home sweet home and something sweet

Scroll down to my post below and click on "The Thacker Pack" to read the update. Reese and his mommy are now home safely! I even got to see them on CNN as they were reunited! :) So happy that this situation got resolved and has a happy ending - God was obviously with them and protecting them every minute. Seriously, go read the update! :)

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Ok, if you have been reading my blog for very long, chances are you have heard me mention my friend, Leah, and the fabulous cakes she bakes. Leah and I go way back. All the way back to 2nd grade where we were in the same class together. Then I was homeschooled from 3rd grade through highschool. I saw her a few times during that period but not very much. Then we both ended up going to Bryan College, where, while we never really hung out that much, it was always fun to have someone else on campus (besides Michael) to talk to about home. Two years after I graduated, I was back here teaching and also babysitting on Wednesday nights in the nursery at the church my parents used to go to. After church one Wednesday, I ran by Walmart and heard my name in the parking lot. I turned around and there was Leah! Since then we have sort of reconnected and as a bonus I have had the privilege of tasting quite a few of her delicious cakes. She has just recently started a blog of her own showcasing the cakes she has made....like this one:

Mmmm...doesn't that look crazy good?? :) Go check out some more of her awesome cakes and keep her in mind if you ever have an occasion to order a cake! And while you're there, leave her a comment! I know she would love the feedback, especially since she's new at this blog thing! :)

Leah's Cakes

On a different note, I know there are quite a few mom's/teachers/former teachers/and people who just love to read out there who read my blog...even though most of you remain "lurkers" and have never commented! :} I am looking for some beginner chapter books and need some good ideas. My oldest is reading really well and keeps asking me for new books to read and I just recently let her read her first chapter book on her own and I think she's hooked. (yay!) Now I just need some good recommendations - something easy and fun and clean and appropriate for an almost-7 year old. Any ideas?

(If you've never left a comment before, here's a good opportunity to try it out! Simply click the "0 comments" below and it will bring up a little window in which to type your comment, including your name. It will ask you to "choose an identity"...just click on "annonymous" and then click "publish" and your comment will be added to my blog!)

pray for reese

As I have said before...I keep finding great blogs to read. A lot of the ones I have been reading lately are families who have adopted or are in the process of adopting. I found one tonight through another blog and it is worth sharing the link with you and asking you to pray. (And can I just say that I love this whole blogger world where sisters-in-Christ (or brothers!) can pray for each other...even though we have never met!)

This family is adopting a child from Haiti - a two year old little boy named Reese. Everything was going pretty well and Sarah, the mom, flew into Haiti to help escort Reese and a few other children back to the US. Then their first flight got cancelled...so they found a different one. They were on the way to the airport when...well, you'll have to read her blog post to find out what's going on. It's only about two paragraphs long. I can't imagine what those sweet children are going through tonight. Go read it and imagine if they were your children.

And please be praying for all of them...that all of this will be resolved and they will all be safe and be home with their families soon!

THE THACKER PACK

remembering

PETER

If you haven't read my story about him before, click on his name to read last year's post. And sheesh, an entire year and I never remembered to grab a pic of him from my mom's house! Must fix that. :}

mommyluvs2save blog

Just real quick. I got an email from a mommy of twin girls this week who has a blog and she is having two giveaways this week! Both are from etsy shops. The first one is a lady who makes ADORABLE little crochet baby shoes - eeps! if only I had a tiny little girl to put them on! :) The second give away is, well, just go check it out! :)

a tutu named calla

I have had a busy week! It was so good to have Emily and Lauren with me for most of the week. But I finally have a minute to catch up on a couple things. First, we did several fun Valentine crafts this week. I shared one earlier. Here is another one we did. They were supposed to look like this. They ended up more like this:

Ha! Ok, so not quite perfect...but everyone had a blast doing it...so that's all that matters, right?

So, I keep finding new blogs that I love to read. I need to update my blog list over to the right there! I want to share about two of them. The first one is here:

I found this sweet family through her blog. These two ladies go to the same church out in Kansas. Jess, from The Macs, and her husband Joel, had an adorable little girl named Cora (isn't that a pretty name??). Last January, when Cora was 11 months old, she was diagnosed with cancer and went home to be with Jesus 17 short days later. This past year has been obviously so so hard for Jess and Joel. But they have allowed this terrible situation to draw them closer to each other - and closer to Him. Jess is so brave to keep up her blog and share both the good days and the bad days. Just in the past month, Jess and Joel welcomed a new baby boy named Levi. His name means "joined" and is a reminder that they will be joined again with Cora in heaven one day. To read more of Cora's story, click here:

Even in the midst of mixed emotions - loving every second of baby Levi while still missing sweet Cora every day - Jess is reaching out to help another friend and sister in Christ.

This is Calla and her mommy Julie

Calla was born at 26 weeks and is busy growing in the NICU right now. I know at least one of my readers knows what this is like. :) Calla also has a daddy - and a big brother named Ori (all these cute names!!) :) Having a baby in the NICU is tiring in a lot of ways. It puts a strain on everything - work, home, siblings, gas money, etc. So Jess from the Macs blog had the idea to do a raffle every week until Calla comes home. All the money raised from the raffles will go directly to Calla's family to help with all the extra expenses. And all the items in the raffles are so beautiful! To find out more about how it works, click here: (wow, I'm just full of things to click on today!) :)

Jess asked her blog readers and etsy friends to send anything they could to add to the raffles. It was such a simple thing to do to help someone out. I created a new tutu just for the raffle (it will be in the weekly raffle sometime between now and when Calla goes home.) and have added it to my etsy shop (link on the right side of this blog...). I am calling it the Calla Tutu. Wanna see it?

I just love these colors together. So fun and happy. And even brighter and happier in person. :)

From now until Calla goes home (hopefully sometime in March), I will be sending a portion of the money from each Calla Tutu sold to help out her family.

So click on the links to read about two great families and pray that Calla will grow strong and be home with her family soon - and that Jess and Joel's hearts will continue to heal as they trust in God's perfect plan for their family.

love birds

well, i have a couple posts i want to write, but just have not had the time in the past week to get to them! hopefully i will soon. in the meantime, here is a cute and simple valentine craft we did today. check it out on the crafty crow....here. (the black one on the far right is the one my toddler cut out himself. :) )

more soon, i hope.