Hello
Hello!
How have you been? Things have been busy here, as I’m sure they have been at your house, too. The days seem to fly by. Did winter seem to last forever where you live? It did here, and I have loved every bit of spring: the greenness of everything, the blooming trees and bushes, and the daffodils. We have daffodils that grow in clumps out in the woods behind our house, and we had a constant supply of bouquets for our table. Yellow is a happy color!
I’ve been doing so much sewing, which has been wonderful. I had so much fun making Maggie Rabbit (pictured above). I just finished knitting her little shawl, which is absolutely adorable.
I especially love sewing for my girls.
I made matching skirts for my three daughters and myself (the youngest got a dress instead of a skirt). I used coordinating rosey fabric, a different color for each of us. My oldest daughter got aqua, the next got green, the youngest daughter had pink, and my skirt had an ivory background:
I finished my youngest daughter’s quilt (and even embroidered her name on it). I had planned to actually quilt it, but when the time came, I just decided to tie it–I just wanted it finished! Thankfully, she loves it, even though it’s not perfect.
I’ve been working on some summer tops for myself. It’s going slowly, since my time for sewing has been running out. Hopefully I’ll have them finished by fall!
I started plants from seed:
So far they’re doing well. I hope I can keep them alive until it’s time to plant them in the garden. 🙂
We’re almost finished with our school year. I’m actually very thankful to be finishing, as this has been a grueling year, for various reasons.
We enjoyed learning a new art medium together (using this great art curriculum–we used the Spring Chalk Pastel ebook):
And I finally reached a breakthrough with my 8-year-old struggling reader. After effortlessly teaching my three older children to read using 100 Easy Lessons, it just wasn’t working for my fourth child. Children learn differently, and I realized it was time for a different approach. I decided to invest in All About Reading, and it has made a huge difference already! We’re also planning to use All About Spelling for my beginning speller and one of our other children who is a struggling speller (I’ll teach them both together).
I loved All About Reading so much for my 8-year-old that I decided to get started off right with my 4-year-old, and we’re using the All About Reading Pre-reading program. It’s so fun, and he’s learning a lot. He begs to do his lessons! (We’re using this in addition to Before Five in a Row.)
I love the books in the program:
But the best part is Ziggy, the Zebra puppet. I pretty much balked at the price of the program, and I was tempted to just buy the least expensive option (which didn’t include Ziggy). That would have been a huge mistake! Ezra absolutely loves Ziggy and doesn’t want to put him away when we’re done! He even likes to have him play card games with us (and he loves it when Ziggy wins!):
One of my goals for this summer is to teach my older girls how to make bread completely independently. We’ve had a few baking sessions together, and I’m hoping by the end of summer that they’ll be able to do it successfully by themselves, from start (grinding the grain) to finish (a completed and beautiful loaf of bread).
I’m sure you might be wondering what I’m doing here. I’m not going to start blogging again right now. There’s still so much to do and so little time. My husband is currently dealing with a painful health condition, and there are just a million reasons why I don’t have time to blog (even though I miss it so!).
The main reason I’m here today is just because I missed you all, and also I wanted to let you know that my lovely daughter Elyse has started a new blog! Here’s a picture of her from last Sunday:
Her goal is to inspire and encourage other Christian young ladies with book reviews, modest clothing posts, hairstyle ideas, favorite recipes, and more. It’s kind of a joint effort between us, and we’ve had fun working on it together.
And, to celebrate her new blog, we’re having a Lilla Rose giveaway! You can go here to enter the giveaway. I would love it if you would leave her a comment and just send some encouragement her way!
My daughter wearing Lilla Rose Hair Sticks
Also, Lilla Rose just released the new Flexi of the Month for May, with a Mother’s Day theme (the “mom” charm can be removed and the dangling pearl remains on the clip). And they’re having a really great sale (today and tomorrow). You can go here to see it. Also, if you’re a new customer, you can still take advantage of my Buy 3 Get 1 Free sale (you can see the details of this sale on my website).
And, Deborah & Co. is having a sale!
I’m so excited about this:
And now, I must reluctantly say goodbye again. I hope to return someday in the future, but that time is not yet. Meanwhile, I’m going back to prayerfully striving to serve my family and attempting to walk in love (even though I fail daily), and attempting to be faithful in what I’ve been called to do here in my home (again, easier to write about than to succeed in! I’m thankful for grace).
I hope you’ve been having a beautiful spring so far, and I hope your days are blessed! Until next time…
♥Joy
♥Joy
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Your sewing is absolutely beautiful!!! 🙂
Oh, thank you, Katy!!! ♥Joy
Hello Joy!
Greetings from Maine! I just stumbled across your blog…and so enjoyed what little I've read so far. I was sad to see that you had decided to stop blogging for awhile…but I completely understand. "To everything there is a season…" I will stop by again…and journey over to your daughter's new blog for a little visit.
Sweet blessings,
Laura
Hello Laura, so nice to meet you! I keep thinking I'll be able to return to blogging soon, but I've just been so busy! Thanks again for visiting, and many blessings to you!
Just wanted to let you know that I did make a skirt from that pattern. I will confess that assembling the pattern from a computer download was difficult. Thank goodness my daughter helped but after all that I do like the pattern. Thank you again for the recommendation.
Great! I'm so glad it worked out for you! I wore one of my skirts made from that pattern to church today. 🙂
Ahh… peaceful and winsomely beautiful! I love your blog, and you do such a lovely job, but I also know that you are needed, Mama! I pray the LORD gives you that grace to enjoy the little things you have and the privilege of raising your chickadees right now while they are there…no regrets! Not perfection, but no regrets! I love the little picture of Ezra and Ziggy!
God richly bless you, dear Joy. BTW, you are gifted and your little Maggie rabbit is priceless!
Keep up the good work with your beautiful family. I am praying now for your husband, too.
Love,
Jacqueline
What a sweet comment, Jacque! I so much appreciate you and your encouragement. You're a blessing to me, and thank you so much for praying!