note to my readers

This post is far overdue but I did want to explain my recent absence from the blog.  As you may have read recently, I have been dealing with illness in our family.  Both Corby's and my grandparents have been struggling with health issues and last week, my grandmother passed away.  My posting has obviously been non-existent since then.  I will begin posting again as soon as I can.  

Thank you for your understanding.

Have a beautiful day - every day is. 

one year...

Can you believe it?  One year.

Tears, dirty diapers, bruises, laughs, smiles, pictures, and joy.  Lots of joy.

And one year has gone by so fast.  This kid...

He likes any food you give him.

He likes people.

He loves the beach/water/pool.

He loves cuddling.

He loves walking, crawling, moving.

He is mine...for a short period of time, entrusted to me by my God to train and raise for His glory.  God, help me to do so...

Have a beautiful day and thanks for sharing one year with me!

i'm not sure what to call this post

I have a lot of thoughts rolling around in my head and I thought I would talk some of them out here with you all.  My dear readers.  Or the emptiness of the internet.  Either way.

Something that has been difficult this week is my grandma.  I got the news on Tuesday that she had had a stroke which has left her unable to use the right side of her body, unable to talk, and worst of all, unable to swallow.  That means she needs a permanent feeding tube to stay alive.  She has been fighting everything the doctors and nurses have been trying to do to help her so...we aren't sure how that will work.  Suffice to say...heartache.  And this is right after my grandfather got out of the hospital for a bad infection.

And then on the other side of the family, my husband's grandmothers are in failing health also.  One is in between surgeries and the other is starting to lose her memory slowly and it is harder for her to create new memories.

And in all of this I am wanting to spend every minute possible with these people who have always been there for me and Corby when we needed them.  I learned to crochet from my grandma.  I still have some afghans that she made for me on my bed.

But I'm not really able to.  I have a husband and child, I live half way across the country from my grandparents.  Another grandma is in Arizona.  But one is here and close by.  And I still don't feel like I am able to stay close enough.  Then I feel slightly (or a lot) guilty that I am not able to spend more time with grandparents.

So I have been praying and talking to people a lot this week.  And I realized a few things that have been helpful.

1.  I'm not the first one to go through this and I will make it through too.
2.  There are a lot of people in a lot of places praying for me and my family.  We can always use more prayer for God's will and healing so please feel free to join us.  =)
3.  Despite the sadness, God is still working out His perfect, holy, and sovereign will.  It will be glorifying to Himself and for my sanctification to become more like Him.  So I will trust in Him.

In better news, I have some exciting posts coming up about the jewelry side of Sense and Sensibility and my family is coming to visit me this week!  So I have a lot to look forward to.  God is good.

Have a beautiful day.

quietness

This summer has been busy.  Between church events, family, friends visiting from out of town, and the constant requirements of maintaining a relatively clean/organized house, I have been staying quite occupied.  It has not left a lot of time for...a lot of things.

Now, I like being busy.  I like having places to go, people to see.  But in the last two weeks, I have come to realize something else.  There is a lot of value in quietness, being alone.

One of my biggest tasks in the last three weeks has been getting up to speed on two classes I will be teaching for high school seniors starting in two weeks.  I am very excited to be doing teaching and am loving reviewing material and being creative as I work on getting these high schoolers ready for college.  In my preparation, the hubby has been unspeakably helpful to take care of the kiddo (who is getting very talkative and more and more mobile) so that I can go grab a coffee and focus my brain power on what British literature I want these kids to read during the course of the year.  =)

As I have been working on my classes, it has also turned into blog reading time.  And then prayer and journaling time.  We serve an amazing God...He uses technology to connect people around the world who might otherwise never have had the ability to keep know each other or keep in touch.

But in the course of my blog reading, I have come across people that I "know" who are struggling with some very real problems right now.  Two bloggers I regularly follow have babies in NICU.  Others are dealing with recovering from illness or difficult pregnancies/deliveries.  People I know in my area are dealing with incapacitating pain from a variety of sources.  Both the hubby and myself have grandparents who have been in and out of hospitals for the last three months.

Life is short.  And precious.  And all in God's hands.

I realize that there is little I can do in a very physical sense to help these people.  There are doctors who are qualified to do much more for these people.  But there is something of value that I have been trying to do more often.

Pray.

My heart is wretched by all these stories and situations.  I want to be able to hold hands, hug, or make dinners for people.  But I'm not always able to do that.  So I take the most immediate and helpful thing I can do and do it with all my heart - pray.

via Pinterest & here

I know we serve a powerful and listening God.  He can see each of these people and has them in his hands.  What more can I ask for?  The Creator of the world is making sure that each person is given strength in measure for the difficulties in front of them.

That is comfort.

Have a beautiful day and stop to notice - it really is beautiful.

Wine Wednesday :: Crnko (Silvo Crnko) 2011 Jarenincan

Summer is rapidly drawing to a close but I thought I'd squeeze in another summery wine for the last few hot evenings and beautiful sunsets that remain this season.

What wine is it: 

Crnko (Silvo Crnko) 2011 Jarenincan

What I ate with it: 

brown rice with furikake (a Japanese seaweed  condiment) and seared yellowtail tuna

How much is it: 

$10.99 for a liter bottle

Where to shop for it: 

Wine Exchange (this is the only place I could find it for sale so I apologize if I get your hopes up and you can't find it.)  =P

This wine was absolutely delightful.  It is a rare Czechoslovakian wine.  Not a country widely known for having great wine but they are certainly working up to it if this bottle is any indication.  

The nose was strongly green apple (think the smell of biting into a Granny Smith apple) but the taste was more apple with a pine-y taste also.  (The hubby said it smelled like moments in his childhood when he and tree sap became inseparable.)  =P  It sounds like an odd combination but it actually harmonizes very well.  It is like tasting the fruit and the soil it grew in at the same time. One word of caution: this wine does not sit open very well.  So if you are not able to drink a liter of white wine by yourself, get some girl friends or have a dinner party or something.  If it does end up sitting for too long, it starts to have more resemblance  the scent of cleaning products than wine.  We had a glass left over from Monday evening to Tuesday and it definitely was past its prime.

But I would definitely recommend it over all and hope you all get a chance to try it!

Have a beautiful day!