Faith Hope Love - a gift...

 

Hello again, and welcome back...

Yes, it has surely been awhile since my last blog post. I had written back in May of taking a break for 4-6 weeks to focus on some health self-care, but more than 9 weeks have passed, and though I appreciated all the caring emails and Etsy messages asking how I was, I must apologise for not responding. 

I do not want this blog post to just focus on the continuing pain and treatment challenges of the past year since the accident with my knee, as it can be quite wearying being regularly asked "are you any better?", "how is your leg now?", or "what treatment are you having?" and not having the mental capacity to explain something that is ongoing and still being treated with various avenues - so I simply opted out of correspondance and blogging. Please forgive me if you are one of those precious women who reached out, and received no reply. ((hugs)) I even avoided discussing things with my daughters, and rather turned the conversation to their own lives and families, because to me they mattered far more. 

So let me offer a one-off reply today and then we'll move on to more enjoyable things. 

The past three months have been the worst with regards to pain and recovery. It turns out that I was given the wrong treatment by a number of different physiotherapists and more damage was done to my knee and surrounding ligaments over the course of these past twelve months. But they were simply following the guidelines for various 'singular' aspects of my injury and not the combined aspects, believing they were helping, so I hold nothing against them. 

Last week I began with a new physiotherapist, a woman with much experience, a woman who didn't just listen to me (such a blessing) but who connected the dots with all the areas of my knee which were injured in the accident, rather than honing in on just one. She's a gift from God to be sure. I am unable to sit in a car (as a driver or a passenger) and cannot travel even short distances anymore, so we are doing video appointments instead of 'in person' ones. Even in the past week of following her advice, I have some improvement, and though the road ahead is long, I have hope of finally recovering and getting back to my normal everyday life. The extensive nerve pain side of things is extremely difficult, and the treatment for that has thus failed, but I have faith this too will be resolved in time. 

I have read your comments and emails, and prayed for those of you who shared stories of your own mobility, joint and pain challenges, and the treatments which helped you. What surprised me was how different they all were, and how different my situation was to all of them as well. How very unique our bodies are, and that helped me realise that its okay to get second (and third and fourth) opinions if a treatment is not helping or is making the problem worse. Thank you for praying for me, and please be assured that I was praying for you too. What a gift it is to pray for others and know that we do not need to have all the facts about someone's situation for God knows it all. We just need to lift them before His throne and leave it all in His care. Blessed are we.

As I have been unable to stand for long, it was important to find a project that would take time and not need for me to be up and down in the sewing room (I do miss that though), so the best option was to begin a cross-stitch pattern. You know, it took me a month to choose one. ;-) I had decided a lovely strawberry themed pattern would be lovely hung near the kitchen and so I began looking online at paper patterns and PDF downloads. 

There were some lovely small ones, but my preference was a larger design that would take time, and that search took quite a while. Eventually I chose this one, and am loving it. This was my first time printing a large PDF cross-stitch pattern, and the 8 pages of the strawberry graph needed to be cut and aligned to give one very large sheet to work from. Initially my thought was to not buy another large pattern such as this again, but over the past six weeks in which I have been working on this, it has not been a problem at all. In fact I have purchased another cross-stitch pattern from the same designer to work on when I finish the strawberry one (though the next one is smaller and only 6 pages of graph). I may tea dye the strawberry cross-stitch when its finished, as I think it will suit a more 'aged' display when framed. 

Our garden is somewhat changed this winter. If you're new here, we live in the tropics where summer vegetables are grown in winter. I do a little in the garden each day, thankful that everything was planted months ago before my injury worsened, so it only needs watering and fortnightly fertilising, along with the joy of harvesting fresh tomatoes, herbs, spring onions, leeks, beans, cucumbers, snow peas, rocket, bok choy, lettuce, herbs and other greens. Our pomegranate tree has five good fruits on it, and more forming, so it has finally established itself after four years of nothing but a single fruit two years ago. 

My rock, other than Jesus, has been and always is, my precious husband. He works six days a week, and yet these past months has taken on some of my home duties in order to alleviate a bit of the regular homemaking work load that I love and miss. Small things, like doing the dishes after breakfast and making the bed before he leaves for work. Watering the vegetable gardens at dawn became his responsibility too, as well as picking up the groceries after I have ordered them online. Every extra thing he's done has been done with a heart full of love for me, and I have never felt so deeply treasured in all my life - which surprised me because his love has always been true and deep. 

Despite everything, I choose to laugh a lot, and smiling is natural because God made me to be 'glass half full' girl. Knowing that life is a gift not be taken for granted, as are the family our Father gave me, JOY overflows in my life every day. 

His Word is alive and as I read, He has given me more 'epiphanies' this year than ever before. I am always telling my husband, "Mark, listen to this..." and he also marvels at things hidden deep in Scripture than are too easily overlooked. Oh how exciting this is! 

You know, this past year is not one I would have chosen had I known in advance the level of pain and immobility that would progress with the passing of each month - BUT - I have learned things which would not have been learned any other way (I think) and for all these life lessons, sharp character edges smoothed, JOY increased, love expanded, spiritual insights, and confidence in pursuing a healing path and not giving up even now, it has been worth it. More than I could have imagined. 

No matter what God allows in life, do not let it rob you of growth, change, and hope. It's too easy to wallow when things are harder than you'd expect, to allow despair, complaining, impatience and other negative attitudes to infect your heart and mind...and by extension to spread into your relationships with loved ones, and even with God. It may be hard to be happy and hopeful if you're not naturally a positive person (my husband is like that) but God can do anything, so why not ask Him to change your perspective and to graciously highlight things in your life which bring  to mind the JOY your heart needs. ((hugs))

I'm sure this post is long enough for today. Now that I have updated you, it's a relief to move on with blogging again and focusing more on the everyday life of homemaking, regardless of the life season you or I are in, and on living this life to its fullest with JOY and hope in the Lord. 

God bless dear ones!! Let me know how YOU are okay? 

I have a gift for you before I sign off...

I first released this pattern in 2012, and I still use the table runner today as it's one of my favourites though it is a little worn out. I have long wanted to remake it, so that might happen soon. I'll share pics here if it does. May you be blessed as you make it for your own home or as a gift...and remember, have faith, hold on to hope, love God with all your heart, and show His love to those around you...

DOWNLOAD THE PATTERN HERE

Until next time,

PS: My Etsy Shop is always open, so please drop by if you are in the mood for something new to stitch.

CLICK HERE

Flowing with your season...

(my original photo of the front of our home, remade as a watercolour print, April 2026)

Home is where I am happiest. Home is where I get to live out the familiar rhythms and habits, through all seasons, which keep me grounded and calm and confident. 

Occasionally there are new challenges to face within those familar seasons, mostly the kind which are quickly (or simply) resolved, but every so often there's one which will take more from you than first imagined. 

Days after my last post, it became evident that time would be needed for me to try something new, wait for a result, and finally, to make my peace with what would eventuate. During these past five weeks there's been no desire in my heart to write here, nor even correspond with the many kind and caring emails, messages and comments you have sent to check up on me - but I did cherish each one, and have been so very grateful for your prayers, especially when I am sure you all have challenges of your own to contend with. How incredibly lovely are your hearts! xxx

I did want to clarify something - many messages/emails about my knee assumed that it was arthritis and that I'd need a knee replacement, but that is incorrect. The damage is primarily a cartilage injury (the meniscus) as well as a couple of bone marrow oedemas, the main one in my tibia. These cause swelling and chronic pain, but the problem I mostly have is re-injuring (three times) where the medial meniscus detached nine months ago. Anyhow, whilst I was absent from the blog, I saw the orthopeadic specialist who suggested an injection of hyaluronic acid, hoping that would give some extra cushioning inside my knee while the meniscus continued to heal. The success rate is 50% and it was very expensive, but after such a long time of chronic pain it seemed worth trying at least. Unfortunately, it has not worked. 

But I have had time to consider all my options, and examine every bit of advice given me by the medical professionals. Some of the things I was told to do by physiotherapists made my knee worse, and the more I investigated those exercises, the more I learned how outdated they were. So, I have been doing things a bit differently the past three weeks, and can actually feel some improvement at long last - which has allowed me to return to the garden, and work in it, carefully and mindfully, for a couple of hours most days. As of this week I was able to drive the car 2 kilometres to the shop, but no further due to pain, but two weeks ago I could not drive at all. I relish every blessings, large or small!

The front and back gardens were horribly overgrown and ugly after our monsoonal wet season. I was not sure where to begin, but decided to start slowly, and begin clearing away and pruning. Just doing that over a few days allowed me to envision what was needed at this mid-autumn season, and how I could best return to growing vegetables again. You see, mid-autumn to mid-spring is our growing season in the tropics, and I had thought for many months that I'd miss it this year. 

The grandkids came over one Sunday and 5yo Charlie David spent hours helping Poppy in the garden. Poppy pruned the large trees and bushes, and afterwards Charlie David helped carry the branches to Poppy for shredding. By the end of the morning we had a good deal of mulch for the front and back garden! 

Something my husband and Charlie's dad Ross do a lot of with him, is "men stuff". Teaching young boys how to do things they'll need to know one day with their own families to care for is very important to them. 

And meanwhile Rafaella was in the kitchen with me making a chicken pasta salad. It was her first time using a very sharp knife (one of my Japanese kitchen knives), and she was marvellous cutting all the vegetables while I cooked the pasta and made mayonnaise.

I haven't done any sewing or knitting for three weeks, because the garden has been my focus, but I did complete my March UFO on time...

The backing fabric and binding are favourite prints I have had since 2007!! In fact every fabric used in this project is at least ten years old. People often ask me where they can purchase the fabrics used in my designs and I have to disappoint them because most of the fabric I own is between 8-20 years old. 

I truly love how the table runner finished up, and decided that once the garden is a bit further along I shall make more of those orange peel blocks from my old fabrics and use them as cushion covers for the lounge room - so bright and cheery!

So shall I complete a UFO for April?? I do not know, but tonight I'll have a look through the ones I put aside for this year and see if there's a small project that can be completed easily. I'm rather tired at night... :-)

Anyhow I'll leave you with photos of where I'm up to in the garden as of yesterday. So that you know what's been planted thus far...

Seeds still sprouting and yet to be planted out - daikon radish, red cherry tomatoes, yellow pear tomatoes, lebanese cucumbers, coriander, lemon basil, zinnia and cosmos.

Already potted - bok choy, spring onions, calendula, chives, red tomato, sweet potato, rocket (arugula), snow peas and various herbs. 

Ready to harvest - We also have another huge bunch of bananas growing, the lime tree almost finished producing (we got around 200 limes this year), the lemon grass needing to be thinned and the stalks frozen, plus five huge pumpkins almost ready to harvest.

Seeds to be planted over the weekend - carrots, beetroot, rockmelon and parsley. 

There's still a lot more to do in the front and back gardens, and we're a bit late with the winter planting, but one thing I have come to realise is that doing something is far better than doing nothing. In fact, planting a little is better than not planting at all. An hour a day adds up to seven by week's end if that's all you can manage in a day. If you don't have wonderfully large high garden beds, use pots. I mostly use pots. Just do something that brings your senses alive - and for me that is in the garden. 

For you it may be sitting with your watercolours and painting a scene, or any number of activities which breathe life into your actions and protect your mental health. 

I know that the garden is integral to my mental health. The birds visit each day, and wait for me to feed them. They do not fly away when I come near because they know they're safe around me, and that is such a blessing. Sitting outside watching the birds, enjoying a cup of tea and perusing the fruits of my garden labour - all this is a gift from the Lord, and I do not take those gifts lightly.

I know many of the smaller birds will be building nests soon, so I have hung a mug of yarn scraps from the elder tree for them, after seeing the idea on Niamh's vlog a few years back. 

I hope to be back writing again next week, as I had not intended being absent for so long - but seasons come and go, and rather than be frustrated when a particular season is upended with various challenges, it's important to flow along with them and carry the peace of God with you until that season has passed and a fresh one begins. 

Whatever season you are in right now, whether it be hard or exciting or joyous or confusing, lean on the Lord. Rest in His arms and let His constant and unfailing reassurance carry you through the laughter or tears. I have found there is no other Who can see me through every season of life, as carefully or as faithfully, as my Jesus. 

Chat again soon,

My free newsletter is back. Just sign up HERE and you'll receive it every couple of weeks.

You will find loads of patterns for instant download HERE in my Etsy Shop