Had to share...

Hello friends...Friends, I say that from the bottom of my heart. When I started blogging I never dreamed that I would meet so many special people and make so many new friends. I have enjoyed the swaps, the visits to your blogs and also when you visit and comment on my blog.

As I have shared with you my family is going through a very rough time right now. My only sister is battling terminal brain cancer. It is really tough trying to help out with her and yet keep making special memories. We are very close because we are only 13 months apart in age, are both single and both live in the same town. We are more than sisters, we are best friends.

Anyway this week I went to my mailbox and got a card the really touched my heart. It was a card from Danice (Homespun Hannah's) It said how she was keeping my sister and family in her prayers  and it also included a very uplifting bookmark.

It just really touched my heart that someone I just know from blogging took the time to do something so special! Thank you so very much Danice! May God Bless you!

A little autumn decor....

Well my thoughts are slowly turning towards Christmas decorating so I thought before I do that I would share with you some of my fall decor. I don't have a lot and I surely don't take good pictures but I love my little place and slowly but surely I am making it better each year. 

We have been having great weather and so far I haven't had to turn on my electric heat...just use my little heater in the living room...helps the electric bill a lot. Enjoy the rest of your Autumn!

Harvest Swap .

Hello everyone. Thank you to those of you that commented about my sister. It has been a road of lots of ups and downs. We don't know how long she has so on her good days we try to celebrate and enjoy each moment and on her not so good days we just try to be there to make her feel better and not alone. It can get to be very emotional.

I participated in Amy's Harvest Swap. It was perfect timing to take my mind off of things for a bit. Although this is one of my favorite things to do I think this will be the last one for a bit because I just never know when I can get to the stores, do crafts and get things mailed on time...that saddens me because you all know the ornament and Christmas ones were my favorite. For my last swap I had a great partner...Allison form Sew Many Girls. Here is all the fun things she gave me

 Everything was so cute and it was fun getting spoiled. Thanks so much Allison!

Hopefully I will be back soon to share some of my decorating...who knows. Happy fall everyone!

Where I have been....

Hello blogging friends...it has been so long since I have been here. It seems pretty appropriate that I last had a post in April because on April 19th life in my family truly changed. My sister was in the hospital for some tests that we thought were related to her MS. On the 19th my mom, dad and I went to see her in the hospital and the neurology team came in with the news that she had a brain tumor. Not only a tumor but a stage 4 glioblastoma tumor which is fatal. She was given the options and she chose to have surgery, radiation and chemo. With this option she was given 12-18 months. Wow what a blow. It hurt so bad. She got out of the hospital and went home to my mom and dad's house. That weekend the whole family came to offer support, to cry together and to laugh together and it was great. On the 29th she had surgery, recovered, had 6 weeks of radiation and chemo, had some time off and now has started on another round of chemo.

It has really changed a lot in my life. I was always the one with health problems. 5 years ago I was in the hospital for 7 months, in a coma and had to learn to walk again and get to where I could be independent. Through a lot of hard work I made it back to where I could live alone but I am still disabled. My sister was always there for me. She was the strong one, she was the one I could turn to for help, she was there to help me through so many obstacles.

Now the tables have turned. She is very unstable and the site in her left eye is very bad because of where the tumor was. She cannot drive and she still has not moved home. My mom and dad are both 80 years old and although they are in good health this has taken a toll on them too. I try to be there for all of them. For for 4 and a half months I was there almost every day. I have cut it down a bit now but I still go out for a few hours every other day.

I think the hardest thing is knowing that it isn't IF the tumor will come back but when....it isn't trying to cure her cancer but giving her the best quality of life we can.

All prayers and good thoughts are appreciated. I just needed to et you all know what was going on.

Be blessed and hug those you love everyday and tell them you love them.

Spring Swap

Hello everyone...is it springlike where are? Here in Minnesota we are still holding onto winterlike weather but "they" said by the end of this week it should feel like spring...I can't wait. I just need some nice warm sunny days that I can open the windows and get outside.

OK now on to the important things. I took part in Amy's (Bumblebee Lane) Spring Tidings swap. I was paired with the VERY talented Sandi (The Primitive Skate). My camera isn't working the best so the picture isn't that great but here is what I received:

A darling no face primitive doll dressed in a darling dress. I got a neat primitive towel, seeds, a hanging spring sign, a bee skemp welcome sign painted on an old album and oh so cute primitive eggs.

Thank you so much Sandi and thanks Amy for another great swap!

Think spring everyone...it may get here someday!

Where does the time go???

Wow it has been so long since I have done a post...you know sometimes life just gets in the way and then even though I am busy it doesn't seem like I have anything to write about. I have been busy babysitting my nephew. He turned three on Feb 18th. I am amazed at how much their little brains learn in such a short amount of time. A couple of Isaiah's birthday. I love how he is keeping his eyes on big brother Ivan lighting the candles...actually waiting to blow them out I think!

 Big brother Ian got home from his speech competition...he looked so nice!

We had a small Easter celebration but thanks to my sister and my mom the table was full of many good things.

Isaiah's favorite gifts were his bunny ears which he is still wearing now and then and his new color book and crayons.

I think that is all I have to share right now. Hopefully I will be able to get here a bit more regular but I am not making any promises! Happy spring to everyone...hopefully it will start feeling like it in Minnesota soon!

                           

A thank you and some love

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you my dear blogging friends! I pray that your day was filled with loads of love! Valentine's Day is pretty low key for me. I did get a beautiful plant from my parents and I did a little decorating that I thought I would share.

I was very blessed to receive a little package in the mail this week. It was from Angela from Thru Nana's Window. She had made a post showing the dishclothes that she crocheted. I told her how they remind me of my godmother. She used to make them all of the time but now she has alzheimers and I sadly don't have any. Well sweet Angela sent two of them to me. I will use one because they are great dishclothes and I don't have a dishwasher but the other I will keep to remind me of my dear sweet godmother. 

Thank you so very much Angela. You have no idea how special this was to me. I love the wraps too. I am just amazed how wonderful the blogging community is that someone would actually do this for me warms my heart. I really do not have friends in the "outside" world so to have someone do something nice like this for me means so much! That made my love cup full to the brim! Thanks again Angela!

Talk to all of you soon!

Word for 2016

 That is going to be my one little word I am going to be working on throughout this year. I am mainly focusing on the 2nd definition...have faith...I am going to work on my faith every day. I am going to walk closer to my God and learn more about Him. I am going to learn to trust more in my faith.
Confidence...this is a hard one for me, I need to be more confident in who I am, what I can do and who I can become. I need confidence to make changes and try new things.Oh yes confidence is a biggie

And then to have trust. I need to trust in myself, I need to trust in the process and I need more trust in my God. I need to trust that failure is ok but not trying is not. I need to trust that I CAN!

 It is a lot to work on and it will take me more than this year but it is a start and that is the first step.

One Last Look....

Happy New Year to you! It is hard to believe that another year has gone by...they go so fast! I haven't had time yet to think about my word for this year but that is one thing I will be doing this weekend.

Another thing I am doing this weekend is putting away all of my Christmas things. I forgot to share what I had put out so I thought I would do that before everything got boxed up again for another 11 months.

I will leave out my snowmen and winter things and I love that...I really enjoy my tree so much and am the saddest to see it go.

Have a great 2016 everyone and may it be filled with much love and many blessings!