The Closer I Get to the Cross

There is safety in the distance, out of sight and mind,
And life is unexamined out of fear of what I’ll find.
But once again in solitude, my soul is unfulfilled,
So I press through the crowd and I step toward the hill.


The closer I get to the cross, the more I clearly see
The holiness of You and the sinfulness in me.
There’s a beauty in the agony that draws me to this place.
The closer I get to the cross, the more amazed I am by grace.


There are times I want to turn my head so I don’t have to face the truth
Of everything You’ve done for me and what I’ve done to You.
But here my eyes are opened and it breaks my heart to know
Just how deep the roots of all my failures go.


The closer I get to the cross, the more I clearly see
The holiness of You and the sinfulness in me.
There’s a beauty in the agony that draws me to this place.
The closer I get to the cross, the more amazed I am by grace.


Draw me nearer, nearer, Blessed Lord, to the cross where Thou hast died.
Draw me nearer, nearer, Blessed Lord, to Thy precious bleeding side.


The closer I get to the cross, the more I clearly see
The holiness of You and the sinfulness in me.
There’s a beauty in the agony that draws me to this place.
The closer I get to the cross,
The more amazed I am by grace.

~By Palisade

Sew, girlie, sew!

I few months ago, I was able to purchase an industrial sewing machine to help me in my job and home business. I'm using it tonight to make a couple of pillows for my job, and I thought I would take a break to introduce it to you!

I am so thankful to know how to sew! It is great to have a flexible job so that I can work and go to school at the same time!

A Williamsburg Christmas: The Buffet

This is the buffet in our dining room. There is no fireplace (and hence, no mantelpiece) in our house, so the buffet gets to have the garland! I realize the Christmas Cactus really doesn't fit, but Christmas Cacti are persnickety creatures and don't like to be moved, so it had to stay. Oh well...we aren't actually in Williamsburg, and our 1950's GI tract house said it was okay if it wanted to stay in the dining room. Now if only I had lit the candles for this picture...

A Williamsburg Christmas: The Oranges

I love these pomandered oranges! The cloves and citrus are such a nice addition to all the pine and cinnamon scents in the house.

A Williamsburg Christmas: The Door

This is the wreath I made, inspired by the photos in this book. It's a pre-made balsam wreath to which I added Red Delicious apples, key limes, lotus seed pods, and pine cones.

And yes, it is hanging on the inside of the front door. It hasn't gotten above freezing (or much above zero, for that matter!) since I made it, and the book cautions against putting fruit decorations out where they might freeze. Oh the joys of living in the Rockies instead of the balmy, humid southern east coast!

On Monday, we finally gave up on putting it outside, and moved it from its holding place on the coat closet doorknob to the inside of the front door. I think I rather like having a wreath on the inside...we get to enjoy it so much more, especially since we never actually come in the front door! (Check back tomorrow for more decorations!)

Christmas in Williamsburg

Last year at around this time and after seeing several specials on the subject, my sister and I decided we would spend Christmas 2008 at Disneyworld. Silly us. :-) As this Christmas drew closer (like, around sometime in August), I decided we should go to Colonial Williamsburg instead.

However, as the good Governor Gumpas would have objected, had he been around when I menitoned the idea at breakfast one morning...it was quite out of the question...an economic impossibility.

I was determined to do something beautiful and historical, though. So far, I have spotted three of our neighbors whose idea of Christmas decorating is to erect inflatable figures of The Grinch in their yards, not to mention all the others who have a variety of other "Christmas" characters well-lit and inflated in their yards. I wanted something lovely and elegant and real. After browsing around Paperbackswap, I settled on two books about decorating at Williamsburg.

Ever since Thanksgiving, I've been collecting fresh fruits and greenery whenever it was on sale. I purchased a fresh balsam wreath, a 25' red cedar garland, and a large bag of Red Delicious apples at Costco. Sixty key limes came home from Sunflower Market for only $3. Four bags of pine cones for $2.50 each from Michael's. Five pounds of oranges arrived from the grocery store for only $1.

A little thing called Operation Bridesmaid Dress (more on that later) had kept me from doing any decorating until today, but I finally managed to get my wreath done this afternoon. I think it's rather nice, if I do say so myself. Hopefully, the blizzard tomorrow will let up enough for me to get a picture of it hanging in its Red Delicious glory on the front door tomorrow. The garland is primarily to decorate the front door, and whatever is left of it will go on the piano and the buffet. My sister will be making pomandered oranges to arrange in pyramids for the tansu and the piano. Then it's only a matter of finding spots for the 18 candlesticks we discovered we own. (I always knew it was a lot...just not quite *that* many...)

As of now, I'm off to eat a hot bowl of oatmeal for dinner (yum), and then I will be hanging pinecones on velvet ribbon in all the windows...

The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it, yet within our reach, is joy. Take joy!
~Fra Giovanni