“Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The LORD hath done great things for them.” – Psalm 126:2

Reader’s Digest says laughter is the best medicine. Whether that is true or not, I don’t know but I do know that an occasional laugh is good for the spirit. Everyone could use a laugh now and then. I ran across this video that is sure to give you a laugh. I know I laughed until I cried. Just so you know the words at the beginning are Swedish and it means roughly “could this be funnier?” and the baby’s name is William. Enjoy!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HttF5HVYtlQ]

I attended a Youth Rally this weekend. I was a chaperone not a youth unfortunately but I still had a great time. The first lesson, presented by Neal Pollard of Denver, CO, was titled “How to Get What You Want from Your Parents? Naturally my first instinct as a parent was to grab my own children and run out before this wacko gave away all our secret weapons. But as I was listening to the lesson I realized how applicable it was to everyone.

First he gave a list of things that kids want from their parents
Love
Acceptance
Stability
Honesty
Undivided Attention
Trust

I noticed that these are things that most people want in relationships and a lot of these extend to everyone you meet. General respect and courtesy.

Then he listed the ways for kids to get those things from parents. His lists was something like this.

• Honesty – Don’t we all value honesty in others. Proverbs 16:13 tells us “Righteous [honest] lips are the delight of a king, and he loves him who speaks what is right.” And in Proverbs 24:26 we see that “Whoever gives an honest answer kisses the lips.” Your mom was right – honesty really is the best policy.

• Obedience – This one has a little less application with people who aren’t your parents but it still has some places for obedience in daily life. For example, we have bosses, and federal, state and local laws and even spouses that all require some degree of obedience. If you don’t believe me zoom past Mr. Law Enforcement Officer while zigzagging haphazardly in and out of traffic or ignore your wife when tell you not to be late and see what happens.
  

• Niceness – We all have heard the cliche about nice people finishing last. While it may be true that the ruthless businessman gets rich, it is also true that his nastiness has come at a price. We would all rather be around people who are nice to us. And at the end of the day, is that money you made being nasty to people going to keep you company and provide you emotional support. So speak kindly to the kid with his face full of jelly, smile at the stressed-out cashier at Wal-mart, allow that harried mom to cut in front of you in line, hold the door for the delivery guy with an armload of boxes. Not only will it make people be nice to you, it will make you feel good about yourself too.

• Openness – Don’t we all like to feel that people are open with us? Lack of communication is one of the biggest relationship killers there is. Communication is a two way street. We have to feel that the person we are talking to is being open and honest with us before we are willing to be open with them. And conversely, if we want openness in a relationship, we have to be willing to open up first.
  

• Respect – Aretha sang about it and don’t we all want it. It is difficult to get respect from others if you do not show respect to them. There are of course, different degrees of respect due to different people. You don’t have the same respect for the three year old in your Bible class that you do for your spouse, your mother or the judge. But all of these people do deserve respect. And you will find that showing respect for others gains respect for yourself. Proverbs again teaches us “ A kindhearted woman gains respect, but ruthless men gain only wealth.”– Proverbs 11:16 and ” He who scorns instruction will pay for it, but he who respects a command is rewarded.”– Proverbs 13:13

Jesus boiled this all down into one sentence “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” – Matthew 7:12 This is often called the Golden Rule – simply put it means treat others the way you want people to treat you. Try it today. You may be pleasantly surprised with the results.

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Scriptures were quoted from the English Standard Version of the Bible.

Or Mishaps with Math

Sometimes, when you are starting to think too highly of yourself, God finds a way to humble you.

[For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. – Luke 14:11 ESV]

This week I was humbled by the lowly 0. I have been itching to cast on Sandi Wiseheart’s Summer Shawlette since it first showed up on IK. I had been telling myself that I should wait until I got a few projects off the needles before I started but I ignored my more sensible side and succumbed to the temptation.

The pattern is supposed to be an easy to knit Faroese style shawl- not that I had any clue what a Faroese style shawl was but it looked really cool and supposedly had special shaping to keep it on your shoulders. I had some yarn in my stash that had been purchased for another project only to find that the yarn did not like that project. So pulled it out, knit a gauge swatch (shocking I know) and got ready to knit me some Faroese shawl. It began with a crocheted provisional cast on – not my favorite but whatever the pattern says. So I dug out my waste yarn and cast on the 70 stitches for the neck band. The first row was simple K2, P1, K1, P1, K2 – I can do that. I did notice that the pattern didn’t mention repeating this stitch pattern for the rest of the row but I thought that was just an oversight. The next row was Sl1, K1, P1, K1, P1, K2 – so far so good. Then you were supposed to knit that pattern for 40 rows. This seemed like an awfully long neckband but maybe that was normal for Faroese shawls, after all, I had never actually knit one before. After you knit the 40 rows of neckband, you were supposed to turn your work with the selvage up and pick up 20 stitches along the edge, unzip the provisional cast on and place 7 live stitches on the needles. Wait a minute here, what am I going to do with the other 63 live stitches???? Knit the 7 stitches in the pattern K2, P1, K1, P1, K2, stitch count at the end of the row 34. HUHHHHH???? How on earth did I get to 34 stitches when I started with 70, then picked up 20, then picked up 7 more. By my count, I should have had 97 stitches on the needles plus I had another 63 live stitches staring me in the face with no idea what to do with them. If I picked them up I could end up with a really nice bottom to a suitcase or perhaps a toe for a sock that would fit Michaelangelo’s David or the Statue of Liberty . I re-read the instructions and then read forward to see if there was some clever way that you were going to use those extra 63 stitches but to no avail. So I re-re-read the instructions, and re-re-re-read. Then it hit me like a bolt of lightning – no Harry Potter reverence intended. There was no “0” at the end of that “7” in the instruction for the cast on. That sentence was CO 7 – 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 – not seventy. ARGGGHHHHHH!!!!!! Can you say “Frog Time”? I guess I will learn to read more carefully one day. Glad I did this with knitting instead of cake baking. 70 cups of flour would have made a REALLY big cake.

The good news is that the shawl looks much better made the way the pattern describes. I don’t have a photo yet. It’s been too hot for a photo shoot. Maybe tomorrow – when the temperature is supposed to drop below 100.

One last reminder – tonight at midnight is your last chance to participate in my blog contest. Winner will be announced tomorrow along with the latest photos.

Saturday afternoon quickie knit to ward off the effects of the over air conditioned church building. Generic triangular shawl. Red Heart Light and Lofty in Glow. It was blocked but it didn’t do much good with this yarn.

MS3 after completion of Clue 3. I think this is actually Row 234 which is about half way through Chart E. Unblocked – obviously. Knit Picks Shadow – Vineyard Heather, Mill Hill Beads in Iridescent black

Generic toe up socks with short row heel.
Lion Brand Magic Stripes in Spring print

Don’t forget my first ever Blog Contest ends Friday. For details see the post 100