Crafting a Fifty Year Remembrance...

For the Thanksgiving season 2021 I filled a bowl with two pumpkins and a squash I knit a few years ago and I found a turkey to stand guard.

Then the last Friday of November I received a stunning gift of flowers from two dear ones who knew that I was remembering that 50 years ago Louis and I married.  If you are curious to know more about my remembrance of my husband for 38 years there is a page on the blog entitled "Louis" that you can click on to take you to what I typed.

Texts and calls from loved ones presented themselves at just the right time during the morning and afternoon.  Cups of honey-sweetened tea were given to me as a friend looked at my wedding album with me in the mid-afternoon.  Two other dear ones brought food and decorations, more flowers and themselves to share my remembrances in the evening...and a precious time of Communion as well. Then just before I went to bed I felt a nudge from God to check the front step, and there was a little box full of lovely gifts including Hanukkah candles and Moonflower seeds. I am so very thankful for the Lord's tender care.

As I looked through photo albums I described how some of the guys had tried to tape the word HELP in fluorescent orange paper to the bottom of Louis's shoes so that when we knelt to take Communion folks in the congregation could see! (their fun was thwarted when the letters were removed from the shoes prior to the service!)

 

When I see Mt. Hood in Oregon, USA, I often think of the Psalm "I will lift up my eyes to the hills--From whence comes my help? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth."  When I reread the wedding service Friday night I realized the pastor had alluded to these lines at the beginning of the service when he said, "Praise to the living God, the Lord of life and love...Our help is found in the Lord who made the heavens and the earth.  Glory be to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen."

50 years after that praise was uttered at my wedding, I find it echoing in my 70+-year-old heart as I move forward now exploring the abundant life Jesus promises His followers. I count on His promise "I am with you always" through tough times as well..."even to the end of the age." 

Have you been crafting any remembrances?

Showers of April Crafting

This peachy-colored Sweet Pea bloom appeared in the first week of April out on my back patio. The vine it grew on had been buried under a huge snowdrift in February! Such beautiful determination deserved my admiration and care.  In earnest, I looked for a sturdier trellis than the wooden one I had used last year.  My youngest daughter spotted one she thought would work in a store near her. I drove to the store and agreed.  I bought a trellis for each of the two planters I have on the back patio.

On the way home from the store I saw one of my favorite views of Mt. Hood.  There is a plant nursery shown below Mt. Hood in this photo.  I have shopped there but resisted stopping there that day.  I was eager to get home and construct the trellises around the planters.

By God's grace, I was able to follow the wordless sketched assembly instructions.  In this case, a picture really was worth a thousand words!  The metal trellises surround the planters and should be a stable support for the Sweet Pea vines on the left and the Clematis vines on the right.

A few weeks ago Teresa inspired me to start knitting some more Grandma's Dishcloths.  In her post she showed the dishcloth she was knitting for her friend, Shirley.  I knit this little one for a dear friend who just had her 85th birthday.

I knit this one for a friend who has red as an accent color in her kitchen.  She is also fond of pink, so I hope she will enjoy using this...a simple gift stitched with loving thoughts of her.

This dishcloth flew off my knitting needles on the West Coast USA and landed safely on the East Coast USA to help my since kindergarten friend celebrate her 70th birthday.

Showers of blooms have been bursting out around me!  Currently, these Bleeding Heart blossoms by my front step are my favorite.  In our neighborhood, we have Azalea bushes blooming in red, pink, lavender, purple, white, yellow, and orange.  There are also Dogwood trees blooming in pink and white, Magnolias in pink and white, and Cherries in pink and white.  What varieties of blooms do you have around you in your season of Spring?

 In this last week of April, some of the ladies at church brought the beautiful crafting from their hands to gift folks who are patients at a nearby hospital.  While our focus has been producing blankets and hats for babies who spend time in the NICU, some of the ladies have been knitting and crocheting larger blankets that have been given to older children who have had to be in the ER.  The church also received a thank you note from a Hospice patient who found comfort in the blanket given to her from the ones the ladies made in the last collection of blankets we donated.  The hospital volunteer coordinator said that especially in this last year since hospital visitors have been so limited, they have been glad to have the homemade gifts to give to patients to encourage their healing...which encourages us to know as well!

Have you been enjoying showers of crafting in your life?

Gracie ((hugs)) 😃

In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.                               I Thessalonians 5:18