A Sailor Sweater for Ryan Benjamin

One of the guys my dad ushers with at church, Robert, got married just over a year ago (or maybe longer, I don't really remember (^_^;) ), and not many months thereafter announced the impending arrival of his firstborn: a son to be named Ryan Benjamin (or, as his father put it, "Ryan been jammin'!"). He and his wife are so sweet, I decided to knit little Ryan a sweater, and settled on an adorable little sailor sweater pattern very quickly. Based on past experience, I assumed that while I had way more than enough time to complete it before his arrival, my remaining on task was unlikely at best, so I was relieved to find that the smallest size for the pattern was for 6 months. Sure enough, I've only just finished it today, and Ryan is a couple of months old. (^_^;) Thankfully, the yarn I had at my disposal was wool, so by the time he's big enough to wear it, it will be seasonally appropriate. Isn't it amazing that God is watching out for me in every way?

As always with my knitting, seeing a young girl knitting in public tends to draw a lot of attention from bystanders, and several people asked about it. I finally replaced the batteries in my digicam, and took come very nice photographs before I wrapped it up for surprise delivery tomorrow morning so that all of you could see how it turned out. So, without further ado, I give you... pictures!!!

Waiting for the other shoe to drop

Lately my life has been just amazing, which leaves me wondering when the other shoe will drop, and things will return to my sad excuse for normalcy. Which then prompts the question: where did that phrase even come from? Here's what UrbanDictionary.com has to say:

Waiting for the other shoe to drop

To await an event that is expected to happen, due to being causally linked to another event that has already been observed. Gets its origin from the joke in the example. A guest who checked into an inn one night was warned to be quiet because the guest in the room next to his was a light sleeper. As he undressed for bed, he dropped one shoe, which, sure enough, awakened the other guest. He managed to get the other shoe off in silence, and got into bed. An hour later. he heard a pounding on the wall and a shout: "When are you going to drop the other shoe?" Thus the term "waiting for the other shoe to drop."

I mean, lately my life has just generally been going right for once: I have a few amazing friends whom I get to see quite regularly at church, where I have resumed attending the Sunday and Wednesday night services after a long (and mostly just lazy) hiatus, I have finally been able to start unraveling the cause of my sudden weight gain earlier this year, and it is starting to (slowly) come back off (^o^) due to my new eating plan (not a "diet," mind you) and stepped-up workouts, I have been getting lots of compliments from my peers on my appearance (which I must confess I owe mostly to my mom's hairdressing skills... (^_^;) ), and all manner of other various and sometimes seemingly random blessing from Father, to the point of it being just ridiculous. Some of these aforementioned blessings may seem insignificant and even petty to some, but for someone with my history of rejection and ridicule, they mean so much... (TvT)

I feel like for the first time in my life I really belong, and that I am actually wanted... And that feels just too incredible for words. I am truly blessed, and I owe it all to the Lord! One thing I know: my past heartaches and failures have prepared me for my future, which He has promised me is good (Romans 8:28, Jeremiah 29:11, etc.). I just can't wait to see what He has for me, and I'm so glad that He has used these things in my past to make me into who I am today. I'd actually be friends with me now! (^_~)