Easter Dresses for my Girls

My girls. It still hits me how wonderful it is to be able to say it. :) While I have nothing against boys and really hope God gives us some one day, I am so enjoying our girls.

On a side note, here in China, it's interesting how everyone - EVERYONE - who sees me out with my girls assumes that Ellie is a boy. "Xiao Didi" they say - "small younger brother." Even though she's almost always dressed completely in pink with a pink blanket, they assume she's a boy, because they see that I already have a girl. They also aren't as picky about what they dress babies in, often using hand-me-downs regardless of color, so I understand that they could be confused there. But I happily reply "Je shi Meme" (this is younger sister) and they smile. But I know what they're thinking. Boys are often valued and desired more here. Especially because they were only allowed one child (or two, as the current policy has changed). But I am so happy to have two girls! I was telling a taxi driver that I had two girls one day, and he could tell... He said (in Chinese) "you really like girls." Yes, I do. :) Childhood dreams are being fulfilled...

Like sewing Easter dresses. I knew I wanted to this since before I was married. But the first year we had a daughter, we were packing to move to China. I had no time to sew. The second year we were in China, and I had no sewing machine. But dreams of making something with white eyelet still persisted.

 But how practical is white eyelet for little girls that always spill? So while out shopping for fabric with friends before Ellie was born, the idea for white eyelet pinafores was born. Then I can put them on for brief cute times and take them off in times of eating. Or if spills do happen, they'll be easier to bleach because they're all white!

And besides, what is cuter than a tiny baby pinafore??

 And with them being for little girls, I get to put cute touches just because... Because you can never be too cute or girly when they're small!

 When we knew for sure we'd be staying here more than a year, and especially when we found out we'd be having a second girl, I made the investment for a sewing machine to have here. And I'm so glad I did. There's just something about working with fabric on a quiet afternoon.

 The machine doesn't come out often, and I'm learning I have to just take it out sometimes even if all I have is 30 minutes at a time. Because those few minutes do make progress that turns into dresses. But God was really good today. Despite Ellie's current pattern of short naps being the norm, today BOTH girls had naps that overlapped for 2 hours!! I was able to enjoy blessed silence except for the whirr of the machine, and create.

And I'm pretty excited about the end result. :) I showed Hadassah the dresses and she immediately wanted to put them on. :) It will be fun to see them all dressed up to celebrate our Lord's resurrection on Sunday!