Finding time to finish

 This has been long winter, but apparently not long enough to do all the sewing I was hoping for.  These two outfits were cut out and started the first week of August.  I remember sewing the first half of them at the picnic table in the shade of the black walnut tree with chickens pecking at the little scraps of fabric and thread I'd drop.  Now it is all covered with snow so I'm back to sewing in the basement. The current season of my life however is not allowing for much sewing.  Since the week I started them in August these two outfits have been waiting for elastic and buttonholes, a simple task but not so simple to fit into my day.  But I've noticed how much the girls have grown over the winter and felt an immediate urgency to finish these and happy that a few free hours on Saturday allowed for it.

I'm thrilled how these turned out.  I've been hoarding this combination of liberty and linen, and Japanese fabrics for years and feel they will see many many wears.
 

I used a wing-needle stitch for pocket detail.

  

And shell buttons up the back.

The gray skirt is double layered

The red skirt has a large tuck around the hem.

The girls have out grown the matching totally and it is fun to see them wear the same outfit in their own special way.

The joy of sewing has been reignited so I'll be digging through my stash of favorite fabrics and aligning them with immediate clothing needs, all with the hope that a little free time with align in my favor. 

In other news Nanny just finished a handsome sweater for James, she has become a knitting pro and we are so lucky to be the recipients of her special gifts. 

Prayers for Polar

This is Polar, a 130 lb male Pyrenese, we brought him home last Friday to join us as a livestock guardian dog.  He is as sweet as he is fluffy and we fell in love with him in an instant.  But what we under estimated was his strength and the work it would take to get him adjusted to his new home.

So he joined us last Friday night and I was sure he would be happy and secure in the smaller goat pen.  By 8 am the next morning though he was gone!  When I discovered he was gone Paul had already left for the temple and the older boys were over an hour away at Paul's parents. Instantly I set Charlie in the high chair and put Clara in charge of him and George, then called to Maryanna to quickly throw on her coat and boots.  We ran into the woods calling for him but there was no response.

Not knowing what to do I instinctively called my mom, and cried, it was still very early in Utah but she got up, soothed me and let me let everything out that seemed to not be going right in my life at this time, the new dog running away was just the cracking point.  I was pacing the hay field still talking and crying when my senses came back to me, I was not properly dressed for the snow and I forgot Charlie was still in the high chair and I forgot to milk and goats and the cows and chickens were calling to be fed.  My mom promised to say prayers for Polar and reminded me to have faith in the impossible.

I completed all the animal care faster than I ever had before, pulled out my book of neighborhood #'s and starting making calls.  Again, they were here for me in an instant.  Someone came to watch the kids inside, there were two in cars circling nearby streets, one making calls to alert other neighbors and one with her dog back in the field and woods with me.  The breeder who only lives about 15 miles away came by also to help.  After a couple hours though he could be anywhere and there were hundreds and hundreds of acres of woods between us and his former home.

I did everything I knew to do, all before I could even get a hold of Paul on the phone, we made flyers and posted them at several locations, called animal control and drove miles calling his name.  It was hard to explain to Paul what happened, the dog just busted out of the pen and then forced open the gate.   It is also hard to describe how horrible we both felt, this poor dog was totally displaced.

For three days we kept praying and invited everyone we knew to pray for this wandering dog.  We spent hours wandering the woods and driving slowly down country roads.

We posted about him on facebook and craigslist and by Monday afternoon we had a few leads.  A jogger took a picture of what we thought to be him about 5 miles away, but it was another male Pyrenees, not Polar.  I slumped with discouragement and instantly heard a whisper "come on Alison, pull up your shoulders and exercise faith".  So I did and instead of heading home I suggested to Paul that we randomly stop by any home where we see someone outside.  A few more miles away there was someone getting out of his car and he said "yes!  that dog was here on Saturday but was too scared to come to me and ran into the woods".  We were encouraged but the reality was he could have gone miles since Saturday.  The next house was more promising, a man unloading woods said he saw him just that morning while he was trapping rabbits.  He drove with us back into his woods to show us where he was spotted and where he thought he may have run.  The man was very kind and even offered to put out some food and set up a camera to help in the rescue.

By now it was getting dark and it was time for dinner and family night.  Paul read to us from Gene R. Cook's book "Living by the Powers of Faith", we listened to the story of his scriptures being stolen somewhere in South America and weeks later being returned.  We prayed once again as a family, honestly I cannot count how many prayers were said for this dog.  Everyone was tucked in bed and Paul and I determined we were going to find him, we slipped out leaving James in charge.  It was cold and freezing rain so we geared up in insulated Carhartts, headlamps and Bog boots.  We drove slowly, stopped and got out where ever we felt like we should and kept calling for him.  I did not want to give up but Paul was scheduled to leave town the next day and I was obviously in need of some rest.  We went to bed still hoping for a miracle.

At 12:30 am I was woken up by the phone, it was our neighbor and Polar was just outside on his driveway, he had set off the driveway alarm.  We were over there in an instant but Polar was so scared and did not know us as his owners, we called to him in the dark and in the freezing rain and circled and searched around our neighbor's property but Polar stayed out of site from us.  We did this until 2:30 and soaked and freezing headed home for bed, we'd try again as soon as it was light.

At 7:00 am there was another call from our neighbor, Polar was spotted in the little vineyard on our property!  We jumped out of bed and Paul and I ran (and slipped on some ice) to secure the gates.  We finally had him locked in but he still would not come to us.  The breeder was heading out for the day but instantly made a detour to our home.  Her daughter was able to catch him and we had him back and this time secured inside a crate inside the goat pen.

I cannot describe the gratitude, relief, peace and comfort that followed, this was a miracle for our family.  We still have our work cut out for us and despite the emotional investment we've honestly had to ask our self if  it was right for this dog is to stay on our farm.

Paul fixed the pen door and we've secured all the fences and gates.  This dog will be on a short leash until he knows us and knows his place here.  The boys are doing a good job with him.

So far Polar likes William the most.  William checks on him several times a day and even took a little nap with him in the straw.

We are hoping he will bond to the sheep as they are most vunerable to predators.  So far though neither parties are very impressed.  But after the miracle of Polar's return, I am reminded with hard work and faith anything is possible.

And Archie our old faithful black lab is a good sport and looking more like a puppy next to Polar.

The other animals are not so sure, they are all on alert because honestly Polar does kind of look like a Polar bear.   So far though he has won the hearts of the humans so now I'm praying for it to work for all of us.

A month of birthdays

Starting with Peter, we've enjoyed a month of celebrating birthdays.  I was still in San Diego the day he turned 9 and miles away he reported to me, "it was fun and a little bit boring". To make up for a boring birthday he got to order this ski jump for the Haba marble run and also gathered with a few cousins for cake at Nanny and Poppy's house.  I may have missed the magic of his special day but it has allowed me to appreciate the everyday with him all the more, each time we have a joyful moment together I say "I forgot! it is your unbirthday today - Happy Unbirthday Peter"! 

George's birthday was up next.  This little cutie is now three and endured a whole morning of Henry crying because he still had more than a hundred days until it was his turn to open presents and blow out candles.

Maryanna and Peter each made him a little snowman sculpture because his favorite song is Once there was a Snowman and William helped sew and decorate this stuffed robot because his favorite bedtime stories always involve a robot.

 George is a jolly little guy, smiles and hugs come naturally for him.  I also love that he is at an age that he can now articulate what he really thinks, most the time it makes us all laugh, but he does not appreciate that and quickly shouts back "Stop laughing at me"! 

Two week after George's birthday Charlie turned from a baby to a 1 year old. This marks the end of a very challenging year for me, it seems I am just now finding my feet and I am just now getting enough sleep to really appreciate him.  Among all the children he and James share first place for fussiest baby.  Yes, Charles had me feeling like a first time mom all over again.  So with his birthday came much reflection, it was kind of like waking up from a foggy dream.

He is really starting to grow into himself, literally, he stuffs more food into his face than I can believe and it is a joy to feel his legs and tummy start to chunk out.

I experienced a small miracle the day before his birthday.  Paul was working on taxes and asked for the stack of vital records for our family.  We could not find Charlie's birth certificate so I called the county and it turned out there was no record of his birth.  Not sure what happened to it, I remember filling out the pink sheet required for filing it but since this was my first home birth I may have dropped the ball on actually mailing it out.  I was a little panicked about the situation, I was informed that we only had one year to get it filed before having to make an appeal to the State.  When I told the secretary at the county clerks office that he was turning 1 the very next day she hesitated then replied "bring it in in person before 2 pm today".

So in addition to an official birth certificate Charlie got a pair of walking shoes and his very own hand drum.  He's been banging on Paul's since Christmas so now they can drum together.

   

It seems just over night he joined in with the younger boys, they have their own little club of babbling and giggling that I can't always understand, it makes perfect sense to them and most of the time they enjoy playing together.

This is a very special little guy, he has much to teach me and I relish this time where he is still small enough to carry on my hip and sink kisses into his neck.

Finally came my birthday.  I turned a number that seems older than I should already be, I'm not averse to gaining years, I just wish my maturity could match it.  I woke up wondering why so often I still feel and act like an awkward teenager, I cried and asked myself, "when am I ever going to feel like a grown up"?

I was feeling cranky all morning until the kids presented their cards, then I finally melted into the joy celebrating a birthday.  William's especially touched me, he drew a picture of us watching the stars as we often do on the evenings we milk together.  

Though there were no planned parties, and our normal birthday traditions did not happen, these were good happy days to each be appreciated by the ones we love.

Up on our walls

Where so much of my fall and summer focus was spent out doors, winter has given me the chance to really "move in".  And having moved so many times in the last 15 years I have not been quick to hang pictures, in fact, most of the pictures I have put up have been in bubble wrap since we lived in Charlotte 8 years ago.  I share them here because I feel it is important to create spaces that invoke feeling, especially ones that remind us to bask in the richness of life.

This first piece is a needle point that Paul's mom completed in 1983.  She presented it to us a few months ago and said, "I feel like I made this for your home".  I feel the same way, it is as if it has always been up there, and when I see it I am amazed by her many skills and talents, and more importantly the continual love and care she offers.  

Paul's mom also created this Sesame Street Scene.  It was completed in 1980 for Paul as a child and then given back to him again shortly after James was born.  This is actually the one piece that has always been up on our walls, it has always shared the happy space where our littlest ones sleep.

These next two pieces were completed by Paul and I in 1984, we were in the same class that year and it is funny how both our mothers unwrapped them this past summer while cleaning out boxes in their basements.  They now hang together in our kitchen and I wonder of the blessing that our lives came together as well.  Can you guess who made which one?

Also new to our walls is this shirt I picked up from and an antique market in China.  While living there in 1997 I took a short break from teaching English in Guangzhou and backpacked with a few girl friends up to a remote rice terraced village in the mountains, the experience was surreal. The individuals who fed us and met with us all wore this specific dress as part of their ethnic tradition.  I cannot remember the name of the tribe or even the village or Provence we were in, but when I see this piece of clothing up on my wall I think of the adventures that were had, and more importantly, the connection I feel to a people so far away, both in distance and culture.

This next piece my mom found while we were cleaning out boxes in the barn.  Another needlework, she brought this one home from a trip to Switzerland many years ago.  I love the vibrant blue velvet background and that the wild flower bouquet reminds me of my Swiss heritage.

Sometimes it is hard to know how to fill a giant blank wall.  The presentation below was created on a very rainy day last fall when the kids were not use to spending the bulk of the day in doors.  

The original plan was to start a unit on the human body and paste cut outs of all the organs on top of our traced figures.  As I was proceeding with that idea however, someone called out, "wait, what about our spirit body? we first have to put down our spirits".  So I pulled out the watercolors and we each painted how our spirit was feeling on that day.  The lesson we came away with was that not one of them was the same, that we each are truly unique.  These figures turned out so happy that we had to have them up on the wall, we've enjoyed them for more than one season and only very recently taken down because the heat and dust from the wood stove weakened the tape. 

In its place we've created a large alphabet canvas.  It was made much like the kitchen verse from last year except instead of painted text we glued down letters cut from tissue paper.  

As much as I loved the colorful water colored figures up on the wall, this alphabet project was created with a very clear intention.  A few of the younger children who would like to write are struggling to do so, so, before anything else was layered upon this canvas I declared our intention in pencil and across its surface:  "for the joy, power and freedom of forming one's own thoughts into words".

That's it for now, I'll never be a fine art collector but I'm already dreaming up creative ways to display more useful information for our little homeschool here.  Because if it's going to be put up on the wall and something we have to look at everyday, it might as well enliven the spirit as well.