1/28/2011
1/18/2011
Hearts
Valentine's Day is coming and my blog reader is being inundated with Valentines crafts, projects and more, as I'm sure yours is too (if you have a blog reader). Right away, I pulled this Heart Garland aside and put it on my to do list. It's crochet, but you could easily whip something similar up with felt or quilted hearts.
So I re-taught myself to crochet again - I'm really terrible because I've only done one crochet work before and I didn't even finish it. My sister showed me the basics and then I watched youtube videos to re-inforce and remind myself what all the abbreviations mean. So of course I've just now after several hours of work got the hang of it, and have almost made more than I've ripped out.
I can't do anything else while I crochet. I'll instantly lose my place in the pattern and when you're making a heart with varying stitches and counts, you can likely guess what happens. I have to stay focused. Watching each stitch I make, counting, checking the pattern. It requires huge amounts of attention to detail, close inspection, sometimes backing up and ripping out what was done and starting over from that point. Careful weaving, each stitch interwoven with the others.
And then I heard God's voice.
Jesus whispered to my soul, "I'm just as careful with your heart, little one. I carefully wove it together in your mothers womb, and I'm lovingly attending to the details now, each joy, each struggle, each tear, I'm here and I know them full well."
He did not create us and send us on our merry way to navigate this dark and hopeless world by ourselves. He did not give us children and then expect we could raise them on our own. He's still here, right beside you and me, carefully attending to the details, paying close attention. Sometimes, when we let him, ripping out the parts that got all jumbled and mixed up and lovingly starting over, weaving all things together, to make something beautiful. Something worthy of Him. Something that glorifies Him.
Hallelujah! Praise God for his intimacy in our lives! I'm so glad for it!!
In case you're wondering. I did finish the heart garland! Here it is - don't look too closely!!
So I re-taught myself to crochet again - I'm really terrible because I've only done one crochet work before and I didn't even finish it. My sister showed me the basics and then I watched youtube videos to re-inforce and remind myself what all the abbreviations mean. So of course I've just now after several hours of work got the hang of it, and have almost made more than I've ripped out.
I can't do anything else while I crochet. I'll instantly lose my place in the pattern and when you're making a heart with varying stitches and counts, you can likely guess what happens. I have to stay focused. Watching each stitch I make, counting, checking the pattern. It requires huge amounts of attention to detail, close inspection, sometimes backing up and ripping out what was done and starting over from that point. Careful weaving, each stitch interwoven with the others.
And then I heard God's voice.
Jesus whispered to my soul, "I'm just as careful with your heart, little one. I carefully wove it together in your mothers womb, and I'm lovingly attending to the details now, each joy, each struggle, each tear, I'm here and I know them full well."
He did not create us and send us on our merry way to navigate this dark and hopeless world by ourselves. He did not give us children and then expect we could raise them on our own. He's still here, right beside you and me, carefully attending to the details, paying close attention. Sometimes, when we let him, ripping out the parts that got all jumbled and mixed up and lovingly starting over, weaving all things together, to make something beautiful. Something worthy of Him. Something that glorifies Him.
Hallelujah! Praise God for his intimacy in our lives! I'm so glad for it!!
In case you're wondering. I did finish the heart garland! Here it is - don't look too closely!!
1/10/2011
Laundry, Organization and other Home-making Tips
Last week the fabulous Lisa Hall came and spoke to us on Home Organization. The more organization we have the more time we have for the important things: our family and friends, ministry, our hobbies and passions - you get the drift. A little organization goes a long way.
So here's one of my light-bulb moments from the plethora of what Lisa shared and it's about laundry. I hate it. Hate. it. Seriously, if I wasn't eco conscious and didn't hate clothes buying more than laundry itself, I would just wear disposable clothes. One time use and move on. No washing ever. But alas, that's totally unrealistic. Frankly, this is all Adam and Eve's fault for eating that fruit. If they hadn't had a nibble of that fruit, then clothes never would have been invented. I digress.
Back to laundry. When Lisa was talking it occurred to me that she actually STAYS in her laundry room and folds the laundry straight out of the dryer. STRAIGHT. OUT. of. the. dryer. !!
WHERE HAVE I BEEN? Why hasn't this monumentally important detail never occurred to me before? Because when you get down into the facts, what I really hate about laundry is folding. Lord help me, there better not be laundry in heaven!
I hate folding. Therefore I put off folding. Which only creates bigger mountains of clean laundry overflowing all over my house. Then they get wrinkly and as I'm sure you can guess, I'm certainly not an ironer (one who irons). Beyond the wrinkles, the cat lays in them, or the kids knock them over...sigh. I'm exhausted and irritated just thinking about it.
So I have resolved: I will no longer remove the laundry from the dryer unless I am literally folding it right then. This halts all laundry being done, so I'm incentivized (this is clearly not a word, but I'm sticking with it) to actually do it or never have clean clothes again. And it breaks it down into smaller folding sessions - which means less time folding and I hate folding, oh wait, I think we covered that already.
I also think I'll be adding four bins to our laundry room for the clean and folded laundry to go into so that little helpers can help me put it away. We'll see, for now...I'm liking this plan.
What was your favorite part of what Lisa shared? Did you have a light-bulb moment?
So here's one of my light-bulb moments from the plethora of what Lisa shared and it's about laundry. I hate it. Hate. it. Seriously, if I wasn't eco conscious and didn't hate clothes buying more than laundry itself, I would just wear disposable clothes. One time use and move on. No washing ever. But alas, that's totally unrealistic. Frankly, this is all Adam and Eve's fault for eating that fruit. If they hadn't had a nibble of that fruit, then clothes never would have been invented. I digress.
Back to laundry. When Lisa was talking it occurred to me that she actually STAYS in her laundry room and folds the laundry straight out of the dryer. STRAIGHT. OUT. of. the. dryer. !!WHERE HAVE I BEEN? Why hasn't this monumentally important detail never occurred to me before? Because when you get down into the facts, what I really hate about laundry is folding. Lord help me, there better not be laundry in heaven!
I hate folding. Therefore I put off folding. Which only creates bigger mountains of clean laundry overflowing all over my house. Then they get wrinkly and as I'm sure you can guess, I'm certainly not an ironer (one who irons). Beyond the wrinkles, the cat lays in them, or the kids knock them over...sigh. I'm exhausted and irritated just thinking about it.
So I have resolved: I will no longer remove the laundry from the dryer unless I am literally folding it right then. This halts all laundry being done, so I'm incentivized (this is clearly not a word, but I'm sticking with it) to actually do it or never have clean clothes again. And it breaks it down into smaller folding sessions - which means less time folding and I hate folding, oh wait, I think we covered that already.
I also think I'll be adding four bins to our laundry room for the clean and folded laundry to go into so that little helpers can help me put it away. We'll see, for now...I'm liking this plan.
What was your favorite part of what Lisa shared? Did you have a light-bulb moment?
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