Lent Day 22 ~ final celebration of Mr Husband's birthday

We like to spread out birthday celebrations to last days 

here at our house....

today I finally was able to bake Mr. Husband's cake

and gave him his present...

an handmade one, the lovely Cross-Stitched Narnian quotation! 

Made by my love friend Nicole who has an Etsy account,

with the pattern for this lovely price here,

of which she can also custom make if you want! :) 

I was so excited to give this to Mr Husband,

as we love Narnia and he used a Narnian quotation for

his marriage proposal to me....very special!!! 

The cake I made was a cross between the normal birthday cake

I made for him and the St. Nicholas Cakes.

I was still tired today and it was easier to do the St. Nicolas Cake 

and the raspberry chocolate frosting...

Mr. Husband liked it! as did I!!!

The card with the 'book of romance' is a card I have had for years,

since 2005, when I went to the Osborne Museum of Children's Lit...

the book was edited by Andrew Lang...

I had, of course, not known Mr Husband back then but it was the 

perfect card for him! :)

For our dinner, we went again to our favourite diner,

in part because we are still recovering from being so ill with the flu

and we like it there too. 

I got a veggie burger and fries!

I am enjoying the book by Donald Sheehan and have found myself

lead right to the homilies of St. Issac the Syrian, who both

Scott Cairns and now Donald Sheehan seem to love.

so I went and found our copy...

I've just been reading the first homily but am surprised at how

lucid it is...though I should not of, still, it did, the clarity is just beautiful. 

I re-read some of Jane's poems from her last complication, Otherwise

and have been enjoying her finely crafted words...

It's funny what we tell and do not tell others, 

without even realizing it...

Somehow Mr Husband did not know that I took 

3 semesters of creative writing in my undergraduate years...,

yes, I too wanted to write. 

I have not forgotten this, but do not yet have the time or ability to 

prioritize this but I have not forgotten.

We also talked about making of bread and I may be trying to bake

bread again, but not quiet yet...

Well, that is Lent day 22, I am thankful...Mr. Husband was able to go 

back to the office, I got some things done around the house

and we had a nice end of his birthday celebration of 4 days :)

Blanket Progress and Impressive Video

My blanket is progressing! 

I need to knit more green squares before I can continue,

but I have sewn on another row of squares on!

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Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand

I have read about the persecutions that went on in

Romania under Communism but to see footage of

Richard Wurmbrand speaking of it

after and how deeply Christ was present in the midst 

of such horrors was very moving.

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I also recently finished

Elizabeth Goudge's Island Magic - a beautiful first novel for

Elizabeth Goudge, you can see a lot of the themes of her later ones in this one.

and Scott Cairns's Short Trip to the Edge - I think my favourite line from this is when

he narrates that a Monk was asked by (probably protestant?) if he had a 

personal relationship with Jesus Christ and the Monk said:

"Nope. I like to share Him."... 

I enjoyed reading about Scott's travels to Greece and Mt Athos.

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What are you reading/watching and creating?

Yarn Along with us!

Beauty, Sunshine and a Short Trip to the Edge

Three new wash clothes, 1 green square for my 

many coloured blanket,

and a sunny morning here!
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I hope to sew more squares together soon on my blanket!

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I have started Scott Cairn's Short Trip to the Edge.

It's about his realization that his inner life

is not at all what he wishes and he goes off

to Mt Athos in hope of help....

it is an interesting as it come after he is

finally more where he wants to be in his career 

(he has one of the enviable positions as an English Professor)

and realizes, now that the dust has settled, that

inwardly he is in utter shambles and not at all 

where he thought he would be, spiritually, by the time he was

40 years old; I believe it is when he is 50 that he begins his actual pilgrimage

to Mt. Athos, where he has been now over 20 times.

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I will be turning 40 in December and can relate to his struggle 

for inward growth.

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Will relate back what I think of the book when I have read more.

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I am still reading Ware's The Orthodox Way and have decided it is a book

that needs to be on my 

books-I-need-to-remember-that-are-sources-of-solace list. 

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What are you creating and reading?

Yarn Along with us!