Basements and Barnyards

My last week and a half of break has been utterly AMAZING!  I'm stocking up on my introvert points while I can before I start 3rd grade and living at the Abrahamson's.  Living there will be a huge change of pace with 2 parents, 3 siblings, a dog, and a forever busy schedule.  I am so looking forward to the last leg of my college career!

I have been in low gear and I love it!  Momma has been working most every day.  Daddy is on 3rd shift.  I get a lot of time by myself and I have gotten quite a lot of projects done around the house.  I do need to attempt to start packing in efforts to move again on Friday.

My days have been spent largely outside all bundled up in winter gear.  Ruby is still in the puppy stage, so we ALWAYS get in a wrestling match at least once or twice.  I always come in coated in white and blonde dog hair.  I've been working with Daddy to get Spinelli broke to lead.  She's coming along really well.  She has filled out really well already for only being a little over a week old.  It feels good to attempt to relive the FFA/4H glory days of high school.

The best part about being in the barnyard?  I always clamber up on the red gate, close my eyes, and just sit.  I sit and listen.  I sit and feel.  I sit and drink in the calm.  I hear the birds singing their happy songs and hear their wings flap as they leave the loft through the broken windows.  I hear the munching of hay by Cinn.  I hear the moo of all the cows in the various lots.  I know that I am tied to this.  This is where I feel the most comfortable.  This is where I feel the most real.  This is one of the places that I feel closest to God.  Yeah, it's kind of a strange place.  A place filled with dirt, dust, soiled straw, and dirty animals.  I sigh real big.  The big relaxing kind of sigh.  I look off to the West at the brilliance of a sunset.  And then I pray.  So much is happening in my life right now.  I'm taking that last huge step before I start the career part of my life.  I'm in the dating world.  My best friend is getting married in November.  I have a friend currently in Peru.  Another friend is in a big part of her education and trying to pursue her real goal in life.  My family is going every direction and is everywhere.  I have no idea what I will be doing with my summer.  This is where I give it all to God.  I ask Him to use us.  I ask Him to open doors.  I ask Him to speak.  I ask Him to move.

Most of the rest of my days are spent with a thimble on my finger and a needle in my hand.  I have been working on my absolutely, straight up, favorite quilt I've ever made in my life!  I am keeping this one.  I was thinking about it as I worked on those blocks a few years back.  I want this for my little girl someday.  Grammy doesn't think she should quilt on this one because her stitches, "don't look as good as mine," but since I'm keeping this one for my own little girl, I'll have to talk her into it so this treasure is a little more of a legacy to hold onto.  I pop in a classic Disney movie, Lonesome Dove, or some 80's movie that I've seen a few times.  I quote and sing as I stitch away.  Honestly, I wasn't expecting it to take quite this long.  I picked everything out just as I wanted it and it looks just like I pictured.  The only thing I wasn't expecting was how the pattern wouldn't flow as I quilted.  I keep having to stop and knot and start in a new place.  That's the time consumer.  I had wanted to get it finished before I moved, but I really don't feel like that will happen...  I'm only now just about halfway done.  That's still 6 more bonnets to stitch around, and a whole lot more chain border to do.

My life is changing.  My quilt will stand in the frame until I can get it finished over the various weekends at home.  My calf will continue to learn her halter lessons, mostly without me.  The barnyard life will go on, just as it always does.  Peacefully and practically unchanging.  Maybe that's why I like that place so much.  I go to a practically unchanging place to pray to an unchanging God.