Recap of an usual week...

I knew this week I would need a lot of quiet.

I don't know how Moms do it, but I can see why this

article would apply.

After two months in Lent of buying our new home,

in which my husband refers to a few people involved as crazy...

(I still remember the night hours after the close when I realized

how very stressful it had all been)

and then the packing of our old home, 

at least 2/3 done by myself and then unpacking, again at least 2/3 by myself,

with the very real, true and stalworth help of my parents in the move

and preparing the house to be move-in ready,

then 3 weeks about of 24x7 kid-loving (and I did love it)

and then almost 2 weeks of again most needed, good and heartening help

from my parents-in-laws, a time that I treasure,

{esp. remembering my Dad in law's reading of the Book of Acts

that they were reading out loud after a somewhat late breakfast,

how alive it was and how well he understood the story and how to read it};

after all that socialization, plus dinner parties, house blessing

and all the whirl of blessings of the last months,

I would need at least two days of solitude, which thankfully 

Mr. Husband can be with me in without taking away deeply of the solitude.

*

Well, I got it.

The solitude.

Mr. Husband had a crazy 12 hour or so day on Monday,

a later but not as late day on Tuesday

and a quiet but intense work day Wednesday.

And by Monday night I was feeling ill

and by Wednesday feeling mostly better.

So my solitude was inwardly and outwardly imposed

and through it all I've had church hymns mainly playing in my mind

and the silence has been delightful.
And in the midst of it all,
I was able to go out with Mr. Husband on a daily walk or two... 

*

Kathleen Norris wrote of a child saying to effect of

silence is what allows one's soul to catch up with oneself.

*

I am still missing Kathleen Norris, as in a new book by her.

I do wonder if she will write another....

*

This link took me to two new blogs of artists

and I am feeling more and more the need for quiet

and some reading time.

*

Meanwhile our futon apparently is not hinged properly in assembly

and as of Wednesday does not want to stay upright.

My lovely peaceful quiet chapel. Sigh.
I blame myself, as I had wanted Mr. Husband to move it
according to my sense of space for the room...

*

That chapel I can say is the quiet centre of this home.

I am re-reading Gentian Hill as I mentioned earlier in this blog

and Elizabeth Goudge is good at naming homes
and what is in them.

The chapel-library, when it is not as a guestroom,
is my space of quiet,

the circle of quiet that so beautiful titles
Madeleine L'Engle's book.

*

We are working slowly on getting some new icons for the chapel;

will take most possibly a year or so as they 

are not yet made and are being made overseas.

*

I am endeavouring to start a new thing:

Sunday School at my church.

I love the children there.

We are a small parish and there is currently no Sunday School.

So I volunteered.

This means I need two things from any of you who want to offer them:

1. PRAYER. Please. You can't imagine. I do have a partial

personal awareness of my inward poverty and yet have

the idea of volunteering to teaching children in church.

It's a very serious thing and while on one hand I can be very well with children

and children tend to love me and know that I love them

but to teach.

Anyway, prayer please anyone and everyone.

2. Experiences in this nature.Please share. 
Comment, email, FB snail mail if you have it

whatever and what-have-you.

I hesitate to ask for ideas rather than experiences just as
my sense is that there is a lot of choice in how to do things
and I know I have to teach what I am able to
and in a way/manner/format that will work for me.
But your stories and what worked for you are very welcome.
I am going to a half day conference on this,
am reaching out to the people in my life who I know best
who have done Sunday School and am reading as I am able...

*

Sister Magdalen's book continues to be of help;

I hope to order her other book soon...

One of the helps of this book is also 

that she admits that she, to which I take to mean, 

all of us, do not do everything perfectly as we wish or mean to...

*

One thing I know:

I wish for a lot of time to prepare but August is looking like a lot of

family and friend visits and not as much time

as I would like.

Perhaps this is good as it is true of real life.
But I also trust that God will give me the time, information, people,
and things needed for this task.
And I must trust Him for mercy as I think
of the Bible verse about those who teach others
are more heavily judged.
*
Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me!

Palm Sunday, Holy Week and the love of knitting

I don't have any pictures from
this weekend at our
near-to-us church,
but it was beautiful, vast,
Palm branches green and outstretched like fans,
beautiful pussy willows with
warm grey fur
clergy in green
so profound:
realizing the link between Palm Sunday and Pentecost:
the coming of Christ
the coming of the Holy Spirit.
*
I've been tired.
Mr. Husband went to church Friday night and Saturday morning.
I stayed home,
mainly ensconced in bed with blankets,
sleeping, or knitting, with water bottle
near by and many books.
*
On Friday lunch I was falling asleep at the dinner table
while Mr. Husband was eating and talking to me;
it's been a tiring time.
*
But I managed to get an email out
and blog posts asking for prayer.
I know I am being prayed for.
*
I've been able to sleep through the night
for the last couple nights.
I made it to Saturday vespers,
Sunday liturgy and the
first of the Bridegroom matins.
*
That may sound like I am over doing it
but in truth when I was at church
I was sitting
and when at home often napping.
*
A few days before all this,
when I had insomnia
I re-found my first knitting project from my class:


I had way too many stitches and it ended up
being a nice looking mini-blanket.
But I had no way to know how to fix the top of it. 

So I frogged it all back.

But took some pictures first ~ 

~ before it became a very large ball of yarn.

I remember now that it was this that
I was knitting at the conference
in February,
when the med clinic doctor told me I could go to it
and I sat, listened, and knitted.
I went back to the second class
with the teacher surprised that I had knitted
through the whole skein.
What can I say?
I told them I was at a conference and had lots of time.
I think my teacher would be surprised to learn
of all the things I have knitted since then.
I hope one day to be well enough to go back
and tell her!
*
Meanwhile,
to assure you of how I am being cared for...
Mr. Husband made fish for us yesterday for lunch
on Palm Sunday
and I was napping the whole time.

The fish is underneath...
Mr. Husband is nothing if not efficient. :)
He has been a wonderful husband to me
through all of this.
*
Just last night I was looking up my order
for more baby wool so I can finish up the
baby blanket
and this morning when I awoke
there was a small box
Mr. Husband had put on my chair!
It had come late last night or early
this morning!

The needed wool
and the clearance knitting needles:
a set of 7 circular needles:
 10.5, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, and 35.

I've had fun looking at them,
comparing them to others I have
and thinking of all the things
I can experiment with. 

And I am so happy to know I can keep
knitting the baby blanket.

 

Who knew a year ago that I would be
collecting knitting needles,
yarn and dreaming of things to make?
*
And this weekend I started darning up old slippers of mine
that my Oma made over many years
and I always kept them,
even if the bottoms were very much done in.
It is surprisingly easy to fix them
now that I have yarn and the right
Large-Eye Blunt Needles...
*
I was aware of a deep contentment/happiness 
at being able to just sit and knit.
It reminded me of the love of solitude and 
of clean kitchen counters
I wrote about years before I was blogging
and wrote small poems...
*
And the beauty of the church this weekend;
I felt like I could of been in an Elizabeth Goudge book.
*
So while the exhaustion has been
at times quite high,
God is blessing me in the midst of it.
*
It's really a blessing to have a quiet life,
there are so many tragedies on a global scale
at all times,
that we know about more and more
with the Internet and
the like.
*
It is no wonder that I am drawn to reading
blogs of women who go to church, raise children,
knit and seek to make a safe haven for
their children to grow up in,
all the while chronicling the struggles of
everyday life of raising a family and
seeking to love God.
*
Well,
we do hope I can get better again and soon
but I am seeing at the same time,
anew ~ again ~ as if for the first time
how we are to rejoice in all things
and trust in God's mercy,
all the while asking for God's mercy on us.