mercy

Early in June, my friend Jane who had been diagnosed with ALS back in December went to be with the Lord. He was exceedingly gracious in that she had three things she asked from Him after her diagnosis. She wanted to live until her daughter's wedding, she wanted to die at home, and she didn't want to lose her voice.

She died several days after her daughter's wedding, at home, and was able to speak until the morning of the day she died. I am profoundly moved by God's mercy. He answered her three prayers in a beautifully affirming way. Whenever I think about it, I am moved and then I realize that those who do no believe in God would be a appalled because the fact of Jane's disease is proof enough to them that He is not a God of mercy.

God is merciful and that is enough for me.

But all the wickedness in the world which man may do or think is no more to the mercy of God than a live coal dropped in the sea. Madeleine L'Engle/William Langland

Laura Ingalls Wilder quote

Vices are simply overworked virtues, anyway. Economy and frugality are to be commended but follow them on in an increasing ratio and what do we find at the other end? A miser! If we overdo the using of spare moments we may find an invalid at the end, while perhaps if we allowed ourselves more idle time we would conserve our nervous strength and health to more than the value the work we could accomplish by emulating at all times the little busy bee.

I once knew a woman, not very strong, who to the wonder of her friends went through a time of extraordinary hard work without any ill effects.

I asked her for her secret and she told me that she was able to keep her health, under the strain, because she took 20 minutes, of each day in which to absolutely relax both mind and body. She did not even “set and think.” She lay at full length, every muscle and nerve relaxed and her mind as quiet as her body. This always relieved the strain and renewed her strength.

love

I recently found a (third, I think) cousin from back home in Kansas (or she found me as the case may be). She has a beautiful blog - all about family which is what I like best - she said I can share it so I am Bringing "E" Home. Check it out, I am loving it.

creepy-crawly - Design by Frost

I always imagine that Frost's poem design is about one of these crab spiders.



I found a dimpled spider, fat and white,
On a white heal-all, holding up a moth
Like a white piece of rigid satin cloth--
Assorted characters of death and blight
Mixed ready to begin the morning right,
Like the ingredients of a witches' broth--
A snow-drop spider, a flower like a froth,
And dead wings carried like a paper kite.

What had that flower to do with being white,
The wayside blue and innocent heal-all?
What brought the kindred spider to that height,
Then steered the white moth thither in the night?
What but design of darkness to appall?--
If design govern in a thing so small.

organic living

How to Build a Home for Orchard Mason Bees

How to Use Rags in the Garden

How to find Manure for the Garden

How to Build a Lasagna Garden

How to Find Worms for a Garden

How to Compost Pet Waste

overheard

Last night hubby was helping Stinkerbell get ready for bed. I heard him ask her where she got the cut on her face, she replied "From the wall." Her father then asks "What wall?" Stinkerbell's response cracked me up "The wall I got it from."

It was tomato sauce.

Stinkerbell has the habit of giving technically correct but completely useless answers. Hubby says it reminds him of a Microsoft joke.

A helicopter with a pilot and a single passenger was flying around above Seattle when a malfunction disabled all of the aircraft’s navigation and communications equipment. Due to the darkness and haze, the pilot could not determine the helicopter’s position and course to get back to the airport.

The pilot saw a tall building with lights on and flew toward it, the pilot had the passenger draw a handwritten sign reading “WHERE AM I?” and hold it up for the building’s occupants to see.

People in the building quickly responded to the aircraft, drew a large sign, and held it in a building window. Their sign said “YOU ARE IN A HELICOPTER.”

The pilot smiled, waved, looked at his map, determined the course to steer to SEATAC airport, and landed safely.

After they were on the ground, the passenger asked the pilot how the “YOU ARE IN A HELICOPTER” sign helped determine their position.

The pilot responded “I knew that had to be the Microsoft support building, they gave me a technically correct but entirely useless answer.”

Personally, it reminds me of Pooh and Rabbit:

Piglet: Pooh! Haven't you been listening to what Rabbit's been saying?
Winnie the Pooh: I listened, but then I had a small piece of fluff in my ear. Could you say it again, please, Rabbit?
Rabbit: Well, where should I start from?
Winnie the Pooh: Well, from the moment the fluff got in my ear.
Rabbit: Well, when was that?
Winnie the Pooh: I don't know. I couldn't hear properly.

self-indulgence

grandpa glen and the girls

For those of you new to my blog, Glen is an elderly gentleman we visit at the nursing home. We started visiting him when Stinkerbell was six months old. At Christmas he was diagnosed with leukemia and so we don't see him as often as we used to. Today we visited him and he was in rare form and looked great (although so thin it was scary).

awarded

I received an award from a delightful woman whose blog I recently started reading. Her name is Amy and I love the stories she tells about her boys at her blog Queen to My 3 Boys.

I know that I am not always the best about doing this but I am going to pass the award along like a good blogger. :) Here are my seven awardees.


Heather: My friend Heather writes about life at the side of the mainstream in her blog An Untraditional Home. She is a fabulous artist and the mother to three beautiful children. Her heart belongs to God and she is a source of inspiration to me.

Judy: Judy is a Grandma, a reader of books, and a wise Christian who writes poignantly and honestly about the trials of life including her mother's struggle with Alzheimer's disease. I've been reading Judy's blog, Anybody Home, since I started writing in blogland.

Jodi: Jodi has the sweetest most generous heart in blogland. It is betrayed by her gentle words and the quiet atmosphere of her blog The Deputy Domain where she writes about homemaking and a relationship with Christ.

Heidi: I've been reading Heidi's blog for a very long time too. It has been a fascinating journey to follow her as she learns to adjust to the unplanned route changes in her journey with God. Her's is a journey of truly learning the meaning of her blog title God's Grace in Practice. God took her at her word when she said that " I am looking for ways emulate God's grace in daily life." Watching her grow is a true inspiration.

Mimi: Mimi is Jodi's mom and her blog folds you in a grandmother's love and passion for Christ as she prays and helps teach the next generation and those who visit her blog, Listen to Grammie.


Jenny: I recently was updating my profile and clicked on some of my profile options to see what sort of blogs I would find. To my delight I found a Kansas blog that I find delightful. Jenny's blog wheats! takes me home. When one leaves home and moves far away, one learns the strong pull of a homeland. Visiting wheats! is like visiting my childhood.

Chris and Lauri: Lauri and Chris are Miss Flower - ostensibly their blog is a gardening blog but really it is a sharing of the little daily things that give them pleasure. I find blogs of the little daily things in life the most enjoyable and so the last blog to receive the award is Miss Flower.

Copy and paste the award into your blog. Link to who you got award from (me). Share with us your seven awardees.

garden and art

bee balm bud (say that three times fast)

Yesterday, I got an email from a dear friend from our old church. We did not leave our old church in the best of standing. We left in protest of something that was done. However, we did try to maintain some of our friendships. However, our lives and our friends lives were separated by time and space and we made new friends at our new church.

J emailed me yesterday she asking for help with a collage. A mutual friend,E, had lost her father recently. She had lost a brother rather suddenly two years ago. At both funerals Q&A1 from the Heidelberg Catechism was central. In addition, E, who is a gifted composer, had written music for the Q&A1.

J wanted to make a collage for E using the music and the catechism and she wasn't sure how to go about it so she emailed me. We talked on the phone last night and it was fun to do a little catching up. This morning before I got out of bed, I had an inspiration about how this collage should be done. I called J and she was pleased with my idea.

J's need provided me with inspiration and focus. And today, while still tired, I have zest.

these are calendula (pot marigold) buds - I picked off my blossoms a few days ago to make a beauty cream - calendula is different from the common marigold that we see in mass plantings here in the US those are African marigold of a species known as tagetes.

this is an African marigold (tagetes)

hosta buds

feverfew

feverfew in front of the leaves of some of my variegated iris

feverfew and a sunflower leaf in the foreground

I have yet to taste a tomato - don't you think this one has a pretty shape?

I needed to take a photo of a frame for J so she could see what I was proposing she buy for the collage. Since I had the camera out, I went out into the yard. Photography nearly always improves my mood - it is prayer, worship, and praise for me.

Heidelberg Catechism - Lord's Day 1 Q&A 1

Q. What is your only comfort in life and death?

A. That I am not my own, but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death, to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with His precious blood, and has set me free from all the power of the devil. He also preserves me in such a way that without the will of my heavenly Father not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, all things must work together for my salvation. Therefore, by His Holy Spirit He also assures me of eternal life and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live for Him.

inspired

"There is a paradox when we look at pictures. We see the beauty and we see the dark side of things. Beauty tinged with sadness.


How is it that we must hold what we love tight to us, against our very bones, knowing we must also, when the time comes, let it go....?"
Sally Mann

wrung out

I've worked to hard in the garden and completely ran out of energy this week. I am tired and lack interest. I think the important lesson is if I get too tired my zest ebbs. Losing interest is much more saddening than the lack of energy. A lesson I should keep in mind next time I try to push too long.

happy feverfew a plant whose properties a I am experimenting with

a bee balm plant I bought when we met my sister, her husband, and my parents for strawberry picking

I love this dear little random pink cornflower

Today the weather is oppressively hot and muggy but overcast (or it was - the sun is out now). The girls needed to get out so we went to Goodwill. I found a beautiful hardcover set of Louisa May Alcott books with olive green spines, colored title page art, and illustrations. The set includes, Little Women, Little Men, Jo's Boys, Jack and Jill, Under the Lilacs, and Eight Cousins, it didn't have Rose in Bloom which I think it should have. Ah well. The artwork is by Ruth Ives and is lovely.

I also bought a beautiful hand-blown, green-glass apothecary jar, an illustrated Golden Press of The Red Badge of Courage and an illustrated Golden Press of The Five Little Peppers Midway. I also bought a combined copy of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass - with Tenniel illustrations (did I need another copy, no but...) I also bought some beautiful glass marbles and new pillows for our couch (the holes in the old ones are shamefully large).