A Front Row Seat to Our Life!: Timbali Bag Give-Away!

 I am blogging this to enter a drawing for a Timbali bag :)

These super-cool bags are more than an accessory!

They are made by women in Swaziland, really really poor women.  These women then volunteer their time at feeding care points in Swaziland to feed thousands of orphans. Why are there so many orphans in Swaziland, you ask?

Well, Swaziland has the highest AIDS rate in the world and the average life-span is under 35.  You can imagine if all most of the adults 35 and older are dead---that leaves a tremendous amount of children that are without parents.  Many of these children are HIV+ as well.  Timbali Crafts was started to give these women an income as well as spiritual nourishment which is also passed on to the orphans they care for.  Here is their website:  Timbalicrafts.org

There is a tag on each purse.  On this tag, the lady who made the purse has written her name.  Most of the bios can be found on the Timbali Crafts website.

Christmas Pictures

I cannot thank Amanda Tonagel enough for our Christmas pictures.  She was a true sport, going out in the cold for a bit with us and taking amazing pictures.  She is such a blessing to us!  Wonderful photography at  http://atonagelphotography.blogspot.com/

Sad news

We are without a working camera right now :(  I will not slander the name of the brand, but I am very upset.  We bought our camera less than a year ago, and it worked fine for the first few months.  Then it would start eating through batteries, or so we thought.  It turns out that the batteries were fine, but the camera was not working properly.  So we sent it in and got a replacement.  Now we have had this one for a few months and it is doing the same thing.  It will shut off and tell us to replace the batteries even if there are brand new batteries in it.  Needless to say this is all very frustrating, especially right before our son's first Christmas.  So don't be expecting any pictures for a little while.  Hopefully we can get this taken care of very fast.

Smiley Boy

I had to post this picture of Oliver with that big grin and his little mohawk.  He is going to be 5 months in less than a week.  I feel a little like he is growing too fast for me to keep up with.  That's life, I guess.  Karissa is going to be 4 in 9 days.  It doesn't seem like that should be possible either.

Coniferous Advent

We made our own advent calendar this year.  I got the idea from a Family Fun article.  It was fun to make and did not take very much time.

Karissa wrote all the numbers (with a little help from me)

Karissa loved doing the numbers.  She traced the dots I made to form the numbers and then she cut them out, too :)

Here is the finished product.  We are proud of it.

Thankful

Today Karissa's preschool class took a field trip to the local food pantry.  Of course, I forgot my camera.  It was interesting to watch the kids expressions seeing all the food and trying to get them to understand that this food was going to be given away to people who can't afford to buy groceries.  I am really glad we had the opportunity to do this and I hope something that was said stuck, because I want my kids to grow up wanting to help others who need it.  I am thankful for everything that God has provided and will continue to provide for us.  I pray that I can have a giving spirit every day, not just when it is almost Thanksgiving and I remember to be thankful for everything we have.  I pray that for all of you too.

Stephenie

Karissa Meets Turtle

This is for Shaundra so she can watch it whenever she wants :)

March or April of 2009.

First cereal

Oliver is now 4 months old and the doctor said it is time to start cereal.  At first I was very sad about this, because it seems like he grew up overnight.  Now I am slightly happy about it because it means that pretty soon he will be able to feed himself, and it is so cute to watch babies feed themselves with their little chubby fingers. :)

This is our first try at eating with a spoon :)

 He did not like it at first, and was angry at me for trying to put this stuff in his mouth.

Karissa took some pictures for me.
After the first 15 or so tries, he actually started to get the hang of it and enjoyed it more.

 All in all it was pretty messy, and very fun.
I wonder what milestone we will experience next?

Breakfast smoothie

 

Wondering what do do with all the fruit you bought?

Make a smoothie!

Delicious and nutritious, kids love 'em!

5th Anniversary Getaway

 

This past Friday, November the 5th, was our 5th anniversary.  We took a one night trip to a bed and breakfast in Middlebury, IN.  The name of the B&B is Mckenzie House.  It was so nice to get away for a bit, and this place was so wonderful.   Here are some pictures of our suite.

 

 The main house at Mckenzie House had a full basement which contained a movie room and a few games and music.  We played a few games of darts and bowling on the Wii.  I kicked Forrest's butt at bowling. :)

 

Mckenzie House also had a heated in ground pool and a hot tub.  The pool was closed for the season, but the hot tub stays open all year long.  This picture is of us wrapped up in our robes (provided by Mckenzie House) making our way to the hot tub. 

 

They also provided a fire pit for us.

This is the yummy breakfast that was waiting for us the next morning.  It was definitely better than anything we imagined. 

We can not say enough good things about Mckenzie House.  They provided a warm, comfortable retreat in a beautiful room and we felt so spoiled.  Their Christ-like attitude and approach to their business is so refreshing.  We are already planning our next visit!

I highly recommend Mckenzie House B&B if you are wanting this type of getaway.  This was our first time in a B&B so we do not have anything to compare it too, but this place was really awesome!

Check them out at http://mckenziehousebnb.com/ 

Comfy bed

 I had to write really quick to tell you about these flannel sheets.  My MIL got us a set for Forrest's birthday, and they are amazing!  They are Kimlor brand and you can get them at Sierra Trading Post.  They are like sleeping on pure heavenliness.  If you like flannel sheets, (we do, especially during the colder months) you should consider investing in a set of these.  Love them!  As if I needed anything else to make it harder to get out of bed in the morning.
 Here's a link:
 http://www.sierratradingpost.com/Kimlor.html

Trick or Treating

Karissa was a skeleton for this Halloween.  Everyone kept assuming she was a boy, girls can like creepy things too!

This is how Oliver was for most of the evening.

Auntie Shaundra and Todd joined us.

 Karissa loved the bouncy house at a trunk-or-treat we stopped at.

 

Auntie Shaundra tried out the skeleton mask.

 

Oliver woke up for the last little bit.

Weenie roast at Waldrop's

We had the pleasure of attending a bonfire cookout at our I3 leader's house.  It was a lot of fun for everyone.

The highlight of the night was throwing sticks into the fire.

 Eventually we had to tell Karissa to stop throwing sticks in the fire, because she was using up all of the firewood.                           

 Oliver was very snug.

Special thanks to Chris and Dave Waldrop for opening their home for us.

Raking leaves can be fun!

This is my first post, so bear with me.