Who am I kidding?

I am a TERRIBLE blogger!  I offer no excuse, because there really isn’t one.  I finally realized that I haven’t posted since JULY, ack.  And then I remembered that I pay just about $9 a month to have this blog.  Yup, you don’t need to be a math genius to figure out why I am posting.  LOL.  On that note, please let me know if you’re even interested in reading my ramblings, because I certainly don’t need to maintain this if I’m the only one who reads it!

So I’ll bet you’d like to know what’s been going on that has kept me so busy and unable to post…  Well, where do I begin.

Let’s go back to July… Vince left for Peru and and that’s where I left you all.  The kids got sick the day he left which made us stick around at home for a few days before heading to NJ.  We headed up and spent most of the time there getting ready for Joe and Brittany’s engagement party.  That was the week(s) that *cake* became a bad word, LOL (only kidding Britt).  They were very yum, you’ll have to just trust me… unless there are a few pieces still in their freezer.  I also turned *30* while I was up there.  It was sort of anti-climactic and a bit depressing.  Without my husband here to celebrate with me and being away from friends it was just sort of another day…  but that is an entirely different post.  Vince and the Peru team returned home safely on July 18th.  God led them through amazing work just as we expected.  Vince even preached while there!  Thank you so much to those of you that helped support the trip down there, both with prayer and financial support.  It really means a lot to our family. 

Andrew had a birthday too (and so did Vince).  It was great to watch him open and cherish each gift he received! 

August seemed to go by in a big blur!  We went down to Virginia for Noah’s first birthday at Uncle Doug’s home and had a great weekend visiting with Grandma and Grandpa from Ohio and Aunt Katie who was home from her summer in Chile before returning to school. 

We took another trip to VA to visit Grandpa and Grandma from Virginia for dip in their new pool before Evan’s very first day of Kindergarten!  The kids had a blast treasure hunting with the map and treasure finder(metal detector).

Yup, that’s right Evan is in SCHOOL!!!  August 27th we all saw him off on the school bus.  Francesca was a little upset and Andrew was excited (he knows his turn is next fall).  Unfortunately (for me) Andrew and Francesca like to spend a good part of the day arguing with each other.  Apparently, to our surprise, Evan was the peace keeper.  Who knew?!?!

I also received my invitation to Ravelry in August (I am Leimarie there)!!!  Um, yeah, it is sooooo cool!  If you’re not on the waiting list and you are involved in any sort of fiber craft, GET ON IT!  The husband and wife team that created the community really had a fantastic idea with this.

September saw the beginning of another MOPS year, YEAH!!!!  I am holding the position of Creative Activities Leader on the Steering Committee again and love it.  This year I have promised Vince that I would be a little more prepared and organized and not stay up all night the day before a meeting to be ready.  So far, I’ve kept my promise and things are actually very organized.  I’m hoping it spills over into the other areas of my life.  I am *trying* to encourage myself to get back to the FLYLady, but I really need a hard shove in her direction.  Together with my friend Amber I have started a late-night women’s Bible study on Thursdays.  We’re meeting at 9PM(!!) and studying Beth Moore’s Breaking Free.  INCREDIBLE!  That’s about all I can say about her teaching.  We had seven women at our first meeting and are prayerfully expecting at least two more!  God is so great.  Youth group(Phileo) also started up again this month and Vince has been more involved in teaching.  It is so amazing to witness the opportunities that God keeps bringing to him (and us as a couple).

A couple of weekends ago was the annual Stamp and Scrapbook show here in Westminster.  I went on Saturday and entered three of my stamped pins in their contest.  Two of them won(!) and I got a nice little amount of spending loot for the show (more about why that was really cool coming *wink*).

I also was invited to attend the Ladies Retreat through UBC (the church that charters our MOPS group).  It was the first time since high school that I had the opportunity to attend a retreat and it was incredible!  It was a lot to take in and I intend to blog more about it soon.  LOL, really I do!

The last big event of September was Fallfest.  The parade was Wednesday and my Mom and Laurie surprised the kids by driving down to watch, they even got to see them do a dance from VBS this year (oh, that was another July-August event)!  The vendor fair and carnival were held over the weekend and our family spent Sunday at our church-sponsored booth handing out bottles of water to the crowd.  Lots of fun!

My online business has been doing surprisingly well.  I was even hired by a local farm to dye up roving and top for a fiber show they’ll be attending.  At first it was cool that I could actually sell some things that I was creating, but now I am starting to see it as a gift from God.  It is one of the first chances I’ve really had to do something with the artistic talent He gave me and the training I’ve had trough school and working with Jennifer a while back, and all while really being at home with my family.  I’m really excited to see what other doors the Lord will open through this.

Looking for updated photos?  I have started using Flickr to showcase recent photos of my family, my knitting and fiber items, well, just about anything.  If you have a Yahoo ID you are all set to use Flickr.  Email me is you want to be added as a friend to gain access to the photos I haven’t set as public.  I will probably not be continuing to use the Photo a Day blog.  I may be starting one to keep people updated on CreativLEI Made happenings…

Well, there you have it, once again your all caught up.