Veronica Joy!

Veronica Joy is my 5th living child, born on the 5th day of the 5th month. She was the longest pregnancy I had carried so far, 39 weeks 2 days. She weighed in at a whopping 9 lbs. 8 oz. and had a 14 1/4" head. She was born at home, with big brothers and sisters and some friends in the living room, waiting for her.

What a pretty and happy baby too! She had curly, strawberry-blonde hair and peaches'n'cream skin and big brown eyes. Always smiling, always loving, always kind!

When she was 2, she had measles, very severely. The sustained high fever caused weak places to develop in her hair follicles and in the following weeks, her hair broke off all over. I gave her a "shag" haircut. When the hair grew back in, it was dishwater blonde and straight.

Veronica is a very intelligent girl! Besides doing her homeschool, she is artistic. She draws beautiful pictures, and she quilts, spins, and knits. She is learning to cook. She is very popular with babies, because she is soft, gentle, and cuddly.

Her name means "true image" (as in a mirror) and "joy," and I believe she is a True Image of the Joy that the Lord can place in our hearts when we love and trust Him! I know she is a true gift to us!

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. 2 Corinthians 3:18

Yesterday for her birthday, we went to Mayfield Dairy in Athens, TN. We all got to wear hairnets and walk through parts of the milk-processing plant, then enjoy fresh-made ice creams on their porch. It stopped raining long enough for us to do our "field trip" and started up again later on last night. LoL!


To the right here is Veronica with her ice cream.

To the left, all the kids (including niece Dana and grandkids) on the company's graven-image cow (LoL)

Veronica on the cow, Artemas with hair (and non-existent beard) protectors,

B licking an ice cream,

Artemas goofing off with a giant poster of a milk jug, and again acting very thirsty indeed. Can you tell he is the family clown?


Today Veronica got to use her first power tools ever! Richard and the kids are building some kind of something of the shelter out near the road, that we put the "bum" scarecrow in last fall. Richard is apparently giving Veronica some very important instructions about marking before cutting.



Beverly took up camera again, to give us a 2 yo's eye-view of one of the family vans. And not to be outdone, I took a picture of my clawfoot-tub garden.




I did NOT get the sock done. YET! 12 rows to go before I sleep.

Yarn and Soap and Cookies, oh YUM

I am not getting enough SOCK done.

But I did get several new items listed in Richard's Rossoaps Shop at Etsy, including his SHEteam May Challenge, Misty Mountain Rose.

Would you like to see a picture of our very sophisticated and well-engineered Soap Drying Facility? Here it is. These are shelves near the ceiling on the far-from-the-tub (which we don't use because I don't have the shower tiled yet), narrow end of the room. At least our bathroom always smells nice!

I also went walking. Despite dieting and exercising, I was only down 4 pounds in the last 5 weeks. That is all I ever lose, 4 pounds. But in the last 2 days, I am UP 6 pounds!! What the heck?? How does one gain 6 pounds in 2 days?

I got a recycled yarn done, finally. Mine is my SHEteam May challenge (theme is Flowers), Second-Hand Rose, an "Old Floozy Girl" yarn from a wool-blend sweater. Desiree says she thinks I might be a little much for SHEteam. ~~sigh~~ I wouldn't be surprised, story of my life. Seems I am a little much for a LOT of people.

I also got a little spinning done. This one I think will be Diantha's May challenge in her Fluff4ewe Shop. Now that I have got it started, I will probably have her spin it. I was just too curious what it was going to look like! And, for now it is a secret!

Beverly says that cookies are NOM NOM. Tonight we made cookies. We made Civil War cookies, which are simple sugar cookies with a little nutmeg in them. Very light and good. Then the girls frosted about half the batch with lemon frosting, and that was good too.

Then just to keep Richie happy, because he insists that ALL cookies should have chocolate in them, the girls made Chopped Chocolate Cookies. Basically Toll House cookies, but I was out of chocolate chips. So I took a brick of semi-sweet chocolate and chopped up about 6 to 8 oz. of it for them to use. Again, very light and good cookies.

I also got several loads of laundry folded, sorted, and cleared OUT of my bedroom so that we have more than just a little path to the bathroom.

Veronica decided (after 5 on Friday, when I couldn't call the place) that for her birthday, she would like for us all to go and tour the Mayfield Dairy Farm and Ice Creamery about 30 miles from here. Since my parents are in town for the Street Rod run in Knoxville, until tomorrow, I have to get up at the crack of dawn to call there to see if 16 of us can get in for a tour. And since it is 2 AM, I ought to go to bed.

Goodnight, everybody!