God has provided our first Bible College miracle today.

We’ve been trying to sell our old van for a long time now, and today I got a call. “Is the van still for sale?” After I said yes, they said that the buyer would be by our house in the next 10 minutes or so. Wow!

Less than three hours after that phone call, the buyer had paid us and was back here to pick up the van.

What gets me the most is how God provided. The amount the van sold for is almost exactly what we needed to pay Stephen’s first tuition payment. God is SO GOOD! We weren’t sure where the money would come from, though we knew from experience that God would provide it. God’s timing is perfect!

We got an important letter in the mail today that we’ve been waiting for for quite a while. Stephen has been accepted to go back to Bible College. He answered God’s call to preach two summers ago, and he recently applied to go back to school. The acceptance letter came today.

I am really excited for him. He already has a Graduate of Practical Theology degree, but is planning on making it a Bachelor’s degree. I really don’t think it will take him long at all. My guess is about a year (I think it’s two more semesters but am not sure about that).

It’s a little intimidating to think about him being in school again. That probably has more to do with the fact that we’re in a different stage of life now than we were as full time on-campus students when we were in college 10 years ago.

But we’ve never been anywhere that God has led us where He hasn’t also provided for us. Where God guides, He provides. I’m curious to see how He works everything out, but I’m definitely excited.

Sam woke up early today because he was so excited about his birthday party. He woke up just early enough that Stephen and I were still in bed.

We decided to just lay there and see what Samuel would do when he thought we were still sleeping. He stood there for a while, and then got to his hands and knees and crawled over to the foot of the bed. Stephen and I both sat up and shouted “Boo!” at the same time.

The look on Samuel’s face was absolutely priceless. He was trying so hard not to laugh that we were laughing at him.

At that moment I realized that when I shouted, it had scared the baby in my womb. The baby had curled up into a tight little ball right at the front where it was easy to feel from the outside. I felt a little bad that we’d startled the baby, but it was neat that Stephen was able to feel the baby for the first time. What was also neat was that I was able to actually feel the baby relax after a moment too. It just amazes me how God has created life. I’m just shy of being halfway through this pregnancy (I’m just about 18 weeks now), yet the baby is developed enough to be able to hear and be startled. Wow.

Things have been so busy around here, but it’s been the good kind of busy.

Our Samuel turns 5 this Sunday. I absolutely cannot believe time has flown that quickly. It honestly seems like days ago that we got the call – “Are you ready, because I’m in labor!” (If you want to read our adoption story, click the Adoption link over in the sidebar).

We planned a squirt gun birthday party for him, and it is tomorrow. I’m not sure how many kids to expect, but it should be a lot of fun.

Then Sunday is his big day. It’s a busy day for us – besides having church services, there is a memorial service that afternoon as well. We’re planning to take Samuel to McDonald’s or something for lunch though – just to break the day up a little. We live just far enough from church that there won’t be time to come home in between services.

Then after we finally do get home, we will most likely walk into a house with three extra people in it. :O) My parents and grandmother are travelling down from Michigan and should be to our house sometime before we get home.

They’ll be here for a week (YAY!), and then we’ll go back to our normal schedule, whatever that is.

I’m hoping to be able to post pictures, but we’ll see how busy things get!

Today I needed bread for tonight’s French toast, so I threw the ingredients into the bread machine to mix. I baked it in the oven instead of the bread machine, but was thrilled with the results. It was so light and fluffy – not something I’m used to with this much wheat flour in it. I’ve only tried this combination of ingredients once, but I’ll be playing with it more, that’s for sure.

Bread machine wheat bread

9 oz warm water
2 Tbsp soft butter
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar
1 heaping Tbsp vital wheat gluten
2 cups wheat flour
1 cup white flour
1 Tbsp yeast

Combine ingredients in bread machine pan in order instructed by your manufacturer. When dough is finished mixing, remove from pan, shape into a loaf, and put in greased loaf pan. Let rise until about an inch above the pan sides.

Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes (I lost track of time this time – I usually set the timer but forgot today).

I’ve been searching for the perfect bread recipe – one that uses no white flour but that is still light and soft. I know this still has some white flour in it, but it’s progress.

Sunday – chicken and pasta with alfredo sauce, broccoli blend
Monday – French toast, eggs
Tuesday – chicken parmesan, green beans
Wednesday – broccoli cheese soup, whole wheat rolls
Thursday – chicken and dumplings, green beans
Friday – homemade pizza
Saturday – ham stromboli. Sam’s birthday party is that afternoon so the easier the lunch, the better

Breakfasts – cereal, eggs, oatmeal, muffins, grits, biscuits

Lunches – leftovers, egg salad sandwiches, chicken salad sandwiches, macaroni and cheese, etc.

You can read more menu plans over at Organizing Junkie.

Angie asked:

Can I ask how you altered the neckline? I have a similar pattern that I find the neckline too low on, which is the only thing holding me back from making it up. I am a novice sewer so I don’t know where to begin to alter a pattern.

What I do is pretty straightforward. I’ve only ever tried this on a pattern that has one solid piece for the bodice front. Lay the pattern piece out on the fold, but instead of cutting directly along the neckline, follow the curve of the pattern edge and cut a bit above it. I cut the neckline on the last dress I made about an inch and a half higher.

The blue line in the diagram is where you would cut instead of cutting along the top of the pattern piece.

Make sure you follow the curve of the neckline though. If your cut starts too high up on the fold, you could end up with a slight point in the middle of your neckline.

You also may need to try the piece on and adjust the new neckline. On the red dress I just made, I actually cut the neckline too high and had to cut it back down a little. It looked fine, but felt like it was choking me so I lowered it a half inch or so. ;O)

If your dress has a facing or bodice lining, you’ll need to alter that neckline too, or else your pieces won’t match. Can you tell I’ve done that before?

Hope this helped some, Angie! Happy sewing!

Recently I made a new dress, and kept forgetting to have Stephen take pictures of it. I wore it on Sunday and Stephen was kind enough to take a couple of shots of it.

The pattern is McCALLS M4398 – the same pattern I used for this dress. It seems that it’s out of print now, but I absolutely love it. I’ve sewn two dresses from the pattern so far, and bought more fabric yesterday for another. It is by far the most comfortable dress I own. There were a few alterations – lengthening the bodice and hem, raising the neckline a bit, and changing the shoulder seam angle to fit better. It sounds like a lot, but for the most part they really were simple alterations. It was the first time I tried changing the bodice or shoulders, and it turned out really well.

What I do like is this sweet picture of Samuel and I. He wanted so badly to be in the pictures, and this one turned out great.

Since they’re my kids, I can say they’re beautiful if I want, right? Either way, they’re precious.

Candy. Toys. New clothes. Bunnies. More candy. Chicks. Flowers. Eggs. Even more candy. Easter.

Just what has our Easter celebration become? I’m starting to think that the general public believes that Easter is nothing more than a week off school, and a chance to get a bunch of candy, new clothes, and maybe some toys too.

How has Easter become so distorted?

The boys and I were out at Walmart the other day picking up a few things when we walked down the candy aisle. The place was a madhouse. A little old lady started chatting with us since we were kind of bottlenecked near where she was trying to find the toilet paper she wanted.

She asked Samuel if he was ready for the Easter bunny to come. He just looked at her. I realized at that moment that he had no idea what she was talking about. It’s not what this holiday is about.

This holiday is about Jesus Christ – a man who was more than just a man who came to change history. A man who was fully God and fully man. A man who was born to die. A man who would choose to die, just so that I would have the opportunity to choose Him or reject him and make that decision myself. But best of all – the Son of God who didn’t stay dead!!!!

As I’ve been preparing to teach the six- and seven-year-old kids in my Sunday School class the resurrection story, I’ve been more and more amazed that God would go to such lengths just to bring me to himself. Reading the passages in the Bible over and over. . .meditating. . .and trying to figure out how to best teach those children at their level. And then. . .teaching the same thing to my four-year-old son at home. It amazes me. The absolute gravity of it all.

Yet somehow we still manage to lose sight of why our God would even send His Son. On a regular basis, even. I’ll be honest here – I know I do. But the more I study right now, the more I realize that it’s something I should be remembering much more often.

I could probably go on and on about everything God has been laying on my heart lately, but for now I’ll just close. It’s getting late, and I’ve learned that Sundays don’t go as well if I stay up too late Saturday night. So off to bed I go – and I am certainly looking forward to tomorrow’s services. I pray that God’s presence will be very real – and that we all remember why Easter is such a big deal in the first place.

Happy Resurrection Sunday – He is Risen!!!