Back to Business!

Hello!! Well, it is back to business this year! We celebrated our Labor Day holiday by starting our school year. I know, it sounds crazy... But I hate starting my school year on a 4-day week. It makes me feel behind before we even get started.
This promises to be a busy year. The kids are in activities and we are beginning a new ministry of having a small group Bible Study in our home. I can't wait for the Bible Study! It has been a long time since we have done something like this. I am tempted to say it has been too long but I realize that God's timing is perfect so I'll just be thankful we are there now!
School has started off pretty well and I think this will be a good year. Of course, it is a big adjustment to go from freedom to school but we are getting in the groove. I try to have fun with school for the kids, but then there comes a time that work is work and there is just no hiding it!
Fall is in the air! The weather trend is much cooler. The crispness of fall is around us! I am feeling in a slump with our menus. I have gotten to repetitive and I am sick of our normal foods. So I think I will browse around the internet and my cookbooks and hunt up some yummy recipes. I'll post what I find! I think we are just done with summer cooking. In the summer you just want to keep as much heat out of the house as possible so it is quick stuff. Now it's time to spend some good time cooking and the warmth of the stove! :)
My friend Linda Marie awarded my blog! I love reading her blog and so I am especially blessed by this. Thanks Linda!



I hope everyone reading is doing well. I hope to be posting more now that we are in the "post summer" schedule! I hope you will visit often!

Lazy Sunday

Today is a nice, lazy Sunday. I am loving the restful, easy feeling. The weather is hinting that fall is on the way. It is in the low 70's. It is sunny with a nice breeze!

Robin preached today, filling in for an area pastor. This is a church my dad pastored before he died of cancer. It was nice to see everyone and my mom was with us so it was a reunion of sorts for her. Robin's cousins were there and we don't see them and their families much so this was an extra treat. Robin preached from 1 Tim. 1:12-17 encouraging us that "God is in the business of changing people." Oh, aren't you glad? I shudder to think of the kind of person I would be if God had not intervened in my life with His saving grace and power to change me! Hallelujah!

After church we had a quick lunch and then took the children out for an ice cream (yum!). Then we came home to rest and relax. I have been knitting, Robin has been reading (though he is mixing work with pleasure with some testing that must be done for work). A pot roast is in the oven. After supper I plan to snuggle in with a good book and maybe some more knitting. Even the kids seem extra calm and quiet.

Here are a couple of "exciting sites" from my yard (well, exciting to me... ;) )


I love tuberous impatiens and tuberous begonias. I think this is the impatien variety. I have them on my front steps.


These plums tomatoes will soon be ready for the table! I can't wait! We have lettuce, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes and plum tomatoes, plus rhubarb and various spices growing. Next year I would like to do a bit more in volume. I like the idea of having a "salad garden." :)

I hope all those reading are having a restful Sunday!

Ready to "Do Good"

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." Galatians 6:9

This is the verse that has taken up constant residence in my mind as I pray and prepare for our 2007/2008 homeschool year. I have been no more excited than the children to start. But as I have prayed and cried out to God to fill me with enthusiasm to do His will, this is the verse that has continually come to mind.

Doing the will of God does not always "feel" like what we would like to do. It is a mistake to go solely by our feelings when determining His will. It won't always "feel" good. But we are blessed when we do His will and then the good feelings many times follow. Obedience first, let the feelings take care of themselves. Christ is our example. Going to the cross did not *feel* good. We see plainly in the Garden of Gethsemane that going to the cross did not sound like fun to Jesus. Are we not told to take up our cross? Is it suppose to "feel" good?

So, I am readying myself to do the will of my Father. I am finding my feelings slowly following. But I know it will be a challenging year full of lots of hard work. But that is okay. As I look down at my hands and feet I see no scars. His burden is easy. Reminds me of an Amy Carmichael poem:

No Scar?

Hast thou no scar?

No hidden scar on foot, or side, or hand?

I hear thee sung as mighty in the land,

I hear them hail thy bright ascendant star,

Hast thou no wound?

Yet I was wounded by the archers, spent,

Leaned Me against a tree to die; and rent

By ravening beasts that compassed Me, I swooned:

Hast thou no wound?

No wound? No scar?

Yet, as the Master shall the servant be,

And pierced are the feet that follow Me;

But thine are whole: can he have followed far

Who has nor wound nor scar?

Kettle Cove in Cape Elizabeth

Well, it sure has been some time since I have written here in my blog. We have been savoring every moment of summer and it makes for a lot less time on the computer.

This past weekend we visited a new spot. We met friends for a supper picnic. It was a little cove on the ocean with more treasure to find then any other spot I have ever visited. The kids got to hold an observe several crabs, hermit crabs, star fish, snails, and even shrimp (which were too small to hold but still fun to observe). The only damper on the night was when we had left our site alone and seagulls attacked the food. Ours was in the cooler but our friends had their cheese puffs pecked into and then the gulls stomped on their graham crackers and frosting that was in a large gladlock. The silly bird tried to fly off with it and then dropped it.
Here are some pics (not of the birds, we sort of missed that whole drama til the end!):


This first pic was as we were leaving but I loved the look of the sun so much I put it first!

The boys were way too busy hunting through tidal pools to look up for a picture! ;)

This is an amazing feat for Rachel to be holding a hermit crab! She normal does not touch *creatures* of any kind!! But her dear friend would pick them up first and show her how to hold them and hand them to her. She had so much fun!
We did not find star fish but a man on the beach found them (3 of them I think) and gave them to the kids to observe and hold.
Here is a look into one of our buckets. Those hermit crabs are either playing or fighting...hopefully playing... :)

This was the biggest crab we found. He was quite a good sport about being held. He and the other creature treasures were all returned safely to their homes before we left. I think we have found a new favorite picnic spot!

Summer is Zoomin' By...

I can relate to this rhino from the Brevard County Zoo. I just want to lay in the sun and snooze! ;)

Has anyone else noticed how quickly summer is zooming by? I am hanging on tight to it! There is the trick. I need to savor each moment instead of focusing on the rat race swirling around me! We really have six weeks left which is great, but I notice I am getting alot of phones calls about fall plans and find myself wondering if I will be ready to start up homeschooling again when the time comes. So, I am doing alot of praying about having motivation and joy in doing the Lord's will for our family!

The homeschool books are neatly lining the bookshelves. Tryout season for the kids has begun. Christian had soccer tryouts for a U12 Travel team. He made the team and starts practicing on Tuesday. Tyler has 3 weekly tryouts for a Premier Travel U15 Soccer League. In two weeks he will begin tryouts for the local High School's soccer team. Rachel is presently in summer dance and she has Hip Hop Competition team tryouts in 2 weeks. So you see, we are on vacation but things have a way of keeping you on your toes!

What are you doing this summer? Whatever it is, don't forget to smell the flowers and listen to the children laughing and notice the sun on your face!

"Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture." Ps. 37:3

Vacation...

Here are some pictures from our trip to Florida. We were there for my sister's wedding but couldn't resist a side trip to the Brevard County Zoo. Here are some pics of both:


Tyler has quite a wing span! ;)

This picture kind of entertained me...everyone clearly had their own agenda!

It all about getting to feed the giraffes...we save it for last. It is our favorite part of the whole zoo. It is amazing to touch and feed these gentle giants!

Amazing, isn't he? The females stay far away but the males are curious, friendly and hungry!

Wedding time...

Here is the flower girl getting her first ever manicure. She is "suffering", can you tell? ;) How does a girl handle all that pampering!?

Here she is all dressed and ready to go! She's our little princess!

Here is her updo. The hairdresser was wonderful and let her pick her own favorite out of a big book of wedding options.

Yep, it's all about the hair! She had such fun! More pictures will soon be on there way to me of the actual wedding! I can't wait! :)

Heading Off On Vacation

We are taking a trip for 10 days. I won't be online during that time. So I will see you all in bloggy world around July 18th. :)

June Mid Month Knitting Project

Since the July Knit a Long has started I decided it's time to finally post the Mid June Knit a Long picture, LOL!! It was fun and challenging and I felt like it brought me up the next level in my knitting! I can't wait to see what the July Knit a Long will bring! :) I just joined a Bookmark Knit a Long and I will talk more about that later. Have a happy Sunday...

"I rejoiced with those who said to me, 'Let us go to the house of the Lord.'" Ps. 122:1

On My Mind....

Summer is addictive!! Not only is it just plain fun to be outside and to be able to swim and have cookouts and such it is great to be able get things done. Summer vacation reminds me how much of my day and energy gets devoted to homeschooling. Throughout the school year there is always an underlying frustration concerning how much I can get done around the house on a daily basis. So as much as I want to totally kick back and relax, I have to remember that this is also my only time to get projects done.

Some of my projects are fun like quilting, knitting, decorating. Some are a little less fun like decluttering, repairing, painting, scrubbing and the like. I am actually doing more spring cleaning now than I did in the spring!! In the spring I was still deep in schoolwork and planning for next year. Spring cleaning was fast and not too deep.

Thankfully I have my kids to help me. They are all old enough now, praise the Lord. So I am trying to discipline them to help me keep up with laundry, dishes and putting things back when done so we don't waste time each morning catching up. My new schedule is to do the dusting, vacuuming, bathroom cleaning and floor washing on Monday. Then, on the other days, we can do a quick tidy/cleaning and then focus on projects such as decluttering and repairs and yard work, etc.

This week the kids decluttered their rooms and then we began on the basement. It feels good to fill up the trailer for the dump!! Then once a week Robin hauls it all to the dump and we can start over. Won't it be great if in Sept. we have this place all decluttered and the extra stuff OUT?! Then we can focus on keeping the clutter OUT and not letting it back in!

So, we work on special projects and declutter about an hour a day and then have the rest of the day to play and enjoy! Last weekend we took the kids to a waterpark called "Splash Town" in Saco Maine. It was in honor of Tyler's 14th birthday and he was able to invite his best friend. It was actually very cold that day but everyone had fun despite the chronic shivering!! Here are a couple of pics!

Rachel hates the water slides but found some new friends to play with in the pool!

Here are all the boys and Robin coming out of the biggest, scariest water slide called "The Tornado." See how the employee is bundled in the raincoat? She had the pants on too...it was that cold! BUT it worked out good because there were not the typical big crowds!

T2CHK Quilt Swap 2007~9 Patch

Here are some photos from the Titus 2 Christian Homekeepers Quilt Swap. It is the 9 Patch. It was fun and relaxing!! As you can see, I chose to strip quilt my 11 blocks:

Ta-Daaaaaa!! :)

Summer's in Full Swing

I couldn't resist taking a picture of this peaceful moment with them all reading their "daily chapter." Even more fun was listening to them share interesting parts of their read with each other. :)

Summer is in full swing. We have all adjusted to our summer schedule and settled into the lazy days of summer! Usually in Maine the spring is quite rainy and then summer hits overnight. Usually it is cool and then suddenly steaming hot. But this spring has been different. The weather has been gorgeous. Some days have been warm enough to swim but not too warm and other days are cool and great for getting your work done. I couldn't ask for better.

We have had such fun having cookouts and eating outside, sometimes cooking over an open campfire. The kids are loving riding their bikes and going to the lake and the pool. I have enjoyed the pace of summer, having time to knit and read and quilt and having the nice weather to just enjoy being outdoors!

Tyler is in Junior League baseball right now. It is a nice change of pace from his 8th grade team. Jr. League is much more relaxed and not as competitive. The league is small and we actually know every coach and some kids on each team. So, for us, it has been very fun and easy going. Christian opted not to do baseball this year and instead he is hitting the golf course with Robin (dh) and his brother. He is having fun learning to golf. Rachel is liking just enjoying playing the piano with the summer off from lessons. She is still dancing but just once per week. She hopes to start learning to use my sewing machine and I have promised her a lesson for tomorrow.

As I am looking around at my house and how I want it decorated, I continue to try to decorate my house in such a way as to seem like a vacation home. I like easy, laid back decor, not too fancy or particular. I like creating an atmosphere that says, "sit and relax" not "oh don't touch this or mess up that." Summer is a great time to work on that goal, with more time to declutter and to think about how to make "home" more of a relaxing kick up your feet kinda place!

Creating My First Pattern

Rachel has been wanting to try a dishcloth pattern but wanted a smaller version. So, I decided to try to create a pattern for her where she would cast as close as possible to 20 stitches and a simple heart design with a simple border. My first one looked like an apple and was too small. So I tweaked the design and stitch amounts and came up with something that I think will do nicely. It took awhile but will hopefully be worth it for her! Hers will not be a dishcloth but I think we will make a back the same size and let her make a little pillow (maybe for her doll?). Below are the pictures of my finished small cloth as well as the pattern.

I used regular, inexpensive worsted weight yarn and size 9 needles. I cast on 25 stitches.

Here goes:

1. Knit across

2. Knit across

3. K 3, P 19, K 3

4. Knit

5. K 3, P 5, K 3, P 3, K 3, P 5, K 3

6. Knit

7. K 3, P 4, K 5, P 1, K 5, P 4, K 3

8. Knit

9. K 3, P 3, K 13, P 3, K 3

10. Knit

11. K 3, P 3, K 13, P 3, K 3

12. Knit

13. K 3, P 4, K 11, P 4, K 3

14. Knit

15. K 3, P 5, K 9, P 5, K 3

16. Knit

17. K 3, P 6, K 7, P 6, K 3

18. Knit

19. K 3, P 7, K 5, P 7, K 3

20. Knit

21. K 3, P 8, K 3, P 8, K 3

22. Knit

23. K 3, P 9, K 1, P 9, K 3

24. Knit

25. K 3, P 19, K 3

26. Knit

27. Knit

Copyright 2007 Karen Twombly

June Mid Month KAL Re-do!

Well now, if I had more experience I would have noticed that in my first try with this dishcloth my purls were on the knit side...OY! It turns out the pattern had an error. So after much deliberation within my own brain, I pulled it out and started over. Oh well, it gave me opportunity to practice the stitches that are new to me. So here are the first 3 days of the "revised version!" :)

It's fun and I am so glad that I used the verigated cotton. I think it adds to the look. I have never done anything quite so intricate with knitting so that is exciting too!!

June Mid Month KAL

Happy Sunday! I have been working on the mid month June Dishcloth Knit Along. My pics represent the first two days worth of rows. Boy I hope I am doing them correctly! It had two new stitches to me: the SSK (slip, slip, knit) and the knit 2 p tog-b. They are both decreasing stitches. When I am really stuck I consult www.knittinghelp.com . I love this site because it has video examples. I have a really tough time reading instructions and understanding them so the videos help me so much!!

Wandering Thoughts

The Steeple of The Old North Church in Boston, MA

This poem, by Amy Carmichael, is one of my favorites and inspired the title of my blog "Gatherings."

Wandering Thoughts

Gather my thoughts, good Lord, they fitful roam,

Like children bent on foolish wandering,

Or vanity of fruitless wayfaring;

O call them home.

See, then, they drift like the wind-scattered foarm;

Like wild sea-birds, they hither, thither, fly

And some sink low, and others soar too high.

O call them home.

My silence speaketh to Thee, but I roam

With my poor silly thoughts, I know not where;

That undistracted I may go to prayer,

O call them home.

First Knitting Projects

Rachel has been learning to knit over the past year. Her first project was a blanket for her dolls. We cast on 20 stitches and she knit until it looked square. We did the same with four different colors. Then we sewed the four squares together and we were done! With that project she learned to cast on, knit and cast off.

With the same yarn Rachel decided to knit an outfit for her dolls. These above are just two square. With the top she knit a rectangle and learned to change colors for the top purple band. With the skirt, she knit a larger rectangle and was using the project to practice the purl stitch. Then she sewed up the back of the skirt and the top as well as using a piece of yarn for the straps. This was all from her own imagination and a very nice beginner project...totally no fail!!

Gardening...

The children and I worked a bit on the yard yesterday. You'll notice my yard is quite "rustic". I would love it to look manicured, but the combination of living in the woods, poor soil and the cost hinders me. So, we are doing our best with what we have! Rachel and I love to garden and love our flowers. My boys, well, they are willing to help (*wink) and I am thankful for that. Maybe they love flowers more then they let on... :)

See? Weeding can be lots of fun!

Now I have planted grass in this spot where the boys are and I just can't get it to grow. So we would like to put a little patio area here instead. It's fun to dream, isn't it?!

I am noticing that taking pictures is a great way to really look at the yard and see what it needs. Everything in front of the house is low. I probably need some height. I am not sure what to do with it. It would have to be something that could withstand shade. Any ideas?

I love irises! This year was a hard year for them because it poured down rain as they were blooming for 2 days straight. I really didn't think they would survive it so I am very glad they did!

I buy tuberous begonias every year! They are very forgiving to poor conditions and like the shade so they are perfect for me and give me summer long large blooms!

"The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever." Isa. 40:8

Plants with a Mind of Their Own!

Pretty bloom right?? Well, I have lived in this house for over 5 years. When I came there were these two rhododendron plants. They have never had as much as ONE bloom. So this year I decided I to yank them out and plant flowers there. Well guess what happened? One of the bushes bloomed one little lonely bloom. I think it "knew"! LOL!

"Please don't yank me out! I can bloom...honest!!!"

Now here is my other strange occurance. You see that big empty spot on the left? The bush on the right is a variety of azalea. I planted a Bleeding Heart to the left in that big empty spot 2 years ago. Last year it didn't even come up. This year it came up but on the RIGHT of the azalea!!

There it is! It is growing up under the azalea slightly to right. Nice of you to come up and greet me this year, but um...wrong side!! Maybe I will just put some annuals in the empty spot in case it decides to switch sides again next year!!

June "Knit Along"

I recently joined a "Dishcloth Knit Along Group" (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MonthlyDishcloths/ ) This is how it works. The leader posts a pattern but only gives you 10 rows a day and no picture. Therefore you don't know what it will look like until you are done. This is my first KAL project. It was great fun to have everyone trying to guess what mom was knitting. It turned out to be a unicorn. I think I am going to use this as a facecloth and see how we like the homemade face cloths. There are two patterns per month: one at the beginning of the month and one in the middle. Fun stuff!