perspective, prayer and the "health care" bill

Let me tell you a little story about a young man named Matthew Quist. He can only really move a few muscles in his face anymore, but he is as concerned with the political state of this country and all the news that goes on locally and globally as any able bodied human being could be. He can't physically do anything about any of it,(he votes every election though, which is doing something) yet he is concerned about the world around him and heartily voices his opinion. Something I've learned from him is that it's good to be concerned about all the evils in the world, as long as you enjoy your video games, love your family & friends and always keep an eternal perspective. If you don't you'll go crazy, or at least be very unhappy.

Part of keeping that perspective is found through prayer. All we have to do is turn on the news, or go to a grocery store and listen to people talk, to see that these are definitely the last days. Anytime I start to get down about anything I think of him and I'm all right. I love my little brother!

Something that he feels strongly about, as do I, is the "health care bill" that is being deliberated on right now. As far as I understand from the reading and listening to the reports on this bill that I've done, it will only hurt this great nation of ours, and us. If you feel the same, perhaps you've signed numerous petitions, sent emails and tried your darndest to make sure those representatives in Washington D.C. know that a majority of the citizens of our country don't want this thing to be passed. Perhaps you've been praying that the Lord will continue to bless this country and those who hold influential political offices to do what will be best for us as a people, not only now but always. If you haven't done so, I urge you to. Prayer is the one great way to have an impact on otherwise untouchable circumstances, in all aspects of our lives. No matter the outcome of this issue I will still count myself blessed to be a citizen of the United States, and I will do my best to keep an eternal perspective, to remember that the Lord will always be over it all.

once upon a December...

Now that it's been, what, over 2 months since Christmas, (yikes!) I've finally put all the pics on the computer. So, here are just a few things that we did during that wonderful, fast, crazy month, and the first week of January.

Ryan and I had a great Christmas spending a lot of time with our terrific families and each other. Ryan's brother Karl came and helped him put in a pull-down ladder on the attic entrance which helped the next projects he did be a lot easier. My dad came over a few days in a row to help Ryan with some electrical projects. They put an exhaust fan in our bathroom (love that!), and now that room and the garage now have their own gfci switches. They also put in an outlet on the front porch, another light in the hall and Ryan put some lights on the house on either side of the garage and installed a new kitchen sink!





















On December 29th our niece Bethany turned 8! I was fresh out of high school when she was born. I can hardly believe she's that old. I was able to finish the quilt for her baptism just the day before. It's the first time I've made a rag quilt and it was so much easier than I thought it would be. I was able to make it faster than any other smaller sized quilt I've done. It might just be my new favorite quilt style!








That's all I can think of that I took pictures of. Hopefully I'll have some pictures of the Allium bulbs I planted in bloom soon. They look like they'll blossom anytime now, thanks to all the Spring rain!