for Pinky Marie.

(thinking about listening to this on the radio in our bedroom with my sweet sister...)

[and, hey, you still need to teach me the Mashed Potato.]

Beautiful Thoughts (borrowed)

I'm going to take a hint from Auntie Leila and link to Little Jenny Wren for a beautiful post about enjoying and really noticing the small things in our daily life that are productive, but also creative.

Enjoy!

Little Jenny Wren: Truth, Beauty, and Goodness

Hectic Weekend

Things were turned upside down pretty quickly on Saturday morning when Tiger Lily (not quite four weeks old) fell out of her stroller and landed on her head. On concrete.

Forget-me-not and her hubby had just arrived at a day-long Christian music fest. Prayers were going throughout the stadium (there were lots of people who belong to our very-large church there, so word spread very quickly) throughout the day. The first CT scan showed slight bleeding in the brain, so she was transferred from the downtown hospital to another with a pediatric ICU. Good signs were that Tiger Lily never lost consciousness, and as soon as they allowed her, guzzled four ounces of milk. Three doctors saw her during the next hours, and concurred that the swelling was not between the brain and the skull, but between the skull and the scalp. (think of a giant bump-on-the-head). She did sustain a small skull fracture. I was amazed at how many of my friends have children that sustained a skull fracture in early childhood, but they all assured me that Tiger Lily would be okay.

Sunday morning, another CT scan was done, and pronounced "stable." They removed all of the monitors, and transferred her to a regular peds room. She will stay another day or two, just to watch her, before she comes home.

Prayers are of course, appreciated. And we praise God for watching over our baby:

"For He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash your foot agains a stone." --Psalm 91:11-12

edited to add: Tiger Lily will be coming home at lunchtime, a full day early. Her swelling is greatly reduced. Praise the Lord!

Lainey Lou

Finally got a couple of good photos of Tiger Lily, though she was sleeping here:

(channeling her Auntie Janet with her red hair and purple outfit.)
Her first middle name is Laine, which is Charming's middle name. Lainey Lou is one of many nicknames she has fallen heir to. Eventually, I'm sure, one will "stick."

I took a few more photos, but couldn't seem to get one with "eyes open," so you'll have to wait to see their gorgeousness. At four-weeks-old-next-Monday, she is learning new things everyday.

Which is something we should all aspire to, eh?

Time Enough at Last

[title credit to the Twilight Zone episode of the same name.]

I'm reading the book The Gift of a Year by Mira Kirshenbaum. She says something early in the book that seemed quite profound to me:

"Time isn't our enemy. It's our home."

God has seen fit to set our lives in Time. It looked pretty simple at the beginning:

"And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and for years." Genesis 1:14

In our twenty-first century world, Time can seem like an enemy. We scramble through our days, trying to get our tasks done before they bury us. We think it's bad when our children are little--too little sleep, too many "drudge-y" tasks. Every day looks the same: wake-up (change diapers), breakfast, lunch, naptime, supper, bedtime. Whew, made it through another day.

When my children were little, my dear mother and mother-in-love both told me something that, though I "believed" true (because they said so), but could not possibly apprehend. "This is the easiest time you'll have while raising children."

Those of you out of the infant/toddler/preschool age know what that means. Besides the unending running here and there of school-age children, there is the Worry Factor. We can expend a lot of time worrying, right? My mother-in-love Queen Darl says, "raising children is easier when they are all at home, tucked in bed at night."

Add to the problem Technology. When I was growing up in the '60's, they spoke of the 21st century as a time when technology would make life so easy, people would be working 20-hour weeks, and our biggest problem would be figuring out what to do with all our free time.

Still waiting for that one.

The more technology, the more time taken up. (and more $$$, too!) Cellphones are wonderful. We can reach and be reached if needed. Queen Darl thinks I'm nuts to have one: "I used to love to get in the car and do the weekly shopping. No one could reach me for two hours!" Not so today, right?

Well, I have good news for you. This is something I truly, truly believe, but if you think I live Here, not so much, yet:

God has given you enough time to do everything He wants you to do.

Including, getting enough sleep. Enough time for you and your husband. Even some time for you.

Think about that for awhile. We'll talk again later.

Oh, Happy Day...

I realize that I haven't posted for way, way too long. Our sweet granddaughter was born the day after Father's Day. Eight pounds, two ounces. They measured her at 22 inches, but at her one-week checkup, she measured 19 inches. The office nurse explained that they sometimes don't take an accurate measure, and "estimate." Three inches???

She has a headful of dark red hair. Here on the blog, I'm going to call her Tiger Lily.

As is my custom, I made her a baby quilt:
The feature fabric was Cicely Mary Barker's "Flower Fairies:"

Tiger Lily is doing very well, getting accustomed to the world. So, so cuddly and sweet. It is such a blessing that she lives just five minutes from her grandma.

Here is a quickie, big-squared, tied quilt that I made in time for the Fourth:

I call it my Happy Day quilt, because the colors make me happy to look at them. A lot of light blues and bright reds, with a few darker blues to make it interesting.

[here is the fabric that was the inspiration for the quilt. Doesn't it make *you* happy?]

Notice the binding. I made it from teeny gingham checks, cut on the bias. I have used this binding four or five times in the past. I think it's my favorite ;)

Per my resolution made a couple of years ago, I'm trying to use up my Enormous Stash. I was able to use up three large pieces of fabric for the backing.

I have lots of things to say, marinatin' around in my head. So expect to hear more from me in the days to come.

Here's hoping you have a Happy Day!