You Can Teach an Old Mom New Tricks!

Crocheting! We had a lot of fun today at our class. Lori was the only one who knew how to crochet, so she had to teach all of us. We all came well equipped though with our crochet needles and yarn. Alicia found beautiful yarn at Joanns in the dolor bucket! I found some basic yarn and a four pack of needles at Walmart. The yarn was $2.88 and the needles were around $4.00. We all caught on fairly quickly. I think I took the longest to learn how to start, but once I got it I couldn't stop! We crocheted a chain, pulled it out and did it again and again just to get the hang of it. Someone said it's so easy you can crochet and watch t.v. or sit and talk, but I don't think we're quite there yet. So, next week we're going to continue to perfect our skills.

I managed to teach my oldest three a chain stitch, they were so excited they couldn't stop. In fact, I almost forgot to post because I was so caught up in crocheting! Tomorrow I'm off to buy two more balls of yarn so that we can all sit and crochet together. I probably should grab Jake a ball too; bet you he'll be joining us when he sees how fun it is! Tonight when I checked on the kiddos after they were in bed, they all said they couldn't sleep because all they could do was think of crocheting. :) This is what happens when TV and video games are booted from the home; creativity is born. It is such a difficult habit to break in a home, but the effects of a no TV home or a limited one anyway, are life giving. This is a tangent that I didn't plan on venturing into, but now that I'm here I think I'll keep going. This past Passover in April, our family began a 50 day fast that continued through to Pentecost in June. One of the areas that we fasted was from media and entertainment. It was actually our children's choice. We said no TV, video games, movies or secular music. It was difficult at first; we were not major TV people, in fact, the only TV we have is on the internet. But we do have a wii and we did have netflix. There were so many times when I would turn to movies for my children to give myself a break. And our children could spend hours on the wii. But we could see that it wasn't healthy, and apparently they could too, because they felt like it was something that they needed to fast from! We were setting ourselves apart and choosing as a family to lay aside all earthly things to seek God and His Kingdom in our lives. There were other things we fasted from too. But this one might have had the biggest impact on our home. After a few weeks of not having "anything to do" and "being so board" a funny thing happened. Our children began playing together in very creative ways. Our oldest daughter Lily started doing crafts and leading the others. They were making all kinds of pompom animals and felt decorations. They we're dressing up and playing make believe. Pretty soon the sounds in our house got louder and louder, there is a lot of screaming now and running around like wild animals, wrestling on beds and doing each others hair and even practicing instruments and writing stories. There is a lot less silence. And I am happy. We are happy. Now, we will all be crocheting together, making Christmas presents, laughing and encouraging each other with their unique creations. I encourage all of you to turn off the TV, turn off the video games and learn a new trade, instrument, or craft as a family, it's worthwhile.

And lastly, our little miss Scarlett Cat had four little kittens during our meeting!

See you all next week for some more crocheting!