Thankfulness

I am reading a book called “God’s Guest List” by Debbie Macomber.  She talks about all the people that God has put into our lives.  Some are always there; others are only there for a season.  Mothers, fathers, teachers, strangers, etc. - they all make an impact on our lives.  It got me thinking about all the different people God has put in my life.  Some have made a huge impact, others less so.

She also talks about how we can be an influence in other people’s lives.  When I am thinking of who to give my liluga’s away to, I limit my thinking to how I can make a difference in someone’s life that is going through a rough time.  But what about the people who influenced me?  Through this book, I am challenged to think of people who God put in my life for a reason and who made a difference.  People I want to say “thank you” to. 

It reminds me of the song by Ray Boltz,

Thank you for giving to the Lord
 I have a life that was changed
Thank you for giving to the Lord
I am so glad you gave

I am not very good at saying thank you to people who have reached out to me.  Sometimes I’ll read a book that really speaks to me, and I think that I should write the author and let them know.  Or I’ll hear a speaker on the radio who does the same thing.   Of course, I never follow through.  Writing a note to a close friend who does a kind act for you is easy.  Writing to strangers it more awkward for me. 

This week, my challenge for myself is to write a letter of thanks to a Christian artist whose music and message really spoke to me, encouraged me and got me out of a spiritual slump. 

It was the fall of 2006; I had been on my own with my three kids for two years and divorced for a little over a year.  We had been living in the bottom floor of a small, run-down (but charming) 100 year old house in town.  Although it was in a nice neighborhood, it was always a rental and completely neglected.  I only moved there because the rent was cheap, and it was close to my kid’s school.  The three kids were all together in the living room/bedroom.  I was in the small bedroom.  My only counter space in the kitchen was 12” x 24”.  After almost two years of being cramped in together, and many household mishaps (rain in my pantry from a leak in the upstairs shower, the plaster ceiling above our tub crashing down due to a leak from upstairs (never repaired), the ancient water pipes in the basement bursting and the land lord insisting on only patching them, etc.), I wanted to move. 

Everything else in town was so expensive.  But the house was falling apart and the land lord (who was an alcoholic) was not interested in repairing things properly.  I found someone who was moving and willing to rent her house to us, but it was several hundred dollars more per month.  My desire to be out of our home and the space and beauty of this other house made me disregard the huge jump in rent and move in to the new house.  Once there, I was sick to my stomach.  I couldn’t believe I took on such a big expense.  I moved in early August, and was really struggling through the first few months.

One day that October, while working from home, I was listening to Moody Bible Radio in Chicago.  They were giving away tickets to a live “Midday Connection” talk show featuring Sara Groves.  I called in and actually won a pair of tickets.  It brightened my day!

The week of the talk show, I was sick with a bad cold and cough.  But I wasn’t going to let that stop me from going.  I brought a friend with me and we drove the hour drive to Chicago and went to Moody Bible Institute for the show.

I wish I could tell you exactly what Sara Groves talked about that day, but I really don’t remember.  What I liked was that she was a simple person with a passionate heart.  What did affect me were the lyrics to her songs.  Each person attending that day received a goody bag with books and Sara’s current CD, “.  It was later as I listened to her songs and the words to her songs that I was changed and uplifted.

The song that got me most was “Just Showed Up For My Own Life”.   I really felt like I had been sleeping, going through a separation, divorce and life on my own with three young kids. I couldn’t see clearly and I was letting it all get to me and bring me down.  It was like a wake-up call to hear God’s voice and know that there was more to this life than what I was going through.

The other song that spoke to me was “It’s Going to be All Right”.  Yes, no matter what we are going through in this life, as long as you believe, it is going to be all right.  Cast your cares on Jesus. 

This small but impacting event encouraged me greatly.  Although it happened 5-1/2 years ago,  I believe it’s never too late to say “Thank You” to someone. 

Listening

I have just finished sewing a new batch of liluga’s.  They are sitting quietly in a basket in my sewing room, awaiting their new homes.  I need to pray to God about who I should give them to.  After I pray, I need to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit and be able to hear who He puts on my heart.  Listening isn’t always easy. 

I have been reading several different books on writing, and in one of them the author suggests a writing exercise on listening.  She recommends sitting with a paper and pen, and for ten minutes or so, write what you hear.  Here is what I wrote:

“As I sit here on this cold, winter evening, I have the Super Bowl and all it’s crazy commercials going on in the background.

I hear the heat blowing into the room.  I like that sound because it means warmth.  No blowing noise, no heat.  The sound is almost as loud as the T.V.  Ismael (my husband) has the volume low.  I can hear the roar of the crowd at the stadium.  The announcers voices are smooth and calm, unlike the soccer announcers on the Spanish stations.

The heat just shut off.  I heard Ismael swallow.  He is rubbing his finger over my leg, against the corduroy of my pants, making a swishing sound.

I can hear my step-son, Sebastion, going from his room to the bathroom, opening and shutting the doors.  The clock across the room it ticking.  Most of the time I don’t hear it.  Today I do.  Today I am listening.

Ismael just smirked at a commercial.  The air is getting cooler, but it is quieter.  Most of the time, I don’t listen.  My inner thoughts are louder than the outside noises.”

I did this exercise a couple of weeks ago, and as I reread it, the last sentence really jumps out at me.  I have a ton of inner thoughts going on at all times in my head, thoughts that block out a lot of outside noises.  Some of those outside noises are good and need to be heard.  Like hearing from God.  I need to shut off my inner voice and just listen.  I am going to do this exercise again, but this time I will listen to what God is saying.

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”  John 10:27

Spring is in the Air!

liluga #20

We are having a beautiful week of warmer weather.  The giant icicles have all melted and the snow is slowly receding.  I have been busy sewing and made my first bunny-eared liluga.  Perfect for spring!

A little bit about my liluga's - each one is hand sewn with love and lots of detail. Each liluga is an original and is sewn with recycled (laundered and clean), natural-fiber fabrics. I try to use mostly cottons, linens and wools.  Their hearts are hand-stitched on, and each one has an embroidered, signature "L" on their behind.  I stuff them with bamboo fiber fill, which is eco-friendly and non-allergenic (just in case you want to hug your liluga!).

As I give away the liluga's to people I know, I have gotten such positive feedback from each person.  Little things can really make a difference!

Thank you for looking at my blog and have a blessed day!


#19




#18



#19

Going Cat Crazy

I have been experimenting with sewing cats.  These two are a little fall/harvest looking.  I'll have to come up with some fun spring colors. (That's optimistically thinking that spring is just around the corner!)

We survived the blizzard!  It really wasn't so bad.  We measured about 16" of snow on our driveway.  The kids got two snow days out of it.  They wanted to stay home today, too.  Their thinking was, "what's the point of going back for one more day, then being off again for the weekend?"  My husband was a real trooper and worked hard to get the driveway and walkways clean.

Caleb in his fort



Our long driveway



Ismael


I am at the library right now.  Currently, I do not have a computer at home that can handle the internet and we do not have internet service.  So, I come to the library to use their computers.  It works out pretty well.  However, my brother has hopefully found me a used laptop.   Then it will be "the travelling laptop".  I am looking forward to hanging out at the coffee shop and working on the computer.  Perhaps next time I write, it will be from my new laptop! 

Brrrr it’s cold outside!

Today it is about 5 degrees outside!  I am thankful to be inside a warm home and able to work at my kitchen table.  I mailed a liluga to Marietta, Georgia this morning.  I have an aunt who is in a nursing home, so I hope that this little guy will cheer her up!

I have been reading some great books lately.  One of which is “Crazy Love” by Francis Chan.  It is a book about falling in love with God, and living our life loving others as Jesus loves us.  It is challenging me to walk away from being a “lukewarm” Christian and live in closer obedience to Christ.   Another book that has a similar message is “Radical” by David Platt.  They are both excellent books that have you take a serious look at how our culture does “church”.  They are not “how to” books, but books where the authors share their faith and their passion for living as a Christian in today’s world.  If you feel stagnant in your faith and thinking there has to be more to it, I highly recommend each of these books.

I am still working on more ways to reach out to people in love.  Some ways are tangible*, such as giving away a liligua.  Other ways are less tangible*, such as spending time with a friend, listening to their heart over a cup of coffee.  Either way, giving away love takes thought, time and a surrendering of doing things for your self.  But, isn’t that what love is all about? 

* I found a copy of Webster’s New World Dictionary at a rummage sale and have been having fun looking up the meaning of many of the words we use.  I find that often we use words whose meanings do not truly match what we are trying to say.  “Tangible” is an adjective that means “can be touched or felt by touch; having actual form and substance”.  That matched perfectly with what I am trying to say!

Happy New Year!

This is my latest batch of liluga’s.  They’re made out of a couple of sweaters (wool and cashmere) that two of my friends donated to me, and from a velour April Cornell dress I once loved.  Each liluga is unique, and, other than the bamboo fiber I use for the stuffing, nothing “new” is used to make them. I have a vintage button collection that I am finally putting to use as their eyes.  I also have a collection of vintage cotton and wool embroidery threads that I am using to attach their eyes and hearts, and to embroider the “L” on their behinds. Some threads are from my mother’s stash from when she was a young girl in Germany, and others are from estate sales.

I am having fun playing around with different shapes, sizes and patterns and seeing what evolves. Now I just need to wait and see whom I can give them to! 

In the meantime, I’ve been researching scripture and finding verses on love.  There are many, but a few really emphasize that we need to show our love through actions.

One in particular is 1 John 3:18 (The Living Bible):

“Little children, let us stop just saying we love people; let us really love them, and show it by our actions.”

If I look at my life and ask “how am I showing love to people?”, I am not so sure I could come up with many examples.  Being busy with a part-time job, a home-sewing business and taking care of a family of seven doesn’t always leave me with a lot of time to stop and think about love.   Or perhaps I do think about it, but I do not always act on it.  It’s easy enough to be nice and respectful to people, but much harder to do something special for someone that really shows that you love them.

I have two challenges this year for myself.  Both are based on becoming more like Jesus and following His command to love one another.  The first one is to reach out to people I come across in my “circle of life” with an encouraging word, and a gift of love through a liluga.  It will be fun to see whom the Holy Spirit puts on my heart to give them away to.  My husband, Ismael, and I also want to invite more people into our home for dinner and fellowship.  I don’t want it to be just about giving something to someone; I really want it to be about investing time in someone’s life.

The second challenge, which will actually be more difficult for me, is to find ways to show and give love to those closest to me, especially my husband and our children.  Why is that one harder?  I am not sure!  Perhaps because they see the “real” me, which isn’t always very loving.  I pray that the more I learn to love like Jesus, the less they’ll see the old me. 

Is any one willing to join me on this?  We can all use the support and encouragement from others.  Please send me an email and share your stories with me!

Philippians 1:11 (The Living Bible)

“May you always be doing those good, kind things which show that you are a child of God, for this will bring much praise and glory to the Lord.”

Merry Christmas!

liluga #2

Peaceful in the making

a creative ministry of love

born out of a need

to encourage others.

My thought with this blog is to write about giving LOVE away, and for readers to share about giving LOVE away also.  I thought it would be FUN to hear from people who have received a liluga, for them to share their stories and to let me know where each liluga wound up. 

For starters, it’s just me giving them away, but I love to make them for others to give away also.  Then, when someone receives a liluga, they can email me with their story and, if they wish, even send a picture of it in its new home.

If you wonder how this all came about, I’ll share that with you!  First, there are a few things about me that play a part.  First of all, I want to serve the Lord and to love others as Jesus commands us to do.  For the past several years, I feel like God is telling me to reach out to people who are hurting and in need, to give them a word of encouragement and to simply love them.  

Second, I am a very creative and I need to express that in my work.  I like all things natural, organic, and handmade.  I like to recycled, reuse, re-purpose, etc.  I try not to sew with fabrics that are treated with chemicals anymore and have become a collector of vintage and recycled wools, cottons and linens. 

Third, I felt life was so busy and that I barely had time to do anything but the daily routines of life, I am married, we have five kids (all living with us), I work part-time outside the home, plus a have a sewing/alterations business I do from home.   My husband and I love to cook and we spend a lot of time in the kitchen doing so.  It has always been important to me to be home with my children and not doing too many activities outside the home.

I prayed for something I could do that would allow me to reach out to others while still caring for my family.  Several months ago a made a little stuffed “thing” and gave it away to someone.  I so enjoyed making the little thing that I thought I should make more and give them all away as a ministry.    After that, I played around with some names and liluga (Love Isn’t Love Until Given Away) just sounded right.

This really isn’t about the liluga’s, it’s about God stretching me to do more for Him. The liluga’s are just sweet,, fun  things I  can make to encourage people, to remind them they are loved and to brighten their day.