Joy

Good morning to all on this bright sunny morning.  My house except for the closet are ready for summer.   The sprinkler is on, the air conditioner has been checked, the lawn fertilized and spring cleanup outdoors complete. Wish I could say I did it all but no I did none of it.  I am still waiting on the closet because I know that as soon as I pull out the summer clothes it will snow again.  Salt Lake weather is very unpredictable.  We have had snow in June.

Yesterday I spent the afternoon in my sewing room.  I think I mentioned my new sewing machine at some point in the blog.  A few weeks ago I finally attempted to embroider with it.  To my great disappointment it failed miserably.  I took it back to the store and spent about three hours there.  Not only did they give me a long private lesson and taught me a couple of new tricks, but also checked the machine.  It turns out that the bobbin case designed for the machine is slightly defective.  They had to adjust it so the embroidery would work again. I might have to readjust it to do regular sewing. There is a new bobbin case to replace the old one on back order.  Who knows when it will show up, but at least my machine works now.  So yesterday I decided to attempt another design.  I bought designs that when finished and put together create a children's book.  I started with the elephant.  This design also has a little bit of machine applique.  I even used fabric that wasn't the best so if I messed up I wouldn't feel like a total failure, but if it worked out I could use it.  To my great surprise and joy it worked perfectly!  I was so very very excited. I was so excited I couldn't even contain myself.  When my machine works it works so beautifully it is unbelievable.  On top of that I sewed another row onto my quilt.  I had a real sense of accomplishment.  I thought about joy yesterday.  The joy I experienced was short lived as all temporary and artificial highs are.  The true joy,  the one that lasts is the result of loving God.  Only through Him can true happiness occur.  Only when I am right with Him do I have that constant feeling of contentment.  It is a different kind of joy.  It is more a joy that comes from peace in knowing I am right with Him.

The Deer and the Dear

The title of this blog will have to wait as I really don't quite know where I am going with it this morning.  I don't write often because I have to feel inspired to write.  That usually happens when I am on vacation.  It is difficult for me to write in my natural habitat because life is so routine and as a Household Manager (Homemaker) life because a bit boring and it is difficult to see outside the box.  

Outside the box at this moment there is a cherry tree in full bloom and many flowering plants trying desperately to grow.  There are the lilies and roses among others trying to make their way to the surface.  But there is danger lurking all around.  The danger is the deadly deer.  I know you will want to laugh at this but trust me my roses and my lilies are not laughing at this time.  I hear their cry of terror when the deer come out.  Yes you think those sweet delicate looking animals with those cute ears and those big eyes are really innocent, but they are not.  They sneak into the unsuspecting yard.  They look around and they find their feast.  They go over to it and destroy it.  They eat the poor innocent new buds of the flowers that have just come up.   Then they see me in the house.  They know I am there and they stare.  I know what they are thinking.  They are daring me to come outside.  I go outside.  They continue to stare me down.  I am only a few feet from them and they continue to stare.  The look is not innocent.

They know what they have done and they know I don't like it.  Then they turn around and run out of the yard.  Yesterday, my husband saw a baby buck just sitting outside on our grass.  He looked so sweet and innocent.  My husband wouldn't let me go outside to scare him away.

Last week I saw a dead deer on the side of the road.  He was hit by a car.  Well one down and don't know how many more to go.  

On the exciting part of my life there is my little Ethan.  He is three weeks old now and getting cuter every day.  My son has been good to me.  Several times a week he calls me on I Chat and shows the baby to me.  I actually saw him with his eyes open a couple of times now.  Last night he didn't want to keep his little gloves on.  Who can blame him.  I would want to see what my hands look like too and of course there is the thumb.  He probably wants to suck on his thumb.

He managed to remove one of his mittens but he daddy put it right back on him and he began to cry.  Can you imagine how frustrating it must for that little one.  The reasoning for the glove is to keep him from scratching his face.  I love the way my son cares for his son.  I know they are both such good parents but it is fun to watch my own child be a parent.  I am so proud of him.  I only wish I had known how to appreciate child development when I had them right near me.  But God is now allowing me to see and appreciate the miracle of growth behind the scenes.

I must say that if I stand back and take time to smell the roses (when they are there) I am in awe of God's creation.  He is so good to us and through His creation He is reminding us how much He loves us.  Both the deer and our dear loved ones are to be loved no matter what they do because Jesus loved us first.

Spring is here or is it?

The calendar says it is spring but mother nature does not seem to agree.  As always, in Salt Lake City she seems to want to delay it.  I have seen the crocus try to show off their beautiful flowers only to be crushed by the incessant snow.  On a bright sunny day when the temperature attempts to peak above 55 F, I have heard the birds congregate on one or two trees chirping their hearts out, only to be silenced the next day by another storm.  I too know how it feels to go out one day and feel the warmth of the sunshine only to wake up to a road covered in snow the next.  Sigh.  I believe that this year we may go from winter to summer in a week.  Maybe that will happen in May or June or possibly even July.  But luckily this spring the sun is coming from a different place.

Yes, let me tell you about Ethan.  If you don't want to hear my baby stories time to leave this blog now lol!  The more I see him the more I love him.  They say that grandchildren and grandparents have a special bond, a special understanding.  I believe it.  My grandmothers and I did.  My grandmothers cooked better than my parents.  My grandmothers gave me toys and chocolate Easter eggs.  My grandmothers defended me when I got blamed for stuff.  Yes and what happens and grandma's stays at grandmas just as the saying goes.  I also see that bond between my children and my parents and my children and my mother-in-law when she was still alive.  I know this will also happen between Ethan and I.  

The internet is the greatest creation.  Invented by God I am sure for the good (and bad) of his people. God knew when he inspired the creation of the internet that is would be used for the great joy of the grandparent.  There is nothing more wonderful than seeing little Ethan live in video I chat.  Well I did lie, seeing him and holding him in person would be better.  But I don't have that luxury so God blessed me with internet.  I have seen my little grandson several times. He looks like and angel when he sleeps.  He has the most beautiful face ever.  I watched him in my sons arms.  As my son put him over his shoulder, little Ethan just curled up in his arms and pulled his little legs up under him as if he was still in the womb.  I have not really seen his eyes open yet but I did see him stretch once and try to hold his little head up.  The name Ethan means strength and that little guy is strong for sure.  I also saw him stick his little tongue out.  My arms ache to hold him.  But I also remember being a new mom.  I remember being so tired that having anyone around other than my husband and my own mom was a total effort.  If I thought I was truly needed I would be on the next plane to New York.  But until then I will hold back patiently and just thank the Lord for a wonderful son, a most wonderful daughter-in-law, a healthy grandson and the INTERNET!

Spring is here or is it?

I'm a Grandmother!

Yes, the day finally came.  Little Ethan Michael has joined our world.  I wasn't totally conscious when I was called the morning of the fourth.  It is my understanding little Ethan took his time coming into the world.  She was in labor over 24 hours. But do you blame him?  There he was wrapped in a warm little place and then be pushed into a a freezing room.  It is kind of like being in a nice warm bed with the heating blanket on and having to get up into a freezing bedroom in the middle of winter and with snow falling outside.  I say the bed is better! lol  

The first pictures that were sent to me were of him just barely out of the womb.  Poor little guy he looked a bit distraught but he is definitely the cutest infant boy I have ever seen next to my own boys of course.  He looks a lot like the child I dreamt of all those nights before.  Only difference is that he had more hair in my dreams. I would give anything to hold him in my arms and tell him how much I love.  The pictures don't seem to come fast enough.  I am hoping that within the next two days or so I will see him on I chat.  My thoughts are a bit scattered at the moment.  When I look at pictures of that little one it is hard to believe he has a little part of me within him.  

By the way the name Ethan means Strength.  I pray that I can teach him to have love the Lord with all his Strength and to teach him what it means to be strong in the Lord.

 

Waiting Expectantly

This will be short and sweet.  As we await the birth of this new baby we wait in great anticipation.

The whole family is in on it.  The parents are preparing the house for him.  The family and friends are all pitching in buying everything this child could possibly want and need.  Everything is being organized.  This little unborn baby boy has put a bunch of people in motion and he doesn't even know it.  He doesn't know how much he is loved and wanted already.  He doesn't realize how many people are just waiting anxiously to meet him and love him.  He doesn't know he has two parents who are moving earth and sky to prepare for his needs. I realize this isn't the Christmas season.  But I have been thinking a lot about Jesus's birth.  We don't move earth and sky to prepare our hearts for him.  We don't wait expectantly like we should for his birth.  As Easter approaches and Jesus prepares to die for our sins , have we told him we are sorry?  Have we told Him we love him?  We don't spend as much time thinking of the sacrifice he made on the cross for us.  We don't even think about the fact that soon He will come again in his glory.  Our our hearts prepared to receive him in our final moments?  We don't know the time, or the place we will be when our time comes to meet him again.  I need to be as prepared for the coming of my Lord as I am for the coming of that little boy I call my grandson.  For the little baby boy I already love so very very much.  About one more month to go and he will be here among us.  One more month to go and Jesus will rise again for us all.

The Making of a Quilt

God has blessed me with many gifts.  I am a lucky woman.  But as I get older I realize that they aren't necessarily interrelated.   Let me explain.  He has gifted me with patience to do crafts. When I was in High School, I hand embroidered a tablecloth for 12 and 12 napkins.  Not only did I carefully embroider it all, I also did a fancy hem all around the edges.  I still can't believe I finished it.  When I was waiting to move to Utah I did a very elaborate counted cross stitch of a fall forest scene.  I had three small children then.  The cloth was 18 or 24 count which is very tiny. Again I don't know how I finished it.  It is definitely a masterpiece.  

Now you need to know the cross stitch was a kit.  The table cloth was virtually a kit.  I was in Italy one summer and my aunt took me to the store bought the cloth the pattern and the thread.  She ironed on the pattern and proceeded to teach me how to do the elaborate hem.  Then I was on my own.  I have tried many different crafts but have decided that quilting and machine embroidery is what I will settle on and try to perfect with the years I have left.  My eyes are getting a little worse each year and I can't see well enough to do the tiny stuff.

I know this was a long introduction unrelated to quilting but I am getting there.  As I get farther into quilting I realize again that kits are the way to go unless I am doing one with machine embroidery.  I have discovered that though I am pretty patient with a project I don't have enough color sense.  I can see what looks good in the end.  But it is the fine differences that I don't see until someone else puts them together.   Take blue for example.  There are hundreds of shades of blue.  The shade depends on how much of another color is mixed in to it to make it a particular shade.  Red and blue go well together if the right shade of blue and the right shade of red are put together.  I opened a quilt kit the other day and decided to make it.

I was overwhelmed by the many different fabrics.  They all didn't match.  The colors were so different I had no clue how I was going to put them together.  I started making squares.  None of them looked good.  I went into a panic.  I asked God why he didn't give me color sense as a gift. I think His answer was "I gave that gift to two of your friends".  So I proceeded to call one of them.  Unfortunately,  the timing was not good with one but the other was able to join me.  You should have seen her go.  It did take several hours but it was amazing how she had a knack for putting those squares together.  She tried to teach me and I kind of caught on.  I was able to put a couple together successfully.  I will now take the time to sew them all together and finish it.

If you insist on a point to this story, it is that we are not meant to be alone.  God mixes his gifts so we can work together to create something.  I had a lot more fun doing the project with my friend than I would have alone.