Raising Godly Fruit

Christmas 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 02:41:00 +0000

Here is a family picture of us last week at Pastor Gore's church. We are ready for two weeks of fun at Nana's house.

Baby Things

noreply@blogger.com (Melissa) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 13:35:00 +0000

Here is my most recent project. I always wanted this piece of the layette with Bethani. You know, it is awkward enough when a new mother must get up in church and walk out with her baby. Adding the huge diaper bag on her shoulder, trying to wriggle her body (not yet back to its normal size) out of the pew and down the aisle only exaccerbates the situation. Diapers and wipes. That's all you really need--right?

This makes for a less conspicuous departure. :)

Sunday's Tow Truck

noreply@blogger.com (Melisa) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 21:36:00 +0000

Pow! "What was that?" Craig said. "I guess there was something in the road that I didn't see."

This Sunday was a typical preaching out weekend for us. We were only 1 hour away in Lewisville with Pastor and Sister Sales. Generally, by the time the last Amen is said on a Sunday night, I am ready to head for my bed. Yesterday was no exception, and as is normally the case, I was the 'mean ol mom' that said "no" to going out to eat with the pastor after church.

We had only been on the road for 5 minutes when we heard the loud "Pow!" We continued to exit the highway in search of a Taco Bell drive thru (they were 'starving to death' you know.) As we came off the exit ramp, the car began acting really strangely. The lightbulb came on in Craig's head and he said, "Oh, I know what it is, we blew a tire!" We pulled into the first parking lot we could find, got out, and sure enough, there it was--flat as a pancake!

Not to worry, though, we had a spare tire in the trunk and two strong, capable men to change it. (The directions folded up in the case of the jack didn't hurt anything either.) We girls just stood back and watched the men do their manly work. It all would have worked out great...if the spare had air in it. Ahm...

Not to worry, though, we have kept up our roadside assistance insurance since our trailer traveling days, and now we were going to get a return on that investment. (There went my goal of being in my own bed by 10:15.) Craig made the phone call, and then came back and told us that it could take up to 45 minutes for the tow truck to arrive. I took the pins out of my hair, shed my shoes, and curled up for a nap. I was jarred awake by the door slamming, and the bright emergency lights of the tow truck. We all got out of the car, and I plopped down on the sidewalk in my Sunday Best as we all watched the 20 minute drama of hoisting my dream car onto the bed of the tow truck. Craig's plan was to go to a nearby gas station and fill the tire with air, and then be on our way home. This was not to be. Apparently, one must fill the tire with air BEFORE putting it on the car.

NOW WHAT TO DO??? All 6 of us piled into the cab of the tow truck and bounced 50 minutes home. (Sorry Craig about your legs.)

Saturday Night Live

noreply@blogger.com (Melisa) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 20:20:00 +0000

What a great time we all had at the Saturday Night Live at Oak Cliff Bible Church. This is a quarterly event in which Dallas area Deaf ministries get together for a Deaf concert, or singspiration (what you call it depends on what generation you are from.) I know, you are thinking, how can this be??? They turn the sound tracks up really loud so the Deaf can feel the vibrations, and many times there is a hearing person on the floor supporting the Deaf signers on the platform. Seeing the beautiful ASL from these Deaf Christians is amazing. And, I always enjoy the soul music they choose--always a few from Kirk Franklin. I copy-signed for Chanelle, my Deafblind friend. They were very interested to see this white girl try to copy what was being signed on the platform.

We had a great representation from North Cities this time, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

I noticed toward the end of the concert, the men had stood and were talking among themselves in the back. I suppose this was a "meeting of the male minds": 'we come to humor our wives...'

Sunday

noreply@blogger.com (Melisa) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 03:37:00 +0000

Wow! What a full day this was! Today was Tessa's baby dedication, and all went well without a hitch. It was beautiful.

Dawn and Doyle Kennedy came to visit our church--we hadn't seen them in a very long time, and it was quite a treat. After church, we went to Souper Salad, our favorite place to meet them, and caught up on the happenings in their lives.

The day ended with the best. This morning, Rachel, one of our Deaf young people prayed sincerely for the first time. She spent the afternoon with us, and on the way to church let us know that she couldn't wait for church to be over so she could go to the front and receive the Holy Ghost. She was fully expecting it to happen. And...God didn't disapoint her. God rewarded her by washing over her with his spirit, and before long, she was speaking in tongues. It truly was a beautiful transformation to watch.

Summer 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Melisa) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 17:28:00 +0000

It has been a wild and crazy summer. I have been so busy, I have not been able to blog, but here is a brief recap:

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Dress for Savannah

noreply@blogger.com (Melisa) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 17:36:00 +0000

Here is one of the dresses I made for Savannah. I was sad to see that it was too big, but I know she will grow into it.

Bethani and Savannah in their matching outfits:

Slipper Socks

noreply@blogger.com (Melisa) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 21:00:00 +0000

About 3 weeks ago, I was out shopping between Sunday services at Marshall's. My feet were really hurting, so I felt justified in buying some slipper socks. My justification was that I would copy them and create more for us girls.

I just got my serger out of the repair shop yesterday, so after hemming 2 pair of suit pants (boo) I moved on to a fun project. Here they are:

Kitchen Make-Over

noreply@blogger.com (Melisa) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 18:03:00 +0000

Last week while I was fabric shopping on Harry Hines Boulevard, I found this 2 yard remnant for $2. I thought it should be in my fabric stash, so I picked it up.

When I got home, I realized that the 2 Barnes & Noble cups and saucers I picked up for $4 at a consignment store last month were an exact match!

Now you have to realize that for the past few months, I have been drawn to Kitchen Aid's pink collection. Really it just started with the scissors for Christmas. But when I used them in the kitchen, it made me feel so very feminine. Really! My collection has since grown.

Bethani had started saying that I have a pink phobia, but when I explained that phobia means fear, she changed to, "My mom is on a pink frenzy!"

Will all of this in mind, my wheels began turning about a whole new set of projects. Having said all of that, here are my projects from Friday.

I searched diligently for pink kitchen towels to no avail. If anyone knows of where they are hiding, please let me know. So, what do you do when you can't find or afford what you want to buy? You make it yourself, right mom?

Oh, and dying white towels in the juice of freshly boiled beats doesn't work. Trust me.

Now, I realize that this pink and brown polka dot print is trendy and faddish, and one day my children will look back and remember with disdain "that horrible mud brown and candy pink kitchen," but keep in mind, I really don't have a lot of money invested. If and when I tire of this, I will simply start over with whatever else catches my fancy.

You may be wondering why I post the following day... many times, my projects keep me up late into the night...

(BTW, take my advice and don't use your pink spatula to cook Indian curry. Sad, very sad.)

Baby Gown

noreply@blogger.com (Melisa) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 13:35:00 +0000

I saw a very simple baby dress at the Market, and decided that sometimes simple is sweet. One of the teachers, Vaune Pierce made the statement that stuck with me, "When people look at the baby, their comments should be, 'look at that sweet baby' not 'look at that beautiful dress.'" In other words, if people notice the dress, but not the baby, you have just missed the goal. Here is the simple dress I constructed yesterday.

Here is the petticoat to go under this and other projects.

Tea Bag Pocket

noreply@blogger.com (Melisa) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:49:00 +0000

This was yesterday's project.

This little pocket is made completely from silk dupioni. I learned about this project from Beverly Sheldrick, a New Zealand teacher that was at Martha Pullen's Sewing Market last week.

Sewing Market

noreply@blogger.com (Melisa) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 21:18:00 +0000

I have just returned from a 3-day sewing conference. Well, I didn't really stay away, it was just one hour away in Arlington. I left my house early in the morning, and returned late each night. All day I was exposed to more creativity than my mind could wrap around. I have so many projects whirling around in my little brain. I am currently in the middle of 4, and am anxious to start 4 or 5 more. I am hoping to crank out most of them in the next two weeks. Perhaps I will share with you along the way.

I must tell you about the funniest thing happened on the second day. I slipped in late to the first class (I know that is hard to believe) and caught just the last 15 minutes of a skirt-making class. After sitting a few minutes in this class, the speaker asked, "Is anyone here wearing a skirt?" I sat motionless, trying not to look obvious, when she asked a second time. People started looking at me, and so I raised my hand. She called on me and asked me to come up to the stage.

Wearing a long tiered white skirt, I made my way up the stairs and on the stage facing a group of about 75 sewers. The speaker asks the question, "So, is she wearing her best look? No. First of all, we would never put tiers around a skirt horizontally. White is never good on the bottom, and knee length is much more slenderizing. This long, flared, tiered skirt makes her appear short and wide. This is NOT her best look. Would she wear this to her 30 year high school reunion??" At this point I had taken enough, and called out, "I would have been 10!"

She pulled my skirt up to my knees and tugged it tight around my thighs. Now, I have had plenty of opportunity to analyze this body in a variety of garments, and I have to tell you that what they saw could not have been a pretty sight. She said, "Now, doesn't this look a lot better? If you can't see that this looks better, then you need to just stick to the rules because you are not seeing right."

Hmm, how presmptuous of her.

When I returned to my seat, I turned to the person behind me and asked, "And why did I just volunteer for that??" I was thinking, first of all, this didn't help us in skirt-making. Secondly I was thinking, this is not the way to win friends and influence people, and then I thought, this woman has no people skills.

I could tell the ladies in the class felt bad for me. Apparently they didn't know that I wasn't all that fragile. When the class was finished a sweet lady came up to me and said, "I think your skirt is beautiful, and yesterday I heard you tell someone that you had a 17 year-old daughter, and I could not believe it." How sweet of this lady to help me regain my dignity.

The comical thing was that all day long, about every 3 feet, someone was stopping to tell me how beautiful my skirt was. The icing on the cake was when the director of speakers stopped me the next day to say "Your white skirt yesterday was just darling!"

It's a Girl!!

noreply@blogger.com (Melisa) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 03:30:00 +0000

Tessa Ionie Euler

At last...the moment we have all been waiting for.

Congratulations Jason and Amanda. We are so happy for you

noreply@blogger.com (Melisa) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 03:13:00 +0000

Mom just commented on how long it has been since my last post, and she is right. I am out of college and homeschool now, so I have no excuse.

Last week we entertained Nate, (Tiffani's friend from Indiana), and took the opportunity to tour the Kennedy memorial area.

This is a picture of the window from which the rifle was seen.

Here is the spot in the road where the car was when Kennedy was fatally shot.

It was a sobering tour, but very enlightening just the same.

Because Nate had never taken a train ride, we decided to add a little interest to our downtown trip and take the Dart train. On our way back, we got off at CityPlace and rode the McKinney trolley. It was just a piece of the past, and a bit of nostalgia. Here we are waiting for the train.

Gunbarrel City

noreply@blogger.com (Melisa) — Thu, 14 May 2009 21:48:00 +0000

We preached in Gunbarrel City this past weekend. Only in Texas...

noreply@blogger.com (Melisa) — Sun, 03 May 2009 06:06:00 +0000

Hello World!!!!! I am back.

All projects are finished and turned in--just waitin' for the final exams.

I am so happy to be back. My family is happy I'm back too. (Bethani keeps telling me so.)

Easter 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Melisa) — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 13:28:00 +0000

Here we are in our Easter best.

Birthday Girl

noreply@blogger.com (Melisa) — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 04:11:00 +0000

It has been entirely too long since my last entry. I am still knee deep in this college thing. (What was I thinking???) Nevertheless, I couldn't let Bethani's birthday go by without a few pictures.

It was a wild ride--I have to admit that. We had 12 girls at first, but only 9 of them stayed the night. Notice I said only! Have you ever entertained 9 squealing giggly 10 year-old (approx) girls??? Tiffani and I traded off and on. I don't know what I would have done without her help organizing the social part. The girls also really enjoyed her salon expertise Saturday morning.

Apparently Twister is a big hit at this age. I wouldn't recommend it in a mixed crowd, however.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

School Woes

noreply@blogger.com (Melisa) — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:52:00 +0000

It has been a long time...I know. Our life has just become so very crowded, and I am afraid this is how it will be until spring--at which time, you may hear more from me. You see I have just begun my final round at college. In order to make this the last one, I have taken an extra heavy load. I keep reminding myself that May is coming, and when it gets here, I will be a better interpreter.

Additionally, I am starting a new Bible study on Wednesday afternoons. I am very excited about this. After all, if I am too busy to teach a Bible study, I am too busy.

Tiffani is taking Deaf Culture and Fingerspelling and Numbers. I have class on Monday and Wednesday, (after my Bible study, and before church) while she and Raphalen, (a good friend) have class on Tuesday. On Thursday, the three of us leave home at 3:00, and don't get back until about 11:00. It is a long, very long evening. Thankfully Craig is able to hold the fort while we are gone.

As far as practicum goes...I seriously doubt that I will meet the required 200 observation intern hours. It is really a sad thing--I would like to take advantage of those learning opportunities, but really, people, there are just so many hours in a day. Keep in mind, May is coming.

Craig is busy preaching out every weekend. I miss not going with him, especially when he is flying to other states, but during this season of my life, I must attend to other duties. There will come a time when we will again travel together.

For now, Bethani is excited about planning her birthday sleepover. I'm sure I will have pictures and stories to share...

Our Godly Fruit

noreply@blogger.com (Melisa) — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 20:24:00 +0000

God has been good to us. I am so thankful for our children. What an awesome responsibility I feel to set a good example before them. I know that everyday I make mistakes--my prayer is that even in that they will learn and find themselves gracefully righting their wrongs.

Christmas Day

noreply@blogger.com (Melisa) — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 05:45:00 +0000

What a wonderful time we are having with our family. Here is a peek into our Christmas day:

My Cousin

noreply@blogger.com (Melisa) — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 05:33:00 +0000

This is my 5th cousin: Alexis Mercedes Benz

Thanksgiving 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Melisa) — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 14:35:00 +0000

This year, our family decided to try something new with our Thanksgiving meal. Okay, actually I came up with the idea. It was a good one, and I think it all went well. Here it is: Everyone is to take ownership of one of the food items. It was their responsibility to find the recipe, gather the ingredients, prepare the item, clean up after themselves, and present the dish on the table. Since this was just the first year, it went fairly well. I kept charge of the turkey and gravy and made a sesame asparagus salad; Craig decided to bake sweet potato casserole; Bethani cut up the bread and baked the cornbread for the stuffing; Jeremi was in charge of the mashed potatoes (and did a great job even without a mixer)(wouldn't you know it, our Kitchenaid died just one month ago); and Tiffani and Jeremi together made the Cranberry chutney. Our new friend, Jason Talley joined us for our Thanksgiving meal, and he brought a chicken shepherds's pie.

When we sat down, (after taking multiple pictures) we followed our tradition of passing around the taper candle, and listing the things we were most grateful for. We were all grateful for the things that we have: the Holy Ghost, truth, family, friends, home, things. I added this year the things I was grateful for things that I don't have: sickness, disease, poverty, debt, etc.

After all of the dishes were washed, dried, and put away, we did what we always do: Sit in the living room floor surrounded by the sale ads, and map our our plan of action for the next day. It seems every year we are waking earlier and earlier to seize the opportunity of sales. This year was no exception. Craig was up first, and headed to Walmart for the $130 Kitchenaid mixer to replace ours. Because there were only six mixers, and several greedy people, he did not push and shove to get one of those, but he and Bethani did get a GREAT bargain on one at Kohls. Tiffani and Jeremi went to Firewheel mall with Jason, (apparently Aldo was having an incredible sale) and I went to several stores that I can't mention (don't want to spoil any surprises).

God has truly been good to us this year, and we are so thankful.

The day after Thanksgiving, Homestead Heritage always has a huge craft festival, and this year was our second year to enjoy it. Click HERE for last year's experience. This year we enjoyed the various choirs, and the very skilled orchestra and craftsmen. Also, the kids handcrafted some Christmas gifts (shhh)and enjoyed some organic, (somewhat) healthy treats. The simplicity of the lives of those at Homestead Heritage is always enticing and inspiring. After hanging around them for a couple of days, we came home with a desire for greater godly character.

We stayed Friday night in an RV, and for Craig and I it was the first time since we had sold ours. What great memories and flashbacks that inspired. Some day...

Saturday night we were in our own beds, and Sunday morning we traveled to Gunbarrel City for church. We are true Texans now that we have been to Gunbarrel City. And, what an initiation some of us got! I won't go into all of the details except to say that it included two girls, four wheels, and a lake; a boy and a broken chain; a very windy day, mud, shivers, scratches, and bruises. (Don't worry Grammy and Nana, the only thing really hurt was a little pride.) (I don't know why, but they have invited us back for an Easter weekend that includes a tail, a mane, and four legs. I'll be sure to post about that.)

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Happy 17th Birthday Tiffani!!

noreply@blogger.com (Melisa) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:36:00 +0000

Nana and Papa flew in one week early to begin the celebration week. We ate at her favorite restaurant: Macaroni Grill. What a blessing to have family that is so involved in our lives!

What a great week she had. It started with her favorite: riding horses.
Everyone enjoyed themselves immensely. Even when the horses started running and it didn't look like they were going to stop. Even when the horses had them pressed against the barbed wire fence. Even when it was bumpy. Even when they got off and could hardly walk. Even when, one week later, ankles are battered and bleeding from the ride. They say, "It was worth it."

It is hard to buy surprises for a teenager, so she knew most of her presents.
We did manage to surprise her with a jacket that she had been drooling over. "The White Jacket"

The day after her birthday, Nana flew in again for a day of shopping and lunch at our favorite Japanese restaurant. What fun that was, just the girls. After we took her back to the airport, Tiffani and I finished up our shopping at Arlington Mills.

Well, she is 17 now. A beautiful 17! It seems to agree with her. Her spirit is as beautiful as she is, and I love her.

Bumper Crop of Tomatoes

noreply@blogger.com (Melisa) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 18:36:00 +0000

Just when we thought that the season was over, our tomato plants came to life! Thus far it seemed that it was a futile attempt, but they came through after all. Bethani has assumed the job of resident cherry tomato picker.