Meet Frances

One of many reasons that I have not found time to blog for a couple of weeks is named...

Frances.

Going on three months old and one of ten kittens shared by two mothers, it was time to begin moving out when one mother quit helping feed this demanding litter!

The first couple days were a shock to her system and required a lot of sleep. But right from the start we have been her best friends!

PET ME!!!

While learning to know us, Frannie is living in the cat-proofed porch with expeditions onto the deck and surrounding flower beds and lawn. After initially being a cause for fear, now Frances really wants to befriend our older cat, but Gully isn't quite ready for this drastic change from years of quiet life. 

So much energy is disconcerting to a sedate, old-maid cat. She never knows when a fur-ball will come bouncing in from any direction. It actually is bringing back some of Gully's playfulness with us, though only hisses for the newbie. Unfortunately she doesn't remember nine years ago when she was in that very relation to our then-elderly-cat, Fouette.

We tell Maren and Jason we are practicing for when Baby comes by texting cute photos!

The goal in adding a kitten to our farm is to help keep our older cat warm in winter. But Frances has already brought us the gift of much more laughter as well as cosy times of cuddling and thinking ahead to being active aunties as we work to train, protect, and help this "toddler" learn!

Beautiful Flaws

These orchids aren't "meant" to have so many fancy petals. In year after year of blooms, this is the first time it broke out in a riot of ruffles. 

Another orchid also mutated one blossom - but this into a less colorful version. 

This little part of God's creation continues to add joy and wonder to my days.

Children's Books for All Ages

Some days our weary brains need a break from grown-up books and audio-books, and we return to favorites from childhood and youth. 

Little Women, Laura Ingalls, The Chronicles of Narnia, Winnie-the-Pooh, The Secret Garden, The Princess and the Goblin, Treasures of the Snow, and more... We recently chuckled over even The Boxcar Children. 

But the best are the kind described below which contain more of a harvest to be gleaned every time you re-read them - no matter your age!

"But I find I have been forgetting that those for whom I write are young—too young to understand this. Let it remain, however, for those older persons who at an odd moment, while waiting for dinner, or before going to bed, may take up a little one’s book, and turn over a few of its leaves. Some such readers, in virtue of their hearts being young and old both at once, discern more in the children’s books than the children themselves."

From Ranald Bannerman's Boyhood, by George MacDonald

First Kofte

If you recall from some winter posts (here, here and here) - Elsa and I entered a new field of knitting with the Norwegian kofte (cardigan/jacket/sweater) this year.

After swatching...

... and then ordering Norwegian yarn... 

... the adventure began! 

The first yoke was too small and the final yoke too large! But I learned a lot and still have a very warm kofte.

The scariest new skill learned was "steeking" - knitting in the round with a strip of extra stitches, then reinforcing along both sides of the steek stitches and taking out the scissors to cut it open!

Next came hours of sealing the raw edges in a knitted sheath, knitting the button band and button hole band, and adding traditional Norwegian pewter buttons!

Though this was finished back in April, it is still awaiting the last step of wet-blocking to smooth out stitches and adjust the shaping. Then I have a reason to look forward to cold days again!

On we go!

An audiobook that helped pass hours of our drive home from Florida contained some gems to apply to this life of faith amid dark trials.

"When Bilbo opened his eyes, he wondered if he had; for it was just as dark as with them shut. No one was anywhere near him. Just imagine his fright! He could hear nothing, see nothing, and he could feel nothing except the stone of the floor.

... 'Go back?' he thought. 'No good at all! Go sideways? Impossible! Go forward? Only thing to do! On we go! So up he got, and trotted along with his little sword held in front of him and one hand feeling the wall, and his heart all of a patter and a pitter."

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein, chapter 5

Of course God's word has something to say about this as well!

"But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." - Philippians 3:13-14

Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure. - Proverbs 4:25-26

And I am reminded of a bit from George MacDonald:

"And when she could no longer hope, she did not stand still but walked on in the dark. I think when the sun rises upon them, some people will be astonished to find how far they have got on in the dark."

The Lady's Confession, first published as Paul Faber

Dealing with Apostasy

I don't usually use this blog to address news items. But as the recently publicized apostasy of a former leader in Christian circles could cause destructive confusion among those who respected and learned from him in the past, it helps to once again "Be still and know that [God is] God." (Psalm 46:10)

An excellent blog post today from author, teacher, and pastor Eric Ludy helps get the focus back on our faithful God. Don't form your opinion without reading the post in full at this link, but here are a couple excerpts to get started:

"This is one of my very first posts on my new blog about fatherhood. At first, this may seem like a strange way to start things out. But it just might be the perfect way. Because this is an issue of passing a baton from father to son. I have a fourteen-year-old son who is hearing about Joshua Harris and wondering why someone who once stood strongly on matters of godly marriage and purity could suddenly go in such an opposite direction. 

"The integrity of the Church is currently hanging in the balance. Joshua Harris’s public rejection of purity is not merely a threat to healthy male/female relationships. In reality, this issue is a direct attack against the very cornerstone of godly masculinity and godly femininity. It’s a direct attack on the character, nature, and constancy of our God. It is an attack on the sacred roll call of such heavenly superstars as purity, holiness, love, faithfulness, long-suffering, humility, and grace. And don’t forget, the entire idea of marriage itself is wrapped up in this debacle. 

"You can mockingly call it a “Purity Culture” if you like. But I stand by the fact that when God takes hold of a man or woman, He builds them into vessels that are pure, honorable, and noble channels through which His truth, love, kindness, and grace can flow freely and unhindered. Call me a kook if you want, but I still stand with God’s pattern for building lifelong love stories. When we arrive in Heaven someday soon, we will all discover that Heaven is a culture of purity. So we might as well get used to it, don’t you think?"

-Eric Ludy, Ellerslie Mission Societyhttps://ericludy.com/eric-ludy-responds-to-joshua-harris-part-1/

Growth

April 26th - Cleaning the rose beds

June 1st - Potting Day

July 21st - Roses finishing their first big bloom,

and pots bringing us joy on the deck

Sedum

Ornamental Oregano

Blue Chalksticks succulent

... and its funny blooms!

Oxalis

2019 Birthdays Continue

After Maren and Jason's come my birthday and Dad's.

Lilacs, lily-of-the-valley, and kittens were standard accompaniments of my spring birthday parties with grandparents as guests. At age 103, my only remaining grandfather no longer gets out to celebrate with any of his 18 grandchildren. We haven't had kittens for years. And the late, cold spring meant that the only blossoms to be found yet were on plum or crab-apple trees.

But Dad remembered the traditional birthday roses in my favorite glowing salmon tones.

There were so many to enjoy that it was special to take a few to leave on the graves of our loved ones in four different cemeteries on the way to my Memorial-Day-weekend birthday outing.

Our losses hit me again as this was the first time I have seen the gravestones for Aunt Dorothy and my grandma, who both died within these past five years of my illness. 

But we do not grieve as those who have no hope. (1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18) We know the joy of those who are now with Jesus and look forward to the day when "He will wipe away every tear from [our] eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, the for former things have passed away." (Revelation 21:4)

Our outing ended at the same state park as last year, but this time Maren and Jason were able to join us there for supper and cake.

Jason's parents sent along an oak seedling dug from their flowerbeds. We hope to keep it alive and growing since we have no oaks on our bit of prairie.

Next comes Dad's birthday - this year with a special time camping at the lake!

It was too windy to get the candles lit on the cake, but at least we got a little sailing started for the year. 

A neat, unique gift was a Norwegian/English New Testament with a funny story. A friend who traveled Norway recently asked at the hotel desk if it would be possible to buy one of these Gideon Bibles. They got the strangest look as the receptionist said, "No one asks that. They just steal them!"

Dad and Mom haven't been to Norway, where we still have plenty of relatives, for more than 40 years. It is still Dad's dream to bring his girls there too...