Faith Cross Stitch WIP

Here is my update for Faith.

Christmas

Here is more Christmas pictures.  I thought if you are interested you might want to take a gander.

http://family.webshots.com/slideshow/569558786PlnHsf

Hugs,

 

Sandy

 

Blog: http://sandyscrossstitch.blogspot.com/

 

Hope this makes you smile as it did me...

      Give this heart 

to everyone you don't want to lose in '09 including me 

if you care.  Try to collect 12 it's not easy...

YOU HAVE 20 MINUTES TO TELL 6 FRIEND THAT YOU LOVE THEM (INCLUDING ME)

TOMORROW'S NOT PROMISED.  SO, I LOVE YOU!  GO!

Hugs

Christmas 2008

A slideshow of our Christmas celebration

Christmas 2008

Our 25th Wedding Anniversary

Here is a slideshow (if this works that is).

25th wedding anniversary

Happy New Year's Day!

2009 Here we are ready or not.

Let’s all start our new year with family and friends.

  Hugs ya'll

25 Year Anniversary

The last 25 years just seems like a dream.

It seems like yesterday that my babies were born and the day before when we married.

I know that cannot be right cause our oldest baby is planning her wedding.

Now our babies are old

enough to plan this wonderful 25th anniversary surprise party for us.

We had a few friends from

church and some family come to celebrate with us. Here are just a few pictures that were taken that night. I will be sharing more a bit later.

Baby Abigail

Charlotte thank you very much for the update and picture; I will continue to keep my little cousin in my thoughts and prayers.  As always, I am forwarding to my friends and church.  Special hugs to you and everyone in Abigail’s life.

Hugs,

Sandy

Hello to all!  As Christmas approaches and the year comes to an end, I wanted to update you all on Abigail's status.   She has done fantastic with her heart condition. She remains healthy and strong and has had no complications, so far. As it stands, we may still be looking at surgery sometime during the summer. With the mercy God has shown already, don't be surprised when we're told surgery is no longer necessary! That's the hope we're clinging to! More recently, we have suspected food allergy in Abigail. Because she is breastfed, it is very difficult to determine the culprit. After removing all dairy and soy products from my diet, her symptoms have not improved. We were referred to a gastrointestinal specialist who admitted us to Texas Children's Hospital for observation and testing. She has now been diagnosed with severe allergic colitis. Her colon is in pretty bad shape. She has multiple ulcers and bleeding. The doctor said it is one of the worst cases he has seen in a long time.  Of course, as her mommy, this just breaks my  heart. I told the doctors I wanted to do whatever would be best for her. Breast milk is usually best, but with the allergy source unknown and the damage so bad, he wants her to get healing immediately. So, he has recommended Neocate formula. This is an Amino Acid formula, manufactured in the UK....and yes, it is 6x the price of regular infant formula!!! It is available only online and Texas does not participate in the legislated insurance reimbursement plan for the formula. You can imagine our shock! But, this is our special little Pearl. The Lord has taken such good care of her and all of our needs. We are so incredibly blessed. We will  continue to trust in Him. Abigail is back at home smiling, gurgling and cooing! We would however, greatly appreciate your prayers as Abigail and I make the transition to this special formula. It won't be easy, but it will speed the healing of her tummy! This past year has created an amazing new chapter for our family. Samantha has  been able to experience the joy that only a sister can bring. Doug and I have been fortunate to experience parenthood with more maturity and we all have learned to look outside of ourselves and our own understanding and wait patiently on the Lord. We have been humbled by the outpouring of love and support you have all given. Your prayers, thoughts, reassuring words and actions have blessed us forever. May you reflect on the blessings of 2008 and rejoice for those to come in 2009!! Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!! xoxo, Andrea (Doug, Samantha and Pearlie, too!)  She was such a brave girl!!!

My baby

My baby came home from Seattle, YEAH!!  I sure am glad to see her.  It's been 6 months since we have seen her.  That is way to long to go without seeing your child.  She is going to stay with us for 2 weeks.  I am so happy.  Here she is right this minute...

...I guess it was a long trip.  She is exhausted, but I will take her anyway I can get her.

Hey ... guess what.

It’s friday!!!

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND !!! I WILL J

Hugs

Here is what I have been up to...

The YLD means You loving Daughter. I started that when i was in high school, I was leaving a note for my parents and running over to a friends house.

As you can tell this is a gift for my Mom for Christmas.

I hope you have a lovely day.

A finished present

Turkey Day

I hope your day is extra special.

With love Sandy!

My thoughts

My thoughts and prayers are with those that are affected by the terrist attacks in India.  So far in Mumbai they have confirmed 101 killed and 280 injured.  I pray that this will end without any further loss of life.  I pray that the hostages will soon be released.

Hard days

Well I did it now, I had dinner on my plate and all I had to do was hold onto it.  Well you guessed ... the dogs really enjoyed my dinner.  It happened so fast my plate barely tilted.  Then came the hot chicken and gravy ... it hit my arm then the arm of my wheelchair.  Then of course the mess hit my knee slide down my leg, part of it landed on my foot rest and don't let me forget that as I was right next to the cabinet it hit the cabinet door and the gravy ran down the door leaving carrots and peas seemingly glued to the door.  Lucky for me that it was late enough that I didn't feel weird changing into my nightie.  Course I had to get the dress off quickly because it was adding insult to injury by continuing to burn me.

Well lets just say the dogs really enjoyed dinner.

I am dead tired.  Y'all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Hello

Howdy :)  This was another wake up at dark thirty day.  My sweet DH didn't turn on the heater last night ... it was the first time since some time last week that I didn't wake up feeling like I was on fire.  Inside the house it was a wonderful 60*F.  I wish I could have slept in a little longer but since I went to bed last night around 8:15, I should have expected it.  I could not keep my eyes open.  When your head hits your desk for the fourteenth thousandth time, it is time to go to bed.

Yesterday was a really good day and I can't even begin to tell you why.  I don't even know that I did anything special or out of the ordinary.  But, just maybe it is because we are entering the holiday season.  I love the holidays because everyone I know is in such a good mood.  They are bound to all feel the joy of being alive and that in itself is a miracle.  If you think about this bag of bones being capable of so much and we have come so far from the cavemen or apes or whatever you think we started out as.  It is just amazing.  Of course we still have a ways to go, and grow as individuals and communities.  Their is always room for improvement.  I can only hope that I come somewhat close to the potential God has planned for me.

Hey, I have a question for you ... What do you want to be when you grow up?  Do you think you can reach your potential?  Do you think that if you reach your potential it will bring you happiness or wealth? If you had to chose just one happiness or wealth which would you pick? Okay, so that was more than one question.

I hope this day greets you with joy and happiness.

I finished two more

 I have two new cross stitch finishes.  Well I say two but they came from one pattern.  It's the Cancer Awareness Blackwork By Kristine Herber.  I did the top portion on one piece of fabric and the bottom on another.  Now I am trying to finish it into a biscornu.  It is more difficult than I thought it would be because of very little edge to this fabric.  If I had count the piece I might have picked a larger piece of fabric but I was trying to use a scrap of fabric.  

I chose to stitch the first half with DMC Variations 4180 in honor of my Mom and Aunt

 Sissy surviving breast cancer.  The bottom half "Hope"  side I used Waterlilies Parfait 023 by Caron, it is an over dyed floss.  I chose because it has yellow and lavender, these colors represent Support Our Troops and General Cancer. I don't know if brain tumors have a color but I have decided to me it will be blue, so that and the lavender and blue are in honor of  my DH.  

Fortune cookie for today:  "Others are deeply moved by your presence."

I hope that you are having a wonderful day.

Hugs

Another one bites the dust

I finished another Christmas present last night. I am finally starting to feel like I am accomplishing some of my Christmas presents. I had felt like OMG its almost Christmas, what am I going to do ... but now I have two done and I don't know how many started. Now things are looking up :)






My new finish is called My scarf has a hole in it. I saw it on a show called Knitty Gritty. I used to love watching that show with its host Vicki Howell. Unfortunately, DIY decided to stop making it and now they put into reruns and show it about 4:00 am or sometime around there. And what can I say if I have had a good night then I am sleeping soundly.


Anyway, I couldn't find the pattern so I made it up. I sure hope this present is received with happiness and joy.

Woohoo!

I have some exciting news to share. I got word from my doctor that I can stop taking my blood pressure medication. I am so excited I could burst. I have to self monitor and keep a log but hey that's easy. I think it is time to have a party. So lets all grab our party hats and run out the door screaming. giggle Everybody will think we have gone stark raving mad.

Hugs to all and a good night too.

STUFF

Lately, I have been working on Christmas presents. It gives me such joy to make handmade presents for my family to open on Christmas. I finished my Grandma's present this week. I think the pictures will help you to understand but I will call it a soap cozy. The good thing is that you don't have to use it in that way for instance you could put Kleenex in it, or maybe your camera, etc.

I hope I get to see the Barbra Walters Show tonight. This is when she airs her show called 'What is a Man, What is a Woman'. From the 'tease' they had on 'The View' this morning it will be a very interesting show. She showed a snippet of the show this morning, I hope we can all rap our heads around this idea, that sounds weird in my head, but I don't know how else to say it. I realized today just how controversial this topic is as I watched my good friends fighting over it. My little Sister tried to intervene and it seemed to cause more friction between the ones fighting. I thought about it for a few hours and decided just how I thought was the best way to intervene.

Here is the email I sent to my friends: At the risk of making all of you hate me, I am asking you please stop all arguing. Remember that we are all friends and what it is that makes our club special. We have all been tolerant of each other and each other’s beliefs for about 9 years now. We are a special group of ladies that share our crafts and our lives.

You have helped me personally me through my MS diagnosis acceptance, which celebrated its 10 year anniversary. I privately celebrated it by making the decision that I will walk again. That is unimportant at this moment. My point is that I love each and every one of you and I hope that you do the same. We are so special. Some of you I have met in person and have had the privilege of inviting you into my home. I wish that everybody could come for a visit. I promise not to charge you rent.

Also during this time, we have watched each others children grow up and become young adults, marriage, and even births of grandchildren.

Please don’t throw away all of these wonderful years over something that we cannot change. Keep in mind this couple that has come out into the public eye, have done so bravely. This isn’t the first man to have a child. Also, keep in mind the reason he kept his female reproductive organs is because his wife could not have a child, and he said those organs did not define him. If you want more information just tune your TV to the Barbra Walters show tonight EST 10 PM.

Now at this time, please stop all discussion on this matter and take a few days to think about things.

I have personally witnessed the fear of rejection in watching my in-law come out of the closet. Please show the bravery that she did by, in the fear of total rejection, coming forward.

Anyway, I hope that this gives you pause for thought before you react.

Hugs to all.