I am an avid crocheter, with the fact that both my grandmother and mother-in-law, both crochet you would think that I learned my craft from these two wonderful ladies. But no, I was self taught from a learn to crochet book that was purchased for me by my mother-in-law when she learned of my interest in trying on the craft a few years back.  I hear stories of learning to crochet at a young age, typically from a grandmother type, and have always felt a little disappointed that my grandmother had never taught me the craft, not that I showed any real interest in this until I was a lot older.

Yes, crocheting is a hobby that I have, and that I hold dear, it is all mine. But does this mean that I should be selfish and not share my love of the craft?
I mean, there are online communities to reach out to with questions or concerns, but I find myself looking forward to when my young daughter, who is now two years old, is old enough for me to show her my love of crochet (and my attempt at a love of knitting, which I am also trying to teach myself).
It is great to have hobbies, and to hold them dear, but we should be embracing the act of sharing those hobbies with our families wherever possible.

My husband has his own hobby, and one I am very proud to say he has won awards for. He is an avid home brewer and belongs to two home brew clubs. He has taken his love of good craft beer to a whole new level (and it helps with the family budget too, have you seen how much money those craft beers go to). Of course this is not a family friendly hobby, unless you take into consideration, that though this is not a hobby to share with a young one, you can take the time to show them the science that goes into the art of this age old craft. There are so many things that go into trying to make the right brew (my husband tries to explain a lot to me and I try to read some of the articles in the magazines he gets so I can try and understand, but I really only get half of it, sorry honey).
He actually discovered that he can try and make home-made root beer. This is a brew that even the kids can enjoy, and can try to work along with too.

Sometimes, when we get into a zone with our crafts and hobbies, we forget that those around us can learn a lot from our favorite pastimes too. The act of sharing your hobbies and crafts can be the most rewarding part of it.
And if your kids, or other members of the family, have a new (or old) hobby they enjoy, maybe try to get involved with them so that you can make it a family affair and give it the old team try!

Prayer for a United Family

I have found myself, as of late, praying for the family dynamic. In this day and age, It is sad that I feel that using the word "prayer" feels like a dirty word. But there are a lot of dirtier words out there like; "divorce", "separation", "distance" and the like, which seem to be splitting up our families more and more each day.

I have found myself lately praying for the families out there, including my own, which can be headed towards the dysfunctional and distant relationships families all over the world have been (usually unintentionally). It seems that the world has been leaning too much towards individualism, with "mommy time" and "daddy time" being focused on more than "family time". I find myself a victim to individualism a bit too often as well. I have been praying on this, and have been wanting to do something about it.

My first blog post came to me in the shower this Sunday morning before Church. I didn't have time to write it all down, so I put in a quick note on the notepad of my smartphone (oh, technology, it feels like a blessing and a curse all at once). I was planning on coming back after Church to get this all down. Well, I had at least part of my prayers answered during the priests homily this morning. I had been wondering if a blog really was the best way for me to get my feelings on the family dynamic out there. Well, the homily was a focus on individualism, almost hitting all of the thoughts and feelings I had gone over in the shower this morning. It felt as if it was meant to be.

A family is like a sports-team, there are those who are just getting by on the skin of their teeth (or barely hanging to second to last place) and those who are fine tuned champions. Like a sports team, if you have a family who works together and listens to each member of the team, you can have the next Super Bowl Champions. But, if you instead have members who only work on their own game and do not think of their "teammates", you have a disgruntled team who is lucky not to be in last place.

I want this blog to be a place for parents (and children, grandparents, cousins - really any member of the family) to come to and find a way to turn their family into a well-oiled team. I know that my family is by no means perfect, and we do not have all the answers because no one really does. I want to share my ideas, but I also want to hear other's ideas too. I want to share my triumphs, as well as my misses, and everything in between. 

I mentioned my faith, because that is part of who I am. This is not going to be be a part of the blog (I have another one devoted to my faith) as I do not want my faith to hinder anyone from taking a part of this. I just did not want to hide that part of myself as I am proud of my faith. I do not want to offend anyone as I want to share this with all types of families. This is about everyone in every family, not just any particular crowd.

Thank you for listening to me. I will update soon. My first blog will focus on taking your own hobbies (or those of your children) and finding a way to share them.