New Year's Hymn

We sang this hymn today in church. It was traditionally part of the New Year's Eve service in years past (we no longer have that service). Anyway, the words are good, real good, so I thought I would share them:

Peace, perfect peace, in this dark world of sin?
The blood of Jesus whispers peace within.

Peace, perfect peace, by thronging duties pressed?
To do the will of Jesus, this is rest.

Peace, perfect peace, with sorrows surging round?
On Jesus' bosom naught but calm is found.

Peace, perfect peace, with loved ones far away?
In Jesus' keeping we are safe, and they.

Peace, perfect peace, our future all unknown?
Jesus we know, and He is on the throne.

It is enough: earth's struggles soon shall cease,
And Jesus call us to heaven's perfect peace.

Edward H. Bickersteth, 1875

To all my readers, I wish you a Very Happy 2007.

Our new "pet"

You may recall that I have this dream of raising Alpacas as a family business with my children. Well, my folks gave me my very first Alpaca for Christmas. I've decided to name her "Felice". I had thought of calling her "Fleece Navidad" but thought that might be a little too corny. She is a very good "pet," since no one has to clean up after or feed her and she is only about a fifth the size of a live one. At least her fleece is real and oh, so soft!

*

The Night Before Christmas, I was stirring...

I had a really lovely day, Christmas Eve. I was blessed to share a good portion of the day in the company of some close friends at my kitchen table over some brunch. Perhaps the two cups of coffee I drank with my Bavarian Cream Puff as evening approached are why I am awake right now. Or perhaps it is because my bedroom is aglow with the Christmas lights outside and so I don't have the usual degree of darkness which I prefer for sleeping. Maybe it's the little tiny Prettiness who is sleeping in the very center of my bed, perpendicular to me, feet poking my side. Or maybe I just can not quiet my mind. Too many sugar plums dancing.

So instead of lying in bed awake, I decided to get up, have a little snack and read a chapter or two from Andree Seu's, Won't Let You Go Unless You Bless Me. I just read the essay entitled, "Omega Point, What are we working for?" and thought particularly of two brothers I know. For them and the rest of you, I want to share this excerpt. I found it quite meaningful and heartening as well. The essay begins:

Sometimes, in mid-footfall, I get confused: am I rushing about my work so that I can eat, or am I eating so that I can work? All this striving, where does it tend to, where is the payoff, the "meaning"? "All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; ...All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied" (Ecclesiastes 1:7; 6:7). Thus the intellectual pursuit of fractions of seconds at traffic lights, or while removing lint from the dryer lint trap. And then I submerge again beneath the surface of thought into the vortex of quotidian events. Till next time.

***

All this was grievous to me until I considered...
A man in the Russian Gulag had had enough. He decided he'd carried his last stone from pile A to pile B for his tormentors in this Sisyphean farce. He laid himself down to await execution by shovel blade. Just then a fellow prisoner sidled up and, wordless, traced the shape of a cross in the dust; walked away. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn then gathered himself together and scooped up another rock- this time knowing why.
The rest is history.
"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation," quoth Henry David Thoreau. But I know a better quote: Malcolm Muggeridge said the happiest person in the world is the woman who sweeps out her house to the glory of God. She is not aware of the grievousness of her days because she has transcended them with knowledge; she has "overcome" and will receive the hidden manna and also a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to her (Revelation 2:17).

... "Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain" (1 Corinthians 15:58).
Scene 1: Willy Loman, working for Willy Loman, walks in, stage right, carrying two large sample cases: The Death of a Salesman.
Or imagine: Willy Loman, working for Jesus now, walks in, stage right, carrying two large sample cases: new play.

The whole collection of essays is definitely worth reading, and it's quite a small book, unfortunately, but it is meaty. While I have nothing more to add to her words, I will leave you with this seasonal message:

"Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased." (Luke 2:14)

Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas.

Ta Da!

The dress that had been consuming all my free time and creative energies (hence no new posts) is finished and much to my great satisfaction, also was an apparent hit at the Christmas party. Merci bien! MK, for letting me put these up! You rook mahvelous!



Okay, so about the dress. MK was inspired to have one similar to one she saw at Anthropologie. I developed a pattern, made a mock-up and once I established a good fit, we decided to raise the waistline a bit in front and remove the skirt gathers at center front to make it more flattering. The fashion fabric is a white taffeta flocked with black velveteen and the sash is black cotton velveteen cut on the bias and hand stitched in place. I underlined the fashion fabric of the bodice with white silk organza to give it more structure and less transparency in the white areas. The bodice is also supported with boning along all the seam lines except center back where there is an "invisible" black zipper. The dress is fully lined in white to maintain the "whiteness" of the taffeta. Because I was working with a limited amount of fabric that MK had purchased prior to the designing of the dress, I chose to add a black point d'esprit petticoat layer to give the dress a little more length and oomph. I'm especially proud of the motif matching I was able to achieve considering the limited yardage and a few fabric flaws I had to work around.
MK purchased the shrug and then doctored it up a bit with her crochet genius. She also made her beautiful choker and handbag! I expect this won't be the last time we combine our creative talents...

Juror #0

A few weeks ago I received notice that I had been selected for jury duty. And I know it's my civic duty and all that, but really, it's completely impractical for me at this point in my life. I filled out the form with my reasons why I couldn't do it (single-homeschooling-mom of 3 and jury duty would disrupt my children's education and providing childcare for them would be very difficult for me, etc), and today I was relieved to see that I have been excused......this time.

fire and ice cream

USECAUTION

IN THE INTEREST OF SAFETY IT IS ADVISABLE TO KEEP JOYELLA AWAY FROM FIRE AND FLAMES.

Username:

From Go-Quiz.com

Your Icecream Flavour is...Neopolitan!

You aren't satisfied with just one flavor. They say variety is the spice of life and this shines through in your Ice cream of choice! Just don't eat all the chocolate and leave the strawberry and vanilla behind!

What is your Icecream Flavour?

Find out at Go Quiz

girls in white dresses with pink satin sashes

I actually made three of these little white eyelet dresses for the grand daughters of my neighbor for a family photo op. If my own daughter wasn't so particular about what she wears, I'd make her one too.

My most current project is a retro inspired cocktail dress for my dear friend MK. I'm hoping she'll let me post the finished results here. I'm making good progress with it, and it's a good thing since she'll be wearing it to a party on 16 December.

Also I have the hankering to make loads of p.j.'s which are another favorite garment of mine to make. They are quick and fun to wear. I found some extremely delicious fabric at WalMart (of all places) for a buck a yard! If I get my rear in gear and get them photographed before I ship them off and give them as presents, I will also post them here.

My sons have expressed an interest in learning how to sew, so I have begun to teach them the basics. They made some robes (with help) from fleece fabric they picked out.

Ebay bug

My sister likes shopping on ebay. I have on occasion tracked items and looked at prices and then become overwhelmed and just went to the store to find what I needed. But today I made my first ebay purchase. The boys and I have been watching some lego star wars minifigures and sets that they would like to add to their growing collection. I've lost several bids so far, and last night I thought I had lost, but today I was given a "second chance offer". Apparently the seller actually had two of the same set and offered it to me also as the second highest bidder. So I bought it, and K still thinks I lost so he will be pleasantly surprised when he opens the Emperor Palpatine and throne seat. The set we are most anxious about "winning" is the new and hard to get X-wing fighter with six minifigures: Leia, Chewy, Han, Luke, Antilles, and R2. I tried to order it from Lego.com and it is backordered until April. Which means it wouldn't even be on time for K's birthday.

This whole concept of "winning" (buying) and "losing" (not buying) is an interesting twist to shopping. It makes a game of shopping, and I can see how it becomes highly addictive and expensive. It's amazing what some people will pay for a 2 inch high piece of plastic, and by "some people" I mean myself.

How to make a Joyella

Ingredients: 5 parts friendliness 5 parts self-sufficiency 5 parts leadership

Method: Add to a cocktail shaker and mix vigorously. Top it off with a sprinkle of fitness and enjoy!

Username:

Personality cocktail
From Go-Quiz.com

"Sprinkle of fitness"? Yeah, right.

Back to the blogging board

I've just updated to the newest version of blogger and now I've noticed all my custumized elements have evaporated into cyberspace. I'm tweaking and tuning, so please be patient because I'm already overloaded with other non-computerish tasks to do the next few weeks. For some odd reason I can't get my comments with Haloscan to work here, so I'm back to blogger for now...

In other news, I have recently inherited a vintage, customizable dress form. I was so eager to try it, I nearly got myself stuck inside it's metal meshlike cage. It's meant to be put on, with help, and molded to one's shape, I of course, tried it on alone and found myself in a potentially very embarrassing predicament. But with persistence (and brief panic) I was able to shrug it back off.

4 Tagged (again)

MaryKate tagged me on this one, and I do believe I've done it before, but for those of you who are new or forgetful I'll give it another go.

Things You May Not Have Known About Me:
Four jobs I've had in my life:

1. nanny/ day care
   
2. school librarian
   
3. art teacher
4. freelance seamstress/custom clothier
   

Four movies I would (and do) watch over and over:

1. Amelie
2. Anne of Green Gables
   
3. Pride and Prejudice
   
4. It's a Wonderful Life
   

Four places I have lived:

1. Baltimore, MD
2. Timonium, MD
   
3. The Philippines
   
4. Chantilly, VA
   

Four TV shows I love (or would love) to watch:

1. Gilmore Girls
   
2. Smallville
   
3. Numb3rs
4. (I don't really watch t.v. so I don't even know what the shows are anymore....the 3 listed above are favorites from the past couple years, but I'm sure there are better, more interesting programs that I'll never see since I don't have cable and will have forgotten about them by the time the roll out on dvd.)
   

Four Places I have been on Vacation:

1. Estes Park, CO
   
2. Les 7 Laux, France
   
3. The Netherlands
   
4. North Carolina beaches
   

Four of my favorite foods:

1. waffles
2. most non-pudding related desserts especially if chocolate, fruit or nuts are involved
   
3. roasted meat and potatoes
   
4. cheese fondue
   

Four of my favorite books (a bit redundant from a previous quiz, but hey):

1. The Bible, God (and others)
   
2. Lord of the Rings, Tolkein
   
3. The Chronicles of Narnia, Lewis
   
4. Harry Potter, Rowling
   

I'm not passing this one on, since it's come around quite a bit in the blogosphere. Rest easy all you blog-friends :D

*Hey, I'm really excited that the new version of Blogger has a functioning spellcheck! Okay, now I've got no excuses.

Zen Mom

Are You a Slacker Mom?

Your quiz results make you a Zen Mom

How do you do it? Even when explosions are all around, you are able to take a deep cleansing breath and chant your mantra "this too shall pass." You are a calming influence on your kids in a hectic world.

Take this free personality test by Clicking Here>> or going to www.areyouaslackermom.com


That's progress, eh?

Art Glass

We had a field trip to McFadden Art Glass Gallery and Studio today. What fun! Here are some pictures, and check out the website. There will be an open house with live demonstrations and refreshments on November 17th and 18th check out their website for more details. Tim makes all kinds of fabulous glass things. We happened to witness him make an ornament, bowl, pumpkin, flower and a fish today.

I love an opportunity to spread the word about local artists (especially if I think they are talented) and Tim McFadden is also the nephew of a good friend of mine, so I'm happy to give him a little free publicity here at snippets. Also availble, see the website, are classes, make-your-own-workshops, and lots of cool stuff for sale.

Too Much Chocolate

I guess I ate too much chocolate or possibly it's the chocolate covered espresso beans I ate that my sister sent me that are keeping me up, so I thought I'd make a post-birthday post.

I'm thirty-four now. I'll probably not have to tell anyone my age for many months and by then I will have forgotten my age and have to do math. It was a good day. I took us out for breakfast, part of my present to myself to have a hot breakfast without the dirty dishes. Afterward, I drove home the long way to admire the morning sun rays shining through the golden foliage.

This is my most very favorite time of year. Yesterday we were wearing shorts and t-shirts, today it was back to corduroys and jackets. Something about fall makes me contemplative. I've been thinking about a lot of things, feeling somewhat overwhelmed with my life and honestly kind of sad today. I haven't felt sad for months, so I guess I'm due. I fell climbing over a baby gate on Sunday at a birthday party and badly bruised both my kneecaps, and the kids keep bumping them with themselves and various toys and I have forgotten and tried kneeling a few times. Ouch! Physical pain sometimes feels good in the midst of emotional gloominess. It gives me something tangible to be sad about. In the midst of my black and blue knees, I have much that I am thankful for, and it is focusing on these things that helps me to pull out of the shadows.
Today I am thankful for:

1. text messages that say Happy Birthday
2. Supercool birthday songs on my voice mail
3. bacon and french toast
4. apple pie
5. Mom
6. Dad
7. big sis
8. big bro
9. my kids
10. trees in vibrant hues of gold, crimson, orange
11. grilled cheese sandwiches
12. chocolate
13. emails
14. birthday wishes
15. lots of phone calls at dinner time (usually I don't like that)
16. faithful friends
17. nasturtiums
18. a comfortable bed
19. things to look forward to
20. the giggles and wiggles of L

I guess I was thinking mostly of tangible blessings, and there are some that just go without saying, like Jesus' saving work on the cross and resurrection, answers to prayers never spoken, and all of God's creation. There are more things but since that's a nice even twenty, I'll stop there.

Thanks friends and loved ones, for making this birthday Happier.

What's New Pussycat?

L turned 3 on Monday, and I celebrate my 34th birthday today! So wish me a happy birthday or send me some chocolate, the kids aren't sharing their Halloween candy.

Little Pumpkins

Did a little pumpkin carving on Saturday with the kiddos. K and D drew the faces for theirs and I carved them, easier said then done! The littlest one, I designed for L, she loves kitties. My mom told me she saw an article or something where the pumpkins were carved with wood carving tools (like the ones I have from doing wood block cuts and linoleum cuts for printmaking in college), so I dug them out of the closet and gave it a try. I only nearly cut off my finger twice, and only drew blood once, so I consider it a success.
Although you do still need to gut the seeds and goo, the cool thing about using these tools is you don't have to cut all the way through the pumpkin, just skim off some of the outer layer and then the candle glows through when lit inside.

Beater Lickin' Good

Best part of helping mom in the kitchen is getting to lick off the beaters.

Belly Flops and Belly Rolls

I was able to get out for a little fun recreation today. I took Light Rail down to Baltimore's Inner Harbor for Flug Tag today. For those of you unfamiliar (as I was), Flug Tag is an event where people create man-powered flying machines and test their abilities to fly....landing them in the harbor. Some were designed well for flying or at least, gliding down to the water gracefully and others were just fun to watch plummet, flop, or even get hung up on the side of the platform before going down.

Then this evening spent a few hours with some girlfriends learning how to belly dance. Just watch me figure 8, belly roll, chest pop, and shimmy. It was great fun. Our instructor first performed for us a dance where she balanced lit candles on a tray on her head. Later I learned she does the same dance with a sword! Now that would have been cool to see! But the candles were pretty impressive. Not sure when I'll have opportunity to put any of these new learned skills into practice, but it was entertaining and I think that I may have created a few new synapses in my brain because of it.

Ladies only

At the risk of giving TMI... Instead (?!) of wings and strings (or those horrible belts of the 50s). I just happened upon them today in the Target.

Yesterday L discovered a "lizard" in the living room. I figured she saw one of the plastic toy ones, but she was very excited about her discovery and was urgent that I come see it. So I checked it out and much to my surprise, there was a living salamander on my livingroom floor! It was a slender little black one covered with fuzz and lint from the carpet. How and why did it get inside? I gently picked it up (they are very delicate little amphibians) and set it free outside. It was happy (I assume) to return to the damp earth.


In other news, life has accelerated and it's been difficult to keep up the posts. Generally speaking, things are good, but very busy. I am behind on many mundane things like laundry (what's new here?) and dusting. Schooling is going well. Although as it is for many home school moms, it's always a challenge to accomplish everything I hope to in a day. I was reminded yesterday at a homeschool baseball game (K and D had their very first baseball playing experience and loved it) by one of the other moms about priorities. She was sharing how she gets stressed seeing the trees instead of the forest. She said her husband asks her, "Do the kids love Jesus? are they learning His word?" And while my kids have never actually said, "Mommy, I love Jesus," they remind me when I forget to read the Bible chapter in the morning. Another friend shared with our group at WOW yesterday about how hard it is to see the fruits of her labors as mother. That sometimes we don't see the evidence of our work until twenty years down the road when the kids have moved out and are competant adults. I think that often as stay-at-home mothers our noses are too close to the big picture. We need to take a few steps back to gain a more complete perspective. Do our children love God? Are they learning His Word? and Are we being the examples we should be to our children that they can witness God's love through Christ in our actions?

Yesterday, my daughter told me I am her hero. And while this filled me with motherly pride, it also reinforced my desire to be the mother she needs me to be (pointing her to the Ultimate Hero). It isn't an easy job, but it certainly is a worthwhile one.