Funny Faces and Friends

I'm sorry did I say "Funny Faces"?! Correction: Funny, DIRTY faces! We are enjoying the fact that spring has finally arrived and getting outside to enjoy the sunshine any chance we get. 

So, what do you get when you let a little 3 year old girl, who has been caged up like a lion all winter in the house, outside to romp and play?!? A lot of giggles, games, and grime. O, and a whole lot of fun and silliness, too!

 

Her "Stern, School Teacher Face" lol

What could make this even better?! A friend to share in the fun! Clara's best buddy, Alejo, came to play--needless to say, they had a ball!

3 Cutie Punkin Heads in a Row

Around and Around We GOOOO!!!

Kids, being KIDS!!

"It wasn't me!"

Hahahahahahahaha!

As close as I could get to a "normal" picture of these 2

By the way, I did mention it is SPRING here, didn't I? {heeheehee} As we walk along the streets, there is an abundant fragrance of fresh rain, grass, and flowers that fills the air. I am enjoying it soooo much, even the dandelions from my sweet daughter's hand.

So happy with her "treasures"

"Look at all the flowers, mama!"

♥ SUCH a CUTIE PIE!! ♥

Can life get any better than the joys of spring time and having kids to share each day with? I really and truly doubt it. {Contentment} 

"Many, O LORD my God, 

are thy wonderful works which thou hast done,

and thy thoughts which are to usward: 

they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: 

if I would declare and speak of them, 

they are more than can be numbered."

Psalm 40:5

Pretty Picture Verse Project

So, attempting to add a few more dimensions to my life~creatively speaking. I happen to be one of those people that is interested in a lot of things, but good at very few. Also, I often have good intentions of, oh, for example, crocheting a baby blanket (thanks to my wonderful MIL for bailing me out on that one when I ran out of time and yarn--it worked out alright in the end, I was making a baby blue and pistachio green afghan before Clara was born, but as she was/is a girl we saved it for Ethan. And, he LOVES to stuff his chubby fingers in the gaps, too! ;) Alright, back on subject. My MIL once upon a time gave me a loom thingy to use to make hats out of yarn. I did experiment with it a bit, but must admit that I never actually produced a hat from it. Sorry, mom! {Sheepish grin} Good thing, I gave it back to her; now she makes hats for her grandbabies. As you can see, I am a good dreamer, but not so great on the follow-through part. Kudos to those of you that are true "Go-Getters", who always see a project through to the end. I am working on that and learning to be more selective in the projects that I embark upon, too. Way too easy to start things, another story entirely to actually finish them!

Ok, all that to say that I think I have found a new nook in which to put my limited creative energies--Making Pretty Picture Verses. You know, the kind of pictures that look like they came right out of the calendar and have encouraging Scripture verses or sayings on them to frame and display. Well, this all started with my Secret Pal. At our church we have a little form to fill out for our Secret Pal, so that they have a clue about our likes and dislikes. Like if our favorite color is red and we love M&Ms, wait that's just ME {hee hee} My Secret Pal put on her paper that her favorite thing to collect is pretty Bible verses. After a bit of searching, I came to the realization that those are hard to come by, at least down here. So, I thought to myself, "Self, you have all kinds of resources at your little fingertips on the internet, what's keeping you from finding a picture of lovely scenery and adding a verse yourself?! Hmmm....that's a good ?, I suppose I could check into that, couldn't I? Why not?" And this is what I have come up with so far:

Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

 

 Psalms 37:4

Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. 

I Thessalonians 5:24

I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. 

 John 17:4

The first 2 are made to be 8x10 size and the last one is a 5x7. The first is my fav thus far and I am continuing to experiment and tweak. Ideally, I would love to use pictures that I myself have taken, rather than "borrowing" them from other resources. Now, let's just hope that my Secret Pal enjoys them half as much as I enjoyed the experience of making them. I plan to give her Psalms 37:4 and John 17:4 prints for her birthday in a couple weeks. The frames are bought, Matt found some photo paper, now I am just praying that our printer cooperates and they turn out to be something worthy of hanging on the wall. I will have to take some pics of the finished product and get back to you. Such fun to attempt to be creative and a blessing to a friend, all at the same time!

P.S. I would love to hear feedback from you on what you think of my "works of art" and any constructive criticism to improve them, too! :)

SPRING--It's finally here!

Isn't this cute?! Even little 'lamby pies' know when Spring arrives!

Spring, SpRiNg, SPRING!!! It has arrived in Argentina!!! WooHOO! Pardon me while I do a little happy dance! So, so very happy and excited to see the signs of spring all around me. For those of you that may not know me very well, I grew up in Wisconsin, but I most definitely did NOT receive the insulating, heat generating genes to go with it. I know how to bundle up like an Eskimo against the bitter cold of winter, but that does NOT mean that I actually stay/get warm nor does it mean that I like it. I think once winter hits with all its fury I turn into one great, big, frozen Popsicle until this very day, the first day of Spring, rolls around again! Hence, why I am very happy to live in Argentina where "winter" is really not true winter. Winter = freezing cold, ice, snow, blizzards, white-outs, etc. None of those things exist where I currently live--Yay for me!

Ok, enough about winter, (I don't even really like that word) Let's talk about SPRING!! ♥, ♥, ♥, it! Of course, spring is a bit different down here as it runs from Sept. 21-Dec. 21. It doesn't include Easter, but still includes Mother's Day (it's in Oct. down here), as well as my birthday is now a Spring birthday (I like fall, too, but it's not a bad trade off) also, Thanksgiving, and on up to almost Christmas. (We'll discuss baking in the scorching heat of summer at a later date)

It's true, the bug bit me! :)

I am excited about the birds chirping, the flowers blooming, everything looking lush and green (hey, I'm not the one that has to cut the grass {wink}) the many more moments of daylight and the warm sunshine falling upon my face and giving a little color to my {o-so-very white} limbs. I love seeing God's Creation come alive again and beholding its beauty and majesty all around me. I love being able to give my tootsies freedom and wear flip-flops {I know they are horrible for your feet, but I am addicted} But, I would have to say that my very mostest, favoritest thing is just plain being WARM!!! I really and truly despise being cold! I am shivering and shuddering just thinking about it. {Uuuuuuhhhh, Brrrrr!}

Just wanted to stop in and share my enthusiasm with you--even if you may be stuck up north somewhere {everyone is "up north" to me, teehee} enjoying fall and cringing and preparing for another winter soon to follow. I am here to remind you that somewhere, way down here on the other side of the planet, It is SPRING! It's my turn afterall! So, from Argentina I wish you all a very.....

My ♥'s Song

Aren't you glad that, as Christians, when we have struggles in our life the Lord is there with a verse or a song to help see us through. I am. Tonight I am struggling with my little finite mind to understand and see the big picture. I truly believe that Romans 8:28 is from God and is 100% true. Nevertheless, it is so very hard to not question why God allows His precious children to journey through deep, dark valleys of grief and pain. I do not understand, and probably never will. BUT, that's alright. Thankfully, I am NOT God, nor do I want to be, and He understands it all. For whatever reason, He lets these things happen sometimes and my job is simply to:

Trust His Heart

Written by: Babbie Mason and Eddie Carswell

All things work for our good
though sometimes we can’t see how they could.
Struggles that break our hearts in two
sometimes blind us to the truth.
Our Father knows what’s best for us;
His ways are not our own.
So, when your pathway grows dim,
and you just can’t see Him,
Remember He’s still on the throne.

God is too wise to be mistaken.
God is too good to be unkind.
So when you don’t understand,
when you don’t see His plan,
When you can’t trace His hand, trust His heart.

He sees the Master plan.
He holds the future in His hands.
So don’t live as those who have no hope.
All our hope is found in Him.
We walk in present knowledge,
but He sees the first and the last.
And like a tapestry, He’s weaving you and me
to someday be just like Him.

God is too wise to be mistaken.
God is too good to be unkind.
So when you don’t understand,
when you don’t see His plan,
When you can’t trace His hand, trust His heart. 

Notice the chorus. God brought this song to mind, just for me, just when I need it. 

Thank you, Lord, for being in control and being the Comforter.

His little child, 

9-11, 9 years later

My heart is too full of thoughts and emotions to express them in words. I will simply leave it at this~May we always remember this day and pray for our brave heroes-- military, police, fireman, etc. and pray for our nation and its leaders. Most of all, may we pray that God shows us His longsuffering mercy once again, that His hand of judgment will be held back and our nation will fall to its knees in repentance.

May God continue to bless America, land that I love, and keep her FREE!

Sisterly-Brotherly Love

Hey, I am very well aware that it won't always be this way. All the more reason to capture these moments now. Don't you agree?!? Besides, it gives me proof to show them in the upcoming years/fights that they truly do love and care about each other and once upon a time {probably a long, looooong time before} they even showed it. {grin}

Love my kids and love that they love each other! My prayer is that they will grow up to be close, loving siblings that are there to strengthen and encourage each other to serve the Lord.
 

Gift from a far, FAR country

It really is a small world sometimes, ya know?! We got a package in the mail the other day. I absolutely L♥VE it when that happens (as long as it doesn't include bills lol). It was a large manilla envelope stuffed with something soft and squishy. Good thing it wasn't breakable, too, as the mail man chucked it over our fence and about 10-15 feet to get it up close to our door. I guess he has given up on getting me to come to the door and figured that was the best way. He was most likely thinking, 'it's either give it a good toss, or I'll have to go around the block again and leave it with their other American friends--geeesh!' I was thankful to get the package and also that he had managed to have it land under our overhang as it has been raining constantly this week and would have been a very wet soft and squishy thing.

This particular package was not a surprise (although those are Wonderful!!) This was a package I had been expecting from my mom in Wisconsin. I realize that though the States is far away, in my opinion that doesn't count as a far, FAR country. However, the contents of this envelope did not begin its journey in Wisconsin or in the States. Nope, this gift came all the way from....{drum roll, please}....JAPAN! Can you believe it?

Here's the gist of the story. When my mom was in High School (which was just a few years ago {wink, wink}), she had a pen pal. Her pen pal lived in Japan. He knew/knows a wee little bit of Eng. and they were able to sort of communicate off and on for a few years. As the years passed, they stopped writing and lost track of each other. Recently, due to this amazing age of modern technology in which we live, he found my mom again on Skype and they have attempted to talk on there a few times. Obviously, they are both much different now with families, kids, grandkids, etc. Mom let him know that her daughter (that's ME! :) had just added a baby boy to her family (back in Feb.). So, he decided to send Ethan a gift. Isn't that so super-duper sweet?! I sure think so. He sent the present to my mom, and as he had taken the trouble to send it half way around the world, my mom was nice enough to send it down to the Southern Hemisphere for Ethan and I to use and enjoy.  THE END

Oh, I am sorry. You would probably like to know what "IT" is, huh? {Sheepish grin}



Ok, Ok, I guess I will be nice and end the agony and suspense...


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TA DA!!!

It's a Tiger Towel!

Daddy with his Growling Tiger Baby!

I think that he likes it...

What do YOU think? {Wink, wink}

In my, of course, very unbiased opinion {ha, ha} I don't think that it gets much more adorable than that!!
So stinkin' CUTE!! LOVE MY SQUEAKY CLEAN TIGER BABY ♥♥♥