Any Ideas?

Remember the adorable embroidery hoops with fabric hanging over Estelle's crib? Well, they have slowly been ripped off the walls by someone who is supposed to be sleeping.

By "someone," I mean this one pictured below. Thankfully I have a video monitor and have caught her doing it and taken them away from her before she could dismantle or destroy them. Look at that mischievous little smile.

I saw this picture the other day on Pinterest. They are hanging from the ceiling....a possible idea I guess, but then what do I do above her bed? Anyone have any ideas?

HAIR

This little one if finally getting more hair! The other day I attempted to put a clip in it. It worked, it fell out every once in a while, but it worked!
I am not sure why, but Estelle is called a boy ALL THE TIME! I hadn't said much to Reese about it, then we took her to Costco. Reese was pushing her in the stroller and someone called her a boy. I told him that people say that all the time and he said that it was like the fourth time just while we were in Costco that someone had said it. I don't dress her like a boy....I don't even think she has boyish features. Hmmmm. Anyway, maybe the clip will help?

Paying Attention to What God is Saying

I feel vulnerable. Ever since Case died I have felt more anxiety than I've ever felt in my life, like at any moment something else can happen. So I brace for it. In the over year and a half since his death I have gotten so much better. I can feel myself relaxing, but then something will happen. A natural disaster, a threat to our country, a threat to my community and my family because of my husbands job. A lot of people live their lives thinking it won't happen to them. But I guess I can't tell myself that, it can happen to anyone, that is the scary reality. In my life I have been called a worry wart but my response to that would be, "no, I am a realist." I know what it feels like to have something ripped from you, my mom and then my son, amongst other smaller losses. Sometimes I wonder if God is really there. But then He usually speaks to me through something. Today He spoke to me through my devotional, which I almost just skipped reading all together. But I decided to pay attention to what God was saying, and I am glad I did.

Since we are His children, we will share His treasures-for everything God gives to His Son, Christ, is ours too. But if we are to share His glory, we must also share His suffering. Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory He will give us later. Romans 8: 17-18

Here is the part of the devotion that stood out to me:

"Does it sometimes seem as if you've lost everything dear to you, and do you wonder what else is going to be taken from you? Someday each one of us will leave this earth and let go of everyone we have loved and everything we have enjoyed. We'll be left with only our eternal inheritance. But Paul has done the math, and by his careful calculations he assures us that what we suffer here is nothing compared to the glory of our eternal inheritance. NOTHING. It seems a stretch to us from where we sit. But if you don't trust his calculations, if you do not highly value your eternal inheritance, you will overvalue what God has given you on earth and your grip on it will become a tyranny to you. But as you value the privilege of being an heir with Jesus, you will begin to live like the glory he will share with you one day is worth everything it may cost you. You will see your suffering as a severe mercy that keeps you from falling more deeply in love with the comforts, securities, and pleasures of this world so you can anticipate more fully a rich and rewarding inheritance in the next."

I honestly don't know if I can take anymore heartache, but I am reminded today that if I grip too tightly, it will control me. I will do anything to protect my family, my children. But I need to do what I can and leave the rest to God. And trust that in the end we will enjoy a indescribable inheritance together.

Lane, Mommy, and Estelle 4/2011 (Andrea Gallagher Photography)

Daddy, Case, and Mommy 12/2009

Tasty Tuesday: Apple Butter

It's that time of year! I used the apples we picked and made me some apple butter! Here is my post from last year (apple butter post). It includes the recipe and my trials from the apple butter making. This year I happened to have ground cloves, and a food mill, thanks to my friend Kristen. I gave her a jar of apple butter last year, and to ensure she got another one this year she got me a food mill for my birthday! I got one with your name on in Kristen! The food mill was so awesome. I am going to make homemade applesauce and use it and I also want to make gnocchi with it!

Apple Butter: It's a beautiful thing. In last years post I talked about how I loved to can. I was reminded of that once again, with every "ping" as the jars were sealing.

Estelle is also 10 months old today! She is getting big so fast! She loves wrestling with Lane. She crawls all over him. She is really pulling up on everything and likes to get into everything with in reach. She has been getting into cupboards a lot too. Next on the list of items to buy is a baby gate and child safe locks for the cabinets! I don't think we ever had a gate for Lane because we lived in a one story house. We all have so much fun with Miss Estelle. She just started refusing baby food too, so now I need to get creative with the finger foods! She's already got quite the opinion.

Apple Picking

Last weekend we spent the night up in the mountains of S. California. There are a lot of apples that grow up there so we went to a place to go apple picking. It was fun and it was pretty. I have to say that I am used to those Washington type places. Pumpkins patches, apple orchard etc that are very well kept, have little gift shops. This is nothing like that, and it was over priced, but it was still fun.
I don't remember what kind of apples these were, they weren't quite ready, but they looked so pretty on the tree.
The mountains were very pretty.

It was HOT. Lane kept complaining about how hot he was, which is why he looks this way in the picture. Anyway, hopefully some apple butter is in the future. I was going to do it last night but the power was out in the Southern California Blackout! To me power outages don't seem to be too big a deal, I always have candles and a couple working flashlights, we have a battery operated radio, you know. When I started hearing it could be a couple days, I got a little nervous. Thankfully we were only out of power for about 7 hours, so compared to the radio saying 2 days, I was happy. After I put Estelle to bed, we made some hot cocoa, hung some laundry up to dry, and played Memory. Good times, and Lane's school was cancelled today so he was excited about that! So, maybe the apple butter will be made tonight!