Thanksgiving

And then I blinked and it was Thanksgiving....

We have enjoyed going to our friends' house in Northern Virginia for the last several Thanksgivings. They are some of our oldest and dearest Army friends and are the kinds of friends that, even if we haven't seen or talked to each other in months, are instantly reconnected at the first hello. This year we had a couple other families join us which made for a full house.
I have to admit that I am having some trouble getting used to what is becoming the new normal-not all my children home at the same time. This year we had only Nick and Joshua. Jarrett works at the mall and had to be at work at midnight Thanksgiving night (can I get a "that's ridiculous" out there?? At least we did get to see him later in the weekend-see pics below) and Alyson is waaaayy out in Montana and she celebrated with my mom and my aunt and her family.
But we do have much to be thankful for--not the least of which is Nick's health. Looking back on the last year and a half I cannot help but be amazed at how God has so specifically answered our prayers and provided for us. I am hesitant to use the word "blessed" when referring to Nick getting better because I feel like that infers we are not blessed when things are not going as we hope. On the contrary. We have had some very down and hard times over the last year. What I can honestly say has been, for many reasons, one of the hardest years in my life. But as I look back on it, I can see how God was blessing us even in the midst of the worst moments. I have had friends and family be there at just the right time, I have "happened" upon Scripture that spoke directly to me in a given moment, I have been able to fully realize that these children are not "ours" but are lent to us for a time and they all ultimately belong to the Father. And, thankfully, I have been given a husband and best friend to walk through this with, good friends to lean on, and even our wonderful doctors and therapists to rely on.
Yes, we feel blessed now to see how far Nick has come. But the truth is that we have been blessed all along. Blessed since the day God gave each of our children to us, blessed as we raised them, and nurtured them, and taught them, and watched them grow. Blessed when things were easy and blessed when they were hard.
Amy Carmichael says it well: "This evening the clouds lay low on the mountains, so that sometimes we could hardly see the familiar peaks. Sometimes the stars, too, were nearly all covered. But always, just when it seemed as though the mountains were going to be quite lost in the mist, the higher peaks pushed out, and whereas the dimmer stars were veiled, the brighter ones shone through.
Even supposing the clouds had wholly covered the face of the mountains, and not a star shone though the piled-up masses, the mountains would still have stood steadfast and the stars would not have ceased to shine. Our feelings do not affect God's facts. We may not see the shining of the promises-but they still shine!"
I'm so thankful that even when I can't see what's behind the clouds, I know that the stars are there...
And now, pictures of our weekend:

annual turkey frying (we have two turkeys and ham...)

Jan's famous sweet potato casserole. Alyson made her own this year for Danna and Aunt Lori!

There was a large nerf gun battle.

 I actually completely forgot to take any photos of the actual Thanksgiving meal. It was lovely and abundant-take my word for it. :)
Friday afternoon we headed down to North Carolina to see the big boy and get ready for the North Carolina-Duke football game Saturday. We were delighted to find out that we were the "Guests of the Day" at our favorite Hampton Inn and got all kinds of goodies, including an upgrade to a king suite with whirlpool! Ooh-la-la! (We never actually got in the whirlpool. Too beautiful outside!)

Cheering for the team at the Old Well Walk..

I am putting this picture in, despite how terrible I look, because the weather was just so gorgeous! I was really sick all weekend--some allergies or a cold or something. I tried my best not to share my germs...

Joshie and Rachael enjoying some Carolina sun and barbecue

face-painted and ready for the game

My Three Sons



Dad and the little boy



Carolina won the game, we did some shopping, watched a couple basketball games (it's early in the season--no smack talking about that loss...), and had a wonderful time. Wow, it sure would be nice to live there....

Getting crafty

Technically this should go on my shop's blog, but I just haven't gotten going on that yet. It's there--it's just boring.
So YOU get to see what I made today. :)
I made this for as a birthday gift for a little girl we know. She loves purple and owls are so popular right now. I thought it was a perfect match! It fits across the body of an elementary-age child but I could make it bigger or smaller.


The body of the bag is fine-wale purple corduroy. I used fabrics and felt from my stash for the details.

 

I added a pocket inside to hold small things. The velcro closure is great for little kids--I'm thinking I would use a magnetic snap for bigger people.

 I bought this pattern from someone else who uses the owl design in her logo so she does not want me selling it on etsy, as it creates competition for her. She said I was free to sell locally and to people I know, just not in my shop. I've already sold two! :)
What do you think?

I'm thinking about making one for myself in more subdued colors. And last night when I was laying in bed, I had this really cute idea that sprung from this one. And THAT idea I CAN sell in my shop. Now, I just have to make it a reality....

Creating

This weekend we finally got the etsy shop opened! I feel good about it and excited about the possibilities. It's been so intimidating for me to actually take the step to open. Shop policies to come up with, shipping rates, pictures to take, advertising to figure out.....I've spent hours reading blogs and advice on everything etsy related. I've dreamt about packaging. I've pondered and questioned and wondered and contemplated. And sewed. I've done a lot of sewing.
I have a few items up for sale now--and my erstwhile photographer (Nick) is working to get me more ready to list.
There is a cost with etsy. A listing cost and a sort of commision cost. And deciding on prices for the things I make has been difficult. I want to be competitive but also make a little money. I use designer fabrics, which are not cheap. And what is my time worth? It's hard to decide that something I've been doing for years is actually worth money, and then how much? :) I'm nervous about selling to strangers--what if they don't like my work? You can see I am over-thinking everything here.

But those are some of my thoughts. And I am committed to making this work. I have a little more time to myself now that the kids are getting older. And I love the hours--whatever hours I want. I love sewing. I love making things for other people. And I really love what I've made so far...
My shop will eventually have pillows, aprons, lunch boxes, key fobs, burp cloths, and two sizes of list-takers, which are little note pad holders/organizers. But for now, we've got all kinds of crayons going on. :)

Check it out:
www.etsy.com/shop/bluetulipcreations.

Happy Blessing Day!

Inspired by a Pinterest item a friend posted on Facebook (aren't social networking sites awesome?) on a RAOK day (random acts of kindness) I decided that I wanted to spend my birthday thanking God for the blessings I have been given and giving smiles to others.
We called it our "Blessing Day" and it was so fun! What a treat it was to spend an entire day consciously making other people smile, being courteous, and reminding myself of what a blessed life I am living. I am posting about it here to inspire others to try something like it, too. Choose a day. Make a list of people and places in your life that you would like to thank, stretch yourself to think of others that may just need a smile or a hug, and be sure to leave some blanks open so you will look for sponaneous inspiritation while you are out! You can read about my inspiration here.

My morning began with a sweet breakfast in bed brought to me by Joshua, which started out a day of thankfulness. My family is such a blessing to me. I'll do a post on another day of all that I am thankful for and I"ll use today's post to tell about our Blessing Day.
We had a pretty long list of things we wanted to do, but also did not want to be slaves to our list so we used it as a guideline. We took the day off school in order to do this (that was a blessing!) and we were out for 5-6 hours. We could have spent longer and done more but we felt like, at the end of the afternoon, that we accomplished our goal of making a lot of people smile so we were satisfied. And we were smiling, too. What a spirit-lifter it is to do nice things for others without expecting anything in return!

Here is our day, in order:
1. Nick had an appt there on Wednesday so we started our blessing day early, by dropping off crayons and coloring books (we had some unused ones) to the waiting room at Johns Hopkins.

2. We made and wrote several cards, notes, letters to 1)take with us on our day and 2) mail to people I've been meaning to write. Hand-written notes are so much more personal than emails and finding the time to write is hard, but I know it means a lot to people.

3. We started out at the nursing home near our house. Like the original poster, we had driven by so many times, without ever stopping in. The night before we picked up some flowers from the store and split them into two bunches. We also made two Thanksgiving cards and delivered them, hoping to brighten a couple rooms. They were delighted we came and we got a little tour. They invited us back to see the place when it's decorated for Christmas and also for their Christmas party!

4. We took pumpkin spice muffins with homemade cream cheese frosting (thanks to my friend, Rhonda, for the idea!  I'll put the recipe at the bottom of the post) along with us to Nick's physical therapy appt. His therapist has been a HUGE blessing to us (stay tuned for a health-update on Nick!) and we wanted to thank him and the office for their kindness to us.

5. We took more muffins and a card for the new secretary at our church and dropped them off in the office. We had made 4 dozen muffins the night before and packed them in disposable tin pans with fall-type confetti sprinkled around the bottom of the pans and cute fall picks stuck in the tops of the muffins.

6. We went by the animal control facility to give some attention to the kitties. That was a blessing for us, too. :) While we were there we had the opportunity to speak with a lady who had just had to put down her cat. She was upset and wanted to talk about her pet. Those are the "blanks" you need on your list. We tried to stay aware of those around us who just needed a hug or a smile.

7. We took more muffins and a Veteran's Day card to the Warrior Transition Unit at Fort Meade. This is a place where injured/sick soldiers are assigned after they leave the hospital but before they can get back to a real unit. We called ahead and they were delighted to receive us. We are humbled to be around soldiers who have sacrificed so greatly for us and I think we will plan on bringing them things on a regular basis.

8. We dropped off the first of our "blessing quarters." We put a dollar in quarters in the newspaper machine and taped a baggie with $1.25 and a "Have a nice day!" note onto a soda machine at the PX. We did that at a couple other places throughout the day as well. It's fun to imagine someone going to buy a drink and getting a nice little surprise. :)

9. After a busy morning, we headed down to lunch. We ate at Noodles & Co. which doesn't really have waiters, but we left a nice tip on the table for the person who would clear our table.

10. We took a couple packages of cat treats to a local mum farm. They have all kinds of cats running around on that farm and when we go to buy flowers we love playing with them. We had intended on just dropping the treats off with a note (the farm was closed) but the owner was outside so we got to speak to him and had a wonderful surprise that there were new tiny baby kittens in a basket to snuggle! :)

11. We stopped by the local fire station and took them muffins and thank you note. The boys got to get into a fire engine and got a lesson on perserverance in Scouting from the fireman on duty.

12. We took muffins (we made a LOT) to our friends' house, along with a Thanksgiving card and a book Joshua wanted to share with them. It was a fun surprise because they said they had just left OUR house after dropping off a surprise for us. :)

13. We went to the library and put post-it notes in each of our favorite books. We wrote things like, "This is my favorite book! I hope you enjoy it, too-have a great day!"

14. I practiced extra-courteous driving all day. That took some concentration. :)

15. We smiled at everyone we could, held doors, and just generally tried to be as kind as we possibly could all day.

We didn't do everything we had on our list. For instance, we had wanted to pay for the order of the driver behind us when we got coffees in the morning, but no one ever got in line behind us. We forgot to put a treat in the mailbox for the mailman, but we'll do that another day. We did do some things we hadn't initially planned on. And I'm so glad it worked out that way. The three of us came home with big smiles on our faces and a full realization of how wonderful and precious our life, and life in general, is.

muffins: 1 box of spice cake mix, 1 can of pumpkin. Mix and bake as instructed on box and add the pumpkin in. I found that the muffins "fell" a bit when I took them out of the oven but it didn't affect the taste at all (very much like pumpkin pie!) and not even noticeable when we covered them with a huge dollop of cream cheese frosting!

My family blessed me even further last night with dinner out and a very generous gift, with more thoughtful gifts when we got home from the rest of the family. :)

Family Matters

This weekend we had the opportunity to go to Ohio to visit Dave's parents and help them get their house ready for winter. What a blessing it is to live within driving distance of family and, especially after losing Papa this summer, we want to take advantage of that when we can!
It was an absolutely gorgeous weekend for a drive and for raking leaves. :) The leaves were a little past peak in Pennsylvania, but the mountains were still gorgeous and the acres of farmland looked picturesque.

We arrived Saturday afternoon and went out to eat dinner at a local pizza place and spent time catching up. Then Sunday it was time to get working!

We worked pretty much all day Sunday. Windows and gutters and leaves and weeds all got taken care of while we mixed in laughing and chatting- just generally having a good time.

Our hungry crew was treated to grandad's famous spaghetti for dinner and they brought out a surprise early birthday cake for me-yum!!

On our way home we decided to veer off the Pennsylvania Turnpike a little ways (turned out to be more than a little-email me if you'd like advice on getting there!) and stopped by the Flight 93 Memorial near Shanksville.

It was incredibly moving. Phase 1 is completed with the next phase scheduled to be completed in 2014. There will be a tree grove and wind chimes and a museum of sorts with tributes to those killed and items recovered from the site. The museum will be up on the hill you can see in the the first picture below and will look directly down the flight path at the crash site. I am so glad they are putting such a thoughtful effort into memorializing the heroes on that flight. It was definitely worth the detour.

entrance to Memorial

Memorial walkway. The walkway is the border of the official crash site--where the authorities put the tape that encircled what they considered the impact area. Items were found as far as 8 miles away, though.

actual crash site (to the left of the walkway)

close up

Memorial Wall at the end of the walkway. It follows the flight path.

close up of wall

look carefully at this inscription

gate at the end of wall, facing crash site. The actual crash site is only open to family members of the crew and passengers.



View through the gate of the crash site.



It's Just an Excuse

to dress up, that is.
Those of you who know our family well, know that the Gercken children LOVE to dress up. In fact, dressing up as a character is more common around here than wearing normal clothes. From knights, to Power Rangers, to Dorothy (MANY YEARS of Dorothy), to various Star Wars characters, to Peter Pan and Wendy, to Laura Ingalls, to Mario.....we've got a costume for it. Or at least some semblance of a costume. And let's face it, school work is just more fun when you're wearing sparkly shoes or a weapon strapped on your back.
So Halloween for us is just really another day. With candy.
Joshua dressed up (as he did 4 other days this week) as Link from the Legend of Zelda. He was Green Link and his best friend Jason was Blue Link. Yes, the same character--but different versions. Don't ask; it's very complicated.
They were both thrilled when a neighbor identified them correctly. Most of the time they were called ninjas or elves or Peter Pan. :) (Although I have to admit, that green tunic was originally made for Nick when he WAS Peter Pan....)
So, here they are:

Today is Day 3 of 20 Bags in 20 Days. Did anyone else join in? We are having a great time with it. Delivered a huge box of books to a friend at church last night. Up today is the coat closet.....

20 bags in 20 days

Inspired by something I saw on Pinterest, this month I am making good use of my time and de-cluttering. Just in time, since Christmas is just around the corner. ("The entrance to our store is around the corner. There's no other way to say it. It's not the name of our store; it's where it is." Bonus points to you if you know that movie quote. Nick and Alyson, you are disqualified.)

Anyway, I love to decorate for Christmas and I hate having clutter ruin my decorations. But I don't have hours each day to clean things out. What to do?
The blog that the Pinterest link came from gave me a great idea. Her plan was 40 bags in 40 days (very ambitious) but I am in a time crunch. I got cleanin' to do and not a lot of time to do it in! The idea is simple: make a list of 20 (or more) spaces in your home that need to be de-clutterized. Every day choose one place off the list and remove a bag, either for trash, recycling, or donation, from that area. The bag sizes may vary based on the area being cleaned and some areas may require more than one day/bag to organize. I'm not overwhelming myself, though. Some spaces (the garage, laundry/storage room, for example) could take DAYS to organize. But this is not the time. This is the time to clear some things out, make a little room, get a little better organized and head into the holidays with a sense of calm. I chose 20 days because there are 24 days until Thanksgiving and we are going to be out of town this weekend. That leaves 20 days to work and finish up the day before Thanksgiving.
Here's my list:
20 Bags in 20 Days



1. Kitchen Junk Drawer
2. My closet (shoes)
3. My closet (clothes)
4. Joshua’s closet
5. Joshua’s toy shelves
6. Joshua’s bookshelf
7. German Cabinet
8. Pantry
9. White Cabinet
10. Bathroom drawers
11. Master Bathroom cabinet
12. Kitchen Utensil Junk Drawer
13. Bookshelf downstairs
14. School Shelves
15. Craft Room
16. Coat Closet
17. Laundry Room
18. Laundry Room
19. Phone Book Cabinet
20.Dvd Cabinet

Let me know if you decide to join in! Happy de-clutterizing!