Look Up!

This video can be found on YouTube.

The Romeike Story - Obama Administration Seeks to Deport This Homeschooling Family

ETA:  For an extremely intelligent and well-written post on this subject, please go to Get Along Home.

The Romeike Family is a German homeschooling family who sought asylum in the United States in 2010 due to persecution by the government for homeschooling.  They did receive asylum at that time.  The Obama Administration is seeking to deport them, and if successful, this family will likely lose everything, including the custody of their children upon return to Germany.

The Home School Legal Defense Association is representing this family legally to help them remain in the United States.

This being a quilting blog, you may not know that we homeschool our three children, ages 17, 14, and 12, and have done so for seven years.  We joined HSLDA this month to help support HSLDA in representing this family and the many other homeschooling legal cases they work with.  There are very few limits on homeschooling in Washington State, and we enjoy these freedoms very much, but homeschooling is not guaranteed as the government continues to remove our parental freedoms in an effort to squelch opposing worldviews.

Dr Del Tackett of Focus on the Family states, "[The US Government] doesn't believe that parents have a right to educate their children.  It is more in line with the National Education Association that homeschooling shouldn't be allowed.  It believes that the government can best educate 'America's children.'  It doesn't want another worldview taught in this country.  It wants America's children to have one worldview and one worldview only."

The Obama Administrations' position indicates that the US Government is siding with restrictive homeschooling laws in Germany.

Even if you do not homeschool, and even if you are against homeschooling, this case and its outcome will affect the lives of every family in the United States - yours, your neighbors', your sister's, your grandkids' - for generations to come.  It is about the basic right of parents to make decisions regarding their own children.  It is a case about parental rights, and it sets the precedent for future policies.  It is another step in taking away our personal freedoms.  I urge you to watch this video and sign the petition through HSLDA.

If you cannot view the video above, please watch it on YouTube.

http://youtu.be/TTw8x4Uuf8Y

The Invisible Woman

From the May 2010 archives, The Invisible Woman

 If the video does not appear above, you can watch this video here:

 http://youtu.be/9YU0aNAHXP0 

A timely reminder this morning that God sees every little thing we do for our family even when we seem invisible to them.  We are not invisible to Him.  

A hymn we have says, 

"Every deed forms a part in this building of ours

That is done in the name of the Lord;

For the love that we show and the kindness we bestow,

He has promised us a bright reward."

Chorus

"We are building day by day,

As the moments glide away,

Our temple which the world may not see;

Every victory won by grace

Will be sure to find its place

In our building for eternity."

The Invisible Woman - When Only God Sees by Nicole Johnson

is available in book form.

 

2016 The Movie Trailer

Learn about Obama's plans for the next four years and what America will look like if he is re-elected.  You can read more about this movie which is currently playing in select theaters HERE.

Find out.  Be informed.  Vote for America.  It is no longer Democrat vs. Republican; this is a fight for America herself.

If you cannot see the video below, you can view it at:

http://youtu.be/hfLsSg9wZlE

Obama and The Movie 2016

2016 is a movie coming out this summer which will tell of Obama's dream from his father to downsize America. A second presidential term would mean Obama would not be tethered by popularity polls or re-election aspirations since there is a two-term limit, and the damage he would do in a second term would be staggering to Americans. Please help publicize this movie so more people become informed and vote responsibly in the 2012 elections - in all elections, not just the presidential.



You can view this video at http://youtu.be/Z6QOscKvUjU
Please watch it in its entirety, not just the trailer for the movie at the beginning.

Help with Colors Bleeding When Washing a Quilt

Before                                                                                                After

Remember the Red White Irish Chain quilt that bled in the wash and the white vine fabric turned pink?  You can read about that in a previous post.  Sarah Craig at Confessions of a Fabric Addict left me a comment recommending washing it with Shout Color Catchers and OxyClean.  I used both of these products and re-washed the quilt, and the pink became quite a bit lighter; not quite back to white, but much lighter.  I will for sure be using this when washing all quilts in the future!  Thanks, Sarah!

I had to re-take the pictures so they were accurate in my Etsy shop, but today is too windy to take any outside, and the new pictures aren't as nice as the outdoor shots.

This sweet quilt is for sale on Etsy!

Guard Well Your Kindness

From All Posters.com

Guard well within yourself that treasure, kindness. Know how to give without hesitation, how to lose without regret, how to acquire without meanness.
-- George Sand

The Reality of Quilters!

I saw this on another quilting blog and couldn't resist posting it!

Military Wives Choir

This video is taken from a British series where Gareth Malone takes a group of people and turns them into a choir. This time he's taken a group of military wives whose husbands are all away in Afghanistan and turned them into a choir. Gareth looks about 16 years old but is actually in his mid-30s and a Choir master for the London Symphony Orchestra, among other things. They wrote a song based on excerpts from letters written by the couples whilst apart, and this is the beautiful result.





This video can be found at http://youtu.be/0hR6O7VxKaQ

Let It Snow, Let Me Sew

Bookworm made this sign for me a year ago.  It is freezing cold here at 11 degrees with a wind chill of -7.  It could be snowing, but ya' can't tell because of the wind.  So I am sewing up a storm inside our cozy house!

Eagle Eye made this sign for me this year for a New Years present.  It is made with a wood burner.  He saw the wood in Mr.Heart's scrap wood pile and the banner shape made him think of these words from a favorite hymn, "Love Is The Kingdom's Banner".

Love is the Kingdom's banner:

Lift it against the sky,

Over the field of battle,

Where the needy cry.

Even though death assail us,

Let us His banner raise:

Hope of the dying nations,

And our Master's praise.

Love is the Kingdom's banner-

By it shall all men know

Jesus hath come and dwelleth

With His saints below.

Loving as He hath loved us,

Dwelling in unity:

This shall declare His kingdom,

Feeble though we be.

Know that the hosts of evil,

Love's banner shall assail;

But as we love and trust Him,

Jesus will prevail.

Fresh as the dew of heaven,

His graces shall descend:

He who hath loved and given,

Loveth to the end!

Stop Internet Censorship

You'll need to turn off the music at the bottom of the screen.

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

We were alerted to the House and Senate bills, SOPA and PIPA, by Craigslist.  This is a legitimate concern for all of us.  Please check it out and do your part in protecting internet freedom.

A Wave of Gratefulness

Picture from AllPosters.com

It hit me like a wave in the grocery store this week, a feeling over of overwhelming gratitude that brought tears to my eyes.  It began when the checker in the next lane over said to her customer, "Do you want to donate $1 to the Food Bank?"

My flashback began.

I remember well the first time that question really meant something to me, something more than my customary, thoughtless, "No thanks," as though I was turning down a favor for myself.  It was one year ago this week when I was asked that question in that very same grocery store.  For the first time in my life, I understood what it felt like to need food from the Food Bank.  I was shopping that day with Food Stamps.  Me, the girl who had never known poverty in her life, was shopping with Food Stamps.

I could tell you to the dollar how much food was in my cart.  I had to know.

You see, my husband had lost his job in January of that year (2010), and we had struggled all year to make ends meet on Unemployment wages. It was a year of high expenses and low income, and the savings account was getting frighteningly low with the bottom in sight.  Then I lost my at-home medical transcription account in October.  November was the first month we met the poverty line for Food Stamps.

During this time, I went shopping with my sister, and I remember telling her that I could really understand why many people feel desperate in life. The stores are filled with shiny, colorful, fun things, and many people do not have the money to buy them.  I felt desperate, too.  Everything I looked at, except the absolute necessities, was a no.  And sometimes even the absolute necessities were a no. Even the Goodwill and Value Village seemed very expensive from my new vantage point.

We were on Food Stamps for only two months.  We were very thankful for them while we needed them but are even more thankful to not need them.  My husband was offered a job in January 2011 after 49 weeks of unemployment.  I have not pursued work in the medical transcription field but spend the "extra" time that I have with my kids and quilting.

So this week as I shopped with a carefree attitude, tossing things in the cart ... five boxes of Breyer's ice cream, two large hams ... I was grateful to be stopped short at the register by those words again, "Do you want to donate $1 to the Food Bank?"

A resounding YES, with a compassionate, thankful heart, I would love to.  I would absolutely love to donate because I am grateful to the core of my being to have something to share because the Lord has richly blessed us and kept us.

Thou crownest the year with thy goodness ... Psalms 65:11

Danger: Smartphone pictures pose privacy risks

Pretty freaky that pictures taken on a Smartphone and posted on the web can be used to trace where the picture was taken - thus where you live, where your kids go to school, where they play and which room in the house is theirs.  There is an easy fix, however.  A Must Watch Video - and then tell everyone you know!  The You Tube link if you want to email it out is http://youtu.be/N2vARzvWxwY.

You Know You're A Quilter If...

There's more fabric in the house than food.

"Fat Quarters" are not the heaviest part of your body.

Your ironing board is always set up, but you never iron clothes.

You think of your job as an interruption on your quilting time.

You pet fabric.

People are always picking threads off of you.

You can measure a scant 1/4 by eye.

"Featherweight" doesn't mean boxer.

Your "UFOs" are not from outer space.

You clean up your sewing room and they think you are leaving.