Pictures on A Blessed Life

Pictures are now up on our family blog! Enjoy!

New Family Blog

I just set up our new family blog. It's called "A Blessed Life".  I won't be posting on Daddy's Maiden much at all, so any updates will now be on our family blog. I will keep this one up for people to look at, but I won't post anything new.

I am still working some kinks out in the template, but it's up and running. I will try to get a post up with some pictures from the wedding sometime soon.

A New Life - Brief update

On our way to the reception.
Photo courtesy of Lacie Verret Photography

To view more reception pics, see her FB page

I can't believe John & I have already been married for three weeks! Time passes so quickly. Life has been wonderful! We have been busy, but thankfully productive in our busyness.
I am enjoying being a wife, & homemaker. Setting up out home & making it homey has been fun, & a true blessing! God is so good to us!

Our honeymoon was a very sweet time! We went down to Galveston for a few days & then drove to our new home!

On a ferry ride for the sunset

Adjusting to life with only two has been interesting. I am amazed at how clean the house stays, and how much food I am used to preparing! John has been wonderfully patient with me as I figure out how to cook dinner for two instead of 11! (My grandparents have recently moved in with my family). It is very quiet during the day when John is at work, but when I feel like I need some noise, I'll turn on some music to play through the house.

It is interesting being the oldest daughter & married & my mom expecting number 8! She is due some time in October.

It has been a blessing to see how my dear younger sisters have stepped up in their roles as new oldest sisters. They are doing very well in replacing me! ;-) Even Liana & Lydia!  It's interesting to once in a while see my siblings and see how they have changed in such a short time. Both in maturity, and life stages. Jaden is saying more intelligible sentences, and words, and just as precious as ever! They grow up fast. He is two.

John has been a wonderful godly husband and example to me in  many many things. I am very grateful that God saw fit to bring us together.

Enjoying the sunrise on the coast of Galveston

Wedding, Wedding, & More Wedding!

These last two months have been quite busy with life, & wedding planning! Within the first few days after John & I got engaged, we had a facility reserved & a date set!  We will be getting married on June 4, 2011!   The plans are coming together bit by bit, and I can't wait to see it all put together!
You can view our wedding website here.

Below are a few of our engagement pictures:

*All pictures courtesy of Lacie Verret Photography*

We are eagerly looking forward to the wonderful day! :)

I'm Engaged!

The future Mr. & Mrs. John Pedersen!
Engaged March 4, 2011

The first picture is from last night & the last two pictures were taken this afternoon :)

Update

Sorry it has been so long! Life here has been busy, but exciting, and good! Here are some updates:

You know that giveaway I posted about last? I was the winner! I couldn't believe it! I chose the ring (pictured in the post below) with a light purple stone instead of the pink. It was such a blessing to be chosen, because I have been wanting to replace my purity ring for years. My old one was too small, and I haven't been able to replace it for a while.

For Thanksgiving, we went up to Arkansas to visit our grandparents and aunt. It was a good trip except for the fact that 7 out of 9 of us got sick with some nasty stomach bug thing.... Jaden started it about 30 min or so into the trip, and it went through everyone except for me & my mom. We did get to visit our grandparents & aunt, but we weren't able to visit our friends because of the virus. We ended our trip a day early so that if anyone else got sick, it would at least be at home. (Emily got it the day after we got back.) It was nice to see our Grandma & Grandpa again even though it was a visit cut short. :)

It is amazing to look back at this past year and see where we were, and where we are now! God is so good!

I have finally found time to get the rest of the pictures from the Old West photo shoot up! Sorry it took so long...Enjoy! (Please let me know if the link does not work...)

**Click the picture to view the album!**

**All pictures courtesy of Lacie Verret Photography**

Life is precious

God's mercies endure forever. He is the ultimate Comforter and Peace-giver. Jeremiah David went to be with our Lord on Saturday, October 24. We won't be able to see or enjoy him in this lifetime, but he is in heaven with our Lord and never had to suffer the cruelties of this world. I am comforted in knowing that we will see him one day in paradise!

Jeremiah - God has set free

David - Beloved

Picture Credit

Family, Friends, and Fellowship

Yesterday was a beautiful day! There is finally a "cold front" that has moved in! (It's been in the 70's, but it's so nice! It's more like a 'cool-front'.) Yesterday we (us 4 older girls) went over to a friends house to do a period western photo shoot! The weather was perfect. Not too hot to attract too many mosquitoes. ;-)
We were dressed to the nines in costumes and props!
The photo shoot lasted about 3 hours!! FUN! We don't have the pictures yet, but our wonderful friend Lacie, from A Blessed Life is working on editing the pictures, so soon after we have them, I'll post some up here for you all to enjoy! (Within the next week or so) So until then, here are some from these past few months while we lived in NC and then a couple from after we moved back to TX.

We bought some strawberry plants from someone we knew. They thrived for the first few weeks when I had time to care for  them. Sadly by the time we moved, they were all either dead, or mostly dead. They gave us some berries, but the birds got to most of the ripe (& sometimes not so ripe) ones before I could get out in the morning to pick them.

Emily

 Our lovely kitty, Trinity! She joined us for tea one evening.

Me reading a book and relaxing after kitchen work. It was fun living in the country for a while.

We dressed historically several days out of the week!

Jaden being cool! ;-)

He enjoyed playing on the step ladder whenever it was out :) Before this pic, he climbed up and was reaching high pretending to fix the light like my dad was doing (he needed an incentive for this pic! lol!).

Lydia and Jaden watching a video and eating gold fish! MM!!

Jaden donned Aaron's belt and began to wrestle Daddy to the floor. He won! 

Our eggplant. Our garden was bountiful, but sadly, we had to leave it behind. (It did feed God's creatures, though!) This is what an egg plant looks like while it is growing. The vegetable begins out white, like an egg, and then turns purple! So pretty!

(The pics below are from TX)

 At Penny's... Anyone want some coffee? ;-)

 At Costco: Your not so average camping chairs

Jaden helping Daddy fix the dish washer

Lydia with her homemade ladies hat and fan!

Here is some fun news!!! 

My mom is expecting #8!!! She is due in mid May! She is 7 weeks along today! We are all super super excited, and can't wait! My mom & dad have decided to wait & not find out before hand if it's a boy or a girl, so that makes the suspense all the more fun. :D Pretty soon we will be a family of 10! SO COOL!!!

We will be getting school started up again for the year next week. (the 4th) I have decided to so some higher grade history (studying some eras I hadn't done in school.), & to brush up on my science. (nothing like chemistry or biology..Just basic science as a refresher.) I will also be teaching Liana & Lydia this year. I have dome some reading & such w/ Liana on & off these last 2 weeks, and she can now read simple 3 letter words & easy easy sentences! :D I'm so proud of her! Doing school every day will really help her & she will progress quickly! 

The Legacy Doll Shoppe is now on Etsy! (Some of you may have noticed the image link on my sidebar) I will be adding new items periodically, so check my Etsy shoppe, or the blog sidebar for updates now & then :)

I'll post again when I have the pictures :)

Pic credit goes to my wonderful friend, Brianna. Love you, girl! <3

A Note to My Readers

Hello all my dear friends!
You may have thought that I have officially fallen off the edge of the earth since I haven't posted anything in FOREVER!! Well, I have not! I have been lovingly held by my Savior's hands! <3 We have had a lot happen since I have last posted. Many of which we had no idea would happen. But, since life is unpredictable moment by moment, we just take it all in stride. (well, most of it! :-P )

You all (or those who I don't e-mail or keep updated on FB) will be surprised at most of the turns that have happened. Namely; moving back to Texas.
Yes. You read that correctly, & no it's not a typo.  Let me explain: (long story short)

Yes, we moved to N.C. for work, & to be closer to family. We were all excited to be closer to our family, & the fact that my dad had some work up that way. (It was little to nothing here) We moved there, but after a while, there wasn't any work coming. (Like I stated above, "Life is unpredictable".) Of course we needed money to pay rent, & to buy food, & pay bills. It's really hard when there isn't any of it coming in to do so. We needed to go where there was work. The Lord was providing work for my dad here in Texas. (& graciously still is!) We all talked & prayed about coming back here.
Believe me. We prayed a LOT about moving back. It wasn't just on a whim.

God has been so gracious to us through everything. He provided a way for us to come  back home. (He truly did.) Our wonderful church family welcomed us home with open arms & hearts full of love! We are truly blessed!

We have now been home for about a month & a half. We have been welcomed into a friends home until we were able to find a place of our own. God has provided such a place in HIS timing! We will be moving into our new place this weekend! God is so wonderful!

I plan to get up in journal format what we did up in NC. But that will be on & off & when I have time. (Life has been getting busy!)

Aaron (my amazing brother!) will be starting college this weekend! I am very excited for him!

Emily & Caley have both had birthdays these last 2 months! Emily is now 16, & Caley is now "a boring teenager" at 13! ;)

I will be 19 (goodness, already!?) at the end of September, & the beginning of October is my dad's & Liana's(she'll be 5) birthday! (A birthday weekend!)

I can't remember if I posted anything for the birthday's earlier this year, so if not, here it is for y'all's benefit! :) Lydia is now 3! She had her b-day in June, & Aaron is now 20! His b-day was in May.
It's amazing at how everyone has/is growing!

I now have an Etsy shop for The Legacy Doll Shoppe! I will be adding more items after we are moved in & I can find our camera! You can check it out here.

I will try to post more as time allows! Until then,
-Megan

P.S.
I'm working on the background & header, & I need to get off, but I'll have it matching & looking nice soon!!

A Walk in the Park

 (Aaron & Jaden walking back to the car)

Today we went to a park that is about 8 minutes from us. It was a lovely day! A nice occasional breeze, & plenty of sunshine!

Here are some pictures. :)

In a covered area, there is a hop-scotch thing painted on the pavement. We all enjoyed playing! Here is Liana jumping on the two squares! (She did very well!)

Peek-a-boo!

Lydia running

On top of the barrel tunnel thing.

Liana doing very well on the uneven things...(Anyone know what they are called?)

An Encouraging Blog Post & Update

I was reading the Ladies Against Feminism website, a post a single mom wrote. It was encouraging & a great reminder of how God provides for us, and even the little things like ironing boards! (read the post & you'll see what I mean)  You can read the post HERE.

His compassions fail not.

They are new every morning:

great is thy faithfulness.

The LORD is my portion, saith my soul;

therefore will I hope in him.

The LORD is good unto them that wait for him,

to the soul that seeketh him.

Lamentations 3:22b-25

God truly is our provider! He has provided us a beautiful farm house in North Carolina! It is a beautiful 3 bedroom 1 bathroom old farm house. It comes w/ about 2 acres, but we have the option to rent 10 more acres if/when we can! The whole place is apart of this (the landlords) family's 600 acres! Our landlord inherited the land from her mom, I believe.  She grew up in the house that we are renting. The road we are living on is named after her mom's family!  I am so relieved to have a home to settle into the day we get there!

We will have room to do a garden, chickens, & bunnies! (we want to raise English Angora rabbits for their wool so we can spin it & make it into yarn! We might raise one meat rabbit to see how we like rabbit meat. I'm still getting used to that idea...)


Here is a picture of the house:

Emily, Caley & I plan to start a cooperative blog once we get settled into our cottage/farmhouse! (all 3 of us will post on the blog) the name is: Heritage Homemakers .  (there is only a "welcome" post right now.) I'll post on here whenever we make a new post on Heritage Homemakers for those of you who aren't following the blog. :)

"I have been with you wherever you have gone....
And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will 

plant them so that they can have a home of their own 

and no longer be disturbed..."

 2 Samuel 7:9-10 (NIV)

Picture Credit

Vision Forum's Baby Conference

(edited for link)
July 8-10 is Vision Forum's "The Baby Conference". We are hoping to go, Lord willing! It is in San Antonio, TX. You can read more about it HERE. Some of the speakers include: Jim Bob & Michelle Duggar, Doug & Beall Phillips, Scott & Deborah Brown, & more!



Picture Credit

A Creative Cookbook Idea

Just a little while ago, Emily began working on her own cookbook. She's including recipes that she likes & wants to try. That gave me an idea: (after some suggesting from Emily ;) I'll make my own cookbook for that one day when I'm married and need an idea for dinner!  I still have yet to start it, but when I do, I'll let you all know.

Any ideas for some recipes? I plan to include the recipes I have grown up with, & my most recent favorites, but I just might add a few that are new. I might start the cookbook once we are settled since most of our recipes (like some of our family recipes) are packed, but I do have some memorized. (like my chocolate chip cookies!)

I'll try to keep you all updated on it!



Picture Credit

My Day - A Sunny Saturday!

(Looking at one of the pastures)

Today was a lovely day! We went to a friends house for the day (The Heaney's. Some of you from church may know them)! We arrived there in the morning, (around 11). We were waiting for some of them to come back from the pasture, so while I waited, I swung on the swing for a few minutes just drinking in God's beautiful creations, and listening to the birds sing "Glory to God!" :) It was soo peaceful!

It was so nice just to stop for a bit & not think about "life"..

(Looking up the tree the wooden swing was hanging from. Looks prettier in person!)

I was enjoying the peace for several minutes until everyone started coming back from the pasture, & I looked down to THIS!

Yep...Lydia stepped in a fresh cow-pie....ICK!!!  It was time to get back to reality... lol!

After the clean-up of Lydie, we went inside to see the Heaney's new kittens! The kittens were born just a few weeks ago! Here are pics!  (I'm using my phone for pics to they aren't that great.)

Ellie, the mama, & her 5 precious kittens! (one is under the 2 white ones) We (Me, Lydia, Liana, Caley, & 3 of the Heaney boys) sat there for a while just petting them, & naming them! Here are the names we thought of for each kitten.

This is Marty. She is named after Marty (Clerage sp?) Davis from the Love Comes Softly series. :) She is gray with white lips, tummy, & paws.

This is Missy. She is named after Missy Davis (Lehay) from the Love Comes Softly series. She looks like her mama being black & white. She has more white on the back of her neck.

This is Willie, the only boy in the litter. He is named after Willie "Nate" Lehay from the series Love Comes Softly. He has less white on the back of his neck.

This is Snow White. She has gray tips on her ears, & her tail is a light gray color. She looks very similar to Dusty, but has less gray, & her nose area is white.

This is Dusty! I named her Dusty because she looks JUST like my last cat, Dusty who was a creamy white w/ gray on her face, ears, paws, & tail! :) (both are girls!)

 Here is the whole litter together :) Aren't they cute??!?! They are so soft, and fluffy!

Mama cleaning her babies. She is a very good mama cat! She's very protective of her babies, which is good!

After that, we were called to lunch. After lunch we played several (4) rounds of capture the flag! (all 10 of us! (4 Heaneys & 6 Lemays) Well, Liana & Lydia we're just there to be our buddies, but they had fun, too!) We played for hours! I haven't played that hard in a LOOOOOOOOOOONG time!! I'm sure I'll be sore tomorrow! lol! Good thing it's Sunday, the day of rest! :)

We didn't leave their house (our old place) till about 6:30! We had such a good time. I will miss them when we move!

Have a happy Resurrection day, everyone!

Happy 1st Birthday, Jaden!

Jaden Reuben Lemay

Jaden means: God has answered

Reuben means: Behold! A son!

Happy Birthday, Jaden!

Today Jaden is 1 year old! I can hardly believe that it has already been one WHOLE year with you in our family! We are blessed to have you with us! I pray that you will grow up to honor God in all you do.

(About 1-2 hours after birth)

He gave us a scare soon after he was born by loosing an entire pound. He went from 8 pounds even to 7 pounds even in about a week.

(Jaden sunning w/ his big sister Liana! - He was a little jaundice)

After lots of prayer, & my mom nursing him every 30 min - 1 hour, he slowly gained his weight back. Today you would never know he lost a whole pound after birth!

(Jaden 3 weeks old)

I thank God every day for a sweet little brother like Jaden! I can't imagine what life would be like without him.

(Jaden getting bigger! He's a few months old there)

(about 7 months)

You add so much to our life, and ALWAYS have a smile on your sweet face!

\

 Yep, you always make us laugh! :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

Jaden's birthday cake!

With the move, we packed out cake decorations. So I had to make-do with what we had un-packed. So, we used straws for the #1, a toy dinosaur, & coco puffs for his name & the little "rocks" :) lol!