Sunday, October 18, 2015
The Eye of Tabby - Photography for the week of October 18
A lot of photos by Tabby for this week! Look at the picture with her shoes closely - see how many "pairs" you can find in that picture.
Friday, October 16, 2015
The Lilly Memorial Project - donation to MAMA Project
"For to have been thought about, born in God's thought, and then made by God, is the dearest, grandest and most precious thing in all thinking." - George MacDonald
This is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month. Every year, about a million pregnancies in the United States end in miscarriage, stillbirth, or the death of the newborn child. Ten to 25% of all "clinically recognized" pregnancies end in miscarriage, according to the American Pregnancy Center. Also, 1 in 160 pregnancies end after 20 weeks, and are considered still births.
Lilly was not an infant when she died. She was 17 months old! But I still think of her and include her during this time. Last October, I had a miscarriage, and nicknamed that baby "Blueberry" because that was about the size of the baby when it died. (You can read my "letter" to Blueberry here.)
Yesterday was the International Wave of Light where people from around the world light candles to babies that died. Here are my Lilly-colored candles lit for Lilly, Blueberry, and angel babies everywhere:
Years ago, Tabby and I started putting together different donations for a group called MAMA Project. (See donation kit ideas here.) I don't remember how I first learned about them, but they are doing a great work in helping very poor families. They are a Mennonite based group in Pennsylvania that do a lot of work in Honduras and Haiti.
In MAMA Project's recent newsletter, I learned that one of the things they were in need of was a pulse ox. There are hospitals in Honduras that hardly have any medical equipment at all. I started thinking about Lilly's pulse ox and decided I was now ready to part with it. (I still have a lot of her medical equipment in a closet.)
Even though I really was happy with my idea, when I actually got out the pulse ox box and opened it up I just wanted to cry. (In the grieving process - you never know when tears will take you by surprise!) So I distracted myself and remembered with a smile this old blog post and how Hunter, as a toddler, was so fascinated by Lilly's medical equipment. He had me make a pulse ox for him that he could hook up to his dog Sam:
When the medical team at MAMA Project is examining and treating children, they like to give them a little stuffed animal or toy when they can. So I decided to buy two beanie baby type bears off of Ebay to include in my donation. A Lilly-colored bear who's tag says she is named "Spangle" and blue bear who's tag actually says "Blueberry."
Even though I believe the pulse ox and little bears will help others, I think that just the act of donating them in Lilly and Blueberry's names blesses me the most.
Frank gave me a copy of this article from BreakPoint titled "Dealing with Miscarriage & Stillbirth." The article included an interesting quote from a book called Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver: "A miscarriage is a natural and common event. All told, probably more women have lost a child from this world than haven't. Most don't mention it, and they go on from day to day as if it hadn't happened, so people imagine a woman in this situation never really knew or loved what she had. But ask her sometime: how old would your child be now? And she'll know."
My two children would be 5 years old and 5 months old. How old would yours be?
This is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month. Every year, about a million pregnancies in the United States end in miscarriage, stillbirth, or the death of the newborn child. Ten to 25% of all "clinically recognized" pregnancies end in miscarriage, according to the American Pregnancy Center. Also, 1 in 160 pregnancies end after 20 weeks, and are considered still births.
Lilly was not an infant when she died. She was 17 months old! But I still think of her and include her during this time. Last October, I had a miscarriage, and nicknamed that baby "Blueberry" because that was about the size of the baby when it died. (You can read my "letter" to Blueberry here.)
 |
| Lilly - 16 months |
Years ago, Tabby and I started putting together different donations for a group called MAMA Project. (See donation kit ideas here.) I don't remember how I first learned about them, but they are doing a great work in helping very poor families. They are a Mennonite based group in Pennsylvania that do a lot of work in Honduras and Haiti.
In MAMA Project's recent newsletter, I learned that one of the things they were in need of was a pulse ox. There are hospitals in Honduras that hardly have any medical equipment at all. I started thinking about Lilly's pulse ox and decided I was now ready to part with it. (I still have a lot of her medical equipment in a closet.)
 |
| Lilly - snoozing away and hooked up to her pulse ox |
Even though I really was happy with my idea, when I actually got out the pulse ox box and opened it up I just wanted to cry. (In the grieving process - you never know when tears will take you by surprise!) So I distracted myself and remembered with a smile this old blog post and how Hunter, as a toddler, was so fascinated by Lilly's medical equipment. He had me make a pulse ox for him that he could hook up to his dog Sam:
When the medical team at MAMA Project is examining and treating children, they like to give them a little stuffed animal or toy when they can. So I decided to buy two beanie baby type bears off of Ebay to include in my donation. A Lilly-colored bear who's tag says she is named "Spangle" and blue bear who's tag actually says "Blueberry."
 |
| the donation |
 |
| the donation between LillyBear and a bigger sized "Spangle bear" that I got as a gift ... AND ... I just noticed Hunter's washing machine Christmas ornament snuck into the picture! WHAT????!!!! |
Even though I believe the pulse ox and little bears will help others, I think that just the act of donating them in Lilly and Blueberry's names blesses me the most.
Frank gave me a copy of this article from BreakPoint titled "Dealing with Miscarriage & Stillbirth." The article included an interesting quote from a book called Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver: "A miscarriage is a natural and common event. All told, probably more women have lost a child from this world than haven't. Most don't mention it, and they go on from day to day as if it hadn't happened, so people imagine a woman in this situation never really knew or loved what she had. But ask her sometime: how old would your child be now? And she'll know."
My two children would be 5 years old and 5 months old. How old would yours be?
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
Fall Days Farm Ways 2015
We had our first public selling of our goat milk soap last Saturday!
But speaking of soap, here is a shout out for Tabby's Etsy Shop - "The Goat Chick" - where she has our latest goat milk soap (lavender/tea tree) for sale, along with some necklaces she made. Click this link for all 4 soaps, scarves, jewelry and more: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheGoatChick
Lavender/Tea Tree goat milk soap is relaxing, anti-bacterial, and anti-fungal. High quality ingredients, like our other goat milk soaps: Goats' milk, olive oil, palm kernel oil, rice bran oil, coconut oil, shea butter, palm oil, castor oil, lavender and tea tree essential oil. Only $4.00 a bar plus shipping!
Last Saturday, we sold some of our soap at the annual Fall Days Farm Ways event at the Pantego Academy Historical Museum in Pantego, North Carolina. (That's in the eastern part of the state.) My mother-in-law works at the museum, so we had an "in." ;) We helped set up the event and then had our own tables to sell things. We didn't end up selling very much, but really enjoyed the experience and being a part of it. People stopped by and had all sorts of interesting stories to tell us. A popular one was about the glass Clorox bottles we had and how moonshiners used the gallon sized Clorox bottles "back in the day."
We had two tables:
I forgot to take a picture of the front of the museum, but you can see what it looked like at last year's event in my blog post from last year.
We were set up right by the old surveyor's office:
And very near the old jail:
Food was free for a donation. Besides soap, sandwiches, fruit, and dessert - all available inside the museum, there was popcorn, drinks, and cotton candy available outside.
I gave my camera to Frank and asked him to take some pictures of the boys as they walked around:
"Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name." - 1 Chronicles 29:13
But speaking of soap, here is a shout out for Tabby's Etsy Shop - "The Goat Chick" - where she has our latest goat milk soap (lavender/tea tree) for sale, along with some necklaces she made. Click this link for all 4 soaps, scarves, jewelry and more: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheGoatChick
Lavender/Tea Tree goat milk soap is relaxing, anti-bacterial, and anti-fungal. High quality ingredients, like our other goat milk soaps: Goats' milk, olive oil, palm kernel oil, rice bran oil, coconut oil, shea butter, palm oil, castor oil, lavender and tea tree essential oil. Only $4.00 a bar plus shipping!
Last Saturday, we sold some of our soap at the annual Fall Days Farm Ways event at the Pantego Academy Historical Museum in Pantego, North Carolina. (That's in the eastern part of the state.) My mother-in-law works at the museum, so we had an "in." ;) We helped set up the event and then had our own tables to sell things. We didn't end up selling very much, but really enjoyed the experience and being a part of it. People stopped by and had all sorts of interesting stories to tell us. A popular one was about the glass Clorox bottles we had and how moonshiners used the gallon sized Clorox bottles "back in the day."
We had two tables:
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| goat milk soap, ruffle scarves crocheted by Tabby, lamps made by Hunter |
 |
| vintage soda crates, old bottles we found on our property |
 | |
| vanilla extract, green salve, chicken frostbite salve |
We were set up right by the old surveyor's office:
And very near the old jail:
Food was free for a donation. Besides soap, sandwiches, fruit, and dessert - all available inside the museum, there was popcorn, drinks, and cotton candy available outside.
I gave my camera to Frank and asked him to take some pictures of the boys as they walked around:
"Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name." - 1 Chronicles 29:13
Monday, October 12, 2015
The Eye of Tabby: Photography for the week of October 11
Photo editing is so cool. I wish I had time to mess around with it. Tabby used it for the last picture, of Exhaust Pipe. :)
Thursday, October 8, 2015
Hunter's Bright Lights - covering a lampshade with fabric
Hunter has been busy assembling some more vintage mason jar lamps. We've decided that cute/interesting lampshades really make the lamps look better overall. But wow - they're too expensive for us and would really knock up the price of the lamps, making them less affordable to others.
So I had the idea of covering some plain lampshades with fabric. We bought these lampshades at Walmart for just under $5.00 each.
Then I went "shopping" in my box of fabrics. I pulled out some of my favorite fabrics, hoping that someone else might like them too. Then we watched a couple of videos on YouTube on how to cover lampshades with fabric. The people made it look so easy!! (hahaha ...)
I started with the first step - making a paper pattern of the lampshade. This turned out to be the hardest part! I think that is because our shades were shaped a bit differently than the ones used in the videos.
I cut out the fabric, using the pattern. Ironed each piece. Then took them, one at a time, outside to spray adhesive onto the back of fabric. Then rolled the lampshade across the material covered with the adhesive. This part was a little tricky as sticky fabric can act like SaranWrap and get all stuck together. Ugh! But it stays sticky for quite awhile so I could keep repositioning it without problems.
Finally I was done. It really didn't take that long.
Next, Hunter assembled the light kits. You can buy kits already put together, but they are about $13.00 each. I found these on amazon.com and they were 3 for $21.85. (Hunter didn't like the dark electrical cords as much, but at $7.28 each, they were just such a bargain.)
Hunter's completed lights!
My little business man will be selling these for only $28.00 each (or $33.00 for a base full of "gems") at an upcoming event.
Jesus said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." - John 8:12
So I had the idea of covering some plain lampshades with fabric. We bought these lampshades at Walmart for just under $5.00 each.
Then I went "shopping" in my box of fabrics. I pulled out some of my favorite fabrics, hoping that someone else might like them too. Then we watched a couple of videos on YouTube on how to cover lampshades with fabric. The people made it look so easy!! (hahaha ...)
I started with the first step - making a paper pattern of the lampshade. This turned out to be the hardest part! I think that is because our shades were shaped a bit differently than the ones used in the videos.
I cut out the fabric, using the pattern. Ironed each piece. Then took them, one at a time, outside to spray adhesive onto the back of fabric. Then rolled the lampshade across the material covered with the adhesive. This part was a little tricky as sticky fabric can act like SaranWrap and get all stuck together. Ugh! But it stays sticky for quite awhile so I could keep repositioning it without problems.
Finally I was done. It really didn't take that long.
Next, Hunter assembled the light kits. You can buy kits already put together, but they are about $13.00 each. I found these on amazon.com and they were 3 for $21.85. (Hunter didn't like the dark electrical cords as much, but at $7.28 each, they were just such a bargain.)
Hunter's completed lights!
My little business man will be selling these for only $28.00 each (or $33.00 for a base full of "gems") at an upcoming event.
Jesus said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." - John 8:12
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