Some Homespun Wisdom

My father was raised on a farm in Missouri and in turn reared his children on a small farm in Arkansas. He can tell some really neat stories about his adventures and experience. Many life lessons are learned living the way he did- life and death, hard work, profit and loss, the 'chance' of weather etc. In his Bible class Sunday as he taught on parenting and family, he used an illustration that really caught my attention:

"What would have happened if Adam had grabbed a hoe and chopped that snake that was bothering his wife?"

I smiled a little smile, because it sounds a little funny, but it's true. It's the question of our God-given freedom of choice. Every day we're faced with the choice of whether or not to follow God, whether or not to sin, whether or not to be the parent, sibling, or child we should be. That sounds so simple, and the principle is simple, but carrying it out is the hard work. But it's doable work, never forget that.

We have so many beautiful passages of promise about resisting Satan and choosing God. Hold on to these, hide them in your heart and never give up.

"Be subject therefore unto God; but resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you..." -James 4:7-8

"And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me: and he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out." -Genesis 39:12

"For we have not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but one that hath been in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with boldness unto the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and may find grace to help us in time of need." -Hebrews 4:15-16

I'm thankful for the wisdom of my heavenly Father and for the blessing of the wisdom of my physical father.

Another snapshot....

"And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good." Genesis 1:9-10

Living on this island with so many new to my eyes examples of God power in creation, has truly influenced my perspective. I grew up in the middle of the US, far far away from any ocean. And now I live within a kilometer of ocean and it effects our everyday life. I'm still learning about appreciating all this.

Sewing project

I sewed some little skirts for a lady we know in the church here....She needed some help and you know how I love to sew! And if you didn't, I do! :) I had about as much fun planning and shopping for the fabric as I did creating them! They are super simple: just plain gathered skirts. But with just a little extra effort you can make them really cute! I did a drawstring waist so they will fit any little girl...plus I added the pockets. :) A patch pocket is cute yes, but these little pockets just grabbed me and made me sew them!! I actually altered a pattern I found here. For all you "better at colour than me" people (you know who you are!!) I realize the purple pattern and the yellow are the weakest link, but I needed to only buy one contrasting colour and that's the best I had to work with! I really like all the colours...it makes me want to branch out myself!!

The sizes are about 8-10, 4 T and 18 month...

I was able to get one skirt of each size out of every colour of fabric. And I bought two yards of each! So that worked out really nice!

Do you see that precious popkin skirt there, the little baby one? The one that is so adorable that I could cry? Yeah, that was my favorite to make...and I can just see some sweet little Trini baby girl toddling around in it....Can't you?!

So that's my latest sewing project!

A snap shot...

Sunsets are so beautiful here...It must be the ocean, or maybe it's the latitude....or maybe it's just God's beauty here for us to enjoy. :)

“Nobody of any real culture, for instance, ever talks nowadays about the beauty of sunset. Sunsets are quite old fashioned. To admire them is a distinct sign of provincialism of temperament."

~Oscar Wilde~

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope everyone had a beautiful Mother's day! I'm very blessed to have the mother I have- She's so many wonderful things, but the most important part is that she is a faithful Christian! Everyday I'm seeing more and more how rare that is. My I constantly be learning and growing to be a good mother myself some day Lord willing!

"Grace is deceitful, and beauty is vain; But a woman that feareth Jehovah, she shall be praised."

Proverbs 31:30

“I regard no man as poor who has a godly mother.” Abraham Lincoln

~Heart~

This is my sister Anna. Here is a list of just 10 things she is:

(the list could be much longer of course!)

1. CUTE!

2. Funny....she has a way with words that keeps me pretty much in stitches.

3. A good picture taker- er...photographer. Sometimes I hold her lens cap for her. :)

4. A good computer helper person...she pretty much does everything computer-wise for me. Except I taught her to put pictures on her blog!!

5. She's one of my best friends.

6. She's a strong Christian and I'm blessed daily by having her in my life!

7. She makes me laugh....and helps me not be an old lady bump!

8. The person who sleeps on the bunk above me....hehe...and we have some good times! :)

9. A wonderful friend to have. <3

10. My sister and I love her!

"In the cookies of life, sisters are the chocolate chips."

Time for an update!

About April- *pant pant*

What a month! It was good, but busy was redefined!!

To start with....

Our whole family attended the sign language class at the Trinidad School of Preaching. It started bright and early at 7:30 am Monday through Friday. It's a bit of a challenge to get 9 people ready to leave at 7:00 am, but we made it! We all really enjoyed the class and have since then had lots of fun with the signing....sheds a whole new light on family 'code talking'!

On a more serious note, we were attending an island wide church function and there were 4 deaf ladies there and I was able to have a little conversation with them- it was very neat! I was a little intimidated, but Naomi and I were together and we really enjoyed it once we got into it! Even if I forgot a simple sign and had to ask Naomi!! You know most deaf people can read lips very well and they could see me asking and they got a big laugh out of that! :)

The second big thing was Dad teaching the Personal Evangelism part 2 class at the school. His part was to take them out and do actual door knocking and studies. Emily, Anna, Nathan and I joined the students of the school for that class every afternoon. It went very well- you really get to know each other working together like that. There can be so much good encouragement and memories from doing field work like that. And of course the people we talked to...we worked in a lower income area and you could feel the different flavour of the people there. Some were willing to talk, others not interested at all. Most times the people are polite, even really nice! But other times it can be a little discouraging! The days went by fast and it was a good experience especially for the students we worked with.

So we had that on top of the usual Sunday worship, (Oh, and Dad is also doing a series of Sunday morning class on Home and Family at the La Romaine congregation!) mid-week Bible class and the usual interaction we have with the folks here. It was good to be busy and focused on something so specific. And we made lots of good memories, I love my family! :)

So that was April! Now it's May and we're back to a more usual routine for us. I'm getting all in gear to do some more sewing, so that'll be coming soon! :)

Have a wonderful month!

This is Kimone, one of the deaf ladies. :)