I found the following patterns online & decided to try them:

Knit Pattern Link:
http://erica.brembos.googlepages.com/KPZoom.pdf

My finished Pad:

I added extra stitches to mine because it looked too small.  OOPS! LOL  It will shrink some in the wash & should be fine!

Crochet Pattern Link:
http://gherkinsbucket.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/biffershrug.pdf

My Finished Pad:

 

I like the way they both work!  They have good texture for scrubbing if there’s a sticky spot.  I will be making more!  They work up really fast. 

I am thankful to have Jerry as a husband.  I love him more today than I did when I first loved him!!  He is an amazing man & it is a blessing to be his wife.  We are blessed to have 2 wonderful children & 2 wonderful grandchildren.  We have had quite a journey to get where we are today & I am looking forward to continuing on that journey with him for many many years to come!

Thank you for the Beautiful Roses, Jerry!!  But most of all, thank you for loving me the way you do!!!!!!!!!!  You are an INCREDIBLE Man!!  I love you!!!! 

Here it is:

 

  

Shannon’s BasketWeave Dishtowel

Size 8 Circular Needles
Cast on 74 stitches

Knit 1 row

Knit 2, (Knit 5, Purl 5), repeat until 2 stitches left, Knit 2

Repeat 4 more times (Total of 5 rows with the Knit 5, Purl 5)

Knit 1 row

Knit 2, (Purl 5, Knit 5), repeat until 2 stitches left, Knit 2

Repeat 4 more times (Total of 5 rows with Purl 5, Knit 5)

Knit 1 row

Repeat this pattern until you have 20 “boxes” tall.

Knit 1 row

Bind off

—————————————-

Shannon’s BasketWeave Dishcloth

Size 8 Circular Needles

Cast on 44 stitches

Knit 1 row

Knit 2, (Knit 5, Purl 5), repeat until 2 stitches left, Knit 2

Repeat 4 more times (Total of 5 rows with the Knit 5, Purl 5)

Knit 1 row

Knit 2, (Purl 5, Knit 5), repeat until 2 stitches left, Knit 2

Repeat 4 more times (Total of 5 rows with Purl 5, Knit 5)

Knit 1 row

Repeat this pattern until you have 9 “boxes” tall.

Knit 1 row

Bind off

—————————————-

Circle Scrubbie

Size 11 Needles

Cast On 26 Stitches

Prep row: Knit

Row 1: Slip 1, K2Tog, K22, Increase 1, K1

Row 2: Slip 1, Increase 1, K22, K2Tog, K1

Row 3: Slip 1, K2Tog, K22, Increase 1, K1

Row 4: Slip 1, Increase 1, K22, K2Tog, K1

Row 5: Slip 1, K2Tog, K22, Increase 1, K1

Row 6: Slip 1, Increase 1, K22, K2Tog, K1

Row 7: Slip 1, K2Tog, K22, Increase 1, K1

Row 8: Slip 1, Increase 1, K22, K2Tog, K1

Row 9: Slip 1, K2Tog, K22, Increase 1, K1

Row 10: Slip 1, Increase 1, K22, K2Tog, K1

Row 11: Slip 1, K2Tog, K22, Increase 1, K1

Row 12: Slip 1, Increase 1, K22, K2Tog, K1

Row 13: Slip 1, K2Tog, K22, Increase 1, K1

Row 14: Slip 1, Increase 1, K22, K2Tog, K1

Row 15: Slip 1, K2Tog, K22, Increase 1, K1

Row 16: Slip 1, Increase 1, K22, K2Tog, K1

Row 17: Slip 1, K2Tog, K22, Increase 1, K1

Row 18: Slip 1, Increase 1, K22, K2Tog, K1

Row 19: Slip 1, K2Tog, K22, Increase 1, K1

Row 20: Slip 1, Increase 1, K22, K2Tog, K1

Row 21: Slip 1, K2Tog, K22, Increase 1, K1

Row 22: Slip 1, Increase 1, K22, K2Tog, K1

Row 23: Slip 1, K2Tog, K22, Increase 1, K1

Row 24: Slip 1, Increase 1, K22, K2Tog, K1

Row 25: Slip 1, K2Tog, K22, Increase 1, K1

Row 26: Slip 1, Increase 1, K22, K2Tog, K1

Bind off all stitches.

Seam together CO and BO edges. Draw a string through the slipped sts of one edge, pull tightly and secure. Repeat for the other slip stitch edge.

Let me know if you have any questions!!  Happy Knitting!!!

Before I give the link, I want to say a few things. 

First of all, this is written to CHRISTIANS, if you are not a Christian, it does not apply to you!

There are a lot of links to articles to read.  I am a VERY SLOW reader and I read EVERY SINGLE article.  It took me less than an hour.  Your children and their education and future are definitely worth it!

Lest you think some of the articles and examples are far out, or only extreme cases, think again!  My husband is a public high school teacher.  I can tell you story after story that would say otherwise, and that’s just experiences from ONE teacher at ONE school.  

Get out your KJV Bible & look at the verses they give. Pray for an open mind and begin to go through the articles.  This is SERIOUS people of God!!  We cannot afford to keep ignoring what is going on and think our kids are ok!! I’ve seen too many casualties to think otherwise!!   I am sharing this out of compassion and love for my fellow Christian families.  Please, take the time to read these articles if you are Christian and have children in the Public School System, or know of somebody that is/does!!

My husband and I pulled our only son out of 1st grade and homeschooled from then till graduation.  We homeschooled our only daughter all the way through.  …  Was it easy? not always.  Was it fun? not always.  Was it trying? not always.  Was it satisfying? not always.  Was it worth it?  ALWAYS!!!!!!  I praise God He put “radical” people in my path to “shake me up” a little & make me think!   I praise God that my 2 children are serving our Lord and not lost to the world!

Ok before this is so long you don’t want to take the time to read the articles, here’s the link to the blog with the article links:
http://proverbs14verse1.blogspot.com/2009/09/case-for-christian-education.html

And for my disclaimer:  I did not look at each site entirely, select links, etc. I just read the article.  I do not 100% agree with every word in every article, but I will say that I do agree with most of their points.

Click here if Video does not show up!

Our Trip back “home” was 11 days long, only 2 of the days were spent doing “Amish things” lol So now on to the rest of our vacation!! We had intended to go to Hershey, Pennsylvania & visit Hershey Park & all that, but we simply ran out of time! BUMMER! But, we will make extra time for that next time we go to Lancaster, I HOPE anyway!

SOOOO….. Overnight Stop #2 was my dh’s mom’s house in Temperance, MI. We were there 3 nights, the first time.

Then on to Overnight Stop #3: my younger Sisters house in Grand Blanc, MI. We were there 2 nights.

Back to dh’s mom’s house for 2 more nights.

Overnight Stop #4 was my dh’s granny in Jefferson City, Tennessee! We were there 2 nights.

In between our overnight folkies, we had many other visits to fit in and we missed a LOT of people. A Family Reunion, or wedding for each side of the family would be PERFECT! LOL That way you get to see everyone at once instead of wearing yourself out going place to place. We put almost 3,000 miles on our truck in just 11 days, a LOT of driving around!! (it’s 1,200 round trip straight there & back) It was REALLY good to be home and out of the truck! It’s ALWAYS so good to see everyone, but ALWAYS soooooooo good to come back home!!

A couple of fun things we did while we were at my sisters:

We went to Great Lakes Crossing (HUGE mall). They have a place inside the mall for the children it’s called “Jeepers” and it has FUN stuff like a roller coaster! Bumper cars! Himalaya (smaller version & it goes backward too!) and other smaller kiddie rides, and games to play. You pay for the kids & 1 adult gets to ride with a paying child! FUN FUN FUN!! LOL

Same mall had the Rain Forest Café restaurant & we ate supper there. Jerry’s birthday was a couple weeks away so we had them bring out the volcano cake & sing “Happy Birthday” for him! They had him stand up on his chair while they sang & it was just hysterical!! I wish I had video’d it, but I took a couple pictures instead. BUMMER!! LOL And of course, we got matching tee-shirts from there! LOL … On the way home (back to my sister’s house) from the mall a Money Storm happened in our truck!! Uncle Jerry kept throwing Dollar Bills to the back for my nieces! They had a blast! It was for them to start their own Lemonade stand. My sister told them they (my nieces) had to come up with ½ and they (my sister & her dh) would pay ½ and they kept spending all their money and not saving! LOL So Uncle Jerry told them this was for their business. J

My oldest niece, Avery-7, wanted to learn how to knit, so I taught her. She learned so quickly! All she wanted to do was knit! LOL Ella-5 didn’t have the patience but had fun playing with the yarn! LOL Wonder how Avery is doing with her little blue square! J

We had a GREAT time hanging out with my sister & her hubby & my 2 nieces! 2 days really isn’t enough!

The morning we were leaving to go back to dh’s mom’s house in Temperance, my step dad came over to see us for a while. It was good seeing him again because it has been over 5 years since seeing him. He brought me the bestest surprise!!! My mom’s Bible! (she passed away in 1998) I had asked him for it several years ago when he was trying to divide stuff out & get rid of some of her stuff, but he wasn’t ready to part with it yet and then he brought it to me out of the blue! Woo Hoo! I was so excited & all choked up at the same time. It’s so special to me to have her Bible that she read and marked and hi-lited and made notes. It was fun to see her cute little bookmarks & stuff & I still have it all in there where she left it. J I’d MUCH rather have my mom still alive, though. Since that’s not the case, it is comforting and special to have her Bible.

The day after we went back to Jerry’s moms, we went to Cedar Point. It’s an amusement park in Sandusky Ohio, that is actually world famous for it’s roller coasters! It was FUN FUN FUN!!! Some of them I don’t like! WAY WAY WAY too fast and jerky! One of them, called the Raptor, was so crazy I came off and almost fell over because I was so dis-oriented I didn’t know which way was up! LOL Disney will be TAME compared to those rides! LOL

Here’s a little montage of pics from our trip!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Our first stop was a dream come true for me!! We went to Lancaster, Pennsylvania: Amish Country!!! The oldest & original Amish settlement in the USA. We stayed for 2 nights at a very nice Bed & Breakfast called LoveLace Manor I would highly recommend anyone staying there if they ever go to Lancaster. I want to go there again myself! The Owners, Michael and Lark were very friendly & welcoming and they make GREAT breakfasts! While we were there we did a few things that were the highlight of the trip, for me!! We went on a horse & buggy ride the first night, then to a restaurant that serves up Amish foods & we ate at a big table with about 3 or 4 other couples that we didn’t know, it’s called a Farm Feast. They bring out platters of food and everyone takes some & passes the platter around so everyone gets some. It was about 4 courses. Everything was DELICIOUS!!!! We tried the Shoo-Fly Pie & it was YUM YUM YUM!!! That was fun!!

The next day, Tuesday, we had a full schedule so Jerry & I got up at 7am & got in our running & exercise & showers, Chris slept in till breakfast! LOL We had to be ready for breakfast at 9am. It was YUMMY! The table setting was like a very nice restaurant & they served the food and talked to us & answered any questions about the area or Amish if we had any, & made sure our coffee or juice was constantly full. It was really nice!! … Ok, on to the rest of the day!

First stop: We went to a different horse & buggy ride, where it was just the driver, Jerry & me. The other one was a huge carriage with about 10 other people & it wasn’t what we were expecting, so we did a different one & liked it a lot! Reuben was the driver & he was so nice and answered our questions & just talked along the way & pointed out things about the Amish & their lifestyle. I’ll never forget his kind, gentle attitude. After the ride we wanted to get a picture of the horse & buggy we rode in, but that didn’t work out, so we got a pic of us with a different horse at an Amish Health Food Store down the road. Here we are:

We had a show in a theatre about the life of an Amish man & a little history of the Amish. Then the next stop was a 2 hour bus tour of the Amish Farms in the area, & there were a couple stops at Amish shops, an Amish Dairy Farm, it was neat & we learned a lot! Then we had a tour of a “mock” Amish house that went with the characters in the show. The lady that ran that tour was a hoot! She had these hard hitting/direct little blurbs about their 8th grade education & all they accomplish with it. It went so well with our family beliefs & home schooling, I loved it!! The other people there were probably thinking she was off her rocker! LOL

Ok now on to the DREAM COME TRUE part for me!!! I have read about the Amish and their way of life for a while now & have been fascinated and intrigued by it & when I found out that we could actualy eat dinner with a REAL AMISH FAMILY at their REAL AMISH FARM, I was about jumping out of my skin in excitement!!! The owners of the Bread and Breakfast we stayed at set it up with an Amish family that they are friends with. Tuesday night we drove out to Reuben and Anna Lapp’s farmhouse. (different Reuben than the horse & buggy ride) We got a tour of their barn with the cows and it was milking time so we got to see that. I thought they did it by hand, but I didn’t know they had 45 cows! LOL I was going to milk one, but they had these cool battery operated things that they put on the udders & it did the milking. Then it goes into a huge cooler after it is strained. We got to drink a glass of fresh raw milk & it was YUMMO!!! We walked through their vegetable garden & everything was so IMMACULATE!!!

Then we went into their BEAUTIFUL farm house for supper! We had a silent prayer, then the food started being passed around. It was some fresh food from their garden & it was YUMMY!!! Zuccini Casserole, Baked Corn, Coleslaw, New Potatoes, Chicken, Fresh Bread. Then some ice cream and YUMMY Cake for dessert! I’m probably forgetting something, but it was all sooooooo good!! Conversation was a lot of questions & answers. After supper they wanted to see our son juggle & we didn’t have any stuff with us in the truck but, one of the other guys had some golf balls, so Chris did a a juggling show with golf balls! LOL But everyone really enjoyed it! Then we went inside with Reuben & Anna after everyone left. Jerry wanted to see their Bible & they were so happy to show us & talk with us & answer even more questions! LOL Their Bible is in German and King James. It was so neat! The one thing I wanted to know was how did they believe they get into Heaven. Reuben said “Only by the blood of Jesus. There’s no way I could ever do enough good things to earn my way.” I was so relieved to hear that, because of some of the things I had heard about them and works vs. grace. I so enjoyed fellowshipping with them, I never wanted the evening to end. They were so kind, generous, humble & were gracious hosts. … They had a little table set up with some of the things they make & we bought a few things for gifts & souveniers. They make quilts, of course! They make these cute little stuffed dogs out of the scraps from the quilts, and a cool little spice mat that you set a hot pot on and it fills up the room with the smell of cinnamon.

Some of the things I learned about the Amish:
* Their divorce rate is almost ZERO!
* The children go to a 1 room school for 1st through 8th grade, then they train in their vocation.
* By the time they finish 8th grade they will know 3 languages: English, Pennsylvania Dutch, & High German.
* 90+% of their children remain with their Faith
* They vote Republican
* Everything they do is EXCELLENT, they aren’t prideful at all, but they do take great care in doing things with EXCELLENCE.
* They do no get into debt, they pay cash for everything, including their homes.
* They do not reject or shun ALL technology, just the things they think could lead to seperation of family. For example, they have indoor plumbing & propane powered refrigerators & stoves.
* Their lifestyle produces peace & contentment

I learned a lot and I really enjoyed learning about their way of life. I could totally see myself living that way. Getting used to sleeping in PITCH BLACK with no sounds in the house would be the hardest thing for me to adjust to. (think about all the noise electronics make & how quiet it is when the electricity goes out!!!) I could live without all the electric conveniences. The results of their lifestyle is simply amazing. It seems like someone would have to give up a lot to “go Amish”, but the way I see it, a person would GAIN so much more than they would have to give up. I guess you could say, I was really impacted by this part of our Vacation!

I will post about the rest of our Vacation at another time.

One of my Blogging Buddies, Cora over at Inside the Life of a Pastor’s Family gave me an award for the blog! Cool!

Rules to this award:
1) List 7 things you love
2) Link back to the person who gave you this award
3) Pass it along to 7 other bloggers

Here are the 7 things I love:
1: My AMAZING Jesus, He is my LORD and Savior, without Him life is meaningless and empty.
2: My Handsome Hubby, Jerry, He is an AWESOME Man of God & I am blessed to have him.
3: My children: I am blessed to have such WONDERFUL children that both Love Jesus & are serving Him with their lives as adults!
4: My grandchildren: Haylea & Sarah are so precious! Being a grandma is a HUGE-MONGOUS Blessing!!
5: Well, ALL my family!! We might not always see eye-to-eye on things, but they are family & I love and pray for each member of my extended family!!
6: The Ocean.
7: The Mountains

Not in any order, Here are 7 Blog Buddies to pass the award to:
1: For always making me laugh & smile at her “adventure” posts: Life on the HillTop She lives life as an adventure, never a dull moment! lol
2: Just recently found DeNiece over at: Organized Homemaking For Christ She is very inspiring and encouraging! I love how she does not exclude her Lord Jesus from ANY part of her day!!
3: Jessica over at Abundance of the Heart What a FAITH Warrior!!!
4: Elysia over at Schu Crew Always has a GREAT attitude, even when she is out of her comfort zone!!!
5: Monica at The Homespun Heart Her blog says “Cultivating and enjoying the simple pleasures of faith, family, and home” What a neat blog to “stumble upon”!!
6: Jennifer over at The Stence Family She’s a sweet heart & has such a neat family! I “met” her on a yahoo group & now we both blog!
7: Carri over at Carri Me Away I’ve known her the longest of all my blog buds, originally “meeting” on her yahoo group. She’s momma to 8 wonderful children!! She’s always encouraging and inspiring!!

I am looking forward to a GREAT summer vacation with him!! ::Happy Dance::

This is my 10th Mother’s Day without my Mom. I am thankful for the 32 years I had with her. We had our share of struggles, but we worked through them all. I miss her. I know I will see her again and be with her for all eternity with Jesus!!

I want to share a poem my daughter wrote for me on Mother’s Day a few years ago:

This is my workout today! LOL It is rainy, cloudy & thundering. The pollen is REALLY on my nerves!!! It has my head all foggy and I did NOT want to get on that treadmill, but I did!!! 1.5 minutes into my program, my mp3 player decided to give up the ghost again, so I had to stop and get another one, then get re-started! LOL But I made it!! I pushed through, huffin’ & puffin’ and I made it to he end! LOL Please, somebody get me a Mountain Dew or Coke! :p LOL

Sarah on her favorite ride, Bob the Builder!

Haylea on her favorite Horse Ride!

Grandma Shannon, Momma Cathy, Haylea & Sarah on the tall horse ride.

Sarah with her Great Grandma Jan

Haylea with her Oompah on the climbing structure.

Video of Sarah on Bob the Builder Ride.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XFbkILy85M

allowfullscreen=”true” width=”445″ height=”364″>

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olXXOwQQrkU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHyniB9rPTs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0lOmSqofTQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brp8xIHDhM4

And for the GRAND FINALE!! Haylea was a *LITTLE* excited that her oompah is home from work FINALLY!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuTzW4JIzlE

Whatcha think??

This one he does this cool flippy thing that I’ve only seen bunnies do! lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZpzRXfFiXM

This one has a cute little mourning dove pecking in what used to be a sandbox.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtMuNso5i9U
The birds are just singing away out there (as can be heard in the videos)! Some are chasing eachother, yep it’s spring! LOL

The grass was freshly mown and all the little birdies came out to nibble, and gather goodies for nest making, they were so cute! I saw a few cardinals, robins, blue jays, sparrows, & mourning doves. Oh and a cat must have been looking for lunch because he jumped the fence and prowled around for a bit before he decided to jump back out & look elsewhere!

Just thought I’d share a little North Carolina Spring with you!

Monday:
http://shannon4j.blogspot.com/2008/07/week-of-pictures-in-feminine-dress_14.html

Tuesday:
http://shannon4j.blogspot.com/2008/07/tuesday-in-week-of-pictures-in-feminine_15.html

Wednesday:
http://shannon4j.blogspot.com/2008/07/wednesday-in-week-of-feminine-dress_17.html

Thursday:
http://shannon4j.blogspot.com/2009/03/i-had-very-busy-day-but-i-did-get.html

Friday:
http://shannon4j.blogspot.com/2008/07/friday-in-week-of-feminine-dress_18.html

Saturday:
http://shannon4j.blogspot.com/2008/07/saturday-in-week-of-feminine-dress_19.html

Sunday:
http://shannon4j.blogspot.com/2008/07/sunday-in-week-of-feminine-dress_20.html

Anybody can join in!!!

I had to copy & paste from my WordPress Blog since the posts were there & it won’t transfer here. So the comments are not attached.

We (dhJerry & I) were glad to see his sisters & Aunt Cheryl & Cousin Josh too. Hope to see more of you guys when we are up in MI this summer!!

We were entertained by Tammy’s sons doing headstands at Applebees! he he

Thank you everyone that has been praying! And if you feel lead: Please continue to pray for a complete recovery.

We took a couple Pictures:

Left to Right: Tricia, Jerry, Jerry, Tammy

We went to Outback Steakhouse (guess I am not a vegetarian anymore lol) to eat dinner. Then we came back & hung out for a bit. Haylea & Sarah’s other Grandma (David’s Mom) got them a fun tent to play in and here they are with Oompah:

We went to Outback Steakhouse (guess I am not a vegetarian anymore lol) to eat dinner. Then we came back & hung out for a bit. Haylea & Sarah’s other Grandma (David’s Mom) got them a fun tent to play in and here they are with Oompah:

Congratulations, Cora!!! You were chosen by the online randomizer!!!!

Please E-Mail me your Address and I will get your Book & CD’s in tomorrow’s mail!!!

Shannon@PositivePrayers.com

Thank you to Cora, Karen, & Jennifer for participating in my Blog GiveAway!!