Sewing Projects and Celebrations

 

How happy sunshine makes the world!

We had some snow and rain this week, but a warm front has melted it all, and I don't expect we'll get any more snow this year. Yay for Spring!

I took the kids to Fulton to visit the Churchill Museum a couple of weeks ago. It was a cold but neat little trip. There are several paintings that Churchill painted in a little gallery there. There's a piece of the Berlin Wall set up on the grounds (Harrison didn't like that they cut figures out of it.... to make it more of a sculpture, I guess). The museum is on the campus of Westminster College. The president of that college really wanted Winston Churchill to visit his campus and make a speech. The president had a friend in the White House who got a letter in front of President Truman asking Churchill to come visit. Truman added a postscript to the letter saying he hoped Churchill could come, and if he did, he'd introduce him. 

Well, from that humble invitation (Westminster College in Fulton is by no means a huge institution), Winston Churchill visited Missouri and gave his famous "Iron Curtain" speech. Years later, Ronald Reagan visited that campus and also gave a speech dedicating the Berlin Wall sculpture, and Phillip and his mom were in the crowd to listen! 

Another neat feature at the museum is St. Mary's Church that was shipped over from London in 1965. It was built somewhere in the 1200's. It was burned twice: once in the Great Fire of London and once when the Germans bombed it during WWII. They are currently restoring it, so it's off limits, but the docent offered to take us in there as long as we wouldn't be in the way of anyone working. 

I wish I could have spent a whole lot more time in there! But I didn't want to take up too much of the docent's time. He didn't offer much in the way of a tour, but he answered in detail every question I asked, which made me think he had a whole lot more to share if I could just keep asking questions. Shakespeare had been to that church several times. Unfortunately, nothing but a stone staircase remain from the time he would have been inside the church. So while it would be neat to say that we were inside a church that Shakespeare was also within..... I really can't say that. (Although that sets one to thinking ~ does a building embody the same building even if just about every physical part of it has been replaced and that building has also moved locations?) Perhaps I can say that we were nearby a stone staircase which Shakespeare was also nearby. I will definitely go back and get a full tour of that church one day. Maybe go for some kind of service where I can hear them play the massive organ.

Phoebe and I are in nursery together one Sunday a month. Love these little ones!

Paul celebrated his 88th birthday. We went over for lunch and cake. 

Paul is a generous, hardworking man. I admire him greatly. He picks up Harrison anytime we call so H can ride his bike around town. Harrison will be learning how to drive this year! That's unbelievable. But for now, bike riding is his only solo transportation. 

Phoebe and I worked on the last piece of the quilt this past month ~ the binding. She machine sewed it onto the front side, and we hand-stitched it onto the back. I love the hand-stitching part of quilting. It's so satisfying.

Completed! 

She said she's gonna break it in so it's ready for her baby one day. I really enjoyed all of this project!

Harrison is doing Biology for science this year. He will be dissecting four different things over the next term. Right here he's dissecting a sheep brain. I have to say..... it's pretty cool. Last term they had him do a blood kit to find his blood type. Again, how cool is that? He and I have the same blood type.

  Home Science Tools has just about everything you need for homeschool science, and the prices seem reasonable. 

Lanaya Elizabeth sent me a picture of her trying to entertain a baby to keep her from crawling up the stairs at church. She's also been helping in nursery at her church. 

Jonathan went with a friend to visit an Arboretum there in Florida. 

Those sunny pictures..... So jealous. Not that I want that hot weather all the time. He gets jealous of our snow pictures, so.... it just goes to show that you just have to be happy with what you're given. 

Jonathan interviewed at the same church in Boise that Liz and Amos are at. And he found out this week that he was accepted into their year-long residency program. Hurrah! So it looks like he'll be heading to Boise toward the end of August. 

Most of our current cats. 

I believe we have seven right now. Unless we lost some in the cold a few weeks ago, and I just don't realize it yet.

This cat is the craziest looking thing. We call him Rochester and he's so fluffy! He looks like a scraggly pirate. 

And Phillip is back at work this week. His first day back was Friday, and he really got through the day quite well. It's been 5 1/2 months since the beginning of all this pancreatic stuff. He took a turn for the better in February. He had those stents removed in January, and then had a pretty bad week of pains and sleeping and not eating much. And after that week, he just started doing better and better. He now can eat just about anything without it bothering him. He is feeling stronger and has more energy. He lost about 65 pounds and a lot of muscle mass. That will take some time to get back. But we seem to be at the other end of the tunnel, and for that, we thank God!

Lanaya Elizabeth Visits and Takes Phoebe's Senior Pictures

A visit from our oldest! 

We were so glad she made the time to come spend with us while Amos was away at a conference. I didn't get many pictures, but we had quite a pleasant time with her here.

We played games (she kills at SET), watched movies, visited with Mimi and Papa, went to church together..... She did lots of knitting. :-) She's working on a wrap for her friend and also on a new summer top pattern. The process of coming up with a new pattern and getting it vetted by outside testers is fascinating to hear about. 

On Sunday night Phoebe and Harrison went to the youth group Super Bowl party in town, and Phillip, Liz and I stayed home and watched the Super Bowl for the first time in a very long time. I went to town to get snacks, and then we watched a very low-key game and half-time. Even though it wasn't super thrilling, I thought it was a very good evening at home participating in a nationwide pastime ~ kind of anthropological.

Lanaya Elizabeth used her awesome photography skills (and Amos' very nice camera) to take Phoebe's senior pictures. 

I'm glad we have so many cats around for props. Phoebe is our resident animal wrangler. She knows how to tame them and they love her.

One of her favorite poems is "Ozymandias" by Percy Bysshe Shelley:

I met a traveller from an antique land

Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,

Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:

And on the pedestal these words appear:

"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:

Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"

No thing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Phoebe painted this still life last year following a Udemy class. Her artistic streak runs deep. She sees things and understands things on a visceral level that I can't comprehend. 

We've had good discussions this year about books she's read for school - Crime and Punishment and Till We Have Faces - and she makes connections and communicates them in a way that amazes me because they go beyond what my brain connects. 

She's an old soul who loves antiques.

We had to keep some of her crazy expressions because they're so classically her. 

Hand sewing is a favorite pastime.

Proud of you, Phoebe! Congratulations on your senior year!

A vibrant winter sunrise.

 

January Lasts Forever

I keep seeing memes about how long January feels. And it's true. But this afternoon I was sitting near our living room window with the sun shining on my face while I drank hot tea and read books, and I was loving it. So while I do look forward to warm weather, I really enjoy these cozy days too.

Jonathan and Harrison went to Mark Twain Lake for some hiking. 

New Years Eve. 

The friend group had a great time (though Phoebe thinks Jon opened the sparkling grape juice too soon because it was all gone before midnight). A couple of boys from Callao came over and brought the youth group vehicle which happened to be a limousine, and they had a good time driving around in that. I love these kids. They have been such great friends for Jon and Phoebe. 

John and Kristy, Mimi and Papa, and Aunt Anita came over for a Christmas lunch the weekend following Christmas. We had a great time talking with them! Although Phillip was so tired ~ he went to bed at 5:30ish and slept until the next morning. 

We celebrated Phillip's 50th birthday! 

Can't believe it. 40 I can understand. For some reason 50 is hard to comprehend.

Phoebe and I are working on this mini quilt for part of her Home Ec credit. I enjoyed the hand quilting part immensely! Another cozy activity to do while watching TV in the evenings. 

Amos and Lanaya Elizabeth were in Oklahoma over Christmas time. 

She knit this adorable sweater for one of Amos' nephews.

Laying in bed in the evenings talking about silly stuff. Or important stuff. 

One night Phoebe and I got into rating the top 5 most handsome Presidents (going off of their younger years). We decided it goes:

1. Ronald Reagan (duh)

2. Franklin Pierce (who knows anything about this guy?)

3. James Garfield (gotta love a good beard; and he was a preacher before Prez!)

4. George W Bush 

5. John F Kennedy (this was Phoebe's choice; I wouldn't have picked him based on his younger years)

Advance gave Jonathan and some other students the opportunity to preach at the Florida Bible Conference. He really did a great job!

If it gets close to 32º, I try to walk. 

The unsuspecting thing about having above freezing weather after having below 0º weather, is that you expect it to be warm outside. Like, after it being so cold that you absolutely can't go outside without all the accoutrements, you start to think it'll be so warm that you can run out there without shoes or your coat and you'll be just fine. And you're really not. It's still cold.

Speaking of cold....

We still have snow (more like ice really) even though it got up to 44º the other day. Harrison is working on an igloo. 

We are renovating the auditorium at church. It's crazy to see it torn apart like this! The pews are being re-done offsite. The stage will be larger and the front will look different. We'll have new lighting and new paint and I believe the carpet will be taken up and we'll have the original wooden floors with carpet runners down the aisles. I'm excited to see it!

Phillip has missed his last two or three communion meditations being down with pancreatitis stuff. But today he did it! His stents were taken out the week before last, so he has no foreign parts inside him now. That procedure took him out for several days, but he came back around. He's lost a lot of weight and a little hair. He's still tired a lot, but he can have some good days too. You kind of have to look back at the previous month to see that there's definitely been progress, but there definitely has been progress.

 

Home for the Holidays

We have been spending lots of cozy time at home, but what a blessing to be home for the holidays!

Jonathan went to Jacksonville and spent Thanksgiving with the McFerrins and Gradys, some good friends from our time there. It's so nice he has some familiarity for a holiday.

He also had lunch with a childhood friend (David) from one of the neighborhoods. 

(David is in the orange shirt in this adorable picture; actually I think he's in the blue shirt. He and his brother looked a lot alike back then. Maybe they still do.)

As for the rest of us, we had a quiet Thanksgiving at home with just us. Phillip was just a couple weeks back from the hospital, and it was too much to go anywhere or have anyone over. 

The preacher boys all preached one Sunday night. They were all so good. So sincere, preaching the truth, reading the Scripture, these young men feeding us adults God's Word. I am so grateful. 

Phillip's been to church twice (this was the first time), and it has wiped him out both times. But it was neat for both of us to be there to hear Harrison preach. 

And somewhere in there Phillip ended up back in the hospital for a couple of nights. They were saying he needed to be transferred to BJC in St. Louis in case there was a problem with the stents. But then a doctor breezed in Saturday afternoon and said, "You're numbers are looking great!" He picked up the lid from his lunch. "Looks like you're eating well. I think you can go home tomorrow." And I said, "Can he go home today?" And he said, "If you feel comfortable and well enough, sure!"

And after all those antibiotics, he felt the best he's felt since this all started. At least for a few days. He's very up and down health-wise, but generally on the healing path. I took a picture of the lighted trees lining the roads to the Hannibal hospital. It was really a pretty sight at night. None of the pictures I took captured it well. I'm so appreciative of the beauty some people put effort and money into.

We drove to Columbia with Paul to see Galen's son Gregory along with his wife and son. It was so nice to meet them! 

Paul with Gregory and little Eric. 

I saw John's sons Jay and Zane over Thanksgiving when Harrison and I went to Uncle Lee's continuing dinner at the Junction (Lee's son Eric is continuing the tradition now that Lee is gone). And Galen's daughter Alicia was here earlier this year. So I have seen all of Phillip's nieces and nephews this year! (Except, of course, for Galen's son Eric who passed away in a car accident some years ago.)  We haven't seen most of them in many years. 

Phoebe and sleeping baby in the nursery. She kept hugging him and saying, "He's so warm!"

Winter puzzle finished before Jon got home.

Harrison and I at Pizza Hut going to pick Jon up from the airport.

The kids got the tree up and decorated, pretty much by themselves. 

We went to half of the lighted Christmas parade. It rained the last half, so we hightailed it home.

The preacher boys sang Christmas carols at King's Daughters nursing home.

The kids have been playing Minecraft together on Christmas break. We Face-timed Lanaya Elizabeth, but the only picture was a very blurry one of her bangs. She and Amos are heading to Oklahoma for Christmas.

Matthew has been having friends over to camp out in the cold in the cabin he built. Harrison has gone two or three times now and has a good time. I'm always glad to get a picture of them surviving. 

More puzzles! These are a lot of fun. They get done quick.

Christmas Eve started with Phillip reading the Nativity story from the Bible, starting "In the beginning" and going all the way through to Him "growing in favor with God and man."

The kids opened up their stocking gifts. 

Then we had hot cocoa and watched the new "Best Christmas Pageant Ever." Can't get through that without some tears!

Christmas morning ~ opening all the gifts under the tree! The kids all bought gifts for each other. Lanaya Elizabeth received her package of gifts from all of us and had opened them already. (I wasn't sure it would get to her in time; so I was so glad to hear that it did!)

Phoebe gave some money to Harrison to use on Robux, and she wrapped $5 worth of quarters individually so that he'd have to unwrap them all. I'm not sure who got the worse end of the deal though ~ the one who wrapped or the one who opened. :-) 

Mimi and Papa came over with half the meal for Christmas lunch. We tried to keep it mostly low-fat for Phillip, but it was still really yummy!

And so we continue. We love having Jonathan home. It's been just a real good time being kind of homebound without feeling we need to (or can) go to a bunch of outside activities. 

Merry Christmas!