An Update

        Sorry I haven't been posting quite as much lately. Nothing especially interesting has been going on - just many little, insignificant things - but I have to write something. So, first things first.

        My dear friend Kayla, over at Miss K's Corner, came to visit yesterday. She is from Texas, but has a temporary job here in California. As it turns out, she is just about an hour away! She came to visit for the first time a week ago - she was planning to just stay for an afternoon, but we talked so late that she ended up staying the night! This time we were planning on it. ;) We snuggled the goats and took a long walk, sang and played piano and guitar together, and talked. A LOT. Well, that's what friends do, right? Oh, and my brother also happened to shoot his first turkey while she was here! It was really exciting for him 'cause it is his first with the bow and arrow, and exciting for me 'cause I like turkey. We, umm, had a bit too much fun plucking and cleaning it. I'll probably do a short post on this later, so enough for now.

        I have also been at church a lot. Every year, the high school group goes on a mission trip down to Mexico and helps out five local churches with VBS and sports camp and a bunch of other things. There is quite a bit of training involved, so I've been at church three times a week for several hours, and had devotions to do every day (which I've really been loving). Everyone who has gone before says that it is a great experience stepping out of your comfort zone and ministering to the people down there. It is in a very poor area, so the difference in culture is astounding. As well as doing the camps for the kids, we also help out at the Refuge of the Elders, a place where they pick up elderly people who have been abandoned on the streets to die and give them medical care and share the Gospel with them. There is a construction team also; I wanted to do this, but got put on a different team. Oh well, I guess that's where I was meant to be. :) I ended up signing up for the worship part of our group (each church has a team of about twelve people and they do either worship, crafts, or puppets). That is nice because I get to learn all of the Spanish songs - they're really fun. The guy who is with me on the worship team for our church is a really good guitar player, which is cool. So I've been busy with that. I'll continue to have training until April 19th, when we leave for Mexico for a week. I won't be blogging during that time, if you were wondering.

        Sewing. Knitting. I've been doing more of that lately than usual. At our local yarn store, they have a bunch of items for sale other than yarn, such as little bags, pins, scented soaps, and the like. Well, I think that the people who make these things take advantage of the fact that yarn junkies usually have a bit of money and are willing to spend it, because this stuff is, umm, a bit pricy. So the owners of the store know that I sew as well as knit, so they are wanting me to make similar things - they know I'll sell for cheaper. In addition to knitting swatched for them now, I am also sewing. Here are a few pictures. These were just a few prototypes I mad with some old fabric scraps. They have a large safety pin on the back and can be pinned to clothing, bags, or really anything else.

        This is a shawl that I knitted for them - it kind of counted as a swatch. I can't take credit for either the pattern nor the yarn, but I did feel almost proud when I saw people walk in and say "Oh, that's gorgeous! Can I have the pattern?" :)

        I've had quite a bit of school to do as well - I am going to be gone in Mexico right before we have a big assignment due for my architecture class and am trying to get a bit ahead in that. We have to design a whole house for the first time, complete with everything, and take into consideration purpose, location, weather conditions, sustainability, and construction. Needless to say, that takes a decent amount of both effort and time to do all of the sketches and plans, and then do them all on SketchUp. I do like drawing them out, though. :)
        And now, some random snapshots of things that aren't worthy of a whole paragraph to themselves:

Calendula petals

A bird nest from in the honeysuckle - see how the squirrel hid a walnut in it?

Unknown flower and bee

        Some pictures from when it rained a few days ago: 

The moment of triumph! ;)

Lovely bread, uh, sculpture

Eponine climbing the tree - taken out of the kitchen window

        I'll hopefully be posting a bit more than I have been in the past couple of weeks, so keep an eye out for new ones in the next several days!

Blessings,

Reyna