made by Rosie

Here's Fidget's busy work for a day's recuperation. I also baked cookies for her to ice, but those were not as successful. They were about as soft as ceramic tiles. So that wasn't a recipe to repeat.

We missed a couple days' schoolwork, a day of karate, and I was glad that her fever was gone by mid-morning today; that she showed an intetest in making a doll, and I encouraged her as her stitches improved with close attention. This precious doll with her hand-embroidered eyes& lashes, was her great gift to me after a day spent happily cutting and sewing snippets together.

I still have the Matrida painting to finish, fabric for renewing the sofas, and a surprise to finish for a young bride. Plenty to keep me busy, and many contemplative moments.

The more I struggle with a painful jaw condition this winter, the more my ears hurt and the more I value silence. Not only my own, but heart's silence as well. I find with joy that God does speak, if I will but listen. In silence is beauty.

Work in Progress

Here is the painting I am working on these days, of a little orphan girl named Matrida. Our family recently began to sponsor her and it is changing our lives and prayers. From what we understand, studies have shown the best way to defeat poverty is by individual child sponsorship. We trust God is working in Matrida's life and blessing her, just as He is us through this process. Glory be to God!

Note to Alexis

Fidget made a new friend over the summer. She lives down the block and has been over frequently swimming and playing all kinds of fun yard games. Recently Fidget has had a burden for this little girl's soul. She has been praying about telling her about Jesus. The other day she couldn't wait to give Alexis a little note when she came to play. They went swimming, so I got to read the note, below. Later Fidget told me she'd written a devotional about Jesus' life for Alexis to read every night at bedtime.

Spelling notwithstanding, it humbles me that God would do so much in a girl this young; my girl, a kid I don't deserve. It is tempting to kick myself because I see how Fidget loves God, and I didn't become a Christian til I was 22. But it was all in God's plan. And now we are praying Alexis sees she is in God's plan too.

Shaker Pickles

We got some beautiful cucumbers at the farmers' market two Saturdays ago and made these bread and butter pickles. They sit out on the counter and are ready after a week. We had some of the most simple and delicious sandwiches imaginable last Sunday after church, with these pickles. The best part is that they are sliced much thinner than store-bought pickles. Thanks to Mumsy and sister in law Traci for sharing their recipe and wisdom.

Shaker Pickles

4 sliced onions
sliced cucumbers to fill a gallon jar
3 1/2 cups sugar
3 cups vinegar
1/3 cup salt
1 1/2 tsp powdered alum
1 tsp celery seed
1 tsp mustard seed
1 1/2 tsp turmeric

Mix onions with cucumbers and place in gallon jar. Mix remaining ingredients well and pour over jar contents. Cover and shake vigorously. Shake once daily for 6 days, and they will be ready to eat on day 7. After they are ready you can put them in smaller jars and keep them in the refrigerator. You can also blanch carrots or cauliflower and add.

Cookies for Everyone!

Happy Sabbath Day! A day to worship, to relax, to work on a few porch ceiling boards, and often a day to fool around with a new recipe. My friend Delicioso just sent me these adorable chocolate dipped shortbread 'tea bag' cookies. Need I say more? Sure, they're for tea lovers, but really these cookies would cheer anyone. This has got to be on my next tea party menu! Thanks, dear friend! xoxo






And thanks to Emmaline Bride. The recipe is there. Go for it!

Surf Days

I know I haven't made many posts lately but we're out in the yard and the shed, working on porch ceiling boards and swimming with Fidget. We've made such good progress that we've allowed ourselves some time off. What a blessing to live in a free country.  And God is so good to give us this time together as a family. These memories get us through the times apart. 

Surf's up!

Appetizers in Abundance

We're already one week past our family's 3rd Annual Appetizer Weekend. What fun we had! That week I'd spent a lot of time in the kitchen making brownies ( here's the recipe from the Hershey's website), blondies and breads. Several friends earned their black belts in karate so I made them goodies to celebrate.

One of the moms gave me a bouquet of beautiful flowers. Even after a week these were still so pretty and cheerful in the dining room. I wish I'd gotten a picture with all the roses in it when they first arrived. 

On to appetizer weekend!It was our annual family party and I had such a good time planning for it. Here's what I made:  Friday night we had Spicy Asian Lettuce Wraps, Rotel cheese dip and chips, mini crab cakes and broccoli and cauliflower in dip. 
Saturday breakfast was French toast dipping sticks and syrup and strawberries.
At lunch I made Asiago cheese dip and glazed chicken wings, and Fidget's friend Sky came to sample the goodies.

Sunday at lunch we had a few spring rolls and steamed dumplings. Sunday night we had potato skins, more spring rolls and everything else that was left over. Somewhere in there I also made bacon crescents for the first time, which were a bit hit. They were tiny fiddly things made out of refrigerated crescent rolls smeared with a creamy spread made with fresh-cooked bacon. Somehow I never found time for the avacado-stuffed cherry tomatoes, spinach-parmesan dip, or the sweet fruity dip I was going to make. But the list gets more ambitious every year.

It is such a joy to plan this special weekend celebrating my family every year. God is good to us to give us loving family relationships. No matter what our struggles or differences we can celebrate the family God gave us.

Exciting Summer Plans

Gracious, it's been over a month! We had a few weeks of sickness here in April. It was a busy month still, as I tested for my green belt- and passed. Yay! I'm in Fidget's class now and we're having so much fun. If I'd known karate was this much fun I would have started it sooner!

Looks like summer's almost here already. I've been working on some knitting and painting and have plans for opening an etsy shop in late August! I want to thank all my pen pals for participating in my one-for-one offer: If they send me a pretty postcard, I paint a picture of it and send it to them. Then my hope is to paint another and offer it at the etsy shop. So far they're such fun I've had a hard time not sending them off the minute they're painted. Here's another peek at my sketchbook and some new work.

The cool weather we've had lately is just gorgeous and our yard has gotten considerably better-looking than the sad and neglected state in which we found it upon move-in. Fidget and I have started running 2 miles in the mornings and are enjoying seeing all the new birds and squirrels in the neighborhood.

Fidget has exciting summer plans as well. After all, art and playing are great but her mind wants more work to do! So she is taking beginning Latin from a dear friend this summer. After the first class this week, she wanted to play Latin teacher when her friend came over later that day. So it looks like this class is a good fit for her. She is also planning to attend a Latin summer camp and a karate Olympics camp.

There have been sad and alarming things all over in the past month and this is something I want to address. Because just last fall God brought me out of a season of fear. I can testify that the past weeks God has been faithful to be my strength and my shield, a peaceful force to my soul that overcame any anxiety. 

I want to encourage you that no matter what you face personally, no matter what our country faces, God will always be enough. He is trustworthy, He is faithful. It is faith in Him that allows us to have joy even when things are sad. We know He will redeem everything bad one day. I hope you can see and appreciate that He gives us many great blessings here, but I also pray you say with me 'Come, Lord Jesus. Come!'

'Tis the season

Easter! Tis the season to think on the blessedness of life lived in abundance because Jesus paid the penalty for our sins and rose again to give us eternal life. Tis the season for seeing birds building nests; time to dig in the flower beds; time to run to the river and enjoy the beauty of creation; and as usual, tis the season to bake!

A Day to Relax

It was a lazy day for me and Fidget, really welcome after the school week hit its zenith in the karate belt test yesterday. Today we took it easy, had some friends over, and just played. For the kids, it was being inside and out, eating popcorn and playing ninjas among other things. For the moms, it was having tea, talking about art and baking yeast breads. Breads are one of my all-time favorite things to make. There's an entrancing mystery about the life of yeast that pulls me in several times a week, just to work with it, knead dough, and get a whiff of that heady yeasty aroma. Today my friend Kim and I made two batches of regular white bread with wheat germ, and some adorable peanut butter turtle rolls. They are all gone but one, and Fidget has dibs on it for breakfast.

Joy

A happy day in the kitchen baking bread, as well as in studio using watercolors while Fidget did too and the Pres piddled with his Harley. I made some sketches, painted a post card, and one little canvas board for the church art auction. I am using scenes from all the postcards my pen pals have sent me in the past 6 months. Painting= joy!

Blessings

Birthday blessings to the Pres this week, and some current projects, which I hope will bless their recipients. This is the day the Lord has made. Enjoy!

Ahh, back to the desk. It's been a couple of weeks since our move. I finally have most things unpacked and put away so that I have a little time to catch up on my Bible reading and correspondence in the mornings. Yesterday I had just started to write when I needed to go downstairs and it was at least an hour before I came back. When I returned the desk was bathed in a dreamy golden light from the one open window blind. That moment said to me, I'm home. God doesn't always bring us back to the same place. But He does promise that even with the good things He gives us here, we aren't ever really home. All the good things are just whispers of the joy yet to come. This week I got word that my Grandma Wretha had died in central Florida. It was sad for the few people who still know her. Since she was about ready to have her 103rd birthday, there weren't many of her contemporaries left. But it gave me pause to think about how joyful our reunion will be, and how glorious her days are now, worshiping at the throne. Until I can do that, I am thankful for the good things God gives me here.

Optimism

Lots of great things are going on at the Train Central workshop. Yes, we're into the grey days of winter. But the thing about being a believer is that the Lord gives our spirits great buoyancy, no matter what is going on in the world, in our hearts, or in our schedules. So, we carry on. As the Bible says, we are not consumed. Instead, we knit :).

Here are two gifts completed this week.

Some luscious, just-arrived bulky soft 

Italian wools for winter projects.

 

 

Some wool that's been on the back burner that I am using for new socks to wear with jeans through the long grey winter months. 

I love the variations on blue.

But we have to keep our strength up. Here's Fidget about to gobble
 one of Sunday's hand made  pizzas.We made 3: pepperoni and mushroom; pineapple and Canadian bacon; and just cheese.
 

 School work continues. And somehow, even next to the train tracks, with grey weather outside, it is encouraging. Math work is being understood, Fig's love of Greek mythology continues, and we get to be together all day long. Here's what we're reading these days. 

 God is good!

Veterans' Day

It was a glorious weekend for us. The Pres got home from his trip and had four days off. Especially after receiving him home safely it was a sobering time to observe Veterans' Day, knowing there are multitudes of faithful Americans who have given their lives for our freedom.

 We went to the aquarium twice this weekend. The first time we saw the ocean life building. The second time we got to see the new exhibit about the giant extinct shark Megalodon as well as the Marsh Pavilion.

The weather was gorgeous and warm for November. Along the nature walk we took advantage of the several boardwalks along Owls Creek, and an observation tower.

Fig didn't stick around long enough to see much through these viewers but the Pres spotted a kingfisher as it swooped down on a fish and brought it back to a tree to eat it.

I had felt troubled this week but still at peace. It was so good for the soul to get out into God's creation and feel Him near, and know He is faithful, no matter what is going on in politics. Our land is beautiful, we are blessed, and there is still hope for the people of God. 
 

 

It was a triumph to remain at peace in the past week, after struggling a couple of years with anxiety. Lately I have been comforted by Bible reading, God's closeness in prayer, and the counsel of good friends.

 
If there's one thing we know, it's that the enemy wants to rob us of our joy. But it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. And we know the end of the story: Jesus wins.

So we enjoyed our freedom, taking in the sunshine, watching a red tail hawk devouring a squirrel;

following the juvenile otter all around his tank;

and a screech owl hidden in a bush in the outdoor aviary was fascinating to watch.

Here was a quiet tank with a few little fish and hermit crabs. It was meditative to watch them go about their watery day.

We love the harbor seals. You can lose yourself in just enjoying these animals frolic. Fig chased them up and down the tank.

Living free, enjoying simple pleasures with family, I feel more than ever how short our time here on earth is and how precious these times are. I never want to take them for granted. God is good.

 

Peace of Mind

Fidget and I are back from our quick trip to the Lowcountry. It was so refreshing to be out there with the oaks and the moss,

taking in all those open vistas, remembering good times and hoping to move back one day.

There's a lushness to the land that is seductive. It's so open, so unspoiled. 

 

 I can breathe out here!

In addition to virgin vistas we got to visit with friends and stay with family and loved ones. They took us to a fabulous aquarium where we enjoyed fish as well as birds.

This barn owl was a favorite. 

And the South has a charm unlike any other place. 

 

We had a leisurely time, learned some history, and Fidget had fun playing with all her cousins. I had time for knitting and Fidget ran some track and cross country with the kids. She even got to dress up as a cheetah at a Halloween party.

We didn't get any tourist trap souvenirs. But what we did come home with were 3 prize feathers courtesy of Romeo, one of our friend Linda's peacocks. 
 

So, now it's back to the tracks. The wind is whipping and rain is falling. But God's peace is with us as are sweet memories of our week at home.