ellie's chat

It's a wonderful life

I love the movie It's a wonderful life.  How a bout you?   I love the love story, faith, how people help one another out.   What made me and my best friend Janet laugh was how much the price of a home was.  In the movie they talked about a home costing $5000.00 !!  For some people that is just a monthly payment not the total price of a new home!!

What happened to those days??  When a neighbor cared and help out a neighbor??  When you broke down (cars) people would help.  Where you would share you blessing more, like the extra in your garden.  Where people really respected each other.  When it was safer for children to be children.  What do we have for the kids today?  On t.v we have sex, drugs, drinking violence , porn.  Do you know that some underwear adds would have been porn back then??  What happened???  We need to go back to stronger values , to what is really important.  God , family , friends, others.

Bring back the good old days......

God Bless, mj

Our eyes were opened

Hubby and I talked last night about the girls and how spoiled they are.  How it came about was we had the roof repair man come over to look at the leak.  He asked why we wanted to build a large house at our ranch.  I told him the home that is there  is only 1082 square feet and this house we live in is feeling smaller to us because we would like the grand babies to have a room just for them.  How many square feet is this house he asked?  1500 square feet.  He said his family of 4 live in a 865 square foot home.  ( I feel bad for looking at a 4200 square foot home). 

Then our daughter Shayna drove up, he asked if that was her truck? I looked at him and said yes.  He just looked at me.  He then asked if Kristi will be getting her own car?  I said yes ,as soon as we can find the truck we are looking for.  Then the girls started talking about what kind of 2 horse trailer they want because our 4 horse is to much from them to  haul just 2 horse or pigs.  The man asked me if we were going to buy them a 2 horse trailer?  I said yes.  He then had a look on his face that said they are spoiled.

It really open my eyes!!  They are really spoiled!!  Most children in a family do not each get their own trucks or a horse trailer.  They would use mom and dads.  They will share a horse trailer though. We do need a two horse trailer, it is not just for them.  When we go to horse shows it is a waste of gas to haul a huge 4 horse trailer with just an Arabian and a pony.

So last night we talked and it was really an eye opener for us both to see that our children have never wanted for anything.  My husband has worked very hard to give us what we need and more.  But we realize we need to change some things.  To see it through some ones else's eyes was the opener.   We are going to change some things.    I am not bragging or anything like that just sharing my growing some more.  It was just a real eye opener.  I mean a real eye opener !! 

God Bless, mj

Desperately Seeking the Silver Lining

Abundance

Mom was pleased with how nice the church looks. The sanctuary is all done. I was so thankful when we were done. The fumes were overpowering, but we are happy with the results.

My dad arrived home safely. His trip was uneventful.  We heard from him and the other half of our group would be very interested in what he wrote since he shared in our worships about their struggles at EVI. He wrote:

“Things are great at EVI. I praise the Lord every time I think of it. All the onions are sold as well as the tomatoes. Whole Foods Inc, can't get enough of our produce. They made all of their staff taste our tomatoes as opposed to other tomatoes and it was unanimous. Our tomatoes won hands down. We are getting $2.50 per pound now, $3.00 in Dec and $3.50 in January till spring. We had seven guests in our LSC in Nov. We've paid off our $150,000 loan and have $91,000 over and above. I don't know what the Lord did, but I'm surprised, and overwhelmed with gratitude. We already have five guests for our Dec program and I hope that number grows.

No doubt, things could go south again, but for the moment I am reveling in some good news. I didn't come home to any disasters, which counts for a lot.”

Before the rest of our group left we decided to buy Barasa and Yona a bicycle each. Today mom went to Ikonda and picked up the bicycles that she had ordered. We presented the bikes to them and you should have seen their smiles!!! They were so pleased. Miriam knows she is getting a sewing machine when we can get it picked up. They are all happy. Yono rode away with his little ones running squealing behind him.

The boys and Vanessa and Brianna went with Memere to see the town, since they had not been yet. They had fun buying some fabric. The boys are getting some shirts made by Miriam. She can’t make them now, but mom can bring them later.

Our work today was a little different then what we have up to now. We worked in the orchard. Jon pruned, some of us weeded around the trees, some slashed the grass in the rows and Steve ran back and forth with a 5 gallon jug watering each tree after we had finished with it. We had not had rain here in over a week, but  we only got have the job done and it is now pouring… so, Steve might have wasted his energy.

Jon is getting his hair cut at the moment and Jonah is next… he might go kicking and screaming, but his mother is determined that as long as he lives in their family he must look civilized and not like some wild mountain man! His curls give him an extra 2 inches in height and I think he is proud of that.

The girls are playing banana grams and the boys are drying their wet clothes by the fire. Leila isn’t happy that she isn’t allowed to play the game or sit so close to the fire! Poor kiddo. Life is so hard when you are two.

I scrubbed up one of our footlockers and removed all the writing and then I wrote Lea Nzali on the lid and presented it to her. She is the gal who teaches the sewing school and has been working endlessly on all our orders of dresses and skirts. I was beginning to feel really bad she had to work so hard for us. I paid her for the dresses my girls had made and then gave her the tote. She was sooo thrilled!  It takes so little to please them.

We are looking forward to Sabbath. Tomorrow Yono has the sermon and we are having one great big potluck. With the inside of the church all painted it should be nice.

My first try at ZIPPERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am in a swap online, and my swap partner has specifically requested throw pillows for her living room couch.  We made a deal that if I make the pillow covers, she will buy the inserts for them if I make them a standard size.  That way the shipping won't be so costly.  I hope she loves them!!!  The fabric was on her wish list, so I think she will. 

And the bonus is, zippers are not that hard!!  I am thinking of  buying some smaller zippers and making some wristlets and makeup bags sometime soon!!

Here is a pic:

And here is a close up of the fabric: