Just Sharing the Cuteness!

Here are some pictures of Gracia enjoying a cookie...and being super cute!

Yummy cookie!

Practicing her pirate!

Can you tell that her eyes are gray with brown around the pupil...they are so pretty!

And here are some of her enjoying her bath...Steve loves giving her crazy hair!

 

Bath time!

Punk baby!

Can't believe she'll be one next week!

God bless~
Rach

She's Crafty~

It's been a while since I've "crafted".  Between being pregnant, having a baby, Steve finishing his PhD, and moving...well, there's just not been a lot of time to get out the craft and art supplies and create.

Well, that time has changed.  I guess I was inspired...

A month or so ago, I snapped this picture using Instragram with my phone.  The girls and I were on our way home from playing at the park when I just had to stop and see if the camera could capture what I was seeing.   

I love Instragram!

I thought it turned out pretty nice.  I wanted to display it, but I also began playing around with an idea in my head of how I wanted to alter and embellish it.

So, Steve gave me lots of free time to pursue my idea this past weekend.  It felt so good to get out some of my supplies and begin playing...it felt so good to create~


I started with a plain white canvas and a 6 x 6 reprint of my photo...and added paint.

I added more paint...

...and a verse from the Bible...

...and layers of decoupage glue...


...and this is how it turned out.  

It's not exactly how I envisioned it in my mind...and I made mistakes along the way that are permanently part of the project...but isn't that how art sometimes goes?


And art is good for the soul and the mind and the heart...and creating is a wonderful experience.  


And I am thankful for how it turned out.  I am thankful for a husband who gave me so much free time this weekend to work on it...love you so much, Steve...thank you!

I am thankful to God for the scene He allowed me to see and the photo that remembers it...and the art He led me to create with it.


God bless~
Rach

Pure Poetry!

Here's my little poet...my little winning poet...Sweet Sophia Rose.

Sophia with her poetry award~

Our local library sponsored a poetry contest for 1st through 12th grade.  I thought it would be great for the girls to enter, so I encouraged them to think about a poem...

I figured this assignment was more for Bella, but was very happy that Sophia wanted to enter the contest too.  I love reading aloud to my girls...and poetry is part of that.  

Listening to poetry...much easier than writing it.  

Both girls were at a bit of a loss with where to begin.  So I helped them narrow down their choices by encouraging them to write a descriptive poem...pick something in nature and use words to "draw a picture".

My only input was to help with spelling and grammar.  Here's what Sophia came up with.

The Wind and the Moon

The wind blows the moon around like a star moves in space.

The wind blows the moon around as it shines in its tracks.

You and I might think the moon has a special secret, but the moon is alone. 

Wow!  Steve and I were pretty impressed...she's 6, folks :)

So, off to the library went the poems.  A few weeks later I got a call that Sophia's poem was selected as a winner!  Wow!  Super wow!  I was so excited for her!  The look on her face when I shared the good news with her...priceless...absolutely priceless!

There were almost 350 poems submitted and a Texas Poet Laureate was the judge.  They grouped the poems into groups of 3 grades (Sophia's groups was 1st through 3rd grade) and selected 3 winning poems from each group.  She was the youngest winner of the bunch :)  We were invited to a poetry reception attended by many of the winners, parents, teachers, library staff, and the mayor of Frisco.  Each child was presented with a framed certificate presented by the mayor himself and a book of all the winning poems.   

Sophia and Mayor Maso~

Yep...I had to get a close-up :)

A collection of the winning poems~

They could also read their poem to the group...Sophia was nervous, but she did a great job!  The library is in the process of producing a video recording of the winning poets and their poems...I hope to have a link to that soon.

**Update**

Here's the link to the video the library put together.

Here's my recording of Sophia sharing her poem at the reception.  The sound quality is (unfortunately) very poor, but I still wanted to share the clip.

Thank you, Frisco Library, for your poetry contest...both my big girls were inspired and our entire family was blessed by Sophia's success.  I especially love how this has affected my sweet Sophia...this has been such a special blessing to her...sometimes it can be hard to be in the middle.  

Thank you, Lord for choosing to give her this special recognition...thank you, Lord, for helping her to see that "words" may be part of her "special talent"...a gift from You, Lord...may she be inspired to glorify You with this gift~

And, can I confess...this "writer Mommy" is bursting with pride :)

God bless~

Rach

Camping with our Community Group :)

We had a super fun weekend camping with some new friends from our Community Group at our new church!

Camping...it really brings you together...if we weren't friends before...we sure are now :)

8 families...20 kids (I think...3 of them babies)...1 dog...

...lots of fun!

Steve took Friday off and we headed out to Robbers Cave, OK that afternoon.  The temps were cool and it had rained, but the storm was moving out and the rest of the weekend promised to be pretty weather.  

By early evening, many of the families had arrived, tents were pitched, and dinner was under way.  We had a primo camp spot...by the lake, near a playground, and close to the restrooms.  The view of the lake was really beautiful...nestled in the San Bois Mountains in southeastern OK...I didn't even know that OK had mountains (hills really, c'mon, I did live in Colorado :)...it was so pretty!

Bella loved helping Steve set up the tent...good job, Bella!

Our tent~

Blessings~

I think she's telling an exaggerated fish story :)

Along with being amazingly welcoming, this group is brilliant as well...we were all assigned a meal to prepare, so we could focus our energy and resources on one big meal...it worked out so nicely.  For dinner on Friday night, we had sliders...gourmet, no less...yes, this group knows how to eat well :)

We weren't "roughing it" in the food department!

Of course we had a campfire that night...and talked and shared...and laughed...and ate fire roasted apples.  Some of the guys brought their guitars so we sang too.  I marveled at the night sky filled with stars...it's been a while since I've seen night skies that dark and clear...breathtaking!

Gathered together~

Eventually we all climbed into our sleeping bags in our tents...and wished we had heaters!  It was cold that first night...low 40's was what the forecast had called for...someone told me their car temp said 36 degrees in the morning...either way, it was cold!  Baby Gray was in her pack-n-play wearing 3 layers of footie jammies and wrapped in a big comforter.  She woke up in the middle of the night and her poor little hands were so cold...she spent the rest of the night with me in my sleeping bag...baby snuggles, so sweet :)

Baby Snuggles :)

We enjoyed a great breakfast...pancakes, eggs, fruit...and the ever-so-important french press coffee :)   Then we all gathered for worship and devotions...pretty awesome stuff!

How sweet is this...our littlest worship leader looking up to his daddy~

The gang gathered for morning worship~

Steve sharing a kid's devotional from The Gospel Story Bible...Marty, you went camping with us~

We hiked to Robbers Cave later that morning...what a neato place!  The terrain was rocky and we all had a blast scrambling around...especially the kiddos.  We found a few little caves on our way to the "big one".  The area was absolutely gorgeous...it reminded me of some areas of Colorado and it really reminded me of my visit to Vedauwoo in Wyoming.  Robbers Cave got its name because it was, in fact, used by outlaws back in the day.  I don't mean to be a name dropper, but I did spend time in the same cave as Jesse James and Belle Starr :) 

Historical graffiti....this guy was seriously devoted to his graffiti...wonder how long it took him to carve this?

Our littlest camper and her mommy :)

Sophia inside Robbers Cave~

Baby Gray had a sweet ride!

My girls were hoping to find some long forgotten treasure...their search was fruitless...bummer, 'cause that would have been really cool :)  But they still had a blast...climbing, scrambling, searching, sliding... 




Saturday afternoon was spent enjoying the beautiful weather...paddle boats, canoes, a walk with new friends, kickball, and even some swimming.  This mom (yes, as in me) forgot towels and really didn't want her kids in the chilly water...but fun won out...and I'm glad :)

Having fun on the lake~

Friends on the water~

These guys had a really cool old paddle boat :)

Kickball!

Escapee :)

We were part of the dinner crew for Saturday night...fajitas, baby!  It was fun to plan and prepare a meal with friends...and the rest of the gang seemed to really enjoy the meal...yummy! 

The Griller~

Oh yeah...the fajitas were yummy!

Sweet friends~

That evening, around the campfire, the crew shared different things about God's creation that we had enjoyed so far...precious to hear kids and adults sharing...really, really precious.  


S'mores later that night...another glorious blanket of stars...and kids in bed much earlier than the night before :)  The adults all pulled our chairs around the campfire and continued to enjoy stories and laughter.  

This camping weekend marked four months since we left Pennsylvania...just a couple days over four months since our Community Group in PA had gathered around us and prayed for us.  They had prayed for so many things, but one thing they had especially lifted up to our Lord was for us to be knit in quickly to this church...for God to quickly grow friendships.  I marveled that we were here with this group camping...here with this group sharing life.  I marveled at God's kindness...I am so thankful, Lord, so thankful.


Our second night was much better than the first...it wasn't nearly as cold.  Steve and I got up early on Sunday and began breaking camp...we wanted to get back to Frisco so we could attend our New Members Class after church.  

And heaven knows we all needed a shower!  Note to self:  next time bring towels and you can use the camp showers :)

This kind of trip was not possible for us while Steve was in school.  Steve couldn't just take a day off whenever he wanted and he had to work most Saturdays as well.  To be able to take a day off and enjoy a three day weekend camping would have been near impossible.  And the few times he did take off for a family visit or a holiday were still stressful...school always occupied his thoughts...chemistry always traveled with us.  To watch my husband...to see him so relaxed and enjoying life...it was a beautiful blessing.  To watch my girls running around and having so much fun...it was wonderful.  Thank you so much, dear Lord, for this perspective...thank you, for this gift...thank you for times such as this.

A great weekend!

We are looking forward to many more camping adventures...and hopefully some more with this group~

God bless~
Rach