the invitations

How do I go back and tell a significant story?

 Five months later a story shouts to be told which included huge planning culminating in a big day of worship and celebration on January tenth.

We ordered the invitations and a friend traveled on the busy highways in tough traffic to spend a few days with us. She sat and helped pen the invitations, stuff the envelopes, and stamp them for posting.

Then we waited for the responses to come in, which made the simple act of walking to the mailbox daily a grand treat.

December remembrance

May you have the gladness of Christmas which is hope;
The spirit of Christmas which is peace;
The spirit of Christmas which is love.
~Ada V. Hendricks

Moravian Candle Tea On December 5

On th sixth day of December, I was able to make a journey out of town and take Rose along too. My childhood friend's eldest son was getting married and I was bound and determined to attend the wedding. I do not plan to forget his anniversary since it is on my birthday. But when I returned on Sunday, Claire and Witt invited me over for birthday wishes; coffee served with one of my favorite cake choices, German Chocolate. They are sweet to me like that.

A program of strings played for the elderly residents of a local home.

The Widow's Luncheon was hosted in our home on December 19, which happened to be my husband's birthday .These gals are such fun!

Christmas morning

A new acquisition of my husband's demanded a family group picture.

A game of Apples to Apples after dinner rounded off our day of cheer and celebration.

Jesus is hope;

Jesus is peace;

Jesus is love.

Simple Woman's Daybook Resolution

Resolved- firm in purpose or intent; determined.

I should be more resolved to blog this year on a more regular basis. But honestly, I do not want blogging to become just another thing I must do. However, I did think it would be a wonderful resolution to begin this January week by joining in with the Simple Woman's Daybook. 

Outside my window...an upstairs view, "naked" takes on beauty as I gaze upon the tree's bareness; the oak trees still manage to hold onto some of their rusty brown leaves

I am thinking...about tonight's supper.  Frozen meatballs made and stored in the freezer are thawing with the intent to add them to a red tomato sauce and brown rice noodles

I am thankful... for the day's sunshine, making my afternoon walk a delight

I am wearing...black skirt, black tights, cream turtleneck and teal cardigan.

I am creating...flannel receiving blankets with crocheted edges for a special baby girl. I will share some pictures later.

I am venturing...nowhere else for the remainder of the day; an earlier trip out to drop Charlotte at piano while I stopped by the store for some needed items (like laundry detergent)

I am wondering...how Rose is doing today.

I am hoping...to get organized in space and mind this month

I am learning...to hope; to hold on and to let go...I know... an oxymoron of sorts

Around the house...my new sewing and crafting room is taking shape! I spent time in the closet today, placing bins of yarns on the shelf. I purchased a new rug for the middle of the floor on Saturday...love it!

In the kitchen...wheat berries were milled into flour this morning, waiting for me to make some bread.

I am pondering...next year's school choices for Charlotte

                                                    
I pray because the need flows out of me

all the time, waking and sleeping. 
 It doesn't change God, it changes me.

                                                 C.S Lewis

                                                   

           

a cup a tea while basking in the sunlight's beams

seven days

 A bouquet of white roses with blue delphiniums still grace my bedside table, one week later.

 My mind is having a hard time grasping it has been an entire week.

all things new

On a cold January night, she was wed.

                              She was a beautiful bride.

filling spaces

The cats know something is substantially different.

I moved furniture today and began the process of creating a sewing and craft room in an empty space in my house.

 There is a substantially empty space in my heart too.

December 2

A morning of baking bread and making soup allayed the greyness outside my window. Colder temperatures had seeped in swallowing the world with an encompassing grey.  But the shaping of the loaves and the simmering of a soup on the stove created immeasurable soothingness for any soul.

 The "violin" school" that meets at my house every Tuesday afternoon commenced with a group lesson to practice for an upcoming Christmas program to be held at the nursing home. Beautiful music chased away any remaining specks of grey that thought they might still have a place to hide.

                                                                   (photo credit...tumbler)

December 1

An unseasonably warm day that rendered some cutting back of my mums and daisies.

Nutcracker costumes dot my home since I have in the past month:
                               sewn a Chinese costume,
                                made Russian hats,
                                 created skirts for angel costumes,
                                 affixed a pocket for the inside of Drosselmeyer's jacket,
                            and worked on the fittings of two tutus, Spanish and Flowers.

They will be delivered to the dance studio this evening, back where they belong.

this was November

Mellow and worn, like the felted slippers worn on my feet on November days due to the cooler temperatures, yet

 as the days grew shorter and the shadows longer, I observed certain integral moments of time to snap and hold in place.

Each picture tells its own story.

and from here we break...

As for now blogging has reached a pinnacle in my life, and from this view a break has enforced itself. I wish I could flip one of those old timey book of pictures that due to speed show a beautiful story in reel form, surely you know the kind of which I speak? That is definitely the speed, but the moments and issues of life are evolving daily...full to the rim, poignant, bittersweet, stretching to the uttermost.

Several weeks ago, I wrote a post in my brain. It was entitled, "upon whence she left". One thing I am still learning is that our children belong to the LORD, and their destiny is in His hands too. But letting go of a newly turned eighteen year old just would not register on a scale  in any path of wisdom and discernment as the best thing; add in very strong, influential outside forces, authority challenged, and impulsive brash decisions being acted upon, and you get a trainwreck, of sorts.

"Being submissive to God means you do not have specific expectations

 other than the goodness and glory of God."

Nancy Wilson

   The Fruit of Her Hands

So...to any that would like to know where I might presently be, and why I am silent, plainly stated, I am taking a break. Sometimes it helps to "put it all out there", but then silence might possibly be the inimitable choice, for now.

a dress for me

It is a treasured fact that I was born into a family of seamstresses. There were years that my mother and grandmother would literally sew my entire wardrobe, dresses, pajamas, coats, whatever was needed to clothe my growing body. 

I started sewing clothes for Charlotte over ten years ago, beginning with the intrinsic bishop dress,  this stemming from the simple truth of my addicted infatuation with smocking. Then I began sewing yoke dresses to smock, and I would continue to sew  annual Easter dresses, and to enjoy creating the fun summer dresses, with things such as yo-yo's, and loving the embellishment of embroidery on some, and the addition of a cross-stitched belt on a simple fall dress.

But this summer of 2014, my repertoire of sewing skills have expanded to my own wardrobe. 

This dress was worn to my Biscuit Bar Brunch and received many compliments from the ladies, which is the best form of reward in any endeavor to my way of thinking.

I am currently reading a book that simmers in my soul, every morning's dose taken in small portions. Jean Fleming was recommended by a friend; she is also the author of A Mother's Heart and Feeding the Soul, both of which I think would be excellent to add to your reading lists.

I am loving that In the Heart of the Home has revisited needle and thread once again. Please come and join along with us, sharing what you are reading and how a needle and thread are woven into the pattern of your day. It is the closest thing to show and tell since childhood!