Whatever you do

when you roll out of bed in the morning…

when you clean the toilet…

when you eat breakfast or lunch or dinner…

when you twitter or facebook…

when you are trying to understand your latest math lesson…

when you are taking on the phone…

when you are reading a book…

when you climb a tree or wrap a present or clean the car…

when you watch a movie…

when you throw up…

when you clean up your room…

when you go grocery shopping…

when you build a table or paint a sunset or sew a dress…

whatever you do, wherever you are, whoever you’re with, whenever you’re doing it… give it all you have… invest in some umption… love others while you do it… show some elbow grease… smile sincerely… treat it like a top-priority mission from God Most High!

“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men” Colossians 3:23

10 things I’ve made from Pinterest

A few months ago, I signed up to Pinterest as a way to store all my links.  Pretty soon it exploded to more than that as I saw pictures of beautiful homes, ingenious craft ideas and  was to repurpose clothes.  Mum (who also pins) says I have an aura about me after I’ve been pinning… not sure if that’s a good thing or not!

Anyway, I think I’m one of the many people who love pinterest, but only ever get inspired, and never do anything with all their pins.  I realised that I was spending lots of time looking at some great ideas, but never did any of them, and it was wasting my time.  So, along with limit the amount of time I spent on pinterest, I started a board to repin ideas to once I’d done them.  My goal was to get ten of them, so I could share them on Oh Amanda’s top ten list meme.  And now, thanks to making Christmas presents, I’ve finally done it!  At first it was hard to get in there and do something, but after that first step, it became easier and easier to get off the chair and find the materials needed to make another project.

So here it is, ten things I’ve done from pinterest:

in no particular order:

1. Coasters – Daniel actually did most of this, it was his Christmas present to Mum.  They turned out really well and they were very easy to make. We actually followed the instructions from The Cottage Home

2. Outdoor old-fashioned movie night – our picture doesn’t do it justice, and it’s not anything like the link I found on pinterest, but this was a really fun night.  We went outside and watched My Fair Lady on a big screen, ate popcorn made from an old-style popcorn maker served in little red boxes and ate old-fashioned lollies served in newspaper cones. FUN!

3. Squeezing lemons with salad tongs – this works OK, sometimes better than others.

4. A little purse thingy - this is very cute, but because there was so much fabric in such a little bag is quite bulky and was very fiddly.  I didn’t completely finish it – for some reason I forgot to add the key ring tab, and I didn’t bind it on the inside.  I’m not sure I’d make it again, but it was a good learning experience!

5. graphic art – I copied this word art idea to make this graphic on Psalm 144:12.

6. Recharger holder – this was an interesting time.  I found this idea on Pinterest, and decided to make it for a friend for Christmas.  Thing was, when I went to the actual website to get the instructions… everything was in German!  Thanks to Google Translate I translated the PDF this lovely lady gave and after a bit of tweaking I came up with this:

7. Scrappy organiser – I really enjoyed this project and am really happy with the two I made.  It’s a really fun – and thrifty – project!

8. Circle earbud holder – I literally made this in an hour, from the time I sat down to cut the fabric to the time I sat back and sighed in delight.  It is really quick and very cute.

9. Teatowel tech bag – I saw this picture on pinterest and actually didn’t findthe instructions from Martha Stewart, but it was pretty self-explanatory.  All I did was fold the bottom up 1/3, find the cords I’d want the bag to hold, and measure what size pocket I’d need.  I also added some ribbon on the side to keep it rolled up.

10.  Kindle cover – One of my best Christmas presents (mind you all of them were so beautiful!) was a kindle touch.  I wanted to make a kindle cover/bag to give it a bit of protection. I couldn’t find a tutorial that I liked for a kindle cover, but armed with these two pictures I found on pinterest, I went and measured my kindle and made it up myself.  I wanted the opening to be at the side but I made a mistake when I cut the fabric so I changed the opening to be at the top.  I’m really happy with the result!

There you have it!  I’m going to keep my made. visited. done board on pinterest and keep adding to it as I go along!  Are you on pinterest?  I’d love to connect with you there?

If you are on pinterest, have you had the same problem I have?  What things have you made or done from pinterest?

Elegance

… well, that’s what Mum called it (in all seriousness) when I came back from locking up the chickens in the pouring rain yesterday!  I was very wet after that ordeal because the rain was doing something to the chickens’ brains and instead of going into the cage like good little birdies they ran around and around in circles unusually panicky while I tried to herd them in.  Funny birdies.

I love gumboots.  I love the rain.  I love living on our farm.  I love getting soaked to the bone, just because I can!

The New Year’s List

Happy new years everyone! I hope you have a fantastic year – I just cannot wait to find out what God has in store for me and my family this year! Until then, I’m trying to take this video to heart:

Visit their website at skitguys.com

My brother wrote a good article the other day on the end of the world and how we should live, which ties in with this video…

Hi I’m Dory, can we spend some time together- OMG THE END OF THE WORLD!- Oh hi, I’m Dory and I want to strengthen our relationship- DOOMSDAY OMG WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE!” and on and on and on.  Read the rest

 

After all that – have a good day!

Contentions

Casting lots causes contentions to cease, and keeps the mighty apart.  A brother offended is harder to win than a strong city, and contentions are like the bars of a castle. Proverbs 18:18-19

Contentions – it’s big, bad, and it can very easily get ugly.  It looks appealing for a moment then WHAM – you are in an argument with someone and the relationship gets broken.  The family gets divided.  The Church gets hurt.  Contentions – it’s like strife, stirring the harmony pot, looking for trouble – its debating, arguing, backbiting, disputing, and relationship-breaking, and God doesn’t like it one bit.

I think it’s really interesting to note that something so strong, so foreboding, and so barring like contentions, can be settled simply by casting lots.  That’s it!  It says something about the importance of the matter, doesn’t it?  When I read these verses this morning it reminded me of a picture I saw a week ago:

Chances are, I probably won’t even remember the disagreement in a year’s time, let alone will it matter!  Paul wrote to the Ephesians, submit one to another.  In Philippians he wrote, ‘be like-minded, having the same spirit, the same love, being one in mind and spirit.  Let nothing be done in selfish ambition and vain conceit, but in humility consider one above himself.  Each of you should look out not only for your own interests, but also for the interests of others.’  That means little sisters submitting to big brothers, and big sisters submitting to little brothers.  It means considering how important what I want really is – eternally speaking – and considering the preciousness of others.  It means not arguing and getting angry at each other.  It means admitting when I was wrong, and they were actually… right.  It means watching each other’s backs.  It means when I see something good I could do for another person, I do it.  Basically, it means loving your neighbour as yourself and doing to them what you would have them do to you.

The Epistles are jam-packed full of verses about living in harmony with one another.  Romans 12:10b - Outdo one another in showing honour! Living God’s way means giving up the contentions – giving up the ‘snarkiness’ towards each other and choosing to think the same mind as each other.  The issues that turn into contentions don’t need to.  Things often aren’t as big a problem as we make them out to be.  God loves it when we avoid a contention and put others before our own wants. ‘As far as possible live at peace with one another’… and when you’ve gone as far as you can, try a casting lots method like paper-scissors-rock and still live at peace with one another!

Jessica…she’s…. GONE!

no no, don’t worry – I’m still here!  I didn’t decide to pull the plug on blogging or become a hermit-ess and I wasn’t tied up and thrown off the face off the earth by bandits and aliens who wanted to manipulate my blog for their own evil purposes to rule the world.  I changed the settings to private a few days ago because I wanted to play around with a new template and header, and when I play around on blogs, all sorts of wEirD  things could happen.

I was getting really tired of my old one, and have wanted to change my old header for ages, but only finally sat down and came up with something that gave a kind of rustic but fresh look.  I also changed the template, which is still very similar to the old one but just enough change to make me happy!  What do you all think?

Starry, Starry Night…

The other night there was a lunar eclipse, so we stayed up to watch it happen.  We only stayed until the moon was completely covered, then everyone else went to bed and I (even though I am not a night owl and it was 10:00pm) stayed out a bit longer to play with Dad’s camera since he had it out to take photos of the eclipse’s progress.  Here’s what Dad and I came up with over the night:

(When the shadow had nearly completely covered the moon, it turned this orange-red colour)

 

“He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names.” Psalm 147:4 ESV.

 Out there, looking up at the stars, it really amazes me to think God is bigger than all the stars man could ever count and that despite their number, he still named them all.

we. are. fam-ily!

Left-Right: Daniel 12, Jess 17, Mum, Dad, Josh 18, Nomi 14

Three Lessons from the Ranger’s Apprentice Books

Since October I’ve been reading a book series called Ranger’s Apprentice by John Flanagan.  He’s actually an Australian and theeleven-book series have become a world bestseller. Josh read them years ago, when John Flanagan was still writing the series, and Nomi picked them up earlier this year.  I’d been meaning to read them for a few years but had always had other books on the go.  Until that is, a friend who used to live up here came up to visit, and threw a Ranger’s Apprentice Party.  The pressure was on!  I only managed to read a few chapters of the first book before the party but I managed OK!

Anyway, since then, I’ve nearly finished five of the books and loved them.  Although they are very easy reading and wouldn’t want my entire reading repertoire to live at that standard, they’ve been fun and exciting stories.  And although they are my ‘recreational books’, they’ve prompted me to improve in three areas:

Excelling in [insert hobby or task here].  In Ranger’s Apprentice, the Rangers are all uncanny archers with beyond-belief accuracy.  For them to get brilliant at the bow and arrow though, they have to give it practice.  Lots and lots of practice!  Ever since I met Susan Pevensie in The Chronicles of Narnia, I’ve loved archery, so I perked up when I learnt about the Ranger’s skill.  I’d love to be able to shoot an arrow full stop, let alone as well as Will or Halt could.  Sadly, I haven’t had very many opportunities to unleash my archer ambitions yet, but I realised something else.  I mightn’t be a breath-taking shot, but I can practice to become a good seamstress.  A competent pianist.  I can work at becoming a decisive public speaker, a proficient writer, and a lightning-fast kitchen-cleaner.  Whatever it might be, I can be intentional about giving it 100% and working hard to get better at my jobs and hobbies.

Holding back my tongue.  Rangers like to hold all the cards.  Rangers have to be ingenious, witty and resourceful.  They keep their eyes and ears open and their mouths shut until just the right moment.  There is a fine line between showing prudence and biding time – like the Rangers were -, and being plain nosey and poking into other people’s business – like we often tend to be – but it has reminded me to pay attention to the Proverbs which are constantly warning us not to just say whatever comes to my mind and ‘pour forth knowledge’.  Solomon wrote that if ‘even a fool keeps his mouth shut he will be considered wise’, and Paul exhorted the Ephesians to ‘let no corrupt words come out of your mouths, but only that will benefit those who listen’.

Taking God’s word seriously.  This is kind of related to my second lesson.  What would happen if I read God’s word… and just obeyed it?  Sometimes we don’t listen to the Bible until we see it in action, and although there is nothing wrong with that (Paul wrote, ‘imitate me, like I imitate Christ’) we also need to step up, take responsibility and obey God’s word out of faith.

 .

What lessons have you learnt from the books you’ve read lately?

2011 in Review

me practicing at the examiner's for my piano exams - I loved the baby grand!

Eighth December, 2011.  It’s hard to believe this year has almost come to a close; it has zipped by so quickly!  Looking back at Twenty-Eleven, it’s been full of so many highlights.  It has been an amazing year for me – I have learnt so much this year.  It’s been a year of stepping out into new and different things, doing hard things, going deeper in my relationship with God, and learning about God’s world and His purposes for us.

I was thinking the other night – this year has been like a roller coaster ride you see on the Monopoly board or on ads for Disney land.  Not that I’ve never actually been on a roller coaster but this year has felt one big ride.  God bought me a ticket, strapped me in, and whispered in my ear, ‘hold on!’ and then he takes me on this topsy-turvy, upside-down, inside-out journey that can be very unnerving but at the same time, I don’t want it to stop!

God’s worked in me a lot this year.  C.S Lewis paints a beautiful picture in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  When Aslan appears to the boy-turned-dragon Eustace, he tells Eustace to ‘undress’ before going to swim in a waterhole.  Eustace tries to shed his scales and eventually does lose a thin layer, but it doesn’t change him.  He tries again and a third time, but nothing happens.  Eventually Aslan steps in to shed his scales for him.  Aslan’s claws go painfully deep into Eustace’s skin, and it hurts Eustace so much he thinks he will die. But, when Aslan is finished, Eustace is finally and completely free of dragon-hood and the horrible scales that surrounded him.  God does that to us too sometimes – he reaches down and pulls off ugly scales, and it hurts, but we come out clean, free and refreshed.

I took piano exams for the first time in August (theory) and October (practical), which were some of the hardest things I’d ever done, but boy it felt good afterwards!

John 15 has become a favourite chapter of mine, on abiding [living, walking] in Christ and loving our neighbour.

God’s been shaping in me his vision for his Church – His bride – and I’m not just talking about Sunday mornings, but how Christians are supposed to act and live towards the world and towards each other.

Mum, Dad and I have had lots of conversations on school.  I’ve had to accept that homeschooling, and the things I will learn, is allowed to look different than a public school system, and that I have to have faith in my parent’s God-directed decision to homeschool me.

God has taught me a lot in the last six months on my identity in Christ – more on that later!

I’ve been praying all year for God to teach me to pray better, and I think that he’s answered that prayer.

The Law has been bugging me for a few years.  A few weeks ago Mum and I spent an entire morning talking about the Law and how Christ fulfilled it all, so that I could be free from it.  He wants His Law to be written on my heart (which can happen thanks to the Holy Spirit given to me) instead of on tablets of stone (see Jeremiah 31, Hebrews 8)

I’m sorry to say that I’m not really happy with my blog and my consistency, but I want to improve that.  Thankyou all you lovely people who encourage me just by commenting and all you amazing bloggers I’ve *met* this year!  Please continue to bear with me – I’m slowly learning the direction to take with this blog and what it will look like!

Love to you all!

xo

Jess