yarn along- book review

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? Take a photo and share it either on your blog or on Flickr. Leave a link below to share your photo with the rest of us! ~ Ginny @ Small things
I will start with the knitting, as you can see I have made progress on both of my knitting projects I ripped the section of knitting on the Lacy baby cardigan where I was knitting mindlessly and knit too far. Then I spent all Mondays knitting time in the afternoon and evening ripping out again. This time I accidentally repeated a pattern row. There are two pattern rows and basically you are just purling one stitch in a different place so they are staggered. This is what I get for knitting past midnight with my little book light in bed!Instead of ripping four rows out I went down into the knitting and changed the knit to a purl and vice versa. It was tedious and wouldve been so much quicker to rip and re-do. But I felt like I needed to stretch my skills and do it this way. Sometimes growth in a certain area is hard and takes determination doesnt it! The baby that I am knitting this for was born two weeks ago and I really would like to get it done. Even though I know she wont be able to wear it for a few months..... we live in Florida remember. Wink wink.
I absolutely LOVE the no purl monkey socks. This pattern is easy and I think its very pretty knit up. I am wondering how long I will knit the top since I dont like long socks. I may measure them against my last pair, the ones I am giving my sister. You will laugh, I have been thinking about giving these as well as knitting up another pr for my twin nieces. I taught my sister, then the girls learned how to knit. I know they will appreciate them. (and remember I mentioned they just moved to Germany? Their papa will be visiting in October for flight training and knitted socks will travel well methinks )
If you like socks give this pattern a try.
You wont be sorry.

The books Im reading.
Ive been reading two books to review and have enjoyed them both.
The only problem is that both of them are the type of book that I read slowly and digest each chapter for days/weeks before I move on. Since I have two books that I am trying to read through that are FULL of information and overwhelming I am feeling frustrated by something I typically enjoy.

As you can see by the stack of books I pulled out my "Gifts 2" for a re-read. It is full of short stories written by family members and friends of people that just happen to have an extra chromosome. When we chose to adopt we wanted a child that needed a family like ours. We had helped a family given guardianship of a little one with CP and infantile Spasms. We saw that this was something we could do. Something we wanted to do. Being blessed with child number four has taken me to places in motherhood I didnt know existed. I had parented three children and just knew That I knew how to be a mommy. I dont need help thank-you-very-much. But having little G in our life has taught me
how
little
I
really
know.
How mothering can look different with each child.
I had forgotten this.
Our community doesnt have the support system we had when we started our adoption and that has really been hard for me to accept. I really thought there would be a group of people that I could pick up the phone and call, people that could really say, "I understand". They are still out there but just not an organized place to meet or go. Everyone seems too busy.
I explained to my son the other day that I appreciated the blogs I have found because its given me the sense of community.
I really do crave relationships right now.
But I am having to figure out how to do this and not sacrifice family time.
School is starting soon.
My days will be more organized.
Full of life
and learning.
Im looking forwarnd to it.....
Community....
relationships....
Which leads me to the photos and reason I have added "the one day way" back into my reading list. We went to visit with the Director of the orphanage. It was such a sweet sweet time.
It was hard to leave.
Here they are with little G. They took photos of us to put on the Orphanage website and I had to have our son retake them. Little G doesnt do well with posed photos.
When I saw myself.....
I just dont look like the same person in my photo on my blog.
I have to start taking one day at a time towards change.
The extra weight is not good for me,
I want to be there for my family.
There is still so much I want to do.



I remain,
Under His wings,
Anna