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Supper

Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and I will sup with him, and he with me.
Revelation 3:20, KJV

I read this today in a list of scriptures about the Lord making appearances to people. What stood out to me is what the Lord chooses to do with those who hear him and invite him into their lives: He sups with them. The meal represents the great blessing of having companionship with God and receiving his loving support. I think it conveys feelings of comfort, rest, and fulfillment.

I have been thinking of what the pandemic has brought to us. One blessing is that we have had more time with all of our children. Did I always use the time well? No, I have regrets, but I don’t regret that I elevated Sunday dinners and other meals. Early in the pandemic, I prayed to know how to face the challenge, and one thing that came to my mind was to make the most of family time, and to create celebrations with our meals together.

I have used fine dishes for our Sunday dinners, with cloth napkins, goblets, chargers, good tablecloths, and our best recipes. I started a written record of which children came and what we talked about. I can’t think of a more bonding experience than these meals have been during this challenging time.

We said goodbye to Daniel last weekend as he headed back to college. He doesn’t live far away, but it’s far enough that we won’t see him every day, every week, and maybe miss a month now and then. Knowing there is one less person at the table is one of the hardest parts of saying goodbye each fall.

Tim will leave us soon to begin his mission, and these meals with him mean more and more to me, as I know they are numbered. Tim received the Melchizedek priesthood on Sunday, and I was invited to share my thoughts at the conclusion of his ordination and blessing. I didn’t have to think of something profound, I just reminded him of something we had talked about at last Sunday’s dinner table. This table has become a truly sacred place for our family.

UFOs

Here are some sound effects to play in the background as we take a scroll through some of my UFOs (UnFinished Objects).

This is really hard to read on the Kindle. I think I will get a physical copy to finish it.

I need someone to hold my hand on this next step of family history research. I need to find the right person, and hopefully they can read Finnish.

It has been too tender a year to work on this.

The front porch flower container broke, so I need to transplant some flowers to a new pot.

This is a project for my embroidery machine for my mom’s craft room.

This is my souvenir from Oregon. I am getting close.

not pictured:

Tim’s missionary list

It doesn’t bother me to have some unfinished things. It just means that good times are ahead as I finish them. The priority is all of the mission stuff for a while.

Happy Flag Day

Latent potential

For the first five or six years we lived here, I would pull out the tulip leaves before they would bloom beneath the trees because I was uncomfortable seeing leaves coming up through the periwinkle. We hadn’t planted the bulbs and it just looked messy to me. I didn’t see the potential. One year, I decided to let them come up and bloom and they have astonished me by their beauty ever since.

There are parallels in life. I find that the less I do to pave every path for my teens, the more they find their independence and flourish. It’s not that I give up entirely, but I trust the simple religious practices, family rules, and their foundation in the gospel to be an anchor and a guide. In tulips, the bulb and roots weather the winters, not the leaves and blooms. Latent abilities and futures are waiting to spring forth when conditions are right for tulips and for teens. It’s good to step out of the way and not get frustrated by the random leaves when they start coming up where I did not plant. Teen years, like these flower beds, are a bit messy and haphazard. As Tim approaches graduation, I am in awe at all that he has accomplished. In many ways, he has succeeded because I stopped trying to prune back his many random interests and pastimes.

Spring Break?

Spring Break happened, but we didn’t travel. I put miles on the car going back and forth to shuttle Mark to be with cousins. I finally visited an antique mall in Springville and purchased some beautiful plates there. I sewed with friends one afternoon, and I think that I drove our cross-country-road-trip-conversation about funerals.

I spoke in a leadership meeting at stake conference, which is a rare opportunity, so I dedicated each morning of Spring Break to writing and practicing my delivery. When the meeting was over, I rested on the couch and didn’t move for a long time. Richard watched a miniseries, The Woman in White with me. He worked in the yard all weekend.

Daniel enlisted Paige to illustrate something for a biology project. Tim worked so much on his landscaping job that we rarely saw him. Two more of us received a vaccine for COVID-19.

Our dog has ailments, then rallies.

Today everyone is back to routines: school, work, music, etc. but I am lagging. On Mondays you usually find me at my best, but I need a rest from the “break” we had last week from routine.

Happy 12th Birthday to the Blog

Here we are on Easter. There is Richard who spent the day preparing food in his smoker, wearing one of his many blood donation shirts. I rushed into the day without thinking about doing my hair (typical), but tried to set the table beautifully and have a clean kitchen. Mark wears his favorite color and will go on to eat more than anyone sitting at this table. Tim teases us with the BYU shirt and remains mysterious about his plans for the future. I’ll add that he is so strong from his landscaping work. I notice that Daniel is wearing a new version of the teal and white shirt he loved and wore all through high school and his mission. He’s almost finished with his first year at BYU, and his friend, the lovely McKenna joins us at the table. Paige is effortlessly elegant and happy, and has spent the last year since graduating from BYU settling into working as a freelance illustrator. And there is handsome, hardworking, and smart Michael, who changed jobs this year and is enjoying more sleep (even in April… he’s an accountant).

The blog is less about our children than it used to be, but they remain the ones who occupy our thoughts and conversations. They are still the focus of our energy and time, and when they linger at Sunday dinner as they did this week, I can draw from that happiness for a long time.

Some of you have read this blog from the beginning. There are 1,919 posts in the archives. I owe you a diploma or something, not that I have anything figured out except perhaps how to muster a tiny bit of faith. To each reader, whether you have read for years or months, I send my love to you.

On the docket

Spring and winter have been at war all week. Sun and snow, wind and mild. Even our daffodils have hung their heads a bit in the fray. I went for a walk one afternoon that made my eyes water and my ears ache for the bitterness of the elements. But we must keep moving, keep our heads up (not just talking about the daffodils), and hope for the Easter weekend of our dreams. Next week, my siblings and parents will be gathering for the first time since Paige’s wedding in December 2019. We (and the world) could use some togetherness. So, let’s all hope for sunshine so we can stay outside for long talks as we watch our families hunt for Easter eggs.

On the docket for this weekend:

Get back to weekly scripture appointments with a friend.

Begin our family Easter study.

Make more edits for my dad’s book.

Read more from these books: My Antonia, Theodore Rex, and Dusk, Night, Dawn.

Make more guacamole.

Identify the function of each room of the house so I can tweak the design to reflect this season of our lives. I think I want to move the bookshelves to a completely different area of the house. This plan may also include getting rid of the elementary school science supplies, I don’t know.

Perform a scented candle intervention for this house.

Thanks, steady friends. I saw significant traffic on the post I wrote about fear, another evidence that sharing experiences is one of the important things we need to do. We are getting through these times together, despite distance.

Most of these are gifts from my children. They are tiny and sit inside an heirloom glass case at my kitchen window.

2020 photo album

Richard is on the 9th or 10th day of his bout with COVID-19. We don’t know where he was exposed. The illness has a new character each day, but his oxygen levels have been fine, so I am grateful for that. He has stayed isolated from us, and no one else at home has tested positive. The worry I have felt is a small thing compared to what others have gone through with this illness so I hesitate to even mention it. I will say that although Richard’s case can be termed as “mild” and he has not complained, this is a different kind of illness and unpleasant at best.

What is helping us get through quarantine? Entertainment. Empathy from an employee of the attendance office at the high school. Dedicated teachers who make education happen. Surprises left on our porch from friends. Sunsets. For me, it helps to have routines I can do without thinking and something to look forward to each day. On Tuesday, it was the arrival of our 2020 photo book. I wrote before that creating this album helped me see that 2020 was a great year for the Ross family. God gives us eyes to see sometimes.

Doll work 4

I’m trying a different outfit and have more progress on the face to show today.

The book that I used to learn how to make dolls is called Storybook Toys by Jill Hamor and it is gorgeous and thorough. The embroidery stitches that I use for the face are very basic, the backstitch and satin stitch, and sometimes a French knot for a shine on the eyes. I will use several shades of blue and gray and flecks of gold for the eyes. Right now I have the base shade of one eye finished. Every thread is anchored on the back of the head with tack stitches as I showed you before.

My week will be spent at home, stitching a doll, reading a book about a Supreme Court case, editing more stories for my dad, and cleaning out a bedroom. I will post more progress on the doll when I can. I am still reading more than anything else… good job, me. I wish you the very best week. Let’s hope that you can do something that feeds your soul between the mundane and stressful things.

Winter light

There are few dependable things right now, but if I had to choose one creation on which I could depend, it would be the sun. The sunsets this month have been glorious and encouraging.

We are working on home improvement projects this weekend. It’s a domino game: if we want to create a better home office, we need to schedule carpet installation before we move in the furniture. So, we need to finalize carpet choices, a process we began 1 1/2 years ago. When we shop for carpet, we remember we want a new medicine cabinet. As we look at medicine cabinets, we remember we really want to replace the bathroom sinks and one of the faucets. When we take down the old medicine cabinet, we realize we need to patch the walls. You know.

I guess that another thing on which we can depend is the avalanche effect of home improvement projects.