bits of sunshine

down memory lane

yesterday at lunchtime, isaac and i were talking about what he had been like as a 6-year-old and as an 11-year-old . . . . and i decided to just look back on my blog . . . so we took a trip down memory lane.  it was so much fun to talk and remember and laugh and be grateful.  

i need to document our days, and my thoughts.  what a gift to be able to look back.  

today, this picture popped up on my facebook memories - and i wanted to plop it right here, and add the comments.  

i posted this picture six years ago with the caption "the second man of the house picked these for me"

the first comment was "you mean . . . the REAL MAN?"  to which i replied "he learned everything he knows about the way to a woman's heart from the first man of the house."  and received the answer, "touche."

then a friend commented that isaac is a sweetheart, and i replied, "he brought them to me, bound together with the rubber band - they look pretty together, don't they mom? - he asked as he handed them to me."

six years ago isaac was eight.  ben was restarting his wildland fire career.  i was homeschooling with maddie and isaac and having so much fun with them.  we were raising chickens and pigs.  we were on the brink of our living situation being up-ended and shook out and dramatically changed.  

and in the midst of all of that and so much more, isaac took the time to bring me a bouquet, and i took time to document it.  

take the pictures.  write the words.  and then revisit them, my friends.  you'll be so very glad you did.  

 

the bridge

yesterday morning, i stepped outside into this light:

i posted it on my instagram account and wrote {truly no filter needed.  this, in fact, is the stuff filter dreams are made of.}  i could not get over the golden glow, the blue, the grey, the light on the bridge and through the trees. 

this morning, my friend dawn posted the following picture on her instagram account:

and i thought these two pictures needed to become a diptych. 

{side note: diptych.  i like the idea of this word.  but i don't know if i like how it sounds, how it feels.  it's maybe too harsh.  i want it to be gentler.  anyway...}

i pulled up my layout app, and worked with these two pictures for a bit.  and came up with this:

this new picture needed words.  something about a bridge.  because there is a bridge in the picture.  because this picture is now a bridge between somewhere in south dakota and and somewhere in nova scotia.  because dawn and i often find bridges in the beauty of nature and in mailed packages and daughters' birth months and a love of teaching and learning.  because i feel like my online presence helps me to bridge the thoughts in my mind to words written or spoken, the feelings in my soul to actions, the things i read to the experiences, the pictures i take to feelings and words, where i came from to where i am going, my life to the lives of my family and to friends old and new. 

so, i typed bridge quotes into my search engine.  and i found a quote that resonated with me, a quote that got into my mind and grew and jumped out through my fingers.  a quote by audre lorde.  i had never heard of this person before, so next, i searched the name audre lorde.  i crossed another bridge.  and i found her.  and a whole lot more words that she has lived and written. 

and this i know,
that the sharing of joy and gratitude,
whether physical, emotional, spiritual, or intellectual,
whether side by side, across a table, on a sidewalk, in a crowded room,
whether in real life or through social media,
whether in pictures, lists, written words, or emojis,
the sharing forms a bridge between the sharers
and this bridge can be the basis for understanding
much of what is not shared between them. 
such sharing, such joy, such gratitude
lessens the threat of difference,
even obliterates the threat
and makes the difference simply beautiful.

go gently, go fiercely, and be wonderful, my friends.
 

second chance thursday

This needle-work was done by my great grandmother (my mom's mom's mom).  It was the front of a sofa pillow for a long time.  I remember it sitting on my grandma's sofa when I was a little girl.  A few years ago, my grandma moved out of her house into smaller, one-level apartment.  Of course, there was a lot of cleaning out to be done.  Thankfully my mom went to help her, because my grandma is not sentimental.  The back of this pillow was falling apart, so my grandma was going to throw out "that old thing."  My mom saved it and asked me if I wanted it.  Of course I wanted it!  For many reasons.  It is beautiful - the colors are still striking (better than they show up in the photo here), and it was a design my great grandmother created herself.  Also, I am named after her.  Her name was Hedvig (she moved to this country from Sweden when she was in her late teens), but everybody called her Heddi.  And my mom chose that for my middle name.  I really like having something that she made in my home.  So, I gave the old pillow a second chance - I took the front off the rest of the pillow and had it framed.  But, in taking it apart, I found that my great grandmother had already given some other fabric a second chance - the pillow was stuffed with rags wrapped in a feedsack.  I think I must have gotten some of my love for repurposing from her.

Heddi

I love being connected to my past.  I love it that I share a name with my great grandmother.  And I share a name with my grandma and my mom and my little girl, too.  I don't know what Hedvig's middle name was, but my grandma is Violet Elizabeth, my mom is Elizabeth Ellen, I am Elizabeth Heddi, and my girl is Madelaine Elizabeth.  Even better, Madelaine has connections on both sides with the name Elizabeth.  Ben's sister is Christin Elizabeth, his mom is Nancy Elizabeth, and her mom was Wilma Elizabeth.  On Ben's dad's side he has two aunts - Lynn Elizabeth and Elizabeth Ahne.  So, many of Ben's cousins have Elizabeth for a middle or first name.  Even more fun, I have a very dear friend named Elizabeth and another lovely friend named Elissa (which is derived from the same roots as Elizabeth).

Heddi and Violet

Carl and Heddi

               Elizabeth, Elizabeth, Madelaine and Violet  (4 years ago)

** second-chance thursday ** and ** a bit of jam-making **

Yesterday, a good friend brought that icecream bucket FULL of raspberries to my house!  So Maddie and I (after eating handfuls of the berries - each as big as the end of my thumb) set to work and made two batches of jam.



My freezer has about 20 jars of strawberry jam from earlier this summer, and 4 jars of peach jam from my sister-in-law, and now 8 jars of raspberry.  There is also one BIG jar of raspberry jam in my fridge - to be eaten right away - must make some bread!  And one BIG jar to be given to the friends who shared the berries.  Oh, yum!



Here is a bit of sunshine through a beautiful maple tree.



And isn't the sunshine a reminder that we have a new chance every day.  A new chance to be kind, a new chance to forgive, a new chance to reach out, a new chance to organize, to clean, to teach, to learn, to see, to breath, to live, a new chance to create, to love, to be more the person we want to be.

In my kitchen I have a framed postcard, it was given to my great, great grandmother on her name day - Johanna Day.  It is beautiful (and very hard to photograph, as I cannot remove it from the frame).



It is written in Swedish, and the translation is "The Lord's mercies are new every morning."
I love the beauty of the old card, the message upon it, and that it is a piece of my history.  So good to know God's promise that whenever we seek Him, He has new and wonderful mercy for us, for not only each morning, but each and every moment of life.  Mercy for the circumstances that are out of our control, mercy for the circumstances that are of our own making, mercy for our attitudes and our worries.  Merciful goodness as well: gifts of sunshine and laughter and family, warmth and fresh baked treats and love, smiles and hugs and the sparkle of an eye when understanding is shared.  I am blessed.

** Ta-da! ** and ** Second-Chance Thursday **

Need I say more? 

Thank you, Elissa! 

What fun to have a visit with my friend (on the phone) while we looked at things on the internet (quilts, mostly) and sent my banner back and forth and made it work!  I'm liking my page more and more! 

Star quilt pictures to come later this morning . . .

And here is the first one!  The top is all stitched together and ready to be hand quilted to the back!

This is Kale's quilt:

Nolan's is all iron-fused together, ready to be over-stitched then quilted to the back.

And ** Second-Chance Thursday **

These quilts fit right in with that!  The background is bluejeans that I wore when I was pregnant, and salvaged parts of Ben's work jeans.  The stars and dots are old shirts of Ben's (that he has shrunk out of!!), some free fabric, some fabric left from another project and one piece of new fabric.  The flannel I have for the back is new as well. 

What a fun combination of old and new, used and repurposed, fabric that I found and fabric that found me. 

I would have to say that God does this exact thing with the lives of those who seek Him.  He uses all the circumstances, all the trials, all the beautiful, all the hard, all the fun, all the good - and He lovingly cuts out the bad, and sews up the rents and shapes the old into something new.  As we seek Him, He adds new as well.  And when we see through the eyes that He gives us, this whole project turns into something useful and beautiful, comforting and wonderful.

Jeremiah 29:11-14  "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.  You will seek me and you will find me when you seek me with all your heart.  I will be found by you," declares the Lord, "and I will bring you back."

A thought that my pastor's wife shared with our Bible Study group on Monday night was that the back of most crafting projects (embroidery, cross-stitch, a quilt top, etc) can look like a tangled mess, or rather raw and messy, or, at the very least, not like the top.  We often see the bottom of what God is working on, but He sees it from the top, and He is working out something beautiful.  Without a knot, or a color-change or a seam here and there - all things that cause discomfort or pain - there wouldn't ever be a beautiful crafted project.

Philippians 1: 6  Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

 

second-chance thursday

 

Thursdays are going to be the day I talk about second chances.  For stuff and in life.   Second chances are good, good things. 

Like for these Red Things

All this fun red stuff.  I gathered it from 3 different rummage sales one Friday in August.  The red mug is one of a pair - they are huge! And great for flowers or a BIG drink of somethin' - 1/2 caf coffee mostly at my house.  The wire basket and the white dish with the red cover were sitting forlornly on a brown folding table.  The wire basket is now my scrap basket - which my Maddie loves to dig through and create mini crazy quilts with while I sew.  We have some ideas for these which you'll all get to see closer to Christmas.  The red-covered dish is a butter keeper - which I had never seen before - the seller explained it to me - the red part is actually a bell that holds the butter inverted in the white dish . . . see this butter keeper link - it's pretty cool!  Oh, and the red and white napkins are part of a set of a tablecloth and eight napkins - with a pretty floral pattern - ooooo.  I love red!

And these Blue Things

From another rummage sale.  There were five votive holders and six mini vases.  I found them days before my sister-in-law's birthday and she loves all things blue.  So I decorated her birthday table with them and then told her to keep the set.  What fun!

Now - From Stuff to LIFE

Kids.  Kids need a lot of second chances.  What if a little one's friend was mean one day, or the little one was mean to her friend and then we never encouraged our kiddos to give a second chance or to apologize and ask for a second chance.  We wouldn't end up with moments like this, that's for sure.  Isn't it nice to know that our true friends will hang out with us, just like this, even when they know some of the good, the bad, and the ugly about us?  Isn't it nice to know that someone can like us - love us even - in spite of our terrible moments? I'm so very thankful for my husband and my kids and my friends who like me for who I am all the time.  What a wonderful security.  And I am trying to foster that in my children - to love others unconditionally and to be givers of second chances.  We are a family who believes that God is personal and real, and that He is forgiving and gracefully gives us so many second chances.  We also believe that God works through us and enables us to lovingly - not grudgingly - give others second chances.  I am so thankful for the second chances, full of forgiveness and life, that He has given me!