A funny!

Bedtime Prayers

I read a prompt tonight at midweek asking about who taught you to pray. I think most of us just pick it up as we go along, but I've made an effort to pray with Gracie at bedtimes. At first I taught her a simple prayer "Dear Jesus, be with  . . . .. . . and be with me. I love you, Jesus, Amen." She repeated it after me until she got it down, then she said it. Then she wanted me to repeat after her, which I didn't want to do, so I prayed silently while she prayed out loud. Then she wanted to know what I was praying about, which was her, so she made me pray out loud. So I laid hands on her and prayed out loud,"Dear Lord, Thank you so much for this wonderful blessing you've given to us. Please help Scott and I be the best parents we can for her. Be with her this week at school. Help her to be humble and strong. Lead her to be your servant. Be with her teacher and friends at school. Be with her future spouse and his parents. Help them to raise him to be a wonderful, Godly man for her. Be with her future teachers and help her to have a great week." Of course, she loves that. Now she prays for me in a similar fashion. She'll latch onto me and ask God to be with her "wonderful, wonderful, mommy." And she's really ad-libbing some good stuff in there. Such a sweet girl. Then we pray about her daddy and whoever else is on her list.

Solutions

I finally found a solution to my issue of not being able to do the corners of a wrapped binding. For my quilt, I really fudged it, but I knew for my placemats I couldn't do that, so I've been trying to find a solution. I asked a friend at school and she gave me a very complicated way to do it, but of all places, I found the solution in a quilting book I picked up at the library. I was reading it at the beach and flipped to the back and there it was.   After I already ruined the fourth of a set. Those will be a decoration for myself, but I have started on the gifts and of course, my sewing machine isn't working. I'm going to replace the needle and get new thread and see how it works. The thread is breaking at the top, then breaking at the bobbin. My mom came over and futzed with it, but it's still not working. It would be more efficient to hand-sew at this point, but I'm not patient enough for that. I am hand quilting around the leaves and hand sewing the corners (which look great - yah), but hand sewing the whole binding? I will if I have to, but machines are so nice and convenient for those long, tedious jobs. Again, it's not like it's a quilt; they're relatively small, but still. Machines.        

These are the ones I ruined. Pretty though!

This is not the good way. This is one way I tried that ruined the project. Do not try this at home. :( The good way is more of a foldover, then trim, then fold the sides in. Easy to wrap my 2-D brain around. 

Giveaway wins

I won this package from Sarah, all the way from England. She is a self-described flosstitute and fabric floozy. Her blog is http://craftymoo-sarah.blogspot.com/. 

Here is the whole kit and caboodle - minus the chocolate bar that is in the freezer. 

Close up of a buffalo? pencil and key chain, a handmade, handwoven tweed card from the Outer Hebrides?, some Harris tweed handmade in the Western Isles by Violet and some gingham ribbon.

Some hand dyed fabric - Silkweaver Rock Quarry 28 ct Lugana and 28 ct Jobelan, some Lavendar Castile Soap, a stitch-n-mark bookmark and some Western isles notecards. So generous!

I also won Meljean Brook's new book called Demon Marked. I read her Guardian series and this is the next one. It's not the absolute one everyone is waiting for, but I can't wait to read and see how the plot progresses.  

Overdue finishes and starts

This is totally cute and complicated and 3 pages long. Not going to be finished  this year,for sure. I told myself that I can start something new when I finish the first page. I'm further along than this right now. It will be really great, though.  

Completely pitiful. This is the only Christmas thing I've started and finished. 

More from church

In SS we talked more about the lessons. From Matthew 21:23-32 There was the parable where the father asked the first son to work and he said he wouldn't, but he ended up doing it; then the father asked the second son, who said he would, but ended up not doing it. I think I got something different from this. Jesus seemed to say later that the prostitutes and sinners were the like the second son and would get into heaven because they professed, even if they still sinned; and the religious leaders were like the first son, who did the good works without the faith. I didn't understand what Pastor was getting at during the discussion, but when we came back to it later on, he brought up James - good works without faith are dead. I kind of see this in my own life as well. I say no a lot as my first response when people ask me to do something, and sometimes I end up being able to do it because my schedule opens up or something else, where if I believed that God wanted me to accomplish this thing, I would accept on faith that God would make it easy for me to do.
In Matthew 3:1-2 and Luke 3:7-18, the people were asking John about the way to righteouness - if it wasn't enough that they were descendants of Abraham, that we go to the right church or that we have been Lutheran all of our lives - what was enough and it's repentance - like to the people in Ezekiel. Turn away from your stiff necked attitude, stop blaming others and take responsibility for your actions - turn away from your path of sin and toward God and His path. We need to humble ourselves before men like Christ humbled Himself on our behalf.
Another part later in Ezekiel 18:21 talks about the mercy of God - if a wicked man turns away, he will live. But also - if a righteous man turns wicked, he will die - his good deeds won't be remembered - like the first son -
Back to Matthew - is it easier to correct the "no" and still go do it or the "yes" and don't follow through? Pastor brought up sins of commission vs. sins of omission.
Then he brought in Philippians 2:1-18 - and those of us with a concordance Bible realized that it took almost as much space for the concordance to explain what Paul means as it took for the book itself. Oh Paul and those Lutheran theologians. But your relationships can't work if your relationship with Christ is messed up. Someone brought up that relationships were like shoe laces, for them to work, you have to keep tying them together.

And lastly we talked about the difference between contributions and giving sacrificially. Chickens contribute to breakfast; pigs sacrifice for breakfast. It's easy to give money once or twice for a cause; it's harder to cook a few meals or help someone around their house or drive them around. More food for thought.    

   

Productive Saturday

So are these kids going to be like, "hey pretzels, cool," or "bitch where's my cookie?" 

Yesterday was pretty productive for me. We had soccer, then we went to a family birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese, then I came home and cooked. I made stuff for Scott, stuff for me. I baked those soft pretzels for Gracie's snack day at school, made naan. Then I quit. I was childless but no one was available to play, so I watched all 3 volumes of Life of Mammals and graded papers. Beavers are amazing. It's good to be alone sometimes, right.    

Church

Again with the not updating! Lazy, tired and not much to add.
I went to church today alone after a 2 week hiatus. Scott is miserably sick and Gracie was with mom, so I was flying solo. Amazing how much I could pay attention and take notes!
The sermon today was over Ezekiel 18, where the Israelites were in Babylon and feeling self-pity and blaming their ancestors for their predicament. They quoted the proverb about how the fathers eat the sour grapes and the sons have their teeth set on edge. Their ancestors sinned against God and they are punished for it. God told them not to use that proverb. That He had a solution for them - to repent and turn away from their ways and He would create a new heart and a new spirit in them. He will give us a new heart and a new spirit. We have new opportunities to change. It went along with the children's message as well. If you keep running into the same obstacle, change your way of moving, turn away from that path. The Israelites were wanting to blame their ancestors, blame God - anyone but themselves - Jesus took the blame on the cross, so that renewed, strengthened by God's power, we are able to turn from our path.
There's more - I'll write it later. Naptime!    

Gracie's nightmares

1st nightmare - Mawmaw took away her to-go cup and she woke up crying.

2nd nightmare - Something about cake at my birthday party.

Such a hoot! There are certainly worse things she could be dreaming and nightmaring about. Lucky us and lucky gal!

A few days at the beach

When we were little, my family and my cousins, aunts and uncles all rented a beach cabin each summer and spent the weekend. It was a very fun, special time. Last year, we went to spread my uncle's ashes and agreed to do it again this year. It was a really nice time. Some people could only come Friday night and some only Saturday, so we all had some time together and came in shifts. It was fun. It's nice to see our babies play together.
  

Me and tired Gracie. I'm so cold natured that I have to wear a jacket at the beach!

My cousin's baby. She's a mess! She was so tired when we were playing at the beach. She was sandy and unhappy so I was feeding her grapes and popcorn. The next day I was feeding her grapes and cheeze-its, and she went to get the popcorn from someone's bag for me to feed to her. Such personality!  

Cranky Brado! 

Me and cranky Bailey

Mimi and Brady

Update

I haven't had much to update. We're getting into our school schedule. Gracie seems to love kindergarten. She talks about all of her friends. She likes soccer. We're doing that 2x a week. We're doing Mid-week church one night and dance another night. We're trying to go to the Friday night football games, which are fun. Last weekend, she wouldn't let me leave in the 3rd quarter because she had found a friend to play with. She was a cutie!
School for me is going really well, knock on wood. These are the kids and these are the parents that spoil us for every other year. I tell them to do something and they do it. Today was a dream and it was a lab day. Hopefully tomorrow will be just as good.  

Soccer day

Gracie's first soccer game was Saturday. It was a busy day for us. Soccer, then we joined the rest of our extended family at Crystal Beach. But soccer first. I think Gracie had fun. She ran with the girls after the ball. But again, not so great at it. There is at least one girl on their team who knows how to go after the ball, and she scored the goals. But boy was Gracie cute! They took pictures and she hammed it up for the camera.  Such a doll! Mawmaw and Pawpaw made a special trip back from the beach to watch her in her first game. That meant a lot to her. 

My birthday

Well I'm 32. Do numbers really matter? Ha! I had a very alcoholic nice pre-birthday weekend :)

My friend Joyce and my sister Amanda.

Me opening presents

That's wine and ice and sprite. Blasphemer, that's me.  

Allison, Sam, Hillary

Friday I went to dinner with my friend MJ. Gracie had soccer practice, then we went home to change, then I dropped her off and we went to a sushi place for dinner. So good! I had a diablo something that came with a hot green salsa - not wasabi, which I love, but it was good - I had to have 2 bowls. They didn't have Shiner, which is the mark of a bad place, so I tried a Japanese beer that was fine. He said it was dark and had a bite, but really, there's nothing that's as good as a Shiner Bock. I'm not really a snob about it, but that's what I like and if I'm paying for it, that's what I want. Or, I guess that's what I want even when I'm not paying for it. We ended up going to a club, which was a lot of fun and just what I needed at the end of the week -  and it was pretty much a 24-hour day for me. I hit Wal-mart on my way back in for party supplies. I had a dinner party Saturday. It rained, courtesy of Tropical storm (?) Lee, which was such a blessing for us. So nice, breezy, but it rained all day and night and some Sunday. People who said they were coming didn't, though, with the weather, I don't really blame them. It was rough driving to my parents and back to get Gracie. I cooked spaghetti and it was a nice, intimate night. My parents kept Gracie and my nephew. They looked like war survivors when I showed up to get Gracie. They looked older and soooo ready to get rid of 2 kids.

Sunday we went to church, then Gracie and I made pretzel bites (not so great) and worked on her "me book." I'll probably do a separate post on that.    

Crazy Gracie

So she's been acting a little crazy lately. Scott goes to his friend's house to play a game with a group every Sunday. It's something he likes to do and we are glad he is able to do that. Lately, Gracie has been losing her shit every time he leaves, though. Since I had friends over this weekend, Scott wanted to invite his friends over for Labor Day. Gracie is excited about it; Scott is excited about it. I heated up the spaghetti from the other night to eat and we had plenty of bread left over. Gracie helped me set up the table with a table cloth and place mats - totally unnecessary - these are bachelor dorks, but I would like for them to feel welcome here. I suggested that Gracie put on a stained shirt to eat the spaghetti in and she completely lost her shit again. She wants to look nice for Daddy's friends. This could go well or badly. We'll see.

Things I love about Grace

Something I love about my baby girl is her love and care for others. Scott says I have a problem with empathy sometimes. He's probably right, so this wonderful characteristic of hers is probably all him. He is especially solicitous and caring for her and for me. But Gracie extends that to everyone. When a kid is crying, she tries to comfort, sitting beside them, trying to buck them up, telling them everything will be ok. If someone drops something, she helps pick it up. The other night in the car I was digging in my purse trying to find my watermelon chap stick. I was fake-whining about it and she was all about trying to make it better. "It's ok mommy, keep looking, you'll find it. It's ok if you don't find it, you can use the bee one. It's ok."

It's so sweet. She talks about her friends in ways that I know she is (probably too much during school) helpful and comforting to them. We went out to eat the other night and she took the last cheese stick, but broke it in half to share with me - no prompting, I didn't give her a dirty look for taking the last one, etc. She just wanted to share it with me. So sweet. I'm so proud - and I know it has nothing to do with me. It's just just how God and her daddy made her. I pray it never goes away.    

Church

Church today was good. We looked at Matthew 18 1:20, where the disciples wanted to know who would be the greatest in Heaven and Jesus brought a child into their midst. Today, we celebrate children, elevate children. In that culture, in that time, men were the only people of value. Children were supposed to be obedient and humble and dependent and trusting. Things the disciples weren't. So by Jesus telling them they should be like the child, that was an insult to them. We should be like that;  we should have that kind of faith - the faith of a child - dependent, humble, obedient and trusting.
Verse 7 was about the shepherd with a lost sheep going to find that one and the responsibilities God puts on us toward our fellow believers. Those who are lost tend to have weak faith or are facing other difficulties. I tend to let people do their own thing, but I know there are people, and thank God for these people, who call and keep in contact with those who have gone their own way. There are some I pray for. A mentor within my ladies organization who got fed up with actual church politics. She was in a few key leadership positions, but isn't coming at all now. Her politics irritate me and I disagree with her about a lot of other things, but I do pray for her walk and for her to find her way back. And a former student who comes every few months or so. I send him birthday cards and am sure to say Hi when he's there, but I'm not good at small talk and and and. Excuses. He has family within the church, so I know I'm not alone worrying about him.
Another section of that focuses on how to confront your brother (in the body) about sins s/he have committed. And doing it in a loving, Christian way that builds relationships up instead of bringing them down. But it is a responsibility God puts on us. Keeping it between the two of you is a change from how it was done back then. Any suspected sin was brought before the whole town - it's a new and different relationship through Jesus. God calls us to be faithful to his Word, to do these things, regardless of our own sins and failing. Take care of it humbly, carefully, lovingly. You may not be successful at first. That other person has to be in the right place. They are probably feeling shame and guilt and might respond badly.    
I tend to see those kinds of actions as planting mustard seeds. You be faithful; you be loving; you plant the seed. God will control the rest.
And that tied in really well with the lesson from Ezekiel 33:7-9. God calls Ezekiel (and us) to be the watchman and warn Israel of their sins. If you don't you are partly responsible for it. How do we do that? If someone were about to fall into a hole, you would try to stop them. Why not the same as if the hole were spiritual? That's hard though. And there are so many excuses.  
Wisdom, Humility, Faithfulness