#102

From our friends in South Carolina, Randy and Kimberly and family. They are one of the couples that encouraged us in adoption. And Randy is an amazing rose gardener.

The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. Deuteronomy 33: 27a

#101

From our dear friends in Texas, Shawn and Jurgen.

Precious child, we pray that God's love will be the theme of your life. May you know, in the depths of your heart, how much the Lord loves you, and with what love and care He has placed you in your Mommy & Daddy's arms. You are precious to Him and He will watch over you and direct your steps all the days of your life.

May you fall in Love with Jesus and be so filled with His love that it will spill out onto everyone who knows you. May you be known as a woman of great love and compassion.

I Corinthians 13:13 There are three things that will endure - faith, hope and love - and the greatest of these is love.

#100

Fruit of the Spirit swap: Patience

I Timothy 1:15-16 This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all. But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life.

I got several squishes in the mail over the weekend and chose this one to be my "100th" one because I definitely need patience for this wait!

#99

Fruit of the Spirit swap: Faithfulness

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not see. Hebrews 11:1

May these frogs remind you of the faith of the princess to find her prince - hoping in her kiss, and believing what she could not see. How much greater our reward will be for our faithfulness to our Lord!

#98

Fruit of the Spirit swap: Goodness

God saw all that He had made, and it was very good. Genesis 1:31

This squish is from Australia and shows animals fround in their country.

#97

Fruit of the Spirit swap: Self-control

I Corinthians 9:24-25 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Every one who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.

#96

Fruit of the Spirit swap: Self-Control

2 Peter 1:5-8 This very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge self-control; and to self control, perserverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

#95

Chinese Culture Swap: Moon Festival

(lanterns are used in all Chinese festivals)

#94

Chinese Culture Swap: Peacocks - a symbol of divinity, rank, power, and beauty.

#93

Fruit of the Spirit swap: Peace

The Lord will give strength unto his people; the Lord will bless his people with peace.

Psalm 29:11

May you find a little inner peace from heaven each time you see a small flower.

No Number

Here is the fabric and wish I sent out for my Fruit of the Spirit swap. I had "kindness." I used Ephesians 4:32 as the scripture.

"Be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you."

#92

From some friends at church

"I picked this piece of fabric because people always called our children the ABC kids (not planned) since our first was Bradley, then Carrie, and Andrew.

Children are a heritage from the Lord.

You are truly a blessed child. You have not only been chosen by God, but also by your Mommy and Daddy. You are coming into a large loving family. Welcome and God Bless you."


That is so sweet. And I love the ABC blocks.

#91

From a friend at church.

This material reminded me of spring time and new beginnings.

Sometimes, in life, a small seed can spring forth in a place where it will not be able to grow in safety or reach its potential. The Master Gardner, in His wisdom, will transplant that little seedling into a special garden where it can grow safely and be tended in love. There it can reach its potential. There it can send out beautiful blossoms in abundance. There it can be a blessing of beauty and fragrance to all who walk in the garden.

May you grow and send out beautiful blossoms in your new garden.

How sweet is that? Wow. I love it. And the fabric is cute, too!

#90

Fruit of the Spirit swap: Faithfulness

Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness stretches to the skies.

Psalm 36:5

The wedding band fabric represents faithfulness.

#89

Fruit of the Spirit swap: Joy

Joy is a celebration of God's Spirit within us.
It is a gift that we are meant to share.
Let it shine from your eyes, sing it loudly with your lips,
And give it freely with your heart.

Our wish for you is that you will be blessed with a joyful spirit.

From Maine

#88

From Billy's sister and family in San Antonio, Texas

Please enjoy your special quilt. May it keep you safe and warm and give you only the nicest dreams every night. The pattern we sent you is a colorful collage of cats - as your Aunt Mary and your cousins, Gilly and Juliet are especially fond of cats- starting with our pet cat, Lydia. May God Bless You and with all our love,

Victor, Mary, Gilly and Juliet

I love this fabric. The colors are so vibrant and Mary LOVES cats. So appropriate!

#87

Fruit of the Spirit swap: Love

First Corinthians 13



From Utah

#86

May you be safe and sleep soundly through the night,

May you be safe as you wake to the morning's light.

May you feel my love from so far away,

May it comfort and protect you throughout each day.

I will pray for you my little one,

Until our time of waiting is done.

I will pray that the Lord keep you safe from harm,

Until the child of my heart becomes the child of my arms.

-Author Unkown

This is from Jenny, a mom in our travel group when we adopted Abby. I LOVE this fabric. It may be my favorite so far. The little girls look like sisters, like Abby and her Mei Mei. :) And this poem is perfect for our adoption experience.

#85

This squish is from Ellie, a girl that was in Abby's orphanage with her. Our families were in the same travel group with our agency. Ellie also has an older sister from China. They are excited for us to have Chinese sisters, too!

#84

May your life be one of beautiful music.

The Lord your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17

This is from our dear friends in Minnesota, Joel and Rebecca. They are both very musical and this fabric and scripture fits them well! Thank you!

#83

Fruit of the Spirit Swap: Goodness

So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. Galatians 6:10

May these angels remind you to always seek to do good to all people.

From Arlington, Virginia

I love these whimsical angels and the bright blue background!

#82

Chinese Culture Swap: The Great Wall of China

Some myths about the wall:

It is NOT a single continuous structure; rather, it consists of a network of walls and towers that leaves the frontier open in places.

The wall is NOT visible with the naked eye from outer space or the moon.

The Chinese did NOT create the name "The Great Wall" - that name came from westerners.

This is a picture of the Great Wall that Billy and I visited when we were adopting Abby. Notice that it is PACKED with tourists! This portion of the wall is outside Beijing. It is very steep and we were only able to climb a portion of it. I think we went a little past that second tower you see going up.

#81

Welcome Sweet Baby!

May your angels who always behold your heavenly Father's face watch over you all the days of your life. May you come to the knowledge of your Savior and walk in His way to bring honor to Him and your earthly parents. May His blessing and anointing rest upon you and make you a wise woman doing exploits in the power of the Kingdom of God!

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

With our love,

Jim and Jean
Duncanville, Texas

WOW! What a blessing!! Thank you so much, Miss Jean. That is definitely our prayer for the baby and for Abby. And the fabric is so sweet, too!

#80

Chinese Culture Swap: The Kitchen God


We recieved two swatches for this topic.

Apparently the Kitchen god prefers take-out. :)

#79

Love is hundreds of tiny threads which sew people together through the years.
-Simone G. Signoret

Our wish for you is that your life will be rich in love and joyous wonder.

From Texas

Love the blue background on this.

#78

May you grow as a flower in God's garden; nurtured by family and friends.

This "squish" was sent to you by Great-Aunt Marlys. May you always be surrounded by the beauty and peace that God's gardens provide.

Thank you so much, Aunt Marlys. I love the fabric! It reminds me of your wonderful flower gardens blooming all spring and summer!

#77

Put down roots and grow strong.

This "squish" was sent to you by Great-Uncle Jim. The tractor symbolizes the roots that can be traced to the family farm in Kentucky.

My Aunt sent these two squishes (#77 & #78). I love them!! Uncle Jim loves his tractors! It's great that our baby will know who she's connected to just by looking at the quilt.

#76

Chinese Culture Swap: Tea

According to legend, tea was discovered in China over 5,000 years ago. Drinking tea is an art form in China.

#75

Chinese Culture Swap: Mah-Jong

Mah-Jong is a game played with tiles that are similar to dominoes, but the game is played more along the lines of gin rummy. There are four players and 16 rounds of play. Each set includes 144 tiles: 108 suit tiles (dot, line and character tiles), 28 honor tiles (three colored dragons and four directional winds) and 8 bonus tiles (fancy flower or drawing). Most sets also include 3 dice, 4 racks to set up your tiles, and a carrying case.

It was very interesting to read about this game. While we were in China, we saw many elderly people in parks playing this game as well as various other card games, etc. It was interesting.

#74

Chinese Culture Swap: Chinese New Year

#73

Chinese Culture Swap: Double Seventh Festival or Qi Xi (the Chinese version of Valentines Day). A folk tale involving stars in the galaxy and the Milky Way.

#72

Chinese Culture Swap: Lucky Frog or Money Frog

#71

Chinese Culture Swap: Bamboo

May you have roots connecting you to your beautiful birth country as well as your forever family. May you have strength, integrity, and honorability. And may you live with enough modesty to keep you grounded.

#70

Chinese Culture Swap: Music and Instruments

#69

Chinese Culture Swap: Chopsticks

#68

Chinese Culture Swap: The Monkey King (a folk tale)

#67

Chinese Culture Swap: Chinese Zodiac - animals assigned to the twelve year cycle.

#66

Chinese Culture Swap: Chinese Inventions - Fireworks

#65

Chinese Culture Swap: Double Ninth Festival - celebrated on the ninth day of the ninth month in the Chinese calendar. In contemporary times it is an occasion for hiking and chrysanthemum appreciation.