ThrowBack Thursday ~ Grandma's quilts...

This a re-post from May, 25, 2012. Grandma recently celebrating her 117th birthday on October 9th. I have been thinking about her a lot. Truthfully, there is hardly a day that goes by that I don't think about her and the way she blessed my life.

This is a quilt that Grandma Federer made for my brother Kenny. It's call Lone Star. When I was in Cheyenne last month he asked me if I would mend some of the places on the quilt where the seams have come apart. He was so happy when I said I could and grateful to allow someone to take it that knows of its priceless value.

Grandma made the quilt in 1976, the year of The United States Bicentennial Celebration. Of course it had to be red, white and blue. I washed the quilt and it really brightened up. It's in great condition for being 36 years old.

Grandma made so many quilts. All of her children and grandchildren were recipients of these treasures. 

She even made a few for her great-grandchildren before she died. Grandma made this Flower Garden baby quilt for Christopher. (Tim made the Windsor cradle) I wish I had pictures of all the quilts she made.

Grandma made this gorgeous Six-point Star quilt for my brother Les and my Mom gave it to me after he passed away.

 Green was his favorite color.

Grandma made this quilt in 1975, it was a wedding gift for my brother Ernie and my sister-in-law Marilyn. She had a special knack for coordinating colors. What a beautiful quilt!

She made this one for me, also in 1976. Most of the fabric she used are scraps from dresses my Mom made me. It's called a Flower Garden and I love it.

I spent a summer with Grandma and she taught me how to piece quilts. This was before rotary cutters. She sewed all the pieced together by hand. This was the first quilt I made.

This was one of the last quilts Grandma made in 1984, it was for my Aunt Bernice. I loved sitting on the couch and watching her sew, she never had idle hands. I miss her.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Birthday boy... 1 year old tomorrow!

Boo-time...

We had a nice dinner, played games, painting fizzle pumpkins and frosted sugar cookies.

Colby helping me juice some limes for our cranberry apple drink.

 Mark played a little trick on Tim!

 Happy Halloween, it was a fun Boo Bash!

Words to live by ~ Costly grace...

“Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: 'Ye were bought at a price', and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

I am fascinated by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He was faithful and courageous. Elder Christofferson quoted him in a talk he gave last General Conference. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a brilliant German theologian, Lutheran pastor and a prolific writer.

Bonhoeffer was born in 1906, son of a professor of psychiatry and neurology at the University of Berlin. He was an outstanding student, and at the age of 25 became a lecturer in systematic theology at the same University. When Hitler came to power in 1933, Bonhoeffer became a leading spokesman for the Confessing Church, the center of Protestant resistance to the Nazis. He organized and for a time led the underground seminary of the Confessing Church. His book Life Together describes the life of the Christian community in that seminary, and his book The Cost of Discipleship attacks what he calls "cheap grace," meaning grace used as an excuse for moral laxity. Bonhoeffer had been taught not to "resist the powers that be," but he came to believe that to do so was sometimes the right choice. In 1939 his brother-in-law introduced him to a group planning the overthrow of Hitler, and he made significant contributions to their work. (He was at this time an employee of the Military Intelligence Department.) He was arrested in April 1943 and imprisoned in Berlin. After the failure of the attempt on Hitler's life in April 1944, he was sent first to Buchenwald and then to Schoenberg Prison. His life was spared, because he had a relative who stood high in the government; but then this relative was himself implicated in anti-Nazi plots. On Sunday 8 April 1945, he had just finished conducting a service of worship at Schoenberg, when two soldiers came in, saying, "Prisoner Bonhoeffer, make ready and come with us," the standard summons to a condemned prisoner. As he left, he said to another prisoner, "This is the end -- but for me, the beginning -- of life." He was hanged the next day, less than a week before the Allies reached the camp. He was only 39 years old.

He wrote this hymn in the concentration camp, shortly before his death.

By gracious powers so wonderfully sheltered,
  And confidently waiting come what may,
we know that God is with us night and morning,
  and never fails to greet us each new day.

Yet is this heart by its old foe tormented,
  Still evil days bring burdens hard to bear;
Oh, give our frightened souls the sure salvation
  for which, O Lord, You taught us to prepare.

And when this cup You give is filled to brimming
  With bitter suffering, hard to understand,
we take it thankfully and without trembling,
  out of so good and so beloved a hand.

Yet when again in this same world You give us
  The joy we had, the brightness of Your Sun,
we shall remember all the days we lived through,
  and our whole life shall then be Yours alone.

Above the Great West Door of the renowned Westminster Abbey in London, England, stand the statues of 10 Christian martyrs of the 20th century. Included among them is Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

St. Maximilian Kolbe
Manche Masemola
Janani Luwum
St Grand Duchess Elizabeth of Russia
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Óscar Romero
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Esther John
Lucian Tapiedi
Wang Zhiming

All ready for the 2nd Annual Boo Bash..

The napkins are suppose to look like ghosts!

Halloween is not my favorite holiday but there are few things I enjoy more than having a party for my grandsons. I don't have many nice memories of trick-or-treating, because in Wyoming it was usually snowing and very cold on Halloween night. I hate being scared and I never liked watching scary movies. I do not like haunted houses. Who wants to have the living daylights scared out of them?!? I will never have a scary party for Cash, Colby and Grey, never!

I do however want the grands to enjoy Halloween and so I support that by having our annual Boo Bash. Being with family is what it's all about!

C-O-L-B-Y

A few days ago Colby and I were sitting at the table playing with the Play dough and he spelled his name for me... C-O-L-B-Y. I said, What's that spell? He said, no one I just learned it up. I said, but it spells your name Colby and he smiled and nodded yes. He has the best Mommy who teaches him lots of good things. 

Morning walk...

I love this time of year!

ThrowBack Thurday ~ Family...

Where does the time go?