Whom Shall I Fear - Chris Tomlin - Burning Lights (God of Angel Armies) ...

Hi Everyone!



Just heard this song for the first time, and thought the words were SO beautiful that I wanted to share with all of you.  Such good things to remember--our God is always with us, and nothing is too hard for Him.  Hope you enjoy this as much as I did!



Happy Sabbath!

~Susan

Adventist Heritage Tour: The Sabbath Trail

Come along with my son Austin as he hikes the Sabbath Trail in Washington, New Hampshire, and learn of the special day's history from Creation to the New Earth. It's a beautiful walk!



~Susan

Special Two Day Only Sale!

Hi Everyone!

You all already know how much I love Lilla Rose flexi clips, so I won't spend time here telling you all over again!  But I did want to let all of you know that the company is having a special two day only sale.  This sale is on four specific flexis, that were the flexi-of-the-month styles for some of last year.  Normally, there is a very special design that is ONLY available for that month, and when the month is over that design is not available again.  In this special sale, however, four of the very popular flexis from this flexi-of-the-month program have been brought back--AND they are 15% off!  But this sale is going to go quick!  First of all, it is only for two days long--second of all, they are not taking any back orders for any of these flexis, so when their stock is out it is OUT.  So if you see any that you like, order immediately so you won't be disappointed.  I am personally in love with the top two flexis in the picture!

Hope you are having a great week!  We have had some unwelcome excitement in our family--but God is faithful and He carried us through!

~Susan

Are you Counting your Blessings?

Hi Everyone!

I wanted to share a few thoughts I have been having lately, and some nice resources that I ran across to help our little home school in a good direction.

First of all, we have a student in our home school (I won't name any names here, but let's just point out that we currently only HAVE one student in home school--ahem!) who does tend towards being a perfectionist.  This--in and of itself--is NOT a bad thing.  I am firmly convinced tht God made all of us with our unique blend of personality traits.  However--

in this world filled with sin, each personality type does have it's positive as well as negative traits that we need to learn to overcome.  With God's strength, that is.

Being a perfectionist has MANY positives in being able to know how things "should" be, and being able to quickly analyze things.  BUT--one of the negatives tends to come out as complaining and criticism, even if the person does not feel themselves to be criticizing.  THEY view themselves more as merely stating what they see as the facts.  But it so easily slips into that slippery slope of complaining. . .

Anyway, I began to feel strongly in my heart that a certain little member of our school might need a bit of help in focusing on positive things, rather than seeing the negative.  I have prayed about this, and God helped me remember a song from my childhood that is perfect for this situation.  It is a simple message, but oh so powerful if we actually do it.  So with that in mind, a quick YouTube search brought me to this version, and I have been dutifully starting our home school out each morning with this song ever since.  While at first it was VERY difficult to get the ENTIRE student body to sing this song along with me, as I have continued playing this song each morning and singing  along with it myself, a certain unnamed little girl does seem to be coming around and singing better and better with the song each morning.  And with putting these messages into our minds each day, I am convinced that it will help good things grow.  Anyway, if you would like to check out the same song, here is the link we are using:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ox75f3HWBA&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D1Ox75f3HWBA


The second thing I wanted to share with you is along the same lines--but something I am using for myself during my own quiet time each morning, not something I am using in home school, though I  certainly   think it would also fit well in a home school setting.  Anyway, this second thing is --quite literally--a list where I am counting my blessings.  Nothing complicated.  No precise rules.  Just counting blessings--three blessings every day.  My goal for the year is to count one thousand blessings.  One thousand gifts from God.  One thousand things that I might have otherwise breezed past in my busy day, but instead I am giving myself permission to slow down long enough to notice them.  Long enough to list them.  Yes, I am sure there will be some "repeats."  That's o.k.  If God gives me the gift of a sunrise today, is it any less of a gift if He gives me a sunrise tomorrow?  I think not.

Anyway, while I realize we are already a couple of weeks into our new year, I would encourage you to also start right now and make a list of three things you are thankful for today.  Tomorrow, just add three more things.  Do you know that if you did this every day this year by the end of 2014 you would have listed one thousand ninety five blessings from God?  What a beautiful thing to be focusing on, instead of all that may be "wrong" in your life.  I read that people who keep a gratitude list increase their happiness by 25%!  Wouldn't you like to be 25% happier than you are right now?  I know I would take that any day!  I already consider myself to be a happy person, but hey--one can always enjoy being even happier, right?

One of the resources I found to help me in this gratitude list is a free little set of cards, one card for each month.  On these cards are listed some ideas of things to look for and record on your list.  Again, these are not hard and fast rules, but just ideas so you don't keep listing the same one thing!  Sometimes the ideas will be something like "3 things that are blue," or "a gift outside, inside, on a plate."  Just a variety of different ideas, and I have enjoyed using the card for this month very much--I just look to find the date for that day, and then read what area is suggested for finding three gifts.  Sometimes it is "3 gifts that you hear," and I focus on the soft purr of my cat, the lazy snore of our dog, the beautiful songs of the birds.  Things that I might otherwise miss in my busy day, these ideas help me to slow down and notice.

If you are interested in printing off a set of these cards for yourself, you can find them free over at this site:
http://www.aholyexperience.com/joy-dares/

I hope you are each having a beautiful day today--and don't forget, count your blessings! :)

~Susan

Adventist Heritage Tour: Singing Like Our Pioneers

One of Austin's favorite parts of the Adventist Heritage Tour was all of the singing they did, particularly the songs that the Adventist pioneers used to sing. In this installment, come along with him to the Washington, NH church for a goold ole' fashioned "sing-along" with Elder Jim Nix, director of the White Estate. This is an at-times absolutely hilarious installment that you don't want to miss!

So enjoy this next part of your video tour!

~Susan

Monday (Thursday?) Morning (Evening?) Star Count

 Hi Everyone!

Before you start really wondering about me--yes, I realize this is not Monday.  And at almost 9:00 p.m. as I write this I don't think anyone would refer to it as morning either.  But you see, this all started because Jessica over at Life Under Quilts decided to start up a Monday Morning Star Count--where quilters who are doing English Paper Piecing quilting could share their projects and report back each week how many stars (or hexagons) they had stitched together that week.  Sort of like a show and tell, and everyone could encourage you in your quilting endeavors because quilters as a whole are really nice people and that is just how we are.  So it sounded innocent enough.  And then she made it even easier, by just suggesting that we show our sewing kits the first week.  Even "I" felt like I could do THAT--so I did.  And I was shocked by how many people actually seemed interested in peaking into my sewing kit!  I even had a suggestion of something really great that I should add to my sewing kit (chocolate!).  And some people saw glimpses of the fabrics I am using as they were stacked up in my little kit, so they asked about them and said how much they would really like to see more of my little project.  And they all sounded SO sincere. . . so I hate to disappoint people.
   
There's only one little problem.  I didn't sew any this past week.  There.  I've confessed, and I feel SO much better for it!  I actually have been working just a little bit on a different project--not as much as I would have liked, but some, anyway.  But I can't show you that one because it's a secret.

SO.  Feeling like I should share SOMETHING from my English Paper Piecing project, I decided to at least show a little bit more about what I am doing.  Only I didn't have time to sit down and write anything up in time for Monday Morning.  So can we just pretend that it's Monday Morning SOMEWHERE in the world about now, o.k.?

So now I have another little confession to make (good thing confession is supposed to be good for us!).  I am not using paper for my paper piecing.  Shocking, I realize.  And I really think that before this project is done (make that an IF it ever gets done) I will probably be using a combination of my current method as well as paper, but I divert.  When I first learned about English Paper Piecing, the thought of tracing around a shape and then cutting it out and repeating that a million times BEFORE I actually started being able to play with pretty fabric just didn't sound fun to me.  Then I read about using plastic templates instead of paper templates, and that just sounded like it had several advantages to me.  So I went to my JoAnn's store and found one plastic template shape that I could use for English Paper Piecing, so that narrowed down my choices a bit and I finally made a decision and picked the little hexagon shape.  They came in packages of I think 25, and I used a coupon to buy them so they weren't TOO expensive.  The picture above shows a couple of these little plastic shapes sitting out in front of my sewing kit, as well as the little plastic pokey thing that came with them.  

This project absolutely has to be easy for me to do.  I just do NOT have hardly any time at all for playing in the first place, so when I do I want to be able to spend those minutes actually PLAYING, not preparing to play.  So I decided that in addition to buying the little plastic templates (to avoid cutting out the shapes myself), I would also buy fabric cut as close to the size that I needed it as I could.  I had been looking for an excuse to buy a "jelly roll" of fabric, and this project was it!  Again, back to JoAnns.  My JoAnn's store had jelly rolls of batik fabrics.  That was it.  Guess what fabric I chose?  After some deliberation about my numerous options, I decided to settle on choosing some batiks. ;)  I was able to get several different colors, which was fun.  This picture show a roll of blues, but I also was able to get a roll of pinks, oranges, greens, and purples.  The colors all made me happy!  

Using the jelly roll fabrics, all I have to do is snip off a square.  O.K., so I do use my ruler and rotary cutter to make sure my cutting is straight.  But it is pretty simple and fast--perfect for me!

 After cutting my fabric into a little square, I lay my plastic template on top of the fabric and fasten two sides of it with small binder clips.  The handles on these do sort of stick up and catch on my thread, so I keep telling myself I am going to change to paper clips.  But the paper clips are upstairs, and my sewing kit is downstairs.  And it just hasn't happened yet!

Next, I start folding down one corner at a time, just using my thumb to hold down the corner until I can get it sewn.  At this point, I am just basting.  As I move to the next corner and hold it down, I just keep basting my way around the little hexagon, not bothering to cut my thread off until I am at the end.  I do not even tie knots, just take two or three stitches at the beginning and the end.  If I was using paper templates, my understanding is that I would be sewing directly through the card-stock paper template. But using the plastic ones, you just push your needle in until it hits the hard plastic, and then bend your needle to make a little stitch.

Once I am all around and finished basting, I trim off the extra fabric points.  And this one tiny hexagon is ALL I accomplished on this project this week!  Not much to show for myself, I realize.  But remember how I said last week that this project was my "take to daughter's swim club" project?  Well, Swim Club stopped for the holidays, and the next semester of it does not start up until next week.  So I haven't had my three hours of doing nothing but sitting by the pool time since last November!  So there is still hope!  Next week, I will try and show the next steps, about what I am sewing these little hexagons into.  :)

Hope your week has gone well!  And thanks for stopping by my little blog!

~Susan

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you want to check out Jessica's blog Life Under Quilts, to read about people who actually make time in their weeks to quilt--AND not only that, but they get their Monday Morning Star Counts actually posted on (gasp!) Monday Morning, you can find her here:  http://lifeunderquilts.blogspot.com/2014/01/monday-morning-star-count-20142.html

Adventist Heritage Tour: BORING pioneers?!? (A Christmas Story)

Come along with my son Austin to the historic Washington, New Hampshire church where director of the White Estate Jim Nix shares a touching Adventist pioneer Christmas story, and how the Adventist pioneers weren't quite as boring as you might first think from their pictures...


This is an Adventist Heritage Tour series installment that you don't want to miss!!! Your funnybone will be thanking you for a long time to come!

Hope you enjoy! :)

~Susan

A Peak into my Sewing Kit!

 Hi Everyone!

When I first started my little blog here, I "thought" I would be posting much more about my little sewing and quilting projects.  Ummm, I was wrong.  While I LOVE quilting and other crafts, reality is that I can hardly find time to actually DO my hobbies, let alone take pictures and blog about them!

Well, even though I do not have a LOT of time to share quilting stuff, I do want to share when I can.  So with that in mind, I thought today I would share with you a peak into my sewing kit.

Specifically, this sewing kit is for one project only--not a general sewing kit.  It is made up for my English Paper Piecing project, which I will try and give you a glimpse of.  Someday.

Anyway, the whole reason I even STARTED an EPP project is that I learned how absolutely portable those projects can be.  And I realized that I had more "leisure time" while I sat at the swimming pool waiting for my daughter's Swim Club every week than I have when I am at home.  Swim Club is 1 1/2 hours, two times a week.  Think about it--that is THREE HOURS of potential play time!!!  When do I have THREE HOURS to play at home?  That's right--never!

So with that in mind, my sewing kit for the EPP project had to be portable as well.  So I looked around the house and found an almost empty pencil box which I nabbed.  Not quite trusting it to not open on me as it travels, and not wanting my things to spill all over the sidewalk, I also found a large rubber band to help keep it closed in the junk--ahem--I mean, the miscellaneous drawer in the kitchen.
                                                                                                                                                               

Into my sewing kit went tiny squares of fabric, scissors, plastic templates, a needle book, and thread in all sorts of colors to match the fabric squares.  Really, I was amazed at how much I really could stuff--I mean--fit in the box.

This photo shows my little thread box pulled out and opened. I found my thread box, at Hobby Lobby--of course THEY did not call it a thread box, but I recognized it for what it really was! ;)  I think it was around $2.00, and of COURSE you do not buy anything at Hobby Lobby without having a coupon.  I learned about winding bobbins with your different colors of thread, and then using those bobbins as your "spools" of thread.  They work great, and enable me to carry lots of thread colors with me!

Well, that's it for my little show-and-tell!  I hope you have enjoyed this look at my kit, and that it can help inspire you in your own sewing projects!  Sometime when I get a chance, I will show you more of my sewing project that goes along with this sewing kit!

~Susan

January Flexi of the Month

Hi Everyone!

If you have been reading my blog for even just a month, then you already know how much I love Lilla Rose hair clips.  So I do not want to repeat myself--but did want to show a picture of this month's special Flexi design in case any of you love it and want to get it.  Basically, every month Lilla Rose makes a new design that is available for that month only.  And no promises it will be available the entire month either--when they sell out, they are out!  In the Fall they had a special clip with a green dragonfly on it that I absolutely loved--and didn't order fast enough to get one!  Boo hoo!  Anyway, so the picture above is of the special January only clip.

 If you are interested in it, I so much appreciate your using my link to order it.  And feel free to share this post and my web site with any of your friends that you think may love it too!

http://www.lillarose.biz/SusansSpot/?id=yaE6v8dj

~Susan

Homeschool Interview!

Hi Everyone!

Ever want to learn more about our family?  Why we homeschool, what materials we use, and what our school schedule looks like?  Well today is the day that all those questions are being answered in an interview which is posted over on the SDA Homeschool blog!  So if you are interested, follow the link over and read all about it! :)

~Susan

http://sdahomeschools.com/homeschoolfamilyinterviewthemenzmers/

Adventist Heritage Tour: Potatoes, Preachers, & One Outspoken Lady

In this video, come along with my son Austin as he continues visiting Adventist historical sites in New Hampshire. This video covers Hasting's Potato Patch, and the history of the Washington, New Hampshire church!

Hope you are enjoying this series of videos!  Have had a computer that decided to quit working for me, so haven't been able to get them posted quite as regularly as I had planned--but hopefully that problem is solved now! :)

Enjoy!
~Susan

A wisdom story--the three hairs

Hi Everyone!

Have you ever heard a story and it was SO powerful that it just stuck with you for years afterwards?  These kinds of stories are rare, I admit, but every now and then one comes along.  Maybe it is just the mood I was in that particular day, or maybe it had something to do with what was happening in my life at that time--I have no idea.  I only know that years ago--I have no idea how long ago, really, I heard a story that has stuck with me ever since.  I do not even know WHERE I heard the story from--I only remember the story.  

Anyway, I have a dear friend who is currently going through a very difficult time in her life.  And a little while ago, as I was thinking about her/praying for her, I remembered THE STORY.  And I knew I wanted to share it with her.  The only problem is I didn't have it in print anywhere, and had no idea how to find it.  But thanks to the wonders of Google, after typing in several phrases describing THE STORY I actually found it!  On the story web site where I found it, there was no original author listed, so I am afraid I cannot give proper credit.  But if anyone out there knows who the author is, please share the name with me and I will note it.  

This story is so very simple.  And so very profound at the same time.  And it has absolutely nothing to do with hair--even though the entire story is all about hair.  Instead, it has everything to do about attitude.  But that doesn't mean that we can just cheerly choose to have a positive attitude and all will be well in our lives--no, I do not mean that at all and I do not believe THE STORY means that either. Life is much too complex to have problems solved so simply.

To me, THE STORY tells me that my circumstances do not matter.  Because of Who my God is, my life can be beautiful regardless of how difficult or ugly my circumstances are.  

And so--for my dear friend (you know who you are)--I pray that you understand what this story means to me.  Please do not think I am belittling what you are going/will be going through, because I am not.  I am only trying to share something I have found helpful in my life.  You are one of the most beautiful people (inside AND out) that I know, and God blessed me abundantly the day He brought you into my life as my friend! :) 

So here it is--THE STORY that I have never been able to forget!

~Susan

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Wisdom Story--The Three Hairs

There once was a woman who woke up one morning, looked in the mirror, and noticed she had only three hairs on her head. "Well," she said, "I think I'll braid my hair today." So she did and she had a wonderful day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and saw that she had only two hairs on her head. "Hmmm..," she said, "I think I'll part my hair down the middle today." So she did and she had a grand day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that she had only one hair on her head. "Well," she said, "Today I'm going to wear my hair in a pony tail." So she did, and she had a fun, fun day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that there wasn't a single hair on her head. "YAY!" she exclaimed. "I don't have to fix my hair today!"

Attitude is everything. Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle. Live simply, Love generously, Care deeply, Speak kindly.

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass... It's about learning to dance in the rain.

May we all learn to "Dance in the rain!"

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Everyone!

Here we are--first day of a brand new year, just waiting to unfold.  A time when many people plan and dream about how things will be better in the new year than it was in the past year.  A time for hope.  A time for promise.

But what happens when the new year starts looking suspiciously like the old year?  Things happen to us that we have no control over--no way to stop.  We lost my father-in-law in the year 2013.  I didn't want that to happen, but it did.  We lost my beautiful mother-in-law in the year 2012.  I didn't want that to happen either, but it did.  Sometimes the year is hard. . .

But in spite of what "may" happen, we do not have to face the future alone.  You have probably heard the expression that goes like this:  "We do not know what the future holds, but we do know Who holds the future."  We never have to go through any trials alone.

A new year at our house brings several new calendars which are posted in different rooms.  As my daughter unwrapped her new calendar to place it on the nail in her room last night, there was a sheet of cardboard that was wrapped up with the calendar--the purpose of which was to keep it from bending as it was being displayed in the store.  Nothing unusual about that.  But what caught my husband's eye as he helped her unwrap the calendar was that there was something printed on this piece of cardboard.  Her calendar was from the DaySpring company, and printed on this piece of cardboard was a message from the DaySpring co-founder, Roy Lessin.  My husband and I both loved this message, so I thought I would share it with you here:

"Just think,
you're here not by chance,
but by God's choosing.
His hand formed you
and made you
the person you are.
He compares you to no one else--
you are one of a kind.
You lack nothing
that His grace can't give you.
He has allowed you to be here
at this time in history
to fulfill His special purpose
for this generation."

And then they had printed this Bible verse:
"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven."  Ecclesiastes 3:1

Isn't that a thoughtful message to find in your calendar?

Then I wanted to share my favorite quote from a book.  This is a short little quote, but it has brought such power and comfort into my life--especially during hard times:

"We have nothing to fear for the future except as we forget how God has led us in our past."  E.G.White, Life Sketches, p. 196

Just one little sentence, and even it could be boiled down even further--we have nothing to fear.  Nothing.  Why?  Because God is with us.  No fear--because God.

And then just this morning in my reading I ran across this Bible verse:

“Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;” Psalm 46:2

I think I am seeing a theme here--a theme of no fear.  Of facing the new year unafraid, because God is with us.  Of knowing I am right where my Creator wants me.  Will there be hard times in the year to come?  Probably--because I live in a world of sin.  But more important than that, my God will be right beside me.  Which makes all the difference.

And my year will be like this:

Happy New Year to you!  And may you walk ever closer with your beautiful Savior! 

~Susan