Regarding the below post, if anyone is interested in reading about the adventure of two families who have already begun a living-together-in-community-household, my cousin Brittany and her husband, Dan, have already begun to enter the world of "having all things in common." You can follow their adventures at their household blog -
http://theruscliffe.blogspot.com/
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Mandi!
Please hold your breath while I impart to you fellow bloggy friends the good news!
Our dear friend Mandi will be moving in with us!! While many of you just read this sentence and wondered how a happily married couple could possible consider having a new room mate as good news, please let me provide some illumination.
First, Andy and I are incredibly social people. Welike love having people stay at our house for extended periods of time. On top of this, Mandi is one our favorite people in the whole world and we adore spending time with her. So we're thrilled that we'll have a new member of our family for the next 9 months until she gets married.
Finally, even after she moves out when she gets married June 2010, we're still considering filling our house with people. We are becoming strong proponents of community and we've always wanted our home to be a place where the people in our community feel welcome and at home. We are beginning to believe, more and more, that God created us to be in community with other believers. Not just the "go to church on Sunday and Bible study once a week" style of community, but the living/eating/sleeping/sharing type of community that happens in a family. When we look at the early church we see so much of this type of church community, and we wonder whether we've lost some of the blessings that God intended for the church by separating ourselves into our own private little homes.
We're excited about experimenting in this "home-style" version of community. :D
Yay for Mandi!
Our dear friend Mandi will be moving in with us!! While many of you just read this sentence and wondered how a happily married couple could possible consider having a new room mate as good news, please let me provide some illumination.
First, Andy and I are incredibly social people. We
Finally, even after she moves out when she gets married June 2010, we're still considering filling our house with people. We are becoming strong proponents of community and we've always wanted our home to be a place where the people in our community feel welcome and at home. We are beginning to believe, more and more, that God created us to be in community with other believers. Not just the "go to church on Sunday and Bible study once a week" style of community, but the living/eating/sleeping/sharing type of community that happens in a family. When we look at the early church we see so much of this type of church community, and we wonder whether we've lost some of the blessings that God intended for the church by separating ourselves into our own private little homes.
We're excited about experimenting in this "home-style" version of community. :D
Yay for Mandi!
Blogging more
I will blog more. I will blog more. I will blog more. I will blog more. I will blog more. I will blog more.
Maybe if I repeat this little mantra in my blog, I'll actually end up blogging more.
Although, if I actually do end up blogging more it will probably be because wedding season is over and our life is returning back to a somewhat human pace again.
So let's raise our glasses (and our determination) to blogging more!
Maybe if I repeat this little mantra in my blog, I'll actually end up blogging more.
Although, if I actually do end up blogging more it will probably be because wedding season is over and our life is returning back to a somewhat human pace again.
So let's raise our glasses (and our determination) to blogging more!
Thursday, September 3, 2009
The Joys of Fabric
Quilting - oh how I love thee! I especially love this quilt -
Isn't it adorable? I just bought the fabric to make a quilt that will end up being similar, except I'll be using bright fuschia (not pink, ladies and gentlemen, but FUSCHIA) to replace the green. While I don't really enjoy FUSCHIA as a color, my little sister Chantel adores it and this quilt is going to be her Christmas present this year. So I'm simply going to figuratively close my eyes to the color and pretend it is green while I quilt it all together. Here's a picture of the fabric pre-quilting!
Also, I've been dying to post photos of the quilting process, but I'm a little reluctant to because most of them will end up as Christmas presents this year and most of the people who actually read my blog will be the recipients of my quilting efforts.... I'll post as much as I can without revealing too much! For example - this is a ________ (insert offending color name here) that I've been working on recently.
Initially, I was just using scraps from my Super-Awesome-Garage-Sale-Find to practice a new quilting technique. For about 3 months I did not permit myself to spend lots of money on new quilting fabric which meant my quilting fingers needed an outlet and this quilt is the product of said quilting-finger-itchiness. Now I'm running out of my scraps in this color scheme and I'm at a loss about what to do with it. My options, as I see them, are:
1. Make a really cute baby girl quilt and WAIT (one of my greatest flaws = impatience) until someone I know has a baby girl....
2. Add really REALLY large borders and make it a twin size bed quilt. However, who really wants a pink quilt???! Seriously, it's offensive.
3. Add strips of fabric in between the strips of quilted-ness and make it a strippy type of quilt... Still, my largest problem remains, who wants a pink quilt?! Ugh.
I've been informed recently that there are girls out there who like pink (and even some boys!) and that, perhaps, someone may appreciate a PINK quilt, but I'm still struggling to accept that someone might like this color scheme. However, since I have put so much effort into this offensive quilt (it literally has taken more time than all my other quilts put together!) and I really don't want it sitting around the house polluting my quilting space with it's offensive pink pollutants, I'm determined to give it away to some unlucky person. I'm thinking maybe giving it to Andy's grandmother, Mimi (if members of the Catts family are reading this, do you know if Mimi actually likes that one unmentionable color??).
On another side note related to quilting, you may have noticed a brief comment about my: Super-Awesome-Garage-Sale-Find! When you read this, you must have wondered - "What on earth did Elisha find at a garage sale?! It must have been amazing to receive it's own title as the Super-Awesome-Garage-Sale-Find!" Well, my friends, family, and random blog stumblers, this is the story of my Super-Awesome-Garage-Sale-Find:
Once upon a time, some brilliant genius invented the Happy Valley Garage Sales (HVGS). For those of you who are from some foreign land and are unfamiliar with the wonderosity of the the HVGS, it is a gathering of many home-dwellers in the Happy Valley area who open up their garage doors and sell furnishings and nicknacks from the comfort of their driveway. Simply put, one can spend days wandering this garage sale extravanganza and still find deals that will make any garage-shopper filled with glee. While doing said wandering, I discovered a discreet bin of fabric. I perused the fabric thinking to myself, "My! what beautiful fabric options to choose from!" However, the garage sale lady wanted $5 per tiny sack of fabric and that was simply too expensive for scraps I may or may not use. I nearly left the garage sale saddened by the fact that I didn't have such a great store of scraps in my own home to make scrappy quilts with, but instead, I mustered up my courage, fully prepared for a great disappointment, and asked how much the garage-seller wanted for ALL the scraps. Expecting her to quote a number around $100+, I braced myself for her answer. "$7" she said simply. I was stunned. I'm pretty sure my jaw fell to the ground in a cartoon-like fashion. I nearly offered her $10 to make myself feel like I wasn't cheating such a nice old lady (calling her a saint might be more appropriate), but wisely, my garage-shopping instinct kicked in, and I proudly told her I would take it all. While my insides were jumping up and down, I kept my calm exterior as we packed bag after bag after bag after bag of quilting scraps. While I stumbled back to my mom (my garage-shopping partner in crime) with all my loot, her face widened as she remebered the sign that said "$5" for each tiny bag. I'm pretty sure she thought I had just thrown all my money out the window for hundreds of tiny pieces of fabric. I'm also pretty sure she thought I had lost my mind. Until, somehow in the state of my delirious happiness, I managed to inform her that all this beautious fabric was achieved for the low price of $7.
And that, my friends, is the Super-Awesome-Garage-Sale-Find of the century. ::sigh happily:: The End.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
evening musings
I think the real reason I don't blog that often is my life seems boring and rather uninteresting to the teeming masses that populate the internets. But every once in a while, I happen upon a subject that I want to pontificate upon more than usual. As in, usually I just sum it up in a facebook status update, and leave it at that. But I need to say more, and making a bajillion status updates as this continually crosses my mind just doesn't seem like the right way to do this, so I'll put it here.
simply put, I've been pondering one thing:
How do people live without the love of Jesus??
The answer I've come to is that they don't ever actually live...they exist. And rather poorly, I might add. Working in the job that I have, I see a lot of squalor, depravity and the very needy, in more ways than one. This comes in many ways - drug and alcohol addiction, situations that cause poverty, decisions that cause poverty, and a myriad of other things. But the number one thing I see, every single day, is the need for love.
Of course, this can come across like some hippy post, and I know I'm going to have some people saying "But Andy, you're a right-wing, gun-toting, rush-limbaugh listening capitalist! What's this?" This is different. This is not the need for our pathetic human joke that we call love. This is the deep need, yearning and outcry of the human race for something beyond ourselves, a love that cannot be found on this earth.
The love of Jesus, of the Father, and the Holy Spirit is so much different than anything that can be found here. I don't think words can really express this, but I'm going to give it a shot. What I see in people, every day, is the need to feel worthy, to feel wanted, to feel needed, to feel appreciated, to be taken care of, to be understood, to be held when they need to break down and cry, to be absolutely loved and adored for exactly who they are, problems, screwups and all.
This is what the world as we know it cannot provide. At times, the love of God shines through people - when we love others by doing all of these things for them. But we cannot find is someone who will do all of these things for us, 110% of the time, no matter what we are doing. And that is what sets God apart - He loves us, no matter what, every second of every day. Even if we're cursing His name, or denying His existence.
All I can think of anymore is how my heart is breaking for the world - for those who don't know Jesus, for those who find themselves feeling a yearning for this love beyond anything else they've ever wanted - beyond the need for food, for water, for air, for life. The actions of people on this earth merely support this theory - our entire purpose in life, if not for Christ, is for substituting the things of this world in an attempt to fill this desire. And it never works.
Surrounded by the world, I am struck with a desire to help people find Jesus, to find the final answer in the question that is life. I cannot describe how my heart is breaking for young men and women especially. I see a group that has been told over and over again, by their parents, by their teachers, and by their peers that life is nothing but a great quest for pleasure, for "what feels good." Yes, on the surface that sounds well and good - of course you should want good things for yourself! But oh, how different the "good" things of this world are from the good things found in Christ Jesus.
Pleasure in this world only becomes pain as our generation is realizing that finding a girl, finding a guy, having money, having this car or that house is only temporary. For that house will crumble, the car will be outdated, and odds are good that your relationship with that special someone has deteriorated to a point where you don't even recognize them for who they used to be.
This has all been racing through my mind as I think of some of the people I have met in the last few weeks, especially young women. When I see their predicaments, I feel as if it has penetrated my own heart. I think of my wife, my sister, or my frinds in that situation and it is horrible. Women of the world need a loving Father - one that they can only find in God. I realize I'm rambling on, but well, it's what's on my mind.
All said, I want to help. I don't know how to help, and that's the end result of all these musings - what can I do? How can I, how can we, reach the world with the love of Jesus? We face a daunting task, as the majority of the world wants nothing to do with God, as they have all heard it before, and we Christians are just a bunch of hypocrites, and a place to run when times are tough (because churches are such suckers, and will give free handouts to the needy.)
But what could be different? We've got Big Brother and Big Sister programs, how about a "Great Father" program? There has to be a way to help heal the hearts of women who have been hurt by men, who can't imagine that there are guys out there who love them (not romantically) for who they are - not what they look like. Because so many women have given up everything in hopes of finding this love in the world, and are now desperate and broken.
Can a band of men get together - those guys who raised their daughters right, who told them they looked beautiful every day, who tucked them in at night, who helped them find a dress for the dance, who encouraged them to be themselves every second of every day - and that no boy was worth them if they didn't love them in the same way? And beyond that, the men who love Jesus - and use him as an role-model? Can these guys get together and show women that men can think beyond short skirts and skin?
I could go on and on, but it's late, and I know that it's starting to get jumbled. As I continue to write, more and more pops into my head. But I'll leave those for another musing, another time. But the question foremost in my mind is, how? I know that god is the only one that can answer that question. I want to help. I want to reach these people, to show them the mighty, awesome and amazing love that God is - beyond all that we know on earth.
And what I know, is that our current methods aren't working. We're timid, we're afraid, and we think that just "telling people about Jesus" is the answer. We need to truly reach out - beyond words, into action. Showing people the love of Jesus, and not just by wearing a cross necklace, not joining in on a dirty joke or whatever. We need to do our best to love like Jesus - heart, mind and soul, all reservations aside.
ideas are welcome. please send them my way.
simply put, I've been pondering one thing:
How do people live without the love of Jesus??
The answer I've come to is that they don't ever actually live...they exist. And rather poorly, I might add. Working in the job that I have, I see a lot of squalor, depravity and the very needy, in more ways than one. This comes in many ways - drug and alcohol addiction, situations that cause poverty, decisions that cause poverty, and a myriad of other things. But the number one thing I see, every single day, is the need for love.
Of course, this can come across like some hippy post, and I know I'm going to have some people saying "But Andy, you're a right-wing, gun-toting, rush-limbaugh listening capitalist! What's this?" This is different. This is not the need for our pathetic human joke that we call love. This is the deep need, yearning and outcry of the human race for something beyond ourselves, a love that cannot be found on this earth.
The love of Jesus, of the Father, and the Holy Spirit is so much different than anything that can be found here. I don't think words can really express this, but I'm going to give it a shot. What I see in people, every day, is the need to feel worthy, to feel wanted, to feel needed, to feel appreciated, to be taken care of, to be understood, to be held when they need to break down and cry, to be absolutely loved and adored for exactly who they are, problems, screwups and all.
This is what the world as we know it cannot provide. At times, the love of God shines through people - when we love others by doing all of these things for them. But we cannot find is someone who will do all of these things for us, 110% of the time, no matter what we are doing. And that is what sets God apart - He loves us, no matter what, every second of every day. Even if we're cursing His name, or denying His existence.
All I can think of anymore is how my heart is breaking for the world - for those who don't know Jesus, for those who find themselves feeling a yearning for this love beyond anything else they've ever wanted - beyond the need for food, for water, for air, for life. The actions of people on this earth merely support this theory - our entire purpose in life, if not for Christ, is for substituting the things of this world in an attempt to fill this desire. And it never works.
Surrounded by the world, I am struck with a desire to help people find Jesus, to find the final answer in the question that is life. I cannot describe how my heart is breaking for young men and women especially. I see a group that has been told over and over again, by their parents, by their teachers, and by their peers that life is nothing but a great quest for pleasure, for "what feels good." Yes, on the surface that sounds well and good - of course you should want good things for yourself! But oh, how different the "good" things of this world are from the good things found in Christ Jesus.
Pleasure in this world only becomes pain as our generation is realizing that finding a girl, finding a guy, having money, having this car or that house is only temporary. For that house will crumble, the car will be outdated, and odds are good that your relationship with that special someone has deteriorated to a point where you don't even recognize them for who they used to be.
This has all been racing through my mind as I think of some of the people I have met in the last few weeks, especially young women. When I see their predicaments, I feel as if it has penetrated my own heart. I think of my wife, my sister, or my frinds in that situation and it is horrible. Women of the world need a loving Father - one that they can only find in God. I realize I'm rambling on, but well, it's what's on my mind.
All said, I want to help. I don't know how to help, and that's the end result of all these musings - what can I do? How can I, how can we, reach the world with the love of Jesus? We face a daunting task, as the majority of the world wants nothing to do with God, as they have all heard it before, and we Christians are just a bunch of hypocrites, and a place to run when times are tough (because churches are such suckers, and will give free handouts to the needy.)
But what could be different? We've got Big Brother and Big Sister programs, how about a "Great Father" program? There has to be a way to help heal the hearts of women who have been hurt by men, who can't imagine that there are guys out there who love them (not romantically) for who they are - not what they look like. Because so many women have given up everything in hopes of finding this love in the world, and are now desperate and broken.
Can a band of men get together - those guys who raised their daughters right, who told them they looked beautiful every day, who tucked them in at night, who helped them find a dress for the dance, who encouraged them to be themselves every second of every day - and that no boy was worth them if they didn't love them in the same way? And beyond that, the men who love Jesus - and use him as an role-model? Can these guys get together and show women that men can think beyond short skirts and skin?
I could go on and on, but it's late, and I know that it's starting to get jumbled. As I continue to write, more and more pops into my head. But I'll leave those for another musing, another time. But the question foremost in my mind is, how? I know that god is the only one that can answer that question. I want to help. I want to reach these people, to show them the mighty, awesome and amazing love that God is - beyond all that we know on earth.
And what I know, is that our current methods aren't working. We're timid, we're afraid, and we think that just "telling people about Jesus" is the answer. We need to truly reach out - beyond words, into action. Showing people the love of Jesus, and not just by wearing a cross necklace, not joining in on a dirty joke or whatever. We need to do our best to love like Jesus - heart, mind and soul, all reservations aside.
ideas are welcome. please send them my way.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Decorating!
I've been dreaming about decorating our house and I've actually been planning it all out before I go on a money spending binge (which I'm trying really REALLY hard not to do) and I've refined some of my ideas since I've started pondering how we should decorate and fill our newly purchased home.
I haven't found one photo that perfectly captures what I've been looking for, but these two photos are the best options that I've come up with thus far:
This is CLOSE to the color I want to paint the walls in our bedroom:
or 
My idea is to paint the walls a really bright color and then decorate all in black and white with tiny accents in that are in the same color as the wall.
This is similar to what I've been thinking:
.
However, instead of a boring white wall, I'm going to paint it bright teal like the pictures above.
Also, I'd love a non-couch version of this couch piece that Andy and I found at Macy's to put at the foot of the bed. So cute!
That's all for now folks!
I haven't found one photo that perfectly captures what I've been looking for, but these two photos are the best options that I've come up with thus far:
This is CLOSE to the color I want to paint the walls in our bedroom:
or My idea is to paint the walls a really bright color and then decorate all in black and white with tiny accents in that are in the same color as the wall.
This is similar to what I've been thinking:
. However, instead of a boring white wall, I'm going to paint it bright teal like the pictures above.
Also, I'd love a non-couch version of this couch piece that Andy and I found at Macy's to put at the foot of the bed. So cute!
That's all for now folks!
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