Ruth's Ramblings

Spring Projects

Lately I've had my hands full with various projects. The past couple weeks I've been calling businesses non-stop, soliciting for donations for our church's Spring Tea, as well as picking some of them up personally. Some of the donations are pretty cool - although most of them come from businesses in the Greenhaven/Pocket area. Curves sent me a one month's free pass to their facilities (just for soliciting a donation from them) - pretty cool - but only if I lived down in that area. (You can only use the pass at their Greenhaven location). Anyone want it (women only)?

I'm also helping to plan a bridal shower. I've never planned one out before, and I'm terrible at coordinating things - but so far it seems okay. I really like helping out with weddings. Especially since I've already gone through mine myself - it helps me understand things through the bride's POV and better help/support her. Planning my own wedding was a stressful nightmare (I was so glad it was over!!) but planning someone else's wedding takes the pressure and edge off and gives me room to actually enjoy the process. I'm starting to really love it. =)

Since we got back from our HK/Singapore/Malaysia trip, I haven't been cooking as much, and it's taken awhile to get back into the swing of things. Tonight I made an irish lamb stew. It called for white wine, but I substituted Guiness beer instead. (A really nice touch!). =) I floured and browned the lamb meat, and then simmered it with vegetables, thyme, bay leaves, and some chili pepper for a couple hours. When it was done, the lamb was soft, tender, and falling off the bone. I love making stews. And this one is definately going into my recipe files.

And speaking of hobbies, I've also been continuing my knitting (after a visit with Chor - I was inspired again to pick up my needles). I'm making a purse now, teaching myself how to handsew, and I'll be posting my progress here. I've put this link with the rest of my "secret" links at the bottom of this blog (there are 2 other blogger links that I own - can you find them?).

We've been working on the backyard when we can - we've got 7 trees already (4 of them were free SMUD trees, the other three are fruit trees that we purchased: plum, apple pear, and tangerine). We've already got concrete down, an overhang structure, and now we've just ordered 5 cubic yards of nice soil.

And lastly, on the spiritual side of things; I've been working on my prayer life (as usual). I'm learning all over again what it means to let go and trust God (not relying on my own strength and "wisdom"), specifically in the area of service and evangelism (I refer alot to Experiencing God lately). And now that Wayne's schedule is lightening up quite a bit, we're talking about restarting our bible studies again (we used to go through a study regularly as a couple, but had to postpone it due to his work schedule). We're still praying about our couples kinship group and our possible Nepal trip for this fall (we're forming a medical team - anyone with primary care skills interested?).

Posted by Ruth at 3/31/2005