Hello blog friends.  I'm back with a rather lengthy post today.  So many things are going on in my life right now I hardly know where to start.

Lets start with a couple of pictures of the kids we cared for (a combined time on 29 months).  They are now living in Georgia and we recently made a trip to visit them.  They are doing wonderfully, so happy and adjusted.  Life for them is now pretty hectic having to rise before the sun so that the parents can partake of Physical Training each work day.  I'd never survive their pace, and I guess that's why God gives little children to young people!  We had a wonderful visit and were able to do several delightful activities with them.

Here are Josslyn and Brielle.  They are so incredably alike!

Learning to ride bikes took an entire afternoon and in the end only Jordan was able to shed the training wheels.

Some of the fun things we did were to visit a local park and there were lots of things the kids could do there.  Not just swings and slides but tons of other fun things too.

Then we took them to an arcade place where they received tons of tokens and played all the fun games they could.

On our last day we took them out to brunch and over to Monkey Joe's where they played in the inflatable warehouse for 4 hours. 

My Darlin' Boy, Jordan.  He will soon be 7 and is doing well at school

This is Nya.  She is the elder step sister and our newest Grandchild.

We stayed at a motel, but were over every morning to enjoy meals together and planning the various activities.  Such a fun time...
Here is Nya enjoying some kids games I loaded onto my Tablet.  We almost had to pry her hands off it she enjoyed the games so much

As you know I've picked up the art of Smocking and have joined not only a local Guild but also SAGA which is an international group whose focus is to keep this special art alive and by doing so blessing NICU babies with special gowns through the WEE CARE program.  I'm loving this form of creativity.  Since I'm no longer a foster parent to tiny babies, I still feel connected by making special garments for just them.  Here are a few hospital gowns and a saque all with matching bonnets.

This little saque will fit a 4-5 pound baby.  The sleeves on all our gowns are rather large so that there is room for any wires or tubes to stay in place and not make the baby uncomfortable.  All the fabric used is Batiste and the lace is from Belgium.  It's soft against the little one's skin.  Also the back are not seamed but tie closed with ribbon so that the staff can dress up the baby without disturbing wires and tubes.

This little dress is on my baby doll.  She is about the size of a 4 pound baby.  I smocked this one in Olive green and Cream.

This dress is stitched in shades of soft peach.  You never know but any of the dresses we send to the NICU could be a bereavement gown.  So sad :-(

Now, thank you for sticking with me all the way to the end of my post.  Here is the card I've just finished today.  I used an image from hAngler which I colored over two years ago.  So I figured it was definitely time to put it onto a card.  I didn't start out making this a Valentine Card, but I loved the key hole shape and the papers I found in my stash which just seemed to work together beautifully. 

I have used Spellbinders Classic Hearts and Scalloped hearts there and some piece of retired SU Gingham ribbon to set up the accents.  My sentiment is from PrintWorks and is a new acquisition.  I bought several and hope to use them very soon..

It's good to be back to cardmaking again.  I still have some issues with sitting for too long, so I have to break it up over a couple of days.  Then I'm enjoying knitting again and smocking always.

Here is the inside of my card.  I purchased the little peg stamp quite sometime ago, but I love to add it somewhere on all my cards as a kind of signature.

We are having some home improvements done to our house.  We are indeed adding a new bathroom off our bedroom and beside it will be a new screened in porch.  Windows will be removed and new doors added and it's going to be wonderful to have a bathroom that is actually larger than an outhouse.

Well my dear friends, this is a long post and I thank you for sticking it out to the end. Your support and lovely comments are always welcome. 

Blessings,

 Barb