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Our family goes to the mall on family days sometimes. We have exhausted the Disney Store of all things Mickey and Minnie. We usually end our monthly trip to California Pizza Kitchen. D could not stop hugging Mike. She was cracking us up.
Our favorite server, Ashley Choneginhiemer wasn't working because it's her birthday or something. Happy birthday Ashley!

• I should clean up my links on this blog. I know that some don't exist anymore.

• Everyone I know likes baked beans. They have always been disgusting to me. I wonder if this recipe would change my mind.

• We recently watched Freaks and Geeks and I think it is one of my favorite shows of all time. Except I kept relating to the parents more than the teenagers. Yikes old lady Cosper.

• In a conversation with Mike I kept saying Tyler Perry meaning Tyler Florence.

• Anyway I was talking about it because I always want to like coleslaw because Mike loves it, but I can't discuss the issues that broccoli and cabbage have with my digestive system. It wouldn't be lady like. So I LOVE butternut squash and Tyler (the chef, not Madea) has a butternut squash coleslaw. We are getting ready to make it for lunch right now. Mmm.

• Speaking of fall recipes, Tera has some here. Yum.

• I have been making crepe paper roses for the last week for my parents 40th anniversary party. The first one took me about 15 minutes to make, but I can make them in about 2 minutes after all this practice. I love this kind of stuff, but finishing over 30 so far...it might be a long time before I craft with paper again.

Little Miss Dorothy Jean, 7 months old (March '08) in my old dress.

We have been looking at a lot of pictures of old Dorothy. I have not taken many of her at all in the last few months, other than with Mike's iphone. I have torn the place apart for our camera and have every piece EXCEPT the battery charger and extra battery. This explains that when I DO post photos they are either fuzzy (from Mike's phone) OR they are old ones of D. This time: a photo of Dorothy a year ago this month. One of my favorites ever. I can't wait to get our awesome camera up and running so you can see her curls and compare her to that bald head a year ago!

Five weeks from yesterday marks the day of our scheduled c-section...April 21st. Yahoo!

We have been busy with spring cleaning, rearranging the house, our church/Mike's job, raising a 1 1/2 year old, a new nephew (Samuel Joseph Cosper), catching up with old friends, loving on our families and much more.

God bless you all.

Just wanted to tell you that I am ever so grateful for my parents and Mike's parents. Not because of the endless gifts and service they give us, but because of who they are and the fact that they raised Mike and I to know and love Christ and that they stayed together enduring good and bad and showing that marriages can last even in this day in age. I say all this as my Father in law, John had surgery on his leg today. Praise the LORD, all seems to be fine. I am so blessed to have these four in my life.

On a much lighter note, you must check out this post our best friend Lachlan wrote about Mike: The Curious Case of Lachlan Coffey.

Tera tagged me...I was supposed to go to my 6th folder and get my 6th picture, but I just picked the 6th picture on my desktop. This is Miss D at the 930 this month. I would like this piece of art, from Lost Love in D's room.

Update:

• I have a tentative c-section date of April 21st!
• That is 10 weeks away!
• Mike,Neil, and the Sojourn worship team have almost finished their next CD!
• Mike is the co-founder of the Open Sourcebook, an free online liturgical resource for churches. It just launched this month.
• Sojourn has some GREAT new web blogs and resources. Check out TravelBlog. (SO THANKFUL FOR BOBBY GILLES WHO MAINTAINS THIS)
  
• Dorothy had her half birthday this week, that means she is 1 1/2!
• D talks in sentences as of this week. Some of them make NO sense and the other half are clear as day "I don't want noodles mama." "Read stories mama?" "Thank Jesus for cheeseburgers" Mike and I just look at each other shocked. I prompted her to thank to say thank you and she said "Thank you Mike" then started laughing, because she used his first name. She continues to call Mike's parents "Nana and Papa" And has labeled my mother "Sue-sue" and my dad..."Gamp-pa Sue-sue". I am not sure how he feels about that.
  
• We are sill dealing with so much crappy health...We all had colds and for Mike and Dorothy it developed into bronchitis...Mike's back, my arthritis. We just continually have to do life our own way. I have had to step back from a lot of expectations that others have on me and that I have put on myself. It is hard, but it is so nice to remind myself I am putting God first and then my family. And that is all that matters right now.
  

I am still here!

Hello! I hope you still check this blog! I am back. Probably not every day, but I hopefully can post a bit more than I have been.

I haven't had morning sickness in three days! I am 14 and 1/2 weeks along I have been sick for almost 8 1/2 weeks. I am hopefully on the mend. A lot of you have asked and I was not this sick with my first pregnancy. Maybe 3 times total that time. I have lost count this time. No two pregnancies are alike, I hear.

We took Dorothy to hear the heartbeat of her baby brother or sister last week. She charmed all the nurses and doctors and played with all the things she shouldn't and had no idea why we were even there. BUT! I think we got through the appointment much quicker than normal because of her presence. Not that I am ever taking a one year old to the doctor again, unless it's for her. The above picture is her running the hallway as I made the first payment on our second kid :) Just as we pay off the first kid we start paying for another- It is certainly worth it though!


Oh and I found this funny picture of D. This was on her way to meet Ruby Laffin for the first time. I love that she is waving at 6 weeks (well accidentally waving) and that she still is working on the eye control, and she is so rolly-polly.

Please pray for me if you can. Just as I am doing better with the morning sickness I have had two flair ups with my RA. I pulled my shoulder last week, the worst it been in about about two years. Then this weekend as I geared up to sew, I had a flair up in both wrists, again something I haven't had happen since before Dorothy. Not exactly a good thing for a lady trying to sew for a little business. Well enough typing on these hands for now. Love to all, near and far.

Have I ever sent you over to Sojourn Music? It is fantabulous. Our friend Bobby (who I think lurks on this blog but never ever comments) runs it and I just wanted to give him and the site big applause. He works with my man, Mike and all the worship team at Sojourn to provide updates and info on "all-of-life worship". Here is one of my favorite posts, written today.

Oh and here is a picture of Bobby holding newborn Dorothy a year ago, maybe that will bring him out of lurking! Ha!

That's the ladybug dress I made her! I'll post a bigger picture of it later.

Well she is one now. I packed up the bottles and she's drinking whole milk. She stands up so much more often, and by choice too! Getting so big...sniff.

We had a joint party with our dearest friends and partners in ministry, the Montgomerys.
Levi was one on Tuesday and Dorothy was one on Saturday.

Mandy was so much fun to throw the party with. What a blessing she has been to me over the last nine years but especially the last year as a mom! We chose a Bumblebee/Ladybug party and she drew stripes and dots on all the balloons! That was one of my favorite details!

More pictures to come! Thanks to my Father-in-law, John who took these photos. I have a couple hundred to go through before I post more!

I had another post planned today, but the rain changed my mind. It's not often I truly enjoy rain anymore. I use to love it. Often times now it comes with aches and pains, you know my arthritis...But today it's nice and relaxing.
I have good memories of the rain.

• I remember splashing in puddles with my brother, Matt as we yelled "Singing in the rain, Just singing in the rain". I imagine I was about 5th grade so he was probably 11th. He always did great fun things like that. He was "cool" but never to cool to have fun.
• I also liked taking naps in my mom and dad's family/TV room. With the couch next to the window and the rain coming down. It was the perfect sound and darkness to take a nap. Ohh...I still love their/my home. When we go there and we are on a time crunch I get sucked into a time warp and we usually leave a few hours after we were supposed to. I have been really thinking about my childhood home and thinking how I can recreate that comfort in our new house (keeping it clean would probably be a start)!
• Another memory of rain is my green raincoat. During my BIG thrifting phase in high school I bought it at "Unique" with Carrie. It is one of those old school ones lined in blue with strawberries on the inside. I've had it at lease 12 years now. It was probably 1o years old when I got it! That rain gear reminds me of my high school days...as I prepare for my ten year reunion next week! I wonder if I am too old to be wearing a bright green vintage rain coat. Please tell me if I am.
• A newer memory of rain is not the aches and pains that it can bring, but the great sound it makes on our sky light. Did you know we have a great sky light? It is one of the many favorite things about this little house Mike found for us. I hope the sound of the rain on it is a comfort and sweet memory for Dorothy and any other kids we have some day.

What do you love about the rain?




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A look back at Dorothy's first year:

Now this is just ridiculous! This is her "Harvest Homecoming" outfit. And yes that is a poncho she is wearing. After all every kid that is of Floyd County descent must have a Harvest Homecoming outfit. I think I've already got this year's picked out :)

Just the other day I was telling a friend about my "planner". It is a big ole system I use to try to stay organized. I'll explain it someday. In the meantime, I was telling her that the teacher in me wants to plan teaching Dorothy. Writing down for the month ahead things I want to work on. I can easily set myself up for failure so I am simply just making a list of 5 or 6 things to think about each month or every couple of weeks. I know many people are strongly for or against homeschooling. That is not what I am even what I getting to (my sister in law does it and does it beautifully, by the way). I am talking about how we are our kids first teachers. They learn so much from us whether we mean for them to or not. One of my favorite professors in el. ed. always talked about, "We are always teaching". I just want to be more intentionally about it.

For example. A car in front of us almost caused a wreck and I yelled a "word" and my 11 month old yelled it back. Repeated it. I was teaching her at the moment whether I meant to or not. And when Mike and I raise our voices or yell (yes we do!). She follows suit and raises her voice and yells. We can become so numb to the tone of our communication, but having Dorothy has reminded me of the harsh tones and sarcasm I use ALL the time.

Because of this I have been meditating on James 1:19

Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.

It has been very humbling and taught us to be mindful of what our words and actions are communicating to her.

So here are some of the goals I am thinking about as she turns one:

• Talking calmly and using only words that I don't mind my own kid saying
• Labeling items, "This is your sock, it goes on your foot"
  
• Model counting in every day activities
• Continue working on walking and other gross motor skills using this book
• Model prayer time
• Talk to her about Jesus and tell her simple bible stories about him

And our look back on D's first year for today!

This is on her quilt from her Great Aunt Jean (whose name is Dorothy Jeanette!) I love the skirt and those socks. Oh my sweet girl... I remember this day so vividly. This was the night we got to see Miss Ruby Laffin for the first time. Ruby was so small and Dorothy was SO big for her age. Now they are pretty close in size. We love you Laffins and Faiths!

Mike, me, Dorothy, Brian, Jack, Jolie, Arlen, and Mae

We visited our friends the Holtons this weekend. It was one of those days where you are gone for 12 hours but it feels like a whole week vacations. They have an amazing house from the late 1800s that the gutted and redid. Beautiful! Also they are partners in the farm where we get our chickens from. Mike got to see the humane and healthy chicken farm but I opted out. I can't connect my meat to animal. Even if it is organic and free range.

Anyway they are such good friends...so hospitable, so easy going. It was a blessing.

Today is one of those days where I had my whole list made and ready for a productive day.
and. I. am. not. doing. it.
I think I have shared before that rain can suck the life out of me with my RA. It's the humidity and pressure I think. So it has been a while since I have really chilled out, but I am enjoying it so much.

Oh and for those of you that I went to high school with!!! Rosie is having her baby soon! Hopefully today!

YIKES!!!

This is what it looks like when I am sewing. I promise all the other rooms are clean! I love this house, but I wish that I could sew in another room, one that isn't the main entry to the home, one that is closed off from everything else. This unfortunately is where all our guests walk in. Luckily it only looks this way a small portion of the time. I have gotten much better about putting things away each day instead of after the project is done.

PS Happy Birthday to my good friends Emily Ferguson (yesterday) and Rebecca Dennison (today)! I am blessed by you both!

Have a beautiful day.

Picture of the Day

Cosper & Montgomery Annual Strawberry Picking at Huber's

Love these People

Love these People
Originally uploaded by findingcontentment

Booo. Still no pictures from me so I'll give you some pictures of others.

Courtney told me about bighugelabs.com which is a really fun waste of time! You can create these great photo mosaics with your flickr photos or others flickr photos. I chose some of my favorite photos that friends have taken and here it is!


1. Sojourn Music 028, 2. Kate and Neil lead the discussion, 3. Good friend Jamie, 4. i love this. esp. how ruby is all :D, 5. maternity (3).JPG, 6. Brian&JoJo, 7. Trying to read the paper series, 8. big bite!, 9. Gettin registered

Much thanks to Bobby G, Tom B, Alex O, Leesa, and Courtney for these beautiful photos of these beautiful people I love!

Welcome to my blog, again. Again.

Dorothy's nasty cold is over. We threw a baby shower for some of our dearest friends. If you want to see them play some music, here it is (if you watch the overview video you'll notice my very own husband [wearing a hat and plaid shirt] playing guitar!) . I also sewed a lot, cleaned a lot. Spent some quality time with friends, family, and my loves Mike and D.


Best of all, I am getting back into the swing of spending time with God. It has been quite a challenge. I really struggle with prayer time and reading the bible as just a thing I check off my list. Lately though, I have been able to move beyond that a bit and really just try to be, actually enjoying prayer and bible.
I think as a new mom a lot times we feel guilt when we don't check that "quiet" or "devotion" time off our list everyday. But as a couple of me friends had advised me my prayer time has moved from a sit down time to prayer throughout the day. When something pops into my head I try to pray for that. Before, I would think, "Oh, I need to pray for that later". When someone is on my heart, I can really turn my time thinking about them into a time of worry, and where does that get me or them? So my new approach has been to take that moment to pray for those needs, focusing on that scripture I always talk about:

Philippians 4:6-7

6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (bold type emphasis mine)

So I guess I want to say, let's do this together. Next time we are tempted to worry about something let's net be anxious about it, let's present our request to God, and his peace which we can't fully understand will guard our hearts and minds, in Christ Jesus.

See you tomorrow faithful friends and readers!

Since on my dearest friend Carrie's birthday this past year I had a 9 day old baby, I didn't get to make her the purse as I intended. Anyway the one I started once Dorothy was a little older was packed away during our move and is MIA, somewhere in the garage. She'll get it someday. In the meantime... I thrifted a belt that reminded me of Carrie AND it just happened to go with my leftover fabric from the bag from earlier this week. Soo here is her "in the meantime" purse. It is made with two coordinating decorator fabrics, interfacing, and a recycled belt! I am getting the hang of this sewing thing again. I was telling Carrie earlier, I think God is blessing me by helping me keep my sanity through these creative endeavors.

So sorry it's been so long!!!

So sorry it's been so long!!! Oh and I was doing so well! Life got busy. Last Saturday we celebrated Dorothy's six months. Tomorrow, My friend Mandy and I are filling in for our friend Karen by teaching the women's book study of Feminine Appeal. The chapter we are teaching on is titled "The Blessings of Loving My Children". It has been such a crazy time preparing. I love teaching but would rather it be with little kids. If you read this before Wed. night say a prayer for us!

I signed up for sitereader a few weeks ago. It tracks who visits, where they visit from (as in what site are they linked from), and where they live. It has been so interesting to see who is visiting this little site. I know some of who is here ie. Miami is my in laws(Dorothy says hi Nana and Papa!), Naperville is certaintly my dear aunt Jane, Wisconsin is probably my friend from high school, Andy. Anyway. It's good to see people are visiting, but please say hi if you can.

Here are some pictures of Dorothy. The first one is her in the hospital the second is at six months. Same baby, same quilt, same sweet but clashing nightgown, only difference is the six month time span!












God Bless you this week friends and family!

My best friends baby...

Madelyn Kate Quillo
Born January 29, to Jeremy and Carrie Quillo
8 lb. 19 1/2 inches

Swap

I am doing my first swap! Check it out at Mobile Swap!

Hello to my swap friend Anna. She is in Brisbane, Australia (a five hour drive south of the Great Barrier Reef).

This swap is already closed but if you want to try to get in on another swap check out Sew Mama Sew. They post new swaps often. Keep warm Louisville! It's a low of 1 degree tonight!