Merry Christmas

 Merry Christmas from our family to you! I hope you have had a blessed day and that you fully realize just how much God loves you. We are so grateful for the wonderful gift that God gave us by sending His Son, Jesus Christ to dwell among us - God with us - and so offer himself as the sacrifice to save us from our sins. We are so very blessed!

   Yesterday was had a fun quiet day at home (Ken and Mara did go to work at the office for the morning and then brought pizza home for lunch). While we were working on some last minute decorating, food preparation and gift making for today I had fun taking some pictures thinking that I would share them. I didn't have time to do it yesterday so I thought I would do it now.

  I have been fighting a cold and taking a little walk outside to gather some evergreens sure felt nice to help clear up my head a little. I had made an evergreen centerpiece for our table earlier this month but it was looking a little dry and old so I made a new one yesterday.

 Meanwhile Aaron and Megan baked cakes to use in their Trifle concoctions for today. Megan was using the Amish cookbook and dutifully did her beat her cake 300 strokes. She didn't think she had better use the mixer.

 One of the area I enjoyed decorating the most this year was our mantle. That is something I have always thought would be very fun to have at Christmas time. We didn't get very elaborate but it was fun to hang our stockings from a real mantle.

  This little shelf Mara decorated very simply with one of her acorn ladies.

 I thought it was fun to add greenery to our dining room light.

 Megan made a stocking for our puppy Kitchi this year. She and Aaron provided presents for him which he appreciated (Aaron bought him a rawhide bone and she made him some squash rolls which he loves and a braided t-shirts strip "candy cane" toy).

 I had fun making evergreen garland for our stairs.

 I have long thought it would be fun to have a stairway like this for Christmas decorating.

 I really enjoy using the really big pinecones that I collected when we were out in Nevada/California one year.

 I pulled out this little cabin that Jonathan made and Mara decorated a few years back.

  I enjoyed using white decorations in our kitchen.

  We always love getting "real" letters in the mail and so Christmas time is a fun time for that. We have decided this little ledge in our basement stairs works pretty well for displaying cards on.

 When we put all our dried herbs away the rack was looking a little bare so I decided to hang up some "vintage" (rather worn out) skates and greenery on it instead.

 My flower pot from this summer got filled with birch branches, evergreen, pine cones and this cute banner that my friend Christy gave us instead.

 I made a garland for above the window seat and then added lights to it which we have enjoyed.

 The kids this morning before opening presents. Kitchi got to join the picture too. He is currently sporting a lovely "sweater" (we made it from an old sweater that was in our re-make box) because he got a sore on his neck and he has been scratching it so we are trying to prevent that so it can heal.

 My favorite present to give this year was a wax doll to Megan. She decided years ago now that she wanted a doll collection and that she wanted to get as many different types of dolls as possible and one of the dolls that she has mentioned wanting for a couple years now has been a wax doll. Well I haven't ever seen a wax doll for sale and I just wasn't sure just how to make one. But this year I finally went to work on it and now she has a wax doll. She was pretty surprised and pleased so that was fun.  I took pictures of the process so I will try to write a post about it soon. It is far from perfection but it was a fun project and she thinks it is neat and so it was a successful venture.

 Mara made Jonathan those lovely mittens. We didn't make as many handmade gifts this year as I would like - but there was still a good percentage that were handmade. I hope to have a higher percentage next year.

 Vanocka braid bread with sausage and hot chocolate stirred with candy canes is our traditional Christmas breakfast. It was yummy and enjoyed.

  We are getting a nice amount of traditions going now. On Christmas eve we have Hamburgers (a tradition carried over from Ken's family), then on Christmas morning we have the breakfast mentioned. Then for our main meal on Christmas day we have pasta. We don't have any particular recipe so we can still be flexible but still we have a tradition (which we think it kind of fun). This year my brother and family brought a ham so I just made fettuccine alfredo (without any meat) which my mom had provided homemade goat milk cheese for and cream cheese. I also made a steak and mushroom sauce to go over homemade noodles that my Mom had made. We had black olives and broccoli with cheese to go with it. It was fairly simple but yummy.

 We are working to start a new tradition with our Christmas dessert. We thought making Trifles might be fun. I suggested that the kids could be in charge of making them every year. Then they thought it would be fun to have a contest between the kids. So the younger two were going to make one and either just Jonathan or the older two would make the other one. Well Mara and Jonathan were either busy or distracted with game playing and such so all that they did was that Jonathan made the vanilla pudding and Mara whipped the cream and I was actually the one that assembled the second trifle (for which the younger two had made the cake). But there still was a contest of sorts between Aaron and Megan's rich and delicious chocolate peppermint trifle and my Strawberry Cream Cheese concoction. A survey was made and the chocolate trifle won by one vote.

    My parents and two of my siblings and families came over today. Not a very big crowd but it was fun. We cooked together, ate together and played games. "Ticket to Ride" was the main game of the day. At one point we had both the North American and European versions going. It was my fist time to play and it was fun. We also had fun discussing various symbols that remind us of Jesus such as a lion, a star, light, sheep, root, a crown (for being the prince of peace) and so forth. The girls and I had thought we would quickly create a scavenger hunt of some of those things before our guests arrived today but they came early so we didn't get it done but did discuss it anyway. I do think it would be a fun theme to think on when decorating in the future however.

  It is amazing to think that it will be a new year in less than a week. May it be a blessed year in which you draw closer to our Lord and Savior!
 

Remembering My Grandpa

 My Grandpa Alvin went on to be with the Lord this past Saturday night. So naturally this week I am thinking often of him and remembering times we have spent together. We are also preparing for a trip to Nebraska to attend his funeral and spend time with family.

  I haven't had a very close personal relationship with my Grandpa simply because we always lived hundreds of miles away from each other (except the few months following my birth as my parents actually lived near my grand-parents when I was born) and since we weren't wealthy and were rather tied down on our homestead in Northern MN during my growing up years we would only travel to see my Mom's family once a year at New Years time and pretty much the whole family would gather then (which was great fun!) and since it was a very large family there wasn't a lot of individual attention after the initial hug when we arrived. Grandpa would come to see us occasionally but not every year as he was very busy too with his farming and other responsibilities. But close relationship or not my Grandpa has still always been someone that I have looked up to and respected a lot. I thank God for him and his life for so many reasons and I thought it would be fun to share some of those reasons with you.

My Grandpa and  (some of) his family or which I am happy to be a part.

 Reasons that I am thankful for my Grandpa:

~He loved God with all his heart. He was a Christian and someone who studied his Bible and sought to know God's truth. He also taught it to others. He would encourage us to seek God first in our lives too. If we can do that too - what better legacy could my Grandpa leave behind? None that I  know of.

~He loved his family. I do not remember my biological grandma very well as she died of breast cancer just before I turned 6. But I have enjoyed hearing stories of how my Grandpa would help her and care for her. Later on my Grandpa remarried my Grandma Jean and I did enjoy watching their relationship when I had a chance. It was definitely one filled with love and respect for one another. My Grandpa had 9 kids, one of them being my Mom, He was a loving Dad to his children.

 ~He worked hard. My Grandpa was a Nebraska farmer. When my mom was a child they had a dairy farm and then in my memory he raised mostly corn and soybeans. Either way it was a lot of work. But he enjoyed his work and didn't mind working hard. He farmed his land up into his 80's.

~ He enjoyed learning. My Grandpa didn't graduate from highschool (he went through 8th grade and then I believe he was needed on the farm) but that didn't stop him from learning. He enjoyed reading up on things and visiting with others and was very interested in learning. Everybody that knew him considered him to be a very intelligent man.

~He was a good friend. The picture above shows my Grandpa and Grandma and their good friends Bob and June Blanshan. Bob and June lived near us during a lot of my childhood (and Bob was like another Grandpa to me) so it was through Bob that I actually learned more about my Grandpa. He had many stories of how my Grandpa had been able to encourage and help him as he was a struggling young preacher. My grandpa was somebody that he would go to for counsel.

~ He was a faithful "Mr. Steady". My Grandpa was somebody that people could count on. He faithfully lived his life on the farm, helped with the church and reached out to others.

~He loved music and had a great singing voice. (My biological Grandma was very talented in this area as well.) Music has always been a big part of our family. Music specifically that praises God and shares God's truth with others. When my mom was a child her family would sing together. They would go to nursing homes and sing and they ended up doing many concerts other places as well. They started a New Year's Eve sing in their small Nebraska town and that went on for many years. We always loved going to Grandpa's to be a part of it each year.

~He enjoyed traveling. I think this went along with his love of learning. He enjoyed seeing new places. He was in the Navy in World War 2 so that gave him a good start in being a world traveler but he continued to keep it up through-out his life. I remember hearing stories about his trip to the Holy Land and then Thailand. My memory is that he had visited every continent but I am wondering if that was except Antartica.

~He enjoyed times of relaxing and playing games. Growing up the game that I always remember him playing was "Rook". I remember feeling pretty special when at our family gatherings I was old enough to play rook with Grandpa and the Uncles. Later on (I think my Grandma from Indiana was influential in this) they played a lot of Euchre which Ken and I would have fun playing with them at times.

   I am so thankful for the Christian heritage that I have and for the very large part that my Grandpa played in that godly heritage.   

Why I Believe Sexual Immorality is Wrong

   Yesterday Ken and I were over in Duluth, MN celebrating our 17th Anniversary with a day of skiing. We had a fun day but near the end of the day I overheard a very sad conversation which got me thinking about what I wanted to write about today.
 
  Towards the end of the day we were standing behind 4 fairly young guys in line for the ski lift and one guy very loudly started telling what he called a "great story", better then the time he was drunk and threw up in the heater vent at another ski resort and had to pay $300 in damages. Later he was like - "oh I guess I was shouting when I said all of that" as he had his ear buds in. Anyway - I doubt you want all the details of the story but the just of it was - the night before he had gotten so drunk (and possibly high) that he was about to pass out but still managed to drive over to this girl's house who thinks she is his girlfriend (a fairly new relationship which he doesn't intend to have last) and even in his drunk state he was able to do things "right" so that she was physically intimate with him. He was so proud of it and my heart was just aching for this nameless girl. I just want to cry out to all girls, and boys too, "YOU ARE WORTH MORE THAN THAT!" That isn't love - nothing even close! God designed sex to be a beautiful thing between a man and woman who are married and when you choose that way instead you are choosing heartache.

  I am afraid that we have reached a time in history when there are many that have not truly read and studied God's word, nor have they had others teach them and I think there are some that truly don't know that God tells us not to have sex with someone that we are not married to. Working in the wedding industry as I do, I am saddened to find that the majority of couples live together (and I don't think it is platonically) before marriage. As much as the homosexual agenda is getting pushed as well I think before long we will have a lot of people who don't realize that God says that is wrong as well. That is why we need to truly read and try to understand our Bibles and then share God's word with others too. Let's search for TRUTH!

   What does God truly say on this subject?

I am just going to give you quite a few verses so you can read for yourselves. I encourage you to look them up and read the context with them as well. God has a plan for everything. Things will go best when we follow His plan. Life becomes chaos when we don't.

   "Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge. Hebrews 13:4

  "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters,  nor adulterers,  nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God." 1 Cor. 6:9-11

  Thank God that even if this was a sin that we have struggled with we can change and be washed and no longer carry that guilt with us.

  "Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body." 1 Corinthians 6:18

   "For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God;" 1 Thess. 4:3-5

   "For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God." Eph 5:5

  “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him. Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple  of the Holy Spirit who is in you, who you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body." 
Romans 6:13-20  

  "Because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done." Romans 1:25-28

 I think these verses are pretty clear. Adultery is talking about intercourse between two people that are not married to each other but at least one of them is married to somebody else, fornication speaks of unmarried people that are physically intimate and Homosexuality is between two people of the same gender. Sexual immorality basically covers them all. There are more verses that could be read and if you have questions on this topic I encourage you to really study on this topic and read more verses. 

   Meanwhile it is my prayer that the truth would truly be taught, that we would teach our children and make sure that we ourselves completely flee from immorality. Let's not even get close!! Then let's work at sharing the truth of God's love for all of us and His desire for us to follow in His way.
   

Handmade Christmas Gift Ideas

   Our family has been having fun making things lately. We have been making gift items but not for us but rather to sell on our newly opened Etsy shops. This week both Mara and I opened a "shop". This is something we had been talking about doing for sometime and so this past weekend when we had a little time we finally started working on it and did it. We are excited to see how it works. Mara had a sale within the first day and so that was exciting. I think it would be very cool if this ends up being a viable job for Mara to have in her highschool years. We shall see. The younger kids have also been making things to sell on our sites.

  I thought I would show you some of the things that we have been making. They are handmade so if we could make them you could to but if you don't want to we would be more than happy to have you visit our Etsy shop and buy them if you would like them. :-)


Mittens. They are so fun to make. I love using re-purposed wool fabric. Adding extra details to them (wool applique) makes them even cute in my opinion. Here is a blog post with more information on making mittens. If you would care to buy a pair I currently have four pairs for sale in my Etsy shop.

 Fabric Flower Clips These are so feminine and fun. I think they can add a lot to an outfit. They are also very fun and fairly easy to make. You can re-purpose lining material to make these flowers. I went to look for a post where I explained how to make these but I guess I never did. A lot of others on the internet have however but in brief - you cut circles or flower shapes out of silky polyester fabric in layers. Then you hold the edges near a candle flame until in melts and curls (be careful!). Do that around all the edges. Then you stack them together and put something pretty in the middle and possibly add something pretty behind as well. Then attach a clip/barrette on the back. I currently have 8 flower clips in various colors listed in my Etsy shop. I have more made and ready to put up when I have a chance.

An Acorn Necklace Mara has fun making these by collecting acorns and taking their inside out and then inserting a secret message inside, putting the cap on and then putting wire around it and hanging it on a braided cord. Mara has quite a few of these for sale in her Etsy shop.

Rustic Wood Slice Coasters Aaron made really neat sets of coasters by taking a white oak log and slicing it up with the miter saw. Then he varnished one side and put felt circles on the other side.  I think they turned out really neat and the project wasn't that complicated. There are some for sale in Mara's Etsy shop - Acorns and More


Rice Heat Packs  These are so nice to have on hand as you can heat them up quickly in the microwave and then have them to warm up an aching body part for the next hour or so. They are also just cozy to take to help heat up a cold bed on a winter night. They are super simple to make. Just sew a bag out of a rectangular piece of fabric, fill it with some rice and then sew up the end. Double stitch all your seams and use sturdy fabric so you don't end up with a bunch of rice in your bed. If you would rather buy one I have some for sale in my Etsy shop.

Doll Clothes make a very nice gift for little girls that enjoy dolls. There are many free printable patterns available online or you can do like I like to do and create your own patterns. They don't take much fabric or very much time (though sometimes they take way more time then you think they should for their size!). I currently have barbie clothes for sale on Etsy and we have some 18 inch doll clothing ready to be listed.

 Besides making handmade gifts it is also fun to add some class to the wrapping of gifts. Aaron and Megan made some very cute gift tags to sell on Mara's Etsy site.

Aaron made these cute red oak wood slices into tags. His process included cutting down a tree that was tilted and didn't look like it would survive, then he cut them in slices on the miter saw. The next step was drilling a hole in them. After that he put some twine through the hole. Besides gift tags you could also use them to label things that you use. If you have rustic decor these would be perfect.


Megan made birch bark gift tags. We love to use birch bark around here to whenever we see a piece laying on the ground or barely hanging on to the tree we collect it to use for future projects. To make these tags she simply cut them to shape, punched a hole in them and then put some string through the holes.

 Have you been making any handmade gifts lately? I would love to hear your ideas!

Also... If you have thought it would be fun to open an Etsy shop but never actually done it, I recommend it. It isn't hard (though rather time consuming) and is rather fun. Also if you let me know you are interested I can send you an invitation which will give you 40 free listings to start off with (it would also give me 40 free listings) that means you would not need to put any money into the starting up of your shop.

  If you have any suggestions of things that you think we could make to sell on Etsy - I would love to hear your ideas.

Why I Believe We Should Read Revelation

After reading the title for this post you reaction may be, "Of course!" Many of us feel strongly that reading the Bible is important and Revelation is part of the Bible so naturally we will read it too. But I do also realize that it (and the prophets in the Old Testament) are challenging to understand so some might be tempted to skip it or at least not read it often or read it to your children or whatever. I don't have a problem with reading some books (that really seem to speak to you) more often than others but I do think we need to be careful not to truly skip reading Revelation and miss out on the blessing that comes with it.

  Revelation 1:3 says: "Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near." 

  So the Bible point blank says why we should read Revelation ; So we can be blessed and so we can heed what is written. That reason is good enough for me.

  But beyond that I love read Revelation because it helps me realize how Awesome our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is! "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." Revelation 1:8. "I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead,  and behold, I am alive forevermore,  and I have the keys of death and Hades." Rev. 1:17 & 18. The descriptions of Jesus in Revelation are amazing too. If you truly want to see the complete picture (as much as we can handle right now anyway) of Jesus Christ - You will read Revelation.

   Revelation also encourages us to stay strong through the trials we are going to face. I am challenged to be ever clinging to our Savior when I read things like "Be faithful until death,  and I will give you the crown of life." Rev. 2:10

   Revelation makes me get excited about Heaven. We learn a lot more about it when we read Revelation. I am looking forward to going there some day and I hope to see you there too!

  I don't understand all the prophecy in Revelation but I do hope to keep learning and understanding and even then I never think I will understand it all and can understand more and more as I study. Prophecy will help us to prepare for what is coming in the future.

  I could share much more but my time is limited. I would love for you to check out another post I wrote on it back in 2010. You might enjoy a picture from our kid's class on Revelation several years ago which is in this post.

 I would love to hear your thoughts on reading Revelation!

A Bathroom Tour

 Okay, so I am chuckling a little bit as I look at my title for this post. This post is indeed full of pictures of one of our bathrooms but still the title "A Bathroom Tour" just sounds rather funny to me. Oh well, on to the tour....

 Months ago I had started working through the rooms in our house giving tours after we got them finished. Then I just didn't manage to get pictures taken and our tours kind of stopped. I am trying to get that going again.

  This week I thought I would share with you the room in our house that probably is (I do really find it hard to choose favorites) that one that has my favorite paint color, my favorite tile and my favorite cabinets. I also really rather like the old canning jars that we are using to decorate this room with too. So all in all, not only is this a very handy room to have (our only bathroom on the main floor) but I really think it is pretty cute. It is also nearly the smallest room in the house.

 When we were tiling this floor (the tile also goes from here out into our back entrance from the garage and then into the mudroom/laundry room) my older brother stopped by and he told me that laying tile at an angle isn't very hard and doesn't take any more cuts than the other way. He explained the process for doing it. Well, I was delighted with the idea of going at an angle because I think it looks rather cool.

   That tile laying day did end up being one very long day of hard work! We didn't have any tools that were cutting tile very well at the time and Peter wasn't correct about the fact that you didn't have to make any more cuts to do it this way. You do and they are harder cuts as well. But I am still glad we went at an angle. That day Mara and Jonathan were helping me with the cutting and I was doing the laying and measuring. Our tiles kept cracking in the wrong spot and we would have to carefully use the nippers to get it close to what we wanted. Ken came home that evening and we were about ready to give up. He tried helping us with the cutting and immediately gave up and said that simply wouldn't work and he and Jonathan headed off to town to either rent or buy a wet saw. It ended up that buying was about the same price as renting and so they bought one. Cutting went so much easier after that! We still had a late night of laying tile.

 The cabinets in this room are a natural knotty alder which is the same wood we have for all of our interior doors and trim and switch covers.

  For light fixtures in this room I had really wanted to get something that looked like old fashioned lanterns that a pioneer might have taken to go care for the animals in the barn. I looked and looked for what I wanted. I finally found some on Etsy that I liked pretty well but they were $100 each and though I was very tempted it just didn't seem needed to spend that much when I could get the ones that I did get for around $20 each. We ended up using exterior light fixtures in 2 of our bathrooms and our kitchen because I liked the style better and they tended to be cheaper.

   I really like our bathroom sinks which are all one solid piece. I choose to have a mat finish on this one which I like.

   I ended up putting strips of tile all around the tub/shower inset. I found out later that helped to up the value of our house. I just thought it might look neat. We have some of Mara's cross-stitch pictures on display in this room. I was able to find a good deal on Amazon for the ring-less shower curtains and I really like them. I am hoping to have one of the boys carve me a new curtain rod soon as I think one made from a tree would look neat.

  I purposely chose the color of the room to look complimentary with the blue canning jars. I am enjoying using them for decoration in this room.

  This summer we found a robins egg on the ground and it matched the room so perfectly that I combined it with a nest that we already had and put it in the jar for a fun decoration.

   What is your favorite of the paint colors you have in your house? I would love to hear your thoughts on decorating or organizing bathrooms or any tips for them magically staying clean. :-)

Sewing Creations by Megan

 This Fall I have really enjoyed watching Megan enjoy creating through sewing. I really enjoy sewing and so it is very fun for me to have her enjoy it too. I thought it would be fun to show you some photos of her creations.

  Megan has decided she wants to be a doll collector - especially collecting porcelain dolls. So her first project that I am going to show you was for her porcelain dolls. One doll (the one on the right) that we had given her last year for Christmas had a big lovely hat. Megan decided that she wanted one of that style for one of her other dolls to so she just looked at the hat really good and then she made one similar to it.

I thought it turned out really cute. So the doll on the left is wearing a Megan creation.

And then Megan made another doll for her collection.

Complete with a a bed and bedding.

 She was inspired by a crafting book that our neighbor had given us. I thought it was really fun because thought it isn't perfect (notice the fraying material) but it looks really artsy and creative.

  I really enjoy watching my kids create!

A Walk in the Woods

  We have been having some pretty lovely weather lately. So warm in fact that our snow has been melting. We will enjoy a good layer of snow when it comes but meanwhile the warmish weather is fun too.

   On Sunday afternoon when the weather was quite nice we decided to go for a walk in the woods to gather pine boughs for decorating. The whole family plus our puppy, Kitchi, went. It was so fun to be out enjoying God's creation together.

The girls and I did most of the gathering of boughs and other natural things to decorate with and the guys were in charge of the carrying.

Megan wished she would have had paper and paints along to capture the sun setting through the trees.

I thought this old pine tree was rather picturesque.

 We have been having lots of fun decorating. Hopefully I can get pictures taken soon and share our Christmas house tour with you!