Think About it Thursday #1

So, I love to read. I mean there are more books in our house than cheerios (or since we don't buy name brands and try to eat organic, toasted oat o's). But that's not the point. The point is we'd rather be reading than doing just about anything, so I'm going to be posting excerpts from books or online articles that really made me think. So, here ya go....

A Masai Warrior Named Joseph

This is an account of a Masai Warrior named Jospeh as told by Michael Card.
"One day Joseph, who was walking along one of these hot, dirty African roads, met someone who shared the gospel of Jesus Christ with him. Then and there he accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior. The power of the Spirit began transforming his life; he was filled with such excitement and joy that the first thing he wanted to do was return to his own village and share that same Good News with the members of his local tribe.
Joseph began going from door-to-door, telling everyone he met about the Cross of Jesus and the salvation it offered, expecting to see their faces light up the way his had. To his amazement the villagers not only didn't care, they became violent. The men of the village seized him and held him to the ground while the women beat him with strands of barbed wire. He was dragged from the village and left to die alone in the bush.
Joseph somehow managed to crawl to a waterhole,  and there, after days of passing in and out of consciousness, found the strength to get up. He wondered about the hostile reception he had received from people he had known all his life. He decided he must have left something out or told the story of Jesus incorrectly. After rehearsing the message he had first heard, he decided to go back and share his faith once more.
Joseph limped into the circle of huts and began to proclaim Jesus. "He died for you, so that you might find forgiveness and come to know the living God," he pleaded. Again he was grabbed by the men of the village and held while the women beat him, reopening wounds that had just begun to heal. Once more they dragged him unconscious from the village and left him to die.
To have survived the first beating was truly remarkable. To live through the second was a miracle. Again, days later, Joseph awoke in the wilderness, bruised, scarred - and determined to go back.
He returned to the small village and this time, they attacked him before he had a chance to open his mouth. As they flogged him for the third and probably the last time, he again spoke to them of Jesus Christ, the Lord. Before he passed out, the last thing he saw was that the women who were beating him began to weep.
This time he awoke in his own bed. The ones who had so severely beaten him were trying to save his life and nurse him back to health. The entire village had come to Christ."


"Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church:"-Colossians 1:24


"Christ's afflictions are not lacking in their atoning sufficiency. They are lacking in that they are not known and felt by people who were not at the cross. Paul dedicates himself not only to carry the message of those sufferings to the nations but also to suffer with Christ and for Christ in such a way so that what people see are "Christ's sufferings." In this way he follows the pattern of Christ by laying down his life for the life of the church." -John Piper, "Let the Nations be Glad: The Supremacy of God in Missions"

Making it Monday

 So, sewing, and creating anything in general, has been really slow this winter. Things like multiple bouts of sick kids and husband, holidays, crazy happenstances, and mommy trying to keep the usual going has seriously interrupted the flow of the fun stuff, like sewing.

But, a need for warmer weather clothing for some of the kids, easter outfits, and just a desire to do something different, has me forcing time for sewing. (YAY!)

I currently have two UFOs (unfinished objects) to complete before I can move on, and I have a ton of things around the house that I either want to sew or need to be sewed. And yet, I'm dreaming of pretty things to sew! *sigh* Things completely unnecessary and just plain purty. 

So, for the first Making it Monday I though I might show you some sewing patterns from my collection that I hope to get to make soon. And before you ask, no, they're not all the same size, nor all my size. So, I would have to do some adjusting ;)

First up is Simplicity 1390, a pattern for dickies, cuffs, collars, and hats/caps. I have never used a dickie, but perhaps by next winter I could have some of these sewn up and be prim and proper. I especially like the collar and cuffs with the bows, and the cap and large collar could work for.....Thanksgiving?

Another Simplicity in my collection is 5862. It's obviously from the 70s, and so ridiculous that even the blond in the illustration is laughing. And yet, I really like this pattern. It makes me giggle. I would like to someday sew up the long version in a similar color to the one illustrated. But the question is would I ever be brave enough to wear it anywhere? And who'd have thought you'd need a zipper for an overalls style dress? Only in the 70s...

Simplicity 4756, from the 40s? Ah, the practical bed jacket. Nope, I have no idea why I would need a bed jacket, but they look so pretty, and I'm sure they'd look much more glamorous than usual t-shirt or tank top I often end up wearing to bed. And talk about great for nursing babies! (Sorry, between our two sons, I've been nursing a baby since March 2011, with only a small break while pregnant with second son. Can you tell I'm a little tired of it, and the baby's only 6 months old. *sigh*)

Ok, this is semi practical. I could totally make this for my kids or as a gift for someone else's kid. I've never sewn toys before, but love the idea.

This, I think, must be a late 30s pattern. It's a mail order pattern from Capper's Farmer (?) 2422. And yes, it's a dress for an adult! Maybe it's because I still think like a little girl when it comes to clothing, but I love this. <3 nbsp="" p="">

This next one is from the 80s! Simplicity 9281. I have no idea why I like this. I was born in the 80s, so maybe it reminds me of my mom? Anyway, I like it, and perhaps by next fall, I'll make the separates with long sleeves. It would be nice to wear to church on a cold morning I think.

McCall's 8960: A 50s circle skirt! No, I don't have that perfect waspy waist. No, I cannot imagine doing housework in heels and pearls, but I can imagine twirling A LOT in one of these. I fancy the blue one with vertical stripes, and if I make one I will wear it with my heels and pearls at least once to greet my husband at the door when he comes home....that is if everything else lines up perfectly so I can get a bath while the boys nap and still have time to fix my hair and makeup....well, I could still wear it sometime, somewhere, right?

And here's a sneak peak at one of the UFOs I'm working on. Simplicity 2265 in the 3/4 sleeve length with this plaid. I'm not sure what kind of fabric it is, but it's thick and unravels easily and has a slight sheen to it. (How's that for knowledgeable?) I confess, I cut this out in November, and sewed up the bodice. I could probably finish it now in a few hours, but it's still languishing in pieces. I'd better hurry up and finish it before the weather gets too warm to wear it! Eek! Oh, and I didn't realize that my daughter's doll had an arm in at the top of the picture. ;)

So, what do you make, or would like to make if you had time? Do you daydream about all the pretty things you could work on, or do you only think of the practical? 

Funny Friday

Little babe was 6 months old yesterday.

Funny Fridays: A collection of funny things that were said or done in our home this week, even if they weren't funny at the time...

"It feels strange to live in a taco."- 5 yr. old daughter who obviously has a wonderful imagination.

"I don't have time to train like a ninja." - Sweet Husband (I was trying to get him to exercise with me.)

"Forgot to buy Miterman!!!" (Spiderman) - almost 2 yr. old after leaving the grocery store, when I asked myself out loud if we had remembered everything.

"I can't get my work done for you getting in the way all the time." - 5 yr. daughter after I let her do mommy's work instead of her school for an hour trade off. She did decide that even though she likes mommy's work, mommy is better able to do it, and I think we both feel better about school.

"Are you even a grown-up?" - little girl who started taking violin lessons from me yesterday. I'm taking this as a compliment.

Hope this brought a smile to your face today. What funny things have happened at your house this week?

Euthenasia, Life, and History Repeating

As someone who has a degree in Cardiopulmonary Science and worked as a Respiratory Therapist for a while, I have a unique perspective on socialized medicine, as do others who have been or are working in healthcare. Please take a moment to read this post written by a physician in 2004 about the connections between socialized healthcare, euthanasia, and how it becomes normalized in a society.
I found this through The Common Room, which if you're not familiar with, is a really diverse and interesting blog, so check it out :)

The burgeoning new sciences of psychology, genetics, and medicine provided a glimmer of hope in this darkness. An intense fascination developed with strengthening and improving the nation through Volksgesundheit - public health. Many physicians and scientists promoted "racial hygiene" - better known today as eugenics. The Germans were hardly alone in this interest - 26 states in the U.S. had forced sterilization laws for criminals and the mentally ill during this period; Ohio debated legalized euthanasia in the 20's; and even Oliver Wendall Holmes, in Buck v. Bell, famously upheld forced sterilization with the quote: "Three generations of imbeciles are enough!" But Germany's dire circumstances and its robust scientific and university resources proved a most fertile ground for this philosophy.

These novel ideas percolated rapidly through the social and educational systems steeped in Hegelian deterministic philosophy and social Darwinism. Long lines formed to view exhibits on heredity and genetics, and scientific research, conferences, and publication on topics of race and eugenics were legion. The emphasis was often on the great burden which the chronically ill and mentally and physically deformed placed on a struggling society striving to achieve its historical destiny. In a high school biology textbook - pictured above - a muscular German youth bears two such societal misfits on a barbell, with the exhortation, "You Are Sharing the Load! - a hereditarily-ill person costs 50,000 Reichsmarks by the time they reach 60." Math textbooks tested students on how many new housing units could be built with the money saved by elimination of long-term care needs. Parents often chose euthanasia for their disabled offspring, rather than face the societal scorn and ostracization of raising a mentally or physically impaired child. This widespread public endorsement and pseudo-scientific support for eugenics set the stage for its wholesale adoption - with horrific consequences - when the Nazi party took power.

The Nazis co-opted medicine fully in their pursuit of racial hygiene, even coercing physicians in occupied countries to provide health and racial information on their patients to occupation authorities, and to participate in forced euthanasia. In a remarkably heroic professional stance, the physicians of the Netherlands steadfastly refused to provide this information, forfeiting their medical licenses as a result, and no small number of physicians were deported to concentration camps for their principled stand. As a testimony to their courage and integrity, not a single episode of involuntary euthanasia was performed by Dutch physicians during the Nazi occupation.

Would that it were still so. 

Read the entire post here.