Yarn Along

Linking up with Ginny's Yarn Along this week.  I have been dreaming about Veera's Color Affection for some time, now.  Just trying to figure out if I can use yarn I have - or do I need to get something to go along with what I have.  This lovely alpaca came from Charlottesville and a trip to Stony Mountain Fibers with my sister last spring.  I loved the color and bought two big skeins not even knowing what size needle to use or what to knit with it.  It is LUSH-ous.

The novel Pope Joan is a fast read - I love historical fiction and this fits the bill.  Huh?  There was a woman pope, ever?  Interesting, indeed.

Last week I finished 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess by Jen Hatmaker.  Month by month Jen gives up something - almost like fasting in different areas of her life.  For the first month - food - she eats only 7 items all month long.  This book really gets to how we spend and do without thinking and how taking a break from some or all of it - in even small bursts - can rejuvinate and restore us in our thinking about how and why we were created.  Loved it and would read it again.

Hiking and Weapons

Today we had the best hike!  We grabbed some extra kids and headed to the Appalachian Trail - hiking west in Giles Co.  We've done this hike many times, often only getting about a half mile with our little ones.  Now we can hike for a couple hours and go about 4 miles.  The time change made this hike possible.  So, although I'll curse it in the morning - I love it in the afternoons!

Last and not least.  When you need a gift for a boy (or man or girl) - make them a blow gun.  Get some conduit and a PVC flange at the hardware store and lots of awesome duct tape (camo or blue - they have all kinds of options now).  Then get some of those nerf gun darts that will fit right inside.  Teach your kids how to shoot the dart through their gun - how to purse their lips.  Then give them some sunglasses or safety googles and let them go!  Our kids played ALL day yesterday with their weapons - even though we are technically pacifists.  There were some injuries - there were rules added to the game - but they still had a blast!

For My Dad

I've been composing this post all week - thinking about my dad while I ran, while I cooked, while I read out loud to my kids and while I sewed.  I am such a lucky girl - to have this man for my dad. 

While Dad retired and underwent surgery in the last two weeks, my thoughts have turned to him over and over again. After ministering to families and folks in small churches all his life, he has retired from the ministry. I'm hopeful that the future means more reading, writing, pondering, and talking, without the constraints of small town ministry.

My sister said recently it's sometimes hard for her to see Jesus in everyone. The more I read the Bible and think about the things Jesus said, the more I realize Jesus ministered or served the "least of these". I have a hard time seeing Jesus in everyone, too. But isn't that where we meet him? All those years in small towns - he was serving Jesus by serving the "least of these". I'm not saying it was easy. As kids we bucked against it all time time. Now I see his ministry as something different - as serving Jesus by serving some of his "least".

My sister and I wanted to make something for him to celebrate this event in his life.  We decided on a pattern and a color scheme and we each made 15 blocks.  The front is made up of 25 of them and I used 5 in the back.  The pattern is from Block Party and is Oh, Fransson's Wonky Stripe Block.  Her's is here and she made another version here.  This was such a great and fun quilt to make - the blocks came together easily and nothing else really mattered!  It was a great quilt to do "long distance".  Finished size is roughly 60 X 60.