Winters Here!

Bookmarks @ sewjamie.etsy.com

We finally got hit by winter yesterday.  It is now a winter wonderland outside, pretty to look at, but not fun to be out in!

My favorite thing to do on a cold winter day is to cuddle up with a good book and a good cup of coffee (very important!).  

I am currently reading three books, one on writing - "If You Want to Write" by Brenda Ueland.  I am absolutely loving this book so far.  It was originally written in 1938 and revised in 1987.  The author has a way of talking to the reader that makes me picture her as "granny" from The Beverly Hillbillies in my mind.  She says it like it is, but here perspective on writing is excellent.

Another is a novel I just started, "The Shack"  by William P. Young.  I have heard so much about this book in recent years and have finally gotten around to reading it.  So far, very good, but sad and tragic.  

Third, I am reading my Bible, but not for mass reading.  I am trying to focus more on smaller chunks of scripture and then meditating on it and writing about it.  Yesterday I read Job 40: 1-2 "Do you still want to argue with the Almighty? Or will you yield?  Do you - God's critic - have the answers?"  That gives me a lot to think about.  I know I do not have all the answers, even though sometimes I think I do!

I am also working on building up my etsy store (www.sewjamie.etsy.com), come visit me there.

Joy for 2012

Meet Norman the Bookmark

 Happy New Year to everyone!  We had a wonderful Christmas and I am ready for a new beginning.  As I think about the new year, the word JOY comes to mind.  JOY means “a very glad feeling; happiness; great pleasure, delight.”  I want to have a joyful, joy-filled year; not only as a follower of Christ, but in the work I do and especially with my family.   How do I do this?  Well,  I put together a few goals (I don’t like to call them “resolutions” because resolutions are hard to keep).  I know everyday won’t be easy, but I will earnestly work toward these goals.

Spiritually, I want to continue growing in love and joy towards God, others and myself.  The best way to do this is through reading the scriptures and through prayer, which I want to make a priority each day, not just something I do after I’ve gotten to everything else (the truth is, I never get to everything, even on the best days).  Also, I want to continue making and giving away my liluga’s.  I don’t think there will ever be a time when we don’t need to remind friends and family that they are loved and cared for.

 

“But you, dear friends, must continue to build your lives on the foundation of your holy faith.  And continue to pray as you are directed by the Holy Spirit.  Live in such a way that God’s love can bless you as your wait for the eternal life that our Lord Jesus Christ in his mercy is going to give you.”  Jude 20-21 NLT

As for my career and business,  I want to focus more on my writing and to start submitting devotions and articles to different publications.  My goal is complete one piece of writing a day, however, I’ll be happy if I get three done a week!

 In addition to that, I am in the process of developing a line of journal and Bible covers.   As an avid journal writer, I am having fun creating and sewing these.  I suppose you could take notes in a plain spiral notebook, but it is much more joyful to journal in a pretty book.  Add a hot cup of coffee (in your favorite mug) and a comfy chair and it’s the perfect setting for a time of reading and journaling.  I have several items listed at my web-store at Etsy.com (you can visit me there at www.sewjamie.etsy.com – visit often, I’ll be adding more items weekly). 

“My heart is overflowing with a beautiful thought!  I will write a lovely poem to the King, for I am as full of words as the speediest writer pouring out his story”.  Psalm 45:1  The Living Bible

For my family, I want to be more joyful, loving and peaceful towards my husband and the children.   Sounds easy, but it’s a big challenge for me, something I will have pray for and work at daily.

"You haven't done this before.  Ask, using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy."  John 16:24 NLT

I pray each of you has a blessed and joyful 2012! 

Merry Christmas!

It has been a busy November/December for me.  I have been busy sewing for a craft market I participated in and for Christmas gifts. One of the things I have been hand sewing are ornaments out of felted wool sweaters.  I also have been making journal covers and a couple of tote bags. (Any tips on taking better photographs?  I just can't seem to get it right!)

As the new year is almost upon us, I think of new year resolutions, and how they only tend to last a short while.  Last summer, I wrote about the word "promise", which kind of reminds me of a new years resolution.  We say things we intend to do, then never follow through. 

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PROMISES

Having children has taught me many things I could have never learned in school.  One of those things is to never make a promise I cannot keep.  “But you promised to take us to Dairy Queen!” If I do not take them, not only will the kids be angry with me, but they will soon stop believing in my promises.  I came to the realization that it is so much easier to not promise anything, ever.  Instead, I tell my kids things like “perhaps we’ll go to Target on Wednesday.”  They hate when I use the word “perhaps”, but it keeps me out of trouble.

As a lover of words, I will often look up a word in the dictionary to get its true definition.  It’s fascinating to find the real meaning of the words we often use, and to see how the culture has altered their meaning. In my copy of Webster’s New World Dictionary (a 1998 edition I found at a garage sale) the word promise is defined as “an oral or written agreement to do or not to do something; vow.”   A vow is defined as a “solemn promise or pledge.”  Pretty serious stuff. 

I have a feeling most people today use the word  without much thought to its true meaning.  I think the current definition of the word promise should be “a word to use to get someone off your back or to win favor from someone; a light, fluffy word, not to be taken seriously.”

If my kids are bugging me to go somewhere, and I say “not today, but I promise I’ll take you tomorrow,”  I get relief for the day, but come tomorrow…  the kids do not forget.   Men promise to call a girl after a date, even when they have no intention of doing so. It’s a wimpy way to act, in my opinion. As for winning favor from people, think of politicians and their campaign promises.  And, of course, the wedding vow; words spoken without much thought to their true meaning.

I believe in saying yes when I mean yes, and no when I mean no.  It’s as simple as that.  Unless I am willing to stand by my promise and fulfill it, I won’t even go there.  As for my kids, they are learning to adjust to my non-committal ways.  Perhaps they too will learn to take the word promise a little more seriously.

“Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’  Anything more is from the evil one.”  Matthew 5:37

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 Merry Christmas to everyone!  May the peace of the Lord Jesus be with you always!

Contentment

Looking out my window today, it is rainy and cold. The wind is blowing the leaves off the trees and  I have a chill in my bones that will stay with me until the first warm days of spring.  Having grown up in the suburbs of Chicago, I always loved winter.  I loved falling snow, warm sweaters, and curling up with a good book and a cup of tea in the warmth of my home.   It’s not that I no longer love these things, but now I understand why older people retire to Florida.  Sunshine and warmth!  And as I get older, I need both more and more.  So, why do I stay living in the Chicago area?

It’s where I was born and grew up.  Where I went to college, got married, had my children, and sadly, where I got divorced.  Still, many people move from the places they grew up.  So what else keeps me here?  My extended family, good friends, my job, a town we love and schools my kids are happy at. And I’m not anywhere near retirement age yet. 

Contentment is the word that comes to mind when I think about why we stay.   According to Webster’s New World Dictionary, content, as an adjective, means “happy enough with what one has or is; not desiring something more or different; satisfied.”  Contentment is the state or quality of being content.  Instead of wishing for something I don’t have, or can’t have (such as Florida weather in Chicago), I need to be content, and HAPPY with what I have (including a forecast for a brutally cold and snowy winter).

So bring on the warm wool sweaters!  I’ll wait until spring to cut them up into liluga’s.

“I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything.  I have learned the secret of contentment in every situation, whether it be a full stomach or hunger, plenty or want; for I can do everything God asks me to with the help of Christ who gives me strength and power.”

Philippians 4:12-13 NLT  

Ruby

Meet Ruby, a liluga key chain whose name means “red gemstone”.    I struggled a little with finding a name for her.   I thought about the verse in the Bible about a wife being more precious than rubies, and then it then hit me, she looks like a Ruby.

Ruby is made from a wool sweater that a friend of mine gave to my daughter.  When she received it, my thought was “that would make a great liluga!”  Several months, and a few washings later, my daughter gave it to me and said it was too tight for her. I told her I was sorry that it didn’t fit her anymore (NOT). 

Sometimes the opposite is true.  I have a friend who has given me several old sweaters to use to make liluga’s, plus I shop garage sales and resale shops for them.  Although my intent is to sew with them, I have pulled a few aside and put them in my closet to wear.  Can you blame me?  The winters are very cold here.

“Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies.”  Proverbs 31:10 KJV

What does it mean to have virtue?  The Webster’s New World dictionary defines virtue as “general moral excellence; right action and thinking; goodness or morality.” 

I pray that Ruby will always be a gentle reminder to her future owner to live a virtuous life. 



And the winner is......

A couple weeks ago I announced, on the Mary Jane’s Farmgirl Connection forum, that I was giving away a liligu to anyone who visited my blog. Thank you so much to everyone for visiting and for all of your kind and encouraging words.  It means a lot to me!   For the give-a-way, I received a total of 14 visitors who left comments .

My son happily volunteered to pick the name for me.

And the winner is………..

MarthaJane!!!

I am sending her Lacey, whose name means “joyful, filled with praise”.

“Shout to the Lord, all the earth;

Break out in praise and sing for joy!”

Psalm 98:4

I hope you all will come back and visit my blog to see what is happening in the wonderful world of liluga’s!

Fall Cats

 

FAYE and FIONA

Please welcome Faye and Fiona, the first of my fall liluga’s.

Since I am done having babies and since there are no new pets in my future, I am having fun naming my liluga’s.  I love looking up the meaning of a name and matching it to a liluga.  It’s important that the name fits the liluga I’m making.  When I was making the above cats, first the name Fiona came to mind.  Then Fritz (another boys name!) came to me.  Finally, I decided on Faye for the other cat.  Fiona’s name means “fair ” and Faye’s name means “faith”.  Two good virtues to live by, fairness and faithfulness.

It reminds me of how in the old testament, people chose baby names that had a meaning relating to the situation surrounding them.  For instance, when Jacob’s wives and their servants were having his children, each child’s name represented the situation their mother was going through.

But because Leah was unloved, the Lord let her have a child, while Rachel was still childless.  So Leah became pregnant and had a son.  She named him Reuben*, for she said, “The Lord has noticed my misery, and now my husband will love me.”  Genesis 29:31 NLT  (*Reuben means “look, a son”)

Keep reading the rest of chapter 29 and 30 to see not only the meanings of the names given to each of Jacob’s sons, but to see how dysfunctional Jacob’s family really was.  Makes me feel a little better when I look at my family!