Happy Independence Day!

We hope you enjoy the blessings of liberty and the joy of good friends with which to celebrate.

 (Our neighborhood fireworks were last night. Convenient for posting today:-)

Simple. Summer. Pretty. Perfection.

Inspired by a picture on the Pottery Barn catalog cover, Katie and I played with some fruit and water last weekend and we have found the absolute perfect summer drink. Few if any calories and just a hint of flavor, this water makes you want to stay well-hydrated. And in an easy pour container with a stainless steel cup at the ready, even the littlest can quench her thirst.

~Start with some ice and then add small watermelon wedges~

{please disregard the bagel on the other side of the glass}

~ Add thinly sliced lime circles ~

~ Fill it up with cold water ~

~ The limes sink and the watermelon wedges float all in a row. So pretty! And it tastes amazing. ~

~ Sarah samples an orange and lime variation. Next up: strawberries and blueberries for the Fourth of July! ~

Lord, Hear Our Prayer

Usually, I share the Sunday gospel reading here in this space on the weekend. This morning, though, I've opted for a different scripture choice--a short verse we could all commit to memory this week.

I have a sweet young friend who is getting married next weekend. Her parents' home is in Colorado Springs. They've been evacuated. Wedding is still on. Reception site still to be determined, last I heard. The picture above is from her big sister's Facebook page (taken from a local news page). I love this family and my prayers have been with Mary for a long time. Really, this week, I can think of little else. 

A girl's wedding is the stuff of long held dreams. This Colorado wedding had all the makings of a fairy tale. God assures us that His plan is even better than fairy tales. So, I hope that you will pray with me for Mary and Paul in the days before their wedding.

And we reach out in prayer to everyone affected by the fires in the mountains.

{from big sister Megan--view from their evacuee home}

“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you;” 1 Peter 4:12

{Sally Clarkson, who has gathered evacuees into her Colorado heart and home, brings this wisdom and understanding to the week's verse.}

Finally, as we approach Independence Day and the end of the Fortnight for Freedom, as we absorb the reality that right now Catholics will be forced to choose between deeply held religious convictions and the law of this land, we pray for religious liberty.

O God our Creator,

from your provident hand we have received our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
You have called us as your people and given us the right and the duty to worship you, the only true God, and your Son, Jesus Christ.
Through the power and working of your Holy Spirit,
you call us to live out our faith in the midst of the world,
bringing the light and the saving truth of the Gospel
to every corner of society.

We ask you to bless us
in our vigilance for the gift of religious liberty.
Give us the strength of mind and heart
to readily defend our freedoms when they are threatened;
give us courage in making our voices heard
on behalf of the rights of your Church
and the freedom of conscience of all people of faith.

Grant, we pray, O heavenly Father,
a clear and united voice to all your sons and daughters
gathered in your Church
in this decisive hour in the history of our nation,
so that, with every trial withstood
and every danger overcome—
for the sake of our children, our grandchildren,
and all who come after us—
this great land will always be "one nation, under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

As always, please allow us the privilege to pray for your intentions, too, by leaving a quick note in the comments.

Social Media, Teenagers, and the Meaning of Life

I’ve spent entirely too much time on Facebook and Twitter lately. I’m not on my own pages for more than a few minutes a day, but I follow my teenagers carefully. Supervision of social media is a parenting responsibility being trailblazed by my generation. There is no guidebook. No one has gone before us. And, honestly, the landscape changes almost daily. While I’d much rather be outside gardening than wading through the tweets of every teenager in town and many teenagers in far-flung places, it has afforded me an interesting perspective on life as a teenager in this new century.

Please read the rest here. 

But then come back! 

I want to keep discussing this one.

My favorite post ever on Facebook and teenagers is this one, by Danielle Bean, written on the occasion of her eldest joining Facebook. I love it all, but what astounded me when I first read it and what continues to amaze me is Danielle's ability to see the pitfalls before Kateri even ventured onto the Facebook teen world. That's one wise mama on the 'net.

We all need to wise mamas on the 'net. And the big hurdle we have to overcome is that it moves so quickly and it's all so new that anticipating where our children may get tripped up is not nearly as easy as Danielle makes it look. 

Clearly, I understand that learning to use social media during one's teenaged years is a necessary education. And, despite reports to the contrary, I'm definitely not social media hater. I went to Facebook reluctantly and I actually really like it there. I surprise myself with that statement. I went to Twitter (with Danielle's help), and honestly, I'm sure I don't quite get it. I can say the same thing, at the same time, on Twitter and Facebook and Facebook peeps chatter away, while Twitter folks (I will not call them Twits or Tweeps) ignore it. Go figure. I adore Instagram and the smallish circle of folks who brighten my days there.

Finally, my biggest assurance to people that I'm not anti-social media is the fact that a great deal of celebrating happened here when eldest son was named Director of Social Media for Sports at USAToday. In a moment, all the wrangling over Myspace and the steep learning curve we both climbed almost ten years ago seemed worth the time and effort. That said, the age of Facebook and Twitter entry in our house was raised substantially when a new 13-year-old said something ridiculously stupid and was erased from the face of internet interaction until he's old enough to drive. We're still learning here, folks.

My time watching what my kids say on social media is time well spent. I know that. It's also disconcerting. I want to tape Danielle's list on every computer in the house, somehow attach it to every smart phone. I can't tell you how many times I look at my husband (who knew me well in high school) and say, "I'm so glad I didn't leave an electronic record of that." And he will knowingly wink and concur.

My kids have seen me dissolve into a puddle of tears while staring at a computer screen. They've witnessed what social media can do to a reputation over the course of a single weekend. And I am aware that I set the example here, even as I make mistakes.

One thing I've learned and one thing that serves me really well is to walk away. I've learned to shut it all down for two or more days at a time and regain perspective that comes from looking into real faces and up at the wide open sky. I have learned how important it is to my mental health to be hands-free. I try to stay away from the internet on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. For me, I find that three days in a row proves to be the most beneficial. Over time, I've tweaked it a bit. I make an exception for posting to Instagram, mostly because I find myself with lots of capture-able moments on the weekend because I'm mostly away from my screen. I love my iPhone most of all for its camera:-) And, after I missed the opportunity to meet a far-off friend on the spur of the moment, I learned to check my email occasionally, too. Obviously, I pre-program blog posts. Mostly though, I back away--way away--from the screen for a three day weekend every week.

I wish I could teach my children how valuable that break is. Here's the thing: when you feel most sad or discouraged or downtrodden, that's when you most need to click the whole thing closed and unplug. You're not going to find consolation on the internet. Stop looking for it there. Find it where Augustine did. 

needle & thREAD

Good morning, sewing friends!

I'm afraid I haven't any sewing at all to report this week. I had grand plans for three completed sundresses. Life had other plans. 

Let's revisit this post for just a moment, as I promised to tell you the rest of the story. I actually can't tell it in full. As I thought about it, I couldn't come up with a responsible way to tell it all. In part, our parish mission is regrouping after what can only be called a crisis and moving from 10,000 square feet to 1500 square feet. I ended up with a great many boxes from that move in my basement. And then, it fell to us, with the help of a friend, to sort and carefully steward those things into the future while we wait and save and build a church. I was constantly reminded of The Miracle of St. Nicholas. That's about all I can say there.

In the process, I discovered messes anew in the basement. Unlike last year, this year, I'm not claiming blame. It's all about the kids. So, I've just begun to read Cleaning House: A Mom's 12-month Experiment to Rid Her Home of Youth Entitlement. So far, I really like this book and I see it as a way to avoid ever having my basement look like Occupy Basement again.

I was going to sew on Monday. My plan was to sew and sew and sew. Instead, I was distracted by the state of my sewing room. Let's talk about nomenclature for a moment, shall we? I know that lots of bloggers call the room where they sew "the studio." They sew there. They write there. They do design work there. I do all that in my room, too. But "studio" just sounds weird around here. My husband is a television producer/director. He works in a studio. There's no fabric involved. But when we say "studio" in this house, that's what we all envision. 

Since last year, I have completely taken over the office on our main floor. His trophies have been relocated to make room for my teacups. I still want to paint and to make curtains, but mostly, I just sigh contentedly in my "sewing room." When it's clean. And it was in need of some TLC this week. So I cleaned the basement and cleaned the sewing room and found myself with no time to sew. 

Incidentally, I can't bring myself to call myself a "sewist," either. It just grates against my editing ear, I think. Instead, I think I'm on my way to becoming a modern seamstress. Maybe a quilter... A creator of quilts. Happy stitcher of mama-made dresses.  "Sewist" just sounds odd to me.

{fabric cut and ready for three sundresses. that fabric was going to be lining for sewing room curtains. sundresses are a much better use, i think. i have a lot of it. more than three dresses worth.}

{books for inspiration. each girl has a sewing box. i have two. basket near the top holds the pieces for a quilt for my room. fabric to the right of that is heather bailey set aside to make a quilt for mary beth. fabric on the shelf below is flurry to be used to finish my christmas quilt and make two or three more.}

{anna maria horner on the entire upper shelf, right beneath baskets full of yarn. i think some of this will be a wedding quilt. stash of pinks is still formidable, rest of the stashes dwindling. on the far right is a big stack of flannels that will be winter pjs in time for the flurry of fall birthdays. at least that's the plan.}

What about you? Sewing? Reading? A little of both? What's on your summer reading list? Do you have a summer sewing list?  Or are you embroidering? Pulling a needle with thread through lovely fabric to make life more beautiful somehow? Would you share with us just a single photo (or more) and a brief description of what you're up to? Will you tell us about what you're reading, also? Would you talk sewing and books with us? I'd love that so much.

Make sure the link you submit is to the URL of your blog post or your specific Flickr photo and not your main blog URL or Flickr Photostream. Please be sure and link to your current needle and theREAD post below in the comments, and not a needle and theREAD post from a previous week. If you don't have a blog, please post a photo to the needle & thREAD group at Flickr. 

       Include a link back to this post in your blog post or on your flickr photo page so that others who may want to join the needle and thREAD fun can find us! Feel free to grab a button here (in one of several colors) so that you can use the button to link:-).

Remember: Fat Quarter Shop Giveaway Here. It's not to late to enter. Winner Announced Tomorrow.