Christ, Whose Glory Fills the Sky

Christ, whose glory fills the skies,
Christ, the true, the only Light,
Sun of Righteousness, arise,
Triumph o’er the shades of night;
Dayspring from on high, be near;
Day-star, in my heart appear.

Dark and cheerless is the morn
Unaccompanied by Thee;
Joyless is the day’s return
Till Thy mercy’s beams I see;
Till they inward light impart,
Glad my eyes, and warm my heart.

Visit then this soul of mine,
Pierce the gloom of sin and grief;
Fill me, Radiancy divine,
Scatter all my unbelief;
More and more Thyself display,
Shining to the perfect day.

-Charles Wesley

"But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall." Malachi 4:2

Sleeve Ironing Board

Before I married and still lived at home with my mom, I had the advantage of using all of her sewing supplies. When I married there where some of her tools I really missed, one of them was mom's sleeve ironing board. A sleeve ironing board is handy for pressing small detail work, but is especially handy for pressing sleeve seams, as the sleeve fits right over the board!

My mom knew that I missed using her sleeve board and decided she would like to give me one for my birthday (which was back in January). She found this challenging as sleeve boards are not commonly available today. JoAnn's had a sort of sleeve board, but it was not very sturdy. Mom's board was purchased back in the '80's and was made of wood. So mom began looking on-line and found this delightful board on ebay! As you can see in the photo above it is wood and has a neat "Handy Ann" stamp. I would guess it may be from the '50's or '60's.

It came with a simple cream cover and no padding, so before presenting me with this lovely gift on my birthday mom made a new cover from calico and added padding.

Soon after my birthday in January I was not feeling up to sewing and did not have a chance to use this wonderful gift for while. But now that I am sewing again I am enjoying my sleeve ironing board immensely! Not only is is functional, it is pretty and vintage!

Last Friday..

Last Friday was a beautiful sunny day, and one that I will always remember! Adam took the day off from work so that he could take me to my ultrasound appointment. It was so amazing seeing our little baby's heart beating, her little body being so perfectly formed. At one point she lifted her little hand and spread all five of her fingers. I cannot wait to hold that little hand in September. : ) And yes, I am using female pronouns, because our sweet little baby is a girl!

Later Friday afternoon Adam and I decided to head out to an estate sale we had seen advertised. Our main interest in going was a piano they had mentioned in the advertisement. From the description we assumed it would be out of our price range, but thought we would look just for fun. Much to our amazement the piano was priced at $95 and included the matching bench. We were so pleased. : ) Afterwards Adam discovered that the piano was made in 1985, the same year we were born.
 

We purchased the piano and our families helped move it to our house. It has such a lovely sound! Adam plays the piano by ear beautifully and I have so enjoyed sitting by the piano in the evenings while he plays hymns. I also play, but I am very out of practice. However I am now attempting to regain what I have lost over time. I imagine that our little baby is enjoying all of the lovely music and I hope she will play the piano herself someday. It does seem providential that the LORD provided this beautiful piano the day we discovered we were expecting a little girl, and she did make a point of showing us her lovely little hand. : )

"Speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord." Ephesians 5:19