Sometimes...

Sometimes, you just have to make a choice to be positive. 

Okay, take for instance this incredibly crazy weather

we experienced this weekend in New Jersey.

Went out this morning and really took a good look around. 

Some new landscaping for the backyard... 

going for the forest look here. 

Yes, in this next shot you can almost see the swing set. 

oh there it is.. 

I will try and appreciate the new flow of sunlight gleaming brightly into our backyard. 

And how the tree landed ever so gently on her swing set... 

that it wasn't destroyed. 

I am loving that we are going to have plenty of firewood to burn. 

nice big logs to split. 

and Maddie was so concerned and worried about her tire swing 

the entire storm...

God spared it. seriously. 

all the other branches around it broke and fell.

I am thankful that God protected my family in our home 

during this storm. 

I am thankful that no trees fell into our house. 

I am thankful that we only lost our power from 8 pm to 

3 pm the very next day. 

and I am just thankful for God allowing me to make the choice to have a 

lovely attitude about the whole thing. 

linking up

Snow... really?

Here in the North east we are experiencing... 

Snow. 

Yup, snow. I even had to turn the heat on today.... 

not happy about that. 

and we forgot to reconnect the radiator in Sara's room... 

When I say we I mean my better half... 

Water was pouring out of the ceiling into the living room....

Good times people! Good Times. 

Don't worry though... it is supposed to be in the Sixties by Thursday. 

Good, I can turn the heat off.

Photo shoot

I love taking some beautiful family portraiture. 

& I love when it just happens and you get those shots... 

you know the ones... 

seriously the colors & Lighting couldn't have been more perfect. 

and this was the last minute shoot

being that it was supposed to happen Saturday... but we are expecting a little snow in the north.... 

so I called and asked if they could do it today... it all worked out fabulously. 

I am happy. I hope they are. 

This next one might be on

"my Favorite Photographs I have ever taken" List

It just happened. 

Perfect and simple. 

a Daughters pure love for her Father. 

amazing. 

I love the way that they are both gazing down and she is holding his hand with both hers...

the way that he has that little smile on his face. 

OH ... I'm tearing up here.... 

and the sun was wonderful 

the time was about 4 in the afternoon. 

(my new favorite time to shoot photos) 

oh sweet sunflare... how beautiful you are... 

You know I love shooting families. 

I do. 

I love to just let them be .. and capture the memories. 

not to much direction... just lots of watching to see what is going to happen. 

I think it works. 

Thanks Burke Family. 

It was a fun time.

TO see more photos from the day 

Check my photography blog. 

Amy Rehbein Photography 

Fall

Fall. 

I was sitting on the sofa this morning... drinking my coffee

and I looked out the window. 

WOW! 

Fall is here in all its glorious splendor. 

I Love Fall. 

The crisp air, 

the amazing colors, 

the crinkly leaves underfoot. 

The baking... 

 last nights apple pie... 

& I get to pull out the things my kids have made for me.

Sara made this a few years ago. 

Amazing. I love love love it. 

It's clay and made from an actual leaf. 

but the part I love most about it can't even be seen 

I love that she signed it... and added a little heart. 

it's the little things that make me smile. 

linking up with the October Followers Fest over at Changing Lanes. 

update......

update on my husbands leg... 

it was swelling and not going down yesterday so we took a little 

trip to the Dr.

He wants to check for clots. 

His appt. is today at 11:30.

Prayer would be greatly appreciated! 

thanks. 

lovely littlest beansprouts

I thought my little dollies needed a dress. 

So I got out my elastic thread... and Voila. 

A little (mock) smocked dress. 

I think she is pretty cute... 

she needs some freckles...

I used the Moda Little Apples fabric. 

Its so so cute. 

Then

I had some request for a boy.. 

so I whipped some up...

well, not just whipped it up , I made one and 

my husband told me i couldn't make the bodies the same as the girls..

The hips were to wide. 

I believe he called said

"boys don't have birthing hips"

So I made them more narrow... 

made a little pattern for a hat and some pants

and there you have it. 

A boy.

man this is fun!

why I blog

Why I blog. 

When I started this blog it was an outlet for 

a lot of emotions that I was dealing with. 

My Grandmother had just passed away, 

I felt like my identity had been taken along with her. 

I wasn't sure how I was supposed to fit in. 

This blog.

I felt like if I was part of this community. 

{even if it was one other person reading my blog...} 

people I shared common interest with. 

Mom's who love the Lord, 

Love their husband's

loved their families 

& 

Loved to create. 

It has meant so much to me. 

It has helped me find my creative self. 

With Photography, 

Sewing, 

Crafting. 

and finding some wonderful 

kindred spirits. 

{one in particular... Jen.}

I would have never become who I am at this minute without my Blog.

God used it  in my life to be a creative source for me. 

It is a wonderful thing to know that their are people out there, 

that are praying for you. 

or thinking about you. 

or that you may have been an impact on someone's  life. 

Pretty Cool. 

Thanks, all those bloggy friends. 

I think that blogs are pretty lovely. 

they have certainly had a part in making my life  more lovely. 

have a lovely Monday

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY. It is our wedding anniversary. Today I will be celebrating it by seal coating a job with my husband. Thanks for all the prayers and sweet words from everyone on his behalf. He is still not great. We will keep praying for healing.

Pintrest love....

 I am loving all the typography.. prints... quotes... 

these are all from my pinterest... 

I love this one... I have 2 teenage girls.... (OH MY how on earth did that happen??) 

This would be such a great poster. 

Important to remember beauty isn't in the face..

It's what's inside. 

and my Father always told me this...

{I never believed him, till I got older... and much wiser) 

and I just love this alphabet... so stinkin' cute! 

Pintrest is awesome... 

I spend to much time looking and pinning...

If you need an invite let me know and I will send you one.

another day

Another day... another day is flying right past me. 

and I need to be reminded of what is important.

Somebody yesterday said to me...

" Are you a stay at home Mom? Wow you are so lucky."

She was a young single Mom.

I am lucky. {I think.}  I have a husband who values a Mom being at home raising their children.

I am not lucky, I am blessed that I am able to do that. In the area that we live it is a rarity.

I  think   know a lot of woman that work outside their homes look down on Mom's that stay home.

I have done both. I have worked a 40 plus hour a week, and believe me it was the hardest thing I have ever done to leave my kids. I was blessed that my sister was able to be with my youngest  {sara, who was only 2 at the time} but it I had no choice as I had become a single Mom.

So it hit me hard when the young single Mom said those words to me last night. "You are so lucky!"
Yes, I am. My Father has so  graciously blessed me. He restored my marriage to my husband. Which didn't seem humanly possible... and he has gifted us another beautiful child, Madelyne. and he has allowed me to be at home with all three of our girls again.


 Luke 1 : 37
           
                      For nothing is impossible with God. 

thoughts...

Someone said to me the other day, 

"You are living a blessed life." 

Why do we (I)  choose to forget how God blesses us. 

Even when it may not feel like we are blessed, we are.  

Then yesterday, I sent an email to a women who I respect deeply. 

I just wanted to let her know what was going on in my life right at this moment. 

my husband has been laid up with cellulitis. 

He has been in bed since Sunday's trip to the ER. 

It is hard (so very hard) to watch a man who does not complain of pain

to actually be in such deep agonizing pain. 

It is awful to feel helpless and not be able to take that pain from them. 

He can barely walk. 

I am thankful for the Dr.'s  and nurses God put in place to take care of him. 

He  even put in place our wonderful friend Jen and Zach 

to let me know to get him to the emergency room quickly. 

The reply I got from my friend Robin was an amazing gift. 

(she is very wise) 

She said to me,

 " I  feel like you are one of the Negroes in the cotton fields singing those deep spiritual songs of desperation and sadness " 

 That was a beautiful metaphor, for my entire life.  

I want to be in the fields. surrounded by cotton... 

working the land. and I want to be filled with God's glory. 

I want it to be pouring out of my being. from every orifice  

just oozing out. I want to shout it from the rooftops, from the mountains, 

that although my journey is not the one that I would have chosen, 

I  am glad that my Father lead me through all of it safely to be able to 

share with others.

I want to be signing deep spiritual life changing songs to the world.  

I am about to take Dom to the Dr in a few minutes. 

I am praying that he will be okay. 

And that God will be merciful and heal my husbands leg.