child home and didn't want me sitting on the stroll waiting for possible 8th graders to come up and purchase shirts. He tagged along. He sat and did Physics Homework due in a little over a week. The best thing he didn't complain about how boring it was, or how we weren't really getting many orders.
This morning he was upset because I got up earlier than he expected and couldn't surprise me with breakfast in bed. He looks at me with admiration for all that I try to do for all three kids and their friends, teachers and community. He is thankful that I push him so hard so that he stays on task at times when he just wants to relax. He starts his senior year next year. I honestly am not really looking forward to that. I know it will be rushed and complicated and there will be so little time together. I am excited though that the stressfulness of High School will be over for him soon and he will then be in college where hopefully he will meet people that understand his personality and he will build some relationships with others and put all this hard work into the beginning of a bright future.

Celebrating 17 Years

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. ...

17 Years ago we drove to Las Vegas and got married, just the two of us, we rented a trailer the next day, hauled it back to Irvine, California and loaded our things from two dorm rooms and moved to Texas. 17 Years ago today we became one another's helpers, we became one in flesh, we became on in God. I am so thankful the Lord decided I was to be his Helper in life.

 This is how we started off 2010- as a family, we had a fried night and played games and it was very very cold! It is my favorite thing about our family- Our Close togetherness. As a family unit we really have had our fair share of obstacles to overcome but I believe they have made us all that much stronger, caring, and loving in life and towards others.

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”  Ephesians 5:31

 We had a few goals for 2011. We wanted to find a new church to call our home. We wanted to date more. We wanted to spend more quality time with our children. We wanted to put work into our home by putting in windows and doing some other necessary repairs. We wanted my quilting business to grow and for Paul to put in time with two side jobs he does. We wanted to continue to grow together in the Lord.

However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Ephesians 5:33

I feel like we had a great start in 2010 with becoming more on track with the Lord's plan for our marriage and family life. We spent more time even with Paul's family and had an opportunity in 2011 to spend time with my cousin's family here in Texas and then with my grandmother. It was a nice year to celebrate one another's likenesses and differences. It was a nice year to compromise and not be divided.

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her

Ephesians 5:25

Our search for a church proved difficult this year. We knew that we needed to move on from a church home that we loved. There was is so much great about our old church that has been with us most of our marriage but we needed something that fit our needs more and was closer to home. We did try out a new church and enjoyed it, but it still was not enough of a perfect fit. The Lord did open the doors to a youth group for the younger two and this church has been in the process of building a new church building instead of a temporary meeting place. I am praying that this is our fit for 2012. I look forward to seeing the blessings the Lord has in store for us and it truly is close to home. I admit I had difficulty this year respecting the Lord's wishes on surrendering to my husband in regards to where we were going to worship. I am thankful though that the Lord constantly speaks to my heart and that I am learning more and more every day that submitting to my husband is submitting to the Lord's plan for us and that HE truly needs to be in the driver's seat of our lives, it makes for a much better marriage and family life.

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

Ephesians 5:22-24

Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

1 Peter 3:7

I  am truly thankful this year that the Lord felt it best suited for us for me to remain a stay at home mom. I am thankful for the job that my husband has that allows for many vacation days, time where he can leave early to be at our children's school functions and that we can talk throughout the day while he is at work. I am thankful that even though he does work some side jobs and that I do work from our home making quilts that we find time to connect as a family through dinners and other meals, that we have time to play games, watch tons of movies and shows and work together on our home to create a real family unit.I am thankful that our children are truly the most important aspect of our lives and that we are a united front always where they are concerned. I am ever so grateful that Paul has always been a wonderful dad, I realize how much I should treasure that!

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.

Psalm 127:3

 

I found in our years of marriage that the most important thing we can do for each other outside of praying for one another is to truly take time out to have some quality time together. Whether that is night's out, which we had a few or simply just plugging in a movie, making jam or salsa, doing some repairs. Its so important to touch base so that we do not grow apart. In our earlier years we focused so much on the children that we lost sight of dating.   

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

 We have also learned that even taking the kids along is not a bad thing, or having friends from work etc. I am so thankful for the many blessings the Lord has bestowed upon us this year. I am thankful that we are healthy, that we are more in love than ever, that we continue to grow in one another and that we continue to learn how to make one another happy. It truly is a growing process. As we spend years together it is so difficult to not get caught up in the world, in others and outside of one another. I truly look forward to 2012 and all that it will bring for us as a couple and parents.

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 

Jeremiah 29:11

 So here we are in 2012, our first picture of the year. This is something new for us, we made sure there were many pictures of us in 2011. I found looking back at my parents photos and grandparents photos etc that was something they did not have, I do not want my children to have that same fate later in life, so this is a new tradition I am happy to have. I want to show that we celebrate one another, our love and our lives together. I hope you have been inspired in 2011 by what you have read. I hope there are days that the Lord speaks to your spirit, that it might at times pull you out of the merk and mire. I pray that I can always be an instrument He uses to reach others. I pray that our marriage, though we have had definite times of difficult, prove that with the Lord all things are possible and that prayer is the best answer for every situation.

I am excited to be celebrating 17 years with this wonderful man of mine, through his strengths and weaknesses, through his compassion and frustration, through his love and generosity.

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  

Matthew 22:37-39

 

Thankful Thursday

Wow what a thankful week I have had. 

Sunday morning my middle son made me boiled eggs for breakfast. They were the best boiled eggs. Made me realize it is time to invest into his cooking skills. They were like my grandmas boiled eggs, nice and soft in the middle, yet with a medium set.

Monday the kids had off school, I decided to not volunteer and spent the entire day with them. I worked on a quilt while they were busy doing their thing then enjoyed the afternoon watching a movie in my bed with our daughter. I love moments like that. At the age of 12 I am thankful to still have them.

Tuesday my oldest son helped with wash and dishes since I had a very busy day trying to finish up said quilt from Monday. I wanted to mail it Tuesday afternoon. I was so thankful for his help. He is an amazing child. So busy with his own classes but always finds the time to help when I need it. He even made me a pan of brownies this week which I needed!

I got an amazing blog overhaul by Traci at Ordinary Inspirations she also has a facebook page

So what do you think?
I really do love it!!!

 Yesterday my husband brought home these. I had a rough day, been dealing with these terrible headaches and some pain in the tissue areas of my chest.

I will admit if I had not just gone in for my Mammogram a few months ago I would be very worried. I did have to go back for the ultrasound but it came back fine. I am still going to watch these spots though. I appreciate my husband listening to my concerns and being so thoughtful.

Today I got the biggest blessing of all. A friend called and said she had made a trip to Sams and wanted me to come by and get some things from her that we could share. WOW is all I can say. The Lord is so amazing!!!

I have been eying the pork loin sales for a while, but they had not come down enough yet, she provided just that and had no idea! You know the Lord surely does move into other peoples lives to help us when we seem to really need it the most. For that I am ever grateful. Quilt sales have been slow but twice now this friend has given us food. Something to think about...

If you would like to read more Thankful Thursday posts please see Lynn at Spiritually Unequal Marriage

she is hosting for the month of October.

Faithful Friday

The Lord’s continued Faithfulness was shown to us in many ways.

1.        I got our taxes done, we are just waiting for the online acceptance and our return.

2.       Paul worked an extra side job on Thur and will work extra hours at work on Sat.

3.       He provided us with some hot water instead of none- both elements could have gone out in the water heater.

4.       The Lord blessed us with Zekaryah 13 years ago and we celebrate his birthday Sunday.

5.       The Lord blessed me with a finalized quilt order and is giving me a way to have it finished and back to them by the 14^th to bring sunshine to my customer’s son.

6.       The Lord blessed me with time to finish the second Pinwheel quilt order I had.

7.        The Lord gave me an idea for more followers- give way a Pinwheel quilt when I reach 53 followers.

So there are 7 ways that God has been faithful to me this week. If you would like to join in the fun, follow the link to Striving for 31 today and link your Blog post, or if you do not have a Blog you can comment on her post for today. Have a very Blessed Weekend, hope everyone stays warm and Healthy.

Thankful Thursday

Here in Southern Texas the weather has been WONDERFUL! I am so thankful this week for the warmer mornings and beautiful afternoons. My Azalea bushes are starting to bloom, I have had two day lilies come up and bloom- not just be grass looking things. (ha ha) Oh it has been amazing, just delightful. I love the start of spring.

I am ever so thankful we moved my sewing area this weekend. It required some planning on my part. We never used our living room, more because I did not feel we needed two tv areas and we only have one couch so...it sat pretty bare with a piano against the far wall and a desk near the windows. Typically I would pull my portable tables out and use them for basting quilts, or folding clean clothes just washed, little things. There are some amazing wood framed windows with the old style slats of glass that crank out in this room. With the weather so wonderful I can open them up some and pull the blinds and enjoy the beautiful day. I can keep my ironing board set up near the circular table my sewing machine is now on, I have another portable table set up along either side of the wall from that corner one for cutting mats, the other for my other two sewing machines ( one I use pretty much for bobbins, the other I have yet to use is a MedArm for quilting). So I have this nicely nestled area, among these windows of GLORY. This room overlooks the entire house, so now I can stay in touch with the family more and it just works so much better! Eventually this next month we are tackling our bedroom where you can barely walk.

I am thankful that we did tackle so much this past weekend. We got the outside shed and carport area done and organized- a work out bench outside instead of in my den so now it is less cluttered and the desks with computers are all in one area tucked away. There is now a TV area separated in its own area in the same room. Looks tidy and clean. We worked on the garden some all week. I cleaned the entire house- minus our bedroom- this weekend on Sunday really because we were to have couple over for a bible study. They had backed out at the last minute but wow the house has been very clean all week! So no complaints here.

I am thankful for my husbands job. Friday of last week they let someone go. It was not him. To be very honest this particular guy did very little to prevent being let go. My husband was his boss and he just never did his job. So the big company in Ohio decided the guys productivity was low and it was more worthwhile to get rid of him and have occasional overtime. I was very concerned that we would have 14 hour days 5 days a week. So far so good. My husband has had to readjust his schedule he now has to be to work by 7, instead of 9. Meaning I need to solely get the kids to school- I don't mind. Used to for years so no biggy. I enjoy my morning ride with them to their school anyway. Then yesterday he came home about 2 in the afternoon because he had accumulated 8 hours of overtime so he was sent home so the hours would go down. In turn he came home and worked more in the garden getting leaky pipe laid for Strawberries we have coming and veggies that we planted from seed that are now sprouting. It has been wonderful to have him here earlier for dinner too! It would be nice to have the money of overtime but God is providing our needs and savings is being depleted but it is still there.

I am thankful to teachers and staff at the schools this week. I had an English Teacher for my oldest Jakob put in recommendation that he take Spanish One next year as well as journalism. You have to be recommended for both. She also will nominate him for a group called PALS- Peer Assistance Leadership Service- this will be great for him. He has such a GOOD HEART. He wants to be a writer when he grows up so Journalism sounds wonderful, will teach him a different writing style. He also will be recommended for Geometry, since he will complete Algebra One this year with an A. He will after completing 8th grade next year, go into 9th grade with 3 courses done for his High School credits. Just wonderful!

In another area I am thankful to teachers and staff as we were informed yesterday afternoon that our middle son Zekaryah has been a little loud and out of line at lunch. You know even though many parents may not really worry about the little stuff. We do. We take disobedience very seriously, especially at school, in public or a church, at someones house. We want our children to always try their best to follow the rules. So we took measures at home to enforce some consequences in hopes to correct the behavior, then I also emailed his teachers to notify them that the paraprofessional from the lunch room spoke with us and how we saw a way to help change the behavior by changing who he was with at lunch. I love that the school sees him as a wonderful, kind, respectable young man and that they are willing to help us take steps to encourage him to be a leader. The benefit of living in a small area and having parents so involved I think but regardless a prayer of Thanksgiving is listed. God says, “Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6; NKJV). We try very hard to do that.

There is so much more to be thankful for this week. I think the biggest one for me personally was my continued striving to learn how to make different quilt blocks. I have had some errors with it, but overall the final products have been pretty good. I really liked the block that I made last night. It turned out really nice. I am going to donate some to my friend Des who makes Healing Quilts from the Friendship Stars. I love good causes and that is a great one.

So what are you thankful for this week?

Please visit Grace Alone and join in Thankful Thursday or maybe just read other thankful lists.
You can also see some more at Rose Colored Glasses

What Am I Learning Friday

You know sometimes things just click. Do you know what I mean, that light bulb moment, the stop you in your tracks type of moment, the ah ha- wow taken back moment. Yesterday I was laying in bed checking my email on the laptop, the younger two were in my son's room watching a DVD and my oldest was on the computer finishing up a Quiz he was creating for an Assignment in his Science Class. He had just finished and asked if I would read it. I said sure, bring me your flash drive- wow aren't those handy!

I plugged in the flash drive and looked it over. Made two changes one to a question and one to an answer-- it was just one word in both and was just amazed! It dawned on me where we were in life- Jakob and I. He will be 13 on the 12th and he is in all College Prep courses, the boy reads more than I do, probably as much as I did as a child for sure- he is an all A student. I can depend on him to help with things around the house and his week he just didn't need my help. I had not even realized he didn't need my help. I am looking over the assignment, was impressed at the quality and said wow, great job. He said Thank you and walked away.

I was sitting their for a minute reflecting on the week- the Legend he wrote for Science, this quiz I had just read, the fact that Tue morning he had me email every teacher for assignments since he was missing school- how wed right after school he was on top of his homework, preparing for a test he missed just handling it all and still managing to do his chores.

I was just so impressed at his attitude. He didn't feel good, he could have complained and griped and been in a pity party but he didn't. He knew what he had to do and he did it. How easy it would have been to just brush it off and make an excuse.

I called him in my room after he showered and just used some Godly wisdom from James 3:10 "From the Same mouth come blessing and cursing." I just expressed how impressed that I was, how much I appreciated his hard work and how I felt he was doing a wonderful job with school. I told him how pleased I was with the quality of his work.

You see while his room may not be clean, while he washes the dishes (which is his chore) but fails to see the kitchen includes:dishes, counters, stove etc. I saw the good work he was doing. I did not want to be upset over his shortcomings - the area he cuts corners in, but I wanted to praise his GOOD WORK- work of EXCELLENCE.

There will be a day where we will go over the steps of how properly clean a kitchen again but I did not want to miss the opportunity last night to speak Blessings from my mouth. I have a theory that as I raise my children I want to constantly pay attention to those things that impress me, the areas they go out of their way to do something wonderful, in turn I want to speak blessings upon those areas, build character, help them feel amazing about the achievements they have made, their strengths. My theory is that my Choosing to speak blessings instead of point out the areas they are weak and get upset over them which could tear them down, they might just apply some of that same effort into their weaker areas.

I do point out when something is not done, or when they need to redo things, but I want to make sure I am praising them far more than always showing them where they fall short.

It is amazing what we can do with our words. As Jakob left my room last night, there was a sense of love in his step. I could tell he appreciated me taking the time to tell him he did a great job and that I was proud of him.

Even in our own live's I think we all want to hear how proud our heavenly father is of us. I know for me I want the Lord to be very proud of the mother I am becoming, the mother he wants us all to be.

So this weekend make sure you praise your child or someone in your life for something they have done, give a boost to their spirit.

Sunshine