pixie

I'm sitting in the wee hours with the tree aglow and candles lit.  I went ahead and made a pot of coffee since several hours of knitting haven't put me back to bed.  My mind is full of family.. my big kids over the mountain who are busily living and loving and maturing and giving, my girls who are tucked up in Erin's room (Audrey on the trundle because they just haven't had enough of each other at the end of the day) and my hard working husband who still has a few hours to rest his tired body before conquering another day. Last week is over.. it was a hard one, one of those that I was sure would send me over the precipice as I wisely dropped to my knees.  Once there.. I found clarity and comfort which lasted until I crawled back for another look-sy over the edge.  Why do I do that?  It's often back and forth like that, one minute on the verge of panic, the next flooded with peace and joy.. back and forth until I finally trust that I can stay put in the arms of the One who is orchestrating this life of mine.  All is well.  It really is... 

* The title is so I can later recall what I was referring to in this post.  It involved dog-sitting, dog losing, and dog finding... after a week missing.  It involved exhaustion, emotion, restoration.. and growth.

**  I guess from some comments that I had better clarify.  We were the sitters/losers..  It wasn't our dog.  :{

Blessings, Debbie

no room in the freezer

Yes!  The freezer is full to overflowing.  The mighty hunter was successful and we are prepared for the coming year.  We will feast on 100% natural, organic deer and elk that was harvested and butchered by the one who will be fed by it.  There is much comfort found in knowing every step of your food's preparation.  I am the daughter of a hunter/provider and I married one.  My daddy didn't raise no dummy!

The girls and I have been enjoying the setting of elaborate tables filled with the abundance that we can create to compliment the main attraction.  The woven tablecloth is literally covered with wood and pottery bowls that hold baked potatoes, sour cream, chives, chopped tomatoes...  oven roasted brussels sprouts sprinkled with olive oil,  fresh ground sea salt and black pepper...  Lettuce salad with toasted sunflower and sesame seeds and a caesar dressing...  Homemade rolls smeared (thinly, really :) with butter...  Sitting center stage is the marinated, peppered steaks, broiled to everyone's idea of perfection.  Mmm.  Yes, I feel spoiled indeed.

Today is Saturday and after a full yesterday of parties plus, (a medieval party and a Japanese birthday bash with a science gathering sandwiched between) the girls will most likely sleep in.  Husband will be thankful for a few extra winks but will join me shortly to curl (I curl, he sprawls) on the couch with coffee and catch up on the happenings of the week that may have somehow missed the dinner table conversation.  I love Saturday mornings when the sun is still low and we can pretend that we have nothing better to do than curl, sip and talk.  As the room becomes brighter we will slowly stretch into reality.  Yes, there are many things to be done today... but not until later.  :)

Blessings, Debbie    

     

when all is right with the world..

Snow!  Not just a skiff but real, coming down in lofty softness to blanket the lawn, the trees, the rooftops in oh such freshness for real snow!  I watched the top of my poor husband's head and shoulders become whiter each time he returned to the door to gather more of his needed supplies for the trudging through pre-dawn he'll be doing this morning.  The mighty hunter is off in search of the elusive Wapiti. Elk. If he is successful, it and the buck that Larry brought in last month will be enough to sustain us (with extra to share) for the coming year.  How fortunate I am to be married to a great hunter and provider!

Since the house is quiet and I am up and it's Saturday with nothing on the agenda (how often does that happen?  I know!) I have more of the beautiful pygora from my dear friend's goat and it's becoming the most luscious yarn.  The snow is falling, the man is providing, the girls are sleeping and I'll be spinning.  If only every day could be like today.  :)

I pray that this day finds each of you enjoying what you enjoy and basking in the gracious gifts that are yours.

Blessings, Debbie

a flip of the calendar page

Just a little something to rock your world in case you've had your head in the sand.  Erin with a swoon-y look on her face cooed yesterday, "Mom, did you realize that tomorrow Christmas will be next month?".. :{  Well, today is tomorrow.   Click, click, clickety click, click click...  that's the sound of my needles on hyper speed! 

Blessings, Debbie

this morning's vittles

It is with great effort that I submit another pictureless post.  I've waited l-o-n-g minutes just to do this.  It's definitely not picture storage space, I took care of that last month.  No, it's the computer..  I'm just going to continue to milk this one for all she's got knowing full well there is nothing else to be done this year.

I sit and type while a pink glow thins across the rimrock and cars begin their daily pilgrimage west.. to work, to schools.  The sound of tires on rain-pooled asphalt is comforting from where I sit in my cozy cotton flannels with steaming coffee.  Once again I'm thankful to be enclosed in these warm walls while the world rushes by.  The girls will be bouncing down in a few minutes.  I can hear them rousing upstairs.  As always God is good.  Today I am listening.  I've asked Him to speak and I am listening with expectation.  I've been in Proverbs this morning and already there is direct communication from my loving Abba.  Isn't it marvelous the way He feeds us when we are hungry?  His pages are full of rich, nourishing meat and bread.. more satisfying than the eggs and toast I fed my husband just before he left to enter 'the pilgrimage'.  

I'm feeling another growl coming on so I'm off to feast some more on the Word of Life...  To all who are hungry, let them eat!

Enjoy this beautiful day full of rich blessings and sing songs of praise to the One who is generous. 

~~Debbie

here we go again

I'm not missing on purpose it's just that I absolutely refuse to blog without pictures and my computer absolutely refuses to give me any.  I guess I'm on involuntary blog break.  It may seem trivial in the grand scheme of things but it's important to me... So, I'm praying for a computer miracle.  Remember me.  Kay?

Blessings, Debbie 

home again, home again..

Flashback Friday

For a time I'm going to use Fridays to record the events I missed posting this summer.. those I want to remember and share...

July 2012 ~ Thanks to a tremendous effort put forth by his family, her family, extended family and friends... they found home... again.  After months of commuting, this cute little rental house presented itself to the 'kids'.  It's just 10 minutes from his place of employment and 5 from his family.  

We should have pictures of the packing on the other end and the cleaning before the chaos on this end. There should be pictures of the wonderful meal his mother prepared for the crew and the impromptu lemonade stand his 6 year old brother set up in the dining room. But we were busy!!  

We drove back home over the mountain just 36 hours after arriving and almost everything was unpacked and in place down to the hanging of pictures on the wall.  Their home sweet home is sweet indeed.

Blessings, Debbie

look what the cat brought in

 

I'm needing tissues again.  What on earth is wrong with me?  Just when I think I've got it all together there's a knock at the door and our school pictures are placed in my hand.  That I can handle.  Every year Mr. Smoke smiles nicely at me and as he turns to walk away he clucks, "they turned out great"!  The girls nervously say, "he always says that".  Ah, but he's always right!

We check out the new photo which always bring a grin.  No, not crying yet.  The tears come after I open the back of the picture frame and remove the stack from years past...  We began keeping them this way in 2004.  

Hormones?  I'm telling you young ladies out there... you just have no idea.  

Blessings, Debbie

feels so right

The night air is frigid while the days are still quite warm and although the tomatoes froze last week, the asters are only just waving their purple greetings.  The (still green) lawn is strewn with gold and red below trees that are trying to decide whether or not they are ready to fully let go.  I've read 2 novels in 5 days, knitting is back in my lap... and all is right with the world.

On my needles?  I've picked back up the Elizabeth Zimmerman Tomten that took it's summer's hibernation in the favored tapestry knitting basket.  It was an easy transition.  I do believe it was naturally the time to wake up as I've not had a disagreeable moment yet.  Smooth sailing.

Having a teacher who couldn't keep her nose out of a book did nothing but keep two other noses right where they belong this week.  We've all accomplished some serious reading.  This book was in a bag with a couple of others that a friend picked up at a yard sale.  I don't read much comtemporary fiction but the timing was right, I needed a new read so it came to bed with me.  I loved this book.  This is definitely a recommend!

Joining Ginny's Yarn Along
Blessings, Debbie

a fall-ish riddle

Apples
 Debbie Penington 
August 7, 2012

What's round of face with red-ish bloom

Sporting top-ish leaf-ish plume
Sweet of taste with tart-ish tones

to satisfy my growl-ish moans!

;)

Blessings, Debbie

playing with the saints

Flashback Friday

For a time I'm going to use Fridays to record the events I missed posting this summer.. those I want to remember and share...

August 2012:  Praise and testimony with the Campbells in Fossil Oregon, population 473 and an hour and a half drive from... anywhere...  It was scrumptious!

Blessings, Debbie

oh where, oh where have my little chicks gone?

There are seasons to life.  No new thought there.  We start out with our little brood stumbling around our feet, staying as close to mama as they can, welcoming protection and that enveloping wing when things are stormy or there may be a predator nearby.  As they begin to 'develop their feathers' they get braver and they venture out further... tasting what there is to taste from a safe distance, mama still near. Then comes the part of parenting that you know you've been gearing up for.  All was for this moment.  It's right. It's proper.  But sometimes it's hard.  This sitting up here on my perch, watching from afar.  Two of my chicks are still within 'pecking' distance :) but two have flown the coop and I'm still adjusting to the feel of that wing tucked to my side, the one that used to gather, shield and protect.  So I sit up on my lofty seat praying prayers of thankfulness, prayers of encouragement and love for my little chickies in the valley.  Then I swoosh back down to 'peck' and gather the ones I can still get my wing over... I think they're content in it, for this season. 

Blessings, Debbie

a subtle hint

After a non-stop summer it feels great to be settling into a new school year.  We officially started 2 weeks ago and as we work on updating our old routine to fit our desires for this year we find that my husband's joke about installing a revolving door at the front of the house isn't very funny.  Our third day of school found me standing in the living room near the front door from 1:00 to 4:15 (except for the 1/2 hour that I sat on the couch with 1 friend while she waited for Erin to load a disk with wedding pictures for her) literally!  One car drove away as another was pulling up, again and again.  My husband just stood there shaking his head as I moaned, "this is how we ended last year... I can't start here"!

Out came the tempera paint (the jug I still have from when Cory (25) was a toddler) and Audrey got to work.  Everyone who sees it asks me if it's working.  It seems to be, though I'm afraid to say so just yet.

Blessings, Debbie

the amazing.. disappearing..

Didn't know that I was a magician did you?  Neither did my telephone friends...  But yes, I have a fabulous disappearing act that I decided to just spring on everyone with no warning.  My own unique demonstration excludes those within driving distance.  They had an inkling that I was up to some kind of trick but really couldn't begin to estimate the amazing illusion I was creating via the communicationwaves. So, without further adieu.. Voila!  I'm back.  Are you impressed or just annoyed?  I've really always hated the stage so I guess this is as far as I'll take my act.  :)

I'd like to wrap some brain and some words around what's really been going on so here goes..  First, my glitchy computer made it very difficult to upload pictures making it such a slow process that I dreaded the thought of attempting it each day.  Life was already engaged in its 'summer with teens and family and friends' hyperspeed thing and then I think (no, know) that it had everything to do with my love of home. I really enjoy blogging about home.  I hadn't been home much so when I was, I needed to savor it and be 'in the moment'.  And when I stepped away from here for more than a couple of weeks and thought about popping back, so much had transpired that I felt a bit crippled with a blank screen in front of me.

I want to thank the sweet friends that reached into my dead space with caring words while I was away.  I didn't see any of them until this morning (unless you e-mailed me and I admit to only sporadically checking my e-mail!) and am blessed.  I remember giving a friend a hard time years ago, when she spoke of her 'blog friends' and saying, "seriously?  Friends?  It's a computer..."  Silly me.  Bloggers are people and I've found some of the biggest hearts in these real friends.  Forgive me.  Now I have a few phone calls to make...

Blessings, Debbie

**  I thought that I would quickly freshen up my look since I'm back.  Apparently I no longer have enough storage space for my photos or something like that which is going to require some research...  I really hope you like the header as is, because I don't think I'm up for the challenge quite yet!

Part the third of this the Fourth

This is the second annual Fourth Of July 'P-------- Shin Dig' Softball Game!  It's intense.  From team selection to positioning every bit of the game is thoughtfully carried out.  Of course the half time dancing and the end of quarter posie picking is completely spontaneous.  What's that you say?  No half time or quarters in softball?  Ah well, maybe this isn't so serious after all.  

    

While the littles (and the little at heart) are out setting the side yard ablaze (and eating pie and ice cream) our musical guests are busy making a joyful noise inside.  Babies and dogs are in here too since they prefer this noise to the noise that is literally exploding around the town.

Last but not least, everyone moves their chairs around to the front to watch the annual torching of the rimrock.  No misfires this year.  Happily, the only flames we saw were elegant, dancing sky embers like these!  I think a few of our testosterone toting guests were disappointed, but seeing the foliage intact with no tell tale charcoal scars while traveling up the grade the next day was a welcome change in tradition.

So, that's really it.  I'm done posting about the fourth.  As I say, we're always ready to welcome more.  You don't have to call ahead.  Just show up with a side salad and a folding lawn chair...  Oh yes, and don't forget your softball glove!

Blessings, Debbie