Thirty Seven

 

 

 

For you, Beth! 28 weeks and feeling full term! 

 Soooo, I'm 37 now.  It's an interesting age. In my head, I still feel like a schoolgirl.  So much life still ahead of me, Lord willing.  So many things still to learn, so many ways I need to grow and mature, so much wisdom still to seek.  Being large with child, however, makes my body feel very OLD.  Lumbering about getting out of breath, unable to bend over easily, waddling around with sore legs and feet, wearing the same 6 things over and over and over and over....  it's a wonder to feel so old and so young at the same time.

I have often wondered if we ever truly feel 'old' in our brains.  Does an 80 year old feel the weight of her years- or does she feel like the same 'ole girl in those dusty black and white photos in the attic?  It seems almost like the older we get, the more we realize we don't know- and we realize how truly YOUNG our minds are yet all of this at just  the time that our bodies begin to wear out and ache.  Maybe it is a design feature- our minds are given a more and more childlike faith, ready and excited for the great good and glory of meeting our Lord, just when our broken bodies are ready to give up the ghost. 

Adele' picked me a bouquet of lilacs for my bed (I pity anyone without lilacs on their birthday) and Corynn and Andrew surprised me by baking a cheesecake for me all on their own and in secret!  I had to get the tires changed on our van that morning and was gone several hours so I had no idea they had done it until they brought out a beautiful cheesecake that evening.  And it was divine.  That may have been the very first time someone made me a birthday dessert.  Sweet children have I.

I just LOVE these days full of flowers and bouquets and sweet, spicy floral scents wafting through the air.  I keep time of the seasons by which flowers are in bloom.  It is peony season now and golly, do I love peonies. 

You know what else I love?  Finding a bunch of pictures on my camera that I didn't take!  The moon, laundry, calf-named Winston and bird flying shots were taken by someone other than me. 

One of my favorite instagram feeds is this one.  She inspires me every day with her gorgeous blossoms and floral art.  Flowers make me happy so it is no surprise.  She recently showed how to make some of her amazing floral headpieces and I just had to try it out.  Not nearly as elegant as her and wound up with ants creepy crawling in my hair, but it was so worth it.  It will not be my last flower crown, of that I am certain.

I finally finished Jane Eyre on audiobook.  Love it so much.  (Also- where we got the name Adele though when I read it the first time, I mispronounced it in my head.  I read it as A-de-lay, not Ah-dell so...whoopsie!)  I also finished Mrs. Miles' Diary, The Great Divorce and Virgil Wander, all within a week or so of each other. (I had started them all- except Virgil Wander- a month or so ago... I am not a reading machine!) I am now onto Rosario Butterfields' book The Gospel Comes With a Housekey: Practicing Radically Ordinary Hospitality in Our Post-Christian World:.

Between that book on 'radically ordinary hospitality' where Rosario essentially lives to serve her neighbors and listening to a new-to-me podcast (which leaves me grinning and chortling every time I listen) in which Rachel Jankovic (a mother of seven) and her sister Beckah Merkle (mother of five) casually talk about hosting parties of 20-40+ people at their homes each week, I am feeling convicted that I could do better in the area of hospitality. 

I think I am pretty decent at throwing parties for large gatherings throughout the year, homeschool parties and reunions and holiday gatherings and picnics; making sure the house is super clean and making a menu of fancy food we don't normally eat and making a big deal about it. 

What I am feeling convicted about is getting better at inviting people into our ORDINARY lives, into our ordinary messes, into our ordinary food and having them feel welcome and at ease.  And not just 'our people', the easy ones we already like to hang out with- but those people who could really use friendship and neighborly love.  My hope is that if it is ordinary, then I will be more at ease in preparing for said gatherings instead of feeling overwhelmed at the prospect, and it will become more of a routine and less of an undertaking.  Also- large gatherings are great for small talk with lots of people and less good at worthwhile conversations.  Inviting individual families into our home will allow for deeper discussions on more intimate levels- which is an excellent thing.   I mentioned this to the kids, that this would be a new goal for me, and then we wound up having five different opportunities to have families over impromptu within the first two weeks!  I hope it keeps up.

On crafting: besides making silly floral headpieces and beautiful bouquets for the house, on Sunday I turned out a beach towel tote bag for my nephew for his birthday with funky cow fabric.  You turn the bag inside out and store the towel inside the pouch, along with any other treasures you want to bring along.  He's 8 now and I fear the handmade gift possibilities are dwindling.  I also knit a hat with a single skein of chunky baby yarn that I got for $1.00- but that really isn't good for much more than a hat.  Those chunky baby colored yarns- what else does one do with them? 

I want to knit Cricket a romper in the worst way but I really don't know if my skillset is good enough to actually be able to do it.  I am loving this one, or this one, or this, or this but, as usual, doubts bubble up and make me too afraid to start (and fail).  If you've ever knit a romper- how hard do you think they are?   Are they doable for an advanced beginner- which I guess is what I would call myself. 

Speaking of failing, tomorrow I have a 3 hour glucose test for gestational diabetes at the hospital because I failed the 1 hour test... I guess if ever I were to try to knit a romper, 3 hours in a waiting room is a good time to do so.

crafting on....