My Deliverer

But I am poor and needy,

yet the Lord thinketh upon me;

Thou art my help and my deliverer;

make no tarrying, O my God.

Psalm 40:17

PearlKeeper created this picture, inscribed it with the accompanying Bible verse, and gave it to her dance instructors in memory of their last production History: My Deliverer for a Christmas gift. This is an illustration of the dance they did to Rich Mullins' My Deliverer.

Here are quite a few professional photos that were taken of the show.

We are so blessed that God has used this production to touch lives. They are getting many requests to come perform, some even from across the country. We are also blessed to have studio owners/professional dance instructors who have a vision for using dance to reach people for God. I would have never thought my daughters would be dancers but this studio's vision and commitment to modesty has opened the door for the children to minister in this way.

In the past, I would be too humble to invite strangers to come to a dance recital but this last production was different. The message was so powerful and the kids were incredible!! They made the stories come alive, not only with their professionalism, but their heart to worship. During the last show, the people could barely contain themselves. It was as if they were trying their best to stay in their seats. Several times many would stand and lift their hands in worship.

Pertinent scripture verses were read between numbers with great background music from the soundtrack of The Passion. There were so many beautiful and touching numbers beginning with My Deliverer when we see the Israelites in bondage waiting for their Deliverer. Jesus' birth, his childhood, the miracles in You Raise Me Up, especially when he raises the girl from the dead (I can't tell you how many times that one made me cry, even in practice!). The garden of Gethsemene when the powers of darkness battle Jesus' spirit and the crucifixion to Third Day's Thief!!! The climax is Arise My Love (we call it the stick dance) when Jesus comes out after he's risen from the tomb. The professional lighting, the live singers, the fog machine....it was incredible! But it didn't end there -- there was the Day of Pentecost to Third Day's Consuming Fire and ending with The Days of Elijah as the grand finale with the whole cast.

I wish all of you could see it!!

Please pray for the studio as it pursues fund raising. The shows are very expensive to do with the lighting and crew needed. The family running the studio does not make a profit. They try to keep the dance lessons affordable because most of their clients are students in homeschooling families, who are living off of the income of one parent. Many of the families have more than one child taking lessons. They are not doing this to make money, but to follow God in their vision for taking back the arts.

BLOCHhead's First Felt Dolls

First Annual Lazy Day

If you had walked up to our front door or screenroom door yesterday you would have found this notice:

Enter at Your Own Risk:

December 27, 2005

Is hereby declared

LAZY DAY

We can not be responsible

for the condition of said house or the

inhabitants thereof.

Inhabitants may be found playing games, drinking hot

chocolate or just sitting around talking and laughing.

No work is allowed, including washing dishes or picking up

anything until after 4pm.

First there were puzzles and games...

Then we made snacks and watched movies - the newer version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory & Muppet's Treasure Island...

Here's evidence of how LAZY everyone was. So all in all, I'd say the day was a success!

This Year's Handmade Christmas Gifts

I received a new digital camera from my dear Mr. Potts, who drew my name in the present exchange. Boy did I luck out! He said it felt like cheating to draw his own wife's name. No, it's not handmade but it is the means of posting these wonderful pictures!

I drew BLOCHhead's name this Christmas. Well, actually, I cheated and never put her name into the drawing because I wanted to bless her this year. I wanted to give her the hope chest I had as a girl and fill it with several handmade items along with some other special purchases.

While I was crocheting this afghan, I had not mentioned who it was for, when BLOCHhead said, "Oh, I love this! It looks like the ocean. You should give this to me!" I was so excited she liked it. I just murmured something unintelligible and kept working.


I made two of these doilies to add to her hope chest. This was one of the few times I have worked with this kind of thread and one of those tiny needles. I was discouraged to see many finished items like this at Hobby Lobby for a dollar or two. But at least she will always remember I made them by hand.







Here are a couple of the of dishcloths from the stack I made.











AdventureQueen made this afghan for her uncle. I was very proud of her work because this kind of fuzzy yarn is difficult to work with.











I made this afghan for Grandpa but Tigger earned the money for the yarn. I don't know why looks like it is misshapen in this photo. He got a matching scarf also. This yarn was very light and soft.








As you can see, we've been quite busy recently. I also crocheted at baby blanket and bonnet for baby Sarah and a handful of scarves. I bought some camouflage yarn this year and have been making scarves for the boys to match their camo-overalls. A neighbor boy was admiring them one day so he got one too and I'm almost finished with the last one for a cousin.

All of the girls have been crocheting too. Some evenings we will all be sitting around the living room with our yarn and hooks. PearlKeeper has begun her first baby afghan to add to her hope chest. It's been such a pleasure to pass this art on.

My Own Little Corner of the World

I love this cozy chair, right next to the fireplace. This is where I read, crochet and drink my coffee.

Since I love natural lighting, this is the best place to sit. In this chair, I can have enought light to read in the morning when the rest of the room is still too dark. The kids make fun of me because I hate artificial lights. I can often be found wandering the house in the last moments of twilight, trying to squeeze every last minute out of the day by waiting as long as possible before turning on the lights.

Merry Christmas!

These are my sister's children and mine with Grandma and Grandpa, who are quite the troopers to invite all of us into their home for over twenty four hours straight!! We had lots of food and fun. Everyone is home tonight feeling very blessed!

Merry Christmas to all of you from all of us at Shadybrook Acres!

Tidings of Comfort and Joy

The girls baked some goodies to pass out to a few of our neighbors and went out yesterday morning to deliver them. Among the goodies were pumpkin bread, sugar cookies, both white and chocolate fudge and white chip walnut cookies. The peppermint candies were a failure of sorts and didn't make the cut.

One sweet old lady told them they had "purty teeth" and admonished them to take care of them while they had 'em. Gotta love livin' in the country!

The Third Book is Out!

For those of you who don't already know, PearlKeeper is illustrating the twelve book series, Grandmother's Hope Chest. The Button Jar, the third book in the series is now in print. You can go to the author's website, Hope Chest Legacy, and order all three books and many other adorable and useful items for your young maidens. (I love the cute sewing tins!! ) Vision Forum also carries the first two books and I'm sure will add the third by the time the next catalog goes out.
Here is our own PearlKeeper at a Young Authors Conference last spring signing books for some young girls. There were two authors and two illustrators chosen for the conference and PearlKeeper was one of the illustrators. After the conference we had a nice luncheon with the other author/illustrators, one of them being Valerie Tripp, author of the many of the American Girl books. This was very exciting and it almost landed her a job illustrating for Ms. Tripp but in the end it was decided that PearlKeeper's style did not exactly fit the new book Ms. Tripp had in mind.

Paper Nativity Scene

The kids are busy coloring and cutting out this cute nativity scene. Someone on the Ambleside email list posted this link. I know it's last minute but I thought some of you might still be able to squeeze it in.

Update: Here's the finished product:

The Old Books

I had saved this quote and found it floating in the stack of papers that sit by my computer awaiting the sorting process. Thankfully, I now have this blog so I have somewhere to put these miscellaneous thoughts and quotes!

"There is a strange idea abroad that in every subject the ancient books should be read only by professionals, and that the amateur should content himself with the modern books....Naturally, since I myself am a writer, I do not wish the ordinary reader to read no modern books. But if he must read only the new or only the old, I would advise him to read the old....

It is a good rule, after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between. If that is too much for you, you should at least read one old one to every three new ones....

We all need books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period.

And that means the old books. We may be sure that the characteristic blindness of the twentieth century....lies where we have never suspected it...None of us can fully escape this blindness...The only palliative is to keep the clean sea breeze of the centuries blowing through our minds, and this can be done only by reading old books."

C. S. Lewis


This puts me in mind of the "politically correct" version of history that our young people are being force fed today. When you read the words of George Washington, Columbus and even Abraham Lincoln you get a different picture than what is currently being set forth. For example, with the Civil War you may not realize that there is such a complexity of issues if you don't read the old books. There is an adage that "the victors write the history books" and the other side is not easily discovered if you don't dig back into the past. Whether you end up agreeing with one side or the other is not as important as realizing there was another side that has arguments worth considering.

Also, this thought hit home when writing this post on virtuous maidens. If you only read modern books you will not discover the "blindness" of our modern mindset. You could easily assume that the dating-and-rejection-of-fatherly-protection way of thinking is the way it always has been. You will not realize the inroads that have been made by feminism and the destruction that has come along with them if you don't read the old books.

Even very popular Christian leaders promote modern ideas, maybe unwittingly, by advising parents to just be patient, it is normal for teenagers to withdraw and find their own way in the world. They say to just give them unconditional love and they will come back. Just like the terrible two's doctrine. Parents are taught to expect tantrums and utter selfishness from their toddlers. Many find it astonishing that small children can be taught to sit still for hours and quietly entertain themselves...they think the idea of Children's Church is a new one. Those of us who have rejected these new ideas know how rare we must be when we go into public and are consistently stopped and praised for our children's behavior. The elderly often speak to us as if we take them back to another time when it was common for children to NOT be running through the restaurant. On the other hand, we are met with a shocked "how do you do it?" attitude from the younger set. Once my sister took her family out to eat and had their meal paid for by an older couple who were strangers that had observed their well-behaved family. More than infusing me with pride, it made me sad that we were so noticeable. I felt sure in older times we would have been considered nothing remarkable.

All of these thoughts and many, many more become evident when you read the old books.

Recommended Reading For Boys

The Common Room has a post listing good books for boys. I have relied on the Headmistress for years for book recommendations and have always been so grateful for her help. She has been one of the few I could turn to who had children older than mine. Thanks to them, my children have not had to be the guinea pigs every time.

To her list, we will add a few more titles that our boys have really enjoyed:

Pinocchio - the original version, NOT Disney's
Peter Pan - ditto above
books by Patricia St. John - get the older unabridged versions
Where the Red Fern Grows
The Princess and the Goblin (don't let the title fool you!)
The Story of Dr. Doolittle

If we think of any others, we will add an update later.

Phonics, Shmonics

TheLittlestPrincess is very resistant to phonics lessons. When any mother of a 5yo tells me this, I advise them to wait until the child is a bit older. I've taught six children to read and they were all ready at different times. Sometimes they are just not ready. Don't force it. There's plenty of time...yada, yada, yada.

Well, this is not the case with our little scholar. She insists on reading. She just doesn't have time to learn her phonograms and the rules about "when two vowels go walking, the first does the talking." I try to casually slip in these little lessons in when possible, but she's not interested in vowels. She is, however, very interested in words. She has been copying words for years already. Once when we were out of town, visiting a relative's church that was meeting in a gym, I looked down and saw that she had copied 'Visitors' and 'Home' from the scoreboard onto the empty spaces of the church bulletin along with her brothers' names and other miscellaneous words she could find.

Tonight, even after two days of fever and only doing better now because of the advil she had 3 hours ago, she was just pestering her father with, "What does N-E- (holding up 3 fingers in the shape of a W - she keeps forgetting the name of this letter) and this say?"

"It says new."

"Read it to me Daddy", as she leans the Reader's Digest book America The Beautiful toward him.

"Although New England is the smallest regional division of the nation..." he reads then grins and says, "Honey, this is a hard book for you."

"I know Daddy, but I can read some words in it."

"Why don't you get an easier book."

"Ok. Mom, can I get my green book?"

Three days ago I took down an old Rod & Staff reader (the green book) that her sisters read when they were little and she is on lesson 23 already and at this very moment is begging her dad to come and listen to her read some more. She wants us near to help her with new words as she comes across them, and she is doing a good job at remembering those words. When we try to give a little phonics instruction along the way, she politely, but with a distinct air of indifference, nods her head.

It's not looking like I am going to get to "teach" her to read. She is not supposed to be able to read 'about' yet. She has never been taught that word and doesn't she realize that I haven't taught her -ou- yet? Where are those flashcards, anyway? I don't think she knows that I have boatloads of reading instruction materials tucked away in bins just waiting for her.

One of our older daughters did something similar to this. She did have some phonics basics but took off on her own by sitting on the couch and calling out the spelling of any word she didn't know but at least she started doing that with the children's picture books, not Reader's Digest America the Beautiful! It's been quite a while since those days, and four children since then who have made teaching reading a hard job requiring large doses of coffee and chocolate to make it through. Maybe this time, God wants to demonstrate His sense of humor. Just when I think I've got this teaching thing down, He gives me a child who doesn't need it!

For years my mother has been snickering and saying, "This one is going to give you a run for your money!" I guess I should have paid a little more attention to that little gleam in her eye each time she made this statement. Grandparents enjoy this kind of thing a little too much!

God's Wife

Funny conversation overheard during kitchen clean up tonight:

5yoLittlestPrincess: "Mary was God's wife, right?"

SmokeyBear: "No, Mary wasn't God's wife. Mary was Jesus' Mom."

LittlestPrincess: "Well, who is God's wife? Everyone has to have a wife or husband!"

BLOCHhead: "All Christians are like God's wife."

LittlestPrincess, with horror: "Even boys???!!"

BLOCHhead, sheepishly: "Yeah. It's kinda weird, isn't it?"

Our Christmas Plans

Another thing I love about where I live is that if you go out the front door, cross the field, take a short walk through the woods down an old logging road and you will come to Grandma & Grandpa's house! (Aren't my kids SO blessed!) Grandma is always close by to ooh and ahh right when you need her to, like when TheLittlestPrincess got her ears pierced a few weeks ago, and Grandpa is always passing out the jelly beans and giving baseball pointers.

How to celebrate Christmas has never been a solid issue around our house. I grew up celebrating it, Mr.Potts' family didn't...druids and all that. So we didn't get a tree, then we did (there was that time we cut down 3 puny trees from the woods and tied them together because we were too cheap to buy one..ha), then we didn't, now we are thinking of getting one again. We're sporadic like that sometimes. Not at all proper to the poor relatives, I know. A short article in World magazine got me thinking it over again. And then there is the DHM's post over at The Common Room and you can find quite a trail from there to many other variations on how Christians celebrate the holiday. One may demand that it be about all about Jesus' birth and another may insist on not connecting that event to it at all. We are too lazy to research the matter for ourselves, or maybe we just don't care enough. So we ride every wind of Christmas doctrine. And this year, the prevailing wind seems to be in favor of celebrating.

Anyway...over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house we go...because that is where we celebrate Christmas. My sister's family and mine come to Grandma's house on Christmas eve packed with jamas and all twelve grandchildren, ready to spend the night. We dress up and take family pictures. Each of the three families bring a favorite meal and we have a marvelous spread! We cook so much so we don't have to the next day, instead we eat all of the yummy leftovers, except for Grandpa's meatballs which never last that long. :(

After we get the kids to bed, we get out the ancient stockings and fill them with goodies. The adults stay up late laughing and talking and drinking coffee and hot chocolate. The kids sleep in the basement where it is quite dark so we don't have to worry about being awakened too early by excited children.

To combat the insanity that would result if we all tried to by each person a present, we draw names so we each have one person to focus on. It is supposed to be a secret but I get so many requests for present ideas I always figure it all out. So, we get up and one at a time starting with the youngest, and open presents. With eighteen people, this makes the gift giving last quite a while because we all enjoy watching other people get their gifts. This year I know Mr. Potts got me and I hear rumor it's a fantastic present??? Though of course, I wouldn't dream of manipulating it out of the children.

After presents comes the stockings. Then we eat breakfast. The rest of the day we lay around (1/2 the time in our pajamas) and play games and do whatever we feel like. We don't have any incredible traditions, we just love to hang out together. Usually Christmas Day eve rolls around and we are still there. Some have even been known to stay a second night.

We are so excited about the gifts we are giving this year. Can't wait to post pictures when it's safe to let the secrets out! Now if we could just get some snow!

Sisters - Does It Get Any Better Than This?

One thing I love about where I live is that if you walk out our screenroom door and up a little rise in the land and then through a path in the woods you emerge in the backyard of my beloved sister and her family. We have spent many days on each other's porches watching the kids swim or play in a sandbox. We can run over and borrow whatever we need, even if the other is not at home. We hug and correct each other's children, eat each other's food and enjoy ourselves so much we almost feel guilty.

Mr. Potts and I have been known to be waiting in their house for them to get home so we can play games, laugh, brew coffee, sit and talk or...did I mention laugh? They have even spent the night at our house (remember we just live next door) on a number of occasions because we sat up too late and everyone was too tired to lug the kids out to the van. Sometimes after both of our families arrive home late after our Friday night Bible study's with our church group, the phone rings and we hear, "Wanna come over? Bring the salsa!"

Our husbands love each other like brothers. When we bought a new microscope years ago, they spent days searching for unusual things to look at and became especially fascinated with the eyes of insects. Even further back, when they tried a new kind of pepper we grew in the garden (habenero) and almost quit breathing after each popping one in their mouths, they spent the rest of the evening cutting warning and poison labels off of anything they could find and gluing them on the outside of a jar, which contained more peppers. They love to sit around and brainstorm problems or discuss inventions.

Our children run joyously to greet each other, even though they see each other nearly every day. When we get back from out-of-town, even if it's just a few days, they beg and plead to run over and say hello. Mine say, "Remember when they first moved here almost four years ago, you said we'd probably get sick of each other? Well, we still haven't!"

We even share each other with other friends. Instead of getting jealous, we rejoice with each other. Her friends, even though I may not spend much or any time with them, get an automatic place in my heart. When I moved away, she took over being there for my best friend and then they became close. I never felt intimidated. It was like having more of me to spread around.

Of course, things are not always perfect. We have offended each other from time to time. The children have quarreled. We have all been defensive parents. But like a big, cozy blanket on a cold, wintry day, love covers over all of those things.

In this season of being thankful and gift giving, I wanted to acknowledge that my sister and her family are one of God's greatest gifts to me. Her love is always there and I couldn't imagine life without it.

Narnia, More Than a Story!!!

Well, I got to see The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe!!! I was there the second it turned to a new day on December 9th of 2005 at 12:00 am. I arrived in my PJs and slippers as did several of my friends. This was a momentous occasion for me! I have been in love with Narnia since I was a little girl and I have read the series 9 times which is far to few if you ask me. I plan on reading them again ASAP.

When I was a lot younger I used to tell my family that someone needed to make movies of Narnia and very soon MamaLion found that someone had. We rented three of them. I hated them all!!! I wanted to throw rotten veggies and darts at the TV because they gave such a lousy, lame, loser attempt at doing Narnia justice.

Narnia, to me, seems so much more then a story or a fantasy. I feel like I've lived there and been a part of something so much bigger and more important than me and when I am jolted back to earth I see things in a much bigger way then ever before.

The future hinges on what is done now and every battle that rages inside us is so important to our Lion of Judah. Just like Peter who could not have victory over the powers of darkness even with all of Narnia at his side. Only along side his perfect King could his efforts have power behind them and the powers of evil became too weak to stand against them. It is just so with Our God.

There's a bigger picture and we don't have to see it to believe it. One knows that when darkness fights so desperately that there must be so much to lose and therefore much for us to gain. There will be battles and they must be fought!!!

This movie that I saw last night did the book so much justice. I believe I held my breath through the whole movie and watched with glittery-eyed amazement as I discovered Narnia with the children, betrayed those whom I loved and through misery, pain and hopelessness was rescued in shame and found cleansing forgiveness with Edmund.

I felt unworthy and too small to lead something as important as the armies of Aslan, yet still found courage to do what was asked of me, and I lead many men into what seemed a hopeless battle along side Peter.

I cried when I saw the darkest sides of evil with Susan and Lucy as they watched their great King die in shame for they, their brothers and all of Narna, and buried my face in Aslan's fur and wet him with my tears then felt the power and joy that flowed when death could not conquer Him!!!

I lived as a queen in Narnia then found, when I stumbled back to earth, that I was only a girl again with a new and greater perspective on life!!!!!!!!!!!

Math Games

We recently purchased this math games kit and we are loving it! It has over 300 games with everything you need plus very clear instructions, which this mathematically-challenged mom needs desperately. The chapters are set up sequentially and within each chapter you will find it begins with the easiest level and progressively moves upward. It is very easy to find to find the game you need to enforce a particular concept or skill, making it a great addition to any math program. The kids love taking a break from worksheets and playing these games. Here are the chapter headings:

Numeration
Addition
Clocks
Multiplication
Money
Subtraction
Division
Fractions

This would make a great Christmas gift for any family.

More on Handling Misunderstanding

It was very interesting that only hours after I typed the last post, Seeking Understanding, I was once again confronted with a situation of being misjudged. I should not get angry because I have done my share of misjudging situations. Even still, it is hard to quell that sense of injustice that rises up within me. Once again I went through the range of emotions from trying to harden myself off from caring to wanting to give up. Even after I had just typed that last entry! Luckily I had that fresh in my mind and it began working within me to bring good fruit.

After doing my best to calm myself and find the peace of God again I was looking for through my list of copywork verses for the children's schoolwork. I found myself in 1 Peter and some very familiar verses ministered to me once again.

"For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a man bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly. For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God. For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. " (1 Peter 2:19 - 20)

Then in 1 Peter 4:8 -

"Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins."
God must feel I need to practice this until I get it right the first time and these principles become my first response! I pray that won't take many more times!

Seeking Understanding

"...We are all very anxious to be understood, and it is very hard not to be. But there is one thing much more necessary."

"What is that, Grandmother?"

"To understand other people."

"Yes, Grandmother, I must be fair - for if I'm not fair to other people, I'm not worth being understood myself. I see..."

From The Princess and the Goblin by George Macdonald

I was reading this to the boys today and this passage struck me. So much of the source of my grief in life has come from my pain at being misunderstood. When I was younger I tried not to care what other people thought (It's their problem!) then when that didn't work, I would decide to withdraw and just not open up any more. Neither option works when you desire to really take part in the life of the Kingdom of God.

Experience has taught me to be more careful, less hasty, and maturity has taken away some of that need to always have a say in the matter, to always prove my "rightness". These things have helped. But this passage hit me in a fresh way. To make it one's objective to understand others, to put that obective before your own need to be understood. Hmmm. I detect much food for thought here. I shall have to reflect on this further with a hot cup of tea, a cozy blanket and a fire in the fireplace.

A Virtuous Maiden, Who Can Find?

One of our favorite literary characters that demonstrates virtuous girlhood is Patience Heatherstone in The Children of the New Forest by Captain Marryat, first published in 1847.

Here's our favorite excerpt from a conversation between Patience and Edward, a young man who is in love with her. They have just had a small dispute between them.

"It is I who am in fault, Patience," replied Edward. "I have been dreaming for a long while, pleased with my dreams, and forgetting that they were dreams, and not likely to be realized. I must now speak plainly. I love you, Patience - love you so much that to part from you would be misery; to know that my love was rejected, as bitter as death. That is the truth, and I can conceal it no longer. Now I admit you have a right to be angry."

"I see no cause for anger, Edward, " replied Patience. "I have not thought of you but as a friend and benefactor; it would have been wrong to have done otherwise. I am but a young person, and must be guided by my father. I would not offend him by disobedience. I thank you for your good opinion of me, and yet I wish you had not said what you have. "

Imagine a young girl of today saying this to a young man who had just declared his ardent love for her. Then imagine this young man actually having his conscience pricked about declaring his love to this young maiden without speaking to her father first. This happens a few sentences on into the story:

"Here comes my father, Edward," said Patience.

(Edward) "Surely I have done wrong, for I feel afraid to meet him."

It is comforting to know that the seemingly radical stand we are taking in the approach of how we plan to give our daughters in marriage is not historically radical at all, but at one time was quite the normal procedure. This idea of daughters belonging to their fathers is to be found in quite a bit of old literature, including the Bible. Feminists will gnash their teeth at the idea, of course, but when we consider where their ideas have led us, we do not give their concerns any merit.

It is sad to realize how foreign these ideas have become to modern people. We plan to do our part in reintroducing these ideas to our culture. The divorce rate being what it is, we can not help think that it only makes sense to consider other alternatives, especially alternatives from times past when the state of marriage was not in such jeopardy.

For My people have forgotten Me,
They burn incense to worthlessness
And they have stumbled from their ways,
From the ancient paths,
To walk on bypaths,
Not on a highway...
Jeremiah 18:15

Look At Those Cheeks!!!

This is our cute little niece/cousin, Sarah, who is almost two months old now! We are all taking a part in "spoiling" her by taking turns running next door to hold her. Already she hates to be put down. I was lucky she was happy while I put her down to take these pictures! She loves to be snuggled and we are all only too happy to oblige.