In the Heart of my Home

Wedding Moments on a Monday

***

***

***

***

***

***

***

***

***

So many moments I want to remember. Not for a second can I begin to  capture them here. I think I've hesitated to put words to the moments because I'm quite sure I can't adequately express my heart. So, let's just try to catch a few moments.

::This was a small, intimate wedding.  Of all my girlfriends, only two were there. They came with their cameras and they offered us the gift of their art. Forever, we will remember the wedding through their eyes. For me, I know I entrusted wedding memories to kindred spirits who know my heart. That's a rare treasure. Several years ago, a photographer named Lori asked if I'd like her to take pictures in the bluebells. I hesitated, because those woods are so very special and personal to our family. I couldn't fathom a photoshoot there. Mike encouraged me to jump at the chance. All through that beautiful day in the woods, Lori kept saying, "You have to meet my friend Ginny. You two--you're a lot alike." I met Ginny in those same woods a couple years later. And our friendship has grown into a treasure of my heart. The gift of these pictures is just the beginning. The gift of their understanding was priceless.

::Mary Beth was terribly sick the week before the wedding. So many of my logistical plans hinged on her. At the last moment, Kristin suggested we invite Mary Beth's darling friend Molly to be one of the family for the weekend. And Molly--lover of weddings--enthusiastically jumped in. I think that between eleven o'clock Friday evening and the march down the aisle Saturday, Molly spent eight hours curling hair. She was sweet and gracious and wonderful and willing to do anything to make the day fairytale perfect. Girlfriends. They're the best.

::Seven minutes before I was to walk down the aisle, Patrick knocked on the Bride's Room door. He insisted that Michael needed to see me immediately. Fighting panic, I practically sprinted across the back of the church to the sacristy. I looked at all the people gathered and briefly wondered if the groom had cold feet. I ducked inside and Michael held a small, tissue-wrapped package. "Kristin and I don't want you to cry. But we thought you should have this before the wedding." Inside, was a handkerchief embroidered with the familiar words of a bedtime story I've read a million times in the last 24 years. They were the words my children have sung at bedtime into Mike's voicemail when he is away. When I first read Love You Forever, I thought it was creepy. What mother picks up grown sons when they are sleeping to rock them? Totally weird. As my boys have grown though, I've understood the message. Mothers never stop wanting to make the world safe, to keep their babies close and ensure they know they're loved. Never. When my friend Jan saw a picture of the handkerchief, she said, "Nothing could have made you happier." She is so right.

::All weekend long, I got text messages and emails and sweet notes from girlfriends who were holding me in prayer. Never have I seen the Holy Spirit and the communion of saints so visibly. Not a one was hurt that they weren't there. They understood. And then they prayed.

::There was moment before the girls walked down the aisle that I think has escaped everyone's camera. Just outside the sacristy door, my five boys gathered themselves into a huddle. I'm not sure what all was said. I hear that Michael told Paddy how much he appreciated the latter's decision to forego earrings on this day. What else? I don't know. I just know that the sight of them there filled my heart to its fullest and made my husband's eyes spill over. Patrick's girlfriend Hilary was sitting next to us. I caught her eye. We looked at Mike. And the three of us shared the moment. One day, God willing, I will be very old. My memory will fail. I dearly hope that someone will remind me of that moment. I never want to forget.

::The plan for the recessional was for me to take Sarah's hand and Mike to take Karoline's hand and my arm and then for the four of us to walk down the aisle. Karoline escaped Mike and skipped all the way down the aisle. Oh, yes she did. And she caught the spirt of our joy as she always does.

::This was a handmade wedding. The flowers were a gift of love from Kristin's roommate. Kristin sewed her own veil and upcycled her rehearsal dinner dress from a vintage wedding dress. We had a wedding favor party in my kitchen on Nutcracker weekend and assembled darling gifts for guests. The cake was the creation and gift of Megan Kampa, one of Michael's childhood friends and homeschooling buddies. It was carried into the reception hall by their friend Billy, now a marine. Hours and hours of love went into the details. And hours and hours of love are still being poured into the photographs. Handmade. Heartfelt. So good. (Lots of those pictures are on Instagram @heartofmyhome or you can click the camera icon on the sidebar.)

::I thoroughly enjoyed the little chats I had with Kristin's friends and relatives. Small weddings are truly wonderful for making meaningful connections. I don't think I've ever known a more thoughtful bride.

::Nicholas gave a toast that brought the house down. It was so good that the wait staff in the room left to go get the rest of the staff to come hear the twelve-year-old who is now seriously contemplating a career as a stand-up comic. He'd have to take his ghostwriter with him. Christian, no doubt, is a gifted speechwriter. Genius was the word I heard more than once.

::Hilary caught the bouquet. Everyone--everyone--was ever so glad. Perfect. Just perfect.

::Michael swept Karoline up to dance Sweet Caroline. Not a dry eye in the house. 

::At the end of the evening, after Ginny and Lori had headed home, Michael played the song that Mike had chosen for our first dance twenty-five years ago. My husband held me close and I could not take my eyes off his face. I just kept saying, "We did this. We did this." I didn't mean the wedding. I meant something much, much bigger. God. Mike. Me. Together for something big. Mike understood. I'm pretty sure there are no pictures of the dance. I'll never forget, though.

All photos: Ginny, who spent her birthday with my memories.

Wedding Day: Lord, Hear Our Prayer

 

 

Twenty-five years ago today, a new life began. It grew from the love of a brand-new marriage. Nine months later, on September 29, 1988, a son was born. My firstborn. The baby who made me Mama, who made us family.

Today, that boy--now grown to a man--will take a wife. In many ways, he's grown up here in this space and in the pages of books and newspapers. We've stumbled along together, he and I, learning as we go, and sharing those lessons with all of you.

I'm at a loss for words. I have been all month.

I tend to take a while to process big things and this is a very big thing. We head to church this morning to meet both the same priest who baptized Michael and our dear pastor, who will concelebrate the marriage. My heart is full--very, very full. I'm eager to encircle Kristin, to call her daughter-in-love, and to fully celebrate this new beginning. But as I said, I'm at a loss for words. So, I beg your prayers for us this weekend and for Michael and Kristin as they begin their new life together.  And I leave you with Mike's words from last night, when he welcomed family and friends after the rehearsal.

 

I thought a fair-amount about what I might be able to share this evening….something that would capture what Elizabeth and I are feeling this weekend.  Coupled with that, I also considered the amount of time I would be allowed to speak before my sons would begin shouting me down.  I think I have about 30-seconds left.

Mark and Terumi, distinguished grandparents, family and friends, thank you for accepting our invitation tonight and for sharing this evening with us.  Elizabeth and I are very grateful.

In spite of what anyone might tell you (and by anyone I suppose I mean our current culture), this life is about relationships.

What we share and what others are willing to share with us.

What we do for others and what we allow others to do for us.

About half of this room is filled with people who have supported Elizabeth and me for at least 30 years and in many cases, closer to 50.  They were there to help us through school, help us through cancer, to help us change the diapers of nine children and help to drive to so many soccer games and ballet rehearsals that it would be impossible to count.

I know the other half of the room is filled with those who have supported Mark and Terumi in a similar fashion.  And while I may not know the specifics of their actions, I do know something about life…..and this outward demonstration, their attendance here tonight, is life.

As I look around this room tonight, each and every person can claim a special relationship with Kristin and Michael.  Grandparents, aunts and uncles, sisters and brothers, and many friends.  As you both consider the weekend ahead, I hope you will take time to reflect on the love and the support which surrounds you tonight, which will surround you tomorrow and which will surround you for years to come.

Kristin and Michael, as you have learned, marriage in the Catholic Church is a grace-filled sacrament.   As the early 20^th century Belgian Priest and theologian, Jacques Leclercq wrote:

The sacrament of marriage is the imprint of God on the souls of the married couple, not merely in order to deify their life in general, but in order to deify their union . . . The sacrament of marriage is thus not merely a religious act sanctifying a human one, it is a seed sown in the soul and bearing fruit through the whole of married life, giving life to all its acts and sentiments . . . it is a predisposition to holiness placed in their souls by God on the day of their wedding.

As you celebrate the powerful and grace-filled sacrament of marriage and enjoy the events of this weekend,  I pray that you will find time to reflect upon the many blessings God has bestowed upon you.  Particularly the blessings of your family and your friends who have gathered with you tonight.

May God grant you many years and may He bless your marriage forever.  We love you both.

 

video credit: Mary Beth Foss, with help from Kristin's sister, Cherise.

Christmas Prayers

Gospel

When the angels went away from them to heaven,
the shepherds said to one another,
"Let us go, then, to Bethlehem
to see this thing that has taken place,
which the Lord has made known to us."
So they went in haste and found Mary and Joseph,
and the infant lying in the manger.
When they saw this,
they made known the message
that had been told them about this child.
All who heard it were amazed
by what had been told them by the shepherds.
And Mary kept all these things,
reflecting on them in her heart.
Then the shepherds returned,
glorifying and praising God
for all they had heard and seen,
just as it had been told to them.

Think

Never be hurried by anything whatever--nothing can be more pressing than the necessity for your peace before God. You will help others more by the peace and tranquility of your heart than by any eagerness or care you can bestow on them.

~St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

Pray

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton,  you know well what it was like to prepare to celebrate Christmas in house full of children.  Please pray that I will be reminded all day long, despite my most pressing duties, that it is the Peace of Christ we will welcome tonight. Pray that the Baby might bring tranquliity to my heart and that I bring this holy peace to everyone I meet tonight and tomorrow.

Act

Take a few minutes sometime today or tonight to be still in front of the creche. Open your heart to the peace of Christ and just sit, admiring the baby.

How can we pray for you this week?

Surprise!

Dear Nick,

You thought we'd forget your birthday. You thought, with Christmas and the wedding and graduation and the end of the world, that your birthday would slip by, barely noticed. Instead, we invited ten of your favorite people and we celebrated YOU! 

Forget? Never.

You are so dearly loved.

Happy Birthday!

needle & thREAD

Good morning! I don't have much to show in the sewing department today. This week's sewing is mostly under wraps. And since I hit a sewing sweet spot and just kept chugging along, I don't really have many pictures to show you after Christmas. Maybe I'll snap a few of recipients. Sometimes, as I cut specially chosen (and not inexpensive) fabric or dream up just the right design for something, I wonder if they'll "get it." I wonder if they will know how much I value the gift I'm giving, how much thought and care and love gets stitched into it or cooked into it or baked into it. Increasingly, I'm becoming aware that many people consider handmade to be of lesser value. And they consider the people behind handmade to be of little or no value at all. I love my handmade gifts and the people to whom I give them, but do the gifts lose their value if the recipient doesn't recognize the worth?

We are rapidly approaching Wedding Day here, too, and my mind is awhirl--pretty much 24-7--with details, details, details. I have not done a whole lot of reading. One thing I have noticed in the past few weeks, though, has definitely prompted me to make a reading list for the future. It seems that the more I post about intentional mothering or about homemaking arts, the more hate mail I generate. And I mean really angry mail from women who are disparaging and disgusted with mothers at home. They paint a picture of "kept women" who are leeches on society. It takes every ounce of self restraint not to respond.

This new mail is a curious thing to me. Firstly, I have collected a paycheck of some sort my entire adult life (and plenty of my teenaged life, too). The only time I didn't do some sort of paid work was when I took "time off" for chemotherapy and radiation. So, I'm not sure how I became a "them" in the us vs. them mommy wars. But my deeper ponderings have everything to do with the misconceptions of mothers at home, particularly those who try to reclaim lost homemaking arts of an era long gone.

There are a couple of articles in this years' issues of Taproot, written by Shannon Hayes, author of Radical Homemakers. She speaks to the misconception and affirms the value of women who are actually working very hard to tread lightly on the economy and on social resources, not by dabbling in needlework and berry jam, but by integrating every aspect of human experience into the tapestry of home. I re-read them last night.

We live in bizarre times, victims of a post-industrial era that, for the sake of efficiency, has segmented our culture into factions--some produce food, some produce the education, some produce goods and services. This segmentation fails to acknowledge our need to be human, to engage in daily work that feeds our minds and our bodies and reestablishes our oneness with the earth. Perhaps more carrots can be produced, more books can be written, more art can be created, more kids can be schooled, more numbers can be crunched and more albums can be produced if one person plants carrots and someone else writes the books, and someone else paints pictures, and someone else teaches our kids, and someone else crunches the numbers and someone else plants the music and someone else cooks the carrots. But none of us is experiencing what it means to be fully human, where our unique minds and bodies work in harmony with our spirits and nature to create and provide for our wellbeing.

I also read a short biography yesterday. (Or was it the day before? I forget. So busy sitting around eating Christmas bons-bons and all.) It is the story of an Eastern Orthodox saint who is a beautiful example of homemaking and a life of service. Just beautiful. So, there you go. I'm reading across the spectrum and finding women who find peace (and create it, too), by embracing home. And that's about all I can say about that, because, you know, it's days before Christmas and the week before our family's first wedding and there are just so many bon-bons to which to attend.

What are you sewing and reading this week? How does the work of your hands benefit your family? Your neighbor? Do you find that people appreciate your handmade gifts?  Are you working on Christmas presents? Racing to the finish with something special? Do tell.  

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 thREAD post below in the comments, and not a needle and thREAD 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:-)

 

O, Wisdom

 

We put the first block in our O, Antiphon house the other day and Nick argued vehemently.

"No, it's not time yet! You have the date wrong. Wait. Stop." 

I was surprised. Ever since he was aware of time, Nicky has been obsessed with time. Most people took a screen shot of 12:12 on 12/12/12. Nick lined up every screen in the house and took as many shots as he could in that minute. 

When I explained the date and showed him "proof" that it was, indeed, time to begin the O Antiphons, he slumped into the couch. "It's going too fast..."

"What's going too fast? Advent? It's super short this year; I hear you."

"No. My childhood. It's going too fast."

Sweet boy. December is always a big month for him. His name day, his birthday, Christmas--all rolled into one sweet, happy month. This year, his sweet seems heavily spiced with melancholy. He knows change is afoot. In the space of two short winter weeks, two big brothers will leave the house. Nicholas is particularly close to Patrick, simply adores him. And he is Michael's best man. He's trying to put on a brave face, but this boy is sad.

And then there's Sandy Hook. Nick has an Instagram account. He's seen pictures that make him weep. This tragedy is touching him deeply and he can't seem to push it from his thoughts. I think, in many ways, Nicky knows that childhood as he knew it ended on a Friday in December 2012, just a week before his twelfth birthday.

We're watching him, trying to adjust his life as if we could filter it through an Instagram button. A little more light would do some good, no? And let's shade that really sad part so we can't even see it. It's Christmas and your basketball team totally rocks--you, Stephen, Christian are all together! Just think, you'll have your own room for the first time ever! The wedding reception is a buffet--you'll love dinner!

And Nick, those children?

They're in heaven.

 

Every Girl Can Be A Princess

 

We've been hearing the sweet sounds of Tchaikovsky around here these days! It's Nutcracker time. After much thought and prayer, we switched dance schools last spring. This fall, for the first time, all four girls have danced together at the same studio. Mary Beth, Katie, and Karoline have been working hard on Nutcracker performances all fall.  Some time in early November, Katie asked Mike to lend a hand. Apparently, no one had volunteered to take on the role of Godfather Drosselmeier. Much to everyone's surprise, Mike readily agreed. Patrick's girlfriend, Hilary, was cast as Clara, a role she danced beautifully. Somehow, she persuaded Paddy to dance be the Prince, a role he --ahem-- didn't "dance" at all;-). It was Karoline's first Nutcracker and she was every part the angel. Katie was the queen of the quick change--she danced several roles. And Mary Beth shone as Snow Queen. It was great fun to see them all on stage!

Every Saturday in December, Mary Beth and Katie have been entertaining guests at the Ritz-Carlton Nutcracker teas. Then, on Sundays, Mary Beth has been Cinderella at the Princess Teas. Mike, Katie, Karoline, Sarah and I were blessed to join our friends Megan and Katie to watch Mary Beth perform at a tea. I can honestly say it was the most enjoyable hour of dance I've ever experienced. Such fun! 

There is one more performance left. Local peeps, the Princess Tea is coming to South Riding this Saturday at 3:00. There are very limited spaces available. Call (703) 327-9627 to make reservations. I hope we see you there.

 

(I love this picture. I'm pretty sure someone was telling Hilary how awesome she was and Paddy was saying, "What about me? I was awesome, too.")

 

(no braces)

(no teeth)

(note the nutcracker in the National Team jersey)

Please excuse the poor video quality. I was caught off guard and tried to capture a little bit of the Princess Tea. My sweet husband, The Director, is no doubt cringing at my production standards. Still, I keep playing this video over and over. My little girls can't get enough of it. When I remember Mary Beth at sixteen, this is the lovely image I hope comes to my mind.

Circle of Quiet

She came to me before Mass yesterday. She had heard about it in the dressing room the night before. A teacher was killed, they told her.

Face upturned, eyes searching, "How was a teacher killed?"

"There was a shooting in a school."

"Only one teacher died?"

"No, not just one."

"Did any children die?"

"Yes, they did."

"How old were they?"

I remembered the list I'd just read, the one with all the names of young victims, the one with birthdates beside the names. 2006. Over and over again. The year Karoline was born. I looked into her upturned face, those huge, innocent blue eyes. I could not give voice to the word.

Six.

Tomorrow, we will tell you all about our Nutcracker. Today, we join others in the circle of quiet.

Lord, Hear Our Prayer

There are no words. 

There is only the Word.

 

 

We weep

with those 

who weep

Romans: 12:15

 

How can we pray for you this week?

needle & thREAD

 

This was supposed to be the St. Lucy's Day edition of needle & thREAD. There were to be three flannel nightgowns here for happy pictures. Alas, I spent the weekend relearning slope-intercept and graphing inequalities. Saturday morning, fabric all smoothed out and newly-traced patterns pinned in place, I recognized that these nightgowns weren't going to happen before exams were taken. They might not even happen before Christmas. When I make them, I'm going to make them extra long. They can wear them in January and February and then again next year. 

I do have some things to show you, though. iPhone pictures are beginning to frustrate me. A camera is moving to the top of my list of things to research. Do you love yours? Tell me why.

The drapes for the main floor of the house are finished. Cari and I worked on the sewing room drapes this week and I finished them yesterday morning, early, early. Mike's been working ridiculously long days, splitting his time between here and Miami, so the rods aren't hung yet, but the drapes are so pretty!

I'm nearly finished with the great pillow expedition in the family room. I love the pop of color on some otherwise rather dull couches. 

One last pillow remains to be covered. I've been doing a little stitching sampler on a scrap of the drapery fabric. It will be the center of a log cabin square. This seemed a grand idea when I first conceived it. In reality, this fabric is so loosely woven that it frays if you look at it the wrong way. It's not fun to make patchwork with it. I'm determined to make just that one pillow, but my grand plans for lots of them were squashed pretty quickly. I do want to do just this one pillow, though. The needlework competes with my knitting time whenever I sit down these days. I want to finish Sarah's sweater by Patrick's graduation party (the day after the wedding). Knit? Stitch? Math? 

I haven't done much reading. Last week, Emily recommended Dirt and the Good Life. I have the book now, but haven't yet begun to read. After the math final...

So what's happening out there in needle and thread world? Are you working on Christmas presents? Racing to the finish with something special? Do tell.  

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 thREAD post below in the comments, and not a needle and thREAD 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:-)

 

Shop for Bracelets and Feed Orphans {and be entered for the Big Giveaway}

Give: 1 bracelet --> 1 child -->1 week of food

What started as a traveling surfer's promise to a child in an orphanage in Bali Indonesia became an international movement.

Please don't forget about us!

It was the plea of an older child as the surfer was leaving for the airport after an extended stay.

"Don't worry; I won't," came the answer, steady and sure.

And he didn't. And he hasn't.

Please take a moment or two to get to know this organization:  please go read. These are amazing folks who are working so hard on behalf of orphans in Bali. 

We did a lot of shopping at GIVE Bracelets last  year. The motto at GIVE is One Bracelet-> One Child-> One Week of Food.  By the time we finished Christmas shopping, we'd fed thirteen children. Thirteen bracelets! I've now seen every style, from the simple friendship bracelets to an absolutely beautiful silver bracelet. I've shopped (and helped my kids shop) for people from 13 to 40-something. 

And then, we did it again this year. I can't tell you what we bought and where it's going because there are still gifts to give. What I can tell you is that as people receive these gifts, they're as excited as we are. The bracelets are lovely and the gift bag spells out the real gift: because of where it was purchased, the bracelet given feeds a child in Bali for a week.

 

Styles vary widely, as do price points. It's been nice to shop where there is something for everyone. 

 

Here's an update from Charlie on the latest at Give:

The latest news is from the orphanage Charlie visited last year on the island of Timor. This orphanage has 28 children all with different levels of mental and/or physical disabilities. All eight of the children that needed surgeries have gotten them! Six more needed surgeries because of birth defects and with the money Charlie left on this trip, along with the funds Give has been sending, they all have been able to get the needed surgeries! Charlie received a package recently with photos of each of the children before and after their surgeries. Each child had a brand new school uniform. They are each being fed well by the goats and chickens that they now have for milk and eggs and they are drinking freely from a new water well that has been dug!

This video beautifully captures the spirit of Give 

Remember to keep this amazing company in your constant prayers as their mission helps so many children. Also, keep Charlie's wife in your prayers as she's expecting in a few weeks.

Now, on to how you can help:  Give Bracelets offers a wide variety of bracelets in difference price ranges to meet your needs. Whether it be mothers, grandmothers, daughters, teachers, girlfriends, wives, aunts or sisters there is an appropriate bracelet for all of them. They offer silver, cuff, wrap and many other bracelets that are perfect for gifts! The best part about it is1 bracelet is 1 week of food for a child in need! 

AND THE GIVEAWAY

Give Bracelets has graciously offered $200 store credit to the winner of this giveaway. Winner to be announced Thursday evening. All you have to do is like Give Bracelets on Facebook, Follow on Twitter, or Subscribe on YouTube. If you don't do social media, just pass the link along to a friend or two;-). Then leave a comment below.   

The Giveaway winner is Marisa:-)

Lord, Hear Our Prayer

The internet is a formidable force for bringing the comfort and consolation and hope of the Lord to all of us. It can be an incredibily powerful medium for community. There is an unfathomable resource for prayer here. We have on the 'net the privilege of praying for people and of being witness to the miracles brought forth when fervent, faith-filled people pray for one another.

Let's be that community of hope and faith for one another.

How about this idea? What if I pop in here every weekend, share Sunday's gospel and talk a wee bit about how we can live it and pray it in our homes? And then you tell me how we can pray for you that week? Deal?

{And please, do return and let us know how prayer is bearing fruit.} 

Gospel 

 Luke 3:1-6

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar,
when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea,
and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee,
and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region
of Ituraea and Trachonitis,
and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene,
during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas,
the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the desert.
John went throughout the whole region of the Jordan,
proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,
as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah:
A voice of one crying out in the desert:
"Prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight his paths.
Every valley shall be filled
and every mountain and hill shall be made low.
The winding roads shall be made straight,
and the rough ways made smooth,
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God."

Think

For this reason, Advent is synonymous with hope:  not the vain waiting for a faceless god, but concrete and certain trust in the return of him who has already visited us, of the "Spouse" who with his blood has sealed with humanity a pact that is an eternal covenant. It is a hope that stimulates vigilance, the characteristic virtue of this special liturgical season. Vigilance in prayer, fostered by a loving expectation; vigilance in the dynamics of concrete charity, aware that the Kingdom of God comes close whenever men learn to live as brothers.

~Blessed Pope John Paul II

Pray

God, help me to remember Advent is synonymous with hope. As I am preparing for your coming, help me to be helpful, happy, and Holy to everyone around me. Help me to keep hope of your coming alive in my home and in the world around me. 

Act

Remember that Advent is a little Lent. Consider carefully fasting during the remainder of the season.

Giveaway Winners

I'm happy to announce the winners of the giveaways this month, To celebrate the Solemnity.

 

The good folks at St. Luke's Brush are offering this darling St. Kateri doll.

 

The winner of the Saint Kateri Doll is Sarah:

Sarah said...

If our new baby is a girl, she'll be Kateri, so I think I might pick her! But my God daughter is Zita, so I am thrilled to see her in the line up as well! Such beautiful dolls!

Congratulations Sarah, please send me an email so I can let the folks at St. Luke's Brush know where to send your beautiful stocking stuffer.

 

Sweet Ruth of Loreto Rosaries is offering a lovely set of earrings.

 

The winner of the Miraculous Medal Earrings is Suzanne:

Suzanne said...

Beautiful! I think I have found what my daughter is getting in her stocking, as soon as I can make up my mind :) The St. Anne necklace is particularly beautiful. Thanks for introducing us to this beautiful jewelery.

Congratulations Suzanne, please send me an email so I can let Ruth know where to send your earrings.

Thoughts on Knitting and Farming and Life in General

I am certainly the slowest knitter ever. A year and a half ago, when I first learned to knit, I was actually pretty quick. I learned to knit at the beginning of Lent and had three (or maybe four) shrugs knit and blocked and ready Easter morning. Spring faded into summer and whatever autoimmune process causes muscle and joints to slow and ache seized mine with a vengeance. I thought rest would help. I reluctantly stopped knitting at all, waiting for the pain to go away. It never did. So, I began to knit again.

Slowly. Very slowly.

I picked up a sweater for Katie, begun by Mary Beth. Katie had outgrown it. Thanksgiving weekend, I finished it for Karoline. Then I picked up a sweater for Sarah, begun by me, just before I stopped knitting. I thanked heavens for a pattern already begun that had the same number of stitches in the neck of her former size as the neck of her current size. 

And so it goes, slowly. very slowly. All my yarn for next year is stashed. I have no need of yarn because it lasts me a long, long while. My skills are still very much at the beginner level. Still, I want to knit.

I want to sew.

I want to garden.

I want to can. 

I want to make things come to life (in a manner of speaking) by moving myself into them. And it think such movement might be critical to my wellbeing.

 

I read a wonderful book last weekend. I started reading as I lifted it from the box and I couldn't put it down. It won't be everyone's idea of wonderful, but I found it to be a very satisfying read. The Dirty Life is the story of a Harvard-educated travel writer who  interviews an organic farmer about his connection to the local food movement and ends up falling in love. With him, with the food, and with the work. Together, they begin to farm on an abandoned acreage in upstate New York. The amount of work they do is astonishing. The author, Kristin Kimball, doesn't romanticize the experience. It's messy and hard and fraught with all kinds of challenges. Somehow, though, it seems so satisfying: an entire life made by moving one's body and mind into work. 

I found myself wanting to ask so many questions. Did you ever get the ramshackle house cleaned up? Did he ever make you the promised bed? Who did all that work when you were pregnant? How did you do all that work with a nursing baby? The blog offers a little more insight into the day-to-day world of running a CSA that provides its members a full diet: produce, eggs, meat, dairy, even sweetener. It doesn't, however, answer all my questions. My hunch is she's too busy fully living life to write about it in daily detail.

I will never be a farmer. I've often wanted to be, ever since I was a little girl. In all my imaginings, I lived a rural life.  I am, however, the wife of a very good man who doesn't much like dirt. He works hard to provide a pretty clean life in suburbia. Our kids are thriving here. I love him for it.

So, how does that translate? Contentment with suburban life and the desire to get dirty and work with one's hands in every aspect of living? I have no idea. Today, it will be warm. I'm going to plant more tulip bulbs in the front bed. And then, I'll just keep slowly knitting and think on it.

For more Yarn Along, please visit Ginny.