In the Garden

Entrance to my mom's Rose garden where I always imagine walking when we sing this hymn. My Dad is a welder and he built this awesome arbor and gate.

I love this hymn we sing at church, I looked up the lyrics at Hymnlyrics.org

In The Garden

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I come to the garden alone
While the dew is still on the roses
And the voice I hear falling on my ear
The Son of God discloses.
Refrain

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.

He speaks, and the sound of His voice,
Is so sweet the birds hush their singing,
And the melody that He gave to me
Within my heart is ringing.

Refrain

I’d stay in the garden with Him
Though the night around me be falling,
But He bids me go; through the voice of woe
His voice to me is calling.

Refrain


Words: Charles Austin Miles (1912)


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Story: I read…the story of the greatest morn in history: “The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, while it was yet very dark, unto the sepulcher.” Instantly, completely, there unfolded in my mind the scenes of the garden of Joseph….Out of the mists of the garden comes a form, halting, hesitating, tearful, seeking, turning from side to side in bewildering amazement. Falteringly, bearing grief in every accent, with tear-dimmed eyes, she whispers, “If thou hast borne him hence”… “He speaks, and the sound of His voice is so sweet the birds hush their singing.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” Just one word from his lips, and forgotten the heartaches, the long dreary hours….all the past blotted out in the presence of the Living Present and the Eternal Future. (Thanks to cyberhymnal.org)

Rose in my mom's garden

Growing bigger

I haven't gotten any pictures off my camera in a while so I have old ones out.
This is one of an old Chrysler my dad has:

My little girls are pretty busy lately. Lizzie is talking a lot and is very busy. She wakes up in the morning and is very adamant that it is time to eat immediately. She says "EAT, EAT" or occasionally "uhhh cook", or maybe even "ungee" (hungry). She is quite passionate about food sometimes. Actually she is passionate about everything, she is not a mellow person.
Ruthie is working on her letters. Sometimes she is focused and really gets it and is sounding out simple words other times she has a harder time and needs lots of coaching. It is rewarding to see her learning and picking it up though. She enjoys writing cards to people. Ruthie really likes numbers though and does addition with her fingers.
They are getting better at playing together for longer times but when they fight or argue they race to get to me and tattle on the other one as if the first one to make their case will win. I often hear screaming and pounding feet running to get here first. Usually Lizzie is screaming cause she gets passed up. Eventually they will learn that is not how it works.
We have two dogs Buddy is still a puppy and so when inside he has to stay in the kennel since they don't get the run of the house, Tucker though is being taught to stay on the rug at the back door. This is a new thing and today Ruthie discovered that he had got her acorns and chewed them up. She was very sad and insists we will need to get more. Last time we collected acorns at the church, Ruthie, Lizzie and I had pockets filled up. They often collect rocks and things too, like mommy. So I am hoping to win one of these skirt outfits with a big pocket for bird seed, I am sure it would work for acorns and rocks too though. Here is the link they are very cute:
GrosgrainStore.com Grand Opening & Giftcard Giveaway!!!!!!!!: "GROSGRAINSTORE.COM"
She sells them too at her new store GROSGRAINSTORE.COM
Today I heard Ruthie banging around in the dishes in the kitchen, I was hoping it was in her little kitchen set, but let her carry on without checking. After a few minutes I came in and she was cooking! She had my big mixing bowl out with some water and was adding sugar in it. She said she was going to put some butter and milk in it and cook it in the oven. I figured I would let her since she was so enthusiastic about what she was doing. After the milk and butter she wanted salt and pepper and then she broke some pieces of leftover toast into it. She wanted to cook it and I said, "in the microwave?" so she decided that sounded fun so she microwaved it for 55 seconds then she still wanted to put it in the oven so we put it in a different pan and baked it at 350 for a few minutes we took it out and she didn't even want to try it. I had to reinforce what I had taught her a long time ago that only I can put things in and take things out of the oven because she was already getting the oven mitts out to try and do it herself!!! Her concoction kinda looked like soup so we doctored up some top ramen for lunch.
For Girls only:
Lizzie got into a little mischief herself today. I asked her to go and throw away a plastic bag that was lying around while we were picking up. She went into the bathroom to throw it away and eventually she came out and I noticed what she had in her hands. Read on only if you are not too squeamish, (this is a little embarrassing) she had a used tampon applicator and wrapper putting it in and taking it out of the wrapper! So we had to reinforce that lesson too, don't touch things in the trash, yucky, no touch!

Busy House

I know I haven't been blogging much lately, but I am doing crafts for the coming church bazaar. I pale in comparison to the stuff found on Grosgrain's blog though. I want so many of the things she makes so here is another give away that I would like to win for Ruthie.
GROSGRAIN MINI STORE OPENING NOVEMBER 6!!!!! AND BIG PREVIEW GIVEAWAY!!!!
I love the bird prints and the pocket to keep seed in. We are all into birds, in one way or another (it is duck and goose hunting season right now, we ate Matt's goose last night!)

So there is crafting to do, hunting for Elk, and Water Foul, and Matt has begun wrestling season. He is the local junior high coach and will be high school assistant coach to his brother. This is all on top of him working at the church, doing a couple bible college classes there and teaching jr high bible study. With all these things we actually will get to see more of Daddy, since he leaves work early to get to practice and then gets home about an hour before usual. Some day I will start putting up more pictures again. I still need to figure out what the girls will be for Harvest!

Wink School

Here is a fun little video we did a while ago. It was inspired by Ruthie coming up to me unprompted saying "look mommy." I assumed it was for the funny face she was making and I responded, "oooh scary." So she then told me she was closing one eye, it was this strenuous act that made a "scary face"! The reenactment below is not quite as funny as the original, but still may make you giggle, enjoy.

Red Riding Hood Jacket GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

Here is a really cute jacket that would look wonderful on Ruthie, I am a sucker for red, I think it looks so good with my brown little girls. The gal that makes these things is so talented, she inspires me to try making things I think up in my head even though they often don't work out I have fun. Check out the jacket and her blog here: Red Riding Hood Jacket GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

I still haven't gotten pictures up from Ruthie's party but I will get to it soon, so check back!

Goodbye Summer

It has been a while since I updated and I finally put pictures on my computer after about two months! We have been busy. We had youth camp with our church and Ruthie's birthday. Now we are getting ready for Ruthie's birthday party this weekend. Here are some pictures from the last month or so to catch up on:

We made this fun canopy from adding grommits on a thrift store sheet.
I saw it on Sew Mama Sew.

This was a genuine hug I was able to capture, they were hangin' out on the couch together reading while I vacuumed.

Here is a very beautiful bad fishing hole we tried and all we caught were a bunch of mosquito bites all over us.

We made a makeshift fort in the back yard under our maple tree.
So fun!!!

I love it when they make each other laugh

Feeling very proud of her new hideout

I found this table and chairs at my local thrift store and I decided to refinish it top secret for Ruthie's birthday:

Before

After
The girls' first time seeing it here
Happy Birthday Ruthie!
We love you so much big four year old

I also got this dollhouse kit at the thrift store! Score!And I just love this fabric on the sheet we got.

So, I love thrift store shopping and my daughter got thrift store gifts for her birthday but she was happy with them.
There is a very cold chill in the air already and we barely even had summer yet. I usually love having four seasons but even I will admit we didn't get much of a summer this year. So this means it is time to hunker down and start more crafting or sewing projects right?

Garden Party Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

Here is a really cute dress I like and can have a chance to win it for blogging about it! It would look so cute on Ruthie. I wish I could make one like it. Wouldn't it be a nice birthday present. Maybe someday I will learn to sew well enough to make this type of thing.

Check out the dress here:
Garden Party Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!