Lest I Forget

The theme here, I believe, is go big! The book is the last selection of the book club I joined this year. "The Well-Read Mom" has been just what I needed. I met a lovely group of women. Each brought her own unique views to the meetings, along with good food, and great fellowship. I went into this book never having seen the play, the movie, nor did I know the general story line. I am slightly less than half-way through, and I am under no illusions that I will have to go to the meeting without having finished the book, though I am enjoying it and will finish up on my own. For quite some time, my knitting projects have been small, mostly stuffed animals. I had seen the Color Affection shawl many times while browsing Ravelry. I finally decided that the time was right for a bigger project that could be easily worked on while listening to long books on Audible ;) The end of the shawl will most likely come before the end of Les Miserables. Here is the link to the Yarn Alon...

 The weather was lovely yesterday. For the first time this year, I was able to enjoy my coffee and Magnificat outside on the back porch. The birds were chirping and flitting from the trees to the feeder. The quietness of the morning filled me with a calm, and as I sat there thinking of the things that I could do with the day, I knew I wanted to take the children on a picnic. I called my parents and invited them as well. We headed to Laurel Run Park, as I had been told we could hike from there to Bays Mountain. The hike would have to be another day, but I planned to check out the park and get the trail maps to prepare for the future hike. The kids eagerly packed their new water shoes, because the website said there was a creek. They relish a good creek walk and as soon as we set up our things at a picnic table, they were off. I sat there at the table, setting out the lunch, and just enjoying time with my parents, when Anna called out "I see a snake." Now, I appreciate nature...

It began way back when we were returning from Germany. This little voice in my head said, "Wouldn't it be amazing to buy an RV and travel to all the states while Tony is in Korea?" Reason won out, however, and we found a place to settle for a year. That little adventurous voice still called out every so often. And so, when I began to think about Spring Break, a camping trip seemed perfect. As plans are wont to do, they meandered and changed direction like a mountain stream. What finally emerged was a 5 day, 4 night camping trip to three state parks and one special family whom we hadn't seen in years. Oh, believe me, I had my doubts if I could pull this thing off! I have never driven anything larger than a van. I have never actually built a campfire without assistance. The weather forecast was not pretty. But excitement kept winning out over worry. The key to keeping this trip a success was flexibility and I got to practice that even before we embarked on the jou...

As in, we are halfway through Tony being in Korea, away from us. He took two weeks and one long flight to spend Christmas with us. We awoke at 3:30 yesterday morning to get him to the airport. He kissed each of the kids good-bye and we ventured out in the 5 degree pre-dawn chill. Immediately I noticed that the grass and trees were sparkling like I have never encountered before. It was a wonderland of glittering ice everywhere the headlights shone. Christmas was lovely and crazy and cozy, which is how it should be. We then settled into days of playing new games and enjoying our time with Tony. Jack's birthday is in a few days and he requested that we go to a railroad museum and antique shopping with his dad as an early gift. My parents joined us for lunch and antiquing, skipping the museum. The museum is on the ETSU campus, and we chose to explore Jonesborough for the antique hunting. I have lots of organizing and cleaning to do, which I let slide during Tony's visit, thoug...

I am most definitely not a morning person. Convincing myself to get out of bed takes prayer. However, once I am awake, morning is one of my favorite times of day. It is a clean slate. I have yet to make any serious mistakes. The air just feels clean and fresh when you breathe it in. God starts with a fresh canvas each morning too. The sky slowly comes to life with colors different than the day before, different from the moment before. I sat with my coffee and my Magnificat this morning in my comfy orange chair, now riddled with claw marks from the kitten who is now mostly a cat. As I glanced away from the page to ponder what I had just read, I saw out the window the most brilliant red horizon. I blinked and the view had changed, yet was just as beautiful. I dashed up the creaky wooden stairs to grab my camera, hoping not to awaken the kids. Stepping into my slippers and stepping out the door in my bathrobe, I attempted to capture a brief moment of the ever-changing canvas befor...

The days have been flying by, barely allowing me to appreciate them at all! In one sense, that is a good thing, because it makes this year's separation from Tony go faster. I can't believe we are almost at the halfway mark. On the other hand, after the kids are finally in bed and I can breathe a sigh of exhaustion, I wonder how many times I really, truly looked at them that day.     The kids and I have been looking out the windows of the van all through October and into November at the brilliant fall foliage surrounding us. The mountains almost looked ablaze for a while there with all the reds and oranges of the trees. Then, almost overnight, after one of those windy, rainy kind of nights, the colors were gone. Fall was gone. The dreariness of a long winter stared back at us.     Same trees, one week later As the idea of a long, cold winter sunk in, I happened to notice this pair of deer frequenting our backyard in the mornings. The ba...

There is an unnamed time between summer and fall. It comes and goes as swiftly as the hummingbirds at my feeder, and is just as wonderful to behold. Mornings have a chill to them, fog delicately shrouds the mountain and river, while sun glows a brilliant orange through the still silhouetted trees. The trees are taking off their lovely green summer frocks and blanketing the ground with discarded, decaying leaves, foretelling the approach of fall in full force.   Nature does not fight the changing seasons, unlike me. All the changes in our daily living have left me unsure of my place. During the terribly darkest doubt, I felt I had abandoned all the very things that define my existence. This morning, I stayed for morning circle. There, I witnessed my children participating in a farewell song to one our priests, and peace finally settled upon my heart. I know that God has led my family to this place. This school, this parish are our faith commu...