Ni Hao

That's Chinese for hello :) But you probably knew that from Ni Hao, Kai Lan, if you have small children... and cable.

There are some people in this world who have that certain "look" and somehow magically blend in, wherever they go. Dark hair and eyes, they can look Asian, Latino, Middle Eastern, European, anything. Our family, with blond hair and blue eyes? Well, we are definitely NOT the blending in type. In China, where foreigners are scarce, we stood out like sore thumbs. My sister and I constantly got stopped and asked to take pictures with Chinese people. The funniest was when they tried to sneak pictures with their phones! There was no anonymity, especially adding that we had maps open and our noses in a guidebook whenever we were out. We quickly formed a routine: to borrow my Mom's words, "get lost, eat, repeat". That pretty much summed it up when we were on our own! Thankfully we had a tour guide for the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, the Summer Palace, the Ming Tombs and the Temple of Heaven. We learned so much from her!

Enjoy my favorite photos from Beijing!

Bikes everywhere!!

hehe

We rode this guy's rickshaw to a restaurant that we thought was right around the corner. After an hour's ride, several stops for directions and many phone call by this guy to the restaurant later, we found out--it was closed. This happened a lot, actually. A bunch of stuff that must have opened before the Olympics, must not have been in it for the long haul. Like the Starbucks at the Great Wall, for example.

A view of the Hutong district outside our hotel, from our hotel room window:

At the temple of Heaven. They used these big cauldrons to burn sacrifices:

The Forbidden City. Super crowded!

A highlight for me was definitely the Great Wall (despite the let-down about the Starbucks, haha!)
Jana and I climbed up the steps for an hour and got super high up there. It was SO fun and we were really sweaty, but that did not stop people from wanting our picture, inviting family members to come, hurry up and get a picture with the white people and from getting in my face with a video camera. SO weird.

Mom discovered this beautiful place while we were climbing. It was so peaceful.

And this is my favorite pic I got of the three of us...

Annnnnd, finally, on the last day, after being lost a few times, look what we stumbled upon...

It was not the same, in case you're wondering. But, while China does tea like no one else, they are terrible at coffee, so for the first bigger-than-a-shot-glass coffee I'd had in a week, it sufficed ;)

My first text to Casey on my arrival in the U.S. was, "Ah, back to the land of coffee and personal space." It's good to be home! But, I am SO thankful for the opportunity to have traveled! To Asia, of all places! I got to see and experience what most Americans never get to and I am forever changed. Thanks to my Mom and Dad for the trip of a lifetime.

I am so excited to get back to my sewing, homemaking, daily-life-happenings style of blogging! I've made a dress and two shirts that I haven't shared yet, I'm working on a quilt for Kelby and I got some pretty cool souvenirs that my fellow textile lovers will definitely want to see :)

More Mongolia

It's so hard to choose favorites! But here they are, the rest of my favorite photos from my time in Mongolia:

This is a shrine at an active Buddhist monastery we visited. Although the architecture is beautiful, as a Christian, it was hard to forget that the majority of Mongolia practices Buddhism and thus worships a false God. It's difficult to see people literally praying to idols and not feel compelled to pray for them as they pray, but to the One True God who truly does heal.

The monastery was FILLED with pigeons. Scary, crazy pigeons! To me, anyway ;) This lady sits outside and sells bags of seed. I snapped this pic before she started yelling at me.

Luckily, we were visiting Monolia during Naadam, their Summer holiday, which meant we got to see some seriously COOL stuff going on around the city!! The following photos are in the square, where there was a fashion show and people dressed in traditional costume. So cool.

Mongolian women are suuuuuuuuper pretty.

The view from my parents' apartment:

Another Buddhist shrine off the side of the road. People leave scarves, money, and mementos and ask for healing.

The beautiful Mongolian countryside:

My sis and I...

If you'd like to see alllllll my Mongolia photos, you can visit the whole set on Flickr. Some were my Mom's, just to give credit where credit is due ;)

Tomorrow, I'll start on China! I have some pretty humorous tales to tell. Seriously. Funny stuff.

home again!

I have returned! My trip to Asia was amazing. Up until landing in San Franciso, where a security guard took a look at my passport, noticed I live in Aurora, CO and asked if I'd heard the news. More on that later. I have so much to share about my trip, but it will have to be in doses, to prevent a post that takes hours to write and hours to read, ha!

I'm so glad I brought my big camera. Yes, it added bulk to my carry on backpack, but it wasn't really that much of a pain to carry around and I sure did get some great pics with it. I only brought my fixed lens, since it's a lot lighter than my big lens with a zoom. Having no zoom allowed for extra creativity--or that's how I chose to look at it ;)

I'll start with a few faves from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Enjoy!

The camel ride was a highlight. A funny thing about Mongolia is that peeing is acceptable--anywhere. We constantly saw people peeing on the side of the road, kids peeing into puddles, etc... We pulled up to some camels for a ride and couldn't see a person around. My sister, said, "he's probably off peeing somewhere" and we all laughed, "hahaha". Then I looked around and sure enough, there he was, peeing into the grass several yards away. Ha!

My favorite pic of my sister, for sure:

Another highlight was getting to see my Dad's world, at Wagner Asia. So fun to see his world and see him in the environment that he loves!

My Dad as Chinggis Khan, hahahaha!

Speaking of Chinggis, (yes it's Chinggis, not Ghengis, contrary to Western belief ;), as he is Mongolia's national hero, we just had to climb his statue. It is HUGE. Crazy huge. We entered the horse's rear, went up a lot of stairs, got cozy with a lot of Mongolians, and crawled out of his crotch for a view of the countryside. Yep.

Annnnnd... a guy peeing. Didn't see him there 'til after I snapped the picture. Betcha he didn't know he'd end up on the Internet, hahahahahaha! 

I'll share some more tomorrow! It will probably take me all week to post my faves. After that, I'll share links to my Flickr sets, so those who want to see all the pics (and there are a lot) can do so :) 

Back to the shooting in my hometown. I don't have any well-compiled thoughts just yet, but just to please ask for prayer. There were many people of strong faith in God in that theater and that is no accident. The good news about God's mercy, His love and His providence is busy spreading throughout our community after this tragedy. Here are a few wonderful posts for you to read!

My friend Marie and a few of her teenage kids were there that night and she wrote a post on her blog that has spread like wildfire (praise the Lord!) Such a testimony to God's mercy. 

Just this morning, I read this miraculous story. And the testimonies continue! 

I have a friend from church who's cousin is in the hospital in rough shape, along with so many others. 

The mother in critical condition who hasn't yet been told that her 6-year-old daughter was killed is especially on my heart. Please pray for those recovering and those who were not hurt, but were there and witnessed this horrific event--emotional healing for them. Colorado has had too many of these tragic shootings and we just really need your prayers! 

for the next 11 days...

I may be scarce around the Internets for the next few weeks! Any guesses why??

Here's a hint:

That's right, I am outta here!!! Leaving the U.S. for the first time EVER! So excited. If I have any readers in Seoul, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (I know I have several there!) or Beijing, maybe our paths will cross and I'll get to meet ya ;)

My mom and I are catching an early flight to San Francisco tomorrow morning, where we will meet my sister and then we will be off to Asia. The kids and husbands are staying behind--they could use your prayers! My parents have lived in Mongolia for 8 years now, so it's about time we get to see their world over there :)

If I do get to blog while I'm gone, well, won't that be nice! But, if I don't, I'm sure I'll have plenty to share upon my return--and hopefully a rested mind and spirit that renews my energies for everyday things that I do enjoy when I don't feel run-down and wiped out--like blogging. I am anxious about leaving my family, but I'm going to embrace the chance to think for just one person for a couple weeks, instead of five, if you know what I mean.

Be back soon!!

summer skirts

Skirts and Summer go together like P.B & J. if you ask me! If you're not into tube tops and Daisy Dukes, skirts are simply the best way to keep cool, am I right?? Especially in light, swingy fabrics like rayon, of which I had a few chunks set aside just for this purpose!

I had bought New Look 6129 a couple months ago because it's a long, basic skirt and I needed a pattern for one like this. Now that I've made it, I know I've found a pattern I'll use over and over again.

I love it in this classy floral rayon from Denver Fabrics! The side slit makes it extra cool on hot days. The fit is perfect, the waist isn't super high (like other similar patterns) and the pockets are awesome. I will absolutely be making this again, short, long and medium lengths. I like it that much :)

This next skirt was a happy accident. I had bought a rayon lawn that was an interesting border print, planning to use it for a Vogue dress pattern. With the border, though, I just couldn't make all the pieces fit. So, I cut out this pattern instead. I made view A with the tiny ruffle around the collar ... and hated it. The bodice was awful, it was kinda big, didn't lay right and was just way too "sweet" looking for me this season. My style has long been evolving away from the juvenile sweet look. Even things I made and liked last Summer in the sweeter styles are just no longer doing it for me. 

But, I really liked the main part of this print and you just cannot beat the flowiness of a rayon lawn! So I hacked the bodice off and turned it into a simple flowy skirt. I'll admit, I usually cannot pull of the full skirt look, but paired with this fitted Newport News blouse from my thrift store, it really works! I feel classy, cool and pretty in this outfit and I'm glad I could salvage the fabric! Actually, another favorite Summer skirt of mine, a long one, also morphed out of a dressmaking disaster. I'll have to take a pic of that next time I wear it. 

Now, I just have to share this. Am I the only one who despises all the polyester, rubber-band-around-the-waist, never-the-right-length slips, especially in the heat of Summer?? Really, who wants to put on a nice cool sundress or swingy skirt and then have to put a layer of sweaty polyester under it?? I had some white rayon jersey sitting around, just waiting to be turned into a solution for this. I went to Hobby Lobby for some white Fold over elastic (also known as FOE) and traced a well-fitting slip to make this:

It fits, it sits on my hips instead of squeezing my waist like a vice, it stays put and man, is it so much more comfortable to wear than all my other slips!! I was concerned since it's jersey that it would cling funny to my skirts or be staticky, but I had no problems with that at all. It was 106 degrees when I went downtown for a luncheon yesterday and I never had to think about my slip at all. Ain't that a first! I added some pretty lace to the bottom just because :) I plan to make more cool slips like this in several lengths and maybe some little tap pants to serve the same purpose too. Soooooo glad I finally did this!

In other news, I'm sure you've heard about Colorado and our crazy wildfires. Never do I remember so much fire in our beautiful state. The fires are still raging and in a big city like Colorado Springs, it is especially scary and sad. Please pray for Colorado and those that have been ousted from or already lost their homes! Also pray for those who begin to question the Lord's providence at times like these--God is always, only good, even in the midst of devastation.

Bookshelf revamp

I plugged my camera in today and realized I have plenty of pics to blog this week! yay! I'll start with my newly de-cluttered and organized bookshelves, though! Like a dummy, I didn't take before pics. Boooo. But, that's okay, just trust me. They weren't horrible, but they weren't pretty either.

After getting rid of a lot of books and moving what was left around, I'm very happy with how they look now!
Here's the full view (this is our family room, by the way):

 All the shelves used to be crammed with books, so there was no space to make them look pretty. Now there is! I scoped out pics of pretty bookshelves on Google images and Pinterest and found that stacking collections and similar sizes of books together can make a big difference. What's with the people who turn the books spine-side-in so they all look white from the front? Um, don't you need to see the titles?? That's a trend I don't get.

 Since this side is less visible from most of the room, I used the bottom shelf for the less attractive stuff--my weights, our stack of library books and our cases of movies and CD's. The blue basket on top holds library movies, work-out DVD's (Casey and I are doing Insanity! but that's another blog post) and some other movies. I try to keep as much junk off the mantle as possible.

 I found the awesome vintage Corningware loaf pan at Saver's recently! It holds remotes :)

 The books we have left are ones we love and definitely will read in the future. I passed along some vintage books that I knew would never get read. It's my philosophy that even vintage things should be useful or get passed on. All of our kids' books and homeschool books are on other shelves in our dining room/homeschool room.

 My cookbooks got pared down too! One can only use so many, right? Especially now, with Pinterest and all!

The stack of quilts gets used almost daily and just makes me happy. So it stays :)

That's that! Amazing how much cleaner and nicer it looks in here now! Since you're looking at it, any ideas about my fireplace?? I don't love the greenish tint of the metal, but I'm not really sure what to do to make it prettier. I could paint it, but what color? Or I could replace it with something salvaged. I dunno. Thoughts?

Just a dress I forgot to blog and a purging update

Whoops. I made this about a month ago and never got around to posting it! Pics were taken and everything, it just slipped my mind.

This is Butterick 5456 and it's one I've made before--you can see that version here (second dress down); it's probably my fave handmade dress of all time. I still wear it quite a bit!

This knit didn't work quite as well. It's a rayon jersey, but definitely has more stretch than the black knit I used before. I still really like it, but it just droops a bit more, causing the arm holes to gape a bit and the back to barely cover my bra under the key hole. I have to watch my p's and q's, which I don't want to do in an easy Summer dress, ya know?? Maybe I can find a way to take the whole thing up at the shoulders. We'll see.

I do not have a fake tan, I just couldn't get the colors right when editing these photos, hence the orange skin, ha!

In other news, Casey and are lovin' the new uncluttered vibe that some of the rooms in our house have acquired these last few weeks. I decided to keep some of the scrapbook supplies, since a lot of that doubles as other craft supplies and for the girls to use later, but the stamps and ink are going. If you're local and interested, let me know!

In the spirit of getting rid of both physical and mental clutter, I've decided the Etsy shop is both--the stuff takes up space and the mental burden is just too much, with the shipping, the photos, the ironing, the listing time, etc... Plus, you really have to be networked with lots of other things online, as well as active in the Etsy forums to be successful at it and I'd like to spend less time online, not more. That was the biggest deciding factor for me. I hadn't determined if the shop would be a long-term thing or not, but now that I've decided, I'm relieved. I made a nice little chunk of change and now it's time to pass the stuff along! Again, if you're local and want to dig through my vintage patterns, they're yours for the taking :) Just tell me soon, cause I'm not planning on keeping them around for long. I've obtained some vintage linens recently that I'll be passing along to friends who are into that sort of thing.

Whew! The purging is going well and feeling good! It's been a great week! It's AMAZING how much easier it is to keep a clean house when there's just a little less stuff!!!

Edith Schaeffer

You may have heard of Francis and Edith Schaeffer and their ministry called L'Abri in the Swiss Alps. Edith Schaeffer has been a favorite author of mine for quite some time now. She is a godly wife and mother and has raised several kids in an involved and intentional way that truly inspires me. It started with this book, which my sister recommended to me:

Beautiful, beautiful book! I promise if you read this, you'll be encouraged and inspired!

Then I bought this one:

Equally great!

Recently, I picked up this one on Amazon:

Love, love, love!! It's sort of a compilation of short writings of Edith's thoughts on parenting. So, so good. And since the sections are short, I read just one a day in my special quiet time chair with my coffee. 

Consider her thoughts on loving relationships:

"Compassion and understanding of what another person needs comes through having been cared for ... A family is the place where this kind of care should be so frequently given that it becomes natural to think of the needs of other people ... Love isn't just happiness in ideal situations with everything going according to daydreams of family life or married life or parent-child closeness and confidences. Love has work to do. Hard and sacrificial work--going on when it would be easy to be provoked and think evil. (p. 28)"

In those rare moments when the children are playing peacefully, the house is clean, dinner is in the oven, a candle is lit and you're having a good hair day, it can be easy to think, "this is what family life should always be like." Oh, not true! Love has work to do!! And love is so much better exercised when kids are bickering, when the laundry is way behind, when dinner is burned, when the husband is late and when life is just a mess! 

I think if you go to Amazon.com and type in Edith Schaeffer, you could pick any one of her books and be blessed :)