New pillowcase dresses to wear to the family reunion took about twenty minutes including the time it took to heat the glue gun for matching hairbows. Yay! Annie is so glad she’s not to big for a pillowcase dress. Double YAY!  These vintage pillowcases have been around a long time. I don’t remember where I got them but they had definitly been loved by previous owners, judging by the dingy spots. A soak in Biz and they were good as new.

Now. What will Josiah wear?

Two years ago, today, he woke up Marcus and went to bed our Josiah. Forever.

I wonder if this would look O.k. longer? Probably not…

Pros-

that room is already my favorite color & houses my favorite things.

my sewing stuff is currently stored in the closet, the dresser and under the bed.

it’s not my bedroom.

it’s not a damp basement.

The lock on the door.

Cons-

no more guest room.

no window.

Pros win & I can’t wait til I feel good enough to start moving in.

Now that I have actually broken my blog fast, I should probably tell you about my daughter getting married and get Josiah into my header. Baby steps.

A news video from the coast. I especially liked all the cute kids in personhood shirts.

I have ten children.

One of them is getting married.

One is in a courtship.

One of them is Josiah. Enough said.

Somebody remind me why we do this courtship thing. It must be so much easier to hand them car keys and let them go

Personhood. 15 more days of signature collecting.

I don’t think I like cell phones.

The 150 or so yards of lace are taking form. Wow. My small darlings look like they stepped out of an old painting. My big darling does too. Or a big fluffy, silken cupcake. I can’t decide. Wasn’t it yesterday that I was adorning her smocked yokes with silk ribbon embroidery? And now it’s her wedding gown.

Sunrise, sunset.

One thing I have been encouraging Emily about lately (and anyone else who might be considering marriage) is the necessity to NOT talk everything out with someone. I think the most common person young people would run to is Mom, and I’m not just talking about girls here- boys do this too. Sometimes you just want someone to talk things out with and, lets be honest here, we Moms are more than willing to listen to anything you will tell us. Not just listen- we are glad to tell you what to do & think and while we’re at it how bout we tell you what all is wrong with the other person (and right with you)? How’s that appeal to your flesh? Great. Except when we do this we are sowing seeds of destruction in our childrens marriages (or almost marriages)

*BUT if any young man might need to know this, ya know, in the future or something. If you need help understanding women (and you will) go to a man- preferably your Dad. He’s probably been married to a woman for a long time. I realize I’m shooting us Moms in the foot here, I want to hear the good stuff. But, I guess I have to admit- if you get all your advice about women from a woman (even Mom) you will learn to relate to a woman like a woman. Not good. No.

Sooo. Back to me. What do I need for today? When I was going over my Titus 2 arsenal in my mind and trying to decide who’s day I was going to disrupt- the Lord brought this to my mind and a quietness to my spirit.

What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.

Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged; take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness; take it to the Lord in prayer.

Are we weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge, take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do your friends despise, forsake you? Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In His arms He’ll take and shield you; you will find a solace there.

Jesus Christ died so I could come boldly to the Father as a beloved child why would I try to carry any burden myself? Because I am weak and foolish but He is strong and mighty to save. He will uphold me with His mighty right arm.

We are praying for peace and comfort for this young mother. She is about the same age as Emily & when I contrast their lives it breaks my heart. I can’t begin to imagine.

What’s a profile book? it is a scrapbook of sorts. There are pictures and a letter to the mother. It is intended to tell her about our family in snapshot form. I don’t really like the system but it is way better than how things used to be. She will also get a series of questions we answered about how we live and what we believe about just about everything and another series of questions specifically about trans-racial adoption. This baby is bi-racial.

I am told these books are very important to the mothers. We provide the agency with two so one can be given to the mother that chooses us & one can be kept on file. When Josiah’s birthmother went before the judge to terminate her parental rights she carried a dog-eared much used copy of our profile book with her. She rolled it up and held tightly onto it as she relinquished her baby forever…

More about DIA to come.