It begins...

A friend recently forwarded an email to me titled "The Invisible Mother," a short essay comparing the tireless and often thankless job of a mother to the builders of Europe's great cathedrals. Both give their whole lives for a work they will never see finished, both make sacrifices and expect no credit, and both are fueled in their passion by the faith that the eyes of God see every detail. The writer of the essay was inspired by the thought that our endless efforts in motherhood, invisible as they may seem, are worth it and can make an enriching life.


For many of us, the way we choose to hold our invisibility at bay is by creating something tangible. For me, my days often end with knitting - my love of fiber and the need to do something relaxing end up producing something I can hold and look at. Nobody will know how many times I swept under the high chair that day, or how many toys I picked up, or how many times I tried to coax a "please" or "more" or "sorry" out of my 5 year old. But a darling, handmade infant hat? That you can see.


I start new projects every day, and my 10 year old does the same. In this process of creating (and yes, often not finishing our projects!) we connect with each other and a bigger picture of ourselves in the process. My plan for this blog is to share the projects that excite me and bring some accessible proof of my existence in this invisible world of mothering!


So, this blog is dedicated to the mothers out there whose days are filled with the minutia of tasks that build our children and our families. I often tell people that I haven't decided what I want to be when I grow up. But for now, I am the builder of a great cathedral. With every shoelace tied, lunch packed, and forehead kissed, I build.


And I can hardly wait to create something new...


Sunday, April 3, 2011

Ackackack. Ack.

There isn't much that can keep us from crafting at our house.  Unless we come face to face with the dreaded...stomach flu!  Ackackack!  Ack. Ack!  Brynn was hit Monday night (and waited until she was in my bed to barf.) and then Brad and I both went down Wednesday night. Why do these things always happen in the middle of the night? Why can't I be visiting the bathroom from 11-5pm instead of 11-5am? Ack! Not sure I'm going to be able to eat grape leaves for a few weeks. TMI? Sorry, folks.


But we have made it through, and I finally regained enough strength to pick up my knitting needles again. The house was a wreck by Friday, so many of my lovely nap-tastic crafting hours were spent dealing with the ugly cleanup that happens after the flu.


Yesterday, I spent 6 hours sitting in a church working on a photo project and knitting whilst Rowan earned 3 Brownie badges. She had a blast, and dang, I got a lot done!  The cat pajama holder is now knitted!  I need to weave in ends, block, and sew, but it's good to have the pieces done. It's looking a bit small, but we'll see how it goes once it's blocked. And this picture makes the green look pretty gross. It's not!
After an hour at home on Saturday, we turned around and spent the evening at the Scarborough Carnival. I couldn't wait to see how my silent auction items did! Yeah, apparently knitted items are not a big hit at auctions. Only one item was bid on. The 3 mice sold to the first bidder - hopefully some kid is really happy! All the booties were snatched up last minute at the 7:15pm "sudden death" auction when the starting bid was dropped to half price. But the hats I brought home. I will just hang on to them until someone I know is having a baby. And now I know for next year - no hand knits for the auction. I can save myself the stress!


Today was so lovely we decided to spend it at the Kansas City Zoo (and no crafting got done.) The polar bear was our favorite - he was AWESOME, and performed constantly for us! He swims right past the windows, then uses the last panel to launch himself up and into a back dive into the water again. Totally spectacular!

So fun. :)


Tonight I'm going to weave ends, knit on the almost finished prayer shawl, and kick my tired dogs up. Happy April, everyone!
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1 comment:

  1. KathyApril 3, 2011 at 11:05 PM

    Oh, that pajama bag is going to be DARLING! Love the polar bear photos, too. Glad you had a fun day at the zoo.
    Happy April and onward into spring. My daffodils started blooming today when it was 85 outside!! Now it's down to 55 and raining. Spring has definitely sprung in these parts now.

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