The Week Between

 From Christmas to New Year's Day -

 a no-man's-land kind of week...

...not much snow this year

...continued joy and thankfulness for the greatest gift of all - the possibility of an intimate relationship with the Almighty Creator of the Universe and Lover of People

...the fun discovery of a very cute (and tasty) coffee shop while on an impromptu jaunt to see my brother's family and my mom who was visiting them

...time to enjoy another good book by Ruth Chou Simons

...goofy kitty-friends

...time to put together a plan/journal for the next year which I hope to have spiral-bound at Staples. It incorporates a lot of pages from Joy's garden journal.

 

...time to get back into piano practice since I'll be playing prelude on Sunday - first time in a long time

...time to wish all a "prosperous" new year - prosperous in so many more ways than just financial.

As long as thanks is possible, then joy is always possible...The holy grail of joy is not in some exotic location or some emotional mountain peak experience. The joy wonder could be here! Here, in the messy, piercing ache of now, joy might be - unbelievably - possible! The only place we need see before we die is this place of seeing God, here and now.

- Ann Voskamp in One Thousand Gifts

New Month; New Goals

 'Tis the time to set monthly sewing goals and hope that now that the gardening season is over and we're settling in at home more I can actually meet said goals.

I have the same goal for both the Elm Street Quilts' One Monthly Goal and the American Patchwork & Quilting's UFO Challenge on Facebook. It's the jewel-tone and black Block of the Month that my oldest daughter pieced 8-10 years ago(?). I want to put it all together into a flimsy, maybe get it quilted as a Christmas gift for her if I'm not too late.

The blocks are a colorful variety of stars and, I sadly discovered, a variety of sizes as she was learning to be accurate with cutting and seam allowance. So it will present challenges that will be good for my spiritual growth, no doubt.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A non-sewing goal is to keep steadily at my indoor salad gardening now that the cold weather has set in. I had some of my salad shoots in my breakfast omelet this morning and was delighted to enjoy that flavor that I hadn't realized I'd missed over the summer.

And any lovely plant life is appreciated now that we're getting our first snow.

So, in this month where we're reminded to be thankful, I'm thankful for:

    ...a warm home out of the snow and cold,

    ...lovely flowers to enjoy indoors,

    ...fresh greens,

    ...good books, like "The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax" and "Sleep Smarter"

    ...a pot of English Breakfast tea,

    ...kitties all over the house to love on,

and so much more. God is good.

https://www.elmstreetquilts.com/2021/10/november-one-monthly-goal.html

Words of Wisdom Wednesday - On Little Joys

Many little joys, weighed against the few heavy griefs and existence, 

could give some sort of balance to the scales and preserve the 

sanity of life.

from The Bird in the Tree by Elizabeth Goudge

Pre-lockdown Home Wedding

It's not everyday that you get to put together a wedding in less than four hours, but we did it.

We got word early that our governor was going to make it a misdemeanor to gather with others outside of your own household effective midnight of March 23rd, just a week and a half before our daughter's wedding. We'd already been hard at work trimming down the guest list and working on alternative locations since the venues we'd lined up wouldn't even allow small groups.

But when we heard that we had merely hours to make daughter and her fiance a household, we kicked into high gear, brainstormed quickly, called our pastor to fill in for my brother who was too far  away to be able to get here and officiate as planned, pulled out the decorations already gathered, baked a quick boxed cake mix and thawed the frozen gluten-free cake, cleared most the furniture from the small living room, and put together a beautiful wedding with just our immediate families, our pastor, and a cousin photographer.

You can see the remodeling of the ceiling where we had removed a partition. :)

It was a beautiful and wonderful time and we were so proud of ourselves for pulling it off. Our new son-in-law is an EMT and was actually on duty that day, but a co-worker kindly subbed for him for a few hours so the knot could be tied. They didn't get much of a honeymoon, so hope to travel later when all's safe again.

Oh, my, the busyness since I last posted! Or have even been blog-hopping. And now I'm sure everybody's talking about the coronnavirus shut-downs, but I'm just going to carry on with showing that I've not been idle, though not blogging.

I finished the quilt top for my daughter who got married in September, got it quilted, and mostly bound today, but ran out of the right color of thread, so complete finish will have to wait. (But at least I'm getting it done before her first anniversary. Yay me!)

Much work and preparation has gone into getting another daughter's wedding ready including some altering of her dress (with help from kitties, of course).

Then yesterday, less than three weeks from wedding date, our governor mandated that public gatherings be no more than 50 people. So we have to contact a lot of people to uninvite them and make the guest list just family and a few close friends. Sigh. 

Hopefully we'll get to do a bigger reception later.

Another recent project has been doing quite well - my indoor salad gardening.

Had fun making some markers from polymer clay. 

I also dove back into something I hadn't done in quite a few years - made soap. This is "Bastille Soap," like Castille only with coconut oil, that is strawberry scented. It's now drying/curing and will be useable in about two weeks.

I still haven't finished my Michigan wallhanging because I want to rip out the connecting seams and put in black strips between blocks. I hope to do the ripping out this evening while watching Netflix.

We had a lovely shower for the upcoming wedding despite not having a huge attendance. I'm thankful for those ladies who were brave and generous. 

This is only part of the group.

And of course, we continue doing what many are getting to experience for the first time - homeschooling. I'm thankful to have had that already in place. 

I'm also thankful to be able to video chat with my kids and grandkids who are far away and to be able to trust God in all the uncertainty. Sometimes it's a challenge, but our pastor's sermon on Psalm 46 through livestream last Sunday sure was an encouragement. 

Check out that Psalm and hopefully be encouraged.

Monday's Musing: On Battling Depression with Grattitude

So, I did the musing on Monday, but the posting had to wait till Tuesday. 😊

One of the biggest helps in my struggles against depression has always been having an attitude of gratitude. The Bible teaches us to give thanks in everything. Sometimes we don't feel like we can give thanks for everything, but we can give thanks in everything and it makes all the difference in the world.

I had often heard that an attitude of gratitude is so important, but it wasn't till I read and absorbed Ann Voskamp's book One Thousand Gifts that it truly made a consistent difference in my perspective. Why? Probably because I began to notice the small, the beautiful, the almost inconsequetial as something for which to be thankful.

 Get it on Amazon

I began to keep a list as she suggests of the many, many "little" blessings and gifts that God showers on us all the time. We often notice the negative, the hard, the disappointing, the disagreeable, but just kind of skim over the everyday wonders and gifts.

Her book helped to point out those many, many little things - the pleasantness of the feel of a baby's soft cheek, the smell of a newly bloomed rose, the taste of a creamy latte, the sight of sunshine on snow-loaded pines, the "chick-a-dee-dee-dee" of the little round birds at the birdfeeder - those things are gifts from God for us to enjoy. They should be noticed and focused on for a change in perspective.

When you purpose to give thanks to God for these bazillion gifts throughout the day, starting with writing out at least three every morning, it's hard to let the depression win. 

Sure, it rears its ugly head over and over, but the beautiful, the wonderful, the pleasant rises up often, too, and you can choose which perspective to have.

After all, as Chuck Swindoll reminds us:

"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.  Attitude, to me, is more important than facts.  It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think, say or do.  It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill.  It will make or break a company... a church... a home.  The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we embrace for that day.  We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way.  We cannot change the inevitable.  The only thing we can do is play the one string we have, and that is our attitude... I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.

And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes”

I challenge you to find a beautiful notebook, or a plain one, and begin the discipline of writing down at least three "gifts" God shows to you every day. Read over some of the old ones now and then. Give thanks for them.

It's a perspective-changer.

My other posts on 10 Steps Out of Depression are here:
10 Steps Out of Depression
Battling Depression with God's Word

Battling Depression with Prayer

Monday's Musing - 10 Steps Out of the Pit of Depression (or Slough of Despond)

I have ever (in all my 58 years) only known one person that I can remember who says she has not been depressed. And she had reason to be depressed as her husband was unfaithful to her.

For the rest of us mere mortals, I'm guessing that we periodically suffer from despression. More than "the downers," depression is caused by a variety of things, including loneliness, feelings of failure, loss of some kind, or Seasonal Affective Disorder. Depression can last a long time, or be a passing things that returns with various triggers. Sometimes it leads to long-lasting consequences like the break-up of a marriage, lost jobs, or even suicide because it can sap the mind of logic, the body of strength to get up and going, and the heart of the will to live. If depression is severe and long-lasting, definitely seek professional help in the form of godly counseling and/or medical/hormonal help.

Since I've been fortunate enough to never have severe depression, I've been able, through the grace of God and wise counselors (my mother is a good one), to make some steps for myself to climb out of the pit of depression.

Being a visual person, I made myself a little graphic (no, I'm not a computer genius, so I stick to colored pens) to remind myself and maybe help others of those steps.

In case you can't clearly read the Scripture there, here it is:

        Psalm 40:1-3

I waited patiently for the LORD; 

And He inclined to me,

And heard my cry.

He also brought me up out of a horrible pit.

Out of the miry clay,

And set my feet upon a rock,

And established my steps.

He has put a new song in my heart/mouth -

Praise to our God;

Many will see it and fear,

And will trust in the LORD.

I'm sure there are other steps that have been helpful to others and I'd love to hear them, so please share some of your helps in the comments.

In the upcoming weeks I hope to address each of the steps more fully on Monday's Musings, so I hope you'll stop in again and let's talk about how God can put a new song in our hearts.

Words of Wisdom Wednesday

The simple act of choosing to be grateful for what you have rather than focusing on what you don't have is powerful beyond words. 

Sounds cheesy perhaps, but once you experience the power of a grateful heart, you will understand what a powerful antidote thankfulness is for the negative attitudes of greed, anger, and fear.

Gratitude is a choice that builds a layer of insulation around your life, protecting you from focusing on what you don't have.

- Mary Hunt