A Good Outcome from Bad News
Yesterday my soldier son, Garrett, told me that their base in Iraq had been attacked by rockets a few days ago and that two soldiers out on a mission had been shot by snipers. He didn't mean to tell me, but I dragged it out of him. I told him I needed more specific things to pray for. Well, he gave them to me.I've been praying for his safety, of course, and for him to have wisdom and lots of it. He's a First Lieutenant and in charge of a large number of men. He's prone to hot-headedness, so wisdom is high on my prayer list for him.I found out later from Laurel that a mini-conference had taken place between her, my husband, and my SIL.

Decluttering Gone Wild
Since my last decluttering post, I've gotten rid of too much stuff to list here. One thing I've gotten rid of that I never have before is sewing patterns; eighteen of them. I'll never use the low-waisted jumper or the girl's smocked jacket pattern. And I sure won't be needing the maternity patterns again!

Monday Art Class
Monday mornings I teach art and music to four other children and Darcie. The younger boy (in the truck bed) is my oldest grandson. This particular Monday we made grapevine wreaths and decorated them with local fall flowers and plants. After showing them how to make the wreaths, I told them to go jump on

My Favorite Soldier

Thoughts on Vocation
This is my last post from the book Thoughts in Solitude by Thomas Merton. I've gleaned quite a bit from it and recommend its reading. Merton says of vocation, "A man knows when he has found his vocation when he stops thinking about how to live and begins to live. When we are not living up to our true vocation, thought deadens our life, or substitutes itself for life, or gives in to life so that our life drowns out our thinking and stifles the voice of conscience. When we find our vocation--thought and life are one."I've found out that it's possible to be in my true, God-given vocation, and because too much thought and over-analyzing go on, the joy in my work is gon