Merry christmas

Merry Christmas. 

Pain

I am going thru stop difficult crap in my life right now. 

I want to write this because its what my blog is about. 

my life. 

I thought about writing it and then I sat down to write it and then I wrote some fluffy Christmas Greeting instead. 

20 Years ago at Christmas time I had a secret. 

A secret that Only one other person and God knew about. 

Secrets are not good. They tear at your being. 

But the only thing about that secret is that I had hope. 

As bad as my situation seemed at the time, 

I  still had hope. 

I sit here 20 years later, at the same time of the year 

with burdens on my shoulder that I can not 

get rid of. 

Burdens of Concern. 

Burdens of unanswered prayer. 

Burdens for my daughter.

I am looking for wisdom. 

I was told by someone that I greatly respect 

that You need to Love your children, 

Even through their mistakes. 

Let them know that you still love them even when they are doing the wrong thing. 

Even when You know they are making bad calls. 

This is hard. 

I think Of my own parents 20 years ago. 

Finding out that they had a 18 year old daughter who was 

pregnant. They were upset, disappointed but yet they still loved me. 

How hard that must have been for them. 

How difficult that situation was for my entire family. 

I was a selfish girl, I made decisions based on no one else but myself. 

I didn't look down the road at all and the choices I was making would impact

not only myself but everyone around me. 

I think OF God, my Heavenly Father, 20 years ago. 

of How I had disappointed Him with the choices I had made. 

But yet, He still Loved me. 

I want God to fix this. 

I want Him to remove the scales from my daughters eyes. 

I want him to soften her heart. 

but she is going to make mistakes. 

she is going to.  

but I still need to LOVE her. 

I need to have hope. 

I need to rest assure that My God has a plan for my daughter. 

He knows the path that she will follow. 

It certainly isn't the path that I would put her on. 

but it's the path that will form her and make her into who she is 

to become. 

I love her. 

I think about a tiny baby 20 years ago 

being knit together in my womb. 

A baby that God had planned. 

Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 

Psalm 139:13-16

¹³ For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.

and one more. 

Proverbs 3: 5-6

⁵ Trust in the Lord with all your heart
    and lean not on your own understanding;
⁶ in all your ways submit to him,    and he will make your paths straight.^[a]

^{Thanks for listening to me. I needed that.} 

oooo baby.

If you follow me on Facebook then you have seen most of these...

But if you want to see some baby goodness, then keep on reading. 

She was just as wonderful as any 3 week old can be. 

The lighting is fabulous.... I cleared their dining room to set up. 

Man people think I am crazy I am sure when I am unloading 

all my Crap  fabulous props out of my car and into their houses...

 This time as I was getting ready to go I looked next to my fireplace and saw my

beautiful old wash tub. 

(yup that holds my firewood, normally)

I had Sara clean it out for me before I threw it in the car. 

I also grabbed 2 quilts. 

The one the baby is one my mother made Sara  before she was born. 

The other in the end photos I made for Sara.... 

Thanks Sara.

I quick threw together this little name bunting before I left. 

Isn't she a doll. 

This was one of my favorites... I had written out her full name 

(edited it for the web)

The next 3 are maybe my favorite from the whole shoot. 

Oh come on.... that perfect little face.

I am so happy I was able to do this for our friends. 

This was our gift to them. 

It was fun and amazing watch them with their new baby girl. 

What a LOVELY family 

my man

God has blessed me. 

Not only once but twice. 

When  we screwed up our marriage... 

God Forgave us enabled us to Forgive Each other 

and so Graciously Healed our Marriage 

He Restored it so we could grow together and be a more

perfect union for Him. 

I LOVE and Adore this man. 

He is the most special Man. 

He is the silent type. 

But when he does speak...

They are pearls of wisdom. 

We got too enjoy an entire weekend away. 

We went to Amish Country. 

it was beautiful and lovely. 

and We Laughed and Laughed and Laughed

with one another. 

It's been too long. 

Why do we let it get to be like that? 

Big Dummies that we are. 

anyway, 

He tries to be tough... 

But in the words of Maddie

"He's just a BIG sweetie pie" 

and I am so grateful that

 He is mine and I am his. 

xoxo

Amy

mr. bear

We were driving along and suddenly off the side of the road... 

Sara yells out, " BEAR" 

oh, yup. 

that is a black bear. 

and so of course I had to get some shots. 

(I did stay in the car ) 

HE was just sitting there scratching his ear. 

They are incredible animals from a distance. 

Hope your having a great day. 

I still have kids at home that have missed a week of school because of Sandy, 

Gas lines like nothing I have ever seen since I was a kid in the 70's with the 

gas crisis. (does anyone else remember that?) 

Also what is surprising to me are the amount of people just out walking. 

It is kinda nice to see. 

anyway. we are blessed. Even in the mist of  all this destruction and ugliness. 

Sandy and Cooking

They are telling us to be prepared. Be Prepared for power outages and stuff like that. 

So I have spent my last 3 days shopping and getting things ready for just that. 

I am in the kitchen all day long today. I am hoping we remain with power but just in case I am pre making meals that I can just reheat on top of the wood burning stove. (incase we loose power) 

So,  Here is the menu 

Sunday dinner with leftovers tomorrow for lunch, Anne Burells Meatballs, and Sausage with Pasta

Monday Cheese Strata (my Mother's recipe from when I was a kid.) You have to make it a day in advance and then bake it the next day. TO DIE FOR! 

Tuesday  Salisbury steak with mushroom gravy and mashed potatoes

Hopefully we will be all better by wednesday but if not We will be eating hot dogs with baked beans 

I have purchased entirely to much. We have put our grill in the garage so I can grill if need be. 

I can make pancakes and eggs on the griddle on the wood stove, Which I am very thankful for. 

and so that is the plan. 

wreaths

I am doing a craft show on November 30th. 

I want to bring some wreaths with me. 

I have started creating them. 

These are the first 2 and I think I am going to be making several

like them. Duplicates if you will. So

here they are. 

All burlapy and rustic. 

The fist one is 18 inches and took 

12 yards of burlap garland. 

 WOW. 

   This one I actually hand painted  with watercolor Poinsettia onto a vintage dictionary pages. I the idea on pinterest.

This one is 17 inches. 

The NOEL bunting is removable. 

    I also am making snowmen, and wool Christmas mice and a Christmas Angel in bleached muslin.

 I will share those next week. 

  Have a good weekend. we are preparing for this Hurricane that is supposed to hit the east coast on Saturday night. Well, At least we have our wood burning stove and plenty of wood in case we are without power.  Keep us in your prayers.

Amy

Prayer

I haven't been blogging. 

nope.  

I have instead been doing many other things instead. 

baking. 

sewing. 

creating. 

being a wife and a mom. 

and that is what I have been doing. 

Oh one other thing. 

I have been worried about the upcoming election. 

I have been praying. 

It is in God's hands. 

and so am I. 

Sara and I have watched every debate. 

EVERY SINGLE ONE. 

They were not easy to watch at times. 

I really like Romney. 

I mean I have to be honest, 

I didn't really like him before the convention. 

and then... well, I had a HUGE change of heart. 

I am not a fan of Obama. 

I just don't like what he stands for. 

How he operates and lies and treats the American 

people like they are 

idiots. 

and I guess what bothers me most is the people that will be voting for him, 

most of them have just not educated themselves on who he is. 

That is what bothers me. 

They don't even know why they are voting for him. 

I have to say, 

We get to VOTE. 

We don't really get what a privilege this is. 

people take it for granted, not voting, not caring, not being informed etc. 

Men and Women gave up their lives for us as 

American Citizens to be able to have that right. 

Do not take it for granted. 

It is an honor. 

I received an email today from my mom. 

it is lengthy but I am going to post it anyway, 

and if you want to read it, Please do so. 

I was debating about posting about this election

(but it is my blog  so I thought why not) 

So here it is, 

One minute each night

I look forward to praying with many of you

Family and Friends,

A dear friend just sent this to me. And I think this is a great idea. Will
you join me? Beginning tonight.

This is the scariest election we as Christians have ever faced, and from
the looks of the polls, the Christians aren't voting Christian values. We
all need to be on our knees.

Do you believe we can take God at His word? Call upon His name, then stand
back and watch His wonders unfold. This scripture gives us, as Christians,
ownership of this land and the ability to call upon God to heal it. I
challenge you to do that. We have never been more desperate than now for
God to heal our land.

This election is the scariest I remember in my lifetime. 2 Chronicles
7:14.  'If my people, which are called by my name shall humble themselves,
and pray, and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I
hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.'

During WWII, there was an advisor to Churchill, who organized a group of
people who dropped what they were doing every night at a prescribed hour
for one minute, to collectively pray for the safety of ****England**** ,
its people and peace. This had an amazing effect, as bombing stopped.

There is now a group of people organizing the same thing here in America


The ****United States of America**** , and our citizens, need prayer more
than ever!!! If you would like to participate, each evening at 9:00 P.M.
Eastern Time (8 PM Central, 7 PM Mountain, 6 PM Pacific), stop whatever
you're doing, and spend one minute praying for the safety of the United
States, our troops, our citizens, for peace in the world, the upcoming
election, that the Bible will remain the basis for the laws governing our
land, and that Christianity will grow in the U.S.


Someone said if people really understood the full extent of the power we
have available through prayer, we might be speechless. Our prayers are the
most powerful asset we have.

now,  you may or may not agree with me.
Democrat / Republican
what ever we are all AMERICANS.
We need a leader who will help our country prosper.
A LEADER.
that is what we need.
Obama is not for America.
(read his book My Father's Dreams) he says it in his own words.
Educate yourselves as Americans.
Watch Obama's America 2016.


and thus concludes my speech....
I am getting off my soap box,
Thanks for reading if you are indeed still here.

amy

relax

I am blessed. 

My parents rent a lovely cabin on the Delaware River 

and we get to spend as much time as we want there with them. 

So Saturday and Sunday were spent with them. 

On sat, Sara, Maddie and myself drove up and spent the day

with my parents. It was DIVINE. 

we went to a flea market.... 

and to a local farmer in the area to pick some 

pumpkins. He was the most amazing man. 

that is for another post. 

I have to go back and take pictures of him. 

(I asked him if I could he sad sure!) 

Sunday We all went up

including our honorary member of the family, Paul. 

We walked on an old Military trail that was used in the Revolution to bring supplies 

to the troops. 

Pretty neat. 

There was some question about where the trail was... 

but due to this Fabulous signage.... 

we knew for certain that we had located the trail. 

My kids LOVE and adore Paul. 

Here Maddie is flying. 

Lulu, Loves to run free. 

She always has a good time when we hike about. 

and it is never a good feeling when you see this sign at the beginning of the hike.

I wondered what are you supposed to actually do if you ran into a Bear on the hike?

and we visited Buttermilk Falls that same day. 

Isn't it lovely. 

Maddie stuck her hand in. 

it was cold. 

Sara,  kept posing for me...  

I love my kids. 

They knew I was trying to get one shot of the waterfall. 

I had my tripod set up and 

somehow everyone kept walking in front of the shot I 

was trying to get....

Thats Okay. 

A lovely, Beautiful day, in the country.