Flying Kitten

I was cleaning out a basket of saved things today, and found this story. Love it!

The Pastor's Cat

A pastor had a kitten that climbed up a tree in his backyard and then was afraid to come down. The pastor coaxed, offered warm milk, etc. The kitty would not come down.

The tree was not sturdy enough to climb, so the pastor decided that if he tied a rope to his car and pulled it until the tree bent down, he could then reach up and get the kitten. That's what he did, all the while checking his progress in the car.

He figured if he went just a little bit further, the tree would be bent sufficiently for him to reach the kitten. But as he moved the car a little further forward, the rope broke.

The tree went 'boing!' and the kitten instantly sailed through the air --out of sight.

The pastor felt terrible. He walked all over the neighborhood asking people if they'd seen a little kitten. No. Nobody had seen a stray kitten. So he prayed, 'Lord, I just commit this kitten to your keeping,' and went on about his business.

A few days later he was at the grocery store, and met one of his church members. He happened to look into her shopping cart and was amazed to see cat food. This woman was a cat hater and everyone knew it, so he asked her, 'Why are you buying cat food when you hate cats so much?' She replied, 'You won't believe this,' and then told him how her little girl had been begging her for a cat, but she kept refusing. Then a few days before, the child had begged again, so the Mom finally told her little girl, 'Well, if God gives you a cat, I'll let you keep it.' She told the pastor, 'I watched my child go out in the yard, get on her knees, and ask God for a cat. And really, Pastor, you won't believe this, but I saw it with my own eyes. A kitten suddenly came flying out of the blue sky, with its paws outspread, and landed right in front of her.'

Lesson learned: never underestimate the power of prayer!

Have a fun weekend,

DAT

Heads we win--Tails we lose

"The Creator made us with two ends.

One on which to sit,

the other with which to think.

Our success depends on which one we use the most.

Heads we win.

Tails we lose."

This quote is from, of all places, an old Dagwood and Blondie movie. I thought it was amazingly profound. In the movie it is the smart-alec neighbor kid who gives Dagwood this advice. The movie is filled with crazy, slap-stick antics and then out of the blue comes this little verse that I thought was great advice to live by. It sort of blew me away. I stopped the movie and jotted it down. I have been mulling the words over in my head for the last few days, and they really are true.

God does give us a choice. Whether we are facing a problem, or just walking through our everyday lives, we can sit, worry, and stew, or we can think about the best way to handle things, and get at it.

The quilt blocks to me are really an example of "heads we win." The light colored fabric is something called "feed sack prints." It is vintage fabric from around the 1930s. Back then things like flour, sugar, and chicken feed were sold in fabric bags. Industrious housewives would use these fabric bags to sew clothing and house hold items for their families. My mom remembers, as a young girl, being sent to the the feed store with her dad to pick out the "right" prints in the bags of chicken feed. Mom had two sisters; grandma would sew clothes for the three little girls from these bags. This is not an unusual story. I have read of many people who remember wearing clothes made out of feed sacks. The prints are so cute. I have a little stack of 6 inch squares. I am really enjoying looking at them as I cut the pieces I need for each block.

During the depression people used what they had to get by. There was a saying, " use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without." I get a little light headed when I think of the norm for today's standard of living as compared to the the norm of the 1930s. Many of my generation have rolled our eyes a time or two at the thriftiness of the children of the depression era. Maybe we shouldn't be so quick to judge. Those thrifty ways are economically and environmentally sound. ~heads we win~

Have a marvelous day,

a very striped girl,

DAT

Tenacious

I said that I was going to be regular about writing this blog, and as you can see that didn't happen. But, lets grant me a measure of grace and allow me a new start. For some reason this little blog just won't leave me alone, so here I go-- starting again.

Webster's defines tenacious as: holding firmly, this to me seems to be the -lesson of the day- in my life. It certainly is the way to accomplish a goal. Each semester I hold firmly to my dream of walking across the stage to receive my education degree; three semesters to go. Darcy, hold firmly!

I thought I would show you a bit of the fruit of my tenacity. I started this quilt at least five years ago, and am so thrilled to have it complete. I am calling it "Tulip Festival."

Now, the next goal that needs a large measure of tenacity.

My Sewing Room!--It is out of control down there.

I will leave you with a quote:

"Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity."-Louis Pasteur

Thank you for reading friends,

DAT