Philippians 2:5-11

I had Amy read Phil. 2:1-16 today. Verses 5-11 really stood out to me during her reading. She grabbed a Bible from the bookshelf, not her normal one. This version is New International Reader's Version.

"You should think in the same way Christ Jesus does. In his very nature he was God. But he did not think that being equal with God was something he should hold on to. Instead, he made himself nothing. He took on the very nature of a servant. He was made in human form. He appeared as a man. He came down to the lowest level. He obeyed God completely, even though it led to his death. In fact, he died on a cross. So God lifted him up to the highest place. He gave him the name that is above every name. When the name of Jesus is spoken, everyone's knee will bow to worship him. Every knee in heaven and on earth and under the earth will bow to worship him. Everyone's mouth will say that Jesus Christ is Lord. And God the Father will receive the glory."

The words in italics are what struck me. Christ's obedience was perfect. It sets an example for us. How obedient are we? I think we have difficultly obeying the most basic commands, like respecting our husbands, loving our wives, honoring our parents, etc.

Thankfully, Isaiah 55:10, 11 is true. This is from the same version as above.

"The rain and the snow come down from the sky. They do not return to it without watering the earth. They make plants come up and grow. The plants produce seeds for farmers. They also produce food for people to eat. The words I speak are like that. They will not return to me without producing results. They will accomplish what I want them to. They will do exactly what I sent them to do."

God's word will work in our hearts.

ebay auction

I sent an email to the buyer of the pattern to let him/her know to look on my blog for the story about the pattern. Here's the response.

Dear momawake,
Thank you so much for the invitation to share in your friends blessing. God Bless them in their journey toward making their family whole! My husband is really the one who bid on it. He really felt that I would need this pattern. I told him not to bid more than $20. I guess the Spirit wispered to him to continue. I am so greatful that it went to a wonderful cause! Again, thanks for sharing. God Bless you, Kathy PS We have two birth children and adopted two special needs children. They are 29, 27, 20 and 18. Talk about God's blessings!!!!!!
- 4kathy-c

Fall dress woes

The dress is having difficulty or maybe I'm having difficulty with the dress would be more accurate. I've done a lot of undoing and have a little bit more to undo before I can start redoing. I'm dissappointed I didn't go with that fleeting thought I had about doing it the way the directions say. Oh well, still learning. I am thankful that I have some extra fabric. ; )

Sunday news

Today we had a family over after church. They are a family of 8 (six boys). It's been so much fun to have people over and get to know them better. There have been times in my life that I just didn't want to do that, but I'm really enjoying it and haven't had worries about feeding a lot of people. Although I will admit that I had a hard time deciding what to serve when we were expecting a total of 15. Thankfully, it's chili time of year. ; ) We had it again today served over pasta.

This week I hope to finish the fall dress. I work on it a little each day, therefore not hurting my neck so much. My next project I have in mind is a vintage smock. I plan to make it with long sleeves so I can use it as an apron. I thought of making something like chefs wear, but this smock pattern is so much more feminine and cute.

A good news story:

Our friends who are in the process of a Russian adoption have been raising funds. A friend of theirs did a yard sale for them. Although we didn't get to it I found out there was a box of vintage patterns donated and asked for the whole box. I was excited to get to look through it. After looking through it and picking out what I wanted we decided to put one of the remaining patterns on ebay. It was a 40s apron pattern. I knew apron patterns sell. Amy did the honors of listing it for me. I was expecting to get something for it like maybe up to $10. I checked it yesterday morning and it was up to $17.75. When I checked it after the auction ended it was $43.99!!

Today my friend called me and told me her story. Tuesday she was feeling overwhelmed and discouraged about the whole process and prayed that God would give her some sign by the end of the week whether or not they should continue with the adoption. She said she got her answer when I emailed her about the pattern selling for so much. It's just so obvious that God worked in a creative and mighty way to provide. I'm blessed to have been a small part of His work.

Fall dress project

Joann Fabric store has had a model of a cute fall dress on display since late summer or maybe it was mid summer. Amy really liked it so I set about trying to find the fabric, an odd thing since this was in a fabric store. The store I was in didn't have it, the other store I tried had a little. I ended up ordering it for full price. : ( Then about a month after I ordered it, it showed up in the store. So I've learned to wait. This week I'm making the dress. Thought I'd better get to it before fall is over.

"Finally, we would be completely remiss if we failed to note how God causes us to experience tremendous growth in grace by sovereignly planning and providentially guiding our lives in the midst of real suffering and pain. The pang of watching a loved one take her last breath, the despair of losing a job, the grief of a broken home--each, though truly sorrowful, has a unique way of deepening our trust in Him. In His wisdom, love and power, He really does cause all things to work together for our good. Every piece of our lives really is in His gentle hand, even when He has not yet seen fit to show us how all the pieces fit together."

David G. Hagopian in Back to Basics Rediscovering the Richness of the Reformed Faith.

Zipper pictures

Here are the finished pants. The zipper went in well. I learned how to make flat fell seams with this pair. The next pair I'll be learning how to get a good fit before cutting out the pieces. These pant are a bit too big, but will work. For that I'm thankful, but next time I'll try to get them to fit Amy's body shape. I'm going to use the book Fast Fit: Easy Pattern Alterations for Every Figure by Sandra Betzina.

Zipper Success

I'll post pictures later, but I did get the fly zipper put in. I had to do it twice because the first time I had the zipper opening from the wrong side, but it was pretty easy to do. The use of scotch tape is most helpful when putting in any zipper.

Good food article

This article was posted on the Ohio Westen A. Price Foundation Yahoo group.

Got (Raw) Milk? Kenyan challenges Western nutrition

October 17, 2007 By Mike Ding

Living on an organic diet saved his life, Kenyan native Willson Kimeli Naiyomah told students and faculty Tuesday night in alecture in the Geology Corner. Upon arriving in America for his studies, Naiyomah, who is now pursuing a M.S. in Biology at Stanford, was struck at the culture of abundance.

I expected nobility,” he said. “So I went to Albertson’s. And lo and behold, the fruits were ripe; they looked like they had just dropped from the tree. I’d never seen such round, nice looking fruit. I went to the milk aisle, which is what I wanted, and there was milk! Milk everywhere!?

But Naiyomah’s enthusiasm abruptly ended the minute he drank the processed and pasteurized milk.

“It hit me so hard,” he said. “It tasted terrible. You know when you anticipate something you want so much and it anticlimaxes like that? It was awful.”

Naiyomah was used to the non-processed milk he drank while growing up in the Massai village of Enoosaen, Kenya. He received his undergraduate education at the University of Oregon after a 1996 Washington Post article prompted Americans to contributefunds.

Soon, Naiyomah realized that all the food he ate in America, which had been processed and sterilized for longer shelf lives, was not the virile, life-giving food that he had eaten from his youth in Kenya. Before long, he developed both lactose intolerance and Crohn’s disease, an inflammatory condition of the gastrointestinal tract.

“It was quite ironic,” he said. “I was being buried in food. But I was starving in plenty.”

Lactose intolerance did not simply deprive Naiyomah of his favorite beverage; it also struck him psychologically.

“That was the disease of very few people who lived in cities, those who wore suits and glasses. So we in the villages thought of it as the ‘disease of the important people.’ I was supposed to go back to my village and build a hospital, but now Iwas dying in America. I began to think that maybe I had sinned and brought a curse upon myself.”

Before long, he could hardly be recognized as the lean, healthy young Massai man that first stepped off the plane to America.

“When I came from Africa, I was only 105 pounds —chiseled, skinny, healthy, and, though you could almost see my bones, very strong. Soon I blow up to 169 pounds, after my first girlfriend introduced me to Big Mac.”

After offering the gift of a cow to America after 9/11 on behalf of his tribe, Naiyomah, now withering away in a dorm room at Stanford, found out about a man in Fresno called Mark McAfee who produced raw, organic milk.

“It occurred to me that there’s something about the natural state of things,” he said. “Life begets life; living food gives life to living things.”

Naiyomah said that when he first drank the raw milk, he expected to become very ill. However, the taste in his mouth reminded him of his childhood days in Kenya, when he would take care of other villagers’ cows. At these jobs, he would often drink fresh milk from the cows’ udders. That was the exact same taste he experienced now.

“I did not feel an upset stomach,” he said. “I was emotional. I felt like something had finally come to save my life.”

Soon Naiyomah ate only organic foods, and his recovery was nothing short of astounding.

Through his experience, Naiyomah realized that — though the western world’s diet had managed to rid food of all bacteria,thus eliminating any chance of infectious diseases — it had also taken away the beneficial bacteria that also existed in foods.

“The problem is that microbes are not really our enemies,” he said. “Certain vitamins such as vitamin K can only be made by bacteria."


”Though Naiyomah did not outright advocate all individuals to switch to the diet of indigenous African tribes, he did challenge the audience to think about what they eat.

“In western eating, you always have things in nice cute packages, it’s offered to you, you don’t know where it came from, you just believe, and eat it. It’s not going to kill you, maybe later, but not now,” he said. “We are what we eat.”

This Week's Project

This week I hope to make Amy a pair of jeans or pants made from denim. This pattern has a fly zipper. Now I'm really getting brave. Actually, I asked hubby to pray that it will go well. I really don't want to have wasted the denim because the pants might not turn out. I'll keep you posted.

Latest sewing projects

We've been busy with school and sewing the last few days. I've not felt I had much blogging in me, but here are a couple pictures of the latest bag and a pillow case.

I call the bag the "Goin' to Hawaii bag." I'm thinking of listing it on Etsy.

The pillowcase is my "Goin' to Hawaii pillowcase." I am actually taking to HI so that I won't forget to bring my pillow home with me. I've done that before, but I really don't want to have my pillow sent to me from HI, thus the bright colors.

Snowman Cafe

Thursday Amy presented me with an invitation to Snowman Cafe for dinner for two. Tonight dh and I went to Snowman Cafe (our family room) for dinner. We sat at a table for two complete with a snowman tablecloth and candles. Our hostess, server and chef provided us with menus from which we chose the sauted chicken and salad. (Our other choice was hotdogs.) Oh and after dinner Amy became the dishwasher. Yes!

Trying again

A few days ago I posted a question...there were only two responses.

I'm asking again:

What do you love? If you want to see the original post just scroll down to Fri., Sept. 28. There you may see what I wrote about what I love.

Tell me what you love.

Thanks.

today

--We wrestled over math!!

--We rejoiced when it was over!!

--I made great progress on the next jelly bag.

--I'm well into Anne's House of Dreams, and thoroughly enjoying it.

--It's 46 days until we leave for Hawaii.