Quilts of Love Reviews

Two books about quilts?  Yes, but so much more.  Aloha Rose is about meeting biological family.  The Christmas Quilt is a story of the mother of twins. 

I am adopted and I am a mother of twins.  I was immediately immersed in heart wrenching comparison with my own life.  Not what I expected when I picked up Christian fiction books about quilts!  Well done by both authors!!!


Aloha Rose
by Lisa Carter

I loved the authors descriptions of the beauty of Hawaii and how she used the quilt to pull the story together.  The storyline of adoption was interesting as I could identify with the main character and meeting biological family.  Although you know you are related by blood to your biological family,  you can feel an outsider because you do not have the long family history.  The author perfectly captured this in the development of the characters. 


The Christmas Quilt
by Vannetta Chapman

What's not to love about a story filled with babies and quilts!  I can completely identify with a story of a mother carrying twins.  This is a story filled with the drama that can come with babies and when they decide to be born.  I have yet to read an Amish story I didn't like, there is something about the simplicity of life that I am drawn to, however, this story is a bit different because of the complexity of the medical issues.  I was not expecting the heart wrenching story that I found in this story!


Quilts of Love KINDLE FIRE HDX Giveaway & “Christmas Bee” Facebook Party 12/10!

Enter Here!



In honor of their new Quilts of Love releases, The Christmas Quilt and Aloha Rose, authors Vannetta Chapman and Lisa Carter are gearing up to ring in the Christmas season with a Kindle Fire HDX giveaway and a "Christmas Bee" Facebook Party on December 10th with fellow Quilts of Love author Lynette Sowell!

One winner will receive:

• A Kindle Fire HDX
• The Christmas Quilt by Vannetta Chapman
• Aloha Rose by Lisa Carter

Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on November 30th. Winner will be announced at the "Christmas Bee" Facebook Party on December 10th. Connect with the authors from the Quilts of Love series, Vannetta Chapman, Lisa Carter, and Lynette Sowell, for an evening of book chat, quilt trivia, Christmas traditions and gifts, PLUS get an exclusive look at January's Quilts of Love book!

So grab your copies of The Christmas Quilt and Aloha Rose and join Vannetta, Lisa, and Lynette on the evening of December 10th for a chance to connect and make some new friends. (If you haven't read the books, don't let that stop you from coming!)

Don't miss a moment of the fun; RSVP today by clicking JOIN at the event page. Spread the word—tell your friends about the giveaway and party via FACEBOOK or TWITTER. Hope to see you on December 10th!

Things that saved my sanity!

A friend's sister was about to have twins so I was going to send her a link to a post that I wrote, only I can't find the post I was looking for.  Maybe I just dreamt that I wrote it.  Anyway it was a list of things that saved my sanity that first year of having twins and a one year old.

1. We kept a journal of every time a baby was fed, changed or bathed.  You will be so tired that you won't remember the last time a baby pooped - and you need to keep track of that! 

2. Baby Einstein dvd's.  There were times that all three were screaming, but the moment the Disney logo came up and Tinkerbell flew over the castle they all stopped crying, it was amazing and gave me a minute to compose myself and deal with one at a time. 

3. Best advice I ever received...it is ok to let one cry while you deal with the other.  And that advice was truly the key to keeping me sane.  You are only one person and will be alone with them a lot, you can only deal with one at a time.  You will quickly learn what works for each baby and which one will settle down faster.  And if all else fails you need to have a couple people who know that when you call and say "help" and then hang up, they know to come as fast as they can because you are about to lose your mind :) 

4. People like babies, but they LOVE twins, the moment anyone walked in my house I handed them a baby and said "here this one needs..." feeding/changing/burping/rocking or whatever.  I was always handing a baby to somebody.  They loved to be useful and I loved that my baby got the extra attention that I felt they didn't get when it was just me. I rarely got to just sit and rock a baby.

5. Establish routines early, I talked about this in the tips blog post.  I had babies falling asleep in bouncy seats during play dates when there were something like 9 kids under 3 in the house. I believe it is because I never worried about them waking or said "shhh you'll wake the baby". 

6. Take them out a lot.  I used to put them in their car seats and just go for a drive.  Sometimes we would go have lunch at a park, which I managed by keeping Ben & Carlee in the double stroller at all times. They have always travelled really well so it was a break for me. Even now, they are much better behaved when we are out than when we are at home and I know it is because they are used to being out and knowing they have to be good or we go straight home.  We also had a triple stroller and I would push them around the neighborhood.

7. and finally...take lots of pictures, I made sure to stop what I was doing at least once every single month and get at least one individual photo of each one and also one group photo.  I still do this and I upload them to Snapfish and make a photobook every year. 

Oh and another tip. I have been watching  old videos lately and I wish I had taken more random video during that first year.  It is fun to go back and watch short snippets of what everyday life was like.

Something like this....

Too funny - I was pretty busy

Conversation in the van on our way to run errands after school....

Sam: Can we eat soon? I'm starving half to death!
 
Me: Yes, we will go after we stop at the bank. I am starving too!!
 
Carlee: Why are you so hungry?
 
Me: Because I didn't eat lunch
 
Carlee: Why didn't you eat lunch?
 
Me: Oh, well, I was.... very busy.
 
Carlee: Busy doing what?
 
Me: hmmm (debating whether to lie or tell the truth) Well, I was pretty busy having a nap.
 
Sam, Ben & Carlee all at the same time, and in the tone of a shocked parent: GASP!! MA-MA!!!
 
Carlee: You aren't supposed to sleep in the middle of the day!
 
Me: Why not? I was up late and I have been sick so I needed some rest.
 
Ben: OOOOHHH Mama is in big trouble!!!
 
Sam: Seriously Mama, couldn't you have found something better to do?







LOL they acted like they were so disappointed in me I couldn't help but laugh.

Prediction: Ben will be a gentleman

What's up with Ben these days? 

Well, last week got in a lot of trouble at school...again! Apparently he did not like his sister to be the line leader, so he was bad (not sure I understand that logic, but that's what he said). 

Then he had change of attitude (well with a little incentive thrown in) and he had three days of awesome behavior. Then yesterday, not so good. When I asked why he didn't have good behavior he said "I just could NOT stand being so good for sooooo long. I just had to be bad!" It was very, very hard to keep a straight face.

But there is hope for this child, I predict he will be a perfect gentleman...someday. Today one of the teachers told me that my sweet Ben held the door for her and then again for another teacher. She said he jumped up from his lunch table, ran over and said "I will hold the door for you". :)

Too funny - Girls day

Carlee is home sick today. I just told her that it is just about time to go pick up the boys from school. She cried "NOOOOO, I don't want to pick up the boys, I don't want them to be here!!!"

It really has been a peaceful day with just us girls.

Too funny - fog

Can you see Ben? We went out for a short walk and got swallowed up in the fog. He ran ahead a short ways and turned around and said "OH MAMA! I can't see you anymore, the fog ate you!"

Good boys take care of their Mamas

While we were in Canada I ended up being quite sick and spent most of my time in my old room in the basement.  One evening right before we had to fly back my brother and his family brought us Chinese food for supper because we were not going to have another chance to go to this restaurant. After we had eaten and I retreated back to my room Sam came to see me and we had this conversation...

Me:  Sam would you please bring me a glass of water?

Sam (with his face lit up and a big smile) I would LOVE to because good boys take care of their Mama's!!! 

Perhaps he has heard me say that a time or two before ;) 

But then he turned around and said this...

I am gonna be just like Uncle Scott because tonight he took care of his Mama and his sister when he brought us supper.