Honoring Cathy

Last week I lost a dear friend to a tragic illness. Cathy, in pink on the right in this photo, was friendly, outgoing, always kind and a true Christian woman. We worked together for five years and she left two years ago to pursue opportunities with her expanding communications business. However, I know how isolating working from home can be so I invited her to lunch last Wednesday to catch up. Two days later I received news of her death and shortly after this message from her husband.
 

Rob Posting on behalf of Cathy

I wish I could sit down with each of you and tell you this heart breaking news in person. On Thursday, April 11, after suffering for the last two years with a deep depression and other health related issues my wife Cathy took her life.

With the deep depression that she was in she was not thinking clearly and lost touch with all of the people that meant so much to her. It is a terrible and painful illness. We were seeing psychiatrists, therapists, doctors, ministers, and the support from close friends and family over her final months. We tried everything we knew to do. You cannot blame yourself for anything that you had done or failed to do. We don't have enough answers yet on this terrible illness that is a silent epidemic in our nation. Get help early and tell your family and friends if you feel you are depressed. You can also contact me and I will tell you what I have learned through all of this.

She was my best friend for over 36 years. She was an amazing wife to me, and unbelievable mother to our two daughters. She poured everything she had into their lives and they are her greatest legacy. They are amazing, strong and beautiful women. They will forever remind me of their dear mother. Keep us in your prayers as we move forward with our lives.

She leaves behind all of us and will be missed greatly, but will be present as a part of all us forever. We will see her again someday.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Revelation 21:3, 4 NIV)

As we say at our church the worst thing is never the last thing.

I Love you all.

Rob

Please, please, please, don't let Cathy's death be in vain. If you are struggling with depression  get help. Depression is an illness. I can't comprehend the effects of this illness, but Cathy was absolutely the last person I could imagine who would take her own life. She lived out her faith every day. My prayer is that we will all become more aware of this disease so we can avoid losing another gifted, caring, dear person who has so much to offer.

You Too Can Make Marshmallow Creme

If I can do it, anybody can! I've never made marshmallows or marshmallow creme before, but it was really easy (although time-consuming) and really good. I guess pretty much anything that's homemade is going to taste better--even if it requires only three ingredients like the marshmallow creme did.

This recipe for Soda Cracker Fudge from Serious Eats caught my attention the other day. I'm trying to avoid temptation by using up the remaining chocolate stash from Valentine's Day. And what better way to use it up than to add it to dessert?

However, even though I scored the top and dipped my sharp knife in hot water, I could not cut the finished product into cute little squares. Do you have any hints for neatly cutting through cooled chocolate?

April Update

Well, hello (somewhat sheepishly). I know it's been a looooong time since I last posted. All I can say is, sometimes life gives you lemons and I had to suck on some for awhile before deciding it was time to make lemonade.

WIP--Another Maggie Design!

Not that it's been all bad. Kiska continues to grow and has the sweetest nature. She does not sit still for long unless she's sleeping, so getting a photo of her is very hard so they all tend to be somewhat blurry.

We enjoyed spending spring break in rural Texas with FIL and MIL and witnessing some typical ranch life...

Visit From the Farrier

How a City Boy Feeds the Chickens

with a side trip to New Orleans where we enjoyed touring the Garden District

 The French Quarter

 listening to live music

 and the food!

 

I've never been to New Orleans before but it was absolutely wonderful! We loved walking through the French Quarter and hearing all the street musicians--from an electric cello ensemble to traditional New Orleans jazz. Of course, all that walking makes you hungry which is good because the food is unique and excellent. Wish we could have spent more time there!

February Update

February is beginning on a very chilly note here in Kansas City. What a crazy week of weather we've had! Monday it was in the 70's and today single digits. One of the church's ministry partners from Malawi has been visiting for the past couple of weeks and wanted to see snow and we even had some of that this week! I was driving our guest to the church last week and she asked me whether the trees were green when it snowed. That idea surprised me but I would guess that when people in other countries see photos of snow it's usually depicted on evergreens so they assume all the trees are green.

Here's a couple of projects I've listed on this month's Early Work Mercantile. Both are from designs by Lyn Hosford. I hope you'll check out what all the talented artists have listed on this month's EWM!

I also completed the Maggie Bononomi runner. I believe it has been sold but know that sometimes people change their minds so I posted it on EWM just in case.

Kiska is still a bundle of energy. She is the happiest, most playful cat. Even in the middle of the night when we'd like to sleep, which isn't quite so delightful. In fact, it's hard to get a photo of her because she never is still. We have found she is strangely attracted to bags and that's how this photo came about.

MLK Weekend

I'm almost done with the long runner I showed a couple of weeks ago and have also been working on a couple of Valentine's Day projects. I haven't had the opportunity to do much sewing lately, however, Last week I put in a lot of overtime as part of the team preparing for our church's weekend MLK luncheon celebration which included a performance by our local treasures, The McFadden Brothers

and a keynote address by author Clifton Anderson on Living Dr. King's dream. 

This morning members and staff gathered at the church to sign up for a variety of serving events in the community, including picking up trash in the inner city, serving meals at soup kitchens, playing games with kids at a children's shelter, stocking shelves at a food pantry, organizing clothing in a thrift store whose proceeds benefit charities, writing notes of encouragement and assembling snack bags for students taking assessment testing and making Valentines with seniors.

We are honored that our senior pastor, Adam Hamilton, has been invited to deliver a sermon tomorrow at the National Prayer Service. DH and I visited the National Cathedral last March. I was impressed by its size and grandeur (and, of course, especially appreciated the beautifully handcrafted needlework prayer stools and stolls on display).

I can't imagine what it would be like to give a sermon in such a majestic church, let alone before the president and other high ranking officials. We're all praying for him and if you wouldn't mind saying a prayer for him, too, that would be great! 

Designer?

I saw this design on Pinterest and love it! However, I have not been able to trace it back to the designer. Do you know who created it?

2013 is off and running! The pace between Christmas and New Year's slows down and lulls me into believing that life will always be that way, but then the calendar turns and once again I'm behind and trying to catch up. Thank goodness the church is growing but with that comes new job assignments and changes. I am blessed to be stepping into working with our children's literacy team in 2013. We will be seeking ways to encourage the love of reading and distributing more books so inner city kiddos can acquire personal libraries. I just take it for granted that all kids have access to books at home, but that is not the case. What a difference it makes to kids to have fun books at home to read, alone or with their family.  However, this new assignment means more work hours and less crafting time, so I've had to step away from Simply Primitives. I was sad to do that, but have to be realistic about my time and, having done so now feel relief which confirms it was the right thing to do. What changes are you facing this year?

New Year's Resolution

Son and I were running errands this evening and he asked me if I made any New Year's Resolutions. "Yes", I said "I plan to do more online shopping this year." He laughed and I admit that, on the face, it may seem like a rather frivolous resolution. But I'm always trying to find ways to save time and I think I'd save a lot of time if I don't have to drive somewhere and park and then walk around looking for whatever I'm looking for but in the meantime get distracted by something that's on sale or just plain appealing. And on a more serious note, I hope to frequent some of the talented artisans I've met online and be a better friend to small businesses. I know it has meant a lot to me over the years to have the support of customers across the country. Are you a resolution maker?

Maggie Bononomi Design

We got a good dusting of snow and a blast of cold here yesterday, so we all stayed indoors and attended to various projects. In addition to taking down the tree and putting most of the Christmas decor away I  assembled a long botanical penny rug and I'm off to stitch away.