2008 Going Great

Man we are off to a great start for 2008. Each year Paul and I set out goals that we want to accomplish for the year - financial, personal, spiritual and homefront. So far we have spent the last 3 weekends (the first 3 in 08) working on the homefront goals. Usually that's the set of goals which we never complete. We've worked on the other goals too it's just the homefront never gets done. Anyway below are the pictures of what we've done thus far.

Goal: To claim our land. Only 2/3 of our land was cleared when building our house. The remaining portion was left wooded. Somewhere at the back of our lot was our creek. Not a big one but a creek nonetheless. This was a 2007 goal never accomplished. We only made a path in 07. This year we've spent 2 Saturdays clearing land and one Saturday I spent 7 hours burning all that we cleared. We had a blast. Of course I have to thank my wonderful husband for building me my fire pit. Not sure how many women out there want a fire pit but I was one of them.

Before pictures

After pictures

My Firepit

Our Creek that we cleaned

Today's project was to get rid of the popcorn ceiling in our master bedroom. We were expecting snow and sleet so we thought it was a good inside project. We expected it to take 2 days but got the whole thing done in 1. Way to go Jenkins family.

Before pictures

After pictures

Please pray!!

I'm asking everyone to please pray for this family that we've never met. In some ways Paul and I feel so connected to them in what they are going through b/c of what we went through with Judah.

The short story [copied from other blogs] is Tricia was born w/Cystic Fibrosis & has spent her life in & out of hospitals. Lately she's gotten worse and needed to be placed on the double lung transplant list. Instead Tricia and Nate find themselves pregnant and chose not to abort but to put their trust in God (sound familiar anyone). Anyway, Tricia ended up having her daughter at 24 weeks (I think). This family needs our prayer for Tricia, the mom, so she can get better and have her lung transplant and Gwyneth, the daugther, b/c she's a premie. Check out Nate's websit for details. CFHusband.Blogspot.Com

The Quilt/Comforter is Done!!!!!

Hooray the comforter is done! Last Saturday Brandy helped me bind what I thought was a quilt but understood later to be a comforter. I apparantly had WAY too much batting to qualify it to be a quilt. We spent lots of hours trying to fit my "quilt" slash comforter under Brandy's awesome sewing machine (I'm so jealous of her machine). Anyway, Rebekah loves the end result. Below is the work in progress and the finished product. Please ignore the hair as it was a long day for Brandy and I. A big thanks to Dana and Brandy for their time, advice and help.

The Leaves have Fallen

We waited forever for the weather to change and the leaves to drop. Finally the day came where it was time...... to JUMP in the leaves that Daddy raked.














In the end Mommy and Daddy all jumped in the leaves together.

Christmas came early for the Jenkins

Well Christmas came early at our house. The kittens came home today. They are now ours to keep. Judah and Rebekah were even counting the days down until they arrived. Look how cute they are.

The first picture is Anastasia. The second and third are of Ariel. Yes we did have one named Hercules but he died so we adopted Ariel instead.

The Quilt is going

I know you guys have all been waiting to see how I'm doing on Rebekah's quilt so here goes. I know I'm behind due to work deadlines but I've made HUGE progress this weekend. Here is a picture of the first row and another one of the first 4 rows - not too bad. Only 1 more row to go and then sew the rows together.

Trick or Treat

It's that time of year again, and while Judah was a little under the weather before the main event, he pulled it together in time to grab some loot.

State Fair

Of course it's that time of year again - the State Fair. This was a fun year for me (Angela) b/c Judah wanted to ride ALL the fun and scary rides. In fact we had to hold him back on a few that I thought would scare him. Our daredevil of a child named Rebekah turned out to be the one afraid. Wonder where she gets that from hmmmmmm. Here are some of our pictures.

Happy Faces

You know you have too much time on your hands when you set the camera's timer and start making faces. Here are a few we did. And yes Rebekah is wearing goggles, what's a mom to do?

Say CHEESE face............................ HAPPY face

My FIRST BIG sewing project

Okay I've looked everywhere for 2 months for a pretty girlie bedset for Rebekah that matches her crazy wall but I have not found one anywhere. SOOOO someone told me to just to make my own. WOW what a task that will be for me. I've sewn before but nothing that required precision which makes me nervous. I plan on posting as I go so all can join me in this process haha. Enclosed is a picture of Rebekah's wall and a picture of her fabrics.

MOPS Day!

If you are a mother of preschoolers and are looking for an activity for you and the kids MOPS is the way to go. I just LOVE my MOPS group. I was new to the area and a new mother but had no idea how to meet other moms. I tried the library, McDonald's and other places but it just wasn't working. Someone introduced me to MOPS and aaahhhh I feel at home. Finally other women that share my interests, great meeting w/o kids (always refreshing) and those darn crafts that I'm just not good at but love trying. Well here's my craft for this month and FINALLY after 2 years we find a craft that I can actually do. The topic this month was gardening with your children and our craft was to make a gardener's toolbelt.

Look what the kids are getting for Christmas!!!

Shhhh it's a secret (or maybe not) but the kids are getting kittens for Christmas. We've talked them OUT of the dogs. Not because I don't like them (actually I prefer dogs) but because I simply cannot potty train one more thing or I'll lose my mind. SO we chose an animal with the LOWEST possible maintenance thus a cat. Growing up we had every kind of animal in the world at one point or another (thanks bro) so I'm familiar with who requires what maintenance. The cats names are Anastasia and Hercules (can anyone guess what movies we watch). The solid grey one is Anastasia and the grey and white is Hercules. They are only 4 days old in the picture and will come home the first part of December. More pictures coming then.

A Trip to the Pinnacle

At the end of summer, our little family set off on our first ever camping trip, tent, camp fire, and all. For our destination, we chose Pilot Mountain. Someone promised her son that we'd go camping in the mountains in the Fall, and Judah never, ever forgot that. So, Pilot Mountain is at least A mountain, and that would suffice.

It turned out to be a great trip. We did a little hiking around the pinnacle and on a couple of trails, and we even managed to sleep fairly well while there.