My reaction to the election

This has been a busy and challanging week.
As I am sure you probably know- the election is over. It didn't go the way I had hoped for. My prayer had always been that God's will would be done and I do realize that I don't know or see the big picture and I believe that He can work through every situation.

 Wednesday was a day of a lot of thinking and praying on my part. It is so comforting to know that we have a God that hears our every prayer and who is truly looking our for us and can handle ANY situation.

I also did something that I often do whenever I am feeling stressed, worried, sad or happy - I sat down at the piano with my hymn book and I played and sang. Singing songs of prayer or worship to God can truly help to get my focus back on track.

Some of the songs that really touched me were "Count Your Many Blessings" and "Teach me Thy Way, O Lord" I found some videos on Youtube of them so that you can enjoy them as well.
 

 I am not sure what is going to happen with our country, though I think there will be difficulties, but I do know for sure that God will be with us every step of the way.

  What I plan to do now is seek Him completely, share the good news of salvation with others, enjoy my simple life with my family and strive to prepare for possible difficulties (a financial crash, etc). I do feel that more than ever now we should work on preparing for emergencies. I will probably be blogging on that subject a bit more now. I will also be doing a lot of praying - including praying for ALL of our elected leaders. I hope you will do the same!

May you have a blessed weekend!

A Handmade Christmas - Week 4 {Rose Scarf}

I have to admit, I have election day a bit more on my mind that Christmas today so this will be short and sweet. (And I chose to do something red today as it is a patriotic color and I am hoping that my state will finally be a "red" state this year!)

  Last week was a very busy one of crafting for us and one of the projects that I finished was a felt rose scarf. This was an idea that I found on Pinterest and I think it is very pretty!

 We are still working on photography around here. I requested that my photographer include my face too (just because I think it makes the picture look a little more normal - not because you necessarily need to see me) but in the pictures taken none included my face - oh well! :-)

 

This is a project to do if you enjoy a lot of cutting out (put it is not hard as you just cut a bunch of wavy circles in different sizes) and then like to do a little (it really isn't much) hand sewing. Truthfully this is a pretty quick project and I think the result is quite neat.

 

Here is the Tutorial that I followed.

 

I think I will make more of these scarves. I want to experiment with using various kinds of fabric.

 

Have you been making anything for Christmas lately? I would love to hear about what you have been doing! If you have a post on your blog then please leave a link in the comments and then I will highlight it in this post!

 

Have a great day!

Our Family and Politics {Please Vote!}

 I know many people who just can't wait for this election to be over because they are tired of hearing about politics. I am eager for the election to be over too but not because I am tired of politics but rather because I want to know the result!

  I think our family might be strange but we really rather enjoy the election cycle and getting involved. This Sunday was even took an 8 + hour round trip just for the fun of attending a political rally.

  Paul Ryan flew in to MN this weekend and we were there along with over 6,000 others. It was pretty fun. We did also go down to the cities in time to go to the church of Christ in Fridley, MN where we saw a bunch of friends.

 In the picture above Chip Cravaak, Michelle Bachman and John Kline (all MN representatives) were walking by where we were sitting.

 Paul Ryan brought his family along. I always like it when I see the family involved. It looked like his kids were having a great time.

I do feel that it is very important that we as citizens of the United States take the time to educate ourselves about those running and then go out and vote!
Yesterday I saw this on facebook and I think it fits pretty well along with what I think (and I am hoping you might think) so I thought I would share it....

1. I will vote for the most pro-life candidate, because God hates the shedding of innocent blood. Proverbs 6:16-17
2. I will vote for the most pro-Israel candidate, because God blesses those who bless Israel & curses those who curse them. Genesis 12:1-3
3. I will vote for the most pro-man-and-woman-marriage candidate, because God clearly establishes and defines marriage in Genesis 2:21-24.
4. I will vote for the candidate who most closely believes that the purpose of government is to reward the good & punish the evil. Romans 13
5. I will vote for the most pro-debt reduction candidate, because the borrower is servant to the lender. Proverbs 22:7
6. I will vote for the most pro-work candidate because God says if a man does not work, neither shall he eat. 2 Thessalonians 3:10
7. Finally, I will vote based as close as I can on God's Word, 2 Timothy 3:16-17, knowing that whoever gets elected, God is the one who puts men in authority. Daniel 2:21
I WILL VOTE THIS WAY BECAUSE MEN AND WOMEN OF ALL FAITHS HAVE FOUGHT AND GIVEN ME THIS RIGHT!

 

I think it is important that we as Christians strive to use God's word as the guideline for everything that we do!

 

One more thing....

 

While we were down in the cities and attending the Paul Ryan event I was hopeful that we might get to see the Bills family. Kurt (the dad) is running for US Senate here in MN and over the course of this election our families have had the opportunity to get to know each other and we have truly enjoyed spending time with them.

 

  When we were sitting up in the bleachers we did see them walk by but it was to noisy and so crowded we couldn't get their attention. But when we left we went out to the parking lot and it just so happened we were parked pretty close to them and they came out just as we were getting ready to leave so we were able to visit a little bit. It was very fun to see them again, tell them we were praying for them and try to encourage them a bit.

 

Jonathan and Megan in front of Kurt's bus after a parade this summer.

  Kurt has an uphill battle for this Senate race here in MN but he would be a simply excellent Senator. He feels strongly that government needs to be smaller and he is not afraid to tell the truth and act on it. We need people that don't always wear blinders to the realities of life and try to avoid the real issues. We need people the understand economics the way he does (he is a high school econ teacher), as well as understanding history and who have a strong faith in God.

Kurt speaking recently in our town.

If you haven't voted yet and are in MN would you please go and vote for Kurt and would you tell others about him too?

If you would like more information please visit his website or his sweet wife Cindy's blog.

I hope you have a great day and that you pray for wisdom and go out and vote!

Jesus wasn't influenced by peer pressure

As I have been reading through the gospels while keeping my focus on what Jesus did and how I should then act to follow in His steps, I read this story:

"At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”
 He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?  He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests.  Or haven’t you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent?  I tell you that something greater than the temple is here.  If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.  For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to bring charges against Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"

 He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out?  How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

 Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other.  But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus." Matthew 12:1-14

The lesson that I learned from this passage was that Jesus did what we right no matter what peer pressure He had to do otherwise. Peer pressure can be hard to deal with especially at various stages in our lives but we can remember that Jesus dealt with it too.

 So go out and do what is right - no matter what everybody around you might be saying!

Building a Family

My parents and their children with their families and my Grandparents.

I am so thankful the God designed things so that we all would get to be part of a family. A family starts with a man and a woman who decide that they would rather spend life together than apart.

 I am thankful that my parents decided 40 years ago tomorrow to join their lives together. They chose to have a family and I feel very blessed to be a part of it.

 Our family is blessed to be very close and we thoroughly enjoy being together when we are able. I have been asked before to share what has caused our family to be so close and then I was reminded of that subject again this year when one day a sister called me up just to remind me how very blessed we were. She had been observing a family that didn't seem to enjoy being together and was so glad that ours was not that way.

   I have been thinking on this subject of family closeness (something that I would guess pretty much all families would like) and so I thought I would share my thoughts of why I think our family is close and also maybe ideas for you to use as well. I would also love to hear your thoughts on this subject!

  In the first place I think the closeness our family shares is one that was promoted by my parents. They taught us this in many different ways.

Here are some of the things that I think contribute:

• They love God deeply and sincerely and gave us an example of that and each of us kids do as well. We are striving to pass that legacy on to our own children.
• Our parents love each other. They showed that to us throughout our growing up years through the ways that they acted and the things that they said. We saw them give each other a kiss regularly as well as other physical touch. They did not argue. They spoke/speak positively about the other person.
• Our parents loved us. Our family has never been one that does a lot of hugging or physical touch (not that I think that a bad thing at all- that simply wasn't my parents nature) but they showed us there love by so many actions and words of affirmation and also by disciplining us when we needed it.
• Our parents expected us to love each other. We did love each other and enjoy each other too. I have seen sometimes where parents will say things about how their kids need their space or need to spend time with others so that they can get away from their siblings for a while and other stuff like that. We kids had other friends too but our main friends were our siblings.  We weren't without a fight but those we generally pretty short lived.  Even now today my parents help promote our relationships with each other by sharing news about the other siblings with us so that we all feel connected even if we aren't getting to talk to a sibling regularly.
• Our parents homeschooled us. This caused us to spend more time together and to learn to enjoy each other.
• Our parents took us camping. Okay this one might seem silly but I do think camping together helps to build stronger relationships.
• We were a family- we were a team -a group. Most things we did were done in a group. We still had our own personalities and talents but when we did fun things we did them usually together. We truly shared life. Though I did have my own private violin lessons and there were some other things like that we didn't do things like participate in sports where everyboyd goes off with their own age group, etc.
• My parents didn't have a lot of rules for us- They guided us through life according to God's word and explained the guidelines that they did give us. They were definetely the ones in authority in the home but at the same time we did all (parents and kids alike) truly enjoy being together and my parents were and still are some of my very best friends. We were both sheltered in some good ways but also allowed the freedom that we needed to grow and become independent and ready for adulthood.
• We worked together - whether it was washing dishes, working on the farm, building, doing church work or whatever - we usually worked together. That builds teamwork.

I am sure there are many other things that contribute to a close family but those are the things I can think of right now when my brain is shutting down for the night. I would love to hear your thoughts on the matter.

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! I love you both very much!

Rag Rugs for August (I'm playing catchup)

 This week I had a chance to work on some more rag rugs. I had an idea for one made from t-shirt strips that was inspired by a really cute t-shirt rag rug tutorial, done by my friend Jackie, which is made using t-shirt strips but sewn in a rectangular rug  as well as a round rug that I had made before.

This is the picture of it:

I think I blogged about it but I can't seem to find the post right now. I liked the circular shape of it and the random colors.

 That was my intention to combine those two rug ideas in the first rug I tried.

Here is how I made the rug on the right in the top picture:

 I cut out a circle from an old pair of Ken's dress pants. The circle was about 22 1/2 inches across.

 I cut out strips from old t-shirts. I started out with ones all cut about 7 inches long but soon got tired of all the cutting and just started using a long strand and looping it back and forth.

The end result is a very fluffy and comfortable rug that has a kind of strange look to it. :-) I am not very fond of the way the colors ended up arranged. Oh well. I did spend a little time on it but otherwise it was just a bunch of old clothes that would have been trash anyway. I am sure I will find some use for it.

While I was working on that rug I decided that I would actually like the look of the strands looped back and forth and that I would prefer whole sections (stripes) of color instead of the weird pattern the first one got.

 So I tried again.

I like this one much better and it only took an hour or so to make. It is a sturdy and comfy rug too. The color combinations still might be a little lacking (I was using what I found handy) but over all I like it.

Here is a picture of my looping and sewing in progress.

If you want to make a rug like one of these and have any questions just let me know. I will do my best to assist. :-)

Here are the links to the other rugs that I blogged about this year:

A denim crocheted Rug in January

A Fluffy Denim Rug for February

A Hula Hoop Rug for March

A Many Strand Braided Rug for April

A Rug made Friendship Bracelet Style in May

A Rug Crocheted without a Hook and made by Jonathan in June

A Plastic Bag Rug for July

 A Woven Rectangular Rug for October

I started this post on Wednesday but this week has been just a wee bit busy - so I am finally getting it posted late on Friday night. Now it is time to head to bed- I am feeling quite tired!