feeling faith

How do you feel that God is present in your life?
I know that He is always here.
I also feel distant at times.
I feel Him more in the garden with me
or when I am really involved in studying the Word.
Does a church affect how you feel?
A certain preacher or committee you belong to?
Should you church hop when you feel distant?
Or should you hang in, and hold on, and dive in where you are at?
If you have a really non eventful life, do you depend on God less than someone who has pain and difficulties?
Is that the only time you lean on Him?

What advice would you give someone?

I have a facebook friend who made a posting about love.
Not that I agree with airing all the private thoughts on facebook,
but her query was on love.
In love with one who is in love with another.
Someone else, loving you but you not loving them, even though you should.
I gave her "advise" about love being a deliberate choice.
Your heart only knows what it knows.
You must use your brain and choose to love.
Choose daily.
With your thoughts, words, and actions.
Every day!
I must say that again....choose every day to love.
One day it will be true and nothing will be able to break that love.

Is it the same with a relationship with God?
Daily get to know Him because it truly is up to us to make the move toward Him every day. He is already there.
Chose to talk with Him.
Choose to listen to Him.
Choose to spend time with Him.
Eventually you will feel close to Him again!
The world takes so much away from us!
There is never enough time.
But what better way to spend the day than learning to love again!

Now, telling this to a friend who is out of sorts with God.....
Pray for me and the timing and wisdom for words so that she will hear!

How do you become who you are supposed to be?

My daughter is struggling with who she is supposed to grow up to be.
Continue with school, get a second job, move, stay, find a fella...?
It is frustrating watching her.
I know that good things will come to her. She is amazing!
I also realize that I can't decide or even help too much which direction she should go.
I am here for her to bounce things off of.
I am trying to learn to keep my mouth shut unless it REALLY needs to be said.
She is an excellent, quippy writer.
She loves to travel and have adventures.
She loves to read, especially deep, hard to understand British literature.
She thinks she may want to be an English professor, but needs her doctorate for that...which she can get.
School is not challenging her now.
Her job is not challenging her now.
Her life is not challenging her.

I hope she can narrow down exactly what will make her happy and then dive all in to that.
Many things will change over the years.
You can never go wrong with and education.
I love that she is in the same town as me!
I will understand if she has to move, but hope that is not her first choice.

I feel blessed that at age 46, I am doing what I love.
I have narrowed down my arts to 3....or so.
I have been passionate about fiber all my life!
Now....to make any money at it!
Someday on a farm with fibery critters and some fiber machinery.
Travel to fiber shows selling my wares and services.
Maybe a B & B down the road with wonderful gardens and walks in the country.

TO dream big is the challenge.
To make it happen, just takes determination, time and money.

Good luck V! I love you so!

good life

I am blessed.
I have a good life.
I am very happy.
My life is definitely a choice.
We chose to raise our children by me...stay at home mom.
We chose to home school our daughters.
We chose that Terry's career be an over the road truck driver.

Every choice we made had it's ups and downs.
We have never had a lot of money.
God has provided for our every need and most of out wants.
I love our church and church family.
I feel blessed to lead a ministry with meals.
I have a great team.

My interests are very earthy...and inexpensive for the most part.
Knitting, spinning wool, rug hooking, cooking, gardening, flowers, antiques....more like trash hunting and fixing up, yard sales, reading.

I can sit at a bookstore for hours and never get bored.

I love to play with my dog and teach him new tricks. He is a cutie.

I have the best daughters in the world.
I wish for them a great lasting relationship with each other.
I wish for them great friends.
I wish for them a great relationship with the Lord.
I wish for them peace.

All this comes in time and through struggles.
The main thing that I have learned is that life is very long.
Nothing lasts forever....fear, illness, hard times.
And when it does seem to last a long time, God will provide a way through it.
Sometimes His provision is the ending of the pain.
Sometimes His provision is a lesson that needed to be learned.
Sometimes His provision will be a reward in Heaven when His kingdom is complete.
Any of these ways, if you have God, you have peace and joy.

I live for spring summer and fall days in the garden.
I always feel closer to Him when I can be outside.
In the winter I seem to rest in Him.

I am looking forward to working with him over the next three seasons.

I have a good life!

too little time

Spring has sprung!
There are way too many things
going on in my head
and all seem possible,
but I MUST start and then finish one thing at a time.

The arbor and picnic table need painting
the deck needs to be cleaned and stained
the glads need to be transplanted (80% done)
the vegetable garden needs to be planned
the birdhouse needs to be taken down and replaced
garden stones need to be made
front yard needs some serious landscaping
lawn to be fertilized and weeds killed off
bird feeder area must be cleaned up and re bricked
Maggie's area made pretty
and that's only on the outside!

I had a wonderful trip to Missouri for the Fiber Festival.
I really felt like it was a REAL vacation.
I haven't had one of those in a long time!
I stayed at a hotel, rather than the bunk houses and am glad I did.
The pillows were something to be forgotten, but the rest was wonderful.

I took four classes of things I needed to learn.
Spinning with Icelandic fleeces...these are dual coated sheep and need to be spun a bit differently that the Romney I am used to.

Spinning Cotton... yup..right off the bush....the teacher was awful. She knew what she was doing, but conveying that to we students was difficult. I took it upon myself to get this, and get it I did. OK Alabama folks...let's send some cotton up here!

I learned to spin Llama and blend with all kinds of fibers..even bunny! I really like Llama! The teacher was great! My time was wrong so I got to my class when it was nearly over. The wonderful teacher taught the whole class again, just for me!

The last class I took was how to use the right fiber for the right project!
The most amazing sheep lady! And she gave us tons of samples! Animal and plant fibers....bags full!
I was sitting on the end next to a British lady.
She would take half of the left over samples and give me the rest.
At times, I felt really badly that the first few girls didn't take more to start with!~

I have now spun 300 yards of icelandic in the grease....that means, not washed first.
It spins really nicely. I will wash it in the skeins next week when I can dry it outside. It smells and feels so wonderful!

I know this sounds silly to most if not all of my friends...but there is just something comforting to me about it! I would love to go into a sheep's pen in the heat of the spring...summer would be too hot, and plunk my nose down into the wool right on their lil backs! mmmmmmmmm

Anyway.....when days are chilly or in the tired evenings, I will spin and knit.
I discovered a loom at the festival, so I may have to invest in one next year.
The more for my homespun yarn, as knitting takes to long.

Have a blessed day!

South Bend Chocolate

I am waiting for a dear friend at South Bend Chocolate Cafe.
I worked at the factory a LONG time ago one Christmas season.
I made the chocolate covered truffle cherries.
Interesting.
I did other things as well: making holiday gift baskets,
decorating chocolates, covering raisins and nuts with chocolate.
The worst thing about this was that my feet hurt horribly!
The best thing was that when I came home from work,
my two young daughters would run to me for mint scented hugs and linger in my arms.

SBC has come a long way since then.
I used to go to church with the owner's sisters.
Interesting knowing the back story.
The father used to sell and make chocolates door to door.
His son tweaked the recipe ..and history!
Some not so nice things either.....but that is not for me to say.

I enjoy coming to the cafe.
I mostly come with my oldest daughter in the spring and summer, and winter and fall!
We used to enjoy a kaffe wien, muffin and/or bagel before our diets started.
We would sit outside and talk, or not talk,
listen to others around us and soak up the sun.
You see and hear some amazingly strange and wonderful things downtown!
We both enjoy people watching.
Veronica loves to study here.
Being surrounded by the noise and busy ness, but being separate and alone.
No one expects to see anyone they know here.

Today, my friend is having a hard time.
I believe that it is mostly self imposed, only because of the rules of her church.
I used to be Catholic.
I was raised Roman Catholic my whole life.
I was going to get married Catholic, but my husband had been married before.

We started the annulment process. I was a youth leader at out local church in Texas.
When Terry turned in the paperwork...lots of it.....the priest told him that things would go more quickly if we "donated" funds to the church.
The more we donated, the more quickly it would go.
It could take years depending how much or little we offered.
We were married that June in a Southern Baptist church.

Sometimes I miss the midnight mass on Christmas eve.
I miss the tradition and the beautiful services.
I have fond memories of church.
I came to Christ when I was on a high school retreat.

My friend has been divorced almost as long as I have known her.
He is not a nice fella.
She has been trying and struggling to get an annulment for years.
They have spent lots of money.
Her ex turned in paperwork that seems distressing.
That is why I am meeting her.
It seems as though the annulment is NOT going to happen.

I feel for her.
She is trying so hard to be faithful.
All her children go to church with her and her husband.

After talking with her, I am amazed at how strong and wonderful she is doing.
She is diving into the scriptures and she and God are good.
Through all the trials of the past, her future is bright and loved.
I don't understand or know her pain of loyalty to an earthly church
like this any more. It seems to me that Christ is freeing, not restricting.
I would be hurt and wounded.
She is amazing!
I am so glad she is in my life!

Dogs N Chickens

I know I have mentioned this before, but I belong to a yahoo group that brings me such joy laughter and support! They helped me through empty nesting and I have learned so much about hand prepared fiber from them.
I have, and am a secret sister. Terry is helping with my ss, by sending post cards from his travels across the country!
I am attending a fiber retreat next weekend and I will meet two of these fiber friends!
Most topics are not fiber but I just love lurking! Most girls raise their own sheep and live on farms. I live vicariously through them, as one day I pray I can join this lifestyle.

A comment was made about a girl's dog killing 5 of 8 lambs and she is wanting advise as to what to do....these two came across and I laughed until I had to change my panties!
I used to have a Dalmatian and a chicken coop. Sparkle did not last long nor did the chickens!
We also had a found golden retriever who was much loved. If one of the bunnies got loose, he would chase them down, and bring it back to me. Un harmed but very wet.
He also loved all of the 13 kittens we had at one time or another. Loved to carry them around and let them sit on top if his head!
Animals give us joy!
Enjoy these stories:


Oh I know I shouldn't laugh, but this one really cracked me up....
couldn't really call her a chicken killer I guess, eh? LOL!!!

I had a wirehaired pointer mix back when my husband and I were first
married. Once he discovered he could catch a chicken he'd go lay under the
pine trees with it, pin it down with his fat paws and slowly and gently
"clean it up" by plucking it delicately, one feather at a time. Of course
the chicken would be squawking pretty good at first so we could follow the
noise and catch him at it before he did too much damage, but he was so
focused on what he was doing that it would take a half dozen tries to yell
enough to get him to let the bird go. Naturally he'd be way in under the
pines where he knew we couldn't just take the chicken away from him. He
never bit one and never drew blood aside from the plucked spots. The
chickens themselves even calmed down and were quiet by the time I'd get to
him. He stopped doing it after a few, I guess he decided it wasn't worth
the effort of listening to all my scolding or that the chickens were too
ugly when they were bald!

AND ANOTHER:

It worked for a lab/dane cross my folks had many years ago. She liked to
grab a chicken, then run with it - keep it in her mouth, dig a huge hole and
bury it alive. We rescued a few chickens from her burial grounds - they
survived but their feathers sure were full of dust and dirt till they got
cleaned up.

Finding my own little patch of sunshine!

Today is the first day of March!
Today is the first day of really bright, warming sunshine!
I took notice of this after a few instances.
My oldest daughter texted me how beautiful it was outside.
She also mentioned how beautiful she felt!
Amazing what a bit of sunshine can do for your spirits!

I have noticed that most face book comments in the Indiana area are all about
the sunshine and that they are feeling warmed!

My dog, Charlie has also found the sunshine.
I have watched him move from the east front door,
to the south kitchen window,
to the more southern part of the house, in the family room where the
sun has made a patch on the carpet.
Charlie seems to be seeking out the warmth for only the warmth and light it brings.
Do dogs know and feel like we do about the first bright sun?
It feels like he does.
He goes from room to room after the sun patch moves.
He must get a chill.
When he finds it again, he scratches at the floor, chair, carpet, to make his new warm area fit for him.
The sun is no longer in my house,
but soon will be as it sets, into my family room windows.
It is still too chilly for Charlie to lay in the grass in a patch of sunshine.
HA...There is still snow everywhere!

I have been studying women's empowerment this morning
while my doggie was searching for his warmth.
One lecture was on the Samaritan woman at the well.
The disciples were out looking for lunch.
Jesus was also tired and hungry, but he forgot his needs in favor of the needs of a woman.
He looked down into the town and saw the fields of harvest.
His passion, his hunger, tightened his stomach for the people and not for his need for food.
I want to seek for the harvest...to forget my needs and look toward others' needs!
Thank you God for placing sunshine patches in my life.
To tighten my passion. To warm me from the inside out and the outside in.
Thank you Charlie for reminding me to seek these patches out.