Thursday 15 September 2011

Howdy!




I know. It's been a while. But I apologize over and over, and, ya know, nothing changes, so what do ya do?

Anyway.

12 weeks tomorrow is M day (M for Moving, not Murder like the movie would lead you to believe).

Marina has been a blessing and helping me sort 4 years of stuff into go and stay piles. Right now the piles are fairly even, but the goal is to whittle it down more...

I've been sewing things with our old unwanted clothes and I wanted to show you what I made yesterday morning while Little Miss was at school....
This was an old shirt of Brett's. She's worn it since school was out yesterday, so the pictures are a little rough, but in person, it is by far the cutest thing. Now back to the sewing machine...

Monday 11 July 2011

Me

I'm on a quest. For me.

I love how Emma Stone's character in Easy A puts it at the very beginning of the movie, Youtube it if you can't remember her monologue at the opening of the movie. RUN and see it if you haven't. It really really is a good movie. So I'm not going to try and reword it.

Basically she says the search for one-self isn't profound. Because, well, it isn't.

But I've decided that, at 32 years young, living in a different country, residing in a house that is hideously horribly decorated and (VERY THANKFULLY) not ours, with my entire wardrobe either handknitted or a super clearance special, I need to think about who I am.

What are my preferences?
What is my style?

So I am on a quest to figure that out. Hopefully I'll be able to come to some conclusion over the next couple weeks...

Thursday 30 June 2011

Science vs Faith

In my travels, last week, between Dublin and Indianapolis, very few things made it through the fog of stress I was carrying with me. I grabbed a bus, I walked what felt like 10 miles to my terminal, I decided food would be a good idea. I called home while in line at the tiny coffee shop next to my gate, talked with my sweethearts, then hung up the phone when it became my turn to purchase my meager breakfast.

Nearby, at a table, sat 2 gentleman. What they looked like didn't make it through the fog, though I think they both had dark hair, but that doesn't effect my story. What I did notice through my fog of sleeplessness and stress, was that one was leaning on a very thick and heavily used Bible. The other was slouched back in his chair the way a teenage boy might do when he's trying to seem disinterested. The briefest part of their conversation that I caught went like this...

Sloucher Man: "But I simply cannot grasp the concept of anything that I cannot touch or feel. And I know that's cliche, but it's how I feel."
Bible Man: "Do you believe in Gravity?"
SM: "Yes."
BM: "But you can't see or touch gravity."
SM: "But I can see and feel the effects of gravity."

Croissant and water bottle balanced in one hand, and dragging my carry-on suitcase with the other, I maneuvered my way to a seat in my gate and missed the rest of their conversation. It had me thinking, though.

Many of us Christians try to use the, "but you've never seen a million dollars and you know that exists." or the same gravity argument when discussing the existence of God with non-believers. We're grasping at whatever we can come up with to prove that just because you can't see or touch God, doesn't mean He isn't out there.

For thousands of years, countless numbers have followed God, trusted in God, and given their lives to doing what God and Jesus would want us to. Thousands of years, nothing has changed. The laws stay the same. They don't waver with the times and society's rules. They ask the exact same thing generation after generation. When God says He will be faithful and steadfast, He means it and has proven it century after century. I give my utmost faith in the existence of my Creator, Father, and Lord God Almighty, because I KNOW with all my soul He's up there.

That doesn't mean I don't question the basic concepts that are God. I do all the time, but that's what He wants, as it keeps Him forefront in our minds.

I do struggle with science, though. I dare you to find a scientific "fact" that hasn't changed or adapted itself to our "evolved" thinking over the past 2000 years. The world was flat. Oops. I mean round. You can't sleep laying down, you'll upset the humors and die. Oops. Tylenol is amazing. Oops, it can ruin your liver. Shall I go on? Have a headache? It's demons so let's drill. Pluto is a planet? Or maybe it's a dormant star. Nothing is ever faithful and steadfast in science. Scientists don't agree on much, but when it comes to praising God, regardless of your denomination, the premise is pretty much the same.

I've heard, "I'm a scientist, I need hard evidence that proves the existence of a deity."
My problem with that statement is that science tends to disprove itself constantly, so blaming your atheism or agnostic beliefs on science is just building your house on sand at the water's edge. Give it time and that science will pull your foundation right out from under your feet.

Wednesday 11 May 2011

The Murtaugh List (FB Survey #2)

Just a little How I Met Your Mother inspired survey for your reading pleasure...

The question was, tell me what you're too old for once you've hit 30.
(thanks to Julie Newcamp, Patrick Johnson, and Theresa Crowell for your additions!)

  1. To dress like we're 19, unless we make a living hooking.
  2. Any hard core sporting that was tough at 17 years of age.
  3. To Stay out all night drinking
  4. For random piercings that aren't in the ears
  5. To play that comparison game that all of us women do.
  6. Everything on Ted Mosby's list (Thanks Eric!)
  7. To wear anything hot pink (well, anything neon at all)
  8. to ogle any star that wasn't old enough to have been in high school when we were in college, EVEN if they're "of age" now. (Zach Efron, Taylor Lautner, you get my point)
  9. To determine your life or self worth by sponging off of the "glory days" from high school

It was a short turn out for this weeks survey, but it was really kind of a tough one!

Wednesday 20 April 2011

You might be a parent if...

(the results of my facebook survey, thank you to Theresa Crowell, Jessica Bowden, Katy Horning, Judi Pingle, Zara McKie-Hastings, Julie Campbell, Kathy Duncan, Susan McGeown, and Kristen Orosz!)

  1. You are unable to walk out of the house without some sort of snot, pee, poop, spit up, or whatever else comes out of the little buggers all over you; even when you think you are clean. You aren't.
  2. You can't go the day without singing Dora, Phineas & Ferb, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, or Handy Manny.
  3. You can't walk across your floor without picking up at least one Cheerio on your foot.
  4. You consider chicken nuggets, Mac & Cheese, Fish crackers, graham crackers, and peanut butter (if kiddo isn't allergic) the 5 basic food groups.
  5. You are wondering just how many of these you can come up with.
  6. You can't remember the last time you went to the bathroom alone.
  7. You can smell a dirty diaper from across the room, even when no one else smells anything.
  8. You absolutely understand now what YOUR parents meant when they said, "You'll understand one day."
  9. You've ever said some form of, "I'm not being mean, I'm keeping you SAFE."
  10. You say things you swore you would never say, I.E. "Stop crying before I give you something to cry about." "You get what you get and don't throw a fit." "I can't hear you when you're whining."
  11. You randomly hum the theme song to Sponge Bob Squarepants.
  12. The last 5 movies you have seen have been cartoons.
  13. 9pm is past your bedtime
  14. You can function on 2 hours of sleep.
  15. Your family pet doubles as a vacuum cleaner
  16. You own stock in Spray & Wash and hand sanitizer
  17. You carry baby wipes, crackers, & matchbox cars in your purse.
  18. You can't remember your life before kids.
  19. No matter how badly your kids misbehave, you thank God for blessing you with them.
  20. You can actually make a valid argument for nose picking because sometimes you've just gotta get those boogies out of their tiny noses!
  21. You reach over to wipe food, dirt, gunk, etc. off of the face of someone who is not your child, and not even necessarily related to you.
  22. You've developed chronic shoulder/back pain from lugging around a 15lb. diaper bag, a purse large enough to hold the overflow, and the child for whom you are toting all this stuff!
  23. Even if your child is ugly, you think he/she is the most beautiful child on Earth.
  24. Everything they do is better and cuter than anyone else's child.
  25. You would stay up all night making a blouse for a school presentation the next day because you only learned about it just before your child went to bed.
  26. Warm tea/coffee is a luxury to you.
  27. Every time you open your bag for your wallet, you have to remove a diaper (nappy), baby wipes, tylenol (calpol), and a zhu zhu pet just to see the bottom of the bag.
  28. Your car smells permanently of sour milk and is knee deep in lollypop wrappers (papers).
  29. You sky plus (TIVO) list consists entirely of children's shows.
  30. Pampering yourself means you got a shower this week.
  31. The very loud screaming and crying fit in the store doesn't bother you. Even after you realize it's your own child doing it.
  32. It's normal to microwave a cup of tea/coffee about 5 times and still drink it cold!
  33. You begin to like the smell of baby vomit.
  34. You are having a conversation with your significant other or even another adult and you use words such as, "boo boo" or "yuckies."
  35. Most of your adult conversations are about your kids.
  36. Even though you potty trained your last child 8 years ago, you still refer to the bathroom as the potty and ask everyone (even your spouse) if they have to go before you leave the house.
  37. You refer to your husband as "Daddy" so often that you begin to forget what his real name is...

Saturday 16 April 2011

A New Blog...

So, Sadly, Theresa and I have decided to stop the joint Knitters Without Sitters blog. I'm a horrible blogger and she's great, but has her family one to tend to, so we're going our separate ways blog-wise. (Best Friend-wise we're still BFFs, just in case you were worried).

Also, The Davis' stay in good ole Ireland will come to a close in a few months, so The Davis' Irish Style didn't seem a good title any more.

After thinking it through, I wanted a blog that described our day to day life from here out, and needed to add my knitting patterns, too.

Fact #1: I knit...A. Lot.

Fact #2: I knit everywhere we go. The car, the movies, etc.

Fact #3: We're never home, so I get lots of knitting opportunities. (yay!)

Fact #4: I think my family tries to keep their distance from me when I whip out the needles and yarn (but they do their best to hide their humiliation).

Here's hoping this blog entertains...someone other than me...

Thursday 7 April 2011

Lemming

I wanted this first post to be about why I'm moving our site...again...and why I titled it the way I did...and blah blah blah. But that'll have to be my next post. This topic is too important to ignore...

If it has "Knits" in the title, I feel it should be about knitting, too. But this story only begins with knitting.

Last night, at Knit Group (see told you...knitting), a discussion came about concerning God and everyone's beliefs or lack there of. A couple members admitted their belief that there is no God, or their feelings that they weren't sure. Others stayed silent. I, just couldn't let it go.

If they're able to voice their opinion that there's simply no God, then why can't I stand up and say, "I believe with all my heart that there is a God."? Why has it become so PC to shyly ignore your faith in The One who takes care of and loves you?

It was mentioned that they believed God to fall into the same category as Faeries and Greek Mythology. That reading the stories from The Bible was exactly the same as reading any other fictional collection of tales. My heart truly broke. For God. For them.

How could you not look at your children and see God in every cell? They have the perfect hair color, cheeks that you can't resist kissing, eyelashes that reach Heaven. They delight in everything and fear nothing. They want only to be loved and praised. Every adult looks at a happy child and thinks, "I wish I could go back to when things were that simple." or "I wish I got tickled over the small things."

How can you watch a child and sincerely think that little person, in all that they are, is just a result of "coincidence," "evolution"?

I've heard people talk about Christians being "naive" and "gullible." I have to say with absolute certainty that it's the opposite.

One of the girl's quoted last night (from who I can't remember or seem to find on Google) that without Religion, there would be no war.

SERIOUSLY????

That's the equivalent of thinking that if a high school girl had better clothes/hair/body, or a boy was smarter/more athletic/handsomer, they wouldn't get bullied. Get real.
Kids will find something else to ridicule each other over. It's reality. So's the fact that war would happen whether or not religion existed. People have differences, some people have less tolerance for those differences. War would ensue. That, my friends, is also reality. Religion is just a scapegoat.

And my last pet peeve about non-Christians. WHY DO YOU CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS/EASTER IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE IN CHRIST?????? The 2 biggest Christian holidays of the year. Christmas = Christ's Birth. Argue over when Christ was actually born all you want, but December 25, CHRISTMAS, is when JESUS CHRIST'S BIRTH is celebrated. That's what Christmas is. Easter is the celebration of Christ rising from the grave, saving all of mankind from sin and death. It's not about Santa or the Easter bunny, gifts or treats. Why on earth would you celebrate that if you didn't believe? Christmas is the one time of year when prices are highest. Why on earth would you celebrate the birth of Christ, just to spend more money? Makes sense to me.

When I posed this question to the group last night, the response was basically because everyone else is doing it, and we're just following the masses.

What are we? Lemmings?

In a generation that is so determined to strive for individuality and non-conformity, following the masses sounds a little hypocritical, doesn't it?

I'm proud to be a follower of Christ, a child of God. I want my kids to know how important praising God is.

I can't wait to get out of a war-torn country, where the war still rages between religions. It's a drag to hear how many people have given up...

Wednesday 16 February 2011

It's been a long year...

And it's only mid February!

Bubby's had one thing right after another since early January. Now he's on the tail end of a cold.

Hazel? She woke up this morning with a fever of 104. Thankfully, we've done the whole ibuprofen and acetaminophen and cold bath thing and her temp is going down.

I feel blessed that this is all we're dealing with, because I'm very aware that things could get much much worse. However, I'm hoping the rest of the year goes quick and smooth.

I'm ok with getting all the crap out in the first 2 months :)

Wednesday 2 February 2011

Glad He knows me so well...

Does God test us to show us our limits? Right now, that seems really the only logical explanation for any trials and tribulations. He knows our limits. He knows what we're capable of. He knows exactly who we are, what we can do, what we're made of.

I'm glad He knows.

Right now I'm struggling with my own strength...

Sunday 9 January 2011

Fuzz...

It's what my brain feels like. There's only about 10 billion things going through my brain right now and it's making me sleepy just trying to organize any of them.

I need to sew Hazel's reclaimed dress. It's cut out and ready to go, I just need to get the lead out and sew it up. But that requires me to break out the sewing machine, which I may do tonight.

I need to finish the back of my sweater I started last week so I can have my #8 needles back and finish my hat :)

I need to re-pack the suitcases so I can take 2 back with me...as well as the 2 kids and their carseats/strollers. I'm pretty sure I can make this trip back to NI with them alone. We're going to go with, "YES! I CAN make that trip alone." Just so I don't have an anxiety attack between now and then. (But I really do think I can completely do it alone. Seriously, we'll be A-Ok).

I need to get my driver's license renewed for the good ole US of A.

Get Bubby to the doctor again on Thursday to make sure his ear infection is cleared up before we head out on Saturday.

I can't believe we've only 1 week left for this trip. I can't believe we aren't here for good. 11 months will go really really fast, right?

Wednesday 5 January 2011

One Year Later...

A lot has gone on in the months that have followed my last post.

We're still in Northern Ireland. And will be for another year.

We've had a gorgeous baby boy named, Callum Elijah.
He's perfect, and amazing, and literally everything I could have ever asked God to bless me with (just like his big sis)....

I flew to London in September.

Hazel turned 3 in September.

and started school 1 week later....

We visited Rome in October.


don't ask about the picture...I'm still angry about the pictures (I got duped out of 20 Euro).

Then we headed home for Christmas about 3 weeks ago. I still can't believe we've been here for 3 weeks already, but time flies when you're runnin' about havin' fun, huh??

I promised myself this year wasn't going to start off with resolutions that I wouldn't keep. I've never really done it in years past, but I really don't think I should start now, either.

But I have decided to do things to make this year fly by as completely fast as possible. I get to move home in 11 months, and I have decided to approach this year as time I get to prepare for our return home. Knit until my fingers fall off, sew all I can while I have access to my sewing machine, start a FYI book for Adam and Lindsay for their move to St. Andrews, Scotland in August.

I may not be Martha Stewart. But darn it, I'm gonna do my best.

I'm wondering at what point my kids will get sick of my blow-through-the-year-at-lightning-speed attitude?