Yarn Along

I'm knitting a Boyfriend Scarf out of Quince Puffin. It's my first time knitting with Quince. I'm allergic to wool, so this is kind of a leap (into Benadryl;-). I really wanted to make a special scarf and this seemed the perfect yarn choice. It's wonderful to knit. Now I understand all the fuss about wool. I can only work on it for short periods, so it's taking quite some time, but when it's finished, I plan to try to knit two more before Christmas! Ahem. Highly doubtful that will happen.

I'm reading A Grief Observed by C. S. Lewis. Mine doesn't look like the one pictured on the Amazon page, but that is the link I used to order. Actually, I'm listening to while I knit. I made it through the first 45 minutes or so, and had to step away for awhile. Definitely very intense reading. But Lewis is a master of making sense of the inexplicable. This book takes some time to seep in and then, it does begin to untangle some knots. I bought three copies of the book. Mary Beth is reading. I have one for Megan. Michael was waiting here the other day before I came home. The third copy was on the counter. I dashed in because I wanted to inscribe it for him. He'd already noticed it and was well into it before I'd arrived. Michael has long been a student of C. S. Lewis. It kind of breaks my heart that this book is so appropriate for him right now. And yet, it most certainly is. He's walking in the shadow of the valley of death. He's right there beside his friend, wrestling fears and doubt with him. He will emerge into the light just fine.

Visit Ginny to see what's up in the knitting and reading world this week.

Lord, Hear Our Prayer

The internet is a formidable force for bringing the comfort and consolation and hope of the Lord to all of us. It can be an incredibily powerful medium for community. There is an unfathomable resource for prayer here. We have on the 'net the privilege of praying for people and of being witness to the miracles brought forth when fervent, faith-filled people pray for one another.

Let's be that community of hope and faith for one another.

How about this idea? What if I pop in here every week, share Sunday's gospel and talk a wee bit about how we can live it and pray it in our homes? And then you tell me how we can pray for you that week? Deal?

{And please, do return and let us know how prayer is bearing fruit.} 

 

Gospel

 

Matthew 24:37-44

Jesus said to his disciples:
“As it was in the days of Noah,
so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
In those days before the flood,
they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage,
up to the day that Noah entered the ark.
They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away.
So will it be also at the coming of the Son of Man.
Two men will be out in the field;
one will be taken, and one will be left. 
Two women will be grinding at the mill;
one will be taken, and one will be left. 
Therefore, stay awake!
For you do not know on which day your Lord will come. 
Be sure of this: if the master of the house
had known the hour of night when the thief was coming,
he would have stayed awake
and not let his house be broken into.
So too, you also must be prepared,
for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”

 

Think

The goal of all our undertakings should be not so much a task perfectly complete as the accomplishment of the will of God.

~St. Therese of Lisieux

 

Pray

 

Dear Sweet Jesus, Show me  Your will. Make it abundantly clear. Let me know exactly what you would have me do and how you would have me do it. Please?

 

Act

Memorize the St. Therese quote above. Repeat it frequently to yourself throughout Advent.

 

 

How can I pray for you this week?

Give Bracelets Giveaway

We're huge fans of Give Bracelets here in the Foss household. I love, love, love to give these gifts. I'm fairly certain that every teacher one of my children has ever had owns at least one Give bracelet:-). Once you get to know Charlie and the story, you'll understand why we have such a  heart for this endeavor.

How did your shop come to be? It was in response to the promise I made to a boy at the first orphanage I visited in Indonesia on  the island of Bali. He asked me to “please not forget about them” after I left. Give Jewelry is my way of keeping that promise.

Is yours a family business? Yes. Even our kids get in on the action. Taping boxes, cutting the “1-1-1” cards and helping sort the new shipments of bracelets as they come in.

How do combine your work and your family life? We have a home office, so I rarely miss a meal with my wife and children. We we’re even blessed as a family by the time we were able to live near one of the orphanages in Indonesia. The lines between work, family and ministry were blurred to a point where they all seemed to combine and complement each other. There are such rich memories of living as a family in Indonesia, if we could figure out the financial logistics of moving our family back there, I would leave tonight.

 

What inspires you? Seeing people do what they were created to do inspires me. I believe one of the best gifts we can give to God is to simply answer the call He has given us. This almost always involves doing what fills us with joy. Careers have become such a focus in our culture, but even the most impressive career can be draining. VOCATIONS on the other hand… now THAT is a word that is EXCITING beyond measure.

What's the product you are most excited about in your shop right now? The bracelet of the month club by far. It is what provides for the needs of the children year round after the spike of Christmas gift buying. The feedback from the members of the bracelet of the month club has been outstanding. We get emails saying how much they look forward to getting their package in the mail each month. One mentioned how now matter what kind of day she is having, she can always look at her bracelet and be reminded of the difference she made.

 

What's your favorite Advent tradition? Moving the 3 kings around the house! The kids love it! Each morning one of our 5 kids get to pick out a new location to put the 3 wise men from the manger scene. This daily reminds us to also seek out Christ and how we can bring “gifts” to Him by how we treat the people we meet throughout our day.

Any plans for your shop for the new year that you'd like to share? We are currently meeting with Sister Gratia who oversees 14 Franciscan orphanages in Indonesia. Our goal is to increase from the current 5 orphanages to fully supporting all 14. Originally we could not imagine supporting even one, but we have seen what happens each time one person shares with their friends and family.

Give Bracelets is giving away a one-year subscription to the Bracelet-of-the-Month Club! The winner will receive one new bracelet and month for a whole year, a $240 value.

 So, here's how to win:

First:

o    Go to the site  www.givebracelets.com and choose your favorite bracelet and put a link back to the bracelet and a short description of it in the comments below.

·         To be entered multiple times, follow any of these steps for Extra Entries :

o   Subscribe to the Give Jewelry blog

o   “Like” Give Jewelry on Facebook

o   Follow Give Jewelry on Twitter

o   Subscribe to Give Jewelry YouTube channel

o   Post about Give Jewelry on your blog, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube

Leave a comment for each of these things, letting us know what you did. 

 

The Winner is  Laurel of the Muffin Dome. Laurel wrote: I LOVE the color of this bracelet! I tend to like simple jewelry, but I might add a few charms to it. :) http://givebracelets.com/charm-bracelet-lavender-bliss-heart-p-858.html

Laurel, please contact me with your snail mail address at intheheartofmyhome AT gmail.com

Catholic Child Giveaway!

 It's Small Business Saturday and we are celebrating big here at In the Heart of my Home. I'm shining the spotlight on a new sponsor almost every waking hour today and offering you a chance to win with every post. I want you to get to know my kind sponsors and I think you'll be glad for the opportunity to do some Christmas shopping in these small shops. The giveaways will remain open until Tuesday at noon and then all the winners will be announced in the original posts.

The folks at Catholic Child make shopping for Catholic children and godchildren as simple event in any season. Leane shared a little about her shop with me.

How did your shop come to be?  Catholic education can and should be entertaining too! It shouldn't be a challenge to find products and media that are well-made, really enjoyed by children, and true to Church teachings. As our own Catholic family's collection of fun, faith-based books and entertainment grew, we wanted to share it with other Catholic families.

 

Is yours a family business? Yes, and Catholic Child grown up right along with our three children. We started our family-run business when our youngest child was one year old. She's a college freshman this year!

 

 

What's the product you are most excited about in your shop right now? We're very excited about our Prayer Pillowcases. It's really rewarding working with our artist on these compositions, and it's so nice to see how much people really like them. Wait until they see what we have coming this spring!

 

Tell us in the combox which Catholic Child products might find a place under your tree this year and you'll be entered to win a 5 DVD set from Brother Francis.

 

The Winner is Fuzzy, who wrote: My son has discovered the Brother Francis videos and loves them! I think we could have some of them under the tree. Or the Song of the Angels print for my godchildren.

Fuzzy, please contact me with your snail mail address at intheheartofmyhome AT gmail.com

JM Handmade Giveaway

 It's Small Business Saturday and we are celebrating big here at In the Heart of my Home. I'm shining the spotlight on a new sponsor almost every waking hour today and offering you a chance to win with every post. I want you to get to know my kind sponsors and I think you'll be glad for the opportunity to do some Christmas shopping in these small shops. The giveaways will remain open until Tuesday at noon and then all the winners will be announced in the original posts.

I love a handmade Christmas. And if you hang out around here, it doesn't take long to discover I love handsewn things the best. So, I'm thrilled to welcome Joann back as a sponsor. Her little shop is taking off and it's a pleasure to be a part of it. Let's get to know her a little better and then I'll tell you all about the giveaway.

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How did your shop come to be?

Sewing has always been a "hobby" of mine passed down by my mother and aunt. I grew up watching them sew for a living. I never had to buy any dresses (including my wedding dress). We were spoiled in that department with my mom. Sewing was always something fun to do. A family friend gave me their old industrial Singer (which was the same machine my mom had). After I had unlimited access to that wonderful machine, I wanted to spend more and more time doing it and I became better and better. I was whipping out adorable baby items for friends, place mats/aprons for weddings and curtains for our home and I couldn't get enough. My husband understood that visits to the fabric store were weekly events. Time went on. We had a baby, and of course a new baby also meant more adorable sewing. People started telling me I should sell my items. At this point I had acquired quite a bit of fabric. I reasoned that I had nothing to lose by trying to sell items made from all these available material/scraps that I had acquired. So I opened my ETSY shop.

 

How do combine your work and your family life?

It's hard. I would love to be sewing and creating all day but I don't think my 2 girls (ages 5 and 1) would enjoy that much. Plus as much as I love sewing, I love my family way more. Being a stay at home mom is my dream job! I take things day by day, and the family is the priority, which means if you were to knock on my door on a random day you might not enter the cleanest house in the neighborhood and my dining room table is always covered in gorgeous fabrics and pattern pieces. This past month I've had a crazy increase of sales and I'm about to sell out of my Christmas holly dress. This has been the first time I bought wholesale bolts of fabric and I can't believe I'm down to only 2 yards of it! However this also means I've had to spend more time than anticipated to fullfill orders. My husband is a teacher and on some days can make it home early for me in order to fulfill my orders. But for the most part I've had a lot of late nights recently. It's a learning process. I know in the past summers have been typically really slow and my husband has the summer's off. So of course I need to utilize that time better next year so I don't have to sacrifice family life. 

What inspires you?
I'm a graphic designer by trade and love everything related to the arts. I love anything vintage or retro. Growing up in a Portuguese family made me love different cultures. I'm always attracted to brightly colored fabrics and anything that looks remotely cultural. When I married my husband and took on his Irish name I embraced having an extra heritage to celebrate. St. Patricks Day has become a big feast for us. When my second daughter was born I made her a baptismal gown with Irish embroidery. I made 2 different prototypes that I listed in my shop and they sold so quickly. Every so often someone will find it online somewhere (via piterest or in my sales history) and e-mail me wanting one. Its the unique items that you really can't find in stores that sell the best. I also love Our Lady of Guadalupe and when I found some "Our Lady of Guadalupe" material, and made my daughter a dress, it was comical the mixed reaction I received. My daughter and I loved her "Mama Mary" dress. I decided to try selling it and it was another best seller! I love when I can incorporate faith into my items and make feast days fun for my family. 

What's the product you are most excited about in your shop right now?

I recently added some kitchen towels and hair accessories. I'm finding it brings more traffic when you have more of a variety of items to sell.

 

Any plans for your shop for the new year that you'd like to share?

I have plans to make my Irish embroidered baptism gown available again and even try out a First Holy Communion version. I'm always on the look out for "Marian" or religious fabrics and thinking about ways to make feast day celebrations even more fun. On a local level I started teaching sewing lessons to a group of homeschoolers. We are on our second year and I have enjoyed passing on my love of sewing. I hoping to grow my sewing school. But basically, we take things day by day! I'm hoping my shop is a fun way to contribute to my family.

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Take a look around Joann's shop and tell us what you love in the combox. You'll be entered to win $25 to spend in the shop. Also, this weekend through CyberMonday, Joann is extending a 10% discount to readers who use the code TURKEY10. Happy Handmade!

The Winner is Lisa Schmidt of The Practicing Catholic, who wrote: I love the bowties!

Lisa, please contact me with your snail mail address at intheheartofmyhome AT gmail.com