coming up

The Lord will fight for you; you need only be still.  Exodus 14:14  -- Our memory verse for this week.

Spring break was a much needed change last week!  I was so thankful for a little time to rest, work in the garden, and visit family for a couple days, and plan and prepare for the rest of our school year.  I can't believe we have only eight more weeks before we change things up for summer break.  How glad I am that I have a game plan for the weeks ahead.  For several weeks I have been reading Happy Times in Noisy Village by Astrid Lindgren and this morning we finished it.  What a delightful read!  In our "morning basket" time I try to choose a selection that Rosie will really appreciate, like Beatrix Potter, along with a few different longer books, like Noisy Village or Winnie-the-Pooh.  We have been loving Life of Fred during this morning time as a fun addition to our math curriculum, and I've kind of been developing our own Spanish curriculum using picture books, songs, and occasionally videos.  That's been a challenge but I finally am happy with the direction we're going for now.  

Do you plan for the summer with your kids?  I think we might continue with a few things that feel "fun" - Life of Fred which they rejoice over, maybe Spanish so we can continue to move ahead a little bit, and lots of reading that I might need to prepare in advance for, since our library's selection is very mediocre when it comes to really good children's literature.  

The girls come in with handfuls of kale (which overwintered) from the garden and discovered some carrots that were frozen in the ground all winter so they dug those up and have been chopping them up into their own "salads" with the kale.  The carrots are fine but they look slightly shriveled and totally unappetizing to me and I just laugh.  In the garden everything is coming up: lettuce, spinach, radishes, carrots, bok choy, onions, peas... my potatoes are still under the earth with no signs of life but one of these days I know they will make an appearance.  

My "Love and Joy" cross-stitch sampler was finished today, just in time to start a new spring sampler!  We dyed eggs with friends and I caught up on laundry and started some chick eggs in the incubator just for fun.  We'll see if they hatch!  Apparently I think 18 chickens isn't enough for us, so why not try for half a dozen more...I'm sure I'm crazy.  But why not be a little crazy if it makes life more fun, right? 

buds and bumbles begins

The sunshine is so golden when it shines, but this morning I look out the window and it's frosty and white-blue with cold.  We are about to start running around getting ready to leave town. Suitcases are packed tight with clothes and the sweet potatoes are roasted, salad fixings ready to travel. 

I cast on finally with some of the birthday yarn from my Mama; I cast on Martina Behm's "Bud and Bumbles" shawl (which I apparently can't link to since ravelry seems to be down right now for me) using Schoppel, this incredible color gradient.  Isn't it lovely?  While I hadn't been knitting much, I've been cross-stitching like a fiend on Rosie's stocking.  I have made significant headway but I still don't really expect it to be finished and ready to use on Christmas.  Especially because the sewing bit may be a challenge with no sewing machine right now.  Cross-stitch is still my first love; nothing will replace it, even knitting with it's daily dose of calm and peace.

Lyddie had her seventh birthday.  How can that be?  I love that picture of her laying in the middle of the floor listening to her audiobook with her new headphones and holding tight to her balloons.  "Mama, I can't stop thanking you for these, I love them so much!!" she says.  Meaning, of course, she can't thank me enough. She is such a beautiful-smart-funny-interesting-kind girl.  A great big sister, a wonderful daughter.  I am thankful for her.  She is such a treasure and although of course not primarily my friend, yet she is in a way, my dear little friend.  

The girls have been beading away on these Wampum belts, which we first learned from our friend at church activities and I then replicated here at home.  I love seeing their random selection of beads and now that Lyddie has finished her first one, she has charted and designed the color pattern of her next one on a graph.  

We might sign for the sale of our house today.  It would miraculous if we did, and I don't quite expect it but I do hope for it.  Otherwise we will hopefully sign the papers early next week. There are so many "I hopes" going on right now. We are eager to finish the deal because there is now another house we hope buy on the market, a house we heard about through the grapevine before it was listed.  The seller is a friend of several of our friends and she said she was not very hopeful about finding a buyer when her husband got a new job far away, which made me smile because I felt the exact same way when we listed our house and the Lord provided a buyer for us and hopefully we are the buyers He is providing for them. It is an old farmhouse with a lot of character on two acres.  There are so many things that are almost exactly what we prayed for and I hardly dared hope for. I still feel like I'm holding my breath a bit.  This is really God's doing thus far, I think, and I am trying to be still to let Him lead us and finish the work. 

Last, I am back to reading Rebecca.  I took a little break and read Wonder by R.J Palacio- so good! - and figured I'd go back to this creepy crawly book to try to finish it.  

You can visit the Yarn Along link up and join in too!  Has the weather turned cold for you yet, or are you reading something really great I should put on my list for next year?  Happy Thanksgiving, friends.  If you are traveling, I hope you have safe travels, and if not, that you are surrounded by those you love in your own home or nearby.  

dream

  

The days are not lazy here at all, though I wish they were.  Here and there, we bounce from one thing to the next all day right now and I am looking forward to the long days of summer arriving soon. That might be a first for me to say since moving here four years ago because the summers are my loneliest time here, and I have usually felt a measure of anxiety about that but not this year for some reason.  I'm so glad and thankful that I am able to just feel anticipation for good things coming this summer, even if I have no idea yet what those things will be.  I think I am a bit less lonely these days as my dear girls get older; they are no replacement for my friendships with other women but those friendships would also be no replacement for a quiet blooming friendship with one's daughters.

If there has been any knitting time, I have mostly been knitting the little cotton cardigan for Millie and I am certain I will run short of yarn, as I suspected I  might, and will have to order another skein.  On days where there is a little extra knitting time I can squeeze in, I've cast on some little secret knitting in gray too.  And on Monday when our family observes Sabbath rest, I began embroidering kitchen towels from Alicia's free patterns - oh they are adorable and my little country kitchen would be a perfect place for them!  I am going to stitch each one in a different color.  It felt like such a luxury to spend time just lingering over setting up that project in the midst of a busy time, setting aside the "shoulds" for awhile and being quiet.

I am often now dreaming of projects, dreaming of sewing clothes for myself that would turn out perfect and darling (not much chance of that) and dreaming of little items to add to my girls' wardrobe - cropped little pants for Lyddie with thrifted chambray, soft and cool summer nightgowns, sundresses.  Sort of simple dreams and I'm not sure why suddenly they are so present in my mind but I'm waiting for moments to make them real and those moments haven't come yet but I'm not worried.  

I had the privilege this month of leading a sewing workshop with a few of the girls who come to Kingdom Kids, the elementary after school program that my husband directs.  It was such a delight working with girls who had never sewn anything in their lives, a few of whom had never really had any exposure to someone sewing with a machine or maybe even much by hand.  They were effusive in their excitement, especially over their finished pillows.  They learned several skills:  how to make knots in thread, thread a needle, sew buttons, work a sewing machine to make straight seam, how to construct and stuff a pillow and use a whipstitch to close the opening.  I sent them home with a little sewing kit that I had put together - scissors, needle, threads, a needle keeper, pins, and an extra length of fabric.  They left already planning  aloud what they were going to do with those supplies once they got home.  It was a true delight and as all Makers know, a joy to draw another soul into the happiness of Making. 

I have just finished 100 Cupboards by N.D Wilson and am waiting for the second book to arrive at the library for me to pick up.  It was excellent and so creepy that I couldn't read it when we were camping or right before bed!  

I am now reading Sabina Wurmbrand's book The Pastor's Wife, her autobiography of being arrested and taken from her 10 year old son and sent to a labor camp during Communist rule in Romania -for at least 15 years I think (I haven't finished it yet)!   She was arrested because she was wife to a prominent and faithful Christian Jew who pastored a church in Romania.  He also spent years in prison and was tortured for his faith- he wrote a book called Tortured for Christ which Jesse ready years ago.  Not exactly an easy book to read (either one) and yet really encouraging, challenging, and convicting  as a call toward contentment in whatever circumstances I am in, not just because "it could be worse" but also because ultimately it will all be better than we can dream for those of us who trust Christ and his atonement.  Later in life they co-founded the organization Voice of the Martyrs, which you may have heard of. 

Also reading:
**Raymie Nightingale by Kate DiCamillo
**The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas which I am listening to on the CraftLit podcast
**Several Hank the Cowdog audiobooks by John R. Erickson with the girls in the car- a treasured time for us that makes all the driving time enjoyable!  If you have kids and haven't listened to the author reading these books himself, you really need to see if you can find some of them at your local library! 

I am joining Yarn Along fun over at Ginny's blog.  You can too if you have an instagram account or blog!

Little Lamb

Lamb by Susan B. Anderson
You can click on the first link to get to a free pattern. The second is Susan's blog. This pattern was initially published in Itty Bitty Knits which is where I found it. I am SO happy with how it turned out, it is just precious. I was disappointed that the boucle yarn in the original is now very difficult to find since they aren't making it anymore, but I'm very happy with the way this soft fuzzy yarn turned out. I am completely blanking on what the yarn is and I usually keep the label in my knitting bag while I'm working on a project but can't find it anywhere. The pink for the head and legs is Bernat Cotton. I wasn't completely sold on the pink at first, since I originally pictured more of a beige, but the pink is a perfect rosy complement to the off-white, and of course matches everything Lyddie owns.
The pattern also calls for the legs to be stiff from straws inserted - that way it can stand on its own but I liked the cuddliness of floppy legs.
Done with plenty of time before Christmas!!!

Reused Treasures and Homespun goodies

It's been a really successful treasure hunting week and I wanted to share my goodies! The story behind our couches is that we were given couches when first married and we were so grateful to our friends from our church who blessed us with them, since we had to spend money on a mattress and definitely didn't have any extra as two students at that time! But the time had come where the others were just getting shabby looking and they didn't really fit my idea of "cozy" so we were scanning Craig's list for a number of days when these beauties popped up for only $200 for both! There were a spots and stuff, but we rented a Rug Doctor last night and they came mostly clean except for a few minor tiny spots here and there that aren't noticeable. I love them, the warm red and off-white is perfect and exactly what I was hoping to find!





On Saturday we stopped in at one of the thrift stores nearby to poke around as a fun and cheap date and I had been hoping to find some little jars to hold Q-tips, cotton balls and bandaids for our downstairs "garden-y" bathroom. Look what I found! These cute little stacking jars and the metal butterfly lids were only $2.00 total for the set! The jar lids don't actually go with the jars but we got creative and I love it. It is the kind of thing I'd see in a gift store and want but refuse to buy because it would be at least $20. I was pleased!



Last, but not least, I found this treasure buried among some decrepit picture frames and snatched it. I figured we could find a mirror to the right proportions to fit inside, and Jesse hopped online when we got home and found one for $11. The whole thing was a bit less than $30 altogether (compared to at least 2 times that for comparable mirrors I've seen in the stores) and will be a nice addition to our living room. I have been wanting to add a couple mirrors to increase the light in here.

It's been a real week for treasure-hunting and I wanted to share my goodies!

Additionally, I have been knitting some treasures and thought I'd get around to posting pictures finally. This is the baby sweater I started last summer and finished putting together in the fall. I figured I'd practice sweater making on a manageable size before attempting making one for myself! And I'll save it for a hopeful someday...



And my dear friend, Shelan, is having a baby in a few weeks, so I just finished a knit baby stroller blanket for her in blues, browns, and white. I don't have a completed picture but these are just before weaving the ends in to finish so you get the idea. I thought it was quite adorable.


(A close-up of the pattern)