Thursday, April 10, 2008

Disneyland with the Hodges

My husband got us each a seasons pass to Disneyland for my wedding gift from him. It's a nice place to go on a date, or with a bunch of friends, and isn't to far away from where we live.

We had the opportunity to go again with some friends a few weekends ago... here's some pictures of the day:



A Day At Disneyland With The Hodges And Friends

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Recent sewing projects from the sewing room...

Today was one of my big sewing days! I bought some interesting upholstery fabric a couple weeks ago downtown, to make some grocery bags for my in-laws. I was finally able to finish at least one of them! Here's the finished product...

Here's a front/back view of the grocery bag. The material a really odd aqua colored twill on the back side and a green swede/flocked sort of treatment on the front of the fabric, but it's really durable for grocery bag material.
Even the back of the fabric can be used as a nice contrast fabric! With the contrast in front and back, I'm planning on making each of the bags a bit different by reversing the colors and adding other embellishments to make each bag unique.

I found the trim for the straps downtown as well. I forgot to plan a head and bring a swatch of fabric with me, so I had to just guess what color would look best. I got the closest color to the green as I could, and was actually pleased with the end result.

Now all I have to do is get some clothing labels to sew on the bags. There's a shop on etsy that makes custom made iron on fabric labels for relatively inexpensive. I'm planning on investing in some when I finalize the overall look of my new Sprouts Maternity etsy store. (Let me know what your thoughts are on my current Logo posted in my store).

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

I LOVE my colorwave dishes!!!

When my husband and I got married, we registered for some Colorwave dishes. They come in all different colors, so rather then ordering one or two colors, we ordered each place setting in a different color and then ordered all of our serving-ware in black (charcoal). You can also order the floral accent plates, like we did, to dress up the place setting a bit for a more formal dinner, or afternoon tea party.

They recently arrived in the mail, which was earlier then expected, and my husband and his small group surprised me by putting them away in the cupboards. To my surprise when I opened my cupboards, expecting to find our plain white and other and miss-matched dishes that I had collected from my college years, I found splashes of color in their place. My husband is so sweet!

We have been using our dishes for about a month now, and I have to say, I absolutely love them! If you are getting married soon, and you like a lot of color, you should get these, they are very versatile and beautiful!

Monday, March 31, 2008

Easter Sunday

This easter was such a wonderful time to spent with family and friends, as we remembered the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I'm so thankful that our just and Holy God, who demands a perfect and blameless sacrifice for sin, is also a loving God who cares for us unconditionally. He provided the perfect and final substitute for our sin, so that those who believe in Him wouldn't have to experience God's wrath and eternal judgment when Christ returns!

Now those who believe in Him are be seen as righteous in the eyes of God, rather then wicked because Christ, who is perfect, took the blame for our sins when He gave Himself up on the cross. Wow, now thats love!!!

My husband and I went to aunt Carmen's this year for the BBQ and easter egg hunt. It was a lot of fun! Here's a few photos of the day...



Easter at Aunt Carmen's 2008

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Short Term Mission Fundraising Opportunities

It's that time of the year again, when our college group bands together to raise money for our short term missions trips. We have an annual volleyball tournament at UCLA and raffle on April 12th that will help raise a good portion of the money to send many students to various parts of the world, so that they can help minister to the missionaries there and to other locals. Each student is required to raise $100, so for our family of two that means we have to raise $200.

My husband and I love having people over, so we plan on raising our $200 entrance fee by having a fund raising dinner in our home. This would allow our family who we would invite over for dinner anyway, to have the opportunity of sponsoring us. For every $10 they donate they will receive one entry into a raffle for a custom-made apron.


Another way we are planning on raising money for short term missions is by donating one of my aprons from my etsy store. This will not only raise money for missions, but also be a great way to advertise my items to the students in our college group.

In addition to that, we will also be raffling off a chance to win a steak dinner for two at our house, and 4 sewing lessons for learning how to sew or for assistance with a current sewing project. SO, if your planning on going to the volleyball tournament, make sure you bring plenty of extra cash for the raffle, because there are going to be some really good prizes this year!!!

Friday, March 21, 2008

My hubby at work

The other day I was able to go to my husband's office and watch him finish up his work before we went off to our Pidal's to watch Lost. My husband does all the printing, folding, hole punching, laminating, shrink wrapping, and cutting that Grace Church, Grace School, and Masters Seminary needs. During the School year and various conferences Grace Church hosts, the work load can get pretty intense.

Here is a behind the scenes look at Grace Community Church during an average work week...


Here is my husband at his computer where various departments on the church campus will send him jobs that need to be printed in color or black and white. He sends them to the copier and then if they need to be folded, cut, hole punched or shrink wrapped he takes them to the finishing room next door. This is inside the finishing room. Today he was preparing to fold the Sunday bulletins for the various fellowship groups that meet around the campus, but the blue machine behind him is used for shrink wrapping CD's or books that he prints and are then sold to Grace Books International. Here he is folding one of the fellowship group's Sunday bulletins on the folding machines which are capable of folding bi-folds and tri-folds. Yes, folding machines! ... You didn't think he folded them all by hand did you? In actually it would take hours trying to fold by hand all the thousands of bulletins that are printed each week, so using the folding machine really speeds up the process.After the bulletins have all been folded he will 3 hole punch any of the bulletins that need three hole punching using a drill specially designed for hole punching, and then he delivers the bulletins to all the various fellowship group departments.

It might be a somewhat of a daunting task to do all these big print jobs each week, but my husband does a wonderful job. It's faithful servants like my husband who make our church run as smoothly as it does each week. I am so thankful for my husband's heart and his willingness to serve so faithfully. I am so proud to call him my husband and to be able to grow under his leadership as we serve the Lord together.

-J

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Easter is just around the corner...

It's a time to reflect on the ultimate love sacrifice Christ made for us by dying on the cross and in so doing, paid our debt for our sin, so that those who follow Christ might be forgiven by God and have everlasting life in heaven!

I have been looking forward to easter Sunday all month. My husband and I will be going to church on good Friday and Easter Sunday with the rest of our bible study. I can't wait.

Afterwards we are planning on going over to my husband's aunt's house for lunch and an easter egg hunt for the kids. It's a nice time to catch up with the our family, eat good food and watch the kids try and find the eggs that we have scattered around the yard. I'm going to be bringing some kind of dessert. I might try my hand at making Napoleons... one of my favorite desserts of all time, I'll let you know how they turn out after people taste them.

Last year I made some little chicks for the kids out of felt, feathers, and toilet paper rolls. They were so cute, and the kids got a kick out of them. This year however I haven't had the time to even start such a project, and with easter being just around the corner, I don't think it's going to happen.

Recently I have been working on a few sewing projects that various people have wanted me to do. One of the projects I have been working on is making a matching apron to the apron I made for our cousin's daughter for Valentines day. Now they will have matching mommy daughter aprons! How cute!

You can check out more of my sewing creations by visiting my store.