Last Friday of the Month! Joshua

It is the last Friday of the month so today I will be discussing Joshua, the book of the Bible that I studied this month. Joshua falls between Deuteronomy and Judges in the Old Testament. As far as context, the book of Joshua is the story of the Israelites taking possession of the promised land. Moses had just died along with all of the Israelites who left Egypt and Joshua had just taken over as the leader of the people. Joshua was one of the spies that was sent into the promised land by Moses to report back to the people about what they would be facing when they got across the Jordan. Joshua and Caleb were sent out with 10 other spies and what the spies saw was not promising. 10 of the spies came back saying that the Israelites would be crazy to try to defeat the people of the land, but Joshua and Caleb came back excited because they saw how great the land was and knew that they had God on their side. From the first time Joshua is spoken of in the Bible, it is easy to see the extreme faith that he had in God and that is what struck me most about the book of Joshua. Joshua was constantly faced with impossible solutions which he responded to with one answer: God is in control. Joshua believed God was going to fulfill his promises and so he faced impossible situations with courage and continued to prove that the impossible becomes possible with God. Through Joshua's faith, the people of Israel were able to witness that "Not one of all the Lords' good promises to the house of Israel failed; every one was fulfilled." (Joshua 21:45, NIV) But after all of these promises were fulfilled, Joshua challenged the people of Israel to continue in their faith when he says, "Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness...But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve...But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." (Joshua 24:15, NIV) Just as Joshua challenged the people of Israel in that moment, I was challenged by the book of Joshua as I read through it. Am I seeing the blessings God is giving me and the power he has to fulfill his promises or am I making my problems out to be so big that I can't see God's power any more? The book of Joshua certainly did challenge me and I hope that this will inspire you to read through it and let me know what it says to you!

Next month I am reading through 1st and 2nd Corinthians, so I am looking forward to that.

PS: Veggietales has forever made the scene in Joshua 5:13-15 hilariously funny to me, all I can see is Larry falling flat on his face in the sand, cracks me up every time, lol.

Mmmmm, Goodness in a Cup

Okay, so I have a friend who has been asking for this recipe for a while and so, my happy home tip this week is a recipe for a drink that we call Ginger Tea. This is what I make when I am feeling sick, tired or a little down ... basically it's part of my happy place, lol. It's particularly good for when you are sick because it has great healing ingredients.

Start by boiling 2 cup of water and then put in 2 tea bags (we prefer Tetley orange pekoe tea) to let steep. While the tea is steeping, heat (do not boil) 2 cups orange juice, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 tsp ginger and 1/4 tsp cinnamon (or put cinnamon sticks in afterwards) in a pot on the stove. Once the orange mixture is hot (steaming), take the tea bag out of the water and add the tea to the orange mixture. Voila! Ginger tea. Having a nice Christmas cookie with it would be great as well. It is pictured here with molasses buns (Look at the earlier post "Ode to my Nan Fradsham') and man was it a yummy snack!

I know this recipe is used a lot in our house and I hope that you can make use of it as well!

A New Experiment!

Okay, here we are, my first Crafter's Corner. As always, I have a lot going on in my crafting world right now. I have two very tedious blankets on the go right now (they are made ENTIRELY by 1.5 inch granny squares) that are taking up most of my time. I am also converting my baggy t-shirts into baby doll tees but that only takes a few minutes so it's not really a big project. There is one thing that I am very excited about though and I want to share it with you.

I have recently decided to start crocheting video game inspired items and I am starting with a scarf and hat set. The scarf and hat set is inspired by the original Tetris. The scarf is going to be black with an in progress game of Tetris on either end and falling blocks throughout the rest of the scarf. The hat is going to be black with a trim made of Tetris blocks. I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty excited about the project and I'm hoping that it works out because if it does then I have opened up a whole new realm of possibilities for myself (and my readers) for crochet patterns. So I will definitely keep you posted and if it turns out I will post the pattern on a future Monday. For now, I will tell you this...I have graphed out the pattern on graph paper with each block representing 4 single crochet stitches and so far it is working out.

The only problem is having to constantly switch colours, it's making for a rather big mess.

Well, that's what's going on in my craft world right now, on Wednesday I'll be back with a great winter comfort recipe!

What I'm Reading In 2010

As can be seen, I need a jump start idea for my blog because blogging about baking and crochet once a week is not working and it is surprisingly not because I have no time but rather I usually have no ideas. Lately I have been making blankets that take a couple of months to complete and are not my original pattern so I cannot give you any crochet tips. So here is the new plan...

Mondays are Crafter's Corner Day: A craft idea, tip or simply an update on what's going on in my crafty world.

Wednesdays are Happy House Day: A helpful tip or recipe that will hopefully help you to make your house a little happier.

Fridays are Biblioholic's Day: An update on what I am reading. I will critique what I am reading and give any updates on the list I am giving you today.

And don't forget that all three of these categories go very well with a good cup of tea!

Okay, down to the main event, my book list for 2010: (If it is italicized, I have finished reading it)

1. The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill

2. Navigating Route 20-Something by Erin Keeley Marshall

3. The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran

4. Emily of New Moon by Lucy Maud Montgomery

5. Thanks for the Memories by Cecelia Ahern

6. An anthology of short stories by Anton Chekhov

7. The Penguin Book of Canadian Short Stories selected by Jane Urquhart

8. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

9. The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence

10. Prayer by Philip Yancey

11. Paul by Charles Swindoll

12. Simple Hospitality by Jane Jerrell

13. Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World by Joanna Weaver (I have been trying to read this for ages and something always comes up, hopefully this time it will work out)

14. Care of Souls: Revisioning Christian Nurture and Counsel by David G. Benner

15. Sacred Companions: The Gift of Spiritual Friendship and Direction by David G. Benner

This list will have things added to it by necessity or whim constantly throughout the year, but I am committing to reading these 15 this year and will keep you updated on what has been added to the list. I will not add these to the list, but I will be talking about the comics I am reading on occasion as well. Also, on the last Friday of the month I will talk about the book of the Bible I decided to study for that month.

So friends, hopefully this schedule will make it easier for me to commit to keeping this blog updated! Talk to you Monday!