Daybook: Laetare!

Sunday, late afternoon...

Outside My Window

The birds are making some raucous music

I am Listening to

Birds. And the dryer, washing machine, dishwasher--all my "servants: up early and working for my household..

I am Wearing

pajamas.

I am so Grateful for

~ a giant bowl of Pho at 8:00 last night. First time I ate all day yesterday and we squeaked in after soccer just before closing. Good recommendation, Barbara!

~encouraging knitting emails and notes. It's been pure joy to learn this art, mostly because people are so nice.

~surprise sushi

~Connecticut in the finals: Christian picked UConn to win it all. He was, by his own admission, under the influence of all kinds of pain meds at the time. Everyone laughed at him. But here's the deal: if UConn wins, he will win the office pool. What office, you ask? Oh, ESPN Washington. How fun would it be to go to work with Dad and claim that prize? From all those sports experts. Very fun. Tonight, we're all UConn fans.

~Spud and Chloe sweater weight yarn. I am not sure I could wear it without itching, but, so far, I can knit with it. Hooray for that. Wish it weren't so pricey, though, because I have my eye on several patterns at the Spud and Chloe blog (linked above).

~Soccer friends. The outdoor season started yesterday and it was good see soccer friends again.

~Soccer sisters. Oh, how much fun did my girls have while the boys played! There's something special about sister friendships formed on the sidelines oever years and years.

~Butch Morley, the team chaplain for the U17 National Team. I was really worried as I knew that Patrick was going to learn of Ty's death, by text messages from guys up here likely, before we could talk to him. And then I was worried about him being down there all alone to process it. But he wasn't alone. I don't know the details, but I do know that Butch was there. And Butch has been there all year. And I'm ever so grateful to Butch for his kindness and his generosity and his love of Jesus.

I'm Pondering

"See everything; overlook a great deal; correct a little. "
~Pope John XXIII

I am Reading

Got that in great detail here.

I am Thinking

that we began Lent with a funeral and now, midway through, another funeral. An icon in the DC Metro area soccer world died Saturday, leaving an entire generation of soccer players and their families grieving.

I am Creating

A sweater shrug :-) I casted on for the striped version for Karoline this weekend. It was slow going at first, as I learned a new yarn and a new technique but I'm so enjoying the colors.

On my iPod

nothing new. 

Towards a Real Education

Still pressing on to tie up loose ends before the bluebells. And making some plans for nature studay on the banks of Little Rocky Run.

Towards Rhythm and Beauty

I've given up on normal. This week won't be normal either. Mike's dad fell yesterday and after a day spent in the emergency room, was admitted last night. Any week that begins with a hospital admission isn't likely to be a normal one. So, we'll rely on the basic plan and just do the best we can.

To Live the Liturgy...

Yesterday was Lataere Sunday. Halfway there! Increasingly, this Lent has been about discerning who God created me to and how He calls me. I'm finding the answers a bit surprising. I'm grateful for the time and the prayer.

I am Hoping and Praying

for Elizabeth deHority. She is constantly on my heart and in my prayers. She needs you now. Please, please pray with me. A great deal of testing and specific diagnosis lies ahead this week. Please pray for wisdom and prudence and the grace and strength to know and do His will.

for the soul of Ty Lewis and for his family and for the countless soccer families who grieve his loss.

for Mike's dad and for his mom and for his medical care.

for Marisa, who surely will have her baby this week. Surely as these things get.

 In the Garden

It has rained and rained and rained. And now, it's not raining and the day will be warm. Perfect weeding weather and we have just the weeds!

Around the House

Oh. my. goodness! What  a huge difference a fresh coat of paint makes. Michael is on a roll. He's nearly finished with the first floor. And he has grand plans to finally finish all those things the "professional basement finishers" never finished when they ran off with our money nine years ago. And then the upstairs needs painting, too. I may never let him get a real job;-).

From the Kitchen

Recipe testing some meals inspired by the farmer's market for the summer issue of Faith and Family.

One of My Favorite Things

Sunday mornings with three and four year olds in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd atrium. Karoline's godmother, Mel, is the teacher there and usually, Mary Beth is her assistant. Mary Beth stayed with a friend last weekend and went to the Pure Fashion show, so I stepped in for her in the atrium and Sarah Annie got to come along for the first time. Twelve hours later, she was still singing the songs. She had a wonderful morning. And so did I.

Sarah Annie this week

She got into some Revlon Color Stay lipgloss on Saturday. Stay, it does. ON HER FACE. It will not come off. I've tried oil, soap, makeup remover, baby wipes. Nope. It Stays and Stays and Stays. Pretty scary, huh? It's been forbidden in this house henceforth. Back to Aveda.

A Few Plans for the Week

Plans? Hah!

The absolute only plan I am going to make is that I dearly hope to make a HAPPY trip to the hospital.

To visit a new baby. Baby, do you hear me? This week would be good and if you cooperate, you might get to see the bluebells this year. Maybe.

Picture thoughts:

 

Taken just before church yesterday. I resisted the urge to pin a note to her explaining that I had, indeed tried (hard) to wash her face.

{{Comments are open. I have been terrible about responding to mail. Please forgive me? I do read every single note and I do pray for you. But, I don't always answer promptly. I'm hoping that having comments open on occasion will give me a chance to answer the more common questions for several people at once and will give you dear ladies an opportunity to talk with each other. They are moderated, so if you don't see yours at first, it means I'm busy knitting, it will appear shortly.}}

{This Moment: Skype Knitting}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual.  Photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week.  A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, visit Soulemama to leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Yarn Along: One Pink "Fweater"

Pardon me, please. I'm a little late to the Yarn Along.

I was knitting.

Elizabeth teased me last week that I had my first UFO (Unfinished Object). Indeed, I had casted on for Katie's shrug before finishing Sarah's.

But only because I didn't know how to finish Sarah's.

I definitely don't think I will be the UFO type. I'm all into finishing. Like stay up until midnight and get up a 5 AM to finish finishing. So, this week, Sarah's "fweet fweater" is finished.

 

{Come here, Baby Bedhead, see what Mama has for your morning surprise.}

And Katie's is completed all except a few more easy rows of length and the ruffle.

 

{{{And blocking and buttons (but I don't know how to do those yet and I've lost the buttons somewhere in the van).}}}

The goal is to finish all by Friday, when I expect the mailman will deliver yarn for Karoline's striped shrug. I don't want to start something new until I finish these.

 

We're reading lots of knitting-and-wool-related picture books. I cleared out the glass-fronted cabinet in the family room and installed our yarn (a shelf for me and a shelf for the girls), a basket of needles and such, and these lovelies:

Phoebe's Sweater (for more on Phoebe, don't miss this interview and Phoebe Mouse's blog)

Freddie's Blanket

Knitting Nell 

Charlie Needs a Cloak 

Warm as Wool 

The Mitten 

Sunny's Mittens 

Pelle's New Suit

and these for next week:

Woolbur 

Noodles Knitting 

Red Berry Wool

Argyle

Much Easier to Give up Chocolate

I have thought and thought about a final sacrifice post; written a couple, actually, and left them in draft. Last night, as I was listening, these verses jumped out at me. I've quoted just below from the New American Catholic Bible on the USCCB site.

Avoid foolish and ignorant debates, for you know that they breed quarrels.

A slave of the Lord should not quarrel, but should be gentle with everyone, able to teach, tolerant,

correcting opponents with kindness. It may be that God will grant them repentance that leads to knowledge of the truth,

and that they may return to their senses out of the devil's snare, where they are entrapped by him, for his will.

~2 Timothy 2: 23-26

In the Revised Standard Version, which is the audio version, it reads:

    

Have nothing to do with stupid, senseless controversies; you know that they breed quarrels.

 And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kindly to every one, an apt teacher, forbearing,  correcting his opponents with gentleness.

God may perhaps grant that they will repent and come to know the truth, 

and they may escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.

Stupid, senseless controversies are good things to give up. Sacrificing harshness and unkindness? Also good.

~~

"You didn't give up chocolate for Lent, did you?" my friend Becca asked Christian, as she presented him with some Belgian chocolate from her recent trip to Europe.

"Nah. I was going to give up chocolate, but this whole blood mess started the day before Ash Wednesday and with all the medicine, it seemed like a better idea to give up caffeine."

"Ahh, the Lents when we give up chocolate are always so much easier than the ones when we don't choose what to sacrifice."

Indeed. It's one of those "universal truths," time-proven by the faithful, that Christian is learning this Lent. Sometimes, God chooses our sacrifices and, not surprisingly, those are not the easy Lents, but they can be the most fruitful.

I had one of those fruitful --but not of my own choosing-- Lents one year.

For years, I was at the tipping point. Something's got to give, God, I'd whisper aloud. I have too much to do. Something is robbing me of the time and energy to live with grace and joy. And always, the same idea would present itself. And I'd reject it. No, not that. God doesn't want me to stop doing that. It's helping people. I'm surrounded by religious women. They're teaching me so much. Even my husband doesn't think I should give that up.

And then, one Lent, it was completely wrenched away. Painful Lent. Brutal in its glaring honesty. It was nearly a year before I could understand how kind God had been to me, how patient He was as He tried to show me. 

God knew. He knew the tangled relationships, the snares that fed my weaknesses, the way that this investment of time and energy was really robbing me, even as I thought I was growing in holiness. He knew the ways that I had sinned and sinned and sinned again. And the sacrifice had been forced. For my good.

I had been forced to let go and turn instead to Jesus Himself for support.

Mine is not a unique experience. We are social creatures and most of us fall into companionships and associations that at some time are not healthy for us. It's not even that the people with whom we are associating are bad. They are just not good for us. In hindsight, God has always warned me of such relationships before the wrenching. Sometimes, I've heard and listened. More often, there's been a wrenching.

As my children get older, I see them wrestle some of the same things (of course they do; it's universal). Particularly tricky are people who go through all the right motions: attend the right church, show up at the right activities, profess to believe all the right things. But they don't lead to God Himself. They don't bring their companions closer to Jesus. They don't walk hand in hand with the Savior while offering the other hand to you. They don't make you better for knowing them.

Not bad people, necessarily. Just the wrong companions for you.

Giving up those relationships, sacrificing the human comforts they bring, is undoubtedly difficult.

It would be much easier to give up chocolate.

There is someone in my life today who has brought me closer to Jesus just by allowing me to be in her presence. And she is pure gift. A gift I didn't seek, a gift I never expected.  She is the embodiment of "let the children come". And she teaches with utter gentleness.

Just yesterday, I told her that I want to be her when I grow up. That is, when I am a mature woman of faith, who lives with the love of Christ, I think it will look and sound a lot like her. At least I pray it will. I told her I want to speak to children the way she does, with genuine respect and honest encouragement and profound appreciation for the gifts they are.

Come to think of it, I want to speak to everyone like that.

Time with her is time well spent. Lessons she teaches me are God's lessons. Gift. Grace.

My friend is struggling. Every breath is effort.

She doesn't get to choose what to sacrifice.

Please pray for God's most tender merices for her.

Please join us in prayer. If you'd like to post this reminder on your blog, the code is

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that {our} hearts may be encouraged as {we} are knit together in love, to have all the riches of assured understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, of Christ,
in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge

~Colossians 2:2-3

Daybook: I thought it was spring

Sunday, late afternoon...

Outside My Window

It is cold. Really cold. There was snow on the ground when I got up this morning. In Virginia, at the end of March. Crazy.

I am Listening to

VCU play Kansas in the SW Regional NCAA Basketball Final.

I am Wearing

Jeans, warm socks, boots, tshirt over McLean Premier Soccer Celtics sweatshirt. I'm just in from a pre-season tournament for Stephen and Nicky.

I am so Grateful for

~sundaes on Sunday

~Rita's Italian Ice --- Sarah's first taste:-)

~doctors who genuinely care and go above and beyond to help the healing process

~Christian's fish and chips after an exceedingly long and cold soccer day

~robins in the snow

~leather boots

~sunshine on a cold day

~soccer dad who cheerfully took my volunteer slot (and pregnant mom of seven who spared her hubby so he could help me)

~watching my little girls enjoy a surprise cup of hot chocolate (another kind soccer mom)

~knitting in the car

~Paddy's report card

~Mary Beth happily off on ski trips with the Stantons

~Fr. Shultz and his heart for the kids in the St. Tim's youth group

~my three youngest, who seem to have "found" each other for hours and hours of play together

~forsythia glowing gold on a gray morning

I'm Pondering

How long do I really have to figure out how to live full of grace, full of joy- before these beautiful children fly the coop and my mothering days fold up quiet?"~Ann Voskamp  One Thousand Gifts.

I'm pondering that a lot lately, as I love with  mothers whose days are likely not to be as many as most.

I received a Christmas letter from a woman who was totally jubilant about her empty nest. She said she couldn't understand why some mothers don't dance for joy when their young mothering days are over. She was just so very glad to finally have her house to herself! Clearly, it got under my skin. I've been thinking about it since late last year.

And then I think of the moms who would give anything to know that they will be here with their children for just one more Christmas. I know it's not the same---dying and having your children leave home--but I do wonder about those mothers who are just so glad to be finished with children. Did they miss the joy in the moments when their children were at home? Is that why they were so eager to have them leave? Were they ever content to be the heart of home for a young family? Or did they always just wish it were finally over? I don't know.

For me, I know there will be a certain sadness when my mothering days fold up quietly and I move to a different stage of life. I hope there will joy--not giddy-I'm-so-glad-they're-gone joy--but quiet joy of knowing the days were filled well, lived well, prayed well,  and the joy of our futures bursting with hope.

I am Reading

Got that in great detail here.

(But I am making an exception to my "no other books" rule because I'm reading an advance review copy of the third edition of Educating the WholeHearted Child before the print deadline. It's awesome. And inspiring. Much more later; it's a review copy, after all.)

I am Thinking

that I hit my stress threshold last week. Something had to give. We found a new home for the dog. Now, I feel considerably less challenged in my own home. No one is barking incessantly when we have company (or when someone is napping.) I am no longer worried about yet another unexpected vet bill. And I am not spending an hour a day vacuuming so my children won't wheeze in the presence of the dog who wasn't supposed to shed. All good.

Except for the fact that my kids are mad at me.

 

I am Creating

A sweater shrug for Katie for Easter. It's nearly finished.And then I will start a striped one for Karoline. I tend to obsess with new crafts. Three times for the same sweater is a very "me" thing to do. Maybe that's why God provided three little girls in a row? By the time I get to the third, I've learned so much. I do love this pattern (not that I know much about patterns). And~ sigh ~I can't say enough about how much I'm loving knitting. I have about ten things queued up: a baby cardigan, a patchwork lap blanket. an idea for kitchen dishcloths, a sweater for Mike, a sweater for me. I ordered some Spud and Chloe sweater yarn in the hopes that I can tolerate it. If I can, then, well, there will be a lot less blogging and a lot more knitting. I really love sitting and keeping my hands moving and talking and listening and creating when I knit. Did I mention how much good this is doing to my soul?

On my iPod

Hide 'Em in Your Heart by Steve Green. My little girls love this as much as my big boys did when they were little. And since my big boys can still sing these verses, I can say that the CDs fulfill their mission. It makes me so happy to sing these songs in the car and my heart about bursts when I hear my littlest sing several of them all by herself. Nothing sweeter than songs of Scripture from in a baby's voice. 

Towards a Real Education

We're trying to tie up some loose ends and finish up some subjects before the bluebells bloom. Then we'll take some long days at the creek for intensive nature study (and bigtime fun).

Towards Rhythm and Beauty

Oh, dear me. The rhythm thing is something for which I'm fighting. Christian has been so needy until--well, yesterday. One thing after another and all of them urgent. Rocks the rhythm. But yesterday was good and the new bleeding  crisis of late last week (caused by the medications for the bleeding crisis of the week before) seems to be healing so maybe we can have one of those "normal" weeks. Whatever normal is.

(Incidentally, if you need an orthopedist in northern Virginia who specializes in upper extremities, I've got your guy. As bad as this nightmare has been, he's been awesome.)

 

To Live the Liturgy...

This has been a very good Lent. What's a "good Lent" any way? I think, for our family, a good Lent draws us closer to God and brings a steadier, stronger peace to our home. It's not perfect. And it's not nearly over. But this one is good.

Last one was good, too. Not peaceful at all, but good. More on that later this week, God willing.

I am Hoping and Praying

for Elizabeth deHority. She is constantly on my heart and in my prayers. She needs you now. Please, please pray with me.

 In the Garden

There are tulips coming, but today they are sitting in the snow. The vinca has bloomed, too, always my little tease that there is a profusion of blue flowers in my not too distant future.

 

Around the House

I admit it; I am not waiting patiently for bluebells this year. Not at all. I'm eager, very, very eager. So I'm forcing it a bit indoors. I'm Michael is painting the sunroom blue, the kitchen green, and the family room a honeyed hue of the sunlit creek banks. It was inevitable. (Did I mention my husband has been gone this week? It's going to look a bit different around here when he returns.)

From the Kitchen

Onions, salmon, garlic, cilantro, green salads...not all at once, necessarily. When Mike's gone, we eat things he doesn't like.

One of My Favorite Things

Stitch markers. Okay, silly I know, little tiny rings that are ridiculously simple, but how cool is it that you put them in just the right places and do certain things around them and get sleeves and such? Very cool, I'm telling you.

Sarah Annie this week

She's giving up diapers for Lent. Go Sarah!

A Few Plans for the Week

Ballet on Monday. And Soccer.

Ballet on Tuesday.

Soccer on Wednesday.

Soccer on Thursday. And Ballet.

Church soup supper on Friday.

Soccer season officially starts on the weekend.

Atrium Sunday.

Final Four Saturday (party for youth basketball buddies)

Regular "school". every. single. day. I hope.

Laundry every. single. day. I hope.

(oh, and the neurologist and the physical therapist.)

Picture thoughts:

{{Comments are open. I have been terrible about responding to mail. Please forgive me? I do read every single note and I do pray for you. But, I don't always answer promptly. I'm hoping that having comments open on occasion will give me a chance to answer the more common questions for several people at once and will give you dear ladies an opportunity to talk with each other. They are moderated, so if you don't see yours at first, it means I'm busy knitting, it will appear shortly.}}