Halloween Amish doll??

This is a fun, little post that is good for Halloween...

Remember my Amish doll that I bought for $4 at the antique mall in Amish land a couple months back?

Well, her apron was just too white.  After I took it off to tea dye it, I realized her body was too white.  So I decided to give her a bath in tea and look what I found!  The name, town, and date of the maker!  How cool is that!  She is celebrating her 21st birthday this month.  Lol!

I had to hang her up to drain all the tea out and well, this is the only thing I could come up with...

I have to say, it was quite comical being in the kitchen to watch the faces of each family member as they came through and laid eyes on it.  My husband was obviously speechless because all he did was shake his head and walk away without a word.

My two older kids came in the kitchen at different times just talking away and both stopped dead in their tracks and said "What are you doing?  What has happened to you?  Why would you do that??".  They too shook their heads and got out of there as quick as they could.

Then the youngest, the just-turned-5 came in chattering on about something.  He stopped.  His eyes were so huge I thought they were gonna bust right out of their sockets!  He started backing up, then slowly made his way over to me and got behind me peeking through and stuttering he said "M-o-m, what is that?".  Poor thing had to sleep with me that night.  For a few days afterwards, he would look around the kitchen before he came in.  "Mom, where is that thing that was hanging up?".  He just didn't want to believe it was a doll.  Not until she was put back together did he hold her and laugh about it.  =]

I told them all that we were making our own haunted house decorations this year.  They got so excited about it that I had to tell them I was just kidding and was only tea dyeing.

Poor things, they just don't ever know what to do or say about my primitive exploits.  =]

Thank you... and football & cheerleading...

Thank you for the prayers for my husband.  We praise God and thank Him for bringing healing in Rich's body!  Most people we talked to said they had kidney stones for a minimum of two weeks, most had them 3-4 weeks.  But Praise God! Rich only had them for one week!  We were praying that it would pass before his scheduled surgery appointment on Monday.  You have to hear this, it was the coolest thing!  Thursday evening after the kids were in bed, we sat together and I was telling him how I felt confident enough to say that the stone would pass before Monday morning.  I had total peace for the first time since the whole ordeal started.  He said "You're not going to believe this, but after the preachers were here to pray with me (earlier that evening-- I was gone and came home as they were leaving), I felt a total peace come over me and I too, know the same thing".  We both smiled and I said "Well, God just confirmed it for us, so get ready for pain when that baby comes out!!".  He passed the stone Saturday evening and played drums at church Sunday so we were excited to call Monday morning and cancel the surgery!  Our God is just too marvelous for words, isn't He?!

Since then, we've had a busy month of football and cheerleading!  Homecoming was Oct. 8.  Here is Amariah and the 6th grade cheerleaders with their Mardi Gras themed float for the Homecoming parade.  They made their own masks, I thought they turned out cute.  Amariah chose orange and black.

Our beautiful and very sweet friend, Saleana was chosen to be the freshman attendant.

It was a wonderful, fall night... perfect football weather!

The cheerleading association which is 1st - 6th grades always does a dance routine at halftime that they learned during cheer camp over the summer.  My camera setting dial was turned and I didn't realize it because I was too busy snapping away so all my pictures are blurry.  =[  Amariah is on the front row, second from the right with glasses.  She is really good at cheering and dancing, we are so proud of her!

This picture is from last week's game on Saturday.

Funny thing... we were gonna get her set up for an eye appt. the next week to finally get contacts.  During this game her glasses kinda fell apart on her so needless to say, we got in first thing Monday morning.  She is loving her new look.

On this day, I'm grateful for prayer warrior friends that are always there to encourage, support, and lift us up to Jesus.  Their faith and love are always so inspiring to me.  Thank you Lord, for the friends you place in our lives!

Comfort

Do you have a favorite comfort mug you reach for?  This is mine.

  

Even when we have snow in April, I love to fill up my snowman mug with hot chocolate!  It's so good on this crisp autumn night.  Even though there is a chill in the air, I love to keep my garden window open so I can hear the leaves rustling around.  I can't see them tonight, but I love to stand near the sink and listen to them.

Another of my comforts... or should I say my favorite comfort... is being wrapped in the arms of my Loving Savoir.  That's where I am right now.  I am saddened for my husband.  Rich has kidney stones and has been in pain since Saturday night.  We went to the urologist this morning and our options were to wait it out for it to pass or surgery.  The stone this morning is in the same place as it was when we went to the ER Saturday night.  Rich decided to wait for a couple more days and then surgery.  So we set it all up for surgery Monday morning.  Please join me in prayer that his stone will pass before then and we can cancel that surgery!

I'm grateful for my Loving Savior that lets me come to Him and pour out my heart, my grievances, my worries... all while He wraps His arms around me tighter, assuring me that all will be well.  All will work out.

Portable fabric samples

Okay girls... since you have so much wonderful advice to give, here is my next question... Do you take fabric samples with you when you go shopping and if you do, how do you store them?  Sometimes when I'm out supply shopping, I find myself wishing I could see my fabrics to match some things.  I'm trying to find a way to take all my fabric with me without carrying the whole stash around.

There is a nifty little app for the iPhone that is for fabric.  You take pictures of your fabrics and you can even store them in special folders.  Kinda neat, but I like seeing the real thing in real color.  So I thought about putting snippets of fabric in a composition book.

I cut a few pieces out but I haven't stapled them to the page yet.  I'm holding out for a bit... hoping to get some great advice from YOU on if this works or if there is something better out there.  So I will wait for your ideas.  =]

Have fun creating and crafting!  Till next time~