Thursday

Is it really Thursday already? This week has flown by! Yesterday was a full but great day which may explain why I can't believe the week is already half way over.

It started out with letters and drawings from one of my sweet boys in Romania.

Pic of us this winter.

He is truly precious and his kind words started my day off right.

Next I got to meet with my new Russian friend Natalia and her husband, Terry.

I think I have found my kindred Russian spirit. Or my long lost Russian sister. This was the first time we had ever met and yet I felt like I've known her forever. It was such a blessing to get to meet someone who shares my passion for the orphans of Russia and Eastern Europe.

Finally, I got a late afternoon surprise: a picture of my sponsor child from Ukraine with a picture of my first letter I had sent him!

Needless to say this helped me push on through the rest of a long work day.

I even allowed myself extra time to knit and relax last night. I'll be back at it today but it's officially the downward slide to the weekend!

Authentic

I have the good fortune of calling a very talented and lovely woman both my friend and mentor. From time to time Deanna will invite me to do cool things with her which is really a super nice gesture since she has lots of much cooler friends and a husband and three children she could easily pick over me. Thursday night I got to spend some great time with her at the Fabulous Fox Theater in Atlanta watching Wicked.

As a former music education major it shames me a little to admit that I have never seen this musical and as an avid reader is shames me further to admit I haven't read the book either. After having seen the musical I really want to read the book. And the songs were fantastic; the girl playing Elphaba had an amazing set of pipes!

But hanging with Deanna is more than just getting to see a critically acclaimed musical. There's usually some good food and always some good conversation and last night I even got a surprise.

About a month ago Deanna was off in Germany doing a series of really big speaking engagements. Deanna and her husband were missionaries in Germany and know people in pretty much every European country (as far as I am convinced) so Deanna knows her way around the continent. For part of her trip she was visiting friends in Norway and look what she brought me:

Real live Norwegian knitting patterns!

Oh, but the goodies don't stop there.

You know, just an authentic Austrian knitting book.

A wonderful Austrian knitting book picked up in, you guessed it, Austria. So very, very cool. This book is a classic.

 

 

CABLES!!!

And it's all about cables. Cable charts, pictures of cables, cables on sweaters, cables on socks.

A sweater pattern full of cables. Can't read a word of it but just look at the craftsmanship!

Deanna had no prior knowledge but I harbor a deep love of cabled things. I might even consider tackling one of the majorly complex looking cabled knee sock patterns (with detailed instructions on how to shape the calf) in this book because....

She also bought me sock yarn. From Austria. With which to make socks like Austrians do. I'm one lucky gal and Deanna's one heck of a friend.