Rudolph's Ornie Giveaway!

Well it just so happens that we have come upon my very favorite time of year! It is my favorite season, my favorite holiday, my favorite birthday...I love Christmas!!!!

The cards are written, stamped, and addressed. The hot chocolate is spiked (for Mommy, that is). The gifts for family are purchased. Santa has made his list, checked it twice..And tonight I have it on good authority that he is going out with Mrs. Claus for a final shopping spree while the bugs stay at home with Mommy's dear friend, Renee.

So what better way to celebrate with all of you than to have a GIVEAWAY?!

So here's how this one is going to work:

I have stitched and finished 3 small reindeer ornaments. Among the three is the most famous of all reindeer, Rudolph himself with his big, bright, red nose!



Each ornament has been wrapped and designated a number. Cuddle Bug specified which number Rudolph should be. On Monday, November 30th, Cuddle Bug will draw a name from all the entries received at that point. That person will be notified and will pick a number. The following day, another person will be drawn and they will pick a number from the remaining two. And on the third day, the final person will be drawn and will receive the final ornament.


But there's a twist. Rudolph, being Santa's most prized reindeer, will arrive to his new home with a special Christmas gift. He picked up a Just Nan Christmas Needle Slide at his LNS a few weeks ago and is excited to personally escort it to it's new home.


All three ornaments will be mailed at the same time and the winners will not know if they got Rudolph or not until their ornie arrives at its destination.

All you have to do to be included in the drawing is comment on this post and LEAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS if it is not on your blog profile. You are welcome to spread the news on your own blog, but it is not a requirement of entry. All readers, old and new, worldwide are welcome to enter. The drawing will start on November 30th. You may enter anytime up until the third and final name is drawn.

Hugs and happy stitchy wishes to everyone!

BIG HUGS! and a Giveaway

I don't even know what to say. Thank you from the very bottom of my heart for all your love, prayers, support, and hugs! I have been counting you all among my abundance of blessings the past few days. I cannot even tell you in words just how much it meant to me. I tried to respond to each and every one of your comments to extend my thanks. I could not reply to all as some do not accept replies. So to those of you I could not respond to directly, thank you thank you thank you. I am overwhelmed with all your support!

Grandpa passed Friday evening. I could not be there as I had to be home with the kids. The hospital was asking healthy kids to stay away due to the H1N1. I don't think CuddleBug would have handled it well anyway. But I was home with them so that DH could be at the hospital with his grandfather and his family.

I can say that the time I did get to spend in the hospital with Grandpa was incredible! It really makes you think about your life and your priorities and what you want for yourself when you are living out your last moments. Grandpa's very best friend, Sister Suzanne (a wonderful nun and family friend), has been helping the dying through their last hours for 40+ years. She said very sincerely last night as everyone gathered to pray the Rosary that she had never seen so many people, so much love, and so much faith in one room in all those 40 years. This family is amazing, and everyone's love for one another and their love for Grandpa is an inspiration! He didn't live his life for wealth or material goods. He lived his life for Jesus Christ and for family. Nothing made him more joyful than to celebrate the mass daily, to welcome a new baby into the family, or to have any excuse to get as many family members together as possible! I hope I will have that much love around me when I'm dying. But you don't get that by living for stuff. Stuff doesn't hold vigil by your hospital bed for 48 hours. It doesn't weep when you are lifted up to God. Stuff doesn't care. And Grandpa didn't care about stuff. Though Grandpa was blessed with financial freedom, he gave as much away as he could to charity and to family. There is currently a senior housing project under construction in Dardenne Prairie, MO that is being build on land Grandpa donated to the archdiocese. That complex will be named St. William Apartments (St. William being Grandpa's namesake). Every Christmas Eve Grandpa had a wrapped gift for every single one of his children, their spouses, his grandchildren and their spouses, and his great-grandchild in addition to a cash gifts for all as well. Grandpa sent grandkids to college when their parents couldn't afford it, and he donated as much as he could every year to charity - sometimes exceeding one million dollars (though he never talked about it, he was unbelievably humble). When John and I were in a bind after we moved to St Louis and we had trouble with housing arrangements, Grandpa let us stay rent free in a house he usually rented out. Grandpa lived his life in service to God and in service to everyone around him. And that is why the people in his hospital room poured out into the hallway, and his grandchildren all over the world caught the first flights home as soon as word got out that he was going to Jesus.

The world is not going to be the same without him and his incredible generosity. But there are now well over 40 grandchildren that will carry on his spirit of laughter, life, love, faith, and generosity. That's a pretty big impact for one person to have. I hope I will have half that impact on the world.

I apologize if my entry is heavy. My heart is heavy. And these are the things that are on my mind.

I am going to leave you with info for a giveaway. Because I hate to think I'm leaving anyone else with a heavy heart. So...

There is a fun giveaway here for some lovely quilting goodies. I am getting into quilting (because I really have so much time for another craft *sarcasm*) and I am hoping to get my hands on one of these goodies!! Maybe you will too!

Huge hugs to everyone! I promise my next entries won't be so somber. Stay tuned, because I have a giveaway of my very own coming up!

Thank you for your prayers!!!!!!!
(((HUGS)))

For the sake of His Sorrowful Passion...

...have mercy on us and on the whole world.

I don't usually talk about hugely personal stuff on here aside from a little bragging about my kids. And I don't talk about my faith for fear of turning people off. But I'm going to go ahead and just say a few things. 'Cause this is my blog and I'll cry if I want to.

Right now one of the most incredible men I've ever known is in a hospital room taking his last breaths surrounded by loved ones. My husband's grandfather is passing away. He's not expected to last more than a few hours at this point. He is 82 years old. Father of 9. The youngest of those 9 kids was 2 when he was widowed. He has 40 some-odd grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren (3 of whom are still baking in their mama's ovens). He is the single most generous person I've ever known. And he will be sorely missed. It is no exaggeration to say that Grandpa is the patriarch of my husband's extended family. I don't know what everyone will do without him.

This is the man who delivered me to Jesus Christ. Seeing him walk in the light, seeing him so faith-filled and grace-filled and consumed with the Holy Spirit is what made me say "I want what he's having!" He is fed by Christ. So while there is a river of tears swelling up all around our family right now, there is comfort in knowing that Grandpa is certain to inherit the Kingdom.

I know some of you are Catholic, and you may recognize the line in my heading from the Divine Mercy Chaplet. If anyone thinks about it or is so inclined, I would be ever so grateful to anyone who would want to pray a Divine Mercy Chaplet or just pray as your heart desires for my husband's grandfather William Erker, Sr. and his family. We are overwhelmed with grief.

I leave you with a picture from LadyBug's baptism this past summer. That's me with the sweet baby in the middle. And that's Grandpa down in front on the right. He never missed a graduation, a wedding, a first Holy Communion, a baptism, an anything. And all those other people in the picture...well that's the love that he and we are surrounded by! That is a tiny fraction of DH's extended family (and my sister among them) - the ones that could come to witness LadyBug's baptism.



I'm sorry to unload my sadness here. I just thought it never hurts to reach out and ask for prayers at a time like this. You are all so wonderful.

Edited to add: Grandpa passed at about 5:40 pm St. Louis time. He was surrounded by family singing hymns and praying together. Thank you all for your prayers and your comforting words. I cannot even express how wonderful they have been to hear.

Still On Cloud 9 over My First Exchange

What a week! After being sick last week, this week I had 2 huge midterm exams. I was completely overloaded this week. Has anyone else been forced to take statistics? Wow! That is an intense class!

But now here it is Saturday morning...the exams are behind me. Cuddle Bug is curled up on the couch watching Miffy and Friends on PBS and LadyBug is upstairs taking her mid-morning nap. The floors - that shamefully have been neglected for 2 weeks - have been swept and vacuumed. No more stale Cheerios on the rug under the table for LadyBug to be stuffing into her mouth when I turn my back for a split second (did I mention she's "crawling" now...it's really more of a butt scoot but she's very good at it). Now I can exhale.

Ahhhhhhhh.

So now I can mention that I am still absolutely living on cloud 9 over my exchange from Ranae! That was one of the most fun things I have done in a long time! Milling over charts, picking out just the right thing to stitch and deciding how to finish it. Picking out fun things to keep the exchange piece company in the box during it's travels. It was an absolute blast! And then there's the excitement, the anticipation of finding a box on your doorstep! Oh my gosh...it is fantastic!!!

Of course I forgot to get a picture of my piece before I taped the box shut. Wouldn't you know? It wouldn't have been right if my first exchange went perfectly. So I had to make at least one amateur mistake, right?! So there you go, no picture. But fortunately Ranae took a wonderful picture and has kindly given me permission to post it to my blog.



This is part of Tanya's Quaker Boo freebie she posted last year. I have wanted to do this one since she posted it. I went back and forth over this and a Bent Creek design. I really wanted to do this chart, but I couldn't decide if it's poor exchange etiquette to use a freebie chart or not. It was my favorite since I thought it would make the most interesting finish, so I went for it anyway. Anyone want to set me straight on this? Anyway, I did the large octagon motif over 2. Then I stitched 4 slightly varied versions of the pumpkin motif over 1 and hung those from the bottom 4 corners of the octagon. I put mine and Ranae's initials on the back along with the year. My pillow ornament finishing wasn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination. But Ranae didn't seem to mind.

Ranae, thank you so much for offering to exchange with me! I had so much fun doing this with you! You are wonderful! My flatfold from you is gracing my living room window sill, and I seriously can't help but smile every time I see it!

Hugs for Ranae and all the amazing stitchers out there who continue to inspire and support me in my stitching adventures :)

My First Exchange!

After a rough week - everyone in the house was sick except DH - I had a very exciting pick-me-up!

Ranae and I had arranged to do a personal Halloween exchange, and look at the amazing lovelies that came in the mail for me!!



I couldn't have dreamed of a more incredible exchange! I have been walking on cloud nine over receiving this! Thank you Ranae for such a sweet package!! This is my first flatfold and I'm going to use it as a reference to try one this finish myself. Isn't it darling? And look at that trim! So festive! The little stickers walked off in the hands of my 3-year-old, so he keeps calling the package "our Halloween package." What a goober! And check out that scissor fob! Isn't it fantastic?! This was so much fun!!!

Ranae's package from me is in the mail finally. It's off to it's new home. I have to admit, my exchange pales in comparison to the beautiful package she put together for me. I just hope she has as much fun getting her package from me as I did getting mine from her :)