I am riding another trendy wave. I am claiming a word/phrase for the new year. I've never really done that before--last year, I made concrete goals that I followed more or less. And this year I have concrete goals again, but this phrase won't leave me alone, so I'm adopting it. Having a phrase for the year is different than having goals. It seems like with goals, you actively strive for and cross off things on a list. With a phrase, it's more like osmosis.
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Well, I finally did it. I finally published my first book! It is a month-long devotional for kids that I wrote last year for EJ. I decided to publish Proverbs first, and see how it goes. You can buy it here. I decided that, being a devotional book, it would lend more credence if I just put my initials instead of my first name. Most people tend to think that religious books are better written by men, and I didn't want a girly name to prevent some kid from a good Bible study!
2014. However you say it, 2000-14 or 20-14, it is a new year, and new years are always so exciting. Like a movie I watched recently said, it's full of endless possibilities. I'm not sure how "endless" most people's possibilities are--I mean, there's no chance of me going to the moon this year, but saying "this year is full of endless logical possibilities" sounds rather, um, Star Trek-y? I can totally hear the Vulcan guy saying that sentence. (It's been a while; I can't remember his name.)
Anyway, down to business. My goals this year. Last year, I decided to have concrete goals. And for the most part, it worked a whole lot better than the other kind of goals, you know, vague ones. So I'm going to make concrete goals again. (These are not necessarily in order of importance!) Well, here it is the end of the year already. Where did all that time go?! I went back to my first post of the year, the one where I detailed what I wanted to accomplish this year. I didn't totally fail, but neither am I able to cross every item off the list. Next year, I need to review the list in July so I can get on the ball with the resolutions that slip. Anyway, here's how I measured up:
I went back and forth and back again in trying to decide what book to do next. Everyone I asked said to do the book of John. EJ read and answered questions from John in his second grade Bible class. But the more I thought about it, the less I could get away from the thought that maybe I should do John anyway. So, John it is.
At the beginning of the year, I had an awesome idea to make a devotional book for my son every month. Knowing he was only six, I knew I couldn't expect him to read 4 chapters and glean all this spiritual knowledge, so I decided to have him read 1 chapter a day and answer a couple questions about it.
January went well; the book of Proverbs fits nicely in one month. Then I decided to do Psalms. I knew it would take a couple of months to go through, but five! I feel like we've been stuck in Psalms for half a year! Which, technically, we have been almost. The month of June will finish this book, but it will take eleven days to get through the longest chapter. March, 2013 (3 days somewhere in the middle of the month) The Storekeeper's Daughter I read this book during the down time while I administered the SATs to third graders. They were amazed I finished this 300+ page book in three days. Actually, I was too. The story started off a bit slow. It wasn't until about halfway through that I felt like I didn't want to put the book down. I knew it would get interesting, and it did.
The storekeeper's daughter goes through quite the roller coaster of problems. She has a bunch of siblings, and for the majority of the book, this one family are the only characters. There are two story lines in the book. They join briefly at the beginning, and by the end, they hadn't rejoined. They need to rejoin for the story to have a happy ending. Maybe in book 2. I had this ball of brown, but I didn't know how big I should make the first row. So I wanted to crochet starting in the middle. But I was tired of the regular Granny square beginning. So I looked up patterns and found this one. This is how mine turned out:
Clack, clack, clack, go the knitting needles. I look down at my hands and I'm amazed. Last week, I didn't know how to knit. This week, I've made three scarves and half a baby blanket with the twin needles. I rub the uber soft yarn against my cheek and smile. Some mama, who maybe didn't expect a baby and maybe didn't want a baby, but who decided that life was worth giving to her child, she will bring that baby home from the hospital and wrap him up in this blanket I'm making. I don't guess she or any baby would care if the blanket was crocheted or knitted. She would just be glad someone cared enough to make a soft blanket for her child. But as I look at my stitches, I think. And I wonder.
These are my tenth and eleventh baby blankets this year! I am so excited! I took the first five I made to Her Choice several weeks ago. The lady I gave them to was super excited to see them. She said that they offer parenting classes, and anyone who attends gets points. Every Wednesday they let everyone go "shopping" in a store of baby items they've collected, and the parents can use their points toward stuff. She said she would definitely put my blankets in the store. At that point another worker came out from the back and exclaimed over the blankets. She rubbed the bright and colorful one and said the Latinas would love that one. A few days later I got a thank you letter in the mail. :-) So when I have five more ready, I'll take them again and ask how the blankets were received and if anyone "bought" any yet.
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Who am I, you ask?
In 2006 I had a stroke, and every day my husband encourages me to use my remaining brain cells to the best of my ability. I love to organize, make crafts, and go on adventures (safe ones). I hope that through my blog posts, you will be encouraged to accept and make the best of challenges God throws at your life. Categories
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