Baby Jackets, Raspberry Jam, and Cousins!

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Today was a great day! For starters Laurel and I made a batch of raspberry jam and the whole house smelled of summer. Ohhh..it was just delightful! Then we had a wonderful unexpected visit from our cousins who moved away to Seattle last December. So we drank tea and ate cookies while catching up on all the latest news and holding adorable Brinna. :) She has grown so much since the last time I saw her it was almost like a different baby! We really enjoyed getting to see them again. Finally, this evening Laurel and I finished two sewing projects that we started last week. We found this cute baby jacket pattern at a fabric store in Olympia and knew that we had to make some. It just so happens that a family we know is due to have twins any day now, so we decided to get a sewin'. We think they turned out marvelously and we will certainly use the pattern again. Ohh...what a day!

18 Years of Richly Blessed Life!

Last Tuesday was my 18th birthday. I have been so richly blessed in the past years with a wonderful family and a sovereign, merciful, gracious God who loves me even though I am a horrible sinner. Praise God for his blood that washes us white as snow. I had a lovely day on the 17th. My sweet mama and sisters made me a delectable breakfast of apricot, white chocolate and pecan scones, scrambled eggs, bacon, fruit salad and tea. Yes, it was so good! Later Laurel and I went to Olympia and did a little shopping, mostly just window shopping but we had a great time and managed to find four chic skirts at a small second-hand store. We were truly pleased with our finds! Afterward, we met up with Stephen, Paige, Pear and Jovie at a coffee shop and munched on a some of the world's greatest chocolate chip cookies that Paige so graciously made. :) Meanwhile, back at home, mama started to whip up what was going to be one of the best dinners I have ever had. The scrumptious aromas of Coq au vin, Anna's pommes, and lightly roasted asparagus lead me to the table with great anticipation of what I was about to indulge myself in. For dessert we relished a tart tartin with a spoonful of devonshire cream on top. Yum! It was a delightful meal and oh so satisfying. And to top the day off, the sun was particularly golden and the sky was a silken blue all day long. Thank you Lord for 18 years of abundant life!

My new sophisticated look...

Yep...I am visually impaired when it comes to reading. I had been having a terrible time reading lately. My eyes couldn't focus properly and after just a few short minutes my eyes would hurt something awful. So to the eye doctor I went and sure enough I now own a pair of glasses. And now everyone is telling me that I look just like Sarah Palin. I am not sure that I agree. What do you think?

Iced Coffee, Fresh Bread and Sunshine!

'Tis so sweet to slurp an iced coffee on a sunny day. I was overwhelmed with a wonderful warmth as I sat outside drinking my iced coffee yesterday. I was sitting there lost in the moment and realizing how blessed I am to live in this country, this state, this city, this house and in this family. Thank you Lord for this wonderful day! This wonderful day that you ordained long before I was born. Enjoy the sunshine ya'll!

I have been baking a lot of bread lately( You all should be baking your own bread as well if you can, it is so much cheaper! And, might I add, so much tastier! :)) and decided to take some pictures of the tasty loaves while they were cooling. So enjoy, after all, most people eat with there eyes!

Happy Birthday Mom and Stephen!

Praise the Lord for the beautiful weather! We celebrated TWO birthdays yesterday, Mom and Stephen. Stephen is 25 now and Mom is 49. Stephen made mushroom crostini for an appetizer and everyone pitched in on dinner which consisted of a full-fledged thanksgiving meal. Yep...turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, biscuits, cranberries, salad and let us not forget the family's favorite, grandma's green bean casserole. :) We also enjoyed a pumpkin and a pecan pie. It was so delicious! I am so blessed to be a part of such a great family. We laughed often and immensely enjoyed each others company.

Today we took a walk up at Sam Benn park while we soaked up a little sunshine. It felt so good. I am really looking forward to Summer. Here are some pictures of the past couple of days.

Time is Flying!

I realize as I am sitting here that I have not posted in over 5 weeks! Yikes! I have not purposely neglected posting but it was just further down on the list of things to do. So without any further ado- here is an update of the last month.

-We had about 50 people for Christmas Eve at our house. Yes...we were all squashed in like sardines in a tin can but we had a blast. We played lots of games, ate food (we never, let me repeat, NEVER lack in the food department, and enjoyed my favorite people: My Wonderful Family! We had one of the best Christmas' ever.

-On New Years Day Mom, Laurel and I drove up to Bellingham to go skiing, the first time since I was 8 years-old, with our cousins. Friday morning we woke early donning on our warmest of clothes. My wonderful Aunt Tammie made us breakfast sandwiches and packed us a picnic lunch. And then we were off! Well to Starbucks that is. No trip to the freezing mountains would be complete without coffee! We finally arrived to Mount Baker and got a wonderful parking spot (not too hard to do when you are the second car there!) Before I new it I was on the ski lift and climbing into the sparkling white sky. I was rather scared but Trevor assured me it would be no problem. I tried to tell him I didn't even know how to snow plow he just said I would be fine. Needless to say the first trip down the mountain was interesting. I spent most of the time on the ground skis in the air. I became more accustomed to the way skiing worked and eventually I could go for a while. Although, I never made it all the way down without falling at least once. We had a great day and when we arrived home cold and exhausted our wonderful sisters had a scrumptious meal for us. Thank you Lord for Sisters!

- After returning home from Bellingham I sewed a dress and packed my bags. I was heading to Texas for the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival with Amy Ellen and Cassie. We had a magnificent time and it was so encouraging to be around others girls with similar visions and hopes. God is so good to me! I really enjoyed meeting new people and soaking up the Texan sun. I will post some pics soon of this trip.

And now I am home and studying hard. I am currently working on 6 chapters in Luke.
Have a blessed day,
Claire

Great Verse...

Melina wrote this verse on a piece of paper yesterday and posted it on the fridge. It really hits home.

1st Thessalonians 4:11,12

Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands...so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependant on anybody.