A Christmas Miracle on the 4th day of Christmas

Between breakfast, recipe research and a delicious cookie,

a bit before 11 AM, my Husband chatted me the

very good news that we have been praying for,

wishing for, hoping for, desperate for...

these last many months.  

It's a resolution that will still take sometime to unfold

and improve everything that has been so difficult for us for

over 2 years (with other things in the middle of that difficulty,

including losing +Patrick, terrible sickness, my broken ankle, 

losing my +Aunt Karen...) that we can say have been

some of the hardest days and years of our lives

and our married lives of now 6+ years.

It's a Christmas Miracle.

It's the beginning of, we pray, a time of restoration,

of living our lives as we had before this struggle began...

(really it began 3 years ago when we got the flu the first time... 

and then greatly intensified 2 years ago)... 

We are not fully out of the woods as the last years took a real

toll on us in so many ways and it will take time 

to rebuild things after such difficulties

but nonetheless, it is really a 

Christmas Miracle.

I am so very grateful. 

I am praying that this year will be a time of rebuilding 

for us and that we can begin to dream of doing more than

just doing our best to survive the difficulties.

Of course, like everyone's life, we have other things

that are still hard but the lifting of this one heavy difficulty

will help us deal with the rest of life with two feet on the ground

instead of two feet in poor shoes constantly in danger of falling on slippery terrain. 

The night of the 3rd day of Christmas I got a craving for my Mom's Chili. 

I hunted down the small recipe only to search my pantry and saw,

always astounding to me with my ridiculously full pantry, that I did not 

have either the tomato sauce or canned tomatoes! 

So that recipe will be, DV, for next week!

I ordered one can each and they are coming with my Friday morning

grocery delivery! My Mom's Chili recipe is below:

Meanwhile, I got out the lovely Amish cookbook that I was given by a dear friend

and found a simple meatball Stroganoff! 

Well, other than using butter for meatball frying + I used a whole can of water, 

I followed this recipe. ... 

the meat and onions browned up a lot to significant caramelization 

but not burning (but almost!)

 ... I did not drain the meat of any of the butter/oil....

and had a bit before Mr Husband got home and it's SO GOOD.

I was really pleased with it AND 

it was ready for dinner pretty much immediately when 

Mr Husband came home from work and that made me

extra happy! 

This is my new beautiful (and it smells fragrant, lovely!) tea cloth!

I washed a lot of little jars that a friend gave back to me

from various gifts of tea I had given her + a few more.

I am glad to have them, I hope to make more tea in the future!

I finally took apart our lovely Chocolate tower that I was

given for St Nicholas day!

The treasures are now tucked away in our pantry,

with many other treats that amaze me in the abundance of them.

I clearly need to have more people over for tea and chocolate! 

Since we have lots of glorious chocolate, I used some for the Christmas Cracker gifts!

Of course, that means that Mr Husband and I get some of it back, 

but every Christmas Cracker must have a gift!

Speaking of Christmas Crackers, I get mine here from England!

I get the kits which is why the gift part is my choice.

They are made in England I love them!

I bought more recently as I hope to have another Christmas dinner,

I got these in the standard size, I thought red would be perfect!

The Christmas Crackers in the picture above are the over-sized ones, FYI.

I set the table late in the night tonight

and am very happy with it!

I am glad that we have a life that is done in time,

and that we don't know our future; by which I mean that

there are really hard things in life or things we have to figure out

and we could never do it all at once or bear it all at once.

I think of Madeline L'Engle's Other Side of the Sun and how

the happy young times are hard to bear if reading them in the future

when one has dreams but not yet the heartache.

Both are real and life is hard but Christ is born at Christmas

to be with us, to bear the hard with us and in the end,

with our desire, carrying us HOME to be with Him forever....

May we take heart, no matter what we are facing, grieving or hoping for.

A summary of today

So, today. A good day! I went to my local church for the Feast of Dormition (new calendar). Went to diner for lunch via cab (we pretty much use lyft all the time now), and then cabbed home. Rested. Great phone call. Hunted through art supplies searching for a small scissors that I don't know if it is there, found a bunch of cool stuff that I forgot I had. Put most of stuff back. Noticed foot was hurting. Rested. More foot pain. Used knee scooter for a bit to get around, had a simple dinner. I am learning more every day about how to navigate this in-between space where I am healing but not yet healed. Being attentive to things and upfront with myself and others about what I can/can't do in a day or at the moment is really freeing. It's like I can rest and be quiet inside more. So, today was a simple but good day. I am thankful.

So Many Things

I am feeling like I have made another turn,

but I hope that it will be sustainable;

the last few Tuesdays I have been able to get out and visit a friend;

I have plans for this coming Tuesday as well.

DV my cousin comes in a week's time.

I am going to be visiting my family in MI in July.

I am still working on Sunday School.

I am really wanting to finish my godson's quilt.

I am not sure where I am going to find the time for all I want to do!

This is often the way it is for me,

I have so many things I love to do, 

and so many things I need to do for Mr Husband, our home

and for Church.

It's a constant balancing act.
***
One thing I am doing is trying to let go of some ideals that are
more linked to my perfectionism than what is really needed...
***
This week I hope will be a quilting week!
***
Last week I also quickly priced some new prayer books for church;
I wear many hats now days and have many roles that I think about in terms of
my time, priorities and life...  including...
Sunday School Director
Bookstore Manager 
Quilter, Knitter, craft-maker, writer, blogger
Homemaker
Godmother
Wife
Daughter
Granddaughter 
Friend, Community Builder
Cousin, Sister and Sister-in-law
Aunt to many
Hostess of brunches, teas, and dinners
Child of God, Orthodox Christian 
***
I bought some nautical themed stamps at Michaels last Tuesday;
my friend has been keeping me posted on a little baby boy
named Joshua who has Trisomy 13.
They don't know how long he will have to live.
Poor little thing and the heart ache of the parents;
so the first card I made was for this little guy's parents.
I find making things helps me with the grief of hearing of such
heartache...
please do pray for baby Joshua and his parents!
***
I also finished the pantry on Saturday,
it was a lot of work but I rearranged somethings, took somethings out,
and I really like how it is now.
Tidy, organized, clean and more easy to use!
***
The work of the pantry and everything on Friday got me quite tired,
so I did some long overdue letter writing and had fun using various stamps I
have got or been given; I am realizing how fun it is to do this,
a great creative pursuit when I don't have a lot of time
but need to rest for a bit!
***

I am trying to exercise more; the summer pool is helping.

It's such a challenge to do things rightly....
***

Lord have mercy on us all,

no matter what it is we are facing and doing!

Baby Blue Sunshine Blanket and Recollections of Jerusalem

I've been working on the

Sunshine blanket again! 

I hope to finish this up soon so it 

can be delivered to the baby boy who is now 

4 months old

(and super cute, FB pictures are just great)!

*

I am reading so many things...

and of course so what do I do but start another new book! 

Recollections of Jerusalem so far

an excellent and very well written book!

It is capturing the author's childhood and 

how things were in the early-to-mid 1900s for so many

from Russia who were escaping with their lives

to other countries... 

it is an absorbing read! 

In other news,

it's been a great week here!

Mr. Husband and I just celebrated 

2 years of marriage yesterday!

*

If you love Tolkien or CS Lewis and have 

not seen my recent post about them and WWI,

do check it out!

*

Meanwhile what are you reading and creating?

Yarn along with us! 

PS: did you see the now two bags from Wanda that I have?

The smaller is to keep the prayer ropes I have for the Sunday school kids!

I can't say enough how much I love her bags! :)

Yesterday was a very special day

My Mom, 

who worked at a bank for various parts of

her life, from before marriage,

in the middle when us kids were older and now again towards the present

she worked at this job...

yesterday she retired!

And I got to hear all about it last night...

I grew up in a fairly small town 

and it was wonderful to hear how they had cake, flowers,

cards and well wishes come to a reception for her

on her last day!

I thank God for my Mother and can't wait to see her in person!

She's planning on bringing some of the cards she got 

for her retirement, as she knows that seeing

cards from others is a long standing part of our 

family's culture and tradition...

Now I am hoping that she will be able to make

more visits not only to us but to her siblings who live in Canada!