Tapestries

I have been working so hard on learning how to add some fun stuff that I have not had time to write a real post.  I hope you all enjoy the little extras and take time to visit the links I have shared.  All these links mean a lot to me, not just for the obvious reasons, but also on an extremely personal level.  As time passes I am excited to share with you more details about each of these incredible "patches" in my life quilt.  

Welcome to Patchwork and Peanut Butter, my new adventure!  It is both exciting and scary, as are most new things.  I thought to start things off I would share a few bits and pieces with you, little scraps of my crazy quilt life. 

First of all, as some of you may know, I am writing under a very special pseudonym, a wonderful "fake name" given to me by my birth sister when our mother first told her about me.  My sister wrote many letters sharing her heart with me, even though we were not to meet for several more years.  As "Natasha" I was the perfect big sister. The confidant. The sharer of dreams and burdens. Now that we have met and built an amazing relationship, she knows that I am far from the ideal she imagined, but she chooses to love and accept me anyway!    We have often discussed whether we would be this close if we had started off together as sisters.  We will never know.  Instead, we find blessing in sharing our hopes and struggles today and building memories now!

Another thing you need to know about me is that I do not quilt!  I barely sew!  My fascination with quilts is purely comfort and metaphor! Probably the first real quilt I had a "relationship" with was through my husband's grandmother.  When each of her grandchildren graduated from high school she gave them a handmade quilt.  All bright cottons, with no real rhyme or reason to the squares, it is a perfect picture of my husband's family!  Bright. Fun. Comforting. Practical. and more than a little bit Crazy!!  Off we went to college, quilt in tow, two young people in love.  It was perfect for picnics and laying out under the stars. You could wrap up in it while watching a football game or a breezy fall parade.  Then we started a family.  It was great for our new babies to lay on and enjoy the fresh air.  As they grew, Grandma's quilt went to ballgames, the lake, and camp. One day, I noticed that it was  becoming quite threadbare.  I put it away in a cabinet for protection, where it stayed for several years.  Then we moved to our new house, which has one horrendously unchangeable wall (another story for another day!).  Grandma's quilt was the perfect artwork to transform that wall into something beautiful.  Now everyday, it continues to brighten our lives, not just the quilt itself, but the endless memories contained in the brilliantly fading colors and the fraying seams. 

And last, why Peanut Butter? I don't even particularly LIKE peanut butter!  Well, that is not all true.  I like it mixed with a ton of honey and made into a sandwich (Thanks, Mom!)  I like it in cookies, and Reese's, and in the yummy dessert my daughter makes every year for the holidays.  But I am definitely not the "eat-it-by-the-spoonfuls-out-of-the-jar" type of gal.  My husband on the other hand was glued together by peanut butter!  Some of my earliest memories of him is with a PB and *something* sandwich in his hand during school lunch-- jelly, honey, bananas, apple slices, GRAPES, ORANGES! Seriously, who eats a PB&O sandwich!!!???   Like their daddy, our girls eat a lot of PB.  It was the first thing they learned to make on their own. Ahhh, the triumph of smearing your first PB&J!!  Healthy lunch, travel snack, dessert ingredient, declaration of independence,  Peanut Butter is vital to our family's survival!  It has become a catch-phrase in our home. If  asked what someone needs, the appropriate response is always "Peanut Butter!"  So, when I needed something to balance out the title "Patchwork and.......... " my husband blurted out "Peanut Butter!"  It was perfect!

In deciding  my purposes for this blog, I thought my sister's ideal of "Natasha" expressed my desires. We may never meet face to face, but I hope this blog becomes a place where laughter, tears, fears and dreams are shared; a place of encouragement, comfort and strength; a place for new ideas and age old Truth.  Like my sister, you will find that I am far from perfect. I have made (and still make!) more than my share of mistakes.  Along the way, though, I have learned some things that I know for sure:  You can't beat  the cheerfulness of a brightly colored quilt and the comfort of that most basic and versatile of American staples, peanut butter.  Life, with all its ups and downs, is easier when shared with a friend.  And, although I do not know all the answers to life's pressing questions, I know One who does.  So, I hope that you will grab a peanut butter cookie or a Reese's and share with me all the wonderfully diverse memories, people, places, and experiences that make up this fantastic patchwork we call Life!

Psalm 16:11 "You will show me the Path of Life.  You fill me with Joy in Your Presence!"