From the Sewing Room ~ Anna's Dress

I haven't been in the sewing room much lately, but I did make our little Anna a special springtime dress. She wore it when we went to do a little shopping. I was looking for some flowers, and she chose some to take home to her mommy, too. She is a delightful little shopper, and I so much enjoy our times out together.

The dress is the same style I've been making for the other dresses for my maybe-someday-Etsy-shop, but I know Anna especially likes princessy dresses, so I added a chiffon overlay to the skirt. The fabric is actually a piece that I've had for many years. I had purchased it to make her mommy a skirt back when she was in college, but didn't get to it. She had picked out the fabric with scattered tulips back then, so I thought it would be extra special to use it for Anna's dress.

I added lace to the chiffon hem, added a dotted pink waistband and matching piping at the neck. The bodice is lined, and the back closure is matching pink dot loops for little white flower buttons.

I hope you've had the opportunity to enjoy your creative side a bit lately.... or have enjoyed some special moments with your grandchildren. Grandparents are truly blessed!

Grandchildren are the crown of the aged.

Proverbs 17:6

Louisa May Says...

Pulled back into the driveway this evening after taking the grandchildren home to their parents. Going to sleep in tomorrow morning! Bittersweet, though. Putting on hold those early morning whispers from a little voice that sneaks into bed with me, "Let's cuddle before it's time to get up," or bedtime stories with little bodies snuggled against us after evening baths, or ..... Sigh. Well, time to do something else.

Thinking about a statement by Florence King that I recently read :

"Let’s bring back grandmothers! A real family consists of three generations. It’s time Americans stopped worrying about interference and being a burden on the children and regrouped under one roof."

It's been around for awhile, but where did the idea come from, anyway, that most of us are an interference and a burden to others of us?! I have a hunch that it came from the Enemy of all things good. America does need to stop thinking like that.

I have a friend who says she could easily live like the Waltons. I think that many of us might enjoy at least the thought of it. But I think there's probably a lot of truth in Florence's statement. 

It relates somewhat to what our daughter was saying recently about her generation, how they're trying to connect more relationally, especially in the context of church life. My thought is that America's families have become so scattered across the continent that we've lost important, natural relationships. The illusion of intimacy in social media is slowly being recognized for what it is. It simply cannot replace the touch of the hand, the smile on the face, the knowing that there's someone who really cares and is at your side, no matter what. No amount of "likes" can replace that.

As Louisa May Alcott would say, "A house needs a grandma in it."  

Maybe not everyday, but in the everydayness of life.

Painting ~ Grandma and Football, Russell Sambrook

Today With the Grands

A busy, full several days with the grands.

Each day we've squeezed in as much as we possibly could.

Passing far too quickly.

If you're a grandparent, you know how precious each moment is.

Grandchildren are the crown of the aged. (Proverbs 17:6)

Today

Time at the playground after naps.

Roasting marshmallows this evening in the fireplace.

Reading by the fire after bath time.

Sharing a goody recipe that I made for the kiddos this week.

Peanut Butter Fingers

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup rolled ots

½ cup sugar

½ cup firmly packe brown sugar

½ tsp soda

½ tsp salt

½ cup margarine or butter, softened

1/3 cup peanut butter

½ tsp vanilla

1 egg

6 oz. pkg (1cup) semi-sweet chocolate chips 

Glaze:

1/3 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons peanut butter

3-5 teaspoons milk

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 13x9-inch dish or pan.

Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup; level off.

In large bowl, combine all bar and frosting ingredients except chocolate chips at low speed until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Press into bottom of prepared pan.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Sprinkle immediately with chocolate chips. Let stand 5 minutes; spread evenly.

In a small bowl, combine all glaze ingredients: drizzle over chocolate frosting.

Cool completely: cut into bars.

Simple Woman's Daybook

Today I reflect on simple thoughts and simple pleasures. My leads are somewhat similar to others in The Simple Woman's Daybook group, yet a bit different as well. 

Outside my window...
Snowflakes in the air at 27 degrees. Lightly covering the ground.
 
Looking forward to...
Movie night and popcorn tonight with the kiddos.

Noticing the sound of...   
Elijah and Anna playing in the family room.

Thinking...
About a friend whose husband passed away a few of days ago. My Beloved is at the funeral now. We pray God's grace to cover her.

Thankful...
For interstates that allow us to meet halfway and get the grandchildren for a week.

Around the house...
Lots of toys strewn about.

Creating...
Memories with Elijah and Anna while they're here.

A Peek into My Day...
Anna (2) and Elijah (5) at play

Learning...
Again....to catch a few minutes here and there when youngsters are in the house.

A Thought from my quiet time...
As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you. - Isaiah 66:13

Every one knows how a mother comforts her child. It is not so much by words as by love's tenderness. 

We comfort others truly when we make them stronger to endure, when we enable them to pass through their sorrows victoriously. That is the way Christ comforts. He sympathizes with them, but it is that He may make them strong to endure.   ~J.R. Miller

Reading... 

Elijah read this to us before nap time today.

If you were an octopus, you would have 8 legs to put in your pants! 

If you were a centipede, you would have 16 feet to put feet on!

If you were a bear, you would have to nap all winter long! 

That Special Relationship

 Everyone needs to have access both to grandparents and grandchildren in order to be a full human being.                 ~ Margaret Mead, Cultural Anthropologist.

I've been thinking about this statement. Seems to me to be true. I feel like part of me is missing a lot of the time. I don't think scattering across the continent, often the world, is good for grandparents or grandchildren. 

Painting ~ The Draughts Players, Robert Gimmell Hutchison 1855-1936

Wiki Commons public domain 

Coming Alongside

Thinking about our Mom's discussion time this evening around Sally Clarkson's book, The Mission of Motherhood: Touching Your Child's Heart for Eternity. We were talking about being a discipling mother and being intentional in our purposes for our children.

The moms in our group want to disciple their children, want to guide them into eternal truth and godly living, want to lead them to the One who makes life meaningful. It's not an easy task, but one that has eternal value. What we lack in knowledge and ability God makes up for through His abundant grace. He's looking for mothers with willing hearts, willing to expend the time and effort, willing to be involved in something bigger than themselves.

This thing of discipling children is a challenge in our current culture. A challenge because of the decadence of the day, yes, but a greater challenge because of the scattering of families away from extended families who could come alongside and help. No one besides the parents care for their children like grandparents do. One of the moms in our group is seeing that blessing in her own family. She says that when grandma comes for the day a peacefulness comes into the home. She helps with the laundry and such, and the children settle in around her as she reads to them. Blessings all the way around. The American quest for personal independence has run amuck and caught unsuspecting families in the frenzy.

How can grandparents help raise the next godly generation? A comment from Sally Clarkson, but one that could apply to grandparents as well:

What many in our culture don't understand--and many more forget--is that a relationship with Christ is best taught through a long-term personal relationship with someone who knows the Master, not through activities organized around lots of people in impersonal and distracting instructional situations.... Our children will learn righteousness best by seeing it lived out in every possible way in our lives, moment by moment, in the context of normal life.

We help by coming alongside, being involved in our grandchildren's normal life in a long-term personal relationship. Long distance is not normal, everyday life and doesn't develop much of a long-term personal relationship. Oh, but some say, the technology to stay in touch these days is so easily accessible. There are cell phones and texting and email and digital pictures and skype.... and we can do everything but touch each other. Technology cannot substitute for grandma and grandpa's laps, for holding hands as you walk along, for looking at the little bugs as you do and talking about the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord in the glorious riot of autumn color. Or for helping with the laundry.

Painting~ Grannie, Joseph Clark, 1878

via I Am A Child, Children in Art History