Saturday, March 25, 2006

My New Farm Table

I have always loved things that looked country and have wanted a big farm table for years. In December Gene began working on one for me. It has taken him a while, but it's finished!! He did a wonderful job, especially since he doesn't have a workshop and a lot of carpentry tools. I just love it and wanted to share some pictures of it with you.

Here's the first view of the table from the other side of the kitchen.

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Here's a close up where you can see the grain in the wood. That's one of the things I love about it.

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Here's one more.

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Happy Birthday, Caroline!!

Our youngest daughter, Caroline, turned 10 earlier this month; it's so hard to believe it's been 10 years. Caroline is the child we almost lost. I had lots of pre-term labor with her and had to be on bedrest to keep her from being born too early. At 37 weeks they decided to do an emergency c-section because they were losing her heartbeat during another bout of pre-term labor. When they delivered her, her cord was wrapped around her neck a couple of times and the doctor said it was good that we had taken her then, because she probably wouldn't have made it otherwise. God showed me how truly blessed I am to have her, and I pray that I never forget that. It also serves as a reminder that with any blessing we have, it is only by the grace of God that we have it.

Caroline keeps us all in stitches, because she's the family straight man. She's also very jumpy, very jumpy. If you are looking at a book that has spiders(her least favorite creature in the world), and you show her a picture of one, she'll jump. She'll jump at most anything, which of course leads to her sisters trying to make her jump even more.

She loves animals(except afore mentioned spiders, as well as cockroaches and sharks), and wants to have as many as we'll let her. She recently received a violin and is in the beginning stages of learning it. She loves to read, her favorite series being,The Magic Treehouse. I think as she grows she will love historical fiction even more.

Here's a picture from last spring of her. (I really need to update our pictures!)

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Sunday, March 12, 2006

Happy Birthday Hannah!!

Last Sunday was Hannah's 13th birthday. Hannah is a quiet girl, at least that's what those who don't know her would say. At home it's a different ballgame. She is funny and silly, very talkative, especially about horses! Did you know that there are such a thing as horses that are skewbald, piebald, and cowhocked??? Well, neither did I, until Hannah informed me. She has also told me about all the different colors of horses, and please don't call a horse white; it's not, it's cream... or at least that's what I've been told. She does have interests other than horses, she really does. She loves to read, and has perfect pitch. She plays music by ear and can pick out a song after working with it for just a little while. She has recently begun playing the mandolin and loves it, though the building up of callouses isn't a lot of fun.

Even though Hannah was born third in our family, she is more like a firstborn. I never put a lot of stock in that until as a joke Lindsay began reading "The Birth Order" book and it was playing out before our eyes. Having two "firstborn" children can be a challenge, especially when they are both so much like me. Lindsay, Hannah, and I are all organizer/planners, which is great until you get in a situation where there are "Too many cheifs and not enough Indians", which plays out every time we begin to prepare for a trip. I am very thankful for my organizing girls; they are a great source of help whenever I need it. I just have to remind myself that even though we are all organizers, we may not organize the same way.

Hannah was given her name because I was so thankful that the Lord blessed us with her. We had two miscarriages before I carried her to term, and I remembered Hannah's pleading out to God for a child. I wanted to always remember how precious she is and how thankful I am to have her. She is a great blessing to our family.

Here's a picture of Hannah at her family birthday party. It had a Narnia theme, and Lindsay beaded her a crown to wear for the celebration.

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