Sunday, November 30, 2014

My American Doll goes home to college, today.

The nest is certainly not the same without her. But she is delightfully growing wise and knowledgeable, while away from us. We went to the American Girl Doll store that newly opened down here. The last time we went there she was 10 and it was in NY. She was a little child and they all saw the lights and the beauty of the store and we all wanted to grow up to be American Girls. I guess we all are growing to be who we are. That is a really great store. Now onto the trek 10 hours to take her back. Her blankie that I am working on is almost finished.

Saturday, November 29, 2014

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

I will Bless His Holy Name!

It was overcast on the road for the entire trip. Intermittent raindrops hit us, nearly all the way up north and back. I closed my eyes for a minute and there we were, "Welcome to Virginia" I saw the sign. We were truly lost going to Evie. Who knew she was just a few minutes from Virginia. Now we know. A kind attendant gave us very specific and great directions and we almost thought we had shaved a little time off of the 5 hour trek, but we pulled in exactly 5 hours from the time we cast off ship. Halleluia, for the good providence there!We got back in one piece and Emma {our dog} and Ev rolled on the floor, like only they can. She was the only one who could really show Ev physically how very much we miss her when she is gone.
She's back now, so it really is a Happy Thanksgiving week celebration for us.

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Monday, November 24, 2014

What is a mother to do? 16 degrees in the morning, last week and it will be 72 today.

What a wonderful dilemma to have? The weather of delightfulness. Mother, I can't find my jacket... Oh honey, you won't need it today; Spring has come to visit us, for Thanksgiving.<
Talk about a reason to be Thankful, among other things!!!

Saturday, November 22, 2014

Thanking God for my Tapestry!

I love the discipline that led Carol King to lead us through her stitches on her "Tapestry" Album. I imagine sitting in class with her and she leads us outside of our romantical imaginations of life and sharing of ourselves with children and husband and friends.
I imagine her saying that "Way Over Yonder" was an emotional lament in the African American Gospel Music Genre that thoughtfully expressed the view from an eternal perspective the stuff that makes us feel that we are going to lose our minds. Try doing this yourself and see if it doesn't give your the catharsis of expression that other genres might not. {The whole album is a cry from her heart and a light to direct us through our own attempts at relating, it seems to me}
"Always keep one hand on your mind, when sharing from yourself." I hear her say. Relationships are complicated and it is very easy to lose yourself in them. "How much of yourself to choose to share with others? is the question in relationships." "It really isn't supposed to cost you your entire sanity to enjoy relationships" She says, it could, but it doesn't have to and God didn't intend it to be that way. If there is such a thing as a freedom of "choice" it is a choice of how much of yourself, you will invest in this relationship, ie. wifing, mothering, sistering, etc. One hand on your mind and one hand on the relationship, I only have two hands and I have hundreds of close relationships and half a dozen children and I can't even go on facebook for just that reason... Carol carries you through the stitches of her tapestry and shows you that you don't have to pull the whole thing out when the stitches get crossed and look tangled. I have needs and others have needs that I have a responsibility to meet. Family is complicated, but when it all comes together, it will be beautiful, when we get
"Home Again and Feeling Right!"
Take a listen and learn about your womanhood from a mother who loved us enough to share some of the stitches:)

Friday, November 21, 2014

Small Mercies? Who's Birthday is it today?

Who's---what's Birthday is it?Thanking God for His mighty and miniscule providences, today!

I was walking around in a real fear of the loss of my short term memory. I had been crocheting and Elyse's dog interrupted me for some fun interaction. I had my large project with me, in my lap and I pet her and then got up and gave her a treat. Distraction led me in a few different directions, to the laundry and to the dishes and then I returned to my crocheting project and everything was intact, except that my 18 inch needle was gone. I know Emma didn't eat that? I backtracked, I looked as best I could and reached into the couch, but I was sure that my memory must be gone. I kept doing exercises of memory, "what is my name?" my address? These things are the first thing to go, when I have a memory episode, here and there. I was certain that my Alzheimer fear had come to invade me.

I bought a new needle. I found sundry other needles around in my search. I resumed my project for a few days. finished one and started another and I sat on the couch to complete another project, when I was interrupted by a dinner pot overboiling. As I jumped up, {as much as I can jump, these days} I heard a clink of metal in the couch behind me. The new needle had fallen into the couch and clinked against the old needle. Thank You Jesus, I am not in the last stages of Alzheimer's, after all. That needle had found the exact place in the couch where the other needle had fallen into the couch. It was a real interior portion of the couch that it had fallen. Halleluia, What a Savior!

Thursday, November 20, 2014

Whew! We survived that arctic blast. Thank God for warmth.

Yesterday's 16 degree morning was a swift breath of the cold that usually doesn't come to us at this month of the year.
It ended up warming into the 40's and it is a warming 30 something this morning, Thank You, Jesus!
Ethan gets out the door at 6 am to the busstop and he is usually not thoughtful about the temperature and gregariously trots out the door. Yesterday was a search for the warmest cool adornments. Ezra stole Elyse's scarf as convinced by mom and wore 2 coats and came back with one. He's been having a problem at his locker, which we haven't figured out the cause of, yet. He lost his gym shorts and now a jacket and he keeps saying that "the locker ate it" or something to that effect. We will have to get into the school to find out the problem. It's so hard to get angry with him as he adjust to Middle School. His aspirations for student government didn't pan out and he daily comes home with a quiet, not sullen, but surely maturing sobriety.
Enoch often intercedes for him in the table talk about his day and so it is somewhat difficult to get the whole story. Last semester's "Health class" made him much more aware of the blooming "biologies" about him, as I see it. He seems unsure if "MOM" knows all of the stuff they taught him in the class, just announced his new "knowledge" and hasn't wanted to discuss it any further, with a secure and sure stubbornness. I'll crack that code, soon enough. He's adorable! The rest of the grown people in the house are greatly helpful and we are Thankful, as ever for good health and loving combustions...

PS``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` The weather today was wonderful. few puffy clouds outside and the temperatures finally raised to 60 degrees, after all was said and done. I can hardly remember the 16 degree morning and wrapping my middleschooler's neck with a scarf. He has shorts on now? Certainly a heavenly transition for November! That is what I love about NC!

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

We are one in the Frozen!

It is truly frozen tundra, all over the country today! 16 degrees is unusually cold for us in NC. I love the mild weather patterns we have here. November has brought an unusual gust of wintry freeze to the whole nation. Lord, You are in control and we are grateful for Your mercies. Great is Your faithfulness. Extra sweaters, hats and scarves create a oneness that goes beyond our divisions. Help us to turn our eyes to You! Love You, Lord! We submit to the cold!

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Sunday, November 2, 2014

Saturday, November 1, 2014

Title- The Studious One!

Title-  The Studious One!
artwork by Elyse

Of biscuits and syrup

Of biscuits and syrup
tasty treats

Happy Saturday!

Happy Saturday!
a day at the Raptor Center.

Widdle Emmie in outer space school

Emmie jumped on the bus and off it flew out into the atmosphere. There was a set of clouds with turbulence right above the house and it took a few minutes for my Emmie to buckle her seatbelt. They hit the bump hard and it knocked my Emmie out of her seat and she bumped her head. The video camera came on and the monitor looked through and stated, Ms. Emmie, where are you? You are not in your seat. Where are you? I am alright I fell because I hadn’t buckled correctly. Well jump up Emmie we have a long way to go and you have to be buckled there is entirely too much turbulence in the stratosphere for you to unbuckle now. As soon as we are through this weather system there will be straight sailing but right now you must buckle. Emmie scrambled into the seat with intensity and purpose now. She watched every cloud pass her window and her nose was pressed to the window trying to see the top of the house as it drifted slowly out of sight. Soon they were not only out of sight of the house, the sun came out brightly and just as quickly they were putting on the atmospherical breathing apparatus and the outerspherical lights. The ABA and the OL. These precautions were to make them appear to be satellites to the radar as they were out in the ionosphere. Emmie knew all about this now. She had gone to the orientation and had a good breakfast and it took them 20 minutes for her to get out past the atmospherical pull and to feel the zero gravity. It would be 15 minutes before the gravity simulators would take effect, a glitch in the system which was being worked on. Until then, they enjoyed the couple of minutes of floatation, while being connected to the seats by belt. The first thing they saw everyday was the strataflotsam. The items which had been dumped into the atmosphere by earlier generations. What would their generation do about this ecological waste area that remained floating above their heads? This was a question for the generations. For now it was the area that they had to guide through on the way to school.

Midnight at the OASIS

Midnight at the OASIS
Sunset in Huntersville

My little Emmie

ran to the bus on the first day of the last year of school. 2 buns on the side of her head. She kissed me and ran at dawn to the bus. She was starting the adventure of a lifetime. I would never see that little girl again, she was going to woman school!

My Father and I 1989

My Father and I 1989

to the tune of Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme

A VISIT TO PAPA











Are you going to Mary Immaculate?

Apricots, Chocolate Cherries and Pie,



Remember me to the one who lived there,



He once was a true love of mine,



Tell him to buy me an acre of land,



Apricots, Chocolate Cherries and Pie,



Between the muddy Hudson in Jamaica Bay,



Then, He’ll be a true love of mine,

Tell him to sow in it seeds of pure cream,



Apricots, Chocolate Cherries and Pie,



And build Ice cream mountains and buildings of whipped cream,

Then, He’ll be a true love of mine,



Tell him to reap them with sickles of M&M’s,



Apricots, Chocolate Cherries and Pie,



And chew bubble gum and eat till we’re done,



Then, He’ll be a true love of mine.



Tell him to run it off down the motor parkway,



Apricots, Chocolate Cherries and Pie,



After your done 50 pushups



and jog down the West Side Highway,



Then he’ll be a true love of mine…

(Don’t wait for me today dad, The kids are sick again, My tummy’s bulging again, My heart is aching again, And now there’s no love there…)





He once was, a true love of mine….So, Girls, I do beg you don't miss your Daddy,Apricots, Chocolate cherries and Pie,You have one short chance to see him on this side, Go visit him and let your light shine.