Grumpy Old Bear
WIP Weekend Update and Monday Meals October 12, 2009
Well, I didn’t finish the bear. He is almost done. His little legs are attached, and the parts for his feet are all knit, just not all sewn together, stuffed, and attached. Then I will embroider a face, knit a tiny bear scarf, and call him done. I knit last night until 10:50, and my eyes just couldn’t take the stitching anymore.
Morgie, you asked how I learned to knit. I really learned from two sources- a great website called KnittingHelp.com and a book called Itty Bitty Hats by Susan B. Anderson. This past summer Phil was given a sabbatical. I decided I wanted to do something I wouldn’t normally do during this special time, some skill-so I decided knitting. I had seen some very cute things knit on another blog, and those patterns came from Itty Bitty Hats. I ordered it, got the yarn and needles needed to make Simple Baby Hat Number 1, and I was hooked. I knit the first hat in two days, and then had to find a knitting store in Fort Bragg to get more yarn for another hat. Here are pictures of the first two hats I made.
Simple Baby Hat Number One
After the first hat, I felt ready to add an additional skill or two to the skill set required for the first hat. I flipped through the book and found a pattern that only added a couple new things… an i-cord and stripes. So I made this hat next.
Stripey Hat
By this point, I was seriously flipping through my book planning out which hat would be next, and then which after that, and on and on. We were still on vacation, so I decided to knit on the long ride home from Fort Bragg. During the drive, I almost finished this hat.
Bunny Hat
Since then, I have been knitting something almost continuously, I even took knitting to Kauai. Every time I get to something I don’t really know how to do, I go to the knitting website and watch a little instructional video over and over until I get it. I am hoping to take a class this winter-I would really love to knit socks, but think that might be a skill better learned in a class. I have found this to be a great hobby to pursue with a little guy in the house. It’s quick set up-no sewing machine or scrapbook materials to lug out, set up, etc. Just grab my basket and go… speaking of which…I think I will go knit. 
WIP Weekend Edition October 10, 2009
I have recently started to knit, and am finding it quite addicting. At first, I wouldn’t let myself do anything other than dream about the next project until the one I was working on was done, but then I only had one set of needles, so couldn’t start anything new until I was done, anyways. As the summer and fall have progressed, I have accumulated more sets of needles. I started one project, and then I started another, and another, and another until I had four project going at once.
So this weekend I decided my goal will be to complete two projects. I chose the two nearest completion-the pumpkin hat and the grumpy bear. Last night during Friday Night Movie & Popcorn Night, I finished the pumpkin hat.
The finished pumpkin hat!
I will be working on the grumpy bear today, giving him a face, legs, and feet. Hopefully by tomorrow, I can take him off the Works-in-Progress list!
Thankful Thursday October 8, 2009
1. children who like to snuggle
2. musicals
3. longtime friends
4. Jane Austen movies
5. crisp fall weather
6. a husband that loves me
7. new babies in the extended family
8. a husband that I love
9. freshly brewed coffee in the morning
10. listening to my kids singing praise songs to the Lord when they don’t realize I am listening
The Fall Swirl September 28, 2009
Lots happens around our house in the fall. We celebrate birthdays…lots of birthdays, both in our immediate family and our extended family. We start school. I go back to work, we start getting up early. We start adding in the kids’ activities-church youth group, Awana, and piano lessons. And I start to feel swamped by the swirling of it all.
I am at last starting to come out of that fall swirl. This year it has been a little protracted by some computer difficulties that caused me to fall behind in work during the busy school start up season of ordering and setting up lesson plans for the year. Yikes. This week, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel in terms of work (Hallelujah!), I have a menu planned, the schedule has been thought through, the laundry is clean, and I am ready.
I have a little more on my schedule this year than in years past. We are launching a new component of our young marrieds ministry. More people will be coming over to our home. But I am so excited. It is clear that God has been leading us in this direction, encouraging us to go further in this direction. He is stretching me a bit beyond myself, which is a good place to be. I am looking forward to seeing how the fall comes together as we jump out of the swirl.
Back to Routine August 29, 2009
Our sweet season of sabbatical is done. I thoroughly enjoyed our gift of time. I was reminded not to feel guilty for resting… it’s a gift from God for us to rest from our labors.
That being said, I am so glad to be home. In order for us to step out of our normal lives, we needed to be gone from home for most of the summer. We didn’t have funds to go to one place for the entire time, so that meant a lot of comings and goings, packing and unpacking, and laundry to clean. I like being gone, but I really like coming home. I am ready to step back into our normal rhythms.
This fall, our normal rhythms include schooling (this year an 8th grader, a 6th grader, and a 4th grader! And of course, a toddler!), youth group, my own work, hosting our Young Marrieds’ Group, and the gym. Yep, we joined a gym. We are taking an indefinite hiatus from ballet and applying those funds to a club the whole family can enjoy. My sore muscles can testify to our usage of those facilities. 
So far, our step back into routine has gone pretty well, although not as smoothly as I’d hoped. My dear friend Allison lost her battle with cancer on August 19-our first week of school. I have definitely been caught in that grief, particularly that first week. This week I was out of town for the first two days for a staff retreat for the church. So I haven’t really had a full week to try our rhythms, yet. This coming week, I have an inservice day for work, followed by my work week the week after. But I will keep persevering. Part of the comfort of a routine is the stepping back into it after a crazy day or series of days.
Kauai Day 6-the Final Installment August 12, 2009
On our last full day in Kauai both Phil and I woke up in funky moods. There is always a weirdness on the last day of a vacation, especially a much anticipated vacation. After our quiet times, we decided to go on a walk. We headed out into the humidity and heat going north, away from the ocean, and then looped around Poipu, coming in along Poipu Beach towards the condo.
The weather was crazy again-there were high surf warnings discouraging inexperienced swimmers and children from going in the water. This of course brought out the crazy boogie boarders. We sat down on some rocks near a little inlet beach not far from the condo. We watched the boarders get smashed around by the waves, which was pretty entertaining. As we were watching, we noticed the silhouette of a sea turtle in the waves just beyond the boogie boarders.
This was very exciting! Every night when I had spoken to Caitey, she asked me if I had seen whales, dolphins, or sea turtles. I explained that it was the wrong time of the year for whales, but that I was hoping to see dolphins or sea turtles. The night before our walk, I sat out on our lanai for 2 1/2 hours hoping and praying that God would bring some dolphins my way, but hadn’t seen any.
We watched the dolphin ride the waves for a few more minutes, and then continued our walk. As we were going, we noticed there were more sea turtles, and they almost seemed to be following us along the coast. They stopped at another little inlet, only this one was much closer to the road and was rocky (so there were no boarders). We realized there were three turtles. At that moment, I realized that God answered my prayer to see some sea life. Very exciting! Phil mentioned that sometimes God answers our prayers in unexpected ways, like sending these turtles instead of the dolphins I was hoping for.
I agreed that God answered my prayer in an unexpected way, and mentally said to myself, “But I’m still hoping for those dolphins!” Right at that moment, I looked out on the ocean past the turtles and saw some dolphins jumping in and out of the waves! It was so evident to me at that moment that God was sending me turtles AND dolphins! He was so kind to meet me at that moment and share His creation with me just so I could share what I had seen with Caitey.
Later that night we went down to the beach for a final swim in the ocean. We were sitting with our chairs turned to the west to watch the sunset. There was a rainstorm coming in from the east behind us. I turned back to look at the storm and there was a lovely rainbow arcing up over the palm trees and ocean. The sun was setting and turning the sky lovely shades of orange and pink. I glanced down at the water on our left, and there in the waves was another turtle! Right next to us on the beach. We ran down to the water a few feet away…and we were right next to that turtle. The Lord sent us another turtle for good measure-of all the space on that beach that turtle was right in front of us.
Although our last day in Kauai started out kind of funky, it ended up being my favorite day on the island.
Kauai Day 5 July 27, 2009
We headed west on Day 5, up towards Waimea Canyon. Initially, our goal was simply to get the best shave ice in Kauai. Jo-Jo’s Shave Ice in Waimea was our destination.
We ordered our shave (not shaved) ice. Phil ordered the Rainbow with ice cream, which was papaya, banana, and guava shave ice with macadamia nut ice cream on the bottom. I got the coconut combination, which was coconut shave ice, shredded coconut, and macadamia nut ice cream on the bottom. They were delicious, and worth the 45 minute drive!
We enjoyed our shave ice in the air conditioning of our jeep wrangler!
Delicious!
Since we were already almost there, we decided to drive on up to see the Waimea Canyon. It was well worth the drive!
On the way back down, we stopped by the Kauai Coffee Company on a whim. It was a great stop!
Sampling some wonderful coffee.
All in all it was a great day as we “adventured” around the west side of the island.
Kauai Day 4 July 27, 2009
Yesterday we headed to Gillin’s Beach. We went three miles down an unmarked dirt road (in our guidebook directions are given by the number of power poles along side the road). We came to a place where there were several cars parked, so we parked, too. We gathered our goodies and set out for the beach.
the start of the path to the beach
starting out on the path
moving further down the path into the jungle...
Can you see the blue peeking through the brush?
We must be close!
Perfect!
All to ourselves!
Kauai Day 3 July 25, 2009
Yesterday we slept in late for our bodies, but nice and early according to local time. We headed down to Poipu Beach, one of the beaches closest to our condo. We took our books, some snacks, and planned to relax next to the water. We were surprised by the color of the sand. It was very orange. We headed out into the water. Right away, we saw a crab as big as Phil’s hand. He caught it, and we got some good video. It was a very red crab, which surprised us-not very camouflaged. As we walked around, different fish swam around our feet. We saw some tiger fish, angel fish, and a lovely orange, striped fish.
Then we walked over to the tombolo, which is a sandbar that separates the two parts of the beach. Near the beach, it is narrow and sandy, but as we walked out, the lava rock emerged and was quite wide, revealing all kinds of tide pools to explore. We saw a spotted eel, which was much more snake-like than I had imagined (eww!), sea cucumbers, many small fish, and lots of urchins. We headed back to shore to read and eat some snacks. It was very relaxing, and just as we were headed out, a monk seal swam up near the tombolo. He was very big, and everyone on the beach was focused on him. He was gone before we could get a picture.
After enjoying our time at the beach, we headed back to the condo to rest and have lunch (whew…laying on a beach is tiring work!). We then headed out on an adventure. We decided we wanted to find a less populated beach, so we headed down a dirt road to see what we could find. After lots of potholes, ruts, mud, and rocks (remember….there was a huge rainstorm just the day before), we found a gorgeous open beach called Gillin’s Beach, where we will venture today.
Once we made it back to pavement, we headed up to Kapa’a to enjoy dinner at Scotty’s Restaurant. The owners are good friends with friends of ours back home. Our friends arranged for us to have the best table in the house and blessed us with a gift certificate. The food was amazing, service was good, and the view was beautiful.
The restaurant is on the second story, and is open air. The back of the building has garage doors instead of walls, and they were open while we were there.
