Just a Daisy in the Meadow

As I look ahead . . . I start to worry and fret . . . . It seems the more I have to do, the less time and energy I have to do it . . . (of course I am speaking at a down time . . . a time of cleaning out the van, dealing with mud and sand, lots of laundry from a trip and relating to grumpy children) . . . and I think ahead of getting ready to leave for our long trip  in about a month . . . early Monday morning after a weekend of church camp out and it looks mountainous! I want the house clean not only for my sake this time, but because their will be another family using it for a week while we are gone . .  . and I would like to start out rested up (Ha!) . . . . you know how it is . . .

And so I wonder and have wondered so many times in the last few years, why it is or why did God make it so that the more little ones we have, the more needs to be done and the busier we are, the less time time we have to do it . . .  there’s more laundry, more dirt brought in, more squabbles to settle, more hurts to kiss, more, more, more . . .

I know the children ARE much more of a help now then they were three years ago . . . or two years ago . . .  even one year makes a BIG difference . . .  but still . . .

And so the only thing there is to do  (maybe that’s why God has it this way) is to step back into his arms and trust that everything will come out alright . . .  no, the house may very well embarrass me, but I will have to let go and let God do a work in my heart of releasing and committing my life in His care and REST there . . .

Ever sing this song?   . . . “Fret not, He’s watching over you, Fret not the Lord will see you through . . . Commit thy way unto the Lord, all you need He will afford, Never fret or be oppressed, commit and trust, delight and rest . . .”

“Commit your way to the Lord,

Trust also in Him . . .” Psalm 37:5a

How does one describe the first rain of the year? . . . That fresh, sweetness of spring . . . God created soooo much to delight our hearts . . . the beauty of the water ripples on the lake after ice and snow for months, the first green shoots, the swans and geese and loons coming back . . . We are blessed in many, many ways just by His earthly blessings not to count His Spiritual blessings . . .

. . .But one of the very best is that first spring rain!!!

“You visit the earth and water it,

You greatly enrich it;

The river of God is full of water;

You provide their grain,

For so You have prepared it.

You water its ridges abundantly,

You settle its furrows;

You make it soft with showers,

You bless it’s growth . . .:” – Psalm 65:9-10

This weekend we head to WI again for a wedding. (this is in a different area than last time) Japheth and I have not been to very many weddings since we said our own vows (maybe about 3 or four, one just doesn’t travel 24 hours with many toddlers for a wedding very often!_ . . .  and there just haven’t been many our age at Kitchi though there is a group of young people coming up.)

And in June, Lord willing, we take off to VA for several weeks!  Yipee!!!

I think the snow is gone now for good . . . though there are a few piles here and there and the lake is still covered. But as soon as it disappeared, we started yard cleanup – picking up sticks, stones, raking leaves ( yes, although we did rake the leaves last fall the wind brought in more) and fluffing up the grass to help it get green faster Ha!  (Little boys don not have much stamina for raking leaves . . . neither does Mama, . . . and so we are rather tired and sore , but plenteously happy )

Japheth was gone the past two days. And even though I might have liked to get out and do something different (or oh, joy and delight go with him!) the best thing for us to do at this stage in our lives was for the children and I to stay at home.

I like to keep busy while he’s gone, it makes the time go by faster. So we basked in the sunny 50 degrees days and burnt our little brush\leaf pile and had hotdog roasts. And of course one of the best things was bringing in some mulch from the woods. We’d go find a deteriorated log, tear it apart, fill the wheelbarrow and bring it back . . . Regular fun stuff this is!

This phrase keeps running through my head, “For lo the winter is past . . . the flowers appear on the earth; The time of singing has come . . .” - Song of Solomon 2:11-12

And yes, the Red-Winged Blackbirds are back . . . they sing down in the marsh . . . and it is beautiful! What would life be like without the songbirds? . . . Yep, that is one of the best parts of spring . . .God just made it SO DELLIGHTFULLY GOOD!

This was machine quilted by our friend Dolly, the world’s best machine quilter around!!! Notice the tiny, tiny stipling (you know that squiggly stuff on some wedding cakes:) ) around the faces . . . (Uhmm . . . guess you can’t really see it.  Sorry.)

The faces are all embroidered with one color thread and it is a kind of variying zigzag stitch that makes the light or dark . . . It’s hard to explain . . . but anyway there you can see the finished product . My face has a darker crinkle to it cause it’s not held flat ( last night when I was sewing the binding on, I think it just got bunched up a bit – that’s the only thing I did to it other than iron a few strips in half for my husband as he was piecing it).

A friend shared this soap recipe with me last week. This is quite a bit cheaper especially if you go through the laundry detergent like I do.

Grate 2 bars of soap into a small saucepan and cover with water. Heat on low until dissolved. Fill 5 gallon bucket with hot water and add soap. Stir to combine Add 1 cup Borax and I cup washing soda (I used baking soda). As it cools, it thickens. Stir whenever you walk by it for several days until done thickening.

For those interested or curious about what our cards look like, there is a link on my side bar (not the one under Pages though, something is goofed up there and Japheth is still working on getting the glitches out of that and can’t get that deleted, but down further past the Other Blogs.) Or you can use this link.

It is still under construction . . . but you can get a preview if you like. Just thought you might like to know.

I think the photos are a bit lighter than they appear on there. Since we took pictures of them while they were still in their plastic protectors, a few of them have a shadow thingy on the side.

Ok, today I’ll make my dial-up groan with lots of pictures . . . I spent most of the day with Japheth yesterday at the store and finally took some pics of his “new” place.

The hoop isn’t on it, but it is fun to use that machine!

Embroidery is a big thing these days . . . especially for resorts . . . and ladies that have more time on there hands than I do Though Japheth is making two quilts, for his booth at the fair this summer, with our children’s portraits on it. One on the big embroidery machine (the MB4 underneath the lattice quilt) and one done with printed portraits off of a computer to put beside it to show the difference.

Someday I would like to have a quilting machine . . . Ah, the fun one can have with one of these . . .

In the back right hand corner of the hallway, there is maple syrup and honey for sale. The card stand is filled with some of our photo greeting cards.

On the left side, that bit of tan carpet swivel thingy, that’s where the machines get serviced . . . Ya think he has enough srewdrivers?

And last night after the kidos were in bed, I sat outside with him tending the sap cooker. Notice the glow on the furnace door!

"She knows better"  I heard over the phone yesterday . . .  and my heart cried . . . .cause knowing better doesn’t make one choose the straight and narrow . . .

. . . But knowing God causes one to fear the Lord and depart from evil.

"The fear of man bringeth a snare but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.By mercy and truth iniquity is purged and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil."                - Proverbs

When it snows in April . . .  ya make a snowbunny.