Projects on the list.

Just a few days left in my eldest son's Winter Break from school. These last few weeks around here have been very lazy and laid back. Lots of playing, Lego building, electronics experiments and the like. I don't think I've cleaned up the house since Christmas day...better get on that I suppose.

For my part, I've been hibernating inside the house so much I'm starting to feel all lethargic from the lack of sunshine. A trip to the grocery store saw some Vitamin D now up in the cupboard.

Once the big boy returns back to school, I plan on getting the house back into order and getting some work done on a few projects:

1. That birthday apron that has sat unfinished for WAY too long. Sorry about that, Colleen.
2. A sturdy winter skirt done up in brown.
3. Fixing the badly done hem on that black and white skirt I bought LAST year.
4. A pair of jean quilts, one for each of the boys.
5. The return of the weekly bread baking.

There might be some other projects thrown in there, but that's sure enough to get me started. I'm determined to be more productive this year. So, if you ask me what's my current project and if I am working on it, don't let me give you any excuses about not working on them. Just tell me I'm being lazy and to get my rear in gear. I give you permission. I might grumble about the kick in the pants (er, skirt I mean) but I appreciate it nonetheless.

Humanity, the destruction of us

I despair of the world today. Supposedly, we live in an enlightened age, modern. However, I see so many parallels of this age to the one in which the ancient Noah lived. In his time, the men of the world were so very disposed towards evil, towards sin, that there was only one single man that still loved the Lord—Noah himself. Only one.

Currently we are all marveling over the world reaching a 7 Billion population mark, which evidently means that our advancements in the medical field have been keeping more and more people alive then ever before. I see that 7 billion mark rising, yet I see that the number of people in this human race truly loving the Lord dwindling.

So I despair. I despair over this belief I hold: humankind has become too smart for it’s own good and we hold too high a regard for the power of humanity. We are our own destruction.

Advancements in science, in technology and in ideas are commonly seen to be good for everyone, in no way harmful to us. The general idea being that all of these advancements only make our lives easier and better.

The Oxford Dictionary has this description that interests me:

modern:

·of or relating to the present or recent times as opposed to the remote past.

·characterized by or using the most up-to-date techniques, ideas, or equipment.

·[ attrib. ] denoting the form of a language that is currently used, as opposed to any earlier form.

·[ attrib. ] denoting a current or recent style or trend in art, architecture, or other cultural activity marked by a significant departure from traditional styles and values.

We have consequences to all of our modern advancements. We have scientists, authors, professors etc. with degrees—that ultimate showing of worth called “higher learning”—trying to convince all the rest of us that there really is no God, no divine Creator that made it all.

We have all the scientists that insist that faith and belief is a myth, that there is only room for so-called scientific facts, “facts” that are themselves only theories that have yet to be proven. We have scientists working to engineer food from chemicals to feed our masses, instead of real food.

We have technology that makes information instantly available to our fingertips and brings pornography into view with a single click. We give the newest technology to our teenagers enabling them to be “cyber” bullies destructing the lives of other kids. We enable our children to be unaccountable allowing them to spread gossip, slander and maliciousness among their peers with Tweets, texts and facebook updates.

We have intellectual ideas thrown around (“we are the 99%”) leading to protests and strife in a country that is renowned for it’s freedoms, it’s liberties and it’s entitlements. While arguments of ideas abound, around the globe we see millions of people being starved to death, abused or killed.

We live in a world where this “idea” is numerous and plentiful:

"In this modern day of science, there is no acceptable, appropriate, or moral substitute for professional medical care. "Faith" is nothing more than a mental construct; it does not accomplish anything tangible."

I just read this quote tonight. It was taken from a comment made to an article written about my neighbors, Shannon and Dale Hickman, and the sentence of 6 years in prison they were just given. They were tried for the death of their newborn infant son, who lived just a few hours after being born premature.

It does not matter whether or not I share my neighbors belief system. They have their beliefs and I have mine. What matters, and is so very concerning to me, is that we have so-called enlightened, modern people actively judging each other on our beliefs and values. We have laws that force so-called free people to get medical care whether it is wanted or not. We humans are all just so very smart, we seem to know just what is right and good for everyone else. We judge certain sets of parents, label them monsters and declare that they should rightly be hanged instead of imprisoned. All because we are outraged that a premature baby was supposedly just allowed to die while the parents did nothing but pray. But, let’s not talk about all the babies everyday that women ACTUALLY chose to murder by way of abortion. Let's not talk about that because the law allows it, it is legal, and if you follow the logic, is moral.

These quoted comments illustrate my point nicely:

“As long as you murder the child while it is still in the womb the "State" is OK with it and so are most of the people that are happy with the verdict. What if the State began to charge men and women who had abortions?”

“One word. Viability. The question you ask has been argued before. Really it has. The pro choice would say a child is not alive until it is born.”

“Frankly I could have cared less if they killed their own infant quickly, but they basically tortured it to death over 7 hours, that is messed up.”

The argument of ideas above is all too typical. Humankind can get all hyped up about a single case involving a belief system, faith, different than our own and we will judge and argue because the “LAW” of the land is on our side. Yet we can ignore millions because the law says that they are a non-issue.

Our modern, enlightened, intellectual culture has effectively erased the traditional beliefs, values and morals that have been held for generations. Human kind believes that truth, knowledge, power only comes from ourselves. Empowerment of the people. It discounts anything spiritual, anything with religious values or morals. It says that God does not matter, that He has nothing to do with the things on Earth. It holds that Faith is a lie, so lets slap criminal charges on any that try to say differently. Laws of the land should serve as our morals and guide our beliefs.

Therefore, I despair of all that.

This is truth, and it comes from THE ONE WHO IS TRUTH: There is a God and He created all things on Earth. Faith is not a lie and it CAN absolutely accomplish tangible things. Laws are not our guides to morals, only the Lord sets down the things that are right and wrong, sin or not. We should not judge our fellow man, it is not our right and we ourselves are not without sin. Jesus came to be our example to show love to everyone, even those that believe differently than ourselves. 


We have a guide by which we know these things, it's called the BIBLE. If we read it, study it, learn it's truth all the errors of this sad human thinking become evident. More important, by reading the word of the Lord, the Bible, we come to learn of God himself. We come to know him intimately, as a friend, as our Father, as our Creator, as our Lord and as our Savior from ourselves—from our sin. Our belief in him becomes real. Our faith is upheld in real tangible ways.


I know this truth because I live it. God, the Creator, is as real to me as the husband I lie next to at night, as real as the cat sitting on my lap, as real as the two sons I have born from my body. I know Him and He knows me. I speak to Him and He speaks to me. Just as the sun, trees and grass still exist even though the blind man cannot see them, I cannot see God with my physical eyes, but He is still there nonetheless. 

No matter how many of my fellow enlightened humankind try to say that God is defunct and no longer needed in this age of human empowerment and advancement, the God of all will always be needed. I just pray that more of these 7 billion could see that. And I will continue to pray for and uphold any of my neighbors that believe God, even if their beliefs are different than mine.

The Get Dressed Challenge

I found this challenge on a blog that I follow. I love what Sarah Mae is doing. To all those that I know who are "stay at home mom's" or "homemakers" like me, I encourage you to stop on by Sarah Mae's site, Like a Warm Cup of Coffee and read more about this challenge. Or you can click on the link button at left and it will take you to the first post about the challenge.

I didn't realize it, but I privately did this challenge roughly a year ago. I made it a goal to get up and dressed every day, even do my hair a bit and put on some make-up. It was then that I decided to start wearing dresses and/or skirts exclusively and to stop wearing jeans and "yoga" pants.

For me, my reason (or "why") was because I wanted to feel better about myself since feeling like a frumpy housewife wasn't doing any wonders for me. I've always liked wearing dresses and nice looking outfits, but for the most part I did so only on Sundays for church. I wondered what was stopping me from dressing that way all the time.  I suppose I thought that there was no real reason to "dress up". I was home all day, who'd notice or care? But I realized that I cared. I wanted a change, and I wanted it just for me, not to please anyone else-just myself.

At first, I did feel a little strange since I was unaccustomed to "dressing up" everyday. My friends and family probably thought I was crazy, I'm sure they wondered why I was dressy when everyone else was casual. And at first, I did notice that I was causing a bit of a stir wherever I went. I'd notice that people would look at me, watch me walk by, seemingly to be wondering to themselves about me. I found that women, total strangers, would stop me to ask if I was wearing something vintage or tell me just how cute I looked in that skirt! This was something of a surprise to me, somewhat unwelcome if I'm to be honest about it. I am more accustomed to go about my life unobtrusively.

I also found that my new commitment to dressing better took a bit of work. I did not own that many dresses or skirts, so it took lots of Goodwill hunting and on-sale shopping deals to supply me with enough suitable outfits.

I threw out nearly all my pairs of pants/jeans and let me tell you--I sure do not miss them. I do still have some, though, and I wear them when I need to get dirty in the garden or when I'm doing some other hard work but I reserve them for that purposed only.

There is just something about a dress (or a cute top/skirt combination) that makes a woman feel really good about herself. This is true for me. I feel beautiful. The way I've always felt about myself on the inside is now reflected on the outside.

Another upside to this is that I feel a little more appreciated by my husband. He has really appreciated and enjoyed the change in my dress code. My apologies if this shocks you--I even feel more sexy and feminine now, something that has made a positive impact of certain aspects of my marriage (I'll leave those aspects unnamed, I'm sure you can figure that one out.)

This personal dress code of mine has even brought the admiration of my sons. I find it delightful when I come home from a thrift store shopping trip, show off my purchases and my sons tell me how pretty the clothes are. There also is almost no describing how amazing it feels when, after getting dressed, putting my hair up and tossing on a bit of lipstick, one of my sons sees me and says, "You look really nice, Mom!"

Initially, I decided to dress more feminine simply because I wanted to. However, having seen the affect it has had on my entire family, there is no way I am going back to "casual Friday" all week long.