I have no idea if such a thing exists...and I suppose if I googled it, I would find out. Maybe I will. Maybe I don't want to know. I'm pretty sure I'm a sufferer regardless.
We all know I have a knitting addiction...and I have moved on into another level of that addiction...Attention Deficit Disorder. I find myself starting lots of projects, getting bored or seeing something new and cute, dropping the first project and beginning the second...only to, once again, find myself bored and have someone ask me to make something - bang, I've moved on again...thereby creating a small collection of unfinished knitting projects.
I started my first pair of finger-less gloves way, way back. I want to say I started them in October. I know. It's shameful. I finished one glove with a little help from my friends...started the second and it remains in a little gift bag waiting for me to wrap it up. You don't even want to know how close I am to finishing it. My problem: I forgot what I learned to do the thumb and will have to ask for help to finish it and I just don't really want to. Partly because, I have since moved on. If I would just take an hour out of my life and work on it, they would be done. Maybe even less than one hour. Silliness.
I love making hats. And I think I like them because they're quick. I remember when I first started knitting, of course, all I could knit was a scarf. Nice straight lines that could go on and on and on forever. Then I learned how very simple it was to make a hat and jumped right into the Fair Isle patterns, which are somewhat difficult, but challenging and beautiful. They are, by far, my favorite type of hat to make. I like mixing the colors and following charts. (Wow, that sounds weird.)
After making plenty of hats and a few cowls or infinity scarves (which, again, I like because they're pretty quick), I forced myself to transition back to scarves...after all, it is Spring (sort of) and people won't be wearing wool caps and beanies (well, in theory we shouldn't be) anymore. Oh my goodness, scarves are sooooo boring. I found some real cute holey patterns that look springy and I did finally complete two...but I won't even tell you how many I started and pulled back out because I got bored with it, found a mistake that I wouldn't let slide, found a new cuter pattern, etc.
I had someone ask me to make a couple chemo hats recently, so I had to, of course, stop the scarf I was working on and dig into the hat. (By the way, that is not a complaint, I love making specific things for people.) I can always come back to that pesky scarf.
If my memory is correct, at the present time, I have one cowl, two scarves, a finger-less glove and two hats in my exclusive, unfinished project pile. It is pitiful that I can't just finish one thing before I start another. This has always been a problem of mine. Re: scrapbooking, photo albums, flower beds...please don't make me go on.
The same could be said for yarn. (Yarn ADD?) I walk into the yarn store for specific yarn, see all those beautiful colors and fibers...and oh my word. I fall apart. What did I come in here to buy anyway? Hmm. Oh well, I'll just get some of this and some of that. And guess what? I never have what I need. My family begs to differ.
So I'm challenging myself to (starting next week, of course) finish projects before starting new ones, and use up some of the yarn I have at home - even if I'm making cold-weather hats for next year - because it's out of control...just a little. Now, if I get requests, I must do what the people want...which may require me to stop whatever I'm doing and buy new beautiful yarn.
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Quirky cat
The quirks of a cat are never few and far between, are they? It is sooo funny how a cat can have such a personality. Dogs just aren't near as fun.
Sweet Josie is no longer a little kitten. She is becoming a pot-bellied cat. We decided a month ago to scale back on her food intake. Instead of always keep her food dish(es) full, we fill one dish in the morning and one at night. She will politely sit near her dish if it is empty unless she's not being noticed, and at such time, she will find one morsel and continuously drop it over and over in the metal dish, which creates the tinkling sound to get my attention. "Hey, I'm starving over here..."
Anyway, we think the 'diet' is helping the pot belly.
Josie has turned into that cat that has discovered morning wake-up calls, alarm clocks and when you are not up on her time. She sleeps down at the foot of the bed against my legs and won't rest until I am out of bed in the morning. I'm not one to sleep in past 6:30, but she would prefer 6:00 a.m. or earlier. It is amazing how she can find ways to make irritating noises that cannot be ignored. We can't even shut the bedroom door because she will jump up and hit the handle over and over and over...until you give up...she will not.
And most of the time, if Jay is at work and I'm alone in bed, she'll jump up on the bed, sit where his pillow is and start digging under the covers for my flesh. I'm not kidding. She will reach way under the covers to find my hand or arm and start poking at me.
Her newest fetish is the bathroom sink. We do not have the drain stopper in, never have. Jay doesn't like them. So it's just an open drain. Kitty loves dropping random objects down there. It took us a while to figure that out. "Where are the tweezers?" "Someone had to take the tweezers from the bathroom!" (Okay, I have to admit, we blame our kids for things we don't have explanation for a lot.) We had seen Josie carrying the tweezers into the living room before, but honestly thought the kids had used them and not returned them. Then Madolyn discovered her necklace was missing. The last place she had it was our bathroom vanity - she had taken it off before her shower. It was gone. Weird.
One night we heard the kitty on the bathroom counter, shuffling stuff around, and realized what was going on. Jay took the bathroom sink trap off and found tweezers and Mad's necklace. This has happened a couple of times since, and presently, there is at least one hair clip, that I know of, down the drain. Josie was watching me get ready the other morning, I walked away and heard the clanking noise...there went the clip I use when I'm straightening my hair. I guess she just wants to be noticed.
She also loves the drip-drip-drip of water. If I turn the handle just right, there is a slight drip and she loves grabbing a drink. She will stare at the dripping for a while and then go for the plunge. I think she is fascinated by things going down the drain...and while she's at it, I guess she gets real thirsty.
I had been getting after the kids about deep holes appearing in the drywall. Spots I remembered to be small marks on the wall were growing. You can actually see a bare nail in the hallway by Lane's door and I accused him of picking at it until the nail head was exposed. He denied it, but I was skeptical. Later, he blamed Sweet Josie. Yeah, I've been there, done that, pal.
Until...I saw Jo jumping up and scraping the wall by our bedroom. Somehow or another, we have lost the door guard thingy that goes on the baseboard to protect the wall from the door handle and a small dent developed in the drywall. It wasn't a big deal, except that Josie discovered it and began jumping up and swiping at it...repeatedly. Hmm, so she WAS the one that was making these holes in my drywall. Not Lane. Oops. I don't know what it is about drywall, but Josie sure likes it.
I guess what it comes down to is this: We have a super cute kitty we call Sweet Josie, who causes quite a ruckus and is very destructive. She fits right in.
Sweet Josie is no longer a little kitten. She is becoming a pot-bellied cat. We decided a month ago to scale back on her food intake. Instead of always keep her food dish(es) full, we fill one dish in the morning and one at night. She will politely sit near her dish if it is empty unless she's not being noticed, and at such time, she will find one morsel and continuously drop it over and over in the metal dish, which creates the tinkling sound to get my attention. "Hey, I'm starving over here..."
Anyway, we think the 'diet' is helping the pot belly.
Josie has turned into that cat that has discovered morning wake-up calls, alarm clocks and when you are not up on her time. She sleeps down at the foot of the bed against my legs and won't rest until I am out of bed in the morning. I'm not one to sleep in past 6:30, but she would prefer 6:00 a.m. or earlier. It is amazing how she can find ways to make irritating noises that cannot be ignored. We can't even shut the bedroom door because she will jump up and hit the handle over and over and over...until you give up...she will not.
And most of the time, if Jay is at work and I'm alone in bed, she'll jump up on the bed, sit where his pillow is and start digging under the covers for my flesh. I'm not kidding. She will reach way under the covers to find my hand or arm and start poking at me.
Her newest fetish is the bathroom sink. We do not have the drain stopper in, never have. Jay doesn't like them. So it's just an open drain. Kitty loves dropping random objects down there. It took us a while to figure that out. "Where are the tweezers?" "Someone had to take the tweezers from the bathroom!" (Okay, I have to admit, we blame our kids for things we don't have explanation for a lot.) We had seen Josie carrying the tweezers into the living room before, but honestly thought the kids had used them and not returned them. Then Madolyn discovered her necklace was missing. The last place she had it was our bathroom vanity - she had taken it off before her shower. It was gone. Weird.
One night we heard the kitty on the bathroom counter, shuffling stuff around, and realized what was going on. Jay took the bathroom sink trap off and found tweezers and Mad's necklace. This has happened a couple of times since, and presently, there is at least one hair clip, that I know of, down the drain. Josie was watching me get ready the other morning, I walked away and heard the clanking noise...there went the clip I use when I'm straightening my hair. I guess she just wants to be noticed.
She also loves the drip-drip-drip of water. If I turn the handle just right, there is a slight drip and she loves grabbing a drink. She will stare at the dripping for a while and then go for the plunge. I think she is fascinated by things going down the drain...and while she's at it, I guess she gets real thirsty.
I had been getting after the kids about deep holes appearing in the drywall. Spots I remembered to be small marks on the wall were growing. You can actually see a bare nail in the hallway by Lane's door and I accused him of picking at it until the nail head was exposed. He denied it, but I was skeptical. Later, he blamed Sweet Josie. Yeah, I've been there, done that, pal.
Until...I saw Jo jumping up and scraping the wall by our bedroom. Somehow or another, we have lost the door guard thingy that goes on the baseboard to protect the wall from the door handle and a small dent developed in the drywall. It wasn't a big deal, except that Josie discovered it and began jumping up and swiping at it...repeatedly. Hmm, so she WAS the one that was making these holes in my drywall. Not Lane. Oops. I don't know what it is about drywall, but Josie sure likes it.
I guess what it comes down to is this: We have a super cute kitty we call Sweet Josie, who causes quite a ruckus and is very destructive. She fits right in.
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Judge not.
You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Romans 2:1 (NIV)
Funny how it works, I read scripture yesterday about judging others. And I thought to myself, oh, yeah, I know I'm not supposed to judge others and I don't really do that. Not that much. Well, I try not to.
And then...while I was grocery shopping on my lunch hour, I caught myself doing that very thing that I don't really think I do...two times, at least that is all I can remember. In one hour.
The first episode: I saw someone in the store that had declined to help me with something because they were just "too busy today." So I pushed my cart past this person at blazing speeds because I only have an hour, thinking to myself, "Oh, they are so much busier than I am? And here I am on my lunch hour trying to get all this stuff together...blah, blah, blah." Snap. There it was. Instantly, I was convicted.
It doesn't matter what they were doing. It should be of no concern to me. I have no idea what they were doing before or what they were going to do after their own grocery shopping. I have no idea what is going on in their lives and what guidelines they have set for themselves so as not to be overloaded. And really, if I'm feeling overloaded, that is my own fault. I have the power to say no to things. I just struggle with it.
Round two: I load up my groceries and head back to work. Yesterday was the day it was so cruddy out after a very beautiful Tuesday. As I am passing through downtown, I see two adults walking down the sidewalk with two small children tagging along behind. I'm guessing the kids are maybe in the four-year-old range. They do not have coats on. It is pretty chilly. Instantly, I say to myself, "Good grief, what is wrong with people? Get coats on those kids!" And almost immediately I realized what I had done and started laughing.
Who do I think I am fooling? This was another perfect example of me passing judgment on others. Immediately, memories from the past come to my mind, such as, Madolyn wearing a sombrero and plastic dress-up high heels to the mall; heading away for the weekend with my kids and discovering two hours from home that my son didn't bring any shoes (not one pair) with him; arriving at a rodeo with same son and realizing he didn't have on any pants (only a shirt, undies and cowboy boots). What were people thinking of me during these prime displays of awesome parenting?
Good heavens, in a matter of about 55 minutes, I had caught myself doing this thing I don't really do two times. There are 23 other hours in the day, how many more times am I guilty of this?
And I suppose, I could rationalize it to myself and say, well, it wasn't really that bad because I didn't actually convey these thoughts to someone else. Ha! Good trick, Satan. In God's eye, it's all the same. What a great reminder to me that I should never let myself believe I am without this sin or that one. It doesn't matter that I didn't blast someone on Facebook publicly because they didn't have coats for their kids, or text a friend and tell them this or that. I had the thoughts. It is no different.
Note to self: "Do not judge, or you too will be judged." Matthew 7:1 (NIV)
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Hiatus
Don't you just love that word? Ha. I'm enjoying my hiatus...well, actually I've just had other stuff that I needed to do and haven't written for a week or two. I will be back. Maybe I'll protest until old man winter decides to give us a break. I sure hope that is soon. The time change is Sunday, it would be nice if that was the magic switch.
I think the weather is getting everyone a little down. It's as if we've been bombarded with one weather event after another. I keep remembering how dry we've been the past couple of years and try to thank God for replenishing the moisture...if only to make myself feel better.
This verse is a good reminder for me...
When you have all you want to eat, then praise the Lord your God for giving you a good land. Deuteronomy 8:10 (NCV)
I have pretty much all I want to eat, don't you?
I think the weather is getting everyone a little down. It's as if we've been bombarded with one weather event after another. I keep remembering how dry we've been the past couple of years and try to thank God for replenishing the moisture...if only to make myself feel better.
This verse is a good reminder for me...
When you have all you want to eat, then praise the Lord your God for giving you a good land. Deuteronomy 8:10 (NCV)
I have pretty much all I want to eat, don't you?
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
An Adventure all right.
This past weekend, Jay participated in a Planet Adventure Trail Run at a state park in Indianapolis. Last year he ran the quarter (that would be 1/4 of a full marathon, just over 6 miles), and this year he did the half (13.1 miles), which was the furthest he's ever run before. That right there is a pretty good accomplishment to me, but the adventurous part of this run is that it is run through the woods on trails and there was anywhere from 8-10 inches of snow on most parts of it, along with batches of ice. No joke. Oh, and it's at night so you have to wear a headlamp, and it was 21 degrees.
After watching a game of volleyball, and then a game of basketball, we headed east. We were doing fine on time and the roads were good, although it had snowed some the night before. I was able to knit the entire way (yeah me). We missed our exit right off the bat, and Jay drove to the next one to turn around. We exit, meet a police car and Jay says, "I didn't like the way that cop looked at me." We drive on, turn around (possibly breaking a traffic law) and get back on the highway to go back to the exit we needed. We are doing okay on time, no panic, no major stress of missing the exit.
We nearly miss the exit again, but Jay whips it over and gets off the highway. We're driving along through a semi-residential area and Jay say, "I think I'm being pulled over." We were dumbfounded. It has been a good five to seven minutes since we met that police car. But lo and behold, the sparkly lights were twinkling in the rear-view. Again, we're still calm...but I am thinking, crap, they saw that traffic infraction back there when we turned around, that has to be it.
So we pull over, I keep knitting my fuchsia pink hat and the guy walks up on my side of the car. The guy calmly asks what we are doing, we tell him we're going to a race, assuming he is familiar with it. (You know because if there is anything going on in Martinsville, everyone knows about it...in Indianapolis, not so much.) He doesn't seem to have any knowledge of what we're talking about.
He tells us that Jay gave him a funny look when he met us way back there, to which I explained that we thought the same thing, only that he had given Jay a weird look, he saw we were from Illinois and wondered what we were up to. Hmm, odd. Okay. He then says that Jay was speeding on the highway, which is possible, although we were going with the flow. Jay hands him his license. He does a quick glance over and hands it back. All the while, I'm waiting for the big one - I saw you run that red light back there (hypothetically speaking, of course), but it never comes. He says he just felt like he had to follow up on that suspicious-looking driver and he walked away.
He was very, very friendly. We didn't feel harassed or anything, and I remained oddly calm the entire time. (It's the knitting, it's calming I tell ya.) It was a little strange though. And to finish off that fiasco, we had taken the wrong turn again. Fortunately, Jay didn't seemed rattled either. We had allowed for plenty of time and I knew we would find it eventually...and we did with lots of time to spare.
We parked, Jay got warmed up and jumped in with the mix of runners. They took off and I found the line for the porta-pot. I got talking to the gal next to me and got sidetracked (I know, I know), I turned around and saw green on one of the doors and rushed over and threw it open...to find a man standing there. Of course, I screamed, apologized and got back in line. Hey, the little lever thingy wasn't flipped to red, how was I supposed to know?
My favorite funny of the night - the announcer said there wouldn't be any chili served after the race because they couldn't meet the health department requirement on food temperatures. Instead, they had 80 dozen Dunkin' Donuts, hot chocolate and coffee for the runners. Last year, I thought it was odd that they would offer chili because the last thing I would feel like eating after running even a half mile would be chili. A donut sounds much more appealing.
There were 448 people who participated in this race. The biggest group was the quarter-marathon bunch. Although Jay started out with about 450 people, his group of half-marathoners consisted of 141 people. I'm proud to say that Jay finished third in his age group 30-39 (male) with a time of 2:18:33. On a paved road, he would have easily finished in under 2 hours, but this is nothing like a road race. There were places he would get off the trail to pass people and be in snow knee-deep. Sounds wonderful, huh?
We had reservations at a Brazilian Steakhouse for 8:00 our time. Jay crossed the finish line at about 7:18. He grabbed his medal and I got him to hold still for a finish photo and we made a dash for the car. Would you believe we were checked into our hotel and delivered to the restaurant via taxi by 8:15? For me, that part of the night was my marathon. Haha. Normally, one should have a proper 'cool down' after a race, but Jay was a trooper. I think his legs shook underneath the table all through supper. (He knows how I feel about food - and it was so late;)
Sometimes I wonder about this guy, but, hey, I had a great Valentine's Weekend with him and he ran a great race. We didn't get a traffic ticket, and I got to go to Target. What more could I ask for?
After watching a game of volleyball, and then a game of basketball, we headed east. We were doing fine on time and the roads were good, although it had snowed some the night before. I was able to knit the entire way (yeah me). We missed our exit right off the bat, and Jay drove to the next one to turn around. We exit, meet a police car and Jay says, "I didn't like the way that cop looked at me." We drive on, turn around (possibly breaking a traffic law) and get back on the highway to go back to the exit we needed. We are doing okay on time, no panic, no major stress of missing the exit.
We nearly miss the exit again, but Jay whips it over and gets off the highway. We're driving along through a semi-residential area and Jay say, "I think I'm being pulled over." We were dumbfounded. It has been a good five to seven minutes since we met that police car. But lo and behold, the sparkly lights were twinkling in the rear-view. Again, we're still calm...but I am thinking, crap, they saw that traffic infraction back there when we turned around, that has to be it.
So we pull over, I keep knitting my fuchsia pink hat and the guy walks up on my side of the car. The guy calmly asks what we are doing, we tell him we're going to a race, assuming he is familiar with it. (You know because if there is anything going on in Martinsville, everyone knows about it...in Indianapolis, not so much.) He doesn't seem to have any knowledge of what we're talking about.
He tells us that Jay gave him a funny look when he met us way back there, to which I explained that we thought the same thing, only that he had given Jay a weird look, he saw we were from Illinois and wondered what we were up to. Hmm, odd. Okay. He then says that Jay was speeding on the highway, which is possible, although we were going with the flow. Jay hands him his license. He does a quick glance over and hands it back. All the while, I'm waiting for the big one - I saw you run that red light back there (hypothetically speaking, of course), but it never comes. He says he just felt like he had to follow up on that suspicious-looking driver and he walked away.
He was very, very friendly. We didn't feel harassed or anything, and I remained oddly calm the entire time. (It's the knitting, it's calming I tell ya.) It was a little strange though. And to finish off that fiasco, we had taken the wrong turn again. Fortunately, Jay didn't seemed rattled either. We had allowed for plenty of time and I knew we would find it eventually...and we did with lots of time to spare.
We parked, Jay got warmed up and jumped in with the mix of runners. They took off and I found the line for the porta-pot. I got talking to the gal next to me and got sidetracked (I know, I know), I turned around and saw green on one of the doors and rushed over and threw it open...to find a man standing there. Of course, I screamed, apologized and got back in line. Hey, the little lever thingy wasn't flipped to red, how was I supposed to know?
My favorite funny of the night - the announcer said there wouldn't be any chili served after the race because they couldn't meet the health department requirement on food temperatures. Instead, they had 80 dozen Dunkin' Donuts, hot chocolate and coffee for the runners. Last year, I thought it was odd that they would offer chili because the last thing I would feel like eating after running even a half mile would be chili. A donut sounds much more appealing.
 |
| Nice finish sign, huh, right on the garbage. |
There were 448 people who participated in this race. The biggest group was the quarter-marathon bunch. Although Jay started out with about 450 people, his group of half-marathoners consisted of 141 people. I'm proud to say that Jay finished third in his age group 30-39 (male) with a time of 2:18:33. On a paved road, he would have easily finished in under 2 hours, but this is nothing like a road race. There were places he would get off the trail to pass people and be in snow knee-deep. Sounds wonderful, huh?
We had reservations at a Brazilian Steakhouse for 8:00 our time. Jay crossed the finish line at about 7:18. He grabbed his medal and I got him to hold still for a finish photo and we made a dash for the car. Would you believe we were checked into our hotel and delivered to the restaurant via taxi by 8:15? For me, that part of the night was my marathon. Haha. Normally, one should have a proper 'cool down' after a race, but Jay was a trooper. I think his legs shook underneath the table all through supper. (He knows how I feel about food - and it was so late;)
Sometimes I wonder about this guy, but, hey, I had a great Valentine's Weekend with him and he ran a great race. We didn't get a traffic ticket, and I got to go to Target. What more could I ask for?
Friday, February 14, 2014
All you need is Love...
Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13 (NLT)
Today is Valentine's Day and for many, it is just another day. I saw several comments on Facebook this morning referring to the fact that you should show love every day, there shouldn't have to be a day set aside to tell someone you love them, blah, blah, blah. I don't disagree with that necessarily, but I don't really have a problem with there being a day to celebrate love either.
I was thinking about love, and what it means to a Christian. I think love is the backbone for God's people. Many people think that going to church, tithing, donating, volunteering, taking meals, transporting people to appointments, roofing a house, supporting an orphan, etc., is good Christian service, and it is. But doing them without love makes all that good stuff almost pointless. They will be empty acts of kindness. Some will even see through the good deed.
There is a Christian song out right now called "Love Does" by Brandon Heath. Just thinking about those two words made me realize something important. Love is an action word. I love that simple two-word phrase: Love does.
Have you ever done something out of obligation and just hated every minute of it? I know have, and I realized later that the reason I didn't enjoy it or feel good about it was because I wasn't doing it out of love, I was doing it out of obligation...to soothe my soul. Being a Christian isn't about doing what makes us feel good, it's about doing things for others in Jesus' name, to show Christian love. You can attend all the church functions you want and perform all kinds of goodness, but without the greatest thing of all - Love - you will be empty inside. God is Love. There is not one without the other.
I even ask myself, can you be a Christian without knowing love? Hmm, I don't see how because the core of our belief is that simple and popular verse, John 3:16. "For God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life." I believe there are Christians who may feel unloved on a earthly level, but no matter what, we are all loved.
A couple years ago we had the contemporary Christian Band, For King & Country at our fairgrounds at the Elevate Concert. Last year they put out a song that I think sums everything up perfectly.
Proof of Your Love - For King & Country
If I sing but don't have love
I waste my breath with every song
I bring an empty voice, a hollow noise.
If I speak with a silver tongue
Convince a crowd but don't have love
I leave a bitter taste with every word I say
CHORUS: So let my life be the proof,
The proof of Your love
Let my love look like You and what You're made of
How You lived, how You died
Love is sacrifice
So let my life be the proof,
The proof of Your love
If I give
To a needy soul but don't have love then who is poor?
It seems all the poverty is found in me.
CHORUS
When it's all said and done
When we sing our final song
Only love remains
Only love remains
[Monologue based on 1 Corinthians 13)]
If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love,
I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.
If I speak God's word with power, revealing all of His mysteries
and making everything as plain as day,
and if I have faith to say to a mountain jump
and it jumps but I don't love I'm nothing.
If I give all I earn to the poor or even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr,
but I don't love I've gotten nowhere.
So, no matter what I say, no matter what I believe,
no matter what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.
Simply put, all we need is love. Happy LOVE Day!
Today is Valentine's Day and for many, it is just another day. I saw several comments on Facebook this morning referring to the fact that you should show love every day, there shouldn't have to be a day set aside to tell someone you love them, blah, blah, blah. I don't disagree with that necessarily, but I don't really have a problem with there being a day to celebrate love either.
I was thinking about love, and what it means to a Christian. I think love is the backbone for God's people. Many people think that going to church, tithing, donating, volunteering, taking meals, transporting people to appointments, roofing a house, supporting an orphan, etc., is good Christian service, and it is. But doing them without love makes all that good stuff almost pointless. They will be empty acts of kindness. Some will even see through the good deed.
There is a Christian song out right now called "Love Does" by Brandon Heath. Just thinking about those two words made me realize something important. Love is an action word. I love that simple two-word phrase: Love does.
Have you ever done something out of obligation and just hated every minute of it? I know have, and I realized later that the reason I didn't enjoy it or feel good about it was because I wasn't doing it out of love, I was doing it out of obligation...to soothe my soul. Being a Christian isn't about doing what makes us feel good, it's about doing things for others in Jesus' name, to show Christian love. You can attend all the church functions you want and perform all kinds of goodness, but without the greatest thing of all - Love - you will be empty inside. God is Love. There is not one without the other.
I even ask myself, can you be a Christian without knowing love? Hmm, I don't see how because the core of our belief is that simple and popular verse, John 3:16. "For God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life." I believe there are Christians who may feel unloved on a earthly level, but no matter what, we are all loved.
A couple years ago we had the contemporary Christian Band, For King & Country at our fairgrounds at the Elevate Concert. Last year they put out a song that I think sums everything up perfectly.
Proof of Your Love - For King & Country
If I sing but don't have love
I waste my breath with every song
I bring an empty voice, a hollow noise.
If I speak with a silver tongue
Convince a crowd but don't have love
I leave a bitter taste with every word I say
CHORUS: So let my life be the proof,
The proof of Your love
Let my love look like You and what You're made of
How You lived, how You died
Love is sacrifice
So let my life be the proof,
The proof of Your love
If I give
To a needy soul but don't have love then who is poor?
It seems all the poverty is found in me.
CHORUS
When it's all said and done
When we sing our final song
Only love remains
Only love remains
[Monologue based on 1 Corinthians 13)]
If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love,
I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.
If I speak God's word with power, revealing all of His mysteries
and making everything as plain as day,
and if I have faith to say to a mountain jump
and it jumps but I don't love I'm nothing.
If I give all I earn to the poor or even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr,
but I don't love I've gotten nowhere.
So, no matter what I say, no matter what I believe,
no matter what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.
Simply put, all we need is love. Happy LOVE Day!
Saturday, February 8, 2014
January 2014 Snow Fun
Well, I guess we're making up for lost time this year. Seems like every year, my kids are disappointed with the snowfall. I think they are highly satisfied this year. The downside has been the super cold temperatures.
Early in January we had about a foot of snow. We did make it to French Lick that weekend prior and had a great time in the water park. We headed back a little early the next day and hit snow about thirty minutes from home. We didn't leave the house again for a full 48 hours. We couldn't. It wasn't even possible to attempt an escape because of the high snow drifts on our lane and on the road.
We lost power for about 23 hours and it almost did us in. Not being able to leave and not having electricity in this day and age is not a good combination. We did figure out a few things though:
1) You can cook a frozen pizza on a gas range, using a cookie sheet and tin foil. It actually was delicious. 2) Running the car in the garage with a converter hooked to the battery will run the TV or charge two devices. 3) Headlamps are awesome. I wore one while knitting a hat. Jay wore one walking around the house. They are great. You need them in your house. 4) Although the pigs in the barn need heat, so does the family in the house. However, removing heat from the barn to bring to the house will result in busted water lines. 5) No matter how awesome this thing called WIFI is, if you do not have electricity, the WIFI does not work. It took a while for the kids to accept this.
6) We will survive, even if we have to resort to old-fashion fun...which doesn't require WIFI. 7) Regardless of how bad you think you have it, someone else has it worse. Our power was only out 23 hours, others were without it much longer.
As always, it's not as bad as it seems at the time. The next day our power was restored, which was great, even though we were still snowed in for a while.
About mid-day, our road was opened up and our drive was plowed. Jay went on to work. I attempted to leave and got about 50 feet from the garage before returning. I just stayed home. Jay took this picture on his way to work about a half mile from our house. It had been a very, very tall snowdrift. Even the V-plow had a little trouble busting through it.
I took advantage of the snow days and tried out a new Fair Isle hat pattern. (See, I don't need power to fuel my addiction...just a headlamp.) I think I need more snow days!
We lost power for about 23 hours and it almost did us in. Not being able to leave and not having electricity in this day and age is not a good combination. We did figure out a few things though:
As always, it's not as bad as it seems at the time. The next day our power was restored, which was great, even though we were still snowed in for a while.
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