Spring has come...

...as has Holy Week.  (Okay, I know it is Easter, but I started this post last week...)  

We are reading through the events of Holy Week together, but with a garden to be started and a baby to prepare for (and I'm talking basic preparations like finding him/her a place to sleep and finding some infant clothes - not fun sewing type preparations), and energy going into the nurturing of this wee babe who is readying him/herself to join us, there isn't much left for creative new Holy Week ideas.  So, I don't know that much (if anything will be posted here.)  I still have a couple ideas for projects I haven't totally given up on, so we will see if they can happen.

The word Lent comes from the Old English word Lencten, which comes from "to lengthen" and thus, was used to mean spring.  I think the discipline that has shaped me the most this year during Lent is watching our wee plot of ground come to life.  There were moments in the winter that I found myself dreaming of the mini-farm that we think of as our ideal home.  And in those moments I would look at our pathetic grass and city lot with a bit of sadness, but oh, spring has changed that as I've (for the first time) watched our dogwood blossom, the violets appear, the fruit trees and vines come to life, the forsythias shout 'spring' with their yellow radiance...  I had no idea how much life could appear on a quarter acre.  So meals have moved outside and our days are spent in the garden.

(Don't mind the coloring in a couple of these.  I have a new camera lens and was messing with the settings a to figure it out, which resulted in some odd color and less than perfect focus.)

Nature Prints on Clay

The boys and I used clay to make some nature prints last week.  Rowan and I were doing some gardening (he is really quite helpful and such a hard worker!)  I trimmed and he made a huge stack across the yard of all the clippings.  We had a basket and saved some of our favorite clippings to make prints in clay.  

I made holes in them and hung them by the nature table.

Snow Day! In May!

Well, I was all ready to write a post on the little green shoots in our garden today when I woke up to this...

SNOW!

And now, I'm just hoping that my little green shoots survive the day!  We had a fun snow day with some embroidery by wee hands, some painting, some Heidi reading, some cookie eating, and of course, some running around in the snow!

While the boys embroidered I finished off this snow child that I started back in winter and then was set aside while preparing for the move.  She wasn't supposed to be coming to Switzerland, but somehow missed the shipment to the states, so I tucked her in with my craft supplies and was glad today that I had a snow child to celebrate this unexpected snow.

Unexpected indeed!  Yes, yesterday, my baby had no trousers and I was lathering sunscreen on my wee men (proof below) and now I'm watching flakes fall outside my window.

Uprooted. Replanted.

We left St. Andrews early one morning and flew to Geneva where we met my parents.  We then trained across switzerland to Lauterbrunnen where we spent a week on holiday (photos to come).   While we were there windstorms swept through the valley, leaving destruction in their wake.  Hay sheds collapsed, branches were strewn and a number of large trees were uprooted.  As I took a run around the valley the day after the storms I found myself staring at a large tree, roots up-stretched.  The week had been full of reflection on the place we just left and how we have grown in the past four years.  These last four years have been a rich time, a time when our vision of what living in the kingdom of God means has become a little bit clearer, and with that vision very practical ideas on how we long to live and minister have become a little clearer too.  But now, we are uprooted.  The week in Lauterbrunnen was lovely, but I also felt the pang of homelessness.  With uprooting there is a loss, for I do believe that it is community and place that reflect ourselves and help us to know who we are and what we are to do.

Then, early this week we traveled back toward Geneva and arrived at L'abri.  We spent the last couple days settling into our new home.  I was delighted to find an overrun terraced garden, and with my parent's help, we managed to get it ready for planting.  Oh, I've been longing for a proper garden the past few years, and peas, beans, parsley, chives, and greens are already safely planted (that is, safe if I can keep a certain two-year-old construction worker in his own corner of the garden).  More seed packets line my kitchen windowsill, a lovely row of possibilities. 

 As I've dug in the earth the last few days I've been joyful, feeling myself becoming attached to this place and this community in some small way.  There is a lot of growing to do, and I don't suppose the plants will be very large by the time we head off on our next (unknown) adventure, but it is good to be home in this place, putting down some little roots once more.  

With Gratitude for Autumn Walks

It has been a mild November, perfect for lots of Autumn walks.  These boys of mine need a walk every day or by the end of the day we are all feeling it.  That isn't to say there aren't exceptions, but it is true that the more time they've spent outside the happier they are (even if they would rather stay in and read a book - a daily occurrence... and sometimes a bit of a battle around here).

I've been so grateful for our walks the past couple weeks.  The colors, the smell and the crunch of Autumn are all so wonderful.  But, I've also been working really hard to just soak in these two 'big boys' of mine; their smiles, discoveries, sense of wonder, drive for adventure and sheer silliness at times. 

Giving Thanks: Autumn

My Bible study looked at Isaiah 40-44 this week and I came away reminded of how important it is to practice seeing and hearing God.  I thought of this space and my camera, because they are often instruments that make me slow down and recognize the beauty around me. 

I suppose right now I particularly need this.  We are busier than normal and I know that our routines are all about to shift with the entrance of our third little man.  We are also looking into the unknown.  After this year we have no idea where we will be or what life will look like.  And so, right now, it is good to be practicing seeing and hearing, because should life take unexpected and even difficult turns, this practice will hopefully prepare me.  It is easy to see God in the good things that happen in life, but much more difficult to understand where He is when things are out of sink.  

So this month I'm hoping to write some simple posts dedicated to seeing and hearing - dedicated to finding beauty in chaos - and dedicated to practicing gratitude.

Autumn Days::

The school room has this perfect little nook, that has become our nature space.  I always love the nature table best in Autumn.  The postcard hanging is from Jonah's godmother and is of St. Francis in honor of his feast day in October.  I of course love it because of the birds!  We have had some lovely autumn walks lately and the boys have enjoyed the coming of the dark (Mum isn't as sure about that), but they don't see darkness for the summer months, so rediscovering stars has been very exciting.

Last Weekend's visit to the Deer Park

Thanks Giving: Hikes, Heidi and Hot Chocolate

Day 19 - A November discipline of giving thanks each day

We enjoyed lots of hikes in the woods behind our Chalet and afterward we'd drink steaming mugs of hot chocolate (the real kind made with milk) and would read Heidi.  I had almost forgotten the story of Heidi and certainly forgot the religious dialog through the story.  I'm usually not a fan of 'preaching' in stories, but Heidi is well done and brought up some interesting discussions with Jonah.

As for the photos below, we went hiking (this day two boys, a camera and one fairly crazy mama hiking up a mountain) and found adventure, told stories and discovered wizard writing on logs  (wizard writing is one of my favorite discoveries from exploring the Fairy Woods behind my childhood home, so I was excited to share it with Jonah.)

Rowan on Daddy's back on another hike up the mountain to Villar

Thanks Giving: Snow

Day 18 - A November discipline of giving thanks each day

We took a train up into the mountains and powdery snow on our 'day off' at L'Abri.  It was such fun.  Jonah loved it (despite the fact that after making room for his snow trousers in our one bag we took, I forgot to put them on him this morning.)  Ski season hasn't started yet, so we were pretty much the only people up there, which made it all the more magical.  I miss snow and was so glad to play in it... or maybe I mostly wandered around with a camera, but either way it was fun. 

 Jim and Jonah hiked up this slope.  It was a lot of work and my favorite part was watching the snow that they knocked down roll in little balls making tracks (see photo below.)

So if I sent Christmas cards, which I don't normally (I wrote them, printed them and enveloped them the first two years of our marriage only to throw them away when spring came - thus I gave up) I might just have them made with this photo - could there be a more picturesque place on earth?  Oh, we love Switzerland!

Autumn Garlands Galore

 This past week our hands have been busy.  We've been collecting, cutting, tying, threading, and buttoning to make some autumn garlands to sprig up the house.  It is no secret that, while I'm very grateful for this spacious (to us) rented home, I detest the shiny white wallpaper that is in every room (except the oddly tiled bathrooms and kitchen, and that is another story).  How I wish we had Jim's large oil paintings to cover up large portions of the wall, but those didn't traverse the sea and I can't bring myself to spend money on buying prints, when we'll be back to real art in a year (or two).   So, I'm grateful for seasonal decor that covers large areas and brings the eye away from glaringly white and paisley wallpaper to something festive.

Garland #1 is a simple a pinecone garland made with pinecones and small strips of fabric tied to twine.  I saw (here on bending birches) and loved how natural it looked and the fact that Jonah and I could collect pinecones and throw it together in an afternoon.

 Garland #2 is truly going across a wall I have nothing to hang on are the felt leaves I stitched last year while nursing a wee babe.  We slipped a piece of paper in one each day with things we were thankful for on the thanksgiving tree, but this year I tied scraps of fabric on our seasons tree and really like it, so I decided that tying some branches together and hanging these as a garland might be fun.  I'm not sure if we'll tuck our thanksgiving thoughts in them or do something different this year.

 Garland #3 was inspired by the felt garlands in handmade home and Jonah's disappointment when a blow up ghost he was given last year got a hole when we first blew it up this year. For the garland, I made the ghost and cut out the bats and felt squares (the grey is from felted sweater scraps - same sweater I used to make the birthday elephants.)  Jonah drew some ghost faces and happily threaded the first bit of the garland.  I used orange wool yarn that I had a small piece of and it was a bit hard to thread.  If doing this with Jonah again I would use something thinner, maybe even embroidery floss.  But, I finished the project and hung it today.

Happy Autumn Days!