A Challenge

I feel that the Lord has been challenging me lately to grow. To put my faith and His power to the test. To trust Him with things that I normally would try to bully thru or ignore completely. Its all well and good to say that we believe and we love God, but what if we never live like that? What if we go thru this life content with shallow admiration of His power but a sense (however tiny or false) of self sufficiency that ultimately cheats us (and those around us) out of what His power can really do in this world? Im here. This is where I am. I hope I dont lose it or abuse it or defy Him.

I have been asked twice now to do what He asks. I dont know the whole plan, but I trust that He will reveal it to me as needed and provide me with all the resources to accomplish the task, if I take that first step and just do it. Like Peter stepping out on the water to meet Christ. That first step is obedience.
What if our heroes from the bible never took that first step? What if they didnt believe what He asked of them or ignored it because they were afraid? It usually reaped heavy repercussions for them and everyone involved, all because they didnt try. Is that all He really asks? I dont know yet. But I know its the first step.

A few looks at people who took that first step:
Moses - coming before the pharoah took nerve he didnt have on his own. Would he have done it with out being asked? Definitely not!
David - A youth coming against a giant? Maybe in his dreams, but never without God telling him to do it and the simple belief that if he believed, anything was possible.
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego - A very colorful example of what is possible when we believe and obey what God asks of us.
Amazing things are possible when we are obedient!

A quote from my lesson plan this week:" These three (Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego) had confidence in their powerful God. They knew that their obedience presented God with the opportunity to work mighty things on their behalf, no matter how frightening the situation! When a frightening situation confronts us, there is only one thing to do: Obey the Lord. Then we can be confident He will work mighty things for us as well, even while we confront any trial life may present."

I have to take that last sentence seriously. Any trial life may present can be frightening, even if it is something as simple as God asking us to start looking at someone how He sees them. To stop believing what we see and what Satan tells us about them, and to allow God to mend our hearts and be open to the the mighty works His power can achieve when we obey. My first step here is to believe what He tells me. To allow Him to change my eyes and heart and mind. I think I can be obedient here.

Thank God that we can take this advice literally : "When a frightening situation confronts us, there is only one thing to do: Obey the Lord".

Pray for me as I practice doing what God asks in all situations. I have a direct line to the Master thru prayer, and He's given me an instruction manual!

Yay! Our moth has emerged!


I was getting kind of worried. It had been in there for over a month, and I was told there was a REALLY good chance it was a parasitic wasp. Meaning, that the caterpillar had a parasitic egg laid on it and when it went into metamorphosis (cuccoon) then the wasp would take over and grow and use the caterpillar for food during this process. Still a really important part of the bug cycle, but kind of creepy and dissapointing. But it was not! It was a MOTH!

The moth (and caterpillar) is a Ruby Tiger Moth. I had never seen one, so this was really special. It was in the container Saturday, just a day or two after the last time I checked. We missed it coming out, but we were able to enjoy it a little since it didnt hardly move until dusk set in. It is, of course, a moth, so it flew away at night. Really cool.

Here are some pics of our little friend:

















In reality, it was a magenta color. A real red. Not this rusty brown.
You can look this species up at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maltese_Ruby_Tiger_Moth. The description is for a variation of this, but the picture is good. Or here for a really good pic: http://wordpress.com/tag/ruby-tiger-moth/feed/


Im definitely going to do this again. But this time, we build the cage first! Cant wait for fall so the kids and I can go looking for a new caterpillar.

I love this picture. I wish I could spend my day like this.

This was taken from amethyste at http://amethyste.deviantart.com/

I wish she would put it up for sale!

A craft fair is a torturous and self deprecating event. You spend all your time making mulitples of a handy little item, know that there HAVE to be people who cant live without this one thing. You set up your tables of wares in the cold weather. You sit complacently with a smile on your face, waiting for someone to stop at your booth. You keep smiling when they walk past, but start to grumble and complain silently. You're freezing, you have to pee and it seems everyone around you is selling but not you! End of day 1. Rinse, repeat.

Who are these people who actually make money at this?! What kind of lives do they lead? They must be retired to have so much free time to work on these things. And their children are grown. There can be no other answer. There were some really impressive, beautiful items for sale.

I will NOT be doing another "craft fair". I will go to them, but not work them. I missed out on enjoying lots of kid things and doing some holiday shopping because I was stuck in a booth. I enjoyed the music immensly, but would have enjoyed it more if it had been shared with my family. I did, however, get to visit with all my important friends and family, because they all came out to support me! That was really the highlight of it for me.

So for my future ventures into business, I will be working towards attending the fiber arts festival next March. Look for my hand printed fabrics there. And if you want anything sewn between now and then, email me.


Maybe I will do a booth next year. Like this one:





















Im bound to do better.

Stop, Rewind, freeze

At what point do we stop blaming everyone else for our problems? When do we actually look at ourselves as the cause, and not just the effected? Are we too self centered to see these things? Do we really believe that the actions taken against us are all in malice, or are they reactive? If we trace it all back, where does it go wrong? And who's fault is it REALLY? If we could instantly remove that belief, that we are justified in our actions, then could we possibly change the result - the reciprocated action? Would the means create a new end?
Most definitely.

This is the situation that I find myself in. Something that I have long believed to be one way, and in fact, held as such truth I would have staked my life on it, has been openly denounced as false! Painfully honest is hard to ignore. And I can completely see it as they do, which makes me ashamed at my own behavior. Im sure this is the response that the divulgence was intended to illicit, but all the same, I feel it truly.
So what do I do?
I know that the "lets just see how this goes" attitude gets along for a bit but eventually becomes lazy and reverts to the old behavior. I can only attempt to be at once different. In a sense, this means to start at the beginning. At least for this kind of thing. Old ground has to be recovered, with fresh eyes, ears and hearts. Like looking for a lost ring. If you retrace your steps, you have to be more vigillant than before, more attentive to the things you missed. It could all be uphill, but I see no other way.

Only now do I see the things the Lord has been speaking to me about this week. And Im not sure I get it all completely, but Im listening.

I realize that this is all extremely vague, but such are feelings. Pray that I will embrace this change wholeheartedly and with vigour. It could mean everything.

German parents post baby on ebay for 1 Euro http://ap.peninsulaclarion.com/pstories/world/europe/20080524/282540842.shtml

Wow.
I know how they feel. Somedays you just want to get rid of your kid. But WOW.

Fuzzy friend

Last fall, the kids and I found a fuzzy caterpillar. He was pretty- All black with orange markings. After much research, I determined that it is some kind of fuzzy bear caterpillar, some kind of tiger moth, although I could find none identical to it in any book and no reason that it should be in Alaska at all. So we put it in a baby wipe container packed with leaves, to winter under the porch, with the intention of building a butterfly cage in the spring.

Now, spring came late this year, so we just pulled it out from under the porch about a week ago. We added what green leaves we could find, put in a wet cotton ball for water, and set the container in the garden until the cage is built. Too late! The kids opened the container 2 days ago and it has made a cuccoon on the side wall! Its an interesting cuccoon, dark and fuzzy, but you can see inside of it also. It even looks a little bigger in there today then it did yesterday! So we will keep checking it daily so we will be sure not to miss the wonder of a butterfly/moth emerging. Here are some pics of our little friend from yesterday: