I'm Back In Action
Yes, I'm Back In Action
The past several weeks have been both busy and difficult. However, I am now happy to report that I'm back in action!
Since I've been away, our daughter and son-in-law have bought their first home and are almost completely settled, our puppies have grown like little weeds, the farm has turned completely green and now requires regular mowing, the blackberries have ripened, the Eastern Bluebirds, Carolina Wrens, and Purple Martins have laid eggs and babies have hatched, and I've continued knitting ... and even worked in an Intarsia knitting class at Sealed With A Kiss.
On the Knitting Front
My latest completed knitting projects included the 2 vests below for CIC.
The blue vest is from Kathleen Day's *Who Who Loves You Baby?* vest pattern. This pattern and more can be found at Fiona's Friends patterns. All these patterns were designed by Kathleen Day. Kathleen has been a big supporter of charity knitting efforts for many organizations and is a true inspiration. I have been blessed with being able to become online friends with Kathleen and enjoyed every minute of it. Please read more about her here. Kathleen, you keep me energized for CIC knitting!
Kay and I also enjoyed attending the Intarsia knitting class together at Sealed With A Kiss. Our instructor was Sherry Steuver, intarsia knitter extraordinaire. The class was wonderful....and intense. I think I need more practice before I would choose a complex intarsia pattern to knit. : )
Here's Sherry, our faithful and patient instructor:
My friend, Kay, (near) is really concentrating during our class and was avoiding having her picture taken...but, I finally caught her in a picture.
Puppy Update
Two of the female Dachshund puppies went home with their new parents today! Bev and Jim will make wonderful parents for the two girls. I believe they've named the girls *Allie and Kate*. Those are precious names for two precious little puppies!
Here's a picture of the two girls with their new parents:
We met Bev and Jim at a local Cracker Barrel restaurant for the puppy exchange. Since we live in a rural area and they weren't familiar with Norman, it made for a good meeting place....and afterward Kim and I enjoyed lunch. : )
At Home
I'm sorry I was absent for quite a few weeks. In all honesty, I was battling a severe depression that was caused by the lowering and discontinuation of the steroid dosages that were necessary. Evidently, since I was on an extremely high dosage of steroids
(necessitated by the investigational drug protocal in which I am participating), I had a side-effect of the lowered dosage that caused a severe and dark depression.
When the steroid dosage finally got very low, the depression subsided. All I can say is that I don't ever want to go there again! I am hopeful that the investigational drug will prove beneficial to many people, but I sure hope the high dose steroids don't remain a necessary part of the picture.
Another side effect of the high dose steroids has been a *significant* weight gain. We're talking almost 40 lbs.! And that's 40 lbs. I certainly *didn't* need. So, I'm happy to report that I'll be rejoining Weight Watchers this week! I'm excited and looking forward to getting back to healthy eating and cooking habits. I also enjoy the meetings and leaders...and Rosemary is going to join, too. We're going to be Weight Watcher buddies. : )
What I've Learned Lately
I have once again had it refreshed for me that *feelings* aren't what love is based upon. Love from our Heavenly Father, or from my husband, or from my family isn't based on my *feeling* of that love every moment. Their love is present by commitment, actions I may or may not see, and in their minds and hearts....whether I *feel it*, or not.
Our Heavenly Father is always present with unconditional love...whether we feel it, or not. We must trust, believe, and allow our hearts to be touched by the Lord, and others dear to us, even when we may occasionally fall into the pit of despair.
NIV
Psalm 5:11 & 12
11 But let all who take refuge in you be glad;
let them ever sing for joy.
Spread your protection over them,
that those who love your name may rejoice in you.
12 For surely, O LORD, you bless the righteous;
you surround them with your favor as with a shield.
Have a wonderful week, my friends.
Your Pal,
Shelly
The past several weeks have been both busy and difficult. However, I am now happy to report that I'm back in action!
Since I've been away, our daughter and son-in-law have bought their first home and are almost completely settled, our puppies have grown like little weeds, the farm has turned completely green and now requires regular mowing, the blackberries have ripened, the Eastern Bluebirds, Carolina Wrens, and Purple Martins have laid eggs and babies have hatched, and I've continued knitting ... and even worked in an Intarsia knitting class at Sealed With A Kiss.
On the Knitting Front
My latest completed knitting projects included the 2 vests below for CIC.
The blue vest is from Kathleen Day's *Who Who Loves You Baby?* vest pattern. This pattern and more can be found at Fiona's Friends patterns. All these patterns were designed by Kathleen Day. Kathleen has been a big supporter of charity knitting efforts for many organizations and is a true inspiration. I have been blessed with being able to become online friends with Kathleen and enjoyed every minute of it. Please read more about her here. Kathleen, you keep me energized for CIC knitting!
Kay and I also enjoyed attending the Intarsia knitting class together at Sealed With A Kiss. Our instructor was Sherry Steuver, intarsia knitter extraordinaire. The class was wonderful....and intense. I think I need more practice before I would choose a complex intarsia pattern to knit. : )
Here's Sherry, our faithful and patient instructor:
My friend, Kay, (near) is really concentrating during our class and was avoiding having her picture taken...but, I finally caught her in a picture.
Puppy Update
Two of the female Dachshund puppies went home with their new parents today! Bev and Jim will make wonderful parents for the two girls. I believe they've named the girls *Allie and Kate*. Those are precious names for two precious little puppies!
Here's a picture of the two girls with their new parents:
We met Bev and Jim at a local Cracker Barrel restaurant for the puppy exchange. Since we live in a rural area and they weren't familiar with Norman, it made for a good meeting place....and afterward Kim and I enjoyed lunch. : )
At Home
I'm sorry I was absent for quite a few weeks. In all honesty, I was battling a severe depression that was caused by the lowering and discontinuation of the steroid dosages that were necessary. Evidently, since I was on an extremely high dosage of steroids
(necessitated by the investigational drug protocal in which I am participating), I had a side-effect of the lowered dosage that caused a severe and dark depression.
When the steroid dosage finally got very low, the depression subsided. All I can say is that I don't ever want to go there again! I am hopeful that the investigational drug will prove beneficial to many people, but I sure hope the high dose steroids don't remain a necessary part of the picture.
Another side effect of the high dose steroids has been a *significant* weight gain. We're talking almost 40 lbs.! And that's 40 lbs. I certainly *didn't* need. So, I'm happy to report that I'll be rejoining Weight Watchers this week! I'm excited and looking forward to getting back to healthy eating and cooking habits. I also enjoy the meetings and leaders...and Rosemary is going to join, too. We're going to be Weight Watcher buddies. : )
What I've Learned Lately
I have once again had it refreshed for me that *feelings* aren't what love is based upon. Love from our Heavenly Father, or from my husband, or from my family isn't based on my *feeling* of that love every moment. Their love is present by commitment, actions I may or may not see, and in their minds and hearts....whether I *feel it*, or not.
Our Heavenly Father is always present with unconditional love...whether we feel it, or not. We must trust, believe, and allow our hearts to be touched by the Lord, and others dear to us, even when we may occasionally fall into the pit of despair.
NIV
Psalm 5:11 & 12
11 But let all who take refuge in you be glad;
let them ever sing for joy.
Spread your protection over them,
that those who love your name may rejoice in you.
12 For surely, O LORD, you bless the righteous;
you surround them with your favor as with a shield.
Have a wonderful week, my friends.
Your Pal,
Shelly
posted by Prayerful Knitter - Shelly at 6:38 PM
24 Comments:
Hugs to you. Glad to see you back in action. I have been missing you.
Thanks so much, Kimberly! : )
Glad to have you back! I've been wondering about you.
It takes many things to make what we are and feelings are just one of them. :)
Our love for God (and His love for us) can never be based only on only emotion. God created us to be rational and logical beings, certainly that is part of our relationship with Him as well. :)
I hate steriods. BLAHH!
So glad to have you back with us Shelley. I wish I had known and possibly could have helped in a small way.
So glad to see you back in action on your blog! Sorry things weren't going your way, but you always will have support here! Love the CIC vests. I just finished a pair of wool hand dyed socks this weekend to put in a box for CIC. Good luck at WW.
So glad you're back - back to blogging and back from your bad drug experience.
Your two little vests are wonderful. Two little children are going to be very happy and warmer because of your knitting.
Hooray! I missed you. I'm sorry it has been so hard for you. I hope things go better from now on.
It must be exciting to see your daughter settled in her new home!
So glad to see that you are up and rolling again! We will have to keep up with each other as the WW battle marches on for both of us. We are glad that you are feeling better and are pumping out the blog again. Congrats to Amanda and Ryan. I bet that they are thrilled with the new abode! ;-)
Tis good to see you bloggin' again! Hope to catchya sometime this week or so..
I'm so glad tou are blogging again! I really missed your comments!
And I love the vests!
May the Lord be with you and bless you, Shelly!
Thank goodness you are back. I have checked your blog almost every day and I have prayed and worried. I am glad things are going so much better. Tale care, Dee from Kansas
Shelly, I can't begin to tell you how happy I am to see you're back! I continue to pray for all these procedures to go smoothly. Depression stinks!
Good to see you back in the realm of blogging! Whew, what a post!
Hi! I'd say I missed you too, but I was gone as well. As soon as I got on my sons computer I looked for ya, but all my links are my computer. So I check my email and there is a message from Shelly pal!Yay! I can relate to the issues you're enduring with the steroids and have to say Bravo for going to Weight Watchers. Keep us up in how you are and hopefully it will motivate me to join you on the quest. Wishing you happy, sunny, warm thoughts.
I'm so glad you're back! I missed you and was praying for you.
With love,
I am so happy that you're back! I really missed you as well. Like others, every time I saw your Easter message still up, I prayed for you.
I'm so happy to see that you're "back in action". I've been checking in from time to time and praying for you and your recovery. :)
I have your link on "my favorites" at my blog in order to share such a special person with others.
so happy to see you back and to see your knitting projects. The puppies are delightful.
Shelly, Thank you for the little Psalm at the end. I have a good friend going through uterine cancer right now, she's in that bog of what do I do, how am I supposed to feel about this. I will be sharing those verses with her.
So glad you're feeling better and getting back into the groove.
Sorry to here about your poison ivy crop. I wish I had some easy solution but even if you were one of those that was pro-chem it really isn't easy.
The only way to get rid of poison ivy is to grub it out. It will take multiple diggings and be sure to cover yourself (don't forget gloves and hats!) and wash frequently. Please, please, please, don't burn the refuse. I know it may sound elementary but a friend of mine didn't realize that it is the oils that cause the rash and the oils are volitile! He ended up downwind of the fire and got the rash in his lungs. If you can wait it is usually better to get rid of it in the winter when there is less oil in the plants, so any vines that are out of the way it would be good to mark them and get them in dormancy.
We are soooo happy to have you back. God bless. Wayne
Missed you! I understand the steriod depression, the weight gain (been there) ... you'll get rid of the extra pounds, and you sound well on your way back to "normal" (whatever that means for you!). LOVE the puppies...your vests are great! Remember to reach out to your blog pals next time? We'd like to help!
(((hugs)))
Glad to see you back again! Depression is definately NOT a fun thing to experience.
Hi! Thanks for your comment! We picked up our Puppy (Eina) and she is doing great...cute, intelligent, and stubborn little girl!!
Have a great, relaxing day!
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