Advent Now and 'Till He Returns

"But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times." - Micah 5:2

I'm not an Old Testament scholar, but from what I understand, 400+ years transpired between the prophet Micah's prophecy -  that the awaited King, the Son of God, would be born in Bethlehem. This is just one of the many prophecies that the people of Israel were waiting upon to be answered. 

But God was faithful and He sent His Son to earth. The years leading to the time may have been dark, and filled wih questioning of his intent but The Lord fulfilled his promises. 

The beauty of Christmas is celebrating the birth of our Savior and treasuring that season of Advent - of waiting for Him. Let's not forget we are now in another stage of waiting - for His return. The world is dark and evil, but our Savior - who came to earth as both God and man- has a perfect plan for all of history. His birth was foretold and The Lord knows when he will come again. 

We can't lose hope, but must press on for His Kingdom. His Birth is cause for reflection and celebration as his period of Advent concludes. May our hearts always be in a state of Advent for his second coming. 

Washington's Thanksgiving Proclamation

Surrounding Thanksgiving, there always seems to be a big discussion about what the "first Thanksgiving" actually looked like.  While I find all of those stories and research interesting - and worthy of discussion - I also think it's worthwhile for us to look back at the words penned by our Nation's leaders over the years on prior to and after Thanksgiving became an "official holiday".

A few months after the U.S. Constitution was ratified, the first Congress was seated, and George Washington was inaugurated as the 1st President of the United States, Washington issued a proclamation declaring November 26, 1789 to be a day of thanksgiving and prayer.  I highly recommend reading the entirety of this proclamation (it's brief), available from the Heritage Foundation's First Principles Series.

 

The third and final section is poignant.  Note the elements of praise, gratitude, contrition, and supplication (emphasis mine).  I am continually amazed at the character and the humility of our First President - he was most certainly a man "for such a time as this.  As we approach Thanksgiving, let's remember to be thankful for the blessing of our country, to pray for our leaders and future leaders, and to pray that we get back to these "first principles." 

"...And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations, and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally, to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.

 

Go. Washington"

 

 

The DIY Tie-T-Shirt Blanket

This post is about 5 months late, but I hope it will be helpful to the blogosphere!  It would not have been possible had there not been a reason to make a Tie-T-Shirt Blanket.  But there was.  And his name is Stephen - my "baby" brother who recently graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point.  Needless to say, he is pretty awesome.  And handsome! 

Life as a Cadet at West Point is tough.  But there are some sweet moments and memories, too.  The young men and women who make it through this rigorous college and military training deserve A LOT of credit!  If you can't tell by now, I am immensely proud of our 2013 Army Grad! 

 

Stephen's one request for a graduation present was a t-shirt blanket.  You know - we all collect a million and one t-shirts growing up from school, sports teams, camps, etc and they just collect space in your closet, or the bin that they've been thrown into collects dust in the basement.  (Or maybe your parents threw them all away - in that case, sorry!)  The idea is a great one - use all those t-shirts for a product you'll actually use frequently so you can squeeze every last drop of sentimentality out of your childhood memories.

 

Here was the problem though - none of the women in our family, except for our Grandmas who are past their sewing prime, know how to sew.  I'd love to really learn how (if I had the time), but right now it's just not an option.  So we decided to go with the Tie-T-Shirt option.  I'm happy to report - it turned out great! 

 

 

 

The Tie-T-Shirt option is a really great one if you're looking to get by without a sewing machine (I'll explain later that I did sew a little by hand).  However, we struggled a bit through the process as most of the samples and directions I found online were inadequate.  I am hoping this blog post and instructions will make things easier for anyone who attempts this in the future!

These directions come from http://www.ehow.com/how_12066953_make-blanket-out-tshirts-sewing.html#ixzz2eMEVatLi with my edits and additions in RED.

 

1.  Collect old T-shirts from your own wardrobe or those of family members. You will need 16 shirts for a blanket.  The T-shirts can be slightly worn, but they should still be in good quality, without obvious holes in the material. Look for shirts that bring back memories from childhood or special events that might otherwise be forgotten. Wash and dry the shirts before working with them to create a blanket. The bigger the t-shirt the better - if the pattern is very close to the neckline, it will be a little difficult when you go to tie the squares, but not impossible.  If you have lots of different colors, lay out a design for where you want each t-shirt square.
 

 

 

2.  Measure and mark out 18-inch squares in each T-shirt.  Cut out the squares.   Then cut 3-inch squares from the four corners of each of the 18-inch squares.  This can be challenging if the t-shirts are small, which is likely if they are for kids.  Try cutting as close to the neck as possible.

3.  Fringe the 18-inch T-shirt squares along the edges. Simply cut 3-inch slits about every inch or so along each of the four sides of the square.  Be sure to make the same number of fringes on each square - I'd recommend laying them on top of each other.

3.5.  The directions we found on the Internet did not call for this, but we'd highly recommend it - purchase some sort of backing that can be ironed on to the back of the t-shirts (we just asked for recommendations at Michael's.  This will give a little bit more sturdiness to the t-shirt side of the blanket.           

4.  Attach the squares together by tying the fringe along one side of a square to the fringe along the side of another square.  Repeat this process to make four rows of four squares. Then attach the four rows together in the same manner, by tying the fringe together along the edge of each row.  The result will be a four-by-four perfect square. This is the top of your blanket. The tighter the tie the better - it's a bit like putting together a puzzle!

5.  Cut out a piece of fleece measuring 54 inches to make a soft back for your blanket. From each of the four corners of the square of fleece, cut out a 3-inch square. Fringe the edges of the square by cutting a 3-inch slit for every inch along each edge. Lay the t-shirt squares on top, so that you can line up the slits.

6.  Place the T-shirt top on top of the square of fleece. Check to make sure the faces of the T-shirts are showing. Tie the fringed edges of the T-shirt square to the fringed edges of the fleece backing. Once all four sides have been connected your blanket will be complete and ready for a cuddle.

 

7.  Many of the ties will stick out in all different directions - this is a neat look, but I wanted to make ours a little bit more polished.  I pushed the ends behind the t-shirts, and then did some free-hand sewing to keep it all together - in the back (so do before you tie the fleece backing on!) so that you couldn't see my stiches at all.  You can compare the before and after below:

 

 



8.  Lastly, if you have any blank t-shirts, you might want to add a patch or applique.  We found these at an Army store, which I think, added a great touch!



 

 

I hope this is helpful!  Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Like Teacher, Like Follower

It can be funny and frustrating how children grow up and begin to exhibit the traits of their parents.  We of course want our children to pick up our best traits, and can be horrified when they start to demonstrate the bad ones!  Rodney Atkins song, "Watching You," portrays this perfectly.  On the one hand, the little boy bows his head to pray - because that's what he sees his daddy do!  On the other hand, he utters a "four-letter-word" - because that's what he heard his daddy do, of course! 

The chorus, from the little boy's perspective goes: "He said, I've been watching you, dad ain't that cool?  I'm your buckaroo, I want to be like you..." A simple and sweet song, "Watching You" describes how we emulate who teaches us. 

As a follower of Christ, how am I emulating my Maker, my Savior, my Lord?  That's what Francis Chan's Multiply challenges believers to examine.  I'm so blessed to attend a Church that takes this mission seriously - because being a disciple of our Savior - making Him Lord of every aspect of our life is what it's all about.  My small group embarks upon an 8 week study to test ourselves and encourage one another to more closely follow Him, with our crosses, each day, in everything. 

Ephesians 2 so beautifully describes the gift of salvation we've been given - because of God's grace.  We're praying that our Church, and the church, would embrace the full responsibilities of citizenship of His Kingdom - emulating, and being "like Christ" in all we do, by the power of the Holy Spirit, so that others will see HIM through US.  That's how we "multiply."  Lord, may our hearts "want to be like you."

^{Ephesians 2:17} He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. ¹⁸ For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.¹⁹ Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, ²⁰ built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. ²¹ In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. ²² And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

Morning Glory

I knew it had been a long time since I did an updated blog post, but almost a year!?!?! Where does the time go?  Life was so slow and wonderful when I was a child...there is still much wonderful-ness to my life but...there are also children being murdered with chemical weapons in Syria, Christians in the Coptic community in Egypt are being killed and their churches burned, and musical entertainment in this country has reached a new low.  Sigh, okay, sorry for the downer, but we can't keep our head in the sand!

Being a news, history, and culture junkie, I can't keep from getting sucked into the headlines and analysis.  Unfortunately, that has left little time for my little blog!  Hopefully this should change.  I've already got a really fun post in the works, so stay tuned...

In the meantime, I wanted to share these lovely photos of a beautiful sunrise this morning in the Nation's Capitol...because, well, they're beautiful!  I've seen many late nights at the Capitol, but I'm not often out this early to start the day!  Many years ago, when I was a young pup working in Congress, I gave Capitol tours (history heaven for someone like me!) and would always point out that Lady Freedom atop the Capitol dome faces east - thus, "the sun never sets on freedom."  I always thought that was so poetic and a reminder of how blessed we are in America! (Of course, a recent court ruling saying that Christians can have beliefs but not act on them, does not bode well for freedom and religious liberty...)

But this beauty invokes another kind of poetry that will never fade - from Lamentations chapter 3, verses 22-23: "Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."  That is cause for joy!  No matter what else we might face.