One of my Favorite Podcasts Ever

Lisa Hendey, Danielle Bean and I had a chance to have a meaty conversation this afternoon. We began by discussing teenagers and social media and finished with a look at  nursing wounds and mulling over the importance of not making "idols" of human heroes of any kind. It's days like this--when time is set apart to have a good talk with good friends--that I am so grateful for Catholic friendships online. And I so dearly love to share them with you. Click on over. I pray you're blessed!

Yarn Along: Sew What?

 

I've settled into a summer knitting rhythm that I'm really loving. And, at the urging of two dear friends, I'm sort of believing that we can venture into sewing, too. So, in the knitting basket, my To Eyre shawl is taking shape. Those gentle, barely there ruffles make me so happy! I'm just ready to begin the back part. Maybe another week or so of this sweet knitting and I'll have a finished garment. I finished another garment this week, as well, but it's a gift so we'll just wait on those pictures. 

Reading time is all about sewing. I retrieved Seams to Me from my shelves again. I truly do think this book a must-have. Anna Maria Horner offers such wonderful information along with her patterns. And the pictures are infinitely inspiring. I'm going to take this one along with me to the sewing store this weekend and see about making sure we're properly supplied in the basic necessities. 

I also read Growing Up Sew Liberated this week. I want so much to love this book and I think I would if my children were all younger. Now, it sort of makes me pine for a baby or two. There's not much here for bigger kids. I love the look, the feel, the whole spirit of the book. And I do like Meg McElwee's blog.  Sigh. The book is beautiful and truly well done and we'll find a thing or two to make our own, I'm sure. The art satchel and play capes caught our fancy.

Now for pink wonderful: Yesterday, Sarah Annie and I snuggled on the couch during a "funderstorm" and paged through Girl's World. Oh my! What darlingness! There's plenty in this book for girls up to middle school age. We're going to begin with this free pattern online  (completely unrelated to the book) and then, I'm all in to Girl's World. 

Go visit Ginny for more knitting and reading tales. I've settled into a Wednesday afternoon tradition: a big cup of tea and enough time to myself to click through a big bunch of the links at Ginny's. I am enriched by the yarns shared there.

Dear Friend, Please come visit.

I promise you that I will not spend days and days cleaning my house before you arrive. I will not stuff the evidence of life lived here into far recesses of closet corners you will never see. I will not pretend that the life we live here is always ever perfectly ordered. I will not seek to impress you. Instead, I will endeavor to befriend you.

I will make sure that nothing gross will surprise you in the bathroom. I'll probably plump the cushions on the couch. I'll make you something good to eat and share with you endless of pitchers of green tea lemonade. Instead of coaxing my children to scour and shine, I will share with them the fun of expecting company. 

I tell you all this--I'm doing it this way--because I trust you. And I want to be your friend. I trust that you are coming to spend time with me, not to judge me or take notes or compare me to anyone else. And I promise you that when I come to your house, I'm coming for you--your company and that alone. I trust you with who I really am, imperfect though that may be. I trust that the half-finished paint job will make you smile in ready recognition that you have been there, done that, too. I'm going to throw open my doors--and my heart--and be real with you. 

Because that's what friends do.

And you're my friend, in every sense of the word.

Love,

Elizabeth

Every Day Intentional

Today is the first day of summer. Why do I feel as if it's half over? My calendar is filling fast. There are lots of calendar items over which I have no control. Let's begin with 6 orthodontic appointments and the domino of followups. Nah, let's not. Let's put that off just one more day.

I've spent a significant amount of time lately pondering the living of an inentional life. Someone I love faces every new season and wonders if this one will be her last. And so, we talk about the important things one does with the time she has when she doesn't really know how much of that time there is. We talk often about being intentional. Every day.

But do I know? Can I know if this summer is my last summer? Can I know if tomorrow my whole world will change? Of course not. Only God knows if a child's seventh summer is to be his last summer, if a mother's hot August will predictably melt into a mellow September, if tomorrow will be a sun-dappled day of delight or a gray goodbye. Only God knows.

In hindsight, I can see that last summer was my very last summer with a baby. Sarah Annie is most definitely a little girl. I intend to not dwell on empty arms (my arms are not so often genuinely empty anyway) and to think instead of free hands. Hands to go and do and make those things that truly I could not with a babe in arms. My first summer with free hands.

I promise this did not set out to be a heavy post. It's just an echo of Sarah's thought. Let's not let summer slip through our hands before we've had a chance to consider how glorious they are, each tiny grain of sand that is time. 

Enough pondering. I aspire towards a summer that honors the gift that time really is.

• 1. Take Nicky and Stephen out on a rowboat. Burke Lake. Just the three of us.
• 2. Learn to sew with Katie.
• 3. Knit. A lot.
• 4. Oversee some house renovation and remodeling.
• 5. Read the new version of Educating the Whole-Hearted Child in its entirety. Face the new school year refreshed and re-inspired.
• 6. Visit a yarn shop with a friend I don't see nearly enough.
• 7. Hang out at Bull Run with Linda.
• 8. Walk on the beach with my sister.
• 9. Stand waist high in the pool and let Sarah jump to me. Over and over and over again.
• 10. Host a neighborhood crafternoon.
• 11. Figure out a way to see more of Ginny.
• 12. Take Patrick to get his driver's license. 
• 13. Get Christian registered for college.
• 14. Listen to everyone ten and under read aloud to me, every day.
• 15. Revive our morning walk routine.
• 16. Drink enough water every day. Make sure everyone else does, too.
• 17. Start the day with time alone, knitting and praying.
• 18. Conquer the basement once and for all.
• 19. Make date night happen. Often. Very often.
• 20. Carefully plan lessons for the fall. Share them?
• 21. Watch Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Persuasion, and Sense and Sensibility on afternoons too hot for anything else. And knit (of course).
• 22. Watch The King's Speech with Christian
• 23. Tie Dye tee shirts.
• 24. Write a book.

I'm sure there's more. Katie and Gracie and Karoline have been making a list for days now...

Sometimes Laughter Heals

Ever since The Fr. Corapi Matter became fodder for the blogosphere and Facebook and Twitter, I've avoided it. Really, really avoided it. Not reading comentary, not reading comments on the commentary. I haven't heard his statement, though I've had the gist of it explained to me by a friend who knows why I'm avoiding the whole mess. 

About six years ago, a new (to us) priest rode into town. Over the time he was here, he behaved in a manner unbecoming a priest. Lots of families "experienced" this behavior firsthand. Phrasing things delicately here. It's a long story--one I will never tell publicly--but in the end, an entire community of faith was scandalized. Countless families were hurt. "Ah," you object, "how can you say that? How can you just make those claims? Just throw them out there like that? What proof have you? Maybe he's just a really friendly guy and you misinterpret?"

In this case, the claims proved themselves. He is no longer a Catholic priest. The former choir director is no longer married to the father of her three children. And they are going to be married this summer. You can imagine, if you allow yourself to go there, how the children of this neighborhood do question when Former Father picks Former Choir Director's Children up from school. Those are difficult questions to answer.

The teenaged questions are much, much harder.

And the grown up questions? They will not be answered adequately on this side of heaven. 

There's a whole lot of hurt here in this town. A whole lot. And Fr. Corapi? It just opens  a not-even-close-to-healed wound. 

So when my friend insisted on giving me the quickest version of the story that she could (insiting that I really can't work in the Catholic press and bury my head in the sand--good point), I was very grateful that she closed her little speech with a link to this post.

Matt, Patrick, thank you. I had no idea how much I  needed to laugh. 

You guys get it. You really understand. And you do that guy thing--where you heal very real pain with a little levity.

Good for you.

Good for all of us.