Lest I Forget

I am not waiting for the yarn along on Wednesday. For one thing, I just am so excited to share how the basket turned out that I cannot wait! Did I mention that patience is not one of virtues I have mastered? For another thing, I also hope to have another project finished to share on Wednesday. Did I also mention that Tony has been gone for a week to Normandy to play his tuba and commemorate D-Day? No? Well, he has. I am also not patiently awaiting his arrival in a few hours. We are all more than ready to have him home. Trying to capture the color most accurately. This is not it. This is close, but not quite. This seems to be the closest I can get.

Today is Holy Thursday. The Last Supper. The Institution of the Eucharist. The washing of the feet, whereby Jesus showed us the attitude by which to live. Lent has been interesting, as it usually is. What I think I should focus on, and what God reveals to me? Not even in the same ballpark. On Palm Sunday, I really felt that I had failed to make any real changes in myself and believe me, I am in need of change. Monday came and I got up renewed in my desire to make the most of the holiest of weeks. One little change. One thing I have been doing differently. I can see that this is what I need to help me in so many other parts of my life. Have I mentioned before how beautiful it is here? I have? Well, it is so beautiful that the pictures I take are very disappointing, for they seem to dull and veil the view. These fields of yellow are like sunshine for your soul. Scattered among the green of new growth and the rich brown of newly broken soil, they bring a swell of happiness in my...

I want to thank everyone who has been praying for Peter. His EEG was normal and for now we will just keep a close eye on him. I hope to write more about this later, but I really need to keep a light heart today. A few nights ago, the kids were begging to do some kind of Christmas craft. Clearly, they do not see all that needs to be done and figure that I have nothing better to do than to create a lot of mess. But that is exactly what we did. We made gingerbread house cookies. I was surprised when my husband sat down and grabbed a cookie of his own. Usually he finds some task that cannot possibly wait one more second when he sees us "crafting". Turns out he has fond memories of decorating cookies with one of his childhood friends every Christmas. cookies baked and cut into house shapes Those m&m's are hard to open. Little fingers having fun. Lots of icing never made it on the cookies. It went straight in their mouths. Dad helping his son. ...

Do you have a cup of coffee or tea in hand? Good. Now we can sit down together and enjoy the morning! It is a lovely morning, with the blue sky and all the pretty shades of green right outside my window. There is also a robin in my yard searching for bits of stuff and string to make her nest with, along with a little brown rabbit who the kids desperately want to catch and make into their very own pet. I hope your Easter was as joyous as ours. Lent was so long this year. Easter morning dawned with cinnamon rolls on our plates and the delighted squeals of children finding their baskets and the eggs they colored. Anna had a plan to stay up and see the Easter Bunny but then thought better of it when she remembered that Santa doesn't come until all little children are asleep. Fearing Mr. Bunny might have the same policy in place, she went right to bed. On Good Friday, I decided that we had to color our eggs with natural dyes. I had been itching to try this for many years now, b...

Early Sunday morning, before the sun was up, Sophie gave me a hug in the darkness and departed for her second semester at Franciscan. Needless to say, I wanted to stay busy to keep my mind from processing the fact that I won't see her for many months. So Tony and I started out by tackling our closet. It has been the place to put anything that didn't have a place. A couple hours later, we had a wonderfully organized closet and the back of the van was filled with donations. That only got me to about 10:00 am. I had a couple of project ideas for the home, but I needed a few supplies. So off to Joann's fabric store I went. Eight dollars later, I returned home, feeling quite excited that for less than $10 I could work on not one but two projects! First up, a place to hang all the artwork produced by Anna and Jack. I have mentioned before that my kids use way too much tape. A whole roll can be used up within minutes! I had acquired some cork squares through free-cycle over a yea...