Good Friday

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Jesus was beaten until He bled. And He was given a crown of thorns.

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Jesus was given a heavy cross to carry.

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He carried His very heavy cross up a steep hill.

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He was crucified.

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The Seven Last Words:

1 "Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing" (Lk 23:34)

2 "I assure you: this day you will be with Me in paradise" (Lk 23:43)

3 "Woman, there is your Son" (Jn 19:26)

4 "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (Mt 27:46

5 "I am thirsty" (Jn 19:30)

6 "Now it is finished" (Jn 19:30)

7 "Father, into Your hands I commend My spirit" (Lk 23:46)
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  Jesus died.

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He was taken down from the cross and He was wrapped in linen.

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And was placed in a tomb.

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With a stone rolled across it.

And now we wait.

{wooden figures available at Worship Woodworks}

Yarn Along: Where I Break the Rules

I seem to consistently break the one picture and brevity Yarn Along rules. If I didn't, I'd post three or four knitting posts a week. Instead, I save them all up in my head until Wednesday. I love Wednesday. Begging your grace?

I finished Chloe #4, blocked it, put a button on it, and gave it away. Officially, it's the first finished sweater because I still haven't put buttons on the ones for my girls.  This one went to Zoe, which means that as I knit, everyone found every opportunity to say, "Oh, you're working on Zoe's Chloe?" Yep. Very fun. And what a sweet, sweet baby...

I have cast on for yet another Chloe (the 6th I have cast on), this time for a baby not yet born. This one is in Blue Sky Alpacas Multi Cotton. It feels lovely in my hands and is stitching up rather nicely. I'm pleasantly surprised with the cotton. But I still don't want to have to knit everything in cotton.

I've promised myself that I will move beyond Chloes after this sweater. Not sure exactly where I'm going, but I'm going to knit something other than a Chloe. I think even my family is getting bored. Carmie made this adorable vest for Sarah. She's worn it and worn it and worn it since it arrived a few weeks ago. I see the value of vests for toddlers and I know that these could be the workhorses of her wardrobe, so maybe that's the direction I'm going. I just need to figure out which yarn...

Reading? I have stuck to my Lenten resolve, but I have lined up Easter Week reading. Here's my problem: my Lenten reading was on audio; I listened to all of it. But now, I have some books to read. As far as I know one cannot read and knit at the same time. How am I going to find time to knit, to read, and to blog? 

I caved and bought three book-books, despite my promise to myself only to buy books on Kindle this year. At the insistence of every knitter who offered an opinion, I'm going to read two Elizabeth Zimmermann books, simply because it appears to be the thing to do. And then, in hopes of getting my house so together that I create more pockets of time in which to knit, I am going to read Organized Simplicity. {Mary Beth notes that all our "simplicity" books are blue. Could we just paint the house blue and attain peace of simplicity?}

Be sure to stop by and visit Ginny and see what other folks are knitting and reading.

{comments are open to chat about knitting and reading and organizing and such:-)}

Quack if you're grateful

It happens probably every day. Usually a fleeting thought that I push away as it comes. I wonder for a moment if I ever will live in the tidy little cottage of my imagination. The one that sits on three acres, tucked off the beaten path, with lots of flowering trees and a picket fence and an enormous raised bed organic garden. The one that is always tidy. I push the thought away because that house is far. It's far from soccer and dance and the airport and Starbucks. And all my kids don't fit in that house.

So, it's pretty much a silly idea.

I live in suburbia. I can have an iced soy latte in exactly seven minutes after I decide I want it enough to go get it myself. Seventeen minutes if I dispatch a teenaged driver. More importantly, I can be sitting at the pedicatrician's office within ten minutes of discovering a child is sick. And I can be at the airport, kissing hello, within 20 minutes of the phone call from the runway telling me he's landed.

But I don't have flowering trees and a great big garden and quiet. I have neighbors. Lots of them. And not nearly enough nature outside my front door to suit me.

I live in suburbia. There are opportunities abounding for my children.

But I don't have wildlife.

Wait! What's this? "Come quick Mommy! The ducks are back. The ones that were here yesterday and the day before and the day before that! They're eating the bird seed!"

We live no where close to the water.

These ducks are a gift. We sit quietly and watch them. Until suddenly Sarah figures out how to say "Quack" and she talks to them. They don't leave. They talk back.

Oh my goodness, Mama Duck is coming to visit! Right up to me, tiptoeing through the tulips.

Well hello to you too, dear.

I think I might be Beatrix Potter.

Ducks, in my front yard. Fancy that.

I can almost see the picket fence.

We're catching up on a couple of weeks worth of notables in the gratitude journal:

~blooming tulips (Patrick saw them)

~blooming bluebells

~rose bushes and peonies promising May flowers

~sunflower seeds, morning glory seeds, sugar snap pea seeds, spring lettuce on the way

~Nicky reading to me as I knit

~Katie chattering to me as I knit

~homecomings

~holding my boy as tears gather and fall

~Patrick home for just a day to say goodbye to a coach and hold his family close

~watching him reach out and touch an unimaginable grief and help to heal a friend

~Mike home on Monday night. Good night.

~Beatrix and Sarah and hugs so powerful they're tackles

~boys who hit it off (at last) and the nature that united them

~sunshine on my face

~godmothers, godchildren and annual reunions in the mud and majesty

~six meals made on the weekend. now we don't have to be home until dinnertime.

~sweet friend who is tinkering around on my blog, sprinkling happy dust, while I'm off playing in the woods.

~a holy week ahead

I have dirt under my fingernails

and my face is sunburned and my hair is crazy curly with humidity and wind. We've been outdoors for days now and it's very good. But I'm way behind on --ahem--business. Please read this column to which I was supposed to link last week. It's a Lent sort of thing and you only have a few days before Lent is over. Besides, it will make my editor happy.

Who does God Want You to Be?

We Have Winners!

The winners of the Bloggity Bigday Giveaway are:

Spud and Chloe at the Farm will inspire

Emily Hammer who said:

Your blog has touched my life and mothering in so many ways ~ thank you for that gift! Since I already own 2 of the lovely books listed...I would love to have Spud and Chloe at the Farm. Thank you so much for this opportunity!
God Bless You!

Small Steps will find its way to

Renee, who  said:

I would love a Small Steps for Catholic Moms. I am expecting baby #9, at age 45, and feel like my life is being taken in leaps and bounds. I want so much to take smaller, simpler steps.

Thank you for this blog. You have the perfect balance between reality and grace. You show your struggles, but you also share the grace you depend upon to live your life with joy. I want to be like you when I grow up ;)

Happy Anniversary!

Real Learning goes to

Amy @ simply necessary , who said:

Elizabeth, your blog was one of the very first I ever read in the blogosphere! I ran into you from Dawn at Sun and Candlelight 4 years ago and have been with you through two pregnancies! Your honesty and spirituality have kept me coming back. My grandmother is catholic but my family is protestant. More than anything else here I see Jesus in you and have gleaned so much for my own family about your faith that I have incorporated into my own faith. I have cried and laughed with you, which seems so odd since we have never even talked before! Your CM homeschool ways have stuck with me no matter what other new ideas I've tried and I recently bumped into an old article of yours about living books that made me fall for this educational lifestyle all over again!

If a book should come my way it would have to be your Real Learning. I have your Small Steps and would love the knitting book except I can't knit! Have always wanted to read your original book.

Thanks for being here as a voice of truth in the big internet world of voices.

Please email with your mailing address and I'll get your prize out to you!