A Little Bit of Everything

So, quite a few awesome bits of things have happened since I've posted.  All of these little bits make me really happy inside.  It's time to share!

First, for the oldest bit of happiness.  Last week, I spend about 4 hours at my friend Ruhanna's house to complete my first ever quilt.  Yes, people.  I am now a quilter!  That was what my last post was about.  Now that I have confirmed that the recipients of said quilt have received it in the mail, it is safe to post the finished product here:

  

This is the baby quilt that I made for my friends Daniel and Victoria.  Quite stimulating for baby, isn't it?  The squares are made by friends who came to their baby shower.  I got the idea from 

Pinterest.  First, cut out plain, white quilt squares.  Then, you take freezer paper and draw the design that you want to print onto the square.  Cut out the design using an X-Acto knife (found at craft stores).  The positive or negative of the image (whatever you choose) is ironed on to the fabric square.  Yes!  Freezer paper sticks to fabric!  When it is ironed onto the fabric, you can take it outside and spray the fabric with fabric spray paint.  Once dry, you peel the freezer paper off, and voila!  You have a beautiful design!

For the rest of the quilting venture, I had my friend, the quilting virtuoso, teach me.  Ruhanna is so wonderful!  I feel like you don't quite appreciate something someone has given to you as a handmade gift until you try it yourself.  Alex's aunt made us a quilt as a wedding present, and I didn't know just how much effort and time she must have devoted to it until now.

Ruhanna also told me that if there was anything that I had learned with her that day, that she hoped that it would be this: "'Mistakes' in life can be much as they are in quilting - 'we can fix that!' or at the very least, 'that will quilt out!'  When we look at life's overall picture, as with our quilts, we tend to see the finished product as pleasing and good --- yes, with a few mistakes along the way here and there, but the bottom line is what we see makes us smile and we know we have accomplished something!"

Yes, I have accomplished something!  And I am proud of it.  The phrase "that will quilt out" refers to the fact that if you make a mistake with your quilt, you can always fix it when the actual quilting step takes place.  Ruhanna told me that quilters say "We can quilt it out!" all the time when there is something in the fabric that is not quite right.  In life, mistakes are made, but it seems that God always works them out.  He "quilts out" our bad choices and helps us to move on.

As for "quilting it out," I made a mistake recently at work, which almost ended up in a really bad outcome for someone.  I beat myself up for a couple of days, but finally I just took a deep breath in and out and focused my entire being on praying to God to take it away.  I don't know if it was the fact that I could feel my entire self invested in this prayer, or if I just really believed that He would take it.  Or, maybe there was no "I" involved in it at all.  Perhaps He just decided to take it.  What mattered is that He did.  Instantly.  It was just like He said, "Okay, no problem" and made me stop beating myself up about it.  He made me realize that we all make mistakes, and it turns out that the mistake I had made, He made it alright for the person it affected.  I can't be specific, but the person I am thinking of is back to himself again, and is getting physically better than he was when I met him.  God really is the Great Physician.  He heals us physically, and for me, He healed my conscience.  He stopped my horrible habit of blaming myself over and over again.  At least for now.

For the last bit of happiness, I would like to thank my sister Alison.  Alison and I have a love for Joe Hisaishi, who is responsible for the soundracks of most Hayao Miyazaki films (Howl's Moving Casle, Kiki's Delivery Service, Totoro, Ponyo, Spirited Away, etc.).  Please take a few minutes (or hours) to fully enjoy his compositions that are featured in his "Studio Ghibli 25 Years Concert."

After I made my quilt, I thought, "Wow.  If the zombie apocalypse happens soon, I am going to have the most useless survival skills: playing the accordion and machine quilting."  Then I remembered that I am a registered nurse.  I think people would have me on their survival team, right?  Hope you enjoyed my bits of happiness!  Until next time, may God bless your days in ways that you do not expect.

Happy Happy Joy Joy!

OMG!  I'm so excited!  Today (well, yesterday), I had an awesome day.  I can't specify the details here yet, but I will post the photos soon.  I'm afraid it might spoil the fun for two close friends of mine who need to check their mailbox first.  However, I can post this for now:

Well, I guess it is obvious who will be waiting for something in the mail.   Didn't I say I was excited?  Yes!  Today, I am very thankful to have my friend Ruhanna in my life.  She spent the entire afternoon with me at her house, teaching me her precious skills.  Most of all, I am grateful that she was patient with me.  As with any new skill, novices (like me) can be quite hard to deal with sometimes.

So, I spent most of the day completing this project, but what else did I do?  I went to the liquor store and bought dry sherry to make a shrimp stir-fry with ham and peas included.  The recipe was from Mark Bittman's Best Recipes in the World.  I complimented this with some steam-cooked brown rice, along with edamame and vegetable egg rolls as sides.  This is not the best picture, but here is what Alex and I cooked:

Best of all: My best friend Christina joined us for dinner!  She and I followed this up with a nice swim in the pool.  We set the pool alarm off because we didn't shut the gate properly, annoying the lady the next door, but things happen.  I bet pool lady has to deal with that all the time.  However, I enjoyed spending one-on-one time with my Lizzy (she calls me Jane--Pride and Prejudice codenames).  Another good thing: I didn't have an allergic reaction to the chlorine.  (I'll tell a good story on that some time in the future.)

Oh, to be lighthearted!  Oh, to not evaluate every little thing!  Brevity!  It feels good.  :)  (If you can't tell, I had an awesome day.)

No Shame to Cry

Just a little note before I start gabbing away... I would like to thank my friend Abbie for my background for my blog.  It is a studio print that she created from one of our engagement photos a few years ago.  It was presented to me and Alex as a wedding gift, and it is now hanging on our living room wall.  The title of the print is "My Cup Runneth Over."  This is why I think that it is the perfect background, as it is a reminder to have an attitude of gratitude!

I am at work tonight, and I can't help but reach my heart out to someone I have met here.  When I came into his room for the first time tonight, I told him that I noticed that he seemed depressed.  I thought he had been crying the night before, and the dayshift nurse thought he had been crying too.  I asked him if there was someone he would like to talk to (like a chaplain...), or even if he wanted to talk to me.  Immediately, the tears welled up in his eyes and he choked on his own words.  "I just want to get better!"  That's all he could say.  "I know.  You're tired of all that is going on.  You want to be out of here in the warm sunshine.  I would want the same thing.  I would want to be spending time with my friends and family.  I would want anything other than this,"  I responded.  So I asked him if we could pray together and he said yes.

That's how I started my shift tonight--thanking God for this man's life, and asking Him to heal this man that I only knew from here.  So far, he has been resting well tonight.  I really hopes that he gets to leave here soon.

Lesson learned: Blessing others in His name blesses me.

Encouraging? I think not!

Hello, people out there!  I am now one of you... you know who you are.  You are the people who are not afraid to write so other people can see.  Well, I am not quite sure I am that person yet, but I'm going to find out for myself.

I am starting to put some words out there because I have recognized that I do quite a bit of complaining.  Well, a bit too much.  OK... a huge heavy buttload and it's dragging me down.  I wonder if I am bringing down people with me.  I can feel somewhere inside that I am not the simple, light-hearted person that I once was.  I can't encourage people with ease like I used to.  I'm also depending on other people to encourage me... people who might even need more encouragement and light-heartedness themselves.

Somewhere else inside me tells me that the first place to start attacking the whiny part of my soul is to think of all that I have been blessed with just for today.  Mom's 50th birthday was today (well, yesterday), and I have had 25 years with her right by my side, supporting my every decision and also supporting who I am not.  I have a warm-hearted, loving, caring, handsome, God-fearing husband who cherishes our relationship and brings God into our life.  Another simple thing yet not appearing to be so simple at this time is the fact that I have a steady job.  There are millions who do not have that.

Almighty God, thank you for Mom, Alex, and my job.  I am going to start becoming thankful for all the goodness and richness you have placed in my life and what You have created for me.  You are my Savior who has a plan for me, and for that I am thankful.

I have intentionally limited myself as to what I can write in this blog.  The whole purpose is to change my heart and to bring myself back to light.  I still feel free to write musings, but my goal is to see a transformation of my soul, so that I can become more of who God wants me to be.  I believe that He wants me to be able to encourage others like I used to, but He might want something else from me now.  We'll see.  In time, I will see what will become of this blog and where He will lead me through it.

Thanks for listening!  ;)