A resolution

Today I ran across this reminder in the introduction to J. C. Ryle's book entitled Holiness:

Worldly people sometimes complain with reason that “religious” persons, so-called, are not so amiable, and unselfish, and good-natured, as others who make no profession of religion. Yet sanctification, in its place and proportion, is quite as important as justification. Sound Protestant and evangelical doctrine is useless if it is not accompanied by a holy life. It is worse than useless: it does positive harm. It is despised by keen-sighted and shrewd men of the world, as an unreal and hollow thing, and brings religion into contempt.

Perhaps in the current political climate I need to spend less time on social media and more time working on the wretched hypocrisy of my own soul.  I see the enemy, and sometimes it is me.

So, here, Gentle Reader, is my resolution to make the remainder of 2017 a year to continue to work to improve my own soul, my own tone of discourse, my own consistency.  May God continue to strengthen my sanctification, and may I cooperate with Him.   May I be, as a former pastor once encouraged, as tough on myself as I can be, and as generous with others as possible.  And may I do it for the glory of my Savior. Want to join me?

  

Recent projects

Apparently, I did not get photos of all my Christmas projects, or even good photos of the ones I did take, but here are the recently completed projects I managed to snap photos of:

This is one of 5 totes I made as gifts.  This one included a zippered bag.

And I made several sets of microwave cozies: you place your glass bowls in them, stick them in the microwave, and then have built-in potholders.  They did double duty as centerpieces filled with ornaments, and take-home gifts for those who came to Christmas dinner.

I completed a lap-sized quilt for my brother, but obviously this photo was taken before I had put on the binding.  I was pleased with how it turned out, but don't have a decent photo of the whole thing :-(

And here are the ornaments I made for this year.  The grands got sheep and the nieces got the quilted ones.  Their names and the year are on the back.

Not pictured are the pillow beds I made for the littles, the little stuffed animal pillows with babies I made for the grands, and the flannel rice bags I made for the grands.  I did a terrible picture-taking job this Christmas!!  Now I am working on Valentine's Day and birthday projects, a baby quilt for church, and considering trying to pull out and finish a quilt for my own bed... 

Wednesday without Words

Wednesday without words

Happy Fifth Birthday Ada Bell!

This sweetie is 5 years old today.  What a blessing you are, Adeline!

Health Update

The first few weeks of December were full of doctor's appointments for me.  For those of you interested in the saga, you may read on.  For the rest of you, Gentle Readers, suffice it to say I am grateful for God's preserving of us through another year in this broken world!  He is faithful to be with us in our struggles, and He has given us a year of stability and health, for which we are grateful. Thank you for your prayers and friendship to us!

Here are the details for those desiring them:

• Last July I had reached the two-year mark of stability in my eyes on a high dose of a daily immune-suppresant and infusions every 8 weeks.  We decided at that point to cut my daily dose in half and recheck in December.  I have enjoyed the lowered side effects and increased energy tremendously!
• My eye tests were all redone at the beginning of December (ERG, EOG, vision field test, PIP color vision, FA) The basic finding is that my left eye remains totally stable and unchanged, but the right eye (always my worst eye) is questionable.  So we have decided to stay the current course for another 6 months, and repeat all the tests in July.  This is the longest we have gone between tests, and I get to stay on the reduced amount of medicine.  All prayers for a stable right eye come June would be appreciated! 
• I also have been eating gluten-free, and have noticed an improvement in my inflammation markers (sed rate and c-reactive protein). So my intention is to go hard-core in January and February and try following an auto-immune protocol diet.  Dieting is NOT an area of strength for me, so I would appreciate your prayers for this endeavor.  It is basically an "I hate my life" diet for 1-2 months, and then a way of reintroducing foods to try to catch things that trigger problems.
• I also have almost reached my fifth year after my last breast cancer removal.  I am all clear on that front, and reducing my oncology visits to once a year.  Hurray!  Thank you, Lord!

• Dave is almost to 25 years after his stage 4 melanoma diagnosis.  How good is God to give him such length of days and keep him around for the rest of us!  Dave struggles with some long-term side-effects (head-aches and balance issues), but does so without complaining.  And we keep praying and looking for solutions.  He is literally alone as a 25-year stage 4 melanoma survivor, so there is much to be grateful for!

• We so appreciate your on-going prayers for us both, Gentle Readers.  May the New Year find us all continuing to praise God for His grace in our lives.

Wednesday without words (more from our October trip to AZ)