Capernaum Camp

Tertia and I had a wonderful opportunity last week. We flew out to Virginia to join big brother Daniel and go to Capernaum Camp with the Young Life Fairfax group. Capernaum is the branch of Young Life that reaches out to young people with special needs. Tertia has been attending a Capernaum Club here in Clark County since last December, but Daniel arranged for it to happen where he knows some of the leaders and had volunteered in the past.

The campground is Rockbridge Alum Springs, in rural Virginia. Young Life camps are designed to make you overwhelmed with the awesomeness of it all from the moment you arrive. Kids are told this is going to be the best week of their lives... and special needs kids are no exception. They each have a one-on-one "buddy" and are called Friends, not "kids with disabilities." They can do everything the typical kids can do... horseback riding, the zip line, the rope course, the "screamer" swing. All with the assistance that friends and family provide to people who need barriers to be removed so they can encounter Jesus... like the paralyzed man in Capernaum.

There is a pretty high energy level all week long. It reminds me of a perpetual Field Day, but cooler. Fairfax Capernaum dressed as the Toy Story Aliens for the Disney challenge.

 Club meetings are very loud, but noise-canceling headphones are available. Tertia is going to get a pair of these, I think!

 She loved most of the thrill rides, except the ropes course. But the giant swing was her favorite.

In the meeting time they break down the message of Jesus so beautifully and simply.
1. We can trust God because He made us "very good." I was in tears when I realized there were kids there who have never heard that, or maybe assumed that because of their disabilities, they weren't included in that. But here, they were the majority.
2. We can trust God/Jesus because He is always with us, like He was with the disciples in the storm at Galilee, and like He promised before the Ascension. We can trust God just like we can trust our harness to keep us safe on those thrill rides that are so fun and scary at camp.
3. When we turn away from God, it's like being cut off from our family. We feel scared and alone. The Narnia story illustrates this, and so does the great parable of the prodigal son. Scared and alone... how I'm sure many kids living with disabilities do feel.
4. But Jesus gave his life for us. So he can bring us into his family and we don't need to feel scared and alone ever again.

 With big bro in the dining hall. Did I mention, the food is fantastic... served family style with a comedy-variety show after every meal.

Tertia loved Stormin' Norman and his little sister Gigi, and fiercely booed the villain who was trying to steal camp from them.

With her wonderful Buddy.

It was an amazing week. I'm so glad she had the experience, and I hope we can participate again.

World Down Syndrome Day, and Lots of Socks

So, World Down Syndrome Day, 3-21, was Thursday, and so was the meeting of Young Life Capernaum. I've been taking Tertia there in recent months, and she really enjoys it. It was Disney Day for the theme, so naturally she dressed as Belle. They had a "dance or dare" contest and of course she chose dance! Improvising moves to "Try Everything" from Zootopia, I think she was a hit! Even when her tiara needed adjusting.

 The Lots of Socks knitalong hosted by Lisa K. Ross is over and drawings for prizes will be held next week. I finished a total of 10 socks, including this one of Flower Shock by Anna Friberg. This is the first time I've ever purchased a pattern (or anything for that matter) in Swedish Kronor. It's a lovely lace pattern that is more fun for me to knit than most lace, and I'm excited to make the other sock soon. I used a mystery yarn from my friend Joyce and color segments from two different half-balls of Chroma. The heel is an afterthought, which is the first time I think I've ever done one. You knit with provisional yarn, and then you go back and knit with your regular yarn, and then you have to put pick up stitches and knit them from both sides of the provisional yarn, then decrease the heel, then Kitchener it together.

This is what it looked like after picking up the stitches on both sides. Kind of cool!

 Grellow Love by Clare Devine. I'm calling mine "Grumpkin." It uses a "fleegle" heel, which is pretty similar to my standard toe-up gusset heel, but in a contrast color. I've already started the gusset on the second, so this will be a pair soon, hopefully next week.

 These are my single socks that still need a mate.

 And these are the socks I wore on Thursday; Lots of Socks and Non-Euclidian.

All told, the Lots of Socks knitalong raised more than $18,000 for Down Syndrome International, which will help support people with Down syndrome in various countries of the developing world.

The plum tree is quite happy for the arrival of spring.

I am quite happy too; we have daffodils, forsythia, Daphne and camellias blooming now.

Speaking of spring; I was surprised that we had the Equinox and then a full moon in the sky, but this Sunday is not Easter. (Because my mother taught me, Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon of spring). Steve figured it out for me with some googling: the exact moment of the full moon was actually a little before the exact moment of the vernal Equinox. So although I was quite prepared to channel Bede and complain about the improper observation of Easter, I bow to the astronomers who have these pesky technical details all figured out. Unlike me... I still have a difficult time with editing my photos for the blog; probably one of the reasons I haven't been blogging as much.

Speaking of the blog, I reverted to my original dandelions blowing in the wind theme. I never quite enjoyed the clean-cut blues I have had. Maybe that will spur me on to blog more. And yes, today is Randomday, so by my own blog rules, I can blog about whatever I want. Since I was blogging about a specific subject today, I'll save most randomness for a future date.

Good Fortune Quilt - Final Link-up, Plus Sock Knitting, Prom, and Wildlife

Today over at Quiltville, there is one last gathering of the Good Fortune quilts made since Thanksgiving of 2018.  Mine is a top, not quilted yet, but I am very happy with it:

 I was dubious at first when I was putting it together about my choice of colors, but I ended up loving it. I have seen so many different combinations and I like them all.

I'm afraid I am still not making progress on machine quilting anything. My Celtic Solstice is still on the frame and I am distracted by other projects.

Primarily, I have been knitting socks. There is a really fun knit-along hosted by Paper Daisy Creations on Ravelry, Lots of Socks -- in support of Down syndrome awareness. The fifteen sponsoring designers are offering great discounts through Friday on selected patterns, and donating profits to Down Syndrome International. Lots of fabulous prizes are being offered as well. The knitting goes on until March 21, which is World Down syndrome day. So far I have bought several patterns, cast on 4 socks, and finished one:

Emma had a great experience at the Night to Shine prom last Friday:

 I couldn't believe it, but there was an entire tent full of formal wear that had been donated, and this dress was free to us! All it needed was shortening the spaghetti straps.

It's just about the perfect dress for her!

We have had a little snow in recent weeks; the wildlife remains undeterred.

 I love this hummingbird feeder that I bought at the county fair last August. There are two regular customers but they don't get along with each other at all.

 I don't love the raccoons, but the tracks are kind of cute.

Smudge is not in this picture, but the Other Cat comes by regularly to eat whatever he leaves. Muffball, as an inside-only cat, is powerless to chase him away, but she sure tries. After watching the Tigers of Scotland documentary on Netflix, I've come to think of him as a Scottish wildcat.

Dusting off the Blog / Graduation

When you are not at all a techie person, anything at all can cause technical difficulties. This is embarrassing, but I basically fell into a blogging funk last January, the day my old laptop died. We got a new laptop that day. But when it came to writing another blog entry, everything looked different. The writing isn't a problem; I'm not afraid to write. It's the photos. And for some reason the Photoscape app I used to use looks totally different on the new laptop, probably a much more recent version, and I was confused about how to navigate between the photos I've been taking more and more on my new (well, 2 years old) I-phone and that get stored in a different cloud than the old pictures. It seems like it should be simpler. Actually, I was just able to figure it out, more or less, but that was kind of my excuse for neglecting my blog for so long.

And the librarian, historian, writer and generally opinionated person in me has been missing this outlet for several months now. Facebook is just not the same. So, I will strive to conquer the hassles of graphic interface and photo editing in order to get my blog voice back. Some important milestones have gone unblogged until now:

Emma graduated from High School! She will receive her final diploma in 3 years when she completes her current transition program, which she is enjoying very much. Previously known as Tertia, she is now a young woman and entitled to be free of anonymous blog names.

We received the invite to the Honor Assembly. We knew about the departmental award for Life Skills, but we didn't know that she would receive one for Choir as well. Miss Bravo was a student teacher in her choir class her Sophomore year, and this was her first year of teaching on her own. I was just fast enough to snap a blurry photo, but I do love the expressions on the faces of the Admin folks sitting on the platform.

Even more blurry, my photos of the graduation ceremony itself.  But I have successfully broken the photo-editing barrier, and I'll declare victory and post this. 

Randomday

 Well, the two guys from Mr. Rooter came out yesterday to dig up the damaged sewer pipe and replace it. Here is what they found: a 40-something pipe, damaged at some point long before we bought the house (the AC installer would never have dug down that far) and covered with a little white plastic cuff that was cut lengthwise and wrapped around the damaged pipe, not even sealed. So it survived for at least 18 years before giving trouble, which I guess is not so bad. Especially since we only had to replace a 3-foot segment of pipe, and not the whole thing out to the street. On the sliding scale of homeowner disasters, this was at least marginally affordable.

The new pipe is much sturdier. The old one could be crumbled by the plumber's hands. And that's the phone line that they had to dig past, and possibly an old cable line.

 Look how neat they left the worksite!

 Right above the repair site is the bathroom window, and above that is the vent where a family of birds has taken up residence. They are very noisy, all the daylight hours. I'm sure they also keep the cats entertained.

 I went to an estate sale yesterday advertising "crafts." Came home with a brown paper envelope with some vintage knitting patterns - argyles, and another copy of the Red Cross sweater vest to knit for WW2 soldiers - my aunt already gave me one, and someday I want to find olive drab yarn and knit it up for Peter.

 Also in the envelope were a bunch of iron-on transfers in those fun 40's happy homemaker designs.

And I bought 2 large cones of thread at 25 cents apiece. Also some frames and some counted cross-stitch fabrics and a nearly full bottle of Resolve carpet cleaner, for a grand total of $4. I kept thinking of my grandmothers, who had many of the same kinds of things. And maybe a little eerie foretaste of myself as a little old lady. She had the same sewing machine as me, only about a decade older.

 Tertia went to the "Life Skills" prom at Skyview yesterday. Quarta did her hair. Both Quarta and Tertia had their doctor check-ups this week. Quarta is 5' 5 1/4" and might still grow. Tertia is at her full adult height of 4' 7".

She danced the night away, or at least until the prom ended at 8:00.

The other three of us had a Bible study group from 7-9, and only one car, so I did a lot of driving back and forth yesterday. I'm tired today and milking the whole Mother's Day holiday for what it's worth, so I went out once this afternoon to check out the quilt store, and it was closed! That happened a few months ago with the yarn store near me. I find that sad. But anyway, I ended up at Joann's, spending my birthday discount card (from October) and buying a quilt batt and about 3 yards of fabric. So I'll have something to add to my stash report next time. I have been spending a lot of time trying to tame my little tiny scraps into usable squares or rectangles, or cutting them into strips. This at the same time as cutting fabric for the latest quilt.

We watched Anne with an E, the first episode, tonight. After Quarta's play, it was a lot edgier, but very well cast. Look forward to seeing more of that. And I think Steve and I might watch another episode of Man in the High Castle. It's getting quite weird.

Clarity and Peace

Since the Indiana primary, I have been struggling with near-constant anxiety and depression about the political situation. I gave up any hope of a Republican victory, (remembering that I have been a Republican for 40 years: Memories of Election Days Past written in 2012), with only a long-shot hope that the Free the Delegates people would stop Trump at the Convention, and then even less that he might step down or be forced out by parliamentary procedures with in the party. I staked out a position with the #NeverTrump crowd. I kept getting Civiqs polls, which I would always answer with "I will never vote for Donald Trump" as well as "I will never vote for Hillary Clinton." And I followed through. I have never not voted, and I have never not voted for a Republican, at least in the President slot. If I had still been living in a battlground state, like Ohio or Virginia, I would have been even more anxious and paralyzed by indecision. Because as much as I distrust the better angels of Trump's temperament to be a guiding hand on the rudder of the ship of state, I am long familiar with Hillary Clinton's policies, and they are toxic. To an honest question as to which one is preferable to the other, I was not sure. And I know I was not alone. In a sense, living in a deep blue state gave me the luxury of writing in the name of someone I knew would not win, but I, like most people it seems, was convinced Hillary was inevitable.

Seeking some peace on the eve of Election Day, I did what every Calvinist does: I googled "Providence of God memes." You know I love quotes, and some good ones surfaced. That led to researching several quotes of former presidents, and I posted many of them on my Facebook page:

"Worry is the sin of distrusting the promise and providence of God. And yet it is a sin that Christians commit perhaps more frequently than any other." - John MacArthur

"It is a most blessed thing to be subject to the sovereignty of God." - John Calvin

"It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor." - George Washington

"I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom, and that of all about me, seemed insufficient for the day." - Abraham Lincoln

"We have no government, armed with power, capable of contending with human passions, unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge and licentiousness would break the strongest cords of our Constitution, as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." - John Adams

"I pray Heaven to bestow the best of blessings upon this House, and all that may hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof." - John Adams

(Mr. Adams sounds like a crotchety old man. I have to respect that).

"We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!" - Abraham Lincoln

So, going into the day of the election, I had a little peace about the outcome even if I was very sad. But then yesterday morning, standing on the driveway with Tertia and waiting for the short bus at 6:30, I felt compelled to talk to her. She had already reminded me it was election day, and with her childcare class she was scheduled to assist in some kind of election day craft. She had watched some of one of the debates with me, and she is 17... she could vote next year. She's probably hearing all sorts of political talk at school and, because she can't process irony or abstract concepts very well, I decided I needed to tell her in very simple terms why I couldn't support Hillary Clinton for President, and why I was sad that she was probably going to win. I told her it was because Clinton thinks it is okay to kill babies before they're born, if the mother doesn't want them. That's all I said. I couldn't bring myself to tell her that unborn children with Down syndrome are killed at a much higher rate than any other group. I didn't need to. She got very quiet and obviously sad, trying to process. How do you process that an entire political system is built upon the premise of selectively denying the right to life to those most vulnerable? And how would you explain to an intellectually disabled young woman that a woman who believes it is a fundamental right to kill babies just like her is probably going to become the next president? I had a moment of sad clarity then. Sometimes, it really is that simple. People who promote the killing of babies shouldn't become president.

I found myself unexpectedly happy to see Hillary go down... maybe some of it was Schadenfreude, but also, and this was a surprise, I almost started rooting for Trump. I'll try not to gloat on Facebook, and I'll try not to use the laughing face emoji on your "why I'm mourning today" links. I'll save the snark for Twitter. But if you want an analysis of the election that I essentially agree with, check this, especially points 2 and 6. Mock Middle  America at your peril. And you really have cried "wolf" too many times. 

I respect the right of every voter to follow his or her conscience, and I believe that's what played out yesterday, and we have to live with the results, and find a way to live with each other going forward. It's a complicated set of reasons that motivates any one of us in the simplest and most straightforward election, and this was not that. I still have very grave concerns about Trump's fitness for office. But I will do my duty as an American to support him, and my duty as a Christian to pray for him.

With Malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds." - Abraham Lincoln

Buddy Walk, 2016

I took Tertia to the Portland Buddy Walk today. We've been going there for several years and she always enjoys it. It was a little subdued for her today because she has a cold. I was a little nervous today because the Burlington mall shooter is still at large and could have decided to come south and shoot up a bunch of peaceful people wearing orange shirts, but thankfully did not. (Moms worry about these things. They really do, even though they know how silly it is. I understand now so much better than when I was 17. It's been a tough year to be a mom, all over the world. Maybe it always is.)

But Wonder Woman was there to protect us, plus Portland Fire and Police officers. So we were good!

This is the band they had this year. Costumes were all white and silver, with lots of spandex, even the guys. It was very Portland.

Stormtroopers also seemed to be on patrol in the interest of public safety. And the speaker was Megan from "Born this Way", which I have only seen 2 episodes of, ever, but I would like to binge-watch it if I could.

 It is not often you see Storm Troopers using hula-hoops.

He has to roll it around his wrist because I assume his armor doesn't let him wiggle his hips enough. But that would be fun to watch. Speaking of wiggling hips, the MC, Tony Starlight, had a fun take on "I can't stop this feeling anymore." It was "I can't get these jeans on anymore," and sang of the pitfalls and perils of middle-aged spread... maybe you had to be there. I found it amusing.

You have to love friendly pirates who let you borrow their hat for the photo. Say "Arrr!"