anna sews! and sara nails! {pillows and bed crowns}

Decorating post #2. 

Anna sews! 

On Monday the kids had off of school, and Anna wanted to do a project.  She is her mother's daughter!  

New "ruffle" pillows for the girls beds were the final product.  Oh, did we have fun!

Here's a peek.

See the pillow on the right with the ruffle running along the side?

Anna did a great job!  She made the ruffles all by herself, and sewed it on {I assisted by running the machine speed and helping guide little hands}.  

Isn't it cute?

She was pleased as punch!  

With herself.

With the pillow.

With the satisfaction of seeing her hard work sitting so prettily on her bed.

And my generous girl also wanted to shower the sunny yellow love on her sister...

She wanted Emma's ruffle to look unique.  So she sewed it to look like a sash.  A sash on a girl scout uniform.

She is so cute!

We really had fun together.  And the girls are thrilled with the new addition to their bedroom.

Tracy and Jenn, did you ever think Plastigirl {my el-cheap-o sewing machine's nickname} would last so long?!

Sara nails!

Does anyone remember this?

The "architectural element" I found with Tracy and Jenn in Virginia?  When we were "helping Tracy" fall in love with her new state via shopping. :)  

Sent two of these back home to Minnesota.  Because you know, we have nothing old like this in our state.  Riiiight. Keith still wins the award for keeping a straight face when we dragged these out of the back of the car!  

Wellll. Our bedroom.  The bed sits directly in front of a light switch that is so oddly placed.  When we closed two rooms off from each other upon moving in, the light switch that was next to french doors in one of the rooms now is located in the middle of the wall.  Smack dab.  

Our bed makes most sense on that wall.  

For three years I've rotated a variety of pictures over the bed, all of which cantilever off the wall at odd angles.  

I love the romantic look of bed crowns with beautifully tailored fabrics cascading off and cocooning the bed.  Bliss.

At least that is what I think it looks like it feels like.  

So lovely.

After looking at a lot of photos, and pricing some of the bed crowns, the needed fabric, etc., I knew I would not be buying and having made one in any near future.  

But as I sat nursing Emma through her palate surgery recovery these past weeks....inspiration struck.

Being home as nursemaid has its benefits.

And here is what I came up with:

I took one of the architectural elements and nailed two panels of burlap curtains to the back of it!  

Jim was aghast.  And totally admired my handiwork, such as it is!

Aghast turned to admiration pretty quickly.  Just don't look at the back of it, honey!

I used one panel for the center, and sewed half of the other panel on each side thus creating enough width and bulk.

Then I honestly just laid it out on the floor and lined up the center of the fabric roughly with the center of the wooden arch, used some small nails procured from Jim's nail store downstairs and started nailing away.

Ten minutes later...

\

Makes me happy!  

And boy was that a fun distraction in a time of quiet.  Emma thought I was a crazy lady.  She kept laughing at me.  

And so ends posts documenting our home changes. :)

It is really fun to be able to show my dearest friends so far flung around the country the changes.

Hey, girls, despite the wretched snow and cold, you know you want to move back home!

Okay, you are home.  Right where God has planted you in your warm and southern and coastal and desert locations.  Just know how missed you are here!  

xoxoxo

Sara

  

World Thinking Day: China

Saturday morning spent sharing about China, and learning about other countries, at the High School with all the Girl Scout troops in our city.  

As you can see, Anna not only looked beautiful and proud in her Chinese silk, she loved sharing about China!

We used her chop as the stamp for the "passports" the girls carried around and marked.  The girls all had fun stamping it onto all the passports that passed by our display.  Anna was generous in sharing it with her friends to use to readily and happily!

We included information and examples from our China travels. It was so fun to have many people who have also been to China come talk to us about their experiences, too!  {This won't load properly, so you get it upside down!}

Here the sweet girls are in all their silk-clad glory!

It was a special day for Anna, and she was so pleased at the end of it all.  I really had fun doing it with her.  

During the snack time, which was hosted by the oldest troop, some of the girls shared information about their country.  The girls who did Somalia, shared a traditional dance with us and they were all wearing clothing typical of a girl in Somalia.  The woman dancing with them was a beautiful Somali woman and she had on a blue silk dress with the symbols from their nation's flag embroidered on it.  Her headdress was also a sparkling blue.  She was really lovely to watch.  Another troop shared their facts about Egypt, which is especially timely, not only because of all that is happening there politically right now but also because the King Tut exhibit just opened at the Science Museum.  I confess, Anna's eyes glazed over a bit on the ride home while I droned excitedly on about Egypt's political landscape.  She was more interested in talking about the spanakopita we ate for snack that represented Greece.

i have stored this away

like a treasure, a pearl of great price.

Today Anna's Girl Scout troop came to our house for a meeting.  Next week is World something I can't remember Day (as one dad said, International Day).  Her troop's country this year is....China.  Anna and I are in charge of organizing it.

Although I failed to get a single picture, I have the entire meeting captured in my mind: my daughter proudly adorned in her silk dress from China with a beautiful carved necklace hanging around her neck.  Her cheeks are pink with excitement.  Her eyes glow golden, sparking joy and delight.  She is sharing a piece of herself, a part of her journey, fragments of God's beautiful love story for her.


While I shared about China's rich history, diverse cultural traditions, beautiful art, delicious cuisine and the natural beauty of the country, Anna shared about a place called, Hangzhou.


Anna's birthplace.

Tears gather hot and heart burning as I type those words.  Longing and love and joy all mixed together.  Awe and wonder at what God has wrought in our family.

Anna shared, with hand-written notecards, facts and information about the city in which she was born.
There is much to say about Hangzhou; the Paris of China, a treat to the eyes, beautiful and delightful.

The place of our dreams, in that it is the place of our daughter's beginnings.

She stood like a cedar of Lebanon and recounted what is lovely about Hangzhou.

What I heard was another song.  One of belonging and God's story of love written just for her.  


My daughter spoke of West Lake and Dragon Well Tea, the long-ago glories of Emperor's seeking Empresses and the beauty of the tea plantations in the surrounding countryside.

I heard a girl finding her voice, claiming her story, learning grace.  God is near, my daughter.  He's never been far.  YOU belong, my treasured and beloved daughter.  There wasn't a moment He didn't know you, or know what was.  You have a destiny and you are walking it out, and you were walking it out and you will be walking it out.  And I see you seeing that and beginning to know that in both your heart and your head.  


Cadence.  There was a rhythm of words that matched the beat of eternities heart as not only Anna's troop but all of heaven drew near to hear her tell of Him.  Without a word directly about Him, she told of Him.  His glory displayed in Hangzhou.  His glory displayed in her.  To the praise of His name.

As of late, Anna and I have had some big discussions.  Musings from her heart about her first parents, about friends, right and wrong, God's call on her life and her actions and the difference of the world.
My little girl is growing up.

Of course she is.  As her mother, this is my sacred call.  To raise my daughter to know and love God and follow hard after Him.  And this is what I am to strive for.  She is His first.  Growing her up is what I labor to do...isn't it?

And yet...

there are times my mother's heart leaps in such joy it aches.  Strong burning hurt.  Hurts hard.  Aching goodness.  How can goodness ache?

Don't let this moment pass.  Let's stay RIGHT HERE.  This is so, so sweet.


My Annabelle.

His Annabelle.  His daughter whom He destined from before the very foundations of the world were laid to live right here and right now.  The girl I call mine, who is also His.  His in love and wonder.  Here for specific works laid out for her in advance.  His display of redemption, grace and mercy.  His righteousness living in her.  Our Heavenly Father, who calls us both His daughters, and yet gives one to another as mother and daughter.

I have stored this away.  This treasure I've long known that she is also coming to learn.  In the learning comes understanding.

"I was born in Hangzhou, China."  

It is easy to hear this so many ways.  My daughter hears in through the lens of heaven.  And that changes everything.

Now TOOTH this

Church is a wholly place.

Yep.  I meant that.

It is surely holy, as it is a place God's people meet and wherever we go we bring the Lord.  So in that sense, church is a holy place.

If you are Anna, you also make it wholly.  Multiple times.  Whole-y.

Do you see that gaping hole?

Scratch that.  Those gaping holes?!

Last night at Faithtrek, Anna lost a tooth!  This is the second time she's lost a tooth on Wednesday night. Her small group leader, the wonderous Carla, was laughing so hard.

 Isn't she lovely?  There are numerous spaces for some sparkly new teeth grown-up teeth to grow into.

But, wait!  That's not all!

Because yesterday Luke also lost a tooth!  His first molar. 

The tooth fairy had a really big night at our house last night.   

We were dearly hoping that another incredibly loose, hanging-on-by-not-much tooth might emerge from another customer's cute mouth...but alas.  

  

That tooth right there in the center? It's time has come.  

I have no idea how she is eating.  It protrudes straight out it is so loose.  The new tooth is already growing in behind it.  

That tooth has exactly eleven days to leave...or it is going to get yanked before surgery on Valentine's Day.  Yikes!

Hey Emma's front tooth, consider this an official eviction notice.  Time to go bye-bye!

solace

Tonight, after a long and wearying day in my head, Anna walked into the kitchen where I sat with my few tears talking to Jim.

Truth be told, I cried enough that my eyes were red-rimmed, even if the tears were dry in that moment.

Anna looked at me and asked why I was crying.  And I answered honestly.

I told her I was sad and tired.

She just wrapped her arms around me and held on.

So nurturing and dear, that embrace.

Comfort


Daughter to mother.

I received that hug like a long, cold drink of water to a thirsty, parched throat.

I drank in her tenderness to me, and felt my heart melt right back to her.

This hard-won love.  The long journey of our mother-daughter dance, reminding me of what is because of what was.

And now I find myself again taming a gazelle.  Watching, waiting, patiently wooing.  Persevering.

Today my heart ached for the weariness of it all.  And God kept reminding me to keep on.  To not grow weary of doing right.  To press in and press on.  This is what He called me to.  This most precious of all journeys.

The walk to my daughter's heart.

In Anna's hug came a sustenance not just from her, but from the Lord.  He reminded me this hard way isn't just for Emma, it is for my sanctification, too.  It is my road also.   And he's entrusted a treasure to me, not because I'm not good enough to be her mom so it is so hard, but because it is so hard that He asked me.

It makes me cry to even type those words.  Because enough isn't how I've felt as of late.  I'm playing bad tapes in my head and they are not from the Lord.  They are laments that are not true.  And enough of that is enough of that.

Hard is fine, but spinning hard off into another place about ability and worth as a mother is not.

Her arms ministered love to me for Him.  I long to capture that moment and hold onto the feeling.  Somehow writing it here makes it an official record, doesn't it?

The love of a child.  What a beautiful thing.

Anna remembers her verses

We missed church last night. Anna, however, was determined to receive credit for her memory verses for the week. Being a true 21st century gal, she asked us to video her with our phones and send it to Carla on Facebook.

When I was seven I don't think I even knew how to turn on the record player.

All that techno savvy aside, how cute is Anna banana?!

CHINA! TRAVEL APPROVAL!

WE HAVE T.A.!
travel approval
permission to go
permission to get her
dates to depart we will know on Monday!


We leave on either October 6 or the 13th.
OH MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS!

Thank you, Lord, for your perfect provision, perfect timing and for holding us ALL right in the palm of your hand.

Ready!

Mom: "Anna, are you ready?  It's time to go!"

Anna: "Mom, 'Ready' is my middle name!"

That's my daughter!  A total gamer, ready to roll!

Paul Revere had nothing on her!

crowns, monograms and true confessions

Northern girl.  Born and bred.

Northern girls do not put large bows in their daughter's hair.  Nor do we curl, tease or grow their hair out to extreme lengths.  Nails are best left clipped short with clear polish, and ears are absolutely not pierced until 12.  Makeup?  On a child.  NO WAY.  Now I'm not saying my countrymen down south are part of those types of choices.  Well, except the hair bow deal.  Southern girls love them a big ole bow in the littles hair!  Up here, we go for a clip.  Cute, but a clip nonetheless.  Variety, the spice of the salad bowl (since the melting pot is out).

Scandinavian work ethic, sensible behavior, thoughtfulness and keeping things modest and quiet are watchwords of the north.  True north.  At least my version of true north (minus all the times I wasn't quiet).

There are aspects of what I refer to as "southern" that I have to say, with all honesty, I covet.  Maybe even yearn for.  The north could use a bit of gentility from our southern friends on occasion.  Some occasions.

Ask my Mom.  I am sure she recalls me practicing a southern accent anytime my aunt Marlys visited.  Alabama twang.  Virginia has its own melody.  Ah, so slow and thick, just like their sweet tea.

The accent is a fun accessory.  Which leads us to the "sayings".  I learned early on that "bless your heart" could actually have two meanings.  Not saying anyone ever blessed my heart the second way, however.  If your heart has been blessed the second way, keep in mind that it can be said in loving pity, not just righteous scorn.  There is power in the rendering of the word "ma'am" when said in southernese.  Truly.  Attend to the phrase "y'all" sometime, and it is so much nicer than the northern version of "guys".  As my aforementioned Mother likes to say, "I am no guy".

All that said, let me take you to the pinacle of southern gentility: the monogram.

Sigh with me.

Does it get any better?  A sweet Sunday dress for your little girl, with a personalized letter embroidered in swirling script front and center.  Crisp white-linen bedpillows with a soft blue monogram.  Starched napkins.  Shimmering silver flatware.  Monogrammed.

Oh, friends.  The loveliness.

Knowing how I covet the monogram, there is something slightly wrong with the fact that both of my daughters have four initials.  AEJS and EKYS.  Not possible for the traditional three letter monogram.
Whatever.  There is nothing wrong with a single initial.  Or what about a name?  Embroidered Emblazoned front and center on a coming-home dress (for instance).

You see where I am going now, don't you?

I have a friendship with Etsy.  If you don't know what Etsy is, you need to click on that link RIGHT NOW.  Yep, see you in eight hours.

Recently, two packages arrived at my front door.  They are harbingers of travel, and returning home!  Both contained goods that perhaps render me grafted in as a southern belle- on a small scale.  Nothing in them for those three racuous boys who grace our lives, for which I know they are thankful.  Because nestled inside, awaiting their debut on two sweet black-haired, brown-eyed girls were darling things.  Dah'lin, in southern.

Behold, the cuteness!

I love, love, love the embroidered initials and adorable embroidered name that arrived at my doorstep.  And I cannot wait to see my sweet Emma Kate in her new dress.  Or her "coming home shirt" that matches her sisters!  Her big sisters! :)

A little girls northern version of the monogram.  Minus the other initials.  Because that's how we roll.  

Love from way up north!  

Bears and Tigers and...goats? Oh, my!

Let's go to the zoo, zoo, zoo...

And you can come too, too, too...

With Cooper and Jeb gone at church camp, we decided to head out on a fun excursion.

It's been a long time since we visited the Minnesota Zoo, and we had a great time together!  

It was the three of us, and a lot of HOT animals.  Tigers, bears, camels, antelope, asian cows.  Lots to see! Unless you count all the animals submerged in murky green water waiting for dusk to arrive.  They were bumming, I'm telling you.  HOT animals!

 I won't bore you with Luke and Anna's animal shots.  Especially since I always make snarky comments about people who photograph the animals standing there bored in their "environments".  I know.  I'm sarcastic that way.  But really, what in the world are you going to do with animal photos once you are home?  

For us, the highlight was...(don't laugh now, we're city folk)

We had a ball.  Petting, snuggling, grooming.  The mennonite people who arrived at the farm in the same wagon load of people as us seemed a bit confused.  I think they might have thought we were a bit loony to come to a zoo to see...farm animals.  

As a girl who has always harbored quiet dreams of pygmy goats, I was in heaven.  Those goats are so cute.  And we learned they are mighty closely related to sheep, too.  Who knew?  Probably you did, but we didn't.  No wonder Scripture references sheep and goats together.  I'm sad the goats aren't coming along in that illustration.  I find them much cuter.  And if I had to chose, I'd want to be a goat.  Unless I"m in that illustration.  In that case I'll be a sheep.

But I digress.  

Here's how it all looked at the end of the visit, after four hours in broiling heat

Mighty fun!

Cooper and Jeb return today.  Luke and I head out on Sunday for camp.  Pray for us!  Pray for me!  I'm on staff and leading 130 campers to know, love and follow Jesus.  It is such a fun week.  I really look forward to it, and love seeing God at work in all those kids.  Beautiful.

Emma Kate, we can't wait for the day we sweat it out with you at the zoo.  And we long to laugh at camels wading in water and gasp at the majesty of the leopard as it leaps down a tree trunk.  WITH YOU.  

Time's flying by!  We'll be there SOON.

Day 3, hour .5

8am.  Slept in until 8am.  Seriously vacation time.

Usually Jim and I are true early birds.  For me, it is carrying the Taylor torch.  And Grandpa DeBoer's habits, minus the 6am call to check on the weather! Early birds all over the place on my family tree.

Coffee.  With Cooper.

Luke wearing Pa's Hamline sweatshirt for the second day in a row.  Wearing it because it is Pa's.  And Luke is President of the fan club.  Quote of the day yesterday, "Pa is the the best skiier ever".  Um, it is summer and no one else was even talking about skiing.  For Luke, it all comes back to Pa.

The weather up here in northern Wisconsin is so glorious.  The sky last night over the lake as the sun dropped down over the horizon was breathtaking.  We all agreed it looked like a postcard it was so perfect.  It felt fake!  The sky is a light summer blue in the days with puffy cotton ball clouds that occasionally whiz by.  Quick, cheerful clouds.  The water shimmers in the sun.  It reminds me of 30 years of summer up here.  All I need is my sister, a boom box, a diet coke and some spf 4 with lemon juice in my hair and I'd be 15 again.

I wish my camera would download pictures to this computer.  And somehow I just know the pictures would not do the beauty of this place justice!  Perhaps the fact that this may well be our last summer here has me taking note of each day and treasuring it away in my heart.  Lake Tahkodah has been a sweet gift for our family.  We are grateful for each and every year.

Cooper is now down fishing at the lake.  Jeb is in the bunk house reading in bed (a boy after his mom's heart!).  Luke and Anna are rustling around for breakfast.  And that must mean my post is surely done.

Emma Kate, what are you doing now?  It's night where you are and I imagine you tucking in for the night.  Bless your sleep, in Jesus name, my sweet one.  I can't wait to look at the sky with you, see the morning arrive with you here in our home, and feel the warm weight of you in my arms in the summer sun.

Love from the cabin,
Sara

crayons don't lie

Anna and I are coloring this afternoon.  Princess pictures.  Luke is working, instead, on an architectural rendering of a home with a deck and an aviary.  Interesting.

My picture features a prince and princess, festooned in their finery and bedecked in color.  There is a rainbow (because every princess picture needs a rainbow) with swirly clouds and a heart in the background.  The prince and princess clearly love each other.  Their hands are clasped together, and their cheeks are lightly flushed with a tinge of pink.  True love, storybook style.

Anna looked at my page and remarked, "Mom, that looks like you and Dad.  Except that princess has really long hair and yours is all short now."

Oh, to see myself through my daughter's eyes!

Then she went back to coloring.  Suddenly she's bouncing up and down in her chair and clapping her hands.

"Mom!  I know!  You should bring that picture to China with you and show it to Emma.  Then she will know how much you and Dad love each other and what good parents you will be.  It will make her feel really good."

Crayons don't lie.

7 years old!

Happy birthday, Anna Elaine Juan!

You are a treasure and we love you!
What a weekend we had celebrating together doing some of your favorite things, like...

turtle hunting at the cabin

canoeing with Daddy and Luke

cartwheels!
















brotherly love...

another step to completing the bedroom for you and Emma Kate (new bedding!)

Look how much you've grown in the five years since we met you!  

This is our first picture together, on June 6, 2005.

You were the bravest little girl, sweet Anna

Watching you embrace life, grow in love, and seeing the joy with which you greet each day is a gift to our family.  

We have a family tradition of going around the dinner table and sharing things about the birthday girl/boy that we especially love/appreciate about them.  

Anna, this year you were able to not only hear those words of celebration and love with your mind, but drink them in to your heart.  Seeing your shy smile and sparking eyes as we each recounted the special ways we see God working in and through you was like water to my soul.  There were long years of planting, and I see a harvest in you now!  Your solemnness as we spoke blessing over you was a beautiful picture of you acknowledging the truth of our words for your life.  Your eyes, shimmery because they were filled with tears, showed your Daddy and me how very far we all have come together.

You are a blessing, Anna.  A precious, beautiful blessing to us.  And we are profoundly grateful to the Lord, for His call and hand in forming our family.  

You were purposed from before the very foundations of the world were laid.  And God took care of you from before the beginning.  We stand witness to the mountains He moved on your behalf.  And mountains they were!  Your life is a testimony to His glory and His protection, His lovingkindness and His deep affection toward you.  We will recount His name to you forevermore, Anna Elaine Juan.  

"For the Lord your God is with you, Anna.  

HE is mighty to save,

He takes GREAT delight in you,

He quiets you with His love,

He dances and sings over you as on a day of festival"

                                       - Zephaniah 3:17 (paraphrased)

And we join Him in the dance. 

With all our love and then more,

Momma and Daddy