this and that...

What a great evening I had last night. My friend Beth came over for coffee and chit chat and boy did I need some of that.

Here are some of sachets made from some of that homegrown lavender and rose petals.

I made this hotpad for the kitchen, I need to do a couple more. In the last week we have two new circles on the counter and table from hot stuff-oops! I also wanted to try a quilt binding on a mini project. Beth gave me a quick lesson. I learn so much better by watching rather than reading instructions. Thanks Beth!
This was going to be a prototype for this project since I didn't want to experiment on good fabric. But I think it's good enough...
My oldest daughter is away this week on a type of Missions Trip with our youth group, so it is just these two home. We had trouble settling on how we should spend our day given the varied interests of a 17 year old young man and a 4 year old little girl, so we agreed on a mini hike through the county park.

My son is hearing impaired, his loss is significant yet he is not profoundly deaf. I often equate it him hearing like an"old man". He turns things up , we speak louder and repeat ourselves often and it's fine. He wore hearing aids up until a few years ago and stopped because it was "a pain". The plan has always been that he would get the in-the-ear hearing aids when he was fully grown, which time is almost upon us it appears, so we have begun that process. Anyway, as we walked through the woods I just stopped to listen to all the birds and "woodsy sounds" I quickly remembered/realized he couldn't hear any of it. I think it bothers him a little once in a while-but he really is fine with it. But every now and then, I get a little motherly sting in my gut when he misses out on something because of his hearing loss that we can't turn up or "fix" or fill him in on. I can't explain what the woods sounded like yesterday...

Yes, it stings for a moment, but we know in the grand scheme of things it's just not that big of a deal. He is an amazing young man. He loves the Lord, he shares his faith, he is a natural counselor to his friends, a hard worker and wonderful son and we are so proud!

God is good!

I'll end this sappy post with our little tree hugger. Have a great day friends!