Happy happpenings

Sooo much football. Is it over yet? ; )
One more game to go. Yay!
Here's a look at the party we had when the Broncos made the championships. (my hubby is from CO) Joy did the decorating

and Zac and Andrew made us some outrageous blue cheese and bacon burgers!

Hubby's brother bought everyone milk shakes from the 60+ year old ice cream stand near by. (they are amazing!) Chocolate and peanut butter for the adults and our kids always get butterscotch and peanut butter. We had fun thanking Carlos for that enormous gift.  : ) Which is very good for football watching and the reason we will most certainly be having a  Super Bowl party tomorrow night. We are going to play Super Bowl Bingo  which should be a fun for all of us who aren't completely into the game. : )

I FINALLY finished this project that I started at my parent's house a year or so ago. Yay!

On MLK Day, we took Joy and Andrew to a state park to go for a hike.

Gotta love 13 year olds! And since this one is our 4th 13 year old,

I knew that even though he didn't want to go, he'd end up having the most fun of anyone! ; ) And he did! 

We hiked a 3.3 mile trail. At one point on the trail, Andrew and Joy were really quiet and really far behind us. Dad gave a yell and they didn't yell back, it turned out that right about that time they both fell in the river!
Joy made this silly meme to show what happened:

She fell in first near the bank and then he turned to see what happened to her and lost his balance. Andrew was in all the way up to his shoulders. Alligators came to mind of course, because this is FL. Then what came to mind next was his ipod which was underwater. Joy has an Otterbox but he doesn't. But we are happy to say that both ipods survived the dunking. Yay!

We did two Hats of Hope projects this winter. We knitted for children in a children's home in NC and for women/girls who live in a safe house for women who have been trafficked, in NY. Here are the hats Joy and I knitted:

Including the ones from the other families, we were able to give away 94 Hats of Hope! Hooray! PTL!

Joy and I had a girls night and watched this:
http://www.redbox.com/movies/amazing-love And were so touched by God's redeeming love for us! And we got a big kick out of seeing Sam from the LOTR movies as a youth pastor!

Today, Nathan had a photo shoot for his senior pictures at a gorgeous park. Hubby and I felt like we'd suddenly been transported back to CA. This park looks so much like the ones in CA. We plan to bring the whole fam back there for a picnic soon. Nate's pictures are going to be gorgeous. Kind of fun that Zac had his taken downtown and look so urban and Nathan had his done out in nature. Can't wait to see them.

Hope you are having a happy weekend!
~Becky

Getting crafty for Christmas

I've had a great time being crafty lately.

My hubby taught me how to distress and antique wood and one weekend I made a bunch of these sweet little nativity scenes for my friends: 

Then I fell in love with 3D star ornaments that I saw on Pinterest and decided the world could never have enough stars and made bunches and bunches...

Because I thought they had to be authentic or maybe because I'm a Type A, I had to have the sheet music for Handel's Messiah copied on the card stock! Yay! Then I also made some with Silent Night. (of course no one would ever be able to tell, but I know) : )
I tied them to gift bags and they doubled as gift tags for presents. (unless you are related to me and then they were just put into a Tupperware box with your other gifts in hopes they wouldn't get crushed) : )

I also found directions on how to make a large one out of a cereal box and spray paint and I hung it here:

Speaking of ornaments, we have some coffee related ones now, because we have a Starbucks employee in the family. : )

Because I started working on this last year

with the help of my sweet parents who went looking for a map of California with me while I was visiting, 

I had the map handy for making this project.
So, now I have a banner in my living room reminding me that because of Jesus,
 'The Weary World Rejoices!" But technically, only California is rejoicing. ; )

Unfortunately, I need another map to finish it, because I wasn't able to squeeze out an 'S' and so it really says 'The weary world rejoice' at the moment. Ugh!

 And if you can't read this:

 it says "We Met" and "We Married" and "We Live" with heart shaped maps of each location. And I love, love, love it but I haven't even finished it a year later. I guess Christmastime is the only time I get crafty. -Even though we live in Florida, I still haven't bought a map of it but I'll have to soon, at least to make sure that 'the weary world rejoiceS.'

As we do every winter, Joy and I and some friends from our home school group are knitting hats for those in need. I love this project. I SOOO wish I had unlimited supplies of yarn at my disposal. We are sending hats to a children's home in NC. (where the director mentioned that the children are always loosing their hats and gloves...doesn't that pull on your motherly heart strings?) 

We are also sending hats to a safe house in NY for women and girls who have been RESCUED from the horrors of  life in the human trafficking industry. How awesome is that?!   

Hence my great love for SALES on yarn!!!!  And when you live in Florida and you have to turn your air conditioning on the week before Christmas, you are thrilled to knit for others who could really use some warmth
in Jesus' name! : ) 

Merry Christmas, Friends!

~Becky

The happenings

Due to reading Eric Metaxes books on Bonhoeffer and Wilberforce, and the fact that those two men are my current absolute heroes, I am having a cozy night in and watching Valkyrie and maybe even Amazing Grace, (if I can stay awake which is doubtful) while I knit. (our newest Hats of Hope project means we need lots and lots of hats for children living at a childrens' home in NC)
And I'm recovering from a mega slumber party last night. The annual girls ministries sleepover with 70 girls and 15 mom/sponsors. It was a blast. Best one yet! As much as I love every minute, I'm smart enough after 9 years of these to hit the road around midnight and come back in the morning to help out with breakfast. I think my own bed is worth the drive. : ) My high school girls' class was in charge of fixing EVERYONE breakfast and they were up and at it at 5:30 AM doing a fabulous job along with some other awesome women. So proud of them. I slept in my own bed but didn't sleep well since I was just sure that I would sleep through my alarm and miss getting up at 5:00 AM and heading over there. I didn't though, hooray!

Have a great evening! Yawn!
~Becky

A new missions project which may be TMI

Every winter, Joy and I are blessed with a group, that the Lord rounds up, of sweet moms and daughters, and we knit as many hats as possible for missionaries to pass out to children on a Native American reservation in South Dakota for Christmas. We call it Hats of Hope. -Love it! It is so much fun! We do this from Aug to Nov. -Knitting and fall just go together in my mind now.

Since it is just barely even winter here in FL right now, (and sometimes it is 80 degrees even though it is February!) it is NOT knitting weather in my mind. : ) So, I got excited about another missions project which presented itself now that I have my sewing machine fixed.
It isn't as fun per se, because it isn't one you really want to talk about...

(said in a whispering voice) I'm sewing sanitary napkins.

They are going to be passed out by a missionary who goes into a womens prison in Africa to share the gospel. These women have NOTHING. And especially not anything easy and disposable like we do in the good ol' U.S. of A..
So, the great thing about these, apparently, is that they can be washed and reused. (TMI, I know!) But, way better than NOTHING and very soft since they are made of flannel.

I kind of feel like I'm working on a secret project, because you just can't leave those finished products out in plain sight when teens are popping over all the time. ; )
My boys have all asked me what I'm sewing and then may or may not have ended up putting their hands over their ears half way through my explanation and walked away.

-Speaking of this,
our puppy is in heat! (more TMI, I know)
My hubby laughed about it on the phone. I think he said something to the effect of, 'Four teens and a stroke patient weren't enough and now you get to add a puppy in heat! Have fun, Honey!'
(yes, the fun never ends around here) Our puppy, Bree, ran out of our gate tonight, with Joy not far behind and yelling to hubby and I for help. But, as she said, we were "too busy making out" to hear me.
So, yeah... life might be next-door to crazy right now,
but at least I get kissed on our front porch every night by a wonderful man!
Certainly THAT can't be too much TMI after everything else you've read! ; )

Blessings,
~Becky

Tid bits of news around here

Nathan got his learner's license. Whoo hoo!

If you've been to the DMV lately, you know the wait is LONG and the folks are grumpy. I'm guessing that is why the clerk waiting on us asked the reason for my joy. lol

-It was a great opportunity to tell him that it comes from Jesus, who has done

a lot for me! : )

It is fall and it is time to knit! This time we are helping an Eagle Scout who is doing a Christmas outreach for Native American children on a reservation in South Dakota. I love to sit at the table with my kids while they do school and knit, knowing someone somewhere will be a little warmer this winter. : )

Joy is going to a women's conference this weekend. It wasn't in my budget to go or send her, but God isn't limited to my budget, (AMEN!) and He made a miraculous way. She gets to spend the weekend with her friends (and their mom) in a gorgeous hotel in Orlando being ministered to by Christine Caine from Hillsong Church in Australia!!!! And, yes, I'm a wee bit jealous but mostly just a whole lot thrilled for her. God is so good!

Nathan experienced being part of toilet papering and forking someones house for the first time! Uh oh! I'm slightly worried about pay backs, but as he pointed out, none of the kids from church are going to drive 25 minutes away to do someones house. lol -If they ever do, guess who I've assigned to clean it up?! ; )

Zac is enjoying life at Starbucks and Dad is enjoying Zac's free bags of coffee. I didn't think anything would persuade him to give up his Cuban espresso, but a $12 bag of coffee for free seems to be worth the change. Zac doesn't get much sleep these days in between late nights studying for his classes and working at caffeinating the greater Tampa Bay area, but he's a happy camper anyway.

John's back had a set BACK, and he's missed some more work. We are praying and believing that it was just minor. He was pain free for 4 glorious weeks and so we hope he's headed BACK that way soon. : ) But if there is anything I've learned from this LONG trial it is that it is totally counterproductive to worry. So, I am refusing to go back into that dark tunnel of despair and discouragement... Whether he can work or not, we are learning to 'Bless the Lord at ALL times.' I want 'His praise to continually be on my lips.'

My brother-in-law, who is a stroke patient will be here in a few weeks to stay with us for 6 months. We are getting ready for his visit and turning the family room into his bedroom.

I may be crazy, but I'm thinking of adding a puppy into our lives! It might be good for my brother-in-law too. He loves dogs and he can contribute to the family by helping us train it.I think it is either the greatest idea ever, or the polar opposite and I can't decide which so we all are praying about it.

If you don't see pictures of a cute 3 month old, crate trained lab on this blog in the next week, then you will know that I came to my senses. lol

Blessings!

~Becky

Hats of Hope Party

Joy and I gave our knitting group a party for our last day of class.

In a crazy turn of events, I thought we were cancelling it since no one RSVP'd.

But right before the party, I found out that I wasn't getting the messages via the website and 17 had signed up. The problem was, I was still without my van! So, after renting a car, shopping at a late hour and coming home to make these:

The party was on!

We finished them at 11:00 pm the night before. Crazy night, but fun!

These pots say "Thank You" and "He who gives to the poor will lack nothing." Prov. 27:28

Our way of thanking them for all the hats they knitted for missionaries doing a Christmas outreach in South Dakota and the homeless in our city.

We made these to end our first Hats of Hope group and the girls got such a big kick out them that we decided it would be fun to end this group the same way.

First step is to wash all the pots! : ) Thankfully, I bought some with 40% off coupons at Michael's and then the rest when they went on sale for 25 % off. Yay!

We took a mason jar lid and used it to cut pound cake into circles to place in

the bottom of each pot. (not homemade pound cake, mind you) ; )

Then we poked a straw into the cake and cut the straw to be level with the rim of the pots.

After that we filled them with ice-cream!

Then came the crushed Oreos that look like potting soil.

Then we placed them in the freezer over night. When we arrived at the class, we put in the fresh cut flowers in the straws.

Here are the finished products! : )

These cute little girls were actually really hesitant to eat them. I guess our 'potting soil' looked a little too convincing. lol They really had a hard time believing us when we told them that there was ice cream inside!

They eventually gave them a try and before we knew it they were gone. ; )

Because I always like a theme, and this is a knitting club, I decided all activities at the party would have to do with YARN!

We played a fun game making a giant spiders web in which we tied yarn around our waists and then tossed our skeins to someone else in the circle. It was fun and we had a hug web. Then we attempted to untangle the web and re-roll our skeins, which sounded easier on paper then it really was. ; ) We ended up cutting ourselves free!

Then we made octopuses (or is it octopi) out of yarn.

They turned out really cute. I got the idea from here.

I got really excited to hear that one of the families that went with us to hand out our hats to the homeless, had a great idea for continuing to bless those in need with hats. They are continuing to knit hats and putting a bottle of water, pack of crackers and some typed out scriptures inside the hat and handing them to those on the corners holding signs.

Isn't that a great idea?! I love it.

~Becky

Handing out hats

So, our little knitting group went and handed out the hats we've been knitting for the homeless a couple weekends ago. We were all so excited. We ended up making 48! Hooray!

It had been about 70 degrees that day and so I was praying for some cold weather. : )

It just seemed anti-climatic to go and pass out sweater hats while wearing our shorts! lol

Guess what? It WAS chilly that night and the men were very grateful. We had fun handing them sandwiches and water bottles as well. We also invited them into the 'chapel' for a church service. Our friends lead a ministry that brings church to the homeless instead of vice-versa. They open up the back of this huge truck and inside is a "chapel" with benches to sit on, and a TV with a worship DVD playing and then Brother Wayne brings a message from the Word. Really an ingenious, God inspired idea!

Most of the men (and one woman) we met were happy to have a hat and some dinner. Several stayed to be apart of the service.

All in all a great experience.

After it was over, our friends, who had joined us that night, came over for dinner and we did some more worshipping at our house with John and Andrew playing on their guitars.

It was an awesome night. Our family hopes to repeat it soon.

Maybe not with hats, but with cookies! : )

~Becky

The days are a blur

We had a small horse, I mean -Max the one year old German Shepherd stay with us for a week. And well, life was busy and exciting to say the least. But nothing broke this time around.

I'm on a scarf knitting binge. But that really needs to turn into a hat knitting because on Feb. 5th our Hats of Hope group is going to pass out hats to the homeless! Yay! We have about 30 so far! We were interviewed for the newspaper too!

I love that my BFF of 20+ years FINALLY got her house and they live 40 minutes from us! We are having lots of fun fellowship with all our kiddos. Hoping her hubby gets a job out here soon.

We helped them get settled in yesterday after waiting for at least 8 weeks for everything to go through with the bank. It was quite a wait, bless their hearts.

My hubby and I went to a youth leaders retreat this weekend. It was so awesome! May we all be impacted by "the letters in RED" this year!

We had a fun family night last night with dinner at Sonic and a movie. (thanks Max!)

I'm sure there is more going on, but its all a blur...

~Becky

OK time for a post

...despite the fact that I'm not happy with the blog's look at the moment it is time to get back to blogging! : )

Yesterday the youth group had a Mud Bowl. That is football played on land that has had 6000 gallons of water poured on it. Lots of mud and gooey fun!

Here is Joy and her team the Fig Newtons! Happy and muddy!

All the youth leaders were suppose to play so I'd been praying against injuries for those of us in the 40 + yrs. old crowd just in case. ; ) As it turned out, there were so many teens on the teams, that some of us adult leaders weren't needed to play. (God is good, People!) lol!

Joy and I have been knitting like crazy. We are teaching a class for moms and daughters in our home school group. It is tons of fun. We are going to make lots of sweater hats for the homeless this winter and at the moment, we are knitting 50 hats for missionaries in South Dakota who are going to do a Christmas outreach.

And so far, this is what we have:

We are dog sitting a small horse, I mean -German Shepherd! lol

And he is beyond HUGE but sweet as can be! Gorgeous dog. Good thing we are dog people. I was really surprised that he jumps on the furniture, on our beds and in the bath tub like he owns the place. Ahh! Max is crazy-hyper! He totally looks like he would tear you apart, but he has the sweetest disposition and he's been a lot of fun to have around. I think my hubby wants a German Shepherd now...

The weather here has been beyond gorgeous. Florida's weather in October can't be beat. : )

It has been so nice to play tennis in the morning and enjoy cool breezes instead of sweating buckets! Nathan and I are improving! The other day, we had the most amazing games. Imagine actually getting every crazy backhand hit you tried for AND hitting them in! That happened to both of us! It was some amazing tennis. Whoo-hoo! So much fun and so exhausting that I thought I might pass out. LOL!

After church we attended the wedding reception for a woman who was in the youth group we led back when she was only 12! It was great to rejoice with her today. Boy, does time fly!

~Becky

Quilting and other fun things

During the holidays, I listened to a few of Jan Karon's The Mitford Years series on tape while I was busy cooking or relaxing and knitting. It was so much fun. I LOVE those books! I have already read them but it was fun to have John McDonough read them to me while I did other things. : )

I found some time to finish this quilt

that I had been working on, on and off (mostly off) for the last couple years. I found the fabric at the home school convention.

It isn't that big, but I did quilt all the states.... That is my excuse for why it took so long! I hung it in our family room where our school area is.

I was SO happy to have it finished that I hung it on the wall the minute I finished the binding. If you look closely you can see that I used tacks. lol

(not too classy but at least it's up!)

Then I noticed that I forgot to quilt around Alaska...Oops! Oh well! : )

I'm excited about doing some more quilting in the upcoming year. Maybe when my year as president of our home school group is over and I have more free time. I bought a darning foot in anticipation of that time...even though I don't have a clue as to how to use it.

I also knitted a black scarf for one of my boys who asked for one. (how sweet is that?!)

The only problem is, I still don't know how to end a scarf and have to get help from a friend every single time and it is a little embarrassing.

Speaking of which, it is actually cold enough in Florida this year to use scarves! We have had 2 of the coldest weeks ever! The highs were in the 40's and the lows were in the high 20's and 30's! Did I mention that I live in Florida! I am surely spoiled because after two weeks of wearing sweaters, coats and scarves, I'm all good and totally ready for summer to start! LOL

(I could never survive up North, I know)

~Becky

An undignified hat

Last year, Joy and I learned how to make sweater hats with the Knifty Knitter looms and that blossomed into a really fun ministry! (a home group with moms and daughters who made them for missionaries to pass out to the needy in other countries) It was such fun!
All that to say, we don't have a shortage of sweater hats around here.
It has actually been cold enough to wear them lately!
I am hearing that this is the coldest weekend of the year since about 1977. (some folks in central FL saw some snow and sleet!) Unfortunately, we didn't.

Joy made my hubby a black sweater hat recently and he really likes it. He's very proud to wear whatever his sweet girl makes him. : )
(and he really loves whatever she BAKES him)
Well, the other day he showed us his sweater hat. And somehow, it had come undone at the top. Do you know what a sweater hat looks like on your head when it is open at the TOP?
(more than a little funny)
It kind of had a Rastafarian look to it. LOL
Anyway, the funny thing was that he didn't know it looked like that and he was driving around town and doing business with it that way. He said the men in the paint store looked at him a little funny...

Oh. My. Goodness. The way he told this story had me laughing, coughing and choking like I was dying. ; )
Joy fixed his hat right away and so I can't show you how it looked... and he said he's glad. ha ha
I guess more than enough people saw it already.
~Becky

How to get a knitter's attention:

It works! Trust me! ; )

~Becky

Dessert fun!

Yesterday we had the last meeting of our Hats of Hope small group!
When I think back to how it started...I'm still in awe of all the amazing things the Lord did to put our group together. It was awesome. See here and here.

We were able to bless over 80 people in need who live in South Dakota, Uganda, Namibia, and Zambia with sweater hats! Whoo-hoo!

I think Joy and I received the greatest blessing though. We had a wonderful time with the ladies and the girls. We got a big kick out of baking the goodies and she enjoyed praying with the girls...

Soon after we started the group, I found this recipe and thought "These are too cute!" So, Joy and I planned to make them for our very last get together and we could not wait.

My hubby even said they would be the "cutest dessert in the world." - And he doesn't use the word cute 50+ times a day like I do. ; )

First we bought lots of flower pots at Wal*art and washed and dried them.

Then we decided to turn them into little 'thank you' gifts and we wrote on them:

And we added a scripture to the rim:

Prov. 28:27 "He who gives to the poor will lack nothing." Amen! I think that is an awesome verse!

Have I mentioned that Joy and I were totally excited about this ALL week. (we're weird like that) lol

When Sunday finally came, we cut two pound cakes in half length-wise in the middle and used a cookie cuter to cut 18 circles and then poked a straw into each one.

Then Joy filled them with cookies and cream ice-cream...

and I added lots of crushed Ore*os on top (for soil) and put fresh flowers into the straws.

Here they are:

I'm really glad that I missed getting a picture of them when we actually served them because....

they just may have been "cutest dessert in the world" to start with...

But they weren't after I left them in the freezer too long (flowers and all)

Because they wilted...

Oh well!

We had tons of FUN and they were yummy!

~Becky

Hats of Hope

Our knitting small group met yesterday and we have over 30 hats to send out! Whoo-hoo!

This is our first batch and most of them will go to a missionary in South Dakota who will give them to Native Americans in need.

I wish my photos did them justice. They are all SO cute!!!!!!!

I just love them.

Here's the answer to the prayer for YARN. : )

And I think we've barely dented the pile so far. : )

More hats to come!

~Becky

Heaven's kitchen

We tried watching H*ll's Kitchen the other night and it gave me a headache!
It was kind of fun to watch but pretty stressful and I don't think anyone finished a sentence without the necessary "beeping." Good grief!

Anyway, we called tonight "Heaven's Kitchen" because Joy and I are trying out new recipes to make for our Hats of Hope knitting small group tomorrow. We love making something fun and dainty for the girls and ladies. Joy is my little Martha Stew*rt. She loves to watch her show. I found out MS is in town this weekend signing autographs for her new book but we didn't go...

My hubby and the boys are all very happy to be our taste testers! : )


For our first meeting we made Fruit Pizza.
But in the process I nearly threw it away.

Note to self: Never make a dessert you've never made 30 minutes before you have to leave for the event. UGH! I didn't realize how long it would have to cool!
Joy came to my rescue and did all the frosting and decorating when we arrived and it turned out wonderfully!


Here is the recipe:

1 18 oz roll of refrigerator sugar cookie, slice and baked dough
1 8 oz container of cream cheese
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Assorted fruits. We used blueberries and strawberries
1/2 orange marmalade (but we used strawberry glaze instead)
2 T. water (what do you know, I think we forgot to add the water...) ; )


Roll out cookie dough to the size of your pizza pan
Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes
Cool. Mix cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla. Spread over crust. We added the glaze (or preserves and water) and then arrange the fruit on top. Chill. (which we didn't have time to do) Serve in wedges.


This is the one we are planning to bring tomorrow. The guys all liked it. (but then they pretty much like everything we've tried)

Apple Pie Party Dip
(from Family Fun magazine)

1 1/3 c. peeled apples diced
1 tsp. lemon juice
2 tsp. brown sugar
2 tsp. apricot preserves
1/8 tsp. cinnamon
5 flour tortillas
2 T. butter
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 T. sugar


Mix apples, lemon juice, sugar. preserves and cinnamon in a bowl and chill.
Cut tortillas in wedges on greased baking sheet and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 min. Serves 4-6.
We are having such fun with these sweet ladies and girls!
~Becky

The weekend

My frozen camper made it back safe and OK. Yay! No frostbite! He was very glad to get home to his bed! He had a wonderful time. He was given some really cool gear from a dear friend.

Joy and Andrew had their Junior Bible Quiz match this weekend and Nathan gave assistant coaching a try instead of officiating. He enjoyed it. He loves Andrew's coach. (he was his JBQ coach also)

Our Hats of Hope group had our first meeting after church on Sunday!!!! I was so excited! The Lord sent the sweetest bunch of ladies and girls to be apart of it. I felt so blessed. It was really fun. I am so thrilled about God taking a hobby and giving it a Kingdom purpose! (We are knitting hats for missionaries to pass out to adults and children in need in cold regions of the world)
We'll be knitting, chatting, snacking and praying together for the next couple of months and I'm so excited! (Next time I will remember to bring my camera!)

We just found out that we'll be taking a little vacation soon. My father-in-law had to cancel his trip to come and see us at Thanksgiving due to a fall that he took. His wife has just spent some time in the hospital and so they are unable to travel. He called over the weekend to let us know he transferred their time-share week to us. The kids are really excited.
Unfortunately, my hubby can't go. We are thankful that he even has work as things are very slow for the company he works for right now. Andrew was upset when he found this out. He said "But, he's the one who makes everything FUN and HAPPY!" I got such a kick out of that. Dad is WAY more fun than I am! And now, if he wants to know if Dad is coming somewhere with us, he asks "Is it going to be fun and happy?" ; )

~Becky

More praise...

Guess what?!
Another amazing thing happened for the sweater hat ministry! (Hats of Hope)
If you don't know what I'm talking about you can check this post and then this post.

This was amazing!!!
I was at my hubby's company's Christmas party chatting with some ladies and one of them started sharing with us about her mom who has Alzheimer's disease.
She is in a home care facility now and this woman needs to clean out her house. It will be quite the undertaking because she said her mom has not thrown anything away in 60 years or so...
She told us how the house is so full of stuff that is hardly room to walk.
And then she said
"The YARN!!! You would not believe how much yarn my mother has. She would buy it and then forget she'd bought it and then buy some more."

~My eyes were popping out, I'm sure because just the day before that, I had been praying about our group's need for LOTS and lots of yarn!

Then she started describing HOW MUCH yarn and I was really blown away.
Tons of 50 gallon trash bags full of new yarn!!!!!!!!!

~This is where I waved my hand and said "I'll take it! I'm starting a ministry to make sweater hats for missionaries." And everyone just looked at me.
It was wild.
What a God thing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She wanted to know where I would keep all that yarn and I drew a blank because I have a small house and my two attics are full...but guess what? When I told my friend who is hosting our group about the 'yarn miracle' she said she has plenty of storage space. And I decided that is yet another miracle. (or at least it seems like it if your house is small and you've always been storage challenged. LOL!)

I imagine that her yarn is the regular kind, and we need the thick kind, but if HE obviously must have sent us this, so there's got to be a way that it can work. We can probably just put two strands together....or maybe three strands.

So, that's the latest news and it was exciting!

~Becky

The sweater hat ministry is on its way!

I'm just in awe!
The Lord is really putting this hat ministry group together! It's so exciting. I could hardly sleep the other night because I was so excited about everything! (-I'm weird like that!) : )

The group is going to be apart of the small groups ministry of our church. We'll meet twice a month for 12 weeks (8 times) starting in January.
The heart of the leadership at our church is that the small groups be evangelistic in nature and held in homes so that people who wouldn't come to a church would feel comfortable coming to someone's house. I was a little stumped when I found out that we couldn't hold it at the building because we live a good distance away and asking people to drive that far would be hard.
Then my friend who lives very close to the church volunteered her lovely home!!! I am so grateful!

Yesterday, I went to Michael's and I found that they have the Knifty Knitter on sale for
50% OFF!!!! I think I stood in shock in the aisle for several minutes! : )
What a blessing!
So, I was able to by several sets to get our group started! Isn't God good?
(if you've thought about buying one, you might check and see if they are still on sale. $6.00 is an incredible price!)

Now, the group needs a name.
Right now, we are thinking of Hats of Hope. -Everything else seems to be rather corny. Let me know if you have any suggestions! I'd love to hear them.

I received another email today from a missionary in Uganda who could use some hats for the pigmys living in the mountains...
The pictures of the children in need....
Oh my goodness! They made me want to sit down and knit my heart out! Wow!
I can't wait for our group to get started!

I better run.
It is someone very special's birthday today!!!

~Becky

What I'm excited about:

First of all, I'm thrilled to say that my father-in-law's wife is doing better! Thank you so much for praying for her!

The next thing I'm excited about is a project where Joy and I can do some knitting for Jesus! What fun!
~My hubby had this excellent idea: He thought we should find a ministry that could use these sweater hats that I'm enjoying knitting lately. I contacted the God's Share Program and I found out that there are missionaries who could really use sweater hats! Hooray!

So, I'm thinking about starting a group for girls and having a knitting circle. (Is that right? A sewing bee and a knitting circle?)
I'm excited and I think it will be so much fun!

Joy used the Knifty Knitter today to make an infant hat for our friends who just had a baby boy and it only took her about 30 minutes and it was her very first time to ever use it. She really enjoyed it and made the cutest little hat.
I love that it is so easy and fun to do. I think girls as young as 6 or 7 can do it. Loom knitting is SO much easier than knitting with needles.

With one set we can make 4 hats. (one for an infant, a child and two adult sizes) I just need to buy more of the purple picks and I found out that those are pretty cheap.
So, with three Knifty Knitter sets we can make 12 hats at once in about an hour or so which would be really great!
I think I'll just need to have everyone bring their own yarn.
(We can make two or three hats a skein depending on the size...) Maybe we can get a craft store to give us a discount on yarn... Wouldn't that be great?!

There are missionaries in South Dakota and in a couple of countries in South Africa who would be so glad to receive these! Isn't that exciting?!

I'll let you know how it goes...

~And 'hello' and hugs to my inspiring aunt who has a ministry crocheting blankets for hospice patients. How awesome is that?! ~Glad I'm not the only one in the family with a
yarn obsession. ; )

~Becky

Our crafty craze!

I finished the blanket for the Little Rebecca who is on the way.

The puffy flowers were fun to make. It can't really be called a quilt I guess, since it didn't involve any quilting or even binding. -Talk about quick! I did have to learn the surgeons knot which you had to make every few inches...Good thing I have a Ranger in the house who has his knot merit! : )

Joy is knitting this scarf for her friend for Christmas! Isn't it cute?!

It's so much fun to hear her say "Mom, let's knit together."

It's so fun to chat and knit.

My kiddos have informed me that I have a yarn obsession. : )

I guess that's better for my waistline than a chocolate obsession would be!

I was really excited to be given the Knifty Knitter as a gift recently!

I'm happy to say that loom knitting is SO EASY and fun. (even for children)

The directions it comes with are microscopic and do not give near enough details on how to do it, if you ask me. But thanks to the wonders of the web, I found videos with very detailed instructions, which saved the day.

I'm into knitting "beanies" right now.

I like knitting with needles better but this is fun and if you are looking for a craft with instant gratification (I love that kind) than this is it. It only takes an hour or two to make a hat!

Unfortunately, the first one I made had this cute brim that turned out to be way too girly for the male I made it for...

and this grey color just wasn't girly enough for the girl of the family.

Oh well.

Then I tried again and I ran out of yarn and ended up with one LITTLE hat!

Whoops!

~But my kiddos were full of suggestions of cute little baby boys at church that we could give this to..

I'm going to try again! My youngest guy wants a blue beanie with no brim! I'll see what I can do...

~It's a good thing its so chilly here or I don't think it would be too fun to be making scarves and sweater hats!

~Becky