Brown Grass, Green Weeds, and Moi.

My lawn is brown.

My weeds, however, are a lush, vibrant green.


I am sure that there is some spiritual lesson to be learned from this. I find that anything, no matter how small, can be used to illustrate something God is doing.

At first, I thought about the parable of the Seeds. You know, the ones that fell on bare ground and the birds ate them, etc. But there was no mention of weeds. Just thorns choking the good plants. These li'l boogers aren't choking anything, although they may be taking the underground water from the grass. But I think that weeds are the plants that survive with less water than grass.

So then I thought, maybe I should be a weed. I'd be thriving in the desert, you know?

Nah. I'm pretty sure God doesn't want me to be a weed.

So I asked Charming, and he had a pretty good answer, something like "sin is pleasant for a season," and "don't be envious of the [weeds] while they have the upper hand. Eventually, the grass [God] will win out."

I thought that was worth pondering. Some people are thriving in this economy. The facebook guy who is now a billionaire--what did he actually *do?* He didn't make a product. You can't even physically touch what he did. But he's a billionaire? **

The economy has been poor for what, four or five years now? Charming is still working very hard at a job which makes $20K less that five years ago. I've tried to get a job, but being out of the market for 17+ years doesn't put you at the top of anybody's stack of resumes.

But God.

I've heard a sermon by that name. But God. God has not changed. He is still on the throne. He is still in charge, no matter what things look like. He is in charge of the rain, which is what will give grass the upper hand, not the weeds. But there is nothing we can do to change the situation ourselves.

So, the "weeds" are ahead, or so it looks. That's okay, I'm not looking to the world to provide. I'm looking to the Maker of the grass. And the weeds. And waiting for His time. I went to the production of Doorway to Narnia: Aslan by His Other Name last weekend. So maybe it's always-winter-never-Christmas right now. But Aslan is "on the move" and Spring is coming.

Lord, send the Rain--we need it so. And thank You for lessons I can learn, even before then.

**I in no way am making a comment on anyone's salvation or lack thereof by my comments.

What I've been doing.

Finally! Will this week be normal?

I got out of school on May 4, with dreams and plans of so many things: organizing my fabric (and my craft room), getting rid of tons of clutter, reading a couple of  books on my "never get to it" list, and possibly, possibly, beginning something on my bucket list, including learning the fiddle, learning Spencerian penmanship, learning to draw (just a little!).

Well, since May 4, I have been: Making Costumes.

The company that Norah danced with this year is a small one, so no large costume budget. The director, Kimberly, got a vision of bringing The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe to life through dance, and it really turned into a Large Thing. Kimberly asked for sewing volunteers. I told her I would do anything but didn't want to do the animal costumes. Though standard dance fabrics of velvet, satin, and chiffon are difficult to sew with, as well. Give me good ol' quilting cotton any day of the week!

Because I seemed to be the most experienced sewist, I was assigned Aslan's pants (super-easy, I've done dozens of pj pants), Father Christmas's coat, and four satin coronation capes for the Pevensies. Along the way, other moms bailed, either from lack of experience, or whatever, and I ended up doing about fourteen pieces. And then there was the altering/adjusting. During Production Week, it seemed that everytime one of the kids put on a costume, it was too long/too big/ripped. So I (and other moms I dragged into it) sat for hours, sewing and repairing.

Even during the last two days (and up to 20 minutes before the performance, LITERALLY) we sewed animal legs (we sewed Oreius the centaur practically into his costume!) Let me tell ya', those digitigrade legs are something else:





(examples of digitigrade legs--not the ones we made)

The performance was last Saturday night. It was....Magical. Susan played a Tree Nymph, and one of Aslan's entourage of Big Cats. The masks were made by local artists in the style of The Lion King Live.



Blackeyed Susan (center) as the Tree Nymph



Susan (far right) as the Sumatran Tiger

So. That is what I have been doing for a month. Sunday I cooked an entire 10 lb. bag of chicken leg quarters, and Monday night we had leftovers with baked beans, green beans, and potato chips. Because I didn't do much else Monday (yesterday). I "hit the wall."

This morning (Tuesday) I am feeling much better. It's a good thing. I need a day to find my house, and then start on a kid quilt for my beautiful grandbaby who is turning two in nine days. (I can do a kid quilt easily in a week, so don't worry.) She likes Horsies and Monkeys and Princesses.

Piece o' cake. After all, I've made digitigrade legs.



Aslan and four of my grands

Aslan and Susan