my scrappy quilt :)

the beginnings of a new quilt...

when i was home a few weeks ago, mom let me did through her scraps and pull some fabrics for a scrappy quilt. i now have 2 blocks done, over 50 more to go!!!!!

i'm hoping to have it done in time for our first baby :) ....



aka. it will probably be a few years 'til you get to see the final product ;)

to one of my best friends in the world.....

when i went home a couple of weekends ago, i went for my dear amber's wedding.
on november 6, she married her best friend--nate king
so excited that we get to be newlyweds together!!!! if only we were a bit closer...

this is amber and i 4 years ago, the christmas right after i got back from nicaragua

this is the fearsome foursome :) - andrea rhodes, sheri helmuth, amber king, and parla sonifrank
we grew up in church together and have been best friends ever since...we don't get to go over to each others houses after church anymore or hang out at school together, but every year we make it a point to take a mini-vacation to catch up on each others lives


we've went to va beach a couple of years; one year we went out to michigan; and the past lil while we've been going to a lake in wva.
these 2 pics were from our michigan trip (2008)

while i was in nicaragua, andrea got married.
the wedding was outside at her parents house. how i wish i could have been there!!! that was 4 years ago, and just this year seth and andrea were blessed w/ a beautiful baby girl!

baby ava :) she's a cutie! right along with her new auntie amber!!!

so then there was a bit of a gap...but a lil' over 4 years after andrea married her man, i married mine :)
my 3 beautiful ladies takin' advantage of the photobooth at our wedding :)

3 months later, it was amber's turn :)
i had so much fun at her wedding! it brought back so many memories...and marriage has been so much fun...couldn't help but be super excited for her!!!!

she did an amazing job of making everything absolutely beautiful!
when we first came downstairs for the reception, we walked through a hallway full of all kinds of goodies--hot chocolate, cappuccino, iced coffee, iced chai, chocolates, cookies, sparkling cider, and regular and decaf coffee

the reception was so elegantly decorated...black, white and silver

we gave her a lovely veil to wear during rehearsal :)
giving the bride away

getting ready the day of the wedding....pretty much beyond excited :)

she was stunning :)

the following pictures were taken by lana whetzel:

the happy couple :)

and i was so blessed to have been asked to be a bridesmaid!!! along with the other 2 of the fearsome foursome, heidi king, and dianne eberly

here's to the fearsome foursome and the amazing friendship that God has blessed us with!!!

i love you amber! i think of you often and hope that you are enjoying your new marriage as much as i am ;)

bake sale

this past weekend there was a craft show here in red lake. i decided to get a table and see if i could make a little money selling baked goods :)
the craft show was friday evening and saturday afternoon. i spent monday-thursday getting ready for it. let's just say there were a couple too many late nights, and i am very very done with being in the kitchen for a while!!!

monday i made a huge batch of party mix.

tuesday was cookie day :) i made all kinds of different christmas cookies and then put a variety on a plate, wrapped the plate in cellophane, and tied a ribbon around it to make cute little christmas cookie plates
i made sugar cookies, gingerbread cookies, chocolate chip cookies, double chocolate cookies, white chocolate cranberry oatmeal cookies, snickerdoodles, monster cookies, molasses crinkles, and little pretzel chocolate bites.

wednesday i made a variety of breads (pumpkin, chocolate, cranberry-orange, and banana nut) as well as chocolate and pumpkin whoopie pies :) i also made apple pie filling...
this was a day of new experiences...i think the only thing i made on wednesday that i had done before was pumpkin bread...and for the most part, it all turned out

thursday was a HUGE day! i didn't go to bed until after dave went to work on friday morning. i made cinnamon rolls and sticky buns, pumpkin pie, apple pie, a variety of bars, and homemade hot cocoa mix :)

my poor husband kinda suffered the week before the bake sale. i didn't have a whole lot of time to cook much of anything for him...he did pretty good at fending for himself :) i think he's pretty glad to have his wifey back though!

not only am i tired of being in the kitchen, i am very tired of washing dishes!!!! the pile only seemed to grow and grow!
i couldn't even fit all the dishes on the counter to dry...though i am becoming very skilled a dish-stacking ;) it's amazing the amount of dishes you can fit in a teeny tiny area!


my amazing kitchen aid that my siblings got me for my wedding either felt very loved or very abused...i'm not sure which :)

the bake sale ended up being a lot more work than i thought it would be, but it was fun :)
i can do special orders if anyone needs anything!!!!

in other news...
we have snow!!!! and a good bit of it!
my husband ventured out to snap this picture for me :)
and the lake is beginning to freeze over :)
only a few more weeks until it becomes a road!

A BIG THANK YOU!!!!!

Matthew 6:25-24

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

we were blessed beyond measure today...

i don't think that i have ever been too much of a worrier. God has been so faithful to me during my entire life that i kind of just assume that he will always take care of me, just like he always has. today he reaffirmed his overwhelming love for me and his pure desire to take care of his daughter.

one week after dave and i moved up here to canada, i got a serious infection and ended up in the hospital for four days. i have never been so sick or miserable in my life! i was away from home, and stuck in a hospital bed w/ ivs filling me w/ all kinds of pain medication, fluid, and antibiotics. i would go back and forth from having a super high fever to shaking w/ chills. i threw up everything that i ate.
but even while i was in the hospital, God showed me his faithfulness and love. my new and amazing husband sat by my side as often as he could. the nurses and doctors were super sweet and kind. AND!!! part way through my hospital stay my sister and a good friend from home came to see me :) they "just happened" to be in red lake for akwachink!!! mmmm...God is just so so good!

they even blessed me w/ some beautiful flowers :)

PRAISE THE LORD the antibiotics finally kicked the infection, my fever finally left, and after almost a week of being sick i got to go home :) but in the meantime, i had racked up a hefty lil' hospital bill. when all was said and done, we owed the hospital over $9000.

Today, the community here in red lake helped us to pay off 2/3s of that bill!!!!!!!
the fundraiser made $6000!!!

the ladies in our church worked very hard to do a spaghetti fundraiser dinner for us. we had spaghetti w/ an amazing homemade sauce, garlic butter bread, ceasar salad, and huge array of homemade desserts: chocolate chip cookies, craisin cookies, peanut butter bars, deluxe marshmallow chocolate bars, chocolate cupcakes, almond chocolate swirl cupcakes, chocolate cream cheese cupcakes, chocolate cake, cranberry jello dessert, blueberry cheesecake bars, apple pie, and blueberry pie :) mmmmmmm

these were my contribution to the dessert table :)

so many people came out to support us!

dave and linda serving up the spaghetti

so...to all who helped us out financially tonight, to all who prayed for us while i was in the hospital, to all who have blessed us w/ their friendship and emotional support, and to our God who has loved and blessed us beyond words...THANK YOU!!!
-from both of us :)