Rejoice with me!

At the age of 21, six weeks after the birth of my second son. I was diagnosed with SIN 2 cervical displaysia. SIN 3 is cervical cancer. It was a very hard time in my life with struggles in every direction. I had just endured a very sick baby, whom was in NICU for two weeks. Rob had taken a job that had him traveling and gone for months at a time. I had been given the DEPO shot at my six weeks post natal appointment, during the same visit that my pap was taken. I had BAD side effects from this shot, which included non stop bleeding for the duration of the life of the shot (3 months). So I was given my diagnosis, yet we could not do the biopsy until I stopped bleeding. We waited and waited, the whole time wondering if this was an aggressive displaysia, while words like possible hysterectomy were thrown around.

My labs also explained why I had this horrible diagnosis. I had the HPV virus. After 3 months of waiting, we went in for the biopsy. I remember crying in the waiting room after the procedure and telling Rob that I was so happy that we had had at least two children, because the Dr's made it sound as though a hysterectomy had a high possibility of occurring. A few weeks later we were told our "number" of SIN and I was scheduled to be frozen. The freezing worked and The Father covered me with Mercy. I was told I would need a pap smear every six months as opposed to the normal year and we went on with our lives.

Fast forward three years, to the pregnancy of our fourth child. During my routine initial pap, displaysia rears its ugly head once again. I was only about 8 weeks pregnant, and all we could do was wait for 7 long months. But, The LORD had a miracle to perform in my life I just didn't know it yet. Many people prayed for me during this time, the men at Robs work came together in the office and stood in prayer to our wonderful Father. The folks at church, came together and lifted us up in prayer. I had my beautiful fourth son on July 3rd 2001. I went in for my pap smear six weeks later, the nurse said she would call me if the results were positive, and that it would be about two weeks. More waiting....two weeks came and went and no phone call, so I called them and asked for my results. She said "its negative" I asked her to check again ;-) and she replied again with "yes mam, negative"

You see I had been HEALED! I knew it, The LORD told me I would be. But I needed proof! I was given a word during this time by a lady whom I had not met before and it was this "You will be healed and restored from the things that you carry with you due to your sinful past." Praise The Father!!!

So moving on to present day rejoicing....it is six years later and I received a phone call from my midwife today to let me know that it is once again negative! This is just one example of how The Lord restored me and made me whole, from a life filled with heart ache and pain of all types. HE can do this for you! He can restore you, make you white as snow....you only need to ask HIM, truly give your life to HIM and HE will make you WHOLE!!!

The grey area

Well, I finally did it. I colored my hair. I didnt want to, putting it off and putting it off. Until the other day when my husband said, "Honey, it looks like you need to color your hair" Gasp! He doesnt like my gray hairs, that are creeping in? Big surprise, I know.

I just did not want to color my hair. I am soooo sensitive to fums and chemicals. PLUS, I really like the color of my hair, not the grey of course....but the rest of it. So it has been colored and seems pretty close to my real hair color. There are a few greys that averted the color.

P.S. If you ever want to scare yourself, walk outside with a mirror into the ever illuminating truth of the sun....and take a good look at your face. AAAKKKK! As I was searching for greys but could not help finding every flaw upon my poor face. Time to go pluck those eyebrows ;-)

Progress & Ponder

In case you thought that I might be hiring out to have all this painting done, here's my proof. Oh, and ya I read the top of the ladder...but I'm short and there is just no other way. Please avert your eyes from my backside. Painting is dirty, hot work.

So here's the fruit of my labors thus far. I woke up at 5:45 this morning and got to work. Much easier while there are no little fingers getting into the paint. It has been primed and is now ready for the main paint. I am amazed at how brighter and bigger it looks now!

Herein lies my dilemma. I am not sure how to get this painted. It is directly over the staircase. Rob had mentioned placing a long board across, perhaps I will try that...its just such a long way down.

Lastly, had I known that $3.48....10 minutes....and the willingness to turn your hands purple, would have been all it took to get that window panel stained; I would have done it 2 years ago! Maverick likes it.

Side Tracked and Sleep Deprived!

I got a bit side tracked yesterday. My plan was to paint the upstairs hallways. I ended up tearing the old flooring out of our downstairs bathroom and replacing it. It looks FANTASTIC!!!

Before, you can see the ugly, old grey tiles in the back corner.

After, pretty, clean, new wood tiles! I love it!

Its 4:00pm now. I finished the bathroom floor, replaced the toilet seat and cleaned ever inch of the toilet and surrounding walls ( those with boys realize the importance of that last step). I am BEAT. Monday I was woken at 12:30, and could not fall back asleep until 3:30am...I had so much running through my head. Then last night, my poor Seth was up barfing until 3:30am; therefor, I was up again with him. I have had a total of about 8 hours sleep in the past 48 hours and I'm pooped! I will be resting the rest of the evening....except for making dinner, and cleaning the kitchen, sigh...........

Painting is hard work. Walking up and down the ladder, pushing the roller up and down the wall over and over for hours. Getting in odd positions and holding it for 15 minutes while you trim in between very tight door casings. I woke up yesterday so sore I could hardly move. I had muscles hurting in places I didnt realize there were muscles. Yet what did I do, I kept painting. Heres what I have to show for this weekends work.

This is the hallway/stairs leading from the entryway.

It is complete! I will be ripping up the carpet on the stairs and either leaving the wood if its in good shape, or putting down a runner carpet if not in so good of shape. This is my next area to paint. The hallway upstairs that has 5 doors and a bunch of wood work to trim around. Not to mention, I'm not sure how I will get to the top of the wall at the top of the stairs. hmmm?
On a more fun note, here we have summer fun going on. I remember doing this when I was little, putting the sprinklers on the trampoline and jumping away...so much fun!I really have soooo much to do, if I'm not careful it seems a bit overwhelming. Along with painting the whole house. I have flooring in the bathroom and kitchen to rip up and replace. Totes to load up and take to storage as to declutter the house. A baby to nurse and children to play with. We will be taking two weeks off of school as a"special break" to give me plenty of time to complete these things. I also will not be taking any sewing orders until July 15th. I have one order to finish up today and get in the mail, then I will have that extra time available as well. Please keep me in your prayers that nothing goes out, LOL like my back or my foot, or most of all my sanity!!

If you paint it....

....they will buy it. Well that is my hope. For three and a half years now I have been living with wall board from the 50's. It is some weird french motif with a fountain and a garden. Some people just love it because its different and some people think its just awful. I fall into the last category. You can be the judge.......

So this lovely wall board runs throughout quite a bit of my house. The hallways up and down, the stairs and the library and exercise room. It is in about 70% of the house. The upside is it is easy to clean, and you can run into it with roller blades or the big wheel and there is no damage done.

Why have you lived with this eye sore for so long, you ask? Well we were going to pull it down and sheet rock all the walls, then paint. So sense we are going to probably list the house I need to give it a clean coat of paint my realtor friend says. YAY! I actually get to paint the house!!

So as you can see we have VERY dark brown trim through out our house. It is original so over 100 years old and can you believe it has never been painted! I pulled out my color wheel, found the color of the trim then moved up the color scheme to find the lightest color in that color scheme ( I know this is getting confusing, bare with me) So I find a color that seems as though it will work well. Remember I have 70% of my house to paint this color on. So I commit to the 5 gallon container and get busy painting. Long story short ;-) 5 hours later.... 2 coats of kills....1 coat of paint and I'm not sure that I like it. Its bland. Theres no motif. I'm not sure what to do. Don't get me wrong I still dislike strongly the french design, yet its just blah now. Any ideas will be greatly appreciated! I guess I will head to Big Lots tomorrow and pick up lots of pictures for the walls, then stop by Lowes and pick up some stain for that window panel that has been unstained for over a year :-/

This is the entry way that I completed today. I cant seem to get a picture of the whole room but its about 10x12. The door is obviously on the center wall and there are matching floor to ceiling windows on either side, with columns that lead to the hallway and stairs.

Update and more ramblings

Mary Zander has been doing AWESOME. She no longer has chest tubes, she eats on her own, shes no longer sedated at all, she is walking, she did not have to have a lung transplant! She has been healed. She just did a 180 and within a few days came completely out of a comma. Within the next few days and lots of tests they found that her lungs were healing themselves. This is no small thing. She had lungs of a 90 year old. I suspect that within a month she will be at home Being a baby girl again!!!! PRAISE THE LORD!! I am sooo excited about this! For those of you who prayed for her your/our prayers were heard and answered!!

On to things around here. Rob and I have made a decision to move closer to his work. He currently drives over one and a half hours to and from work for almost three years now. We have stayed because this is my dream home. Three story over 4,000 sq feet, beautiful 105 year old Colonial. This home on the other side of the metroplex would cost around 400,000.....we bought it for 75,000!!

It will be a sacrifice and a sad loss to move. BUT, my midwife is looking for a home to purchase to turn in to a Birth center. She had voiced during our last visit that my house would be perfect. If I can not be here, I would be so happy knowing that my home spent the rest of its days having babies brought into this world inside its walls.

So I am a mess of emotions..... sadness, excitement, loss, moving on, I hate moving, The Father will provide though and I need not worry about finding a home, there is one out here somewhere and HE will take us to it.

My Tea and ramblings

Every morning and mid day I have a glass of herbal tea. This is no ordinary herbal tea LOL so here's whats in it.

It starts with Mamas milk tea which contains Blessed Thistle, Dandelion, Fennel, Fenugreek, Nettle and Red Raspberry. I also had a few other herbs that I wanted to take on a daily basis, so in they went with the Mamas milk tea.

They are:
Additional Red Raspberry
Alfalfa
Bilberry
Peppermint
Red Clover
Hawthorn leaves

I'm would like to add Oatstraw and a few more in the future.

I am also making Hawthorn Berry Tincture. I have been feeling for a long time that something is not all together right with my heart. For a few years now I have been telling my hubby that I feel like I need to go running, because my breaths don't feel like they are going deep enough. I feel tight chested sometimes and I have tightness in my upper neck and jaw. The other day my arms went to sleep and I had tingling in my left arm. The thing is the symptoms will go away for months then come back for a few weeks then go away for a few more months. So I forget about them when there gone.

I went to see my midwife yesterday for my well woman exam and explained to her what I had been feeling. She gave me an exercise bike and said to get on it 30 minutes a day. I rode it this morning thinking that I would get winded quickly and not be able to breath, but it was the exact opposite. My chest opened up and I felt like I was getting good breaths. That was at 6:00 this morning, now I am feeling tight chested again. Sigh!

I Hate no Loath going to the doctor. The last time I went it cost me 1500 for a scan I didn't need. This time who knows what the cost would run. There is no heart failure or the like in my family at all. My dad and most of his brothers has high cholesterol. I have had high cholesterol sense I was 28, yet I am only about 15lbs overweight and eat fairly well. Though I haven't always. Perhaps that is my problem.

I just don't know. I am going to make some changes in my diet. No sugar, more exercising lots of water, and Hawthorn Tincture. If you have any suggestions or words of wisdom please share.

My Jordy Bear

So, it happens again. We move out of single digits to the big 10! My sweet Jordan you are growing up to be quite the big brother. Always eager to help with the little ones. It seems like just yesterday that we were all standing around you hoping that you were OK. Your chest caving inward as you tried so hard to breath. I was scared for you and scared that I couldnt handle loosing you. Those were the longest two weeks of my life. Coming to visit you every day, watching you struggle, with all those tubes. But you were going to pull through, I just knew it....and here you are.

I love you Jordy Bear!

Busy week

I have just been sewing away over here. I had three orders come in within a few days of each other, so that is taking all my "work/free" time. Many have asked how I have time to train children, homeschool and keep my house while running a small business. Well, its simply organization. The boys are done with morning chores and school work by 11:30. This is a must or else the day is lost. After lunch and table chores its play time for most, catch up for any that did not complete something earlier. Eve my 2 year old goes down for her nap at 1:00 and sleeps for 3 hours. This is when I get alot of sewing done. The baby will either nap or play while I sew. The boys draw, play outside, build cities out of books play games on the chalk board, Etc. They are so good at keeping busy and for the most part out of trouble. Then after 3:00 the shop closes for a few hours until around 8:30. The kids are in bed and I can get in a few hours before bedtime.

Now this sounds like alot of sewing but as we all know when it rains it pours. So I can go for a week or longer with no orders and plenty of free time. The Lord seems to know just how much I can handle and that is what He sends my way. So that is how I get things done around here.

Chore Buster

An online chore organizer. You type in the names of those doing chores in your family. Type in the chores that need to be done and their difficulty/undesirableness, and they will create a fair chore chart. I have not tried it but thought it interesting none.the.less.

Picture Post

Do I have the only children who would rather build large cities out of their books than read them?

My Angel Baby! She is already trying to crawl (at 4months!) and if you lay her on the floor in one spot you can bet that when you walk back in the room she'll be on the other side of it.

Silly Girl!
She was so amused with Maverick. She stared at him for the longest time.
My other angel baby in her new dress. This is just like the one here but shorter.
Here is the skirt.

Sewing machine care

This is a great article for those of you who sew. It is on the proper "feeding" and care of your machine. I picked up a few tips through reading it.

New Button

I updated my store button to be easier to read and prettier ;-) I know I have sent the code to many of you already for the old button, and will send you an updated code. Thank you to all who have supported me and my little cottage business. All the orders I have had have come from other mothers who I have met online through blog land or MOMYS group. Thank you Ladies!

If you would like to put the button on your blog or website let me know and I will send you the code audrey@sewingtheseamsoflove.com You will receive free shipping on all orders and be entered into a contest to be held in the near future. You can see the updated button on the top left side.

Another busy weekend

Rob loaded up the garage debree and took it to the dump, all 6000 lbs of it. Then went over to Lowes and picked up 3360 lbs of concrete. Poor guy has done his share of lifting. I am glad though that he will be getting a new garage. If anyone deserves it it is him. He is ALWAYS doing things for others.

The weather is slowly warming up, although it has been a mild season this year and we are getting TONS of rain. I enjoyed a lovely afternoon nap on Sat. The girls where napping, the boys were playing quietly on their room and I laid there listening to the rain fall and feeling the cold air from the air conditioner blowing on me, it was so peaceful. In my complete comfort, I thought of all the people in this world who may have never had one day of comfort in their whole lives. How truly blessed I am!!

Another 8 weeks of school begins tomorrow. It will be a lite eight weeks with emphasis on the basics; reading, spelling & math facts.

Everyone have a blessed week ahead. Walking through each day with grace, wisdom, kindness and love!

Printable Toys

This is a fun site! It has very cute and well put together paper toys that you can print out and they are all FREE! This is right up my boys' alley, they enjoy these types of projects.

The Scriptures

I know that many who read here are KJV only readers. I read 3-4 different translations during my studies (all at the same time). Thus I am not a KJV only reader --ducking for cover-- the KJV is one of the translations I read and is always open during devotions.

I came across an article that explains good reasons why, many of which I agree with. Just the other side of the coin ;-)

For Michelle ;-)

Taking 4th of July orders!

I've added a Patriotic dress in a new style (see the dress in below post) Its a pullover, flared dress, your choice of mid calf or ankle length. I have a few different patriotic print combinations to choose from on the home page of my website so go take a look. I have enough of the "flag" fabrics in stock to make about 5 dresses so order before its all gone! Email me at audrey@sewingtheseamsoflove.com

Prices below:

Sizes 1-7 $15.00

Sizes 8-13 $17.00

Sizes 14-17 $19.00

(Flat rate shipping $5.00)

Free shipping to those who have an advertising button on their website or blog! If you dont have one ask me how to add one. Please remind me that you have one when you order.

New Style

Ahh. To Sew. I just love it! This is Eves Memorial Day/4th of July dress. It is a new pattern that I had tucked away and had always meant to make, but havent had the time. It is very cute and FULL. So full that I am going to alter the pattern (like I always do ;-) But its cute nonetheless. I am going to add this style dress to the online boutique.

It has been a busy weekend. We had our garage fall in, almost taking out 4 people with it, two of which were my children. Thankfully no one was hurt! There were two different times that people almost got squished. When it fell the first time two of Robs friends were standing under it and my oldest two boys. They heard it coming down and ran out. The second time they were trying to get the other side to fall so that it would be completely on the ground and Rob got his head stuck under some wood so that he could not back up just as it was coming down, but the structure paused during the fall for a split second long enough for him to get out.


This is how it fell, on one side. This picture is after Rob had removed all the siding and was beginning to tear it apart. Yikes! So how did this happen? They were remodeling it and a guy helping Rob, cut the wrong rafter and down it came. So we are just going to start from scratch.

On the sunnier side of things, my Eve turns 2 today! My sweet precious one. It has been such a joy to be a mommy to you. You have taught me that girls and boys ARE totally different creatures. You have given me permission to wear pink, and I wear it alot now. I love your sweet dainty voice and how you walk around holding your babies. I love how you help with everything, whether I wanted help or not. You bring a brightness to our home, and we love you!

Happy Birthday