One Thousand Gifts and More

December 19th, soon after arriving at my good friend, Taci's, beautiful new home for our Bloggers' Lunch, I met our newest blogging friend, Becky.  Becky knows how to knit, but is especially interested in photography.  In her blog she recently held a giveaway that I won, much to my delight and surprise =)  Becky brought my giveaway gift, One Thousand Gifts: Finding Joy in What Really Matters, by Ann Voskamp, and gave it to me.  One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are was on the NY Times bestsellers list for 60 weeks.  I was interested to learn that Ann not only is a successful published writer, but also writes a daily online journal.  She also is a homeschooling mother of six and supports Compassion International as a global advocate for needy children. The book Becky gave me contains excerpts from her bestseller.  I am eager to give it more focused attention soon.  Thank you Becky, for your generous gift to me.

Becky also made candy, and, lovely calendars for each of us, using a photo she took on a nearby Oregon farm.  Taci gave us pretty, hand crocheted washcloths and magnets, and candy.  Teresa gave each of us one of her wonderfully crocheted, Scandinavian red hearts, and a pretty red globe Christmas tree ornament and a piece of candy.  Betsy gave each of us shell necklaces from her recent trip to Maui, pretty cotton yarn, and cute winter outfitted seagull statues. Our blogging friend from across the pond, Helen,  sent us lovely hand-stitched heart ornaments through Betsy. I admire the creativity of each of these lovely ladies, and thank each of them for the generous gifts they gave me, but I especially am grateful for the gift of friendship they share with me each time we have contact.

On Christmas Eve two of my children and I attended a vigil 10:30p.m. to midnight service at St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Portland...a new and beautiful experience for us; but we did not get home and into bed until 2:00a.m. My four little granddaughters and their parents were up at 7:00a.m.  to investigate what Santa had left in our socks.  Mercy!  Our sock investigation was fun!  We had a yummy breakfast of Christmas oranges and waffles and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus...without a birthday cake this year. We gave, admired, received, and unwrapped gifts much of the day, and had ham and salad and olives and sweets throughout the day.  However, in the midst of our celebration, we sympathized with little Rosie when we realized she had stopped bouncing on her pony, Pokey, and had settled down for a bit of a winter's nap.....

Notice the sheep on Rosie's sleepers?  I think she did not have to count sheep to fall asleep today, and I strongly doubt I will have to count sheep to fall asleep tonight!

On whatever day you may be reading this, have you been busy creating, recognizing, giving and receiving countless gifts...and getting the right amount of rest you need?  I hope so!

xx,

Gracie

Christmas Is...

Christmas is....a wonderful time of celebration for me!  The fourth week of Advent included several types of celebration for me.  I loved gathering with my East Hill Church Family for a candlelight service that included the giving of time, talent, funds, scenes from A Charlie Brown Christmas, Scripture reading-discussion, and music on a very cold and foggy Christmas Eve.

I also loved gathering with some of my blogging family at Teresa and Dayle's lovely farm near the great Columbia River for lunch on Monday.  We brought food to share and Teresa and Dayle fixed delicious salmon for us to enjoy.  We had fun visiting and popping open the English Crackers Teresa provided.  The crackers were  filled with hats and riddles and prizes like marbles.  Fun :)

We also exchanged an assortment of creative gifts we had made or purchased.  But the first gifts we opened were from our Florida blogging friend, Meredith.  She  knew we were gathering and made each of us a colorful yarn ball with knitting needles ornament and sent them to Teresa.  Thank you, Meredith!  Betsy and I crocheted ornaments.  She made lacy covers for shiny round colorful glass ornaments, and I crocheted little wreathes.  Betsy also brought us jingle bells, tea, and fans from her recent trip to visit her son in Japan. Taci crocheted little granny squares and cleverly put them in jars with the other parts we need to stitch together a pin cushion.  She even included colorful heart headed pins!  Teresa also gave us rolls of pretty washi crafting tape, and little jars in which she had lovingly arranged Nativity scenes.

Christmas is...a special time I celebrate that God loved the world [even me] so much He gave His only Son.  Whoever believes in Him will have life forever with Him because He did not come to condemn the world but to save it. 

However you came to visit One Saylor's Log, I am grateful you come to visit, and that we have the opportunity to creatively explore life together.  Merry Christmas : )

Blessings,

Gracie xx  

Surprises and Prizes

Thank you so much for the lovely and encouraging comments some of you left on my last post.  I truly appreciate your kindness. I hope to show you the finished cocoon and hat I am crocheting for my new Grand who is due to arrive in three weeks, in my next post. 

Up at the crack of dawn one morning I tried to capture the sunrise in photos, but did not get my camera out soon enough to show you the deepest reds I saw.  It was an amazing surprise to see the vibrant colors bloom in the sky behind the trees outside my window...and then we had a string of rainy days :)

My little Grand Joy is now an expert crawler and getting to be an impressive walker.  I was surprised when she made her way over to the toy chest, opened it up and started to fling out some treasures the other day.

Then, last Friday was a surprising delight from beginning to end.  My friends, Taci, Teresa, Betsy and I met for a bloggers' lunch for several hours at an Italian restaurant that is right across from the inviting Littlelamb and Ewe store that holds lots of fiber treasures and tools and a very kind and helpful mother and daughter  team of proprietors. 

On the way home I had fun snapping some photos of autumn.  The rain that pelted down in the valley around me last week landed as a fresh coat of snow wrapping Mt. Hood; and in colorful contrast to Mt. Hood's startling white, more and more leaves on the trees in the valley are turning from green to red, orange and gold.

When I finally made it home in the evening, I found a wonderful, surprise from Judy  from CJ Stitching and Blooms blog who is celebrating her 7th year of blogging.  I have been enjoying visiting her blog and getting to know her, and I won some of the prizes in her celebration give away!  She sent a wonderful handwritten letter on paper she purchased on P.E.I.  and a postcard showing some of the delights of Michigan.  She sent me lavender from her own garden!!!  And as if this was not grand enough, she also sent me a beautiful heart and star that she crocheted and embellished with my favorite color, purple, beads.  I am so blessed, Judy.  Thank you!

What surprises and prizes have come into you life lately?

Gracie xx

Spinning Through July

With my oldest sister, Carolyn, my great niece, Katie, and family friends, Ralph, Rachel and their nearly two-year-old visiting this week, our household is really spinning!  

Carolyn and I had the great pleasure of visiting Teresa and Dayle on their beautiful farm.  Teresa had a lovely table set for us on their deck under the gazebo, and Dayle prepared yummy grilled salmon for us while we brought salad and some cherries to share. ...a beautiful, peaceful, setting with an interesting, creative, and delightful hostess and host :-)

I took Carolyn and Katie to Chariteas in Sandy, Oregon, for delicious rhubarb tea, and I met with a number of women and some of their off spring for several gatherings for church related  activities this week.

We had a bridal shower for our good young friend, Krista, and then enjoyed attending her wedding Saturday afternoon.

And in between all that I finished a crocheted yellow dishcloth.  Knit and tore out some rows on a blue dishcloth and spun a bit more of the wonderful hand painted fiber I purchased from Sosae.

Our weather has been great throughout the week and definitely added a WOW factor to all my activities.  Has the weather enhanced your enjoyment of your week?

xx,
Gracie

Gifts

Isn't it awesome when you have moments when you realize that life is a fantastic gift to celebrate?

This week is having lots of such moments for me, and I am so grateful!

Tuesday, my friend Fran and I had a great time celebrating her birthday over lunch; then Wednesday, Teresa, Betsy, Taci and I had so much fun visiting at our lunch at the Olive Garden restaurant :)  We shared some of our projects, ideas about blogging,  and gifts for each other and the hours flew by.  Teresa brought us beautiful eggs from her flock of hens.  Betsy brought us beautiful doilies she crocheted.  Taci brought us beautiful magnets she had made.  And I brought them cup cozies or a knitted dishcloth.

Miss Maggie Maria Kasner and Miss Maggie Rabbit-Saylor met, immediately bonded and received much attention from us and those around us :)

Then when I got home I received an order in the mail from my talented friend, Sarah.  Along with the woven scarf I ordered as a gift for my oldest daughter, she included beautiful gifts of another soft sunshiny scarf, a card from an artist we both admire, three ribbons and a lovely felted purse that I will use to hold my iPhone. I treasure our friendship, her beautiful handwork, and all the generous gifts she sent.  Thank you soooo much, Sarah!

This morning when I went to church to meet with friends there, I snapped a photo of the gorgeous trees in pink and white blossoms nearby before going in the church to explore what it means to have an intimate relationship with God.

When I got home, I looked around me and snapped a photo of some of the gifts I am surrounded by...gifts that some of you gave to me...humbling but very much appreciated.  

Blessings to you and yours and hugs from,

Gracie :)

At Rainbow's End

 

It was a wonderful trip, but it went by so fast, my memories are a blur like some of the photos above :-) 

From Portland, Oregon, we drove south on interstate 5 to California.  Mt. Shasta in northern CA did not seem to have as much snow cover as Mt. Hood near Portland, but it was still a fabulous wintery view!  Then as we descended into the Sacramento Valley, we seemed to drive into Spring.

We saw cows and calves and sheep and lambs and flowering orchards of trees.  My kids dropped me off at my oldest sister's home just north of San Francisco in the wine country, and then drove across town to stay with family-friends.  My sister's neighbors had daffodils in bloom!

During our visit we celebrated my brother-in-law's 90th birthday, and my mother-in-law's 94th birthday, and our friend's 31st birthday.  I looked through some of our family albums and took some pictures for all of us who are chicken lovers, of my parents and my nieces on a poultry farm in Missouri where I lived from age 5 - 20.  

My great niece sent me 16 skeins of wool yarn several months ago.  One thing I wanted to do was surprise her by crocheting a hooded cowl for her and send it home with her mom, my niece, who was visiting from Nebraska while I was at my oldest sister's house.  However, I did not complete the cowl during our visit so will have to mail it....hopefully soon :-)

On the way home we drove through some rain at sunset, and we spotted a rainbow!  We arrived home at 9:30pm 3.7.2013, I emptied most of my suitcase into the washing machine, and managed to meet blogging friends, Teresa, Taci, and Betsy for lunch at 1:00pm 3.8.2013.  Whew!  We had a swift visit over yummy lunches, and exchanged little gifts, but even though I had my cell phone out to take pictures  I was stunned to see while preparing this post that I did not take even one picture..........what? :-(  Blurry brain!!!

Is your life going by in a blur? 

xx,

Gracie