Birthday Card

Dearest Twinkles in my eye,

Sweeter than an apple pie,

I wish, today, I was with you,

To celebrate your birthday, too!

 But since, instead, I'm miles away,

On this, your special 8th birthday,

I'm sending you upon a quest.

Follow the clues to know the rest!

But first, my dears, I need to say,

"Happy, Happy 8th Birthday!"

I miss you much, and love you more;

This year, I know, God has in store

So much for you to learn and do,

Be sure to love Him ~ He so loves you!

Obey and listen ~ spread His Joy

And Hope to every girl and boy!

Love again! Now here's the clue ~

Think carefully; It's up to you!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have many hammers, but they're not for nails

Keys and pedals, but I don't drive

When pushed, I sing, when left, I'm silent

My sound makes the household come alive 
 

Make-It Monday: Twinkle Smiles

Hooray! Finally back to some Make-it Mondays! This post is in celebration of the completion of one of those "under the bed" projects...

I started these dresses almost exactly a year ago to sew for the Twinkles' birthday. Unfortunately, I forgot the oh-so-enviable fact that little girls often grow straight up without growing out for a couple years. Thus, the dresses fit them just lovely around the waist, but were rather on the short side for the "Sunday dresses" they had hoped to wear. Into a bag and under the bed they went, until such a time when I could (unemotionally) determine the fate of the ruffled hemlines.

At long last, a week or so ago, I pulled them out, cut up and ruffled several yards of eyelet, finished the hand-sewing, and voila! ruffly Sunday dresses! An unforeseen plus of using eyelet for the hem-extensions was the hoop-skirt-reminiscent "poof" at the bottom of the dresses - the eyelet was stiff enough to hold the lighter cotton out, which, of course, the girls loved!

goofy, goofy girls...

In the course of taking the pictures to show the finished project, we switched over to just doing a twin photo shoot. At the end, Maddy said, "Oh, Sarah, we have to do the Head-Heart-Shadow Picture! We love to do it!" As far as I can tell, they came up with it on their own. Also, just so you know, it is "just for twins to do".

Precious, isn't it? What are you working on this Monday?
 

A Birthday



Photo Credit

  "...Unless you die before-hand." Zach snickered a little at his smart-aleck remark.

For some reason, the Littles have decided I am of age, and it's time to start pressuring me to move out. Consequently, not a day goes by in which they don't ask, "Sarah, when are you gonna get married? We want to have a niece or nephew." I have no idea what has caused them to pursue this subject, the only reason I can hypothesize being that they get the giggles at my "I am not getting married right now!" Finally, tonight, riding home in the car, I looked them in the eye and explained that God has the right guy somewhere, and it is His timing, not ours, for which we should be ready. "When God says it's time for me to get married, I will," I assured them. But for all my seriousness, I got chuckles. "Yeah...Unless you die first!" Maddy and Zachary thought this quite funny (who can understand the humor of 6 and 7 year olds?), and in amused exasperation, I agreed, "Yep, unless I die first, but that means God didn't want me to get married anyway!"

I thought the conversation was over, and had begun to turn back to my book, when Megan - who was sitting next to me in the car - said in a confidential undertone, "Sarah, which one would you go to?"
"What do you mean, Meggy?"
"Which one would you go to - heaven or hell - if you died early?"

To say I was surprised at the question would be an understatement. Meg knew I was a Christian, so I had the feeling that there was more going on in that little brain than her words were letting on.

"I would go to heaven, Meg," I replied, leaning in closer, "and I hope you would go to heaven too."

We both knew that she wasn't a Christian. By her wide eyes looking up at me, I knew Meggy was seriously considering what she had heard. For a moment, her inward struggle was almost palpable. But she said nothing, and looked away, so I turned to my book until, ten minutes later, I felt her eyes on me again.

"Sarah," she said, barely above a whisper, "what is hell like?"
"I don't know much about it, Meggy...it's dark. And burning. And it hurts so much that people gnash their teeth."

"What do I have to do, if I want to go to heaven instead?"

Instantly, I felt overwhelmingly out of my depth. How could I presume to explain the gospel to Megan? How could I say it fully, in a way she could grasp? And yet, we are supposed to come as little children, and the Father who calls can speak through my bewildered words.

Carefully, I told her that God was so good, not even the tiniest bit of sin could be in His presence. That Jesus, knowing this, had taken the punishment of our sin for us. That to go to heaven, all we had to do was believe in Him, but that it also meant we let Him "be the boss" of our lives. And it all ended - or rather, began - there in the van, with us bowing our heads and Megan saying a prayer that was much rejoiced over in heaven and on earth.

My little sister became my sister indeed today. May our Father bless her with wisdom and an overpowering knowledge of His love towards her.

Happy Birthday, Meg.

How Many Blondes Does It Take...

...to squirt whipped cream onto a milkshake? At least two, though these would have drastically benefited from a third!
It was a yummy Mother's Day. :)

You Want Cute?

This evening, Madeline asked if she could show Mama and I her new dance that she had made up. With Madeline, this is not an unusual request, so "Sure" was our slightly-preoccupied reply. The following demonstration ensued (please excuse the poor quality, our little p&s was all I had on hand):

She finished it all off by telling us "And then you just do it again and again and again until you get dizzy!"

Do you remember those dances?

Happy Birthday, Gracie!

Hard to believe this girlie is 12! She's just so...so...
- hilarious
- dramatic
- crazy (in the kindest, most loving sense of the word)


On the other hand, it's hard to believe she's only 12! She's so...so...
- good with taking care of kids
- creative
- crafty
- able to converse with any age on a variety of subjects
- fun to be around!


I love my li'l sis! This afternoon we fixed her hair and put on a leetle bit of makeup (shhh...don't tell dad! :) and did a photo shoot. I was really happy with how they turned out - 'course, it would be hard for them to turn out badly with such a great model, dontcha think?