Sometimes He whispers.....

Sometimes He whispers, sometimes He shouts.  No, I am not referring to my husband.  He doesn’t shout all that often, unless it is at the TV and sports are on.  The “He” that I am talking about is God.  When I began my walk with God, and became born anew in Him, I started to learn how to listen.  Sometimes I didn’t want to….sometimes I still don’t.  The times when I don’t are when I find that he seems to shout the loudest.  

Sometimes, the loudest messages come on a whisper.  After I got hurt, and was floundering so, wondering what in the world I was going to do with the rest of my life, God whispered.  But boy oh boy it was loud and clear.  To this day I am trying to fulfill the instructions from that day.  He said it could be done.  I have put my faith in Him that it will.  That is how Ozark Body & Bath came to be a reality from a 10 year old idea.  He told me now that I was hurt, that it was time to follow that dream.  I am so grateful that He gave me that message that day.  I have loved every minute of my soap making journey and my soap making business.  I have met some fabulous folks along the way.  

Now, I have taken up a few new hobbies.  Ones where I can be restful and meditative while I do it.  Knitting and spinning for me bring me quiet relaxation.  They let me step away from the chronic pain that weaves its way through the fiber of my daily life for a moment and just get into the rhythm of the motion of “doing”.  I enjoy being alone in my thoughts with my knitting.  As my hands carry the yarn from one stitch from the next, I often think about how God has carried me through life from one hardship to the next.  For often times, my life has not been an easy one.  I have many times called upon him to carry me when I was to weary to walk even one step further.  Never was I refused.  I was always placed back on solid ground once again.  I think were it not for Him and His grace that sometimes I wouldn’t be here today.

I think that I am here for a reason.  I know that my journey is not through.  I had thought once, that my purpose in life was gone.  But once I got out of the darkness and depression of the aftermath of my life altering injury, I could see that I was so very wrong.  God gave me two new sons to raise. He knew I wasn’t done at two children, so he needed to give me a couple more.  He gave me special kids.  Kids who perhaps might just have needed the kind of person that I am to make them whole once again.  I think its working.  
I can see great changes in both of them over the years and they have made positive steps towards healing their pasts.  

I am glad that one day, long ago, I made the decision to give my life to God.  If I hadn’t, I don’t know where I would be today.  Or even if I would BE here today.  I didn’t get here by myself, that’s for sure.  I had help from a way higher power!!

Sunday Sunday

Another fine week lays ahead of me.  The possibilities of the week to come are vast.  I have much that I want to get accomplished this week, but I don’t know if I can squeeze it all in.  Here is a basic rundown:

1. make soap


2. pick cleaned wool and card into rolags


3. pick cleaned llama wool and card


4. wash remaining llama wool


5. work on knitting baby blanket for Aleisa


6. organize hall closet of soaping supplies


7. shampoo carpets.

And those are just the “extra” things I would like to get done.  That doesn’t count all the normal day to day housekeeping chores.  Nor does it include whatever me and Malia might get into each day or what she might do to keep my attention distracted off of my plan of action.  She is becoming so active that these days its hard to keep up with her unless you just shut the door behind you with her in the room with you.  Kinda hard in the kitchen since there isn’t a door!  

Last night, Preston hit a grand slam home run!  Boy was he ever grinning as he rounded to home plate.  That boy is a hitter now when he wants to be.  When he ever gets his concentration on, he is a ball player to contend with.  I would love to see him play just once without the handicap of his adhd and tourette’s.  He would be awesome.  He makes me proud!  He is such a sweet boy.  He has the heart of a competitor and is always rooting his team mates on even when they are losing.  For him it’s all about the love of the game.  

I’m glad the boys are going to CHAOS every Monday night at church now.  Maybe it will help with some of their little attitude issues.  Perhaps the Lord will do his work through the teen ministry.  I think that teens get the message better when they are with peers.  They don’t tend to listen so much during regular service.  It bores them.  They enjoy going, so that’s a good thing.  

Mailman Brings Joy

Well it was a fiber-y sort of day around our house.  The mailman was the bearer of boxes of great joy.  First box contained raw sheep fleece all the way from Idaho (Thanks Ric and Denise!).  They have a small flock of  Rambouillet sheep that they use for grazing.  They don’t do anything with the wool, so he just has it stored in his barn.  He was happy to send me some to try out.  The second box contained my new beautiful spindle.  This is the spindle I have been waiting for.  I’m a beta tester for Simple Market Farms, and they make spindles and sell wool rovings to spinners.  They have a great assortment of wool to choose from.  As a beta, I get to help them assess the spindle and the wools and give my opinions and such and so.  They sent me some gray Lincoln roving and also some cream pencil roving.  I can’t wait to get my hand into the pencil roving.  It feels like buttah.

I also took one of my Goodwill sweaters to the frogpond.  It came apart easily.  The yarn in it seems to be real nice yarn.  It’s a 70/30 blend acrylic and wool.  Now a lot of people are snobs when it comes to yarn and want nothing BUT wool.  I, am not.  I’ll take whatever looks and feels good.  I don’t care if it is the most expensive, finest yarn in the store….if it doesn’t feel good to my skin, I’ll not be buying it.  Besides, the new yarns they are coming out with everyday are so amazing and wonderful it is difficult to tell some of them from wool unless you read the label.  And some wools are so soft and fine that they feel like a soft, fine baby yarn.  Not all wool is itchy scratchy like the wool you think of when you think of that old sweater you used to wear that made you itch like crazy.  Now days some sheep are being bred specifically to give a softer, silkier wool.  

Tomorrow I have to make some soap.  I just haven’t felt up to the task of making soap lately.  Nothing motivates you like donating all of you inventory to hurricane relief.  I have very few bars in stock incase someone wants to order.  

Gosh I’m a busy girl.

Computers drive me crazy!

Yes, it's true. I have a love/hate relationship with a very important unmentioned object in my life.....Namely: the computer. I love it because it has brought into my life so many wonderful things. Without my computer I would literally be a shut in. I would have little contact with the outside world on a daily basis other than via my TV and my hubby.

With my computer, I have learned how to knit. It has become a passion in my life. I have known how to crochet for many many years and always wanted to know how to knit but never had a teacher until I had my computer and the various forums and lessons within. I have also begun to learn how to spin. Just this week, I have spun my very first tiny skein of beautiful yarn. I am so proud of me!! That yarn you see there is what "I" made.

With my computer, I have met some of the most wonderful women on planet earth. They are my friends and I am theirs. We laugh together, cry together, celebrate together, mourn together, rage together, but most of all we are just there for each other. We send each other birthday cards, no reason cards, surprise packages, and all sorts of things. In fact just recently, a group of them got together and traveled across the country and "crashed" the wedding of one of the girls in the group. I wasn't able to make the trip, but I enjoyed it nonetheless through them via their reports back. I love them very much. We have woven each other into the fabrics of our lives.

Why do I hate computers? Well for one, I am having to type this blog on my desktop because on my laptop I can't type in a nice neat little box like this. Why not? Good question. It's not showing up on my laptop. All the stuff above this typing space is there, except there is not place to put a curser.

I also hate computers because when you least expect it and for no good reason whatsoever, they will die. Turn one off one day and go to Texas and see what happens. Ours decided while we were gone that enough was enough.

I hate computers because we HAVE to have one. Really. Hubby's work is all computerized and he has to keep up with when he goes to work and where he is going via computer. It is our time slave.

I suppose the good does out weigh the bad. But man when things go bad with your computer it is as if life as you have come to know it has come to an end. The world tilts on its axis and gravity stops until it is fixed. We NEED our computers now days just like we need our vehicles and that, my friends is rather sad don't you think?

Things we do for love

We people do things for our fur kids, just so we know that they feel “the love”.  Today, I went to PetSmart and got the bulldogs new Kongs.  Oh how they love Kong toys.  Well these are gigundo King-size Kongs.  I also bought them some rawhide chips.  When I brought them home Rudy immediately saw that mommy had new toys and started to do the happy doggy dance all over the kitchen.  I let him have his Kong for a while so he could get it good and slobbery, and know that it WAS HIS!!!!  Then, like a meenie, I took it away…..to build the anticipation.  See, there is a method to my madness.  I was soaking two of the rawhide chips to be later stuffed inside the Kongs along with some food for hours of chewing (frustration) pleasure.  

Later, after the chips were softened enough to be all squishy, I mixed up some good doggy mush and stuff it down in the Kong and then stuffed in the rawhide, leaving just an teeny bit of the hide hanging out of the Kong.  I then packed as much of the remaining dog kibble into the Kong around the hide so that it was in there nice and snug and it would be real work to get it out.  You see, the object of this game is not only get the food, but time management and energy burning.  It’s not so badly needed with Rudy, the older dog, but with Harley, the pup, it is a definite MUST.  

These dogs are little guys who are souped up with the energy of  eleventy-seven hundrend watts of pure dog power!  Rudy is a 2 ½ yr old Boston Terrier.  He has mellowed a bit in his maturity…….unless or until that is…….you give him a ball.  Then he will run and jump and play until his tongue falls out and he trips over it and dies.  Now, Harley, on the other hand is only 7 months old.  He is Rudy’s son.  When he came into this world, we could see right away that he was going to be a handful.  He was the reason that the mamma dog had to have a c-section delivery.  He is a big goofy, one blue-eye-always on the go-curious puppy.  He jumps, runs, spins, hops, walks on two legs, leaps and loves to rolls the cat.  His favorite pastime is FOOD.  He needed some behavior modification and something to occupy his mind for a few hours a day in a bad way.  All the playing and running and sleeping just wasn’t enough.  He wants to be the alpha male in the house.  NOT.

So we shall see.  This is step one.