A place for everything

Very creative daughter, have I. When you have a need and consider your options - sometimes you create a very pretty means of keeping baby pacifiers collected, visible, and readily available! What began as a lovely floral arrangement, with a pink rectangular vase left when all had wilted. . . has months later become a colorful addition to our granddaughters nursery. Makes me wonder what I already have that I'm not fully utilizing in such clever and useful ways.

For Father's day weekend, my husband, grown son, and I drove to Dallas to see our son-in-love, daughter, and grandbaby. We shared some shopping, meals, and conversation for nearly 2 full days. It was 'just right'. Our grandbaby has grown and has learned to reach for things she wants to explore. Once she is mobile by crawling - look out world! She is a cutie pie and managed to go with us so many places, even missing naps. I hope our departure afforded their family one long afternoon nap on Sunday. 

While I rode in the car to and from Dallas I knit. I finished the baby blanket fan and feather pattern. Hooray! I have no particular baby in mind for it but so longed to see it knit up from my own needles, it is so elegant! I plan to try the more traditional fan and feather that creates more ridges and is both sided in pattern to see what I think about that variation. Soon to begin today is a dishcloth/washcloth in Sugar and Cream in sage green. I'm knitting these up in white, off white, and sage greens to have on hand for hospitality gifts. . . . I like the more natural colors as they fit into more of today's home decor and might just get used if accompanies with either a handmade soap (purchased) or a foaming dishwashing soap dispenser.  

Today we begin what is to be day 1 of 5 days of rain in our forecast. That makes for  a desire to sit and knit or read or knit and listen to an audio book at home. It, of course, includes tea sipping, perhaps even hot tea as we are having temperatures in the upper 60's and low 70's. Tea is soothing, warming to the body and calming to the emotions. Coffee revs us up, tea calms us down. I hope for dry spells in our rainy week sometime each day so I can get in my walks - the dogs will need it as much as I.  I listen to podcasts: Revive Our Hearts, Family Life Today, Focus on the Family, and at times, knitting podcasts. The spiritual podcasts strengthen more than my soul, they strengthen my life focus, challenge me in this season of life, in my marriage, my family, and my work. They provide me with depth for living and give me words that are more likely to contain wisdom when I spend time with friends.

I spent some extra time this morning catching up on my morning devotional reading - I forgot my Daily Walk booklet this weekend so I had to guess what chapters in Psalms to read. How timely they are! I've been feeling blue and having to focus on what is true about God, what His plans are, what He values, etc. and how good it is to focus on Him, to get a perspective adjustment, and to find the peace that passes understanding. I can't say enough about how being in God's Word on a regular basis with a plan of reading it by book, rather than by a verse here a phrase there, makes for understanding what a particular verse means in its context. It at times surprises me how verses are quoted, shared, sung, but the context is not what we have come to think them to be. When I discover such a gem, I'm awestruck. I make note of the true context of the verse and consider how the true context speaks to my life with the setting taken into account. 

Truth for Living

Let They hand be upon the man of Thy right hand, Upon the son of Man whom Thou didst make strong for Thyself. Then we shall not turn back from Thee; Revive us, and we will call upon Thy name. O LORD God of hosts, restore us; cause Thy face to shine upon us, and we will be saved.

Psalm 80:17-19