Christmas is almost here.

Again I don't know where this is going tonight but I felt I had to write. I went to Mass tonight, Yes, I worship in the Catholic Church, and the deacon gave the "sermon" or whatever they call it now. I found it very interesting because I felt he was right on as to what I have been feeling all week. This is the first Christmas in years where I have felt an unbelievable amount of joy and peace. You might say that I basically have it all, I have much to be thankful for. I have a wonderful family a grandson a grand baby on the way, my husband and kids are employed, I don't have to go out and work, a warm house etc. I am extremely grateful to God for providing all these things to me but it has been more than that. Since Advent began I have actually felt Christ's presence. You have to understand that I don't feel that often and every Christmas for quite a few years I have not felt that at all. I honestly don't know what has changed unless it is me. I know I won't always feel this way but I am enjoying this feeling at the moment. The deacon told us that Jesus is the reason for the joy. I have been studying a section of the psalms this year and they have made it very very clear that God is truly with us always, that he cares about everything we do, that he protects us and watches over us. What is different is that I am truly trying to take this to heart especially the Trust in Him statement. I have become frazzled several times in the past couple of weeks but I have told Him that I trust him and have truly tried to do that and I guess he honored that by filling me with joy. This is not the joy of excitement for Christmas though I am because I am expecting all the kids to come, but a peace that surpasses all understanding. As the deacon told us Joy begins with the letter J as does Jesus. Jesus and joy go together. I liked that.

I have also found a peace in having everything finished early though in the past everything was still done early and yet there was no joy. I have found great joy in going to church on Sunday. That too doesn't always happen. I want to thank my God for this joy and hope that he will give me this peace even as the house settles down and the children leave.

I sit in front of the tree in the evening and look at the manger. I think of my grandson as being the age of when the wise men probably found Jesus. I have been told that it took them several months from the moment they saw the star till the day they found him. I have had time to meditate on the shepherds that saw the star and went to that manger and saw the baby. I have thought about being one of the shepherds and how cool would that be to see that star and find a baby. If I found that baby what would I say? What would I do?

On that note, I say goodnight. More will come as the family arrives. I believe that this is meant to be a very special Christmas that will be unique. No other Christmas in this family will ever be the same with the same joy and peace as this one. Thank you Lord for this special gift.

Grandchildren What A Blessing!

As I was waiting to fall asleep last night, I was thinking about writing in the blog today. I had the most joyous encounter (if that is possible with a 7 month old over the internet) with my grandson. I wanted to write it down because I then print this blog and will show it to my little one when he gets older. I want to treasure and remember all these special memories of him. Last night I saw him again on internet video. He turned 7 months yesterday. So I started to sing him Happy Birthday and he looked up at me on the computer and started to sing too. Oh my gosh how cute is that? Let me tell you it made my entire day. I couldn't stop smiling the whole evening.

I know I told you that Ethan means strong and he is mentioned in the Bible in 1 Chronicals 15:17,19. But what I didn't realize till a few day ago, when my other son happened to mention it, was that Ethan was also a musician (percussionist) in King David's band. He wrote Psalm 89. It talks about the reign of David and the great things God has done. It praises God. It is interesting that God showed me this before I heard my little grandson sing. It warms my heart

even more.

At the present time I am studying the Psalms of the Assent. I just finished Psalm 127. It talks about the joy of children and what a blessing they are from God. Vs. 3 Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from him. I have been blessed with three and the greatest blessing of all is the frosting on the cake, the grandchild.

Let Me Tell You About My Grandson 3

It isn't easy being a long distance grandmother. The trip from Utah to New York is very long. Flying isn't as much fun as it used to be. But it's all worthwhile when you have a smiling little face at the other end.

Ethan is getting cuter by the day. He has quite a personality. He is 6 months old now and he knows he is boss. He knows how to manipulate and he not only has his mother but also his dad wrapped around his little hand. He doesn't have to cry for very long to have someone run to his side to pick him up. I confess I did the same thing while I was there. He is very loved and he has two great parents and he knows it and knows how to take advantage of that. Babies learn fast!

He hates wearing clothes, (what baby does after all there was no such thing as clothes in the womb) and his favorite time of day is bath time. That comes in the evening before bed. As soon as he is in his little tub he will kick his feet and splash all over the place. He is fun to watch. He doesn't like his face washed.

He is starting to eat solid foods and he loves his applesauce. He also eats sweet potatoes and while he was there he tasted grapes from his aunt and his naughty grandmother (that would be me) put a little vanilla ice cream on her finger and he liked that too. He was going to start pears after I left.

He rolls over by himself now but he does not crawl yet. He can sit up but hates being on his belly. So he will sit starting at the toy in the distance. He will try to reach for it but not far enough that he will fall over on his belly. If he is put on his belly he will do his best to roll over. On the other hand he wants to walk! If you stand him up he is all excited and can almost stand up by himself. He can sit in his big round bouncy chair and bounce up and down for hours. This chair has music. When the music flips on he will bounce to the music like he is dancing. In fact, I think he will be a good dancer when he grows up. But best of all I love his conversations. He will look you straight in the eyes and start babbling. Of course the only two distinguishable sounds are ma and da but he is having a conversation. From time to time he will stop and if you respond he will continue talking. I just so enjoyed listening to him from the moment I got there till the moment I left. All these things will remain in my heart. I look forward to Christmas where I will see them all again.

Changing the subject I did have an interesting time on the plane. They now have internet. It is not fast enough to play computer games but certainly enough to surf the web and I chat with friends. I was able to have a free taste of this on the way to New York and it was really fun. I hung out on my computer till the battery ran out.

Quilts Quilts and More Quilts

There have been books (other than how to...) written about quilts. I have never read any of them but I think I am beginning to understand why it makes me think so much about my life. Maybe God inspired women to make quilts so he could teach us things. This past year I have put together 4 quilts I think. I wrote about one of them in a previous blog. My best quilt was the one I made for my grandson. It is the most beautiful piece of work I think I have ever created. I felt so incredibly satisfied with it that I kept thanking God for the inspiration, the equipment etc.

But it is the quilt I just finished that made me think the most. This quilt was quite a learning experience. It is by no means a perfect quilt. I am not a perfectionist and will never be. This quilt was a kit as most of my quilts are (other than the baby quilt). Though it is a square, it is built on the diagonal instead of straight up and down. So you build from the corner down. It makes sewing it a bit more difficult because it has a way of stretching out of place. The top came out pretty nice considering I didn't use a walking foot, like I should have. I didn't want to just leave the top plain. I wanted to embroider this quilt. I decided it was too big to machine quilt it by hand so I found a lovely machine embroidery that would fit in the square. I must say it was quite a challenge to center the three layers in the embroidery hoop to machine embroider it. There are 69 squares in this quilt. Anyway, many of the squares are not centered perfectly. Then I picked another pattern for the rectangles. Again not all of them are centered either. To make a long story short, the short sashing is bunched up with the little string of embroidery and the large sashing has a most beautiful design but isn't perfect either. Yet, I would look at the quilt from afar and think it was pretty cool and as a whole not bad, actually pretty. I then thought about myself. I am like that quilt. I have so very many flaws. I am just like that quilt, bunched up in some areas and definitely not always aligned in God's will. There is so much for me to improve on and still learn. Yet, God looks at this quilt that is me. He sees the flaws but he looks at the big picture. He sees the quilt as though it was perfect and he loves me anyway. He loves me like the person who will receive will love it because that special person will know how hard I worked on it and how much love and passion and frustration went into making it.

Breckenridge

We are now on the second part of our vacation. I am presently in a room full of people so let me see if I can actually write this in a coherent way. My husband arrived in Denver on Sat. morning. He had been visiting his family in Ohio. We left Sat afternoon to here to Breckenridge. The only disadvantage I see here is lack of consistent internet but other than that this is a lovely place and we are all having a great time. We are in a three bedroom condominium walking distance from town. I have yet done much looking around in town because we have been so busy doing other things.

I think I mentioned I have a bucket list. Yesterday, I was able to cross one item off of it. We all went White Water Rafting. We took a beginners trip and had a really good time. We learned the basics and were out for about an hour and half at the most. We wore wet suits, jackets, helmets and a life vest. It was quite cool and the water was freezing. Now if they could just figure out a way to warm the water........

Today's activity was a bicycle ride. Our tour so to speak started near Vail. We picked our bikes and the company drove us to the top of the trail. We rode down. They made it sound as though there was no exercise involved, but it turned out that once we passed the town of Copper Canyon it was relatively flat. We actually had to do some work with the pedals. The scenery was absolutely beautiful. We stopped in a couple of places and took pictures. When I was a young girl I loved riding bicycles and I kept remembering those times. I feel a sense of freedom as I ride alone with the breeze on my face. The weather today was perfect and so was the day.

Tomorrow the outlet malls? lol

4th of July

Our vacation this year consists of coming to Denver to visit my son and daughter-in-law.  I must say Denver is much nicer a place than New York.  It is a beautiful, clean city.  Though the weather these days is rainy the temperature is comfortable and my daughter and I are having a great time.

Today was particularly fun.   We went to the arts fair.  You have to understand that the week prior my daughter, her friend and I went to the arts festival in Salt Lake City.  Though it had improved much from about 10 years ago when I went last, Denver's art festival was much more fun.   It was much bigger with more of a variety of artists.  I was particularly intrigued with one booth.  The artist at this both created small quilts and purses.  They were made of applique but different from the usual applique.  She used a different technique which is difficult to explain.  My understanding is that she laid all the pieces down and sewed it all together with free hand embroidery.  But it looked different than any applique I had seen before.  I was intrigued.

We spent some time at the mall where I bought I Life for my computer had delicious barbecue for dinner and went off to the fire works display. 

I love color.  I love bright bold mixtures of color and light.  Seeing fire works live is one of my favorite things to do.  We were right up there close and personal.  There was fun music in the background.  Fireworks make me feel like a little girl again.  Watching them reaches into my heart and sole like nothing else does.  Fireworks with fun music is an incredible experience for me and I had forgotten how much I enjoy it.  I tried to capture it in pictures and on video.  I love my new I phone.  The video I took with it I though was impressive.  The kids will have to teach me how to post it on Facebook.  All in all this was an absolutely wonderful day.  

Nature Around Us

Good morning all.  Another beautiful sunny day.  Spring is over and summer has slowly crept in. This is the time that goes by quickly.  The next two months will fly by and then the rush and struggle of the Christmas season will be upon us once more.  I have a lot to say about the Christmas season but I will leave that for future discussion at another time.

Summer comes complete with lots of action.  As I look out the window these days I see some very happy flower plants.  That would not be the roses and lilies that have been clobbered by the deer lol , but the peonies and other flowers that the deer don't enjoy munching in.  There are two Grouse (they are big black and blue birds that have a horrible screachy sound ) and a couple of little squirrels clobbering the cherries on my cherry tree.  Outside my bedroom window there is a nesting Robin.  The robin is definitely my favorite.  She sits there all day long.  From time to time she will leave the nest but for very very short spurts.  I have wondered what she thinks about all day.  Sometimes I see her get up and look inside the nest.  Probably checking to see if her little eggs are ok.  Then it looks like she moves them around with her beak.  Watching her take such good care of her little ones fills me with joy.  God often talks about how He takes care of his creation.

Speaking of creation I miss my little grandson.  My daughter-in-law had to go back to work. My heart goes out to her.  I know how difficult it is to leave little Ethan all day long.  God created us to take care of, watch over and protect our young ones like that little robin in the nest.  But I also know that God will be watching over and protecting the lovely lady to who taking care of him and Ethan will always be happy to see his mom when she gets home.  I was able to see Ethan on internet yesterday.  He has grown so much since I last saw him.  You should see how he holds his head up by himself now.  I haven't seen him laugh yet but I know he smiled at me. He looks directly at the computer screen now. 

On that note I encourage you to take the time and smell the roses if the deer hasn't gotten to them yet lol and when you do think about the great beauty God has created for us.