Jesus ~ Jehovah Saves

Christ ~ anointed one, Savior , King

In Which I figure out how to add my Etsy site to my Blog.

James and I have been adding lots of new stuff to the Etsy store. I started the store so long ago, but it started to seem like I never had any time to list anything. I taught JDM how to do it and now he lists all his own stuff. He's been great! But, I think it's time to get back in the swing of things and list some stuff. SO, I'm taking the advice of some of the bloggers that I follow and making it a priority to add new items to our store daily. As of this week, my tags are back in my store. Fun stuff to follow next week...after the yardsale.

Yeah. Yardsale. In March. I know, crazy, right?

Well...I have stuff that wants a new home so we're having a sale tomorrow and Saturday over at Robin's Horse Barn.

Button, Button, I've got the Buttons!

Ok, today is the day I figure out how to add photos to my posts.

D#1 needs to replace a couple buttons on her favorite flannel. Do you think we could find a match??? In the search for the right buttons, i realized that my buttons had avoided the clean-out. So i brought them down from the attic, the hallway cupboard, and the craft room...i know, it's a lot of buttons. This is my Mom's collection, my Grandma's collection, my collections, and (blush) I even bought them by the 1/2 pound!

But still, no matching button! So she's going to replace them all with cute little blue ones. Good plan. In the mean time, i got to play with my button collection. The ones that are strung were done by me and my mom way too many years ago to tell you how many. D#3 helped sort them out and earned a couple of brass buttons as payment. She was as happy as I was to see her playing with my collection. Now they're in jars by color and type...where I can see them all the time. It makes me smile.

Well, it's been too long since my last post. You see, I've been wondering what "Great Wisdom", "big deal" kinds of things i should post on my blog. What should it's "purpose" be. I want to make a "big impression", a "difference" in your life, share my "vast knowledge", answer all your questions....pshh!

The truth is, if i never post anything, i can never fail at meeting your expectations (which are really my expectations of what you want from me.) Probably, what you really want from me is what everyone else in my life wants...the real me. The one with the head full of ideas, the house that's undone but always open, and the bunch of kids always around her. You probably like my rustic kitchen with the big pots, iron pans, and 70's paneling, my big white van with the rubber mat floor, and my huge supply of craft stuff (but you might not actually want those things yourself). You'd like some honesty, ideas, and encouragement. I can do that. I may not change your life, but i would like to share it.

So, i've decided to take this "blog" thing seriously. I'm planning to post MUCH more often. I'm planning to share what our family is learning and making. Because life is just rushing by and I'd like to be able to remember the blessings that it's full of. (Teaching moment: it's not grammatically correct to end a sentence with a preposition, but I don't care)

More to come....soon!

A Direction

Well, I've just spent January and part of February going through my HOARD of craft supplies: donate, toss, keep (that is to say: OMW I've been looking for this/I forgot I had this!). I've searched out pretty much every nook and cranny in this house and attempted to tame the craft beast within. You see, 10 years ago I had the perfect craft room. Since then, that room turned into three rooms (a much needed second bath, laundry, and office), we put an addition on the house, and in the doing my crafts have been bumped around all over the house until finally...they were everywhere! But I think I finally have the mess tamed enough that I can at least use it.

So now it's time to learn a new skill. Those who know me know that I am always trying to learn something new. Quite often, a new craft skill. But now it's the skill of "Blogging". (It's such an ugly word, really. I mean...say it out loud: "blog". Ugh! YET it's so alluring. ) Here is my plan:

1. Post at least once a week...so that i can look back and say "hey! i did that!"

2. Learn to make my blog look really cool.

3. Make/design/work on a project every day, finishing at least one thing a week and posting about it.

4. Post about fun school stuff we do.

5. Best of all, post about God's grace and mercy to us along the way.

6. Whatever else I want to throw in.

So here I go!

Happy Anniversary

Twenty Years today!! Wow, time goes so fast. My Love and I have endured quite a bit, by God's grace and I am looking forward to growing old with him. (When does that start, btw??) I love him more than I ever have, can't imagine life without him, and thank my God every day for his mercies and kindness toward our family.

In celebration of our twentieth anniversary, I have accepted the 10 Tasks in 10 days challenge from The Shabby Chic Cottage, with a concentration on my bedroom. So, here's my list, in no particular order:

1.) Move Bed to our new room
2.) Find/make curtains
3.) Upcycle old dust ruffle into something
4.) Find a dust ruffle
5.) Clothing storage (this is a biggie as I have determined the only furniture in our new room will be made by James!)
6.) Move sewing stuff to new craft room (the old bedroom;)
7.) Completely clean bed
8.) Wipe down bedroom walls and ceilings
9.) Clean windows
10.) Install ceiling fan

It's doable, and to be honest, partly already done. The bed is moved and cleaned...so, BACK to work! Come join the fun!

Suffering

One month ago: "Darla, Jen wants to do a talk on "suffering" for the next Women's Breakfast. Can you decorate for that??" "Pshaw", I says! "No prob"...SO! How do you decorate for a women's breakfast where the theme is "suffering"?

The color gray immediately came to mind.
Gray everything.
Yeah...that pretty much looks like suffering feels.

So there was the beginning. My decorating plan so far went something like this: Gray table clothes, plates, cups, napkins, clear plastic ware wrapped in the gray napkins, clear vases with gray flowers...HUH?

Hold on. Where am I going to find gray flowers? Solution: dollar store white roses spray painted with gray primer. Perfect! This was a great illustration, because sometimes in our suffering, even the things of beauty, things that god has given us to bless us and bring us joy, seem gray and lose their shine. It was coming together, but it needed something...

So for a month I've been thinking about the grayness of suffering. Loss, hurt, emotional pain, stress, aloneness, - they can all be found during a time of suffering. But for what good? What benefit? If God is a God of grace and love, power and mercy, how can these gray times bring him glory? How do the valley times in our lives give him honor?? Why must we endure them???

Clay. CLAY! Oh, yeah, we're SO like clay! He is the potter, we are the clay.
So there was the "something". Clay became Playdough and the plan was complete. Each lady found a little pot of dough at their place (8 in a pack at the dollar store! What a deal!) A few play dough toys, little rolling pins, popsicle stick, cookie cutters, and the like were placed in the center of each table. Simple, but meaningful.

As the women found their spots, they were all wondering how gray flowers and play dough have anything to do with suffering. But as we listened to Jen and discussed afterward, we learned that God uses suffering to mold us, shape us, press us, form us into what he wants. And then, sometimes it feels like he squishes us up and starts all over again! I looked up from making my purple flower princess and watched the ladies playing with their dough, some making cookies, some building a gingerbread house, some just squishing it, some making stick puppets w. the popsicle sticks...no two creations were exactly the same. The teenagers had mixed theirs together and created tie-dyed looking dough. I couldn't help but see a family or even a church or community suffering together. It struck me that all the things being made were making their creators smile. We were enjoying forming and molding our clay into what we thought would be beautiful. The clay doesn't know what it will become, or why it has to go through the thing that pushes it out in the shape of a star, or why it has to have a toothpick stuck in it, or why it has to be mixed up with red (maybe it doesn't like red), or (OUCH) why it has to be rolled so thin. But the creator does. And in the end, the clay is his, and he knows what He's doing, and it makes him smile to see what we are becoming.

More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Rom 5:3-5

Thanks Jen, great topic!!

P.S. I'll post pics as soon as I figure out how!