New Blog

Hey, I've set up a new blog at Beyond Relevance. Come check it out, and while you're at it, go ahead and subscribe if you like what you see. I've got a mixture of things from rants to crafts!!

New post

I have posted a new blog at Word Press.

http://www.beyond-relevance.com/

Subscribe!

New Blog

I have been thinking about getting a bit more serious about writing my blogs. I desire to bring creativity into my heart so much, and I believe that writing is one of the tools that will do that. I've decided, though, that I'm going to change blog programs, and I've got my own site! Beyond Relevance will house my blogs. If you follow me here, please click the link and follow me there!! If you DON'T follow me here, please click on the link and follow me there! ;-) It is a work in progress, and some of blogs here will show up there - only rewritten a bit.

See you at Beyond Relevance!

Terri

They Will Know We are Christians by Our Love

Warning: The following contains a not so nice post. I'm ranting, if you will. Please do not read if you are uncomfortable with cynicism or criticism.

You were warned.

I have just about had it with Christians - and I am one. And by that I mean that I believe that Jesus was born of a virgin, he is the Son of God, he died and was victorious over death and by that sacrifice and miracle, I am a Daughter of the KING. I believe that. For most of my life, I have been very busy in 'ministry'. I've been a Sunday School teacher, a VBS director, youth leader, worship leader, worship team member, I wrote curriculum for nearly everything. I loved being involved. For years, though, I'd look around and wonder why we really weren't making much of a difference in our world.

And then I stepped out of my bubble - my nice little church bubble where all the people were Christians and were members of my church, and all my friends were Christians, too. I liked that climate controlled bubble, and I've got to admit that some days I long for that comfort and that kinship. It can wear on a soul to be on the outside, because being out here nearly brings me to tears every day.

Because out here the masks are off and the smiles are gone.

Years ago,  I announced through an ad in the local paper that I was a Christian mom seeking to provide day care for children in my home. I ran that ad for over a month, and it went unanswered. I was a bit surprised that when I took the word 'Christian' out of my ad the next month, I had more calls than I knew what to do with. I didn't understand that back then, but I have a very good idea now.

The world is skeptical of Christians. And rightfully so.

I have seen a lot of ugly stuff in my job as a child welfare worker. I knew I would when I first started, but I've been a bit surprised at the type of ugly I have seen. When I first started my job and I needed to find a home for a child, I would hope that a Christian home could be found. I had this idea that a hurting, abused, unloved child could experience the love of Jesus in a Christian home. And here's the ugly: I haven't found that to be true.

What I have found to be true is that these hurting, abused, unloved children become targets and projects. And they get to learn how they just don't measure up to our Christian expectations. They get to learn what is just not acceptable in the climate controlled bubble - The Can'ts if you will.  Because, you see, many of us Christians get in to a rut, I think. We dress up so that we can fit in that perfect climate controlled bubble. We get our masks on, wear the perfect costumes. But we don't show love.

Quite frankly, Christians, it's time we step up and act like our Savior. We don't need a degree in Greek or Hermanuetical studies to get that. It is time to put down our building tools, Church. We don't need bigger, fancier, hipper stuff. We don't need programs and committees. We really don't need to have one more Bible study on the shelf to buy or one more meeting at the church to go to. We've had all that stuff and we still can't show the world Jesus.

Each one of us needs a mirror - the lighted, magnified make up mirrors that show every pore, blemish and wart.

We have not allowed the Holy Spririt to reign in us. We have not allowed the love of God to indwell in us. I think it's time that we get our noses out of our little rule books and we certainly need to quit slapping people around with our expectations. The world gets what we don't believe in. We tell them all the time.

Seriously. Have we ever thought of giving water to a thirsty person for the sake of quenching his thirst?

In John's account of the Gospel, Jesus said that the whole world will know that we are his disciples by the love we show each other. Church, I have come to the conclusion that there might be a whole world full of Christians. I just don't think there are very many disciples.

If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn't love others, 
I  would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 
If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God's secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn't love others, 
I would be nothing. 
If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; 
but if I didn't love others, I would have gained nothing.

Love is patient and kind. 
Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. 
It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.
 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 
Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. 


But love will last forever! 
Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, 
and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! 
But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless.

When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. 
But when I grew up, I put away childish things. 
Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, 
but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. 
 All that I know now is partial and incomplete, 
but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

---Saint Paul, from the Bible

Creativity

Since last summer, I have made a strong effort to regain my creative side. I can't even explain how dry my soul felt for a while. I kind of think I know how trees must feel in the winter. 

Stuck.
Cold.
Dry.

I like that I've been able to create some crafts and sewing projects. It's been so fun, and I've got to tell you that I am starting to feel life inside of me.

It's growing.
And dreaming.
And budding.

I can hardly wait until the blooms!

Boy.

It is hot. And we turned in to whimps. We finally put in our window air conditioner yesterday. I'm not so sure I like it...although I really do love that I'm not sitting and sweating. That's always nice. For years we didn't have an air conditioner! I felt all 'Mother Earth' gardening, preserving all the food and putting up with the heat. Gosh, I remember times that I would pack up the kids to go for a ride in the air conditioned car just to have a break from the heat.

For the most part, though, I really don't like the house all closed up and the sounds of the air conditioner and fans running. I LOVE feeling the breeze in the house. Today though? There's no breeze. Thank you, God for giving someone the ability to develop Freon.

I've been re-organizing my craft room. I've got more to sew, and I couldn't even turn around in there. I took everything off the shelves, scrubbed them down, organized the fabric and crafting accessories I have and basically got ready for round 2 of quilt making! (As soon as my 'walking foot' comes, I'll be quilting!) I am really impressed that I am able to get all that stuff in such a small little room. I thought about scaling down the volume of my craft materials. I did that many years ago, and it took YEARS to recover. We wouldn't want to go through that again...it was traumatizing.

But it is getting organized, which always makes me feel good. I wish I had learned how to maintain during my projects...like putting away items as I am done with them, throwing away scraps of fabric as they are snipped, etc. I just don't think it's in my genes. Well, it might be in the gene pool, but I must have swam far away!

Have a great week!

A Quilt Top is Made!!

Despite the heat, I have been able complete the quilt top that I started last weekend. I'm so excited!! I fudged on the couple of pieces that I cut wrong, but I couldn't see paying extra for more fabric....so, mistakes and all, here's my first attempt at a quilt. I kind of figured out the pattern as I was going, which is just my way, I suppose.

I don't think the colors show really well. The oranges look kind of peachie in this photo, and the turquoise is light...I like the quilt in person. The colors are really bright.

I will be purchasing the back and the batting this week and then I will hopefully start the quilting process!! We'll see how that goes. I've never done anything like this before. I'm going to use my machine, which is probably cheating, but I can't even imagine trying to quilt this by hand in this heat.

I will keep you posted on my progress!

A Lost Blue Denim Jumper and Building Mountains

Years ago, I borrowed a cute pregnant jumper from my friend Diana. It was the early 90s, and we were both homeschooling moms, so if you guessed that it was a denim jumper, you would be correct. What I especially liked about it was that it had enough room to accommodate a growing belly, but wasn't one of those tent dresses that was so popular. Seriously. Some of those pregnant dresses were like wearing actual tents! So, anyway, this was an unassuming denim jumper that I just loved and wore a lot while I was pregnant with Jordan.

The jumper found its way to the back of my closet during the last month of my pregnancy because as accommodating as it was for my growing belly, Jordan grew so much that this sweet jumper just couldn't keep up and a pretty, soft pink jumper of the tent variety soon took its place. Some months after Jordan was born, Diana found out she was pregnant, so she called asking if I could return the jumper.

Thinking I could just go to my closet and pull it out, I told her I would bring it right over. (She lived across the street.) It wasn't there. I was mortified!! The only thing that I could think of is that the jumper had been mistakenly placed in my give away box and would have made it to Goodwill. Shoot.

I called Diana, and apologized profusely, telling her I would buy her a new jumper. She stopped me in mid-sentence and said a phrase that has had staying power in my life. "You are more important to me than a silly jumper."

Talk about a relationship builder! This sounds so cliche', but that phrase was implanted in my mind that day and has often come to the fore front when dealing with broken antique plates, chairs or ruined ceilings. I have to admit, though, I have often fought the urge to throw out the phrase, " I can't have anything nice!" (and have on many occasions). The times I have said, "You are more important to me than _______", were the times that relationships were strengthened. I remember just how loved and important I felt that day, and I know that the impact that phrase has had when I have remembered to say it has been positive.

Our words are so powerful that they can build or destroy. When I am irritated, it's especially important that I take pause and choose my words carefully. I really want to build mountains - I don't want to strip mine my relationships.

I did find that blue jumper. Funny thing. It was in the back of Terry's closet. Go figure.

On to Another Project!

I have wanted to make a quilt for a long time, but recently I found some fabric that I just loved. It's so whimsical and a bit retro!! I bought a bunch of fabric without really knowing what I was doing. I didn't have a pattern, have never quilted, but thought, "Eh...what's the worst that can happen?" No one would really have to know; unless I blogged about it. So, if I fail, there will be a chance of laughter. 

I will keep you posted on the progress of the quilt. So far, I have the top almost done. I believe I want to add some borders. I have it in my mind, and have even dreamt about how I would create this quilt. So, we'll see how it works.

It all started when I saw this wheel of fabric sitting on the fabric store's shelves. Perfect for what had been twirling around in my mind the last few weeks!! I sewed these strips together. There were enough in each wheel to get three blocks of strips sewn! I bought two wheels so I would have enough to have six rectangles of stripes! Very cute idea. Very cute.

Here I have one rectangle block put together. They measure about 15 1/2 inches wide and, well...somewhere around two feet or so long. It took me a while to figure out how I wanted to lay it all out. I had Alyssa and Kimi sitting in the living room watching a movie while I was placing blocks all around the living room floor! Fun Times!!

I bought several packages of these pieces of fabrics. I think they're something similar to fat quarters, but I'm not sure. I still take offense to the name of the fat quarters. Really? They can't help it!

And here is one strip done. I will show you the other strips later. They are actually all stacked under this top one. This will no doubt be a busy quilt, but I like it. I'm looking forward to seeing it done! I am also looking forward to sharing my end product with you!!

Be blessed!

I love you more!

My cousin Julie passed away yesterday, and my mind is full. When someone I know and love dies, part of my grieving process is to reminisce about good things in my life. And like the saying goes, the good things in my life aren't things.

I spent the morning with my mom and dad because even though I am 48 years old, to be honest, when I hurt, the first place I go is home to my mom and dad. We spent time talking and laughing and remembering stories, and  when I got ready to leave, I told my mom that I loved her. She smiled and called over her shoulder as she was walking to her door, "I love you more!" God, what a gift you've given me!

In my family we say, "I love you." A lot. And we hug. A lot.

It's been that way my whole life. In fact, as I look back, I find it kind of funny that I was almost an adult before I realized that there were a lot of people who just weren't like us. There were some people - even in our extended families - who weren't natural huggies and probably weren't all that keen on having a little dark-headed-snot-nosed-kid hugging them but were too polite to say anything.

Our tradition includes hugging when you see someone for the first time that day, and then hugging before that person leaves. Lots of times there are hugs just for good measure. Some people, I'm sure, might think that hugging that much might lead to hugs becoming routine. Maybe. But I've got to tell you, there are just some epic hugs that are what love is all about.

Like the time I failed my swimming test because I was too afraid to dive off the 'tower' and swim in the 10 foot. My dad found me hiding in my closet and didn't say too much. He asked if I tried. I said yes. And then he asked me if I wanted to go fishing. When I climbed out of the closet, he wrapped his strong arms around me and told me that as long as I tried, he was alright with me and I had nothing to be ashamed of.

Or the times my mom hugged my pregnant belly and told my babies that Grammy loved them and that she couldn't wait to see them.
And the time I was holding it together at the hospital until I saw my dad and he grabbed a hold of me and I was able to cling to him and be his child in incredible pain as we said goodbye to Ben.

Oh, and the time I surprised my family by coming home from college a week earlier than planned. I saw my little brothers playing basketball and when they saw me, they dropped their game and came runnning to greet me. They lifted me up and twirled me around!

And my sister, on my wedding day before I walked down the aisle. She whispered for me to take it all in and I did. I remember the fragrance of the roses and the candles and the beautiful music and my handsome groom waiting for me.

I could go on and on and on and probably will in my mind. Memories are just swirling around today like nobody's business. If I thought that Julie could hear me, I would tell her again that I loved her, and that she was a part of so many lovely memories from my childhood and that I am so thankful to have had her in my life. And I would hug her if I could.

Cause that's what we do.

Hot. Hot. Hot.

I think I"m getting old. I  say that because I remember hearing old people say things like, "When we were kids, we didn't have color tv and we got along just fine." Or, "When we were kids, we had to walk where ever we went, and we were just fine."

Today, though, as I read all the heat advisory warnings and I glanced at the thermometer, I had to stop and think, "When did 90s become too hot?" And then it happened. I started thinking back to when I was a kid. We didn't have air conditioning back then. (We still don't, although my parents do NOW!) Really, very few people did. Businesses around town weren't climate controlled and walking around town you'd see windows open, people on their porches and kids on their bikes. A drive around the square would bring you to all the Old Timers sitting on the benches and talking up a storm. And we were just fine! Oh, dear.

I remember in the dog days of summer - when it didn't even cool down at night - my brothers and sister and I would sleep out on the back patio - until that pincher bug grabbed Nise, but that's another story. We'd all four lie on cement and sleep under the stars, but not until we had exhausted all conversation. Amazing how siblings can chatter.

So tonight, it's warm. But there is a lovely breeze and looking out across the field, I see the intermittent glowing of lightning bugs, and I am thankful. And I miss Denise, Darin and Matt tonight....cause there are stars, and lightning bugs and I think the DDT got rid of all the pincher bugs.

Small Town Livin' (written a year ago)

When all this cancer stuff started in April, my husband and I decided that we would wait to tell people until we were sure what was going on. My work buddies and I were at the Mexican restaurant in town, and I spotted a lovely woman I know who is battling breast cancer. I went over to say 'hey,' and I blurted out to her that I might have cancer. What the heck! Anyway, she hugged me and kissed the top of my head when she got ready to leave, and she told me she would be thinking of me.

Fast forward this little roller coaster we've been on for the last couple of months. My parents were at my house eating dinner with us, when we noticed Madeline drive up. She came to the door and explained that she had been worried about me and decided to try to find me!! I was speechless. And I felt extremely loved.

I think one of the benefits of living in a small town (and maybe one of its curses) is that just going through life, you get to know people in a way that would be impossible in a city. Thank you, Madeline, for loving me and showing me how much you care!

I Am Tired.

I've thought today that I should change the name of my blog to I Am Tired. I most certainly am very, very tired. And relieved.

This week has been pretty exciting in my life. We had tornadoes on Tuesday, literally all around us. It was a charged kind of night in more ways than one. On the way home from work, I learned that there were tornado warnings everywhere. There had been a tornado outside of Greenfield and it was heading east. We're East of Greenfield. The sky was ominous to say the least.

My heart stayed in my throat for most of the evening. Jordan is in Creston and there were two tornadoes that touched down there. Alyssa, Ross and Abe were in town in three separate places. Aly and Abe finally made it home before Storm Number Two hit, carrying huge hail! Actually they were walking to our house when all of a sudden huge balls of ice started falling from the sky! You should have seen our yard COVERED by golf-ball sized hail.
 Incredible.                          

Thankfully, no one sustained injuries. Many of our neighbors and friends have lost some property and live stock, but our neighbors are safe.

I am hoping to have a night very soon during which there are no storms, no lightning, no thunder and no radios going off warning of impending danger.

Cause. I. Am. Tired. 

Worms, Dogs and Sundays.

I thought some of my worms had died. Today, I spent some time stirring the almost wormless trays and cleaning out the stinking water basin, and I found that the worms had migrated up to the top tray! I still think we might have lost a few due to the compost getting too wet. I guess there is a learning curve to creating a worm farm. Terry used some of the 'worm tea' on his tomatoes! (We'll see if it's as magical and 'they' say it is!)

I'm hoping stirring up the trays and getting them not so wet and compact will be good for the worms. They have certainly eaten a lot of stuff! I'm a little disappointed in how slow they decompose stuff, though. If I didn't live with a household of carnivores, we'd have to have four or five worm farms to keep up with all our veggies waste! Hopefully we'll get in a groove with it. I was able to free up one of the trays, so that seems like it is good news. That and it doesn't stink. Well, the 'tea' stinks, but the rest of the compost smells like dirt. Which is offensive to some, I suppose. I like it.

Poor Molly. She is dejected. I have misplaced my shedding brush and she looks horrid. She has all this matted fur under her top coat, so today I almost shaved the back end of her and then washed her good. She looks kind of like a goofy poodle only goofier because she ISN'T a poodle. Poor dog. I'm hoping to find that brush soon! She has probably gone and found something stinky to roll in (like the 'worm tea' Terry put out on his tomatoes). That would be just like her. Lovely.

Today has been nice. I've puttered and I'll scrub a couple of rooms, but for the most part, I'm having a nice restful Sunday. Tonight all my kids are going to be here for supper. Yes. They all live back at home, but we rarely see everyone together. Tonight is LASAGNE!!! (I know how to get my boys to come home. lol)

Random Thoughts

I just spent some time going over my older blogs and the statistics Blogger provides. Evidently there are 3 people in Belgium who have found my blog. I thought that was interesting.

Sometimes I get pretty overwhelmed with my job, and it seems to sap my creative energy. Last year, I made a pact with myself that I would work at maintaining that creative flow. Last summer I started working on my garden - trying to reclaim its beauty. I've continued this year (when it isn't raining or a bazillion and 4 degrees outside) to work toward that goal. Last year Terry and the boys built a deck on the front of our house. This year, I pulled plants I want to save from another area of my garden to plant around the deck. It's so pretty!!

 This clematis I planted last year. It's made it to the top of the deck and is getting a lot bushier. I love its color!  The coreopsis daisy that is behind is one of the plants that I reclaimed. My good friend Donna gave me a couple of starts from her garden years ago. I divided it up and planted some around my deck. Lovely.

This is a beautiful lily that I planted last year. I think it was on a clearance shelf a the end of the year! It's it beautiful!! The varigated sedum behind it is one of the plants that was here when we bought the place. You don't often see this variety. I've divided it and shared it so many times!! 

This is Ben's Tonka truck. About 25 years old and has lived outside all of its life! I plant flowers in it ever year. This year I put in some rocks and then some moss rose. It's a nice reminder that he lives on.

Coral Bells, hosta, sedum from my friend Donna, more hosta, creeping geranium and creeping phlox. Oh...and the angel guiding the little boy? Precious.

 More of the clematis in completely full bloom. Such beauty. And, of course, what garden isn't complete without a random stuffed animal thrown in for good measure?

My co-worker Denise gave me this hibiscus last year. She actually gave me two, but the white one didn't make it. Might have been the chickens pecking at it. This is actually about a foot and a half. I'm anxious to see how this grows this year. It had the most beautiful hot pink blossoms!

More to follow, I'm sure. My goals this year in my garden: 1) to get the water flowing right; 2) to finish the pathway 3) to add a little 'patio on the lower part of the garden. 

We'll see how that goes. I'm less than ambitious most days. ;-)

Homemade Chenille Blanket

I have been having fun on StumbleUpon.com, that's for sure! It's given me some great resources for crafting. I'm becoming quite a Blog Junkie!!

One day in my happy stupor, I ran across this great site that gave a great tutorial on making an heirloom chenille blanket. Well, I had to make one! I do, after all have a pseudo grandbaby coming any day now! http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2kPxsp/homemade.tipjunkie.com/go%3Fid%3D421

Here's how my turned out. I love it. A lot.

Sock Monkey Hat and New Years

I really love StumbleUpon.com. I've enjoyed a lot of the creativity I see from folks out there. Recently, I stumbled upon a Sock Monkey HAT!! Well, I had to try it. I found a pattern off of Etsy.com from Shelley Tudor. (http://www.etsy.com/shop/sockmonkeykook?ref=pr_shop)She does a great job explaining, and quite frankly, she is about as friendly as could be, so it was even better to buy the pattern from her!

I found some wool yarn at Joann's, and it was even better because they were having a great sale on it. I think it took about 1/2 a skein to make this little lady. I had fun making this one, and turns out that I'll be needing to figure out how to make BIG sock monkey hats, because my adult children want one. This should be interesting! 

I plan to give this to an adorable little girl whom I cherish. Her parents may object to her wearing such a thing, but I will never know. ;-)

I am not making any New Years Resolutions this year. I plan on keeping my Post Cancer Surgery Resolutions, though. I will keep crafting and sewing and crocheting. It just makes my heart light. 

Happy New Year!


Addendum to my blog post: I figured out how to make an adult sock monkey hat! I used Catie's pattern as a model for my adult hat (http://doahdiddy.blogspot.com/
2010/03/sock-monkey-hat-pattern.html ) although I still needed to add to it. Maybe people in Iowa have bigger heads than everyone else. ;-) Abe is happy with it. There are some things that I will need to change, though...like the way I place the ear flaps...I made it weird so he is actually wearing his hat backwards. He doesn't know, but  I would feel better if the next wearers of my hats were able to wear them normally. 

I wish my gramma was still here. She could be a GREAT resource.