Here’s a bunch of pics from the past few months!

Our daughter Lauren had a baby in July!  He is so much fun!
His name is Lowry.
It’s weird having a baby at the same time as your daughter… but weird is not bad.   
Tiny’s favorite thing in the whole world is lawn mowers.
And getting to sit on it with Craig is better than anything!

who needs parks when you have a mower?

On my 43rd birthday I was serenaded by waiters singing mariachi and it scared Lowry!

Tiny can walk now (when he feels like it) and reading books is the way to his heart (unless you have a lawn mower…)

we 
we celebrated Tiny’s 1st birthday! He came to our home when he was 6 days old.
He did not like the cake, was confused by the singing but really loved the new ride on toy that plays music.

Talby has had a full season of volleyball.
I’ll post all her volleyball pics on another post but these were from a tournament day where they won everything and played with Tiny inbetween all their games.

kansas views… at the end of my block.
I can’t take the cuteness!!!!

I got to spend a weekend at the Craft House with these friends.
I love these girls!!!

Sean’s (#53) also had a full football season…  more pics to come on that too.
He is a senior so football is over forever.
SO SAD!!!!

Craig & Sean went to a Chiefs game.
That’s A LOT of red!!!

Annie turned 14 – WHAT IS LIFE??
How is this possible?  She is just a tiny baby… how can she also be 14?
She and my dad share a birthday so we sang to them both and they sang to each other.

we made Tiny a crown out of the chip bag at Chipotle.
and wore him out with all of our birthday shopping.
i love wearing sleeping babies!!! their little kissy lips breathing baby breath on my neck??? HEAVEN!

Annie started basketball and has had 4 or 5 games already!

Talby turned 17.
She’s the sweetest kid!
NONE of her birthday gifts arrived in the mail on time so she had birthday WEEK – getting different packages each afternoon after school.
we went to dinner with the whole family to celebrate…not quite as easy now that we have another baby (Lowry) and a toddler who doesn’t want to sit at the table (normal).  But it was wonderful to be all together none the less.


Lowry & Tiny are 9 months apart.
Tiny is smallish/average for his age and Lowry is a tank.
They are so cute together.

So that is my post easing back in to blogging.
I want to FINALLY answer the loads of the questions I got about foster care.
There were over a hundred and it overwhelmed me.  Foster care itself overwhelms me on certain days…
so I gave up on the post.
but I will do it because there are kids out there that need a grown up to stand up for them.
It can help more of you consider foster care or helping a foster family so I will do it.

And as far as Tiny’s future with us… in the next week we should know a lot more.
I love him.
forever.
he’s changed our lives, our hearts and our family.

and he just woke up from his nap so I will be done with this post.

thanks for reading for all the years!

The campers arrive, traveling from as far as California and Florida.
It’s a treat to see everyone come into the house and smile so much.
I think The Craft House is sort of like a Barbie Dream House for grown ups.
It’s got color everywhere!

Our speaker was author, podcaster, business coach, and mama to five boys, Alli Worthington.
She led our evening and morning time sharing what God says about being busy and having a fierce faith that overcomes fear.
A quote I wrote down that caught my eye again today:  Jesus says “You are enough because I am everything”
We all enjoyed our time with Alli.
Alli’s newest book is a devotional and it just came out this week!
The Year of Living Happy – Finding Contentment and Connection in a Crazy World

We enjoyed delicious meals made by Kimberlee Jost.
There is so much good food at camp!!
From morning till night she feeds us the best meals!
Doesn’t a meal that was prepared for you taste so much better than one you make yourself?
YES!

Artist and author, Megan Wells of MakeWells taught her Funky Florals Workshop for us.
She taught us her technique for art journaling and we created all afternoon.
It’s always a good day when we get to get out all the paint & brushes and get messy!
You can take her online class yourself and get messy too!

We made covered button necklaces and they were ADORABLE!

We used flannel and felt in fall colors to make this THANKFUL banner.
I always love to see everyone make their own version of the project.
I made a pattern out of cardboard for the bigger and smaller pieces.
We printed out the word we wanted in huge font on paper and then used it as a pattern for the word on felt.
Then we hot glued it all to twine.
It was a fairly simple, no-sew project with a big impact. 

Artist and blogger at Pitter Patter Art,  Laura Kelly taught us how to make covered rope rainbows.
She was inspired my @mandismoothhills beautiful rainbows.
We used all kinds of textiles to cover our rope making the rainbow in any color way we liked.
They can be made as big or as little as you wanted.
This was relaxing and was great for creating while chatting with friends.
I wanted to make a hundred of them!

On Saturday we ventured out of the house in search of antiques even though there was a chance of rain.
I take all our groups to Bearly Makin’ It in Marion, Kansas because it is unique.
I have never seen a store as clean & organized as this one… everything together in groups.
There are always so many treasures to find.

And sometimes we get lucky and the bakery next door is still open when we get to town!

We look for all the best junk and we take lots of fun photos.
The red door is everybody’s favorite!

I bought a huge yellow lard can that I plan to use as a flower pot next spring.

Sonic is on our way home and we always need a caffine fix by this time of the day.
or a milkshake…

Shelly and Briget are sisters and they got to come together all the way from California.

All four of us are foster moms – we had plenty to talk about!

https://pen-and-paint.com/
Another project we worked on was decorating our bags from Pen & Paint.
We stitched on them… some people painted… some people added fabric and tassles.
It’s more of a long term continuos project that you can keep adding and adding as you have time.

Megan covered the chalkboard in the kitchen with beautiful flowers!
Dreamy!

For each Camp Create we have awesome & generous sponsors that gift our campers with their products.
I will tell you all about each one of them in the next blog post coming soon.
The Adopt Shoppe – Fed By Bread – Dayspring – Eleventh Candle Co. – Jeanne Oliver – Jamie Ivey – Milk & Honey Tees – Pen & Paint

Thanks to each of these 4 ladies for teaching, planning, cooking, cleaning and everything else that goes into making these retreats so amazing.

Such a great weekend with the loveliest women!
I am so lucky to get to work with the coolest creative people and I get to meet the most kind and sweet women at every camp.
There’s something special about the Craft House and the people who gather there.
We share about the little stuff and the BIG stuff.
It’s a place to be with other creative souls who love the same stuff.
It’s the gift of time away from the chores of daily life to rest, find inspiration, to laugh and have fun.
Camp Create is the best!

The next Camp Create will be March 21-24, 2019 – Registration details to be announced soon(ish).

You can read about past Camp Create:

April 2018 with Jenny Randle, Megan Wells & Carol Spenst

September 2017 with Honey Holden, Rachel Denbow& Tara Steele

April 2017 with Jessica Thompson, Rachel Denbow & Mary Wangerin

September 2016 with Ruth Simons, Stephanie Ackerman & Ashley Campbell

April 2016 with Amber Haines, Jeanne Oliver & Laura Kelly

September 2015 with Honey Holden, Jenny Horn & Stephanie Ackerman

September 2014 with Holly Gerth, Michelle Allen & Stephanie Ackerman

our camp speaker was Jenny Randle, author of 31 Day Create.
she spoke about creativity and faith, what fuels us and what holds us back.
Jenny was a lot of fun to be around and was super easy to talk with!
I am so glad she was there!

Megan Wells is an artist and taught a workshop of her “Funky Florals”.
you can find her class online and you can take it yourself!
her technique of painting freely is really relaxing.
Megan is a great teacher!

Carol made us a rainbow cream tart.
it was a labor of love for sure!

our mugs at the craft house make your morning coffee so happy! 
i’m hugging this lady like my own kiddo because i used to be her youth leader when she was in high school and she babysat my kids when they were little!  So it feels like she IS one of my kiddos!  She is a mom to three boys now and came all the way from seattle to get crafty with us!
Jessica you are AWESOME!

this map is filling up but we obviously need some more women from nevada, wyoming & north dakota!

we took our field trip out to the antique shop and barn in Marion, Kansas.
i always love to see what people collect or find interesting.
and the weather was absolutely PERFECT for us that day which made the whole trip more fun.

the cutie in the denim jacket with me is my bestie from high school!
we lived across the street from each other… were on swim team together… we were cheerleaders together… double dated with our high school sweethearts and married them!  It was special to have her at camp with me.  And WOW can she clean up a kitchen like no one else!  She’s amazing!

Carol Spenst of @WillFlowersBakeShoppe taught us how to decorate cookies with royal icing.
it was so fancy!
i loved learning how simple it was and at the same time how time consuming and detailed it is.
i said “i will never complain about the price of a fancy cookie again! these take forever!”
it almost felt wrong to eat them.
ALMOST.


i taught how to make these covered button necklaces.
and we made the wood signs with the word cut out from Feather & Birch.
i LOVE to see how each sign was different and each so colorful!
we decorated the wood pieces with decoupaged paper and fabric, washi tape and paint.

the rainbow stairs make for a great photo!

Kimberlee Jost fills us up with delicious meals at every camp.
she makes the kitchen feel so welcoming and smell so good!
how can you not be happy when you get cinnamon rolls AND crafts?!

strangers just days before and we all leave camp as friends!
the craft house brings people together!!!

i wish i’d remembered to take photos of every single person before we said goodbye but i missed a few – darn it!

i’m so thankful for the women in this picture!  we were a great team together!  Megan – sorry we missed taking a team photo with you in it!
thanks for teaching & cooking & cleaning & speaking & praying & traveling all weekend with me and the campers!
it is such a joy to be able to share the house and the camp experience with each of you!!!

now… how about Spetember’s Camp Create?!
do you want to come?
details coming very soon!  I will hopefully open registration beginning May 11 or 12th!

I am positive you are feeling more happy than you were one minute ago after seeing all these beautiful pics!
and i hope you enjoy following their instagram feeds.