Hello :)

Hello Everyone!! A lot of water has went under the bridge since I posted last. First of all we had a wonderful Mother's Day!! I am so blessed to have such a wonderful Mommy. I know you all probably think yours is the best, but I like to say that mine is the best!! :)

As far as normal life, well that has changed. I was once the main caretakers with all the dogs that come and go, but you can't guess what happened. I am no longer that person. That's right.. After all those years of doing the dogs I am finally finding myself doing something else. Jenny, Joanna and of course the boys have taken over and are doing a great job. I know you are probably all wondering what I am up too. First of all our neighbors had a terrible tragedy. Our friend Ronnie passed away very suddenly. It was a surprise to everyone, cause they didn't know anything was wrong. I can't imagine the heart ache of losing a mother and I pray that I will never have to experience such a loss. Steve needed someone to come in and take care of his two boys (Logan 13 and Connor 10) while he is at work. Someone that could help them with their school, make meals and keep up with the house cleaning, laundry, etc.. So I now have a full time job, 4 to 5 days a week 8-10 hours, and am loving it!! It is only a half a mile out our drive way, so being so close to home is very convenient!! I am really enjoying the time with the boys and I try to make life a happy one for them. :) So if you wonder why I haven't posted in a while, you all will know why! :)

Grandpa and Grandma Strite surprised us by showing up yesterday. They haven't been out from Maryland since, well I don't even remember! So it is special having them here! Wednesday we are leaving for Jasper, Texas. Really looking forward to that!! Will miss my job though! :)

Well, I need to stop chatting and get some stuff done. I sewed two dresses for Joanna and I for the youth banquet at Jasper. I am going to try to get some pics and put them on here.

Hope you all have a great week! Talk to you when I get back from Texas! :) 

T-Shirt Tutorial

Hi Everyone! I am here to give you a quick tutorial on how to dress up a plain t-shirt. I am sure there are many other ways of doing this, but I tried this for the first time and it turned out to be really easy and cute!

I started out with a grey t-shirt size XL. Way too big, right? so I cut the sleeves off close at the seam. I'm sorry, I didn't get any pictures of this. Any way, I cut the sleeves off. Save them, you'll need them later. I then took one of my favorite t-shirts and laid it onto the XL t-shirt. I cut it out, leaving about an inch on both sides to give me plenty of seem allowance. ( it is better to end up with a shirt that is a bit big, then one that is two little. Big shirts can always be taken in!) :) This also includes cutting out at the arm holes. Now you have a shirt that is only connected at the shoulders and still has the hem and neck in it. Open it up so you are only working on the front. Print out your flower and then cut out a piece of your different color t-shirt fabric. Put the flower on the front and your material underneath. It should look like the picture above. Pinning helps to  keep it from stretching.

You then sew along the lines. Making sure you don't miss any. (as you can see above I sewed in my tail :))  Back tacking is needed at every corner. To get the paper off, I started cutting it.  A slow job. Jenny walks and a gives me the brilliant idea. Make it wet? Really, why hadn't I thought of that! So if you take a wet rag or sponge and press it on the paper till it is all wet. You can then carefully pull it off and you have the perfect outline of a flower!

Now to cut it out. Be very careful here. If you cut the underneath material, believe me, it won't make you very happy! :) Pull the top layer away from the bottom layer and cut into the middle. Work your way to the sides and slowly working your way around. Don't cut too close to your sewing.

This is my finished product.

What the back should look like.

Ready to sew it back up! I use a serger, but I am sure you could just use your sewing machine. Sew up your sides

. Now your ready to put the sleeves back on. This is a bit tricky. First take a seem ripper and open the seem where it connected to the shirt. Your arm holes are going to be a bit smaller now, so you will have to cut some off your sleeves. Measure the opening and then measure the top part of your sleeve. Cut off any extra at the seem. Now sew your sleeve back together and then pin it onto your t-shirt and sew.

Doesn't that look cool!? I am excited that it turned out so good. Hope you all have fun trying it. If you have any questions don't be afraid to ask! :)

Have a great week!

:)

Life is busy around here without Mom and Joanna. Did you here? I am an aunt again. Yes, I am and aunt to the most beautiful little girl, Kezia Grace Derksen. She was born on the 25 th of last month, so Mom, Joanna and Jubilee are up visiting her.

She is the sweetest little thing. I only wish that she wasn't all the way in Canada. It's hard to think that I haven't even met her yet! :( I am excited though, cuz Justin and I have both signed up for Canada camp. It will be the end of June and I plan to stay a week or so after camp. That way I can spend more time with Jessica and the baby. I have never been in Canada and am really looking forward to going!! :)

These are my little buddies. I keep them busy and they keep me busy!! For Easter them and the other little kids sang a special at church. It turned out really cute! Had a good Easter service, with a potluck following. I hope you all had a good Easter as well!! :)

Out of everyone this is the one I miss the most. I miss her smiles and her giggles. It's just not the same around here without her!! I will be glad when she gets back! :)

I just finished a t-shirt that turned out really cool. I am going to try to give you a bit of a tutorial of how to do it... We'll see how it turns out!

Have a great week!!

The Word of God Shall Stand Forever!!

The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.

Isaiah 40:8

One of my favorite verses!! Read this verse a hundred times, no make that a thousand! Read it all you like and it will never grow old. It has lasted for years and years, always standing through the thick and the thin. People have tried to prove it other wise, but were not able to do so. Why!? Because it is the Word of God. No matter what people do to try to change it or make it something different, it won't happen, it's impossible. It is like trying to take the moon out of the sky, or drain the ocean of its gallons of water. It is like trying to stop a tornado in its path, or to tell a fish to live on land. It just can't be done! Things shall come and go. Lives fade away while new ones are being born. There is a constant run of everything working together to make the world go round. How would the plants grow if there was no sun? Everything has a purpose, working together so that we can live. The Lord didn't just think up of something fast when he made you and me. He put much thought into us. He knew that us humans would cause him much grief, disown Him as the Father that He is to us. Yet He still created each and everyone of us. Why?! He wanted to have someone to talk to. A friend, so he created you and me and gave us every privilege that we could wish for and so much more!!! He gave us the Bible, His Word that will stand forever!! It shows us a exactly what we need to know to be able to stand strong in this dark age. A road map that shows us the way to Heaven. Still so many people get caught in the snare of the devil, making this world their home. If they only knew!! If we could somehow tell them before it is too late. This world is not our home, we are just passing through!! We must not look to the left neither to the right. We must be faithful till The Lord comes and takes us home! Oh my heart swells with in me when I think of that wonderful place where there will be no dying. A place that everyone loves each other and that we can call HOME!! I could go on forever. The late hours of the night are upon me, but I cannot sleep, so I lay awake thinking of all the many different things that can run through ones mind. The world is dying! There is nothing, and I say nothing that would keep me here. I long for only one thing, and that is to be with my Father again in heaven. We get so busy, but we must stop and take the time to thank The Lord for all the many things he had done for us. Like one quote goes "what if we woke up the next morning with only the things we remembered to thank the Lord for?" Remember to thank Him for the little things, not only the big things!! Whether it is just thanking Him for the air you have to breath, or that you woke up in perfect health. He does so much for us and we forget to thank Him for it! I must get off now, I fear I might be here till I see light on the horizon if I don't! I love you all and don't forget, God's Word never changes!! It is eternal and will be forever!! And one more thing, don't forget to thank Him for the little things. :)

Your blogger and friend.. :)

::my day::

What I did today...

I clipped a dog that I usually clip through the summer. Haven't seen him since last fall and he was in bad need of a cut.

I enjoyed listening to part of the Third Seal while clipping him... the advantages of having a brother that puts surround sound in the dog room!! :) This week Brother Joseph is having us listen to one Seal a day. So far I have been getting them all listened too! :)

This afternoon I took Irene to Benson to pick up a "few" things that she needed. We ended up in Walmart with a heaping cart of stuff that was nearly running over. I was glad of the free trip into town, cuz I needed to pick up some things as well. Got home and walked the dogs 1.5 miles.

So far that is what my day consisted of.. What did you all do today??

Containing Koda

Koda 6 weeks

As most of you probably already know, I got a German Shepherd puppy last march. I got him AKC registered, six weeks old and full.. I mean "full" of energy. At times I didn't think we would survive "puppy stage"!!

  I did thankfully and Koda is now a very big puppy. He still has lots of energy and needs to be contained while I am away and not there to keep an eye on him. We have lots of kennels, but that's not the problem. He has gotten too smart and learnt how to open gates or escape in some manner, so I decided to build him a pen.
A Pen large enough that I don't mind leaving him in when we go on vacation and tough enough that he can't escape. I went out back and found a pile of "old" lumber (which means the pen isn't straight at spots because of twisted lumber.) But it was free, so I made due and tried to over look that part. I went through the pile and picked out the lumber that wasn't too bad. Justin was nice enough plant all seven posts for me. I had help from a few smaller siblings at time too.

Ok... you'll have to over look the mess, cause when I build things, things lay everywhere. I am not very organized in that area. I had an idea how I wanted it and the one thing I wanted was his dog house to be off the ground. I had Justin put in three poles, so I could go ahead and start on that.

I got that finished and then he went ahead and put in the other posts. I don't have any wire to work with and the object is to build it for free (minus a couple things like, screws, saw blade, etc..). I didn't want to spend any money on fencing, so I...

... used more lumber!! :) Believe me.. it is time consuming, but I think it will keep him in. :) I hope :-/ More like it better keep him in!! He should appreciate all I am doing for him and with that thought he should be nice enough not to try to get out!! :)

I will post a picture once it is completed.

:: a year of silence ::

Hi Everyone!! I am back!!

They said the world was round, but I found out it was flat when I fell off the edge. :-/ jk lol I have one great excuse for not posting in a year, I was preoccupied with... work. That small 4 letter word that says so much. I know you guys probably don't even check my blog any more! I don't blame you for running away!! Just don't run too far, "WARNING" you might fall off too!! :)

So much has happened since I posted last that I hardly know where to begin. First of all I now have a iPhone 4s that I am really enjoying. The "blog app" makes it so easy for me to put a quick update on at times, so I am going to try to do a little bit better at keeping you all posted. :) Miss spellings and words that don't make sense?? Blame that all on my phone!! :) I am going to try my best, but my phone (which we are now going to call stubborn at the moment) has it's own mind and sometimes changes the word I put down into something that totally doesn't make sense, and If I am in a hurry I will look right over it not even notice it.

Well that's all for now... I don't know if I should start posting about the past or just forget that and start in the present. I think present might be better. :)

Have a great day!!

Your blogger - Joylin