Merry Christmas

I am so grateful for all God has done for me throughout this year. It was a trying year, but I am so grateful to still be here. I know many people get depressed this time of year and many with good reason. But I know that the birth of my savior Jesus Christ is a reason to wake up giving praise and exhaltation to a loving, caring and faithful God. May you have an awesome Christmas. Be Blessed and thanks for stopping by my blog.

It's Almost Christmas

I have been off work for the Thanksgiving holiday. It has been wonderful, this year has flown by. For the past couple of days I have been in front of my tv watching HGTV. My friends and family are tired of me watching it. I am so enjoying all the Christmas decorating ideas. The handmade gift idea is really big for me. I am now known as "THE PEPPERMINT BARK COUSIN" They all love it. I only make candy during the holidays. I think it's awesome that I started my own tradition. As an only child I longed for tradition  and for me to have this title is an honor for me. When I do get married and have kids, they will probably get tired of my homemade gifts, NAW they won't. they will brag to all thier friends about how awesome their mom is. I have also been blog surfing on my time off. I have so many blogs I like, I need to post some pictures. That is on my list to do. Well, as the holiday gets closer I will post more pictures of some of the things I complete. Between knitting,cross-stitch,work and school my plate is full, but that's what makes it life.

New Beginnings

 

Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin.
-Zechariah 4:10


I am on my way to obtaining a new townhouse!!! It may take me a while, but I am working one dollar at a time. I am looking forward to one day being a homeowner. Almost through with this semester. I will be transfering to the University of Mobile in January. Need to update my blog more, i'm always bugging my friend Renee about updating hers guess i should do it to!!
Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin. -

35th Birthday!!!

I celebrated my 35th birthday on August 25th. I am so behind on my blogging. just hate to post with no pictures. But I had an awesome birthday. School has started again and Spanish II is more of a challenge than ever. Really looking forward to all that God has in store for me this year. I pray that I go all of where he wants me to. I am also going on a missions trip next year to Ghana!!! Keep me in much prayer that all the resources I need will be continually supplied. Maybe i will get that digital camera soon so i can post my knitting and cross stitch!!!

Life update

OK I am no longer dating that great guy!!! But i am ok with it. wasn't a bad thing, just got bigger and better things ahead of me. The enemy of our souls will send what my pastor calls "Appealing Distractions" in our lives. That was one of them. my creativity just kinda went on hold and out of the window, couldn't knit,cross stitch or read any of the things to stimulate my mind and creativity. Once the breakup happened I got flooded with tons of ideas and got more direction for my life and ministry. Started back cross-stitching last night and completed a couple of Knitted dishcloths. Also checked online last night and got my grades for the summer and i got a "B" in Spanish I. This is turning into a really good season!! I will be 35 next month and am so looking forward to the way my life is and will be flowing. Have an awesome week if I don't get another chance to update.

What's on my mind!!

* Why is it that the very thing you are looking and hoping for seems within reach , but your arms are too short?

* Why is it one moment things seem great , the next minute they aren't.'

*How you can almost settle for less than God's best and still stuggle to understand his plan.

* How am i going to pass this spanish class and i can barely understand the teacher.

* why does knitting not destress me as much as it used to?

Life Update

I have been in summer school and this has been one heck of a challenge. i am taking an online class and it has assignments due everyday since it is a shorter term. I was in the hospital for a couple of days due to stress and i learned to say NO!!!! I am also dating a wonderful guy!! Studying spanish to pass this summer term! Looking forward to a spring 2011 graduation. Have to take a math placement test in a couple of weeks, so I ask for all the prayers you can give me! The boyfriend met the parents this weekend and it went well. Just a short update Pray you guys have a Blessed Glory filled day!

New Journey for me!!

Yesterday I became a Mary Kay Beauty Consultant. This is my second attempt at it. The first time I was in my 20s and my head wasn't in the right place. Now at 34 I think i'm ready. alot of my friends have changed and my life outlook has changed as well. I also sold a lipstick yesterday on the first day. I had been praying that God would give me an increase in my finances besides selling my crafts and he did it. So guys pray that I do well in this new journey!! Thanks for your prayers in advance!!!

No Negativity!!

I decided today that I was becoming way too negative. I have so much to be grateful for. So I am on a quest to become more positive. I will let you know how that goes. It is raining here today with thunderstorms all around! So I went to Ruby Tuesdays for lunch with a friend and came home. I have been blog surfing and cross-stitching. This is a great day to do nothing but be productive all at the same time!!

Sock #1 Finished!!

It was a long time comming, but I finished my sock. Now all I need to do is finish the other one. that's the whole thing about having two feet.

Azalea Trail Run 2010!!!! I did it!!!

I completed the 5K on Saturday in 55:30. I am so excited. This is my 2nd 5K. I ran 1.5 miles and walked the rest. But it is an improvement since my 1st one!!! I am excited running is something I never thought I would like. But while running you can't think about your problems or whats bugging you. It takes all I have to make sure I don't trip or that no one is coming out of nowhere in a car or some hazard. I think at this point in my life I need this! Looking forward to the Old Mobie 8K in April!!

Learned Something New!

Thanks to Crimson Purl I saw this on her sight.
The Truth
Posted by Virtuous at 12/16/2007

You know how you just happen to pay attention to something more after you are really into it.


Well I came across the picture below last night flipping thru the Knit.1 Winter 2007 mag and on the very last page I had to seriously pause and give notice to her:

Feminist abolitionist, suffragette, and evangelist Sojourner Truth


I always knew who Sojourner Truth was and her significance in black history, but I then had to do some research on her now that I realized she was a knitter!!

I discovered this fabulous "knitstory"on her:

"It is not surprising that Isabella Van Wagenen, a Dutch-speaking African slave girl in Ulster County, New York , was a prolific spinner and knitter. Most women of that early 19th century Dutch community spun wool and knitted garments for protection against the blustery winters of that rugged, rural area. What is surprising is the creativity with which Isabella turned the common domestic art of knitting into a tool of self-sufficiency and self-definition.

Born into slavery at the turn of the 19th century, Isabella was required to spin and knit by the various New York slave owners for whom she labored during her childhood and teen years. Convicted by what she considered to be the commanding voice of God, however, she took major steps to transform her life. In 1826, one year before legal manumission in New York, she followed that voice and simply walked away from her slave master. In 1843, she was called to rename herself Sojourner Truth and to become an itinerant preacher.

Truth spent much of the time between 1830 and 1846 in religious communes doing domestic work, which included spinning and knitting. During the following years, as a spokesperson for the abolitionist and women’s suffrage movements, knitting circles were part of the social life that Truth shared with the white women with whom she spent most of her time.

Although Sojourner Truth was a compelling public speaker, the very attributes that bolstered her charismatic presence were used to sabotage her effectiveness. Layering commonly held, negative stereotypes about Black women with aspersions about her gender, detractors claimed that Truth’s gaunt, tall, masculine body and deep, guttural, Dutch-accented voice were those of a man. Even Truth supporters, such as Harriet Beecher Stowe, chose to inaccurately characterize Truth as a naïve, exotic African, who spoke in ungrammatical, southern dialect.

The ingenious activist, Truth, responded by having her photograph imprinted on cartes-de-visite and cabinet cards, the business cards of that era. She went to great lengths to be photographed in beautifully tailored, feminine clothing, as she posed amidst carefully arranged symbols of middle class respectability, especially her knitting needles and yarn. According to Truth biographer, Nell Irvin Painter, “Truth actually did knit, but in her photographs, she holds her yarn in only one hand, so that it conveys a motherly womanliness central to her self-fashioning.”

During and after the Civil War, Truth used knitting as a life-changing tool in another way. Traveling to various refugee camps for former slaves, she became a teacher and advisor for fugitives and former slaves. At Freedom Village in Arlington Heights , Virginia in the 1860’s and at enclaves sponsored by the Kansas Freedmen’s Relief Association in the 1870’s, Truth taught knitting as a part of her regimen of industriousness and self-sufficiency.

After spending a number of years on the lecture circuit, Sojourner Truth spent her latter years with her daughters in Battle Creek , Michigan , where she received lots of admiring visitors, and undoubtedly interspersed her visits with knitting, a domestic art that she cherished. Truth’s journey testifies to the potency of yarn and two needles in knitting the threads of a life of service, survival, self-sufficiency, and even self-definition.

~ Sojourner Truth: A Life, a Symbol by Nell Irvin Painter

*And if you want to learn more about Sojourner here is a brief summary of her. Also, a few more facts about her knitting, injured hand, and how she even purchased her own yarn!

*Of course I had to include her infamous speech that makes you feel like you should not have one complaint in the world and that you can do anything! THIS is the original superwoman.


Aint I a Woman?
(poetic version)


That man over there say
a woman needs to be helped into carriages
and lifted over ditches
and to have the best place everywhere.
Nobody ever helped me into carriages
or over mud puddles
or gives me a best place. . .
And ain't I a woman?
Look at me
Look at my arm!
I have plowed and planted
and gathered into barns
and no man could head me...
And aint I a woman?
I could work as much
and eat as much as a man--
when I could get to it--
and bear the lash as well
and ain't I a woman?


I have born 13 children
and seen most all sold into slavery
and when I cried out a mother's grief
none but Jesus heard me. . .
and ain't I a woman?


That little man in black there say
a woman can't have as much rights as a man
cause Christ wasn't a woman
Where did your Christ come from?
From God and a woman!


Man had nothing to do with him!
If the first woman God ever made
was strong enough to turn the world upside down, all alone
together women ought to be able to turn it
right side up again.



~ Delivered 1851 Women's Convention, Akron, Ohio


I just had to take a moment and honor this magnificent knitter!

MS awareness Event @ Bienville Square 2010

Let's Find a Cure!!

New Outlook on Life

I will be turning 35 this year!! When i was younger I had all these things I thought I should be doing by now. Well not many of those things have happened. But I am looking forward to 35 being one of the best years ever.
I am planning a trip this year. Don't exactly know where I want to go just yet. If anybody has any ideas let me know. I will run the Azalea Trail Run in March. I do know that I will Knit an Afghan this year. I will also plan to run another 5K before the year is out. Looking forward to losing another 20lbs. I know that God will strengthen me to do all these things as I spend time with him and seek his will for my life. I do know 35 is going to be one of the best years. Just think, I get a whole 365 days to enjoy 35. YAY!!! 34 isn't bad, don't get me wrong. I have truly had an amazing 34th year!! Lot of new things and new people came in and left my life. But the one constant is the one who gave me life in the beginning. Thanks be unto God!

Headbands!!

I learned how to make the headbands friday night. and i have gone full speed ahead. Now I have made some for easter. Had an order for 4 am looking forward to more orders.

A Busy Month!!

This month has been a busy one for me. I moved into a new place. I knit my own bathroom rug using Fantasy Natural in Chocolate. I also have learned to make headbands and am excited about that. My cross-stitching has taken a back seat for the moment. I need to get me an Ott lite. gotta save those eyes. But i wanted to post a couple of new pics on the latest projects.

Praise Report!!!

God Continues to show me grace and unmerited favor. Within 2 weeks I have gotten a new apartment and a new vehicle. God is an Awesome God!! I truly can say this was not any of my doing. He blesses us not just for us but to be a blessing for others. I thank God for allowing me to be a testimony of his goodness. I will tell others that if they trust God he will work on their behalf. Even when I wanted to quit and give up He wouldn't let me. For that I owe God all the Praise, Honor and Glory!!!!

My Accident

I was sitting at a red light waiting for the light to turn green. This guy was not paying attention and he ran into me!! Life is great and God is good. I was not hurt and still made it to curch to give God praise!

Happy New Years!!!

I had an awesome day today!! I went to church last night and brought the new year in praising God. He has done so many great things in my life. I went to my LYS today and got the chance to hang out with my friends. Renee finished another pair of crochet socks! Way to go Renee. I also got a little sock progress of my own happening. I tried my sock on over my other socks but they look great!! I almost have toes!!!