unfinished business

so the pin cushion i have sucks.  it is not very "stuffy" or full of the soft squishy stuff to put your needles in.  it's like putting a needle into wood.  hey mom, if you were still looking for a great birthday gift, i would LOVE one of those awesome cushions mamaw made you!

so i found some tutorial on how to make a pin cushion with a little baggie to catch your thread and scrap fabric.  i started it like 3 weeks ago and got most of it done, i just haven't finished it yet.  oh my.

don't look to hard at the ruffle around the pin cushion.  i didn't realize that the corners of square things are actually rounded until after i tried to sew the ruffle into the square.  haha!  but i'm too lazy to rip it apart.  i'll probably just make another one.  either way, it still does its job and i'm not giving it to anyone, just using it for me, myself and i.  nothing wrong with that, right?  ;-)

the samaritan leper

my heart was touched today when i was reading luke 17:11-19, you can read it here.

Jesus was with the disciples on the way to Jerusalem, on the border of Samaria and Galilee.  I'm sure you remember the story of 'The good samaritan'...  there was a lot of racial conflict between the two.  In Luke 17, a group of 10 Lepers cry out for Jesus to have pity on them (to heal them).

Jesus says:

"'go, show yourselves to the priests.'  and as they went, they were cleansed."


as a leper, you were an outcast from society.  we aren't really sure what leprosy was in the bible, but we know it was some type of incurable infectious skin disease.  so these dudes were cast out away from everyone else. you had to get a document from the priests stating that you were clean to be able to live back within society.  so this is what Jesus had sent them to do.

what i LOVE about what Jesus does here is that he makes it a process. these lepers were not cleansed immediately.  as they went, they were cleansed.  i experience this so much in my life.  i feel like i am healed and renewed by certain things over time.  it is so reassuring to read this passage and see that every step these lepers took toward the priests was a process of faith.  it takes faith to go through the healing process.  i kind of wonder if the community/society recognized them as lepers and gave them the evil eye or ran from them as they walked into the town to get their document from the priests.

i also can imagine the lepers watching their sores disappear and the skin on their arms and hands become soft again.  it's like noticing that finally this heavy burden that you're carrying is gone. it's this beautiful exciting peace.  the process of being cleansed is beautiful.

"one of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice.  He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him - AND HE WAS A SAMARITAN."


so if this guy was the only samaritan within the 10 lepers, do you think that during the time they spent together outcast from society, that they told him stories of yahweh and what kind of a god he was?  i would guess...  i think it's really awesome that he gets to experience this god after he's been cast out from his society... i love that.

but what makes me really sad, is that the believers didn't even come back and worship or thank their god.  i feel like even in my own life this happens way too often.  how much do we plead and pray and ask our Savior to save us?  it hurts to know that i've done this.

I want to be the leper that comes back.  I want to experience the communion in worshiping my savior for healing me and making me clean.

(source)

coffee

we draw names for christmas gifts on paul's side of the family.  i drew my brother-in-law, ryan.  ironically, he also drew my name!  what's sweet about my brother-in-law being a national barista is that i get to drink AMAZING coffee.

this is ryan with a mustache

a brief history:

i used to HATE coffee.  i couldn't even have coffee ice cream or anything that even remotely had a coffee ingredient. all of my friends at olivet (and basically all of paul's family) always talked about coffee... we hung out in a coffee shop all day and everyone drank. coffee.  i, of course, was an Earl Grey drinker.  i finally became jealous of the community and connection that coffee was bringing everyone around me.  so i told ryan about my desire to become, well, a coffee addict just a 'social drinker'.  ryan's response:  a 2 week challenge of drinking a cup of joe a day - BLACK!  me, being the competitive person i am, and really wanting to enjoy the communion that coffee brings, took on the challenge.  the first couple of days were torture pretty bad.  then slowly, i really started to enjoy the taste.  by the end of the 2nd week, i fell in LOVE.  it became more than just a social drink, but a yummy wonderful treat! 

so my barista brother-in-law got me the most AWESOME chrismas gift. ever.  ryan has a coffee shop up in grand rapids, MI called madcap coffee.  visit it here.  

they make all of their coffee on a brew bar.  here is a pic that i took over break, it's not as artsy as this one, but just so you get the idea:

so the 'paul dawson' family's new obsession is mastering the hario.  it just tastes soooo good!  it's definitely not as good as a cup straight from the madcap bar, but it's wayyy better than the plain coffee pot.  just appreciate the beauty with me...

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....

mumford

there is this song by mumford and sons called "roll away your stone"

i'm obsessed.  it is such a beautiful song.

i think it's about being in community and working through the process of changing your heart toward Jesus. It's a song about getting into the ugly heartbreak and deepness of one's soul and making a decision and standing firm on that decision and then overcoming perhaps an addiction or an old bad habit.  here are the lyrics:

Roll away your stone, I’ll roll away mine
Together we can see what we can find
Don’t leave me alone at this time,
For I am afraid of what I will discover inside

You told me that I would find a hole,
Within the fragile substance of my soul
And I have filled this void with things unreal,
And all the while my character it steals

The darkness is a harsh term don’t you think?
And yet it dominates the things I seek

It seems as if all my bridges have been burned,
You say that’s exactly how this grace thing works
It’s not the long walk home that will change this heart,
But the welcome I receive at the restart

The darkness is a harsh term don’t you think?
And yet it dominates the things I seek
The darkness is a harsh term don’t you think?
And yet it dominates the things I seek
The darkness is a harsh term don’t you think?
And yet it dominates the things I seek



Stars hide your fires,
these here are my desires
And I will give them up to you this time around
And so, I’ll be found with my stake stuck in this ground
Marking its territory of this newly impassioned soul
But you, you’ve come too far this time
You have neither reason nor rhyme
With which to take this soul that is so rightfully mine


click here to see the video and hear the song.  it's pretty fantastic.

(source)

my new baby

so for Christmas, my parents and my mamaw got me a new sewing machine!  i LOVE it.  it just sews sooo smoothly compared to that old kenmore of mine.  I was soo surprised.  I didn't even ask for a new one.  I was perfectly content with my old one.  But now that I have this new one, I am soo in love with it.  AND it is still special because my mom and mamaw bought it for me.  the first time i sewed on it was at my mamaw's house with my mom and mamaw... just to add to the special-ness of it!

Feast your eyes, my friends!

my mamaw made this sewing machine cover just for me as well! How cute?  I love the ruffles & lace!

ta-da!  isn't she beautiful?!  you can borrow it any time you like.

THANKS MOM, DAD AND MAMAW!

1 Year Wedding Topper Tradition

so one year and 5 months after our marriage, Paul and I finally had our wedding cake top.  The cake part and the middle layer of icing was actually still good.  But the most outer layer of icing tasted like plastic... yuck.  still, not bad for being in the freezer for over a year.  i'm sure it was better the day it was made, but i didn't exactly get to eat any.  we shoved the cake into each other's faces and then i forgot to actually eat it after we fed each other.  haha.

(sorry this is sideways... i can't figure out how to rotate it)

(i love this!)

and here we are a year and 5 months later....

lazy

i finally have a day off of work.  and i've accomplished nothing.  not a thing.  i'm just so tired.

i really want to work on some Christmas gifts for next year... does anyone have any ideas?!?

also, i need your help friends....

Des is so depressed since leaving my parents house.  He loves being with other dogs.  So paul and i are really looking to adopt another dog soon.  it is just so much easier to leave Des home alone while I'm at work knowing that he has a friend to keep him company.  we want one under 25lbs and one that is hypoallergenic!  so let us know if you find any!!!  how cute are these puppies?

(i found these images google searching hypoallergenic dog)

alright, don't judge me... but i'm going back to watch the movie "The Princess and the Frog".  That's right, I'm watching a kids movie all by myself.  I'm a nerd.

LET ME KNOW IF YOU FIND A DOG!