Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! I have my baking things out in the kitchen while I wait for the cream cheese and the butter to warm up I thought I would come in and write you a note. I wish you all blessing upon blessing this day. I thought this was a good thought. 

"Almighty God humbled Himself, coming into the world like every other baby---through a mother's womb. Think of the humility! He was saying, "Everything is the reverse of what it appears. Don't be afraid. I know what I am doing." (Elisabeth Elliot)  I loved that when I read it this morning and I thought, what a better thought for this year. 

 

I did a little wood project. I thought he turned out cute. I have had fun decorating this house for Christmas. Sweet Haylen is coming home from the hospital today. Isn't that the nicest Christmas present ever? 

Meet our Christmas present, Miracle Max. He is a teenager kitty. Now he is ours. Its so nice to have a kitten in the house. When I was a little girl, I read a book about a young girl who wanted a Christmas kitty. I wish I could remember the name of it but my whole life I wished for a dog or a cat for Christmas. I know silly, but it was always a secret wish. I should wish I suppose for a new car, But for me, I would rather have a animal. 

Peter and Belle sent me a video of a kitty that had showed up at their door. They asked if I wanted it. I thought it was too pretty to be out in the cold. They took it to the emergency vet to see if he had been chipped and he wasn't. They brought him to us, and he is our cat. (People dump cats at the apartment where Peter lives because the shelters are all full.) 

He loves my hooking stand. He is really just a nice cat. Sasha doesn't think so though. She just glares at him. I think though they may end up being friends. She needed something to herd since we moved and there are no chickens to herd. She does try and keep him penned up. Which is good for her. If you have ever had a Border Collie they have to have a job or they get really depressed. So this helps her too. 

The funny thing about this kitty is a few weeks ago on the neighborhood app. A lady said she had these three kittens and she was going to get rid of them and she didn't know what she was going to do as the shelters were all full. I showed Ron the pictures of these kittens and I really wanted the kitty in the middle picture that looked a lot like Max. Ron said no, and that was that. Then a few days later, who do I get but Miracle Max, the cat in the middle picture. Or at least one that looks just like that picture. So I am pretty happy about it. Ron just shook his head, because this has happened so many times in our married life. The really funny thing, Max likes Ron best. So Ron was hooked by his little kitty cat personality first. Max is really smart, he knows what side his bread is buttered on. 

Here are a few pictures from the last two months. Merry Christmas from Me to You.

Its been a wild year, So many good things. Three new babies. A new daughter to love. A future daughter to love and a new house and a new neighborhood. All of these things are gifts that I don't deserve and yet I can say I am very thankful to God for the blessings He has allowed in our life this year. 

Merry Christmas,

Kim 

 

 

 

 

 

December Musings

 Happy December! I hope all is going well in your world. Can you believe we made it to here? I was asked yesterday, " Don't you write your blog anymore?" I do of course, sit down at the computer to write many times a week. I just stare at the blinking curser and end up with nothing on the page or it goes into a folder that I mean to go back to but never do and I never hit publish. If I said all the things that go around in my mind and come out my fingers I am afraid I wouldn't have any friends anymore. You know the old saying, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." So no posts from me. But since its December, I should try one more time today. 

Its a wonderful cozy day today. Its cloudy and cold. I have a small fire in my sitting room. My house is clean, I have a menu planned for dinner. The house is  all decorated. I have cinnamon candles burning and my hooking and sewing projects waiting to be attended to at some point today. My music is Christmas kind but 25 different versions of Carol of the Bells. I collect them. You would be surprised how many there are in all different versions there are and how different. 

 I find my thoughts going to Christmas past. Way past. I read this out of Farmers Almanac. I will put it here because I found it so interesting. 

"A rare, spectacular sky event is about to unfold: the greatest conjunction ever! It will be more impressive than the usual celestial headliners, like lunar eclipses and Mercury transits. And it will be visible around the world. On the very day of the solstice, December 21, 2020, Jupiter will come as close to Saturn as Jove’s own moons!

When Jupiter and Saturn—the two biggest planets in our solar system—meet, it’s termed the “Great Conjunction.” What’s even more special is that it’s happening on night of the winter solstice.

It will appear as if the planets touch in the sky above. To some, it may appear as a single bright “star.” How fitting for Christmastime! 

It’s already making headlines in the astrological world. After all, from time immemorial, a meeting of Jupiter and Saturn was deemed the most auspicious of all planetary get-togethers, the only one called a “Great Conjunction.” There was good reason for such attention: This is the rarest meeting between any of the five bright planets. It happens just once every two decades, and 2020 brings the closest Jupiter-Saturn conjunction since 1623, during Galileo’s times.(The Old Farmers Almanac)

Isn't that cool! One of the most interesting things for me is the sky. I can look up and see so many constellations and I love seeing the early morning sky and the night sky. 

Now the way back. Christmas memory. 

The Christmas after my Mom died was so bleak and so cold. I tried to do all of the Christmas decorations the way she had done in years previous. She would get red and green tissue paper and in each corner of the room she would twist it so it met in the middle of the room with a big tissue bell in the center. Then we would make paper chains to hang. I was eleven, my sister six and my brother eight. We did the best we could. We decorated the tree and last of all, put the Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus on the mantel about the fireplace.

It was one that she had loved. We had gone to Cornet and she gasped when she saw it, and she loved it so we brought it home. One year after a wind storm, the shingles had blown off our house and I took two of them and scotch-taped them together and got some straw and put them on the mantel and it was to my eyes, beautiful. Never dreaming the following year, I would be trying to fill her shoes and not doing a very good job. My grandmother would keep my younger brother and sister in the house with her, but being in the house made me feel I could not breathe so I took to staying outside until it was too late to see or my Dad came home from work. 

We lived on a farm and my grandparents lived next door. In the middle pasture between our houses there was a metal structure that would slide into the back of a pickup truck so you could take calves to the sale. It was pretty ingenious. For me I loved it because it was my own jungle gym. I would climb up to it and in December, there would be a star. Like the one described in the article above. 

 I didn't know about planets or stars at that time. I imagined that I was seeing the star above the place where Baby Jesus lay in the manger. So night after night in the cold, I would climb up to the top and sit and sing every Christmas carol I knew. One night, while singing and maybe making up new words to the parts I didn't know. My Grandpa stuck his head out the back door and yelled" Kim!! You hurt?" I very quietly, said, "No Papa, I am okay." He said, "okay," he went back in and closed the door. I climbed down and very quietly went home. 

I don't think the neighbors would think much of me if I climbed up on the sheds here and sang Christmas Carols on Winter Solstice this year.

I wish you Merry Merry Christmas. That is two Merrie's this year because I think we need it. Don't you? I thought that each and every Christmas of my life has been bittersweet. I think I learned that no matter how dark or how cold this year might seem, each and every month, I have found a special gift tucked in when I least expected it. My job has been to change the focus of my life to joy. Joy is all around, but its elusive. It hides in places that I am afraid to look and its always quiet, until I realize its been there all along, I just wasn't listening to the song in my heart.

~Kim~

“I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six. Mother took me to see him in a department store and he asked for my autograph.” —Shirley Temple 

Now November

 I was thinking early this morning if I don't get a post written, I will miss all of November. I don't know where this will all lead but here it goes. 

Whew what a month! We continue to have good weeks with Haylen and weeks that are a bit more challenging. Its so much harder on Makenzie and William. Being a parent is always the hardest. I just stand back and pray and pray some more. 

He did get to nurse the other day and did really well. That is so wonderful I think. He is now 10 weeks old and 34 weeks of gestation. Every week continues to be a milestone. 

Elliot and Karren are getting married on Sunday morning. A very quiet ceremony do to that which must not be named. If you were keeping tabs, this is how my life looks so far. Sold and bought a new house, moved to a new area. Ron works from home full time. We had three new grandbabies born, two girls and one boy. Ben and Megan had a terrible car wreck but walked away from it. Our grandson was born at 24 weeks and his Momma almost died after loosing almost all of her blood. Elliot and Karren are getting married on Sunday. Oh I need to add to that list the election. So gee whiz. I am afraid really of turning into Eeyore. 

So as it goes, my favorite line from Charles Dickens is this: It has been the best of times and it has been the worst of times. But all in all I still am so thankful for the givens and try not to reflect on the not givens. I get a new daughter in law, we have a lovely house and a lovely neighborhood. Ron gets to work from home which is very nice. We have wonderful new babies and all of the Momma's are doing great. I have hooked my giant rug, I finished a Halloween rug. Its been about 3 years since I finished a rug so that was wonderful. 

Here is the giant one by Edith O'Neal. Cape Ann. I am so excited about sitting in the evening in front of the fireplace and doing the background. Its so nice to do big rugs in the winter. Just a few more flowers. 

I have also been working on my sampler by Shakespeare Peddler. She is called Ann Womak-1838.

Its big too. I am going to age it a lot when I get finished but I think I still have three more alphabets to go. I am on my fourth skein of red now.

My favorite picture of the baby. All of that stuff on him and yet he is laughing. He has already such a sweet personality. 

So that is how life goes around here. Next week is Thanksgiving. Our governor has passed all sorts of stuff again. We are going to ignore him and have the kind of Thanksgiving we always had. 

"All that is required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." Edmund Burke.

Since I am hardly posting, I wish you the best Thanksgiving ever. 

I leave off with one of my favorite sayings. It has comforted me in all sorts of trials. 

" If God is almighty, there can be no evil so great as to be beyond his power to transform.

That transforming power brings light out of darkness, joy our of sorrow, gain out of loss, life out of death." Elisabeth Elliot. 

But just in case, Release the Kraken! Go Sidney!

Kim

Mid October

 We are in Mid October and I am finally doing a post. Oh my gosh, I wish I could tell you what on earth I have been doing for all of this month, I have worked on lots of things so I haven't been completely a slacker. 

But first, Do you know the Blog Rugs and Pugs? Lauren sent me the loveliest surprise gifts. She does the best work. I have entered every giveaway she has and I win too, so I do feel guilty a bit sometimes, but I wanted that pumpkin she makes from hand torn strips. I was so happy when I opened that box and there one was.  

Isn't it lovely. That wool is so yummy. I have really moved it all over just so I can see it better. But she also sent a sunflower on an old spring. Another project she has done that I have loved so much. I also move it around. Its beautiful. 

She does the best hooking and making everything look so perfect. She also sent some of her handmade jewelry which I love and I put that on my key chain but I may move that around too. So thank you so much Lauren for thinking of me. 

I thought I would give you an update on baby Halen. He is off the respirator as of Tuesday. He has grown and now weighs 2.8. He it drinking the full amount of milk for babies his age. He is 29 weeks old now. He is such a sweet baby. 

 The nurses were changing his bed and this is the first time Makenzie was able to hold him. I love this picture so much. He was still on the respirator and all of that stuff, but as the camera moves around and you can see his face, if he hadn't have had all of those tubes, he was trying so hard to talk to his Mommy. I tell you I have never cried in my life as I have cried in 2020. 

Okay, onto other things. I have been working on this rug. Its a pattern by Whimsy Rugs. I have really enjoyed it, but not hooking for almost a year, sure has made it hard to get back into the swing of things. At night, my hands are blue. I know it will pass, but I never knew I would have issues with my hands. 

 Its fun and I thought it would be so much faster than it was, but I did have to dye wool and that was fun and nice to do. This rug is 24 by 35. I will get back to my other rug soon, but I needed something just a bit smaller to work on. 

This last weekend, I finally did some wood projects. Very fun. Ron cut out the shapes for me. This was thicker wood than I would use on my scroll saw. I love how they turned out. I hung them outside on the lights around the garage. 

If you can't tell the top one is a nice witches hat and the bottom is a large pumpkin. I had to buy new wood, which was nice, but I did miss my wood pile. That was fun. I haven't done that in a long, long time. 

2020 has been a life changing year, wouldn't you agree? Little did I imagine how many changes would happen. Selling and buying a house and moving is hard enough. Then we have had three more babies added to our family. Two girls and a boy. On Saturday, Elliot proposed to his girlfriend and so we will add another member to our family. Karren. I am so excited to have another daughter in the family. It seems like 2020 has been a year of highs and lows. But looking back, I would say that the highs far outweigh the lows. I think how we look back at September 11th as a turning point, so will be 2020. I know it is for our family.

 There are so many, many things that I could write a book, and I know you could as well. I have been reading lots of books about world war two and world war one because those people made it and were better for it. I hope that the same will be said years and years later, that 2020 was the year we became better for it and we ended up seeing more good than bad and we have found how to be happy despite of what was on the outside and I know for myself, happiness is about a smile, a hug and friendship.  

Thanks for stopping by, we are still in the nineties. So not fall yet. Soon I hope, at least by Halloween.

~Kim~

Dusk in Autumn

Sara Teasdale - 1884-1933

The moon is like a scimitar,

A little silver scimitar,

A-drifting down the sky.

And near beside it is a star,

A timid twinkling golden star,

That watches likes an eye.

 

And thro’ the nursery window-pane

The witches have a fire again,

Just like the ones we make,—

And now I know they’re having tea,

I wish they’d give a cup to me,

With witches’ currant cake.

Finally its Autumn!

 I will just have to share fall pictures of the other house, until I get something from around here. Its going to be hard though with palm trees. About the only thing I saw yesterday on my walk was orange dates hanging from a date palm. 

I missed the first day of fall yesterday. I couldn't believe it. I hadn't turned my calendar until last night so all day yesterday I thought it was the 20th. We have blue skies again, but its still pretty warm. So it doesn't feel like fall quite yet. 

In the above quote by Wendell Berry, I loved so much and I would say, is the cry of my heart. Even though I am pretty much in town, in a neighborhood. I think that quote still says how I want to live. 

It had got so loud and noisy at the other house, it was becoming more and more tiring to try and find peace and quiet. I lived most of the time with head phones in my ears. The plus of living here is that its quiet, very quiet. Its dark at night, we can see the stars again. I will get planter boxes and  I will grow food again. My fireplace is beautiful and it has a mantel. I have wanted a mantel for 40 years and I am constantly redoing this mantel over and over. When we work outside, we actually finish. We have laughed over that so many times in the past week. We get finished. We never got finished the list of things to be done just got longer and longer. 

I wanted to share something that happened to us when we were finishing selling our house. I share it in hopes that if you sell your house or land you might pay very close attention to the paper work. We still don't know why this happened and the title company is completely mum on the subject. 

Ron's job is all about numbers. All day, every day. Making sure that numbers are correct and things are working the way the programs are supposed to be working. In the industry he works in if those numbers are wrong, people could get hurt or killed. He is very careful about anything to do with numbers. 

He knew down to the penny what we would get back on the sale of our house. The final closing papers came in and down at the bottom, out of the blue, was a charge to us for Forty-one thousand dollars.  We stared and stared at it. It had nothing to do with the our transaction. We couldn't believe what we were seeing. Ron knew it wasn't right, and he called the title company and in our 40 years of being married, I have never heard Ron's voice like that. I was glad it wasn't me on the other end of the phone. They couldn't tell him what it was for or why. 

They said they would resend it and that charge was gone and we were back to what was going to be the real amount. Ron asked and asked and no one would give him a straight answer as to why that charge was there. So of course, he then went over those charges with a fine tooth comb and he found other charges that we had already paid out of pocket that they had charged us for. He got that changed too. I am sure that day, they regretted ever making that mistake in their favor. 

But then, we asked ourselves, how often does that happen. You or we did, we expected the figures from the title company to be correct. What happens to people who don't question or check those figures and just trust the title company to be honest. Do people just get fleeced and taken advantage of? So all of this to be aware of this sort of thing. Things have changed so much out there and we were shocked at the level of just dishonesty we experienced selling our house. There were other things that were just as shocking but I will leave it for another day. I might need something else to write about. 

Its going to be a nice day today. I hope its a nice day where you live. Haylen and Makenzie are doing okay. Thank you for your prayers. We as a family appreciate it so much. 

I hope your day is filled with the smell of fall. The phantom smell of wood smoke, the crisp tang to the air. The promise that in the end, life is pretty good and dreams do come true, they just might look different from what as in my case, what the original dream looked like. This dream is better when seen in real life. Haylen is 26 weeks old today. On Tuesdays, I celebrate to myself his new week of life. Its teaching me that every day should be like that. Every day should be a celebration of all of the good things we are given. Because as we know, we only have today. 

Blessing to you, from my heart.

~Kim~

September in its Glory

 Hello, Don't you love September. I think its just fall is almost here and what a gift I think fall is to us after a hot summer. My computer died and thank goodness, Ron knows how to fix this stuff. He finally got it up and running last night. My power supply died. 

This is going to be a long post. I think I will show you what I have been working on first. 

My Cape Ann first. That is a big rug. I just had no idea how big it really was. The more I work on it the more I am loving it. 

I worked all day on that second flower. I mean all day. My hand wouldn't work by the time I finished. I know I will be ordering more wool. 

I have been working on this a little bit too. Its nice to have something when its not hot to work on and this is fun. 

Now for the rest of the story as Paul Harvey would say. 

On September 8th We received a text from our son William saying that Haylen Dean was born. Ron and I were both stunned and couldn't figure out what that meant as we had seen Makenzie on Saturday night and she was only 24 weeks pregnant. I called William who I believe was at the hospital. Things are fuzzy to me now. Earlier in the day, Makenzie was rushed to the hospital by ambulance and upon arriving once they figured out she had no heart beat or blood pressure, they realize she was bleeding out. They rushed her to surgery and as they were running down the hall, the doctor told Makenzie that the baby might have to be born to save her life. She had to have 6 1/2 pints of blood. They put her in a coma and delivered the baby. He was 1 pound 8 ounces. He is 12 1/4 inches long. William was with him in NICU but he didn't get to see Makenzie. He went home. We went over and of course I have cried now for a week. William cleaned out the refrigerator while he talked. Looking back, its like walking in a dream. 

During that night, Makenzie in a drug induced coma fought it and kept asking for Halen and William. 

When you have a tiny baby like that they tell you, its the first hour, the first two hours then the first night. He made it through the night and Makenzie was taken off the breathing tube.  

She had been on the brink of death. William told us, he could have lost both his wife and baby that day.

 This is my favorite picture of her. They had moved her to a labor and delivery room. Its about 9:00 or 10:00 that night of the day after her almost dying and as soon as she is able she goes to the baby. She is cut vertical from her breast bone to her pelvis. They had to use staple to stitch her up because she is so allergic to tape. She is so amazing and she hasn't missed a day with Haylen. She came home on Saturday. 

He holds her hand and today he squeezed it three times. Yesterday he was 25 weeks. What a year this has been we have 13 grand babies now. Haylen breaks the tie. The boys are ahead again. Its been good and its been hard but it has never been anything that I am not thankful for. We only have today. It has reminded me each morning that today is a new day. Today is a new beginning. Every morning my first thought is for the babies God has given us and the blessings we get to experience. I know that God has got this. It puts life into perspective and narrows my vision. 

What I have learned this week. Dreams come in all sizes. Wishes take a lot of work. But all in all, life is a gift and I am thankful to be here. Right now. I don't think I would have said that last week at that time. I was having trouble even catching my breath. But today, its all good. 

I just thought I would let you know what is going on and if you think about it, could you pray that Haylen grows up to be a big strong man and that his Mommy and Daddy have the strength to go through all of this. 

Thank you,

~Kim~

Happy September

How are you? Are you glad we have made it to September? My mind wants to do Fall things but the heat outside reminds me that Summer isn't going to give up easily. We have a huge heat wave coming this weekend. I have sat down to write a post almost every day since the last post I wrote, but I sit here and can't figure out what to say. I mean what do I do all day? Our fridge sprung a leak, and got the wood floor all wet. Now we have a issue with the wood floor. We might have the  fridge thing fixed next week. The hot tub ( first world problem) is broken. We finally decided to fill it with water and see if it worked. It doesn't. Ron watched You Tube videos and now feels pretty confident he can fix it this weekend.

I showed this picture to Ron and said, "Hey lets turn the back yard into this." I was joking sort of.
He stared at it a long time and said, " That might be a good idea." After going through a period of no garden and no plants, I think I could take out all of the grass with no problem. I don't know though if I would want gravel. One of the things that is new for me is not wearing shoes. At the other house I was forever jumping up and going outside and I would put on my shoes in the morning and not take them off until I was going to bed at night. Here, I stay barefoot. There is no stickers or spiders or even flies really. Not that I am complaining, its just different.

I have a few baby pictures. Would you like to see them? Ben and Megan had a little girl too. So this summer we have two baby girls. Which brings the grand kid count to Six girls and Six boys. I love double sixes. Makenzie has the tie breaker coming in December.

If you don't watch Ben and Megan's vlog. You won't know this little one was in such a hurry to get here that Ben ended up being the catcher. So like the last two years of their life," they did it by self"
One of our grand daughters when she was little always would say, " No grandpa,"  Do it by self."

When one of our sons was in college and in the class the teacher had each of the students come up with a motto for their family. Our son said ours was, " Be polite don't fight." I always really like that. But now, I think our family motto has changed to " Do it by Self." As I have watched all of our kids and how they have begun to take on life, that is the one thing I notice the most. They are very self reliant. Is it good? I don't know.
 I know as a young woman and I was being interviewed for a leader position in a Bible Study group I wanted so badly to be a part of, the lady interviewing me said, As she pulled off her glasses, " I see a young woman before me very self confident woman. But what I want to see is a very God confident woman instead."

I am so thankful though, that they are able to all do a great job at every single thing they have been called to do and of all of the things Ben amazes me at what he can do, now even catching a baby still blows my mind.

Here is our sweet baby who lives in Arizona. I never posted pictures of her. I am so remiss. We were moving and I just didn't say to much about her either. She was another fast baby. She came almost as soon and her Mom and Dad got to the hospital. I sit and ponder all of the directions our kids have been called to do and go and I am so very proud of them. I am just over the moon at the sweet girls and their lovely choices to be Moms.  One of my favorite quotes when I was having children was, "The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world." I think its still true, for good or bad as we see played out each and every day. 

 

 I wrote that two days ago. Now I hope to finish this blog and get it published. I asked our oldest daughter if brag posts bothered her and she said, "heck no Mom, brag away."  So forgive me for my bragging.

 

Its September. This morning as I sat outside, as the sky began to turn its rosy color from the sun. The neighbor cat who lives  behind us, sat on the roof and watched us as we watched him. He tucked his arms under himself and settled in to watch the sun come up. Then silently as it got light, he slipped away over the roof and down to the ground. I wondered if perhaps he had escaped from his owners and spent a Friday night out on the town. I have only seen him one other time. He is a big cat. As big as a dog and he is a stripey guy. He is the only cat I have seen in the neighborhood.  In a normal September I have goals a mile long. What is hard after the move, is trying to come up with any goals at all. Its scary to me in my mind. My mind, when I try to think of them, shies away like a horse from a blowing paper bag. My mind just refuses to go there. At least I am not chopping tumbleweeds this weekend.

 I hope you have a incredible weekend, this Labor Day weekend. I wish you the best.

~Kim~

"Ah, September! You are the doorway to the season that awakens my soul... but I must confess that I love you only because you are a prelude to my beloved October".  (Peggy Tony Horton)