The Landing Of The Pilgrim Fathers

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

The breaking waves dashed high
On a stern and rock-bound coast,
And the woods, against a stormy sky,
Their giant branches tost;

And the heavy night hung dark
The hills and water o'er,
When a band of exiles moored their bark
On the wild New England shore.

Not as the conqueror comes,
They, the true-hearted, came;
Not with the roll of the stirring drums,
And the trumpet that sings of fame;

Not as the flying come,
In silence and in fear,—
They shook the depths of the desert's gloom
With their hymns of lofty cheer.

Amidst the storm they sang,
And the stars heard and the sea;
And the sounding aisles of the dim woods rang
To the anthem of the free.

The ocean-eagle soared
From his nest by the white wave's foam,
And the rocking pines of the forest roared—
This was their welcome home!

There were men with hoary hair
Amidst that pilgrim band:
Why had they come to wither there,
Away from their childhood's land?

There was woman's fearless eye,
Lit by her deep love's truth;
There was manhood's brow serenely high,
And the fiery heart of youth.

What sought they thus afar?
Bright jewels of the mine?
The wealth of the seas? the spoils of war?—
They sought a faith's pure shrine!

Ay, call it holy ground,
The soil where first they trod!
They have left unstained what there they found—
Freedom to worship God!

Digital Photography 101 -- Lesson 1

Through the base library, I have access to Universal Class. They are online professional development courses. I signed up for Digital Photography 101 and have six months to complete it. I am just using my Canon point and shoot camera, not an SLR, but I am hoping to learn how to better use it and take better photos. Perhaps after I improve, I can upgrade. In the meantime, I am looking forward to this course.

Lesson One is a short lesson on the history of photography and the first lesson was to apply the rule of thirds in taking a couple photos. Here are my pictures. I know, not very creative, but maybe in a few months I can impress. ;-)

2012 Free Motion Quilting Challenge

Did I? Yes!!! ;-) How about you?

Tangled Happy: Wandering Wool Giveaway

tangled happy: Wandering Wool Giveaway: Happy Sunday... Today Wandering Wool is hosting a giveaway you won't want to miss! You must go have a look at Joelle's gorgeous hand-dyed yarn.

Timberdoodle Giveaways

Have you heard of Timberdoodle?  They sell curriculum, educational toys, and just downright fun toys! It is one of those places I wish I had an unlimited budget to shop at. My home would be filled with lots of their goodies. So for those of us who do have budgets, what better way to get some amazing things than through a giveaway.  Timberdoodle is having a Facebook party, a huge ole' giveaway bash going on.  So, like their Facebook page and then head over to their blog.  They are giving away all kinds of goodies.  I love using Punchtab to enter through my facebook because it's fast, easy, and I can earn multiple entries.  Give it a try!! You don't need Facebook to enter though.  Just go to Doodleblog and don't forget to click the next page after entering the first page of giveaways. There are three pages of goodies to try and snag.  You only have until Monday, Nov. 21st, at noon PST to enter.  Have fun!!

More Silhouette Cameo Giveaways

Scroll down or click here for my previous post listing some Silhouette Cameo giveaways going on right now.    I really would love to win one of these!!  The good news is that I have more chances and so do you.  Here are some more Silhouette Cameo giveaways.  Get to it!

Infarrantly Creative

Shanty 2 Chic

Crap I've Made

Prudent Baby

Tip Junkie

I Heart Organizing

Under the Sycamore

Have fun entering!!

Silhouette Giveaways

I've found some Silhouette Cameo giveaways to share.  Here is a list:

Little Miss Momma
Our Best Bites
Make It - Love It
The Idea Room
Ucreate
Skip to my Lou
Eighteen25
Kara's Party Ideas
Craftaholics Anonymous
I heart nap time w/Chocolate Sundaes

Slayed the Serpent

Okay, well, I'm sorry if the above photo grosses you out.  I guarantee it grossed me out much more.  You see, that little killer was on my toilet.  I slayed the serpent hours ago and I'm still a bit queasy and on edge.  I'm in fear of the dark in my home right now.  Where one hatchling is, surely there are more lurking, waiting to attack me.  Yes, I'm dramatic, so my husband says.  I'm a GIRL!!  A girl who doesn't like snakes. 

So, long story short.  Mom gets little sleep these days and lives on coffee.  Mom needs eggs and runs to town.  On the drive home, Mom, whose bladder has been weakened by four pregnancies, has to pee really bad. Once home, Mom rushes to the bathroom, pulling skirt up while walking to save time.  Mom almost sits on toilet, but sees a snake on the tank, peeking out from behind the lid, wrapped around with it's head resting on on the handle.  Mom screams and Mom pees herself...just a little.  Okay, seriously, you would too if you discovered a snake on your toilet.  Mom freaks and calls dad.  He tells her to kill.  She says, "I have to pee first."  She uses the kid's toilet, but inspects for snakes in there first too.

Mom gets some sort of long handled scraper tool that dad told her was in the carport.  She can't hit the snake at the neck because it's head is on the handle, so she hits it in the middle of the body.  Well, I'll spare the icky details, but it wasn't dying fast enough and certainly was trying to attack anything within it's reach like the trash can and my face.  Well, maybe not my face, but you never know.  I mean I certainly never thought I'd be killing a snake that was on my toilet, so is it so far fetched to think it could jump on my face??

Anyhow, Mom tells Kristy to go get a bowl to knock it in and a knife.  She slides in it the bowl and cuts it head off.  Mom officially slayed the serpent.  I really wish I could have done it from afar with just a little stone like David.  But, no, I had to get up close and personal and brutal.  Eeeeewww! 

Snake identification time and Mom is completely convinced it's a cottonmouth and other little hatchlings are lurking somewhere to attack her own little hatchlings.  But, dad says it's a baby black rat snake.  Whew!  Well, Mom does feel a little bad because they are supposed to be our friends, killing mice and such.  Perhaps, she shouldn't have been so hasty to kill and instead transported it to the woods.  But, really any snake on her toilet is just asking for it.  Eeeeewww again! 

Mom has no idea why she told this story in the third person.  Perhaps, perhaps, it makes it feel a little less personal, like it happened to some other unfortunate gal and she can enjoy a laugh at that poor woman's expense. ;-)  Go ahead and laugh.  You know you want to.  How am I supposed to sleep peaceably tonight?  Where, oh where, are the siblings??  Or the mama..........

Lily's Quilts -- Kona Giveaway

Lily's Quilts has an amazing giveaway going on right now.  Head over there to enter for a chance to win two boxes of Kona's Bounty of Basics!! Click here to go to the post.

I Like Gully Washers

Or rather, they like me; seek me out and leave me knee high in their chaos.  haha! Really, it's not all that bad, things just don't seem to run smoothly for me for very long periods of time, or even short periods of time.

See This:

Last week, I was rearranging in my living room.  We have two living rooms, so this really is an office and sewing room, but the first room you walk into when you step through my front door.  Where the framing is above, was once a wall with storage cabinets, holding the indoor unit for a heat pump.  Back where my husband is working is one of our bathrooms and there was a bathtub in there.  Well, I discovered a leak and by the time it was visible to us, it had done a good bit of damage to the walls and subflooring, so it's all been ripped out and will be replaced.  

Currently, it looks like this:

And since a good bit of storage was knocked out, I have a mess and piles everywhere.  The rest of the room:

Okay, I'm feeling completely overwhelmed and knowing I need to tackle all this and get it in some sort of order, I feel like I'd rather crawl into bed.  haha!  I'm sure the exhaustion I feel looking at this mess is compounded by Jacob getting me up four times last night and having what I believe was food poisoning on Sunday.  Russ took me to the E.R. and I'm ever grateful for anti-nausea medications.  It's amazing that it is two days later and I woke up with my rib cage feeling incredibly bruised today.  It hurt a little yesterday, but today I feel like I've had a good beating.  So, I've decided baby steps are in order.  I'm going to take a nap today and other than some reading, I'm going to skip a day of school.  Yes, I am!  With kids helping out, I believe we can get some work accomplished.  

So let's end on a positive note.  My father-in-law was here over the weekend for a visit.  He left this morning. Here are a couple pics of him with the younger boys.

Some recent, favorite photos of my kids.

"Uh-oh! Am I in trouble?"

"Nope, it's all good!"

 Kristy worked at an Ag Banquet in town a few days ago.  Beautiful young lady!!

Kristy took this picture of Matthew blowing a kiss.  I love it! haha!

Oh my! Those brown eyes melt my heart. 

Oh, it's a smolder with blazing guns. haha!  Too cute!

Pinterest

Guess who is now on Pinterest!  ha! I said I wouldn't; said I would not get started on any other site to follow.  BUT then, I read on a blog, can't remember which one now, a review of Pinterest.  The writer spoke about how she loved having a visual tool of favorite projects, when she clicked on them it took her to the site or tutorial.  Several years ago, I started a few binders with this concept in mind.  One for crafts, dream home, etc.  My goal was to print things that I love and put in these binders.  Well, they are scarcely filled because I'm a frugal ink saver.  Instead my favorites list grew and grew and grew to the point it was difficult to find what I was looking for due to it's lengthy text.  Summary...I decided that Pinterest was a very handy tool to organize my favorite things.

Here are a few of my first pins:

Source: homeandgarden.craftgossip.com via Kelly on Pinterest

Source: 123stitch.com via Kelly on Pinterest

Source: gardenofsimple.tumblr.com via Kelly on Pinterest

Source: gardenofsimple.tumblr.com via Kelly on Pinterest

Source: bhg.com via Kelly on Pinterest

Five Minute Friday -- Remember

I thought I'd do a weekly review today, but then decided to check in on Five Minute Friday, which I love, but am admittedly unfaithful to.  Something about four kids and homeschooling and all that which seems to take priority to blogging.  But, I checked today's topic and it is on "remember."  Well, that is appropriate for my thoughts this week, which have been a roller coaster. My husband and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary on Nov. 1st.  Click the Five Minute Friday button at the end of the post for details on participating.

Remember

Fuzzy photo I scanned awhile back of the young, dating Russ & Kelly.  I don't really have any decent wedding photos, thanks to a poorly hired photographer.  This grainy pic is actually one of my favorites. 

I remember when I first saw him over fifteen years ago out of my third story window and I did a loud, holler kind of growl at the new guy in the dorm and then ducked so he wouldn’t see me. I remember when my suite mate called to say the new guy with the blue truck worked in her shop and I told her to invite him out with us sometime. I remember pretending to lock myself out of the dorm, just to have an excuse to go talk to him in the parking lot, asking him to let me back in the dorms.  I remember liking the way he walked when I followed him to the building and then I remember him telling me it was pretty stupid to leave my keys in my unlocked room upstairs.  Yes, I ended up marrying the man whose first words to me were insulting my intelligence. But, at the same time it came from a place of recognizing it was unsafe for a single female to leave her room unlocked and also not wise, as anyone could steal from me.  I remember thinking he couldn’t take a hint.

I remember our year of dating. I remember respecting his work ethic because he had a second job. I remember how he loved to turn down any random gravel road just to see where it went and how I loved going along for the ride. I remember late night meals at Country Kitchen, ease of conversation, the spontaneity of taking off to Kansas City on days off, and how he took care of me when I was incredibly sick twice while we dated.  Once with a kidney infection that went undiagnosed for several days, until I was so sick that I was hospitalized.  He gave me his bed and “slept” on his loveseat, getting up to check on me at night.  Another time when we both ended up with food poisoning and he was helping me while he was also sick, then took us both to the emergency room for treatment.  Not necessarily a pretty part of the story, but a good test of the upcoming vows of in sickness and health.

I remember our first separation. He went to Bosnia/Croatia for four months during our year of dating.  I remember emails and many late night phone calls.  I remember knowing then that I wanted to marry him.  Our first “I love you” was over the phone.  I had the nasty habit of smoking and Russ hated it, said he’d never marry a woman who smoked.  I promised to quit while he was gone, but I did not.  I remember smoking my last cigarette the day he was flying home and then I threw the pack in the trash and got dressed up in a black and white dress to pick him up from the airport.

I remember sitting at Sonic in Sept. of 1997, eating my M&M blast when he said, “So, when do you want to get married?”  I pulled out my checkbook calendar and we picked Nov. 1^st.  I remember two months later when I was nervous and scared to tell him that I was pregnant.  We had just gotten married.  But, he was excited, couldn’t stop smiling, and said the baby was going to be a girl.  He was right. I remember that girl having major, life-saving surgery when she was one day old, being told she may not make it and we would need genetic testing and depending on those results, it might not be wise for us to have children together.  I remember crying together that night and reaffirming to one another that we married each other to be together, whether that life included children or not.  I remember bringing her home from the hospital after two surgeries and two months in NICU, putting her on the bed between us and staring at her in complete awe.  She is now thirteen and we have had three more children together.

I remember fourteen years, filled with moments of love and passion; filled with moments of selfishness and anger.  I remember arguments and making up.  I remember grudges and forgiveness.  I remember laughter and tears. I remember when we accepted Christ as our Savior and our lives changed.  I remember temptations and redemption.  I remember separations and reunions.  I remember new life and the loss of loved ones.  I remember that the marriage vows were just words spoken by two, young and naïve people who can only fully comprehend and appreciate them after having lived them for years together, working to maintain their marriage and remembering that love isn’t just a word, but a choice we make everyday.

I remember when…..

Here is my favorite love song.  It’s by Alan Jackson, “Remember When.”  I think it’s the most beautiful, realistic love song written.  And yes, I went over 5 minutes....again.  I just didn’t want to stop remembering.