Nearing Home by Billy Graham is well written, is inspirational, and offers many good suggestions for those of us that are aging and therefore nearing home.  The book has abundant scripture references for almost every suggestion that he gives to make aging easier and more rewarding.  He also shares stories from his past to illustrate certain points.  One idea that he stresses throughout the book is that as long as we are alive, God has a purpose for our life and we should work to fulfill that purpose because old age does not exempt us from fulfilling the purposes in our life.  He also reminds us that the Bible does not diminish old age but teaches us that old age has value and virtue.

In the first part of the book, Dr. Graham covers the practical subjects that deal with growing older such as wills, retirement, finances, and our final wishes dealing with the end of our life.  The greater part of the book deals with how to look at retirement as a gift from God and how to use it wisely to do the things that God still wants us to do before we leave this earth for our home in Heaven.  In retirement we have to make a choice of how we will deal with it.  Will retirement be all about me or will I spend the time in meaningful activities that help others?

Dr. Graham emphatically states that we should not spend time thinking how weak we are but should put our thoughts into thinking how strong God is.  The problems of old age are certain and rather than denying them we should admit they exist and prepare for them.   With God’s grace we can accept them as part of His plan for our life.  Aging is not easy but it can bring special joys.  We have more time for family and friends, there is freedom from responsibilities, and we can now enjoy the small things in life.   If we will put every day into God’s hands then we can grow closer to Christ in our golden years.  Eventually we will not be able to do everything we once did or everything that we want to do.  We should not dwell on this but thank God that there are still some things that we can do.  We should work hard to do those things faithfully and to do them well.  We should commit our time and self to Jesus Christ and do his will no matter what comes into our lives.

I want to end this review with wise words from Dr. Graham.   “When the infirmities and struggles of old age threaten to overwhelm you, turn your heart toward your Heavenly home.”

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

When I got to the Family Center at church I found a large table at the back of one of the Sunday school rooms and took out the quilts and put them in stacks according to size and if for boys or girls.  I put my name tags in order, got out my ribbon and scissors, and started to work getting the quilts ready for the gift bags.

I was trying to hold one quilt to keep it rolled and was fighting with the ribbon and tag when Donna came in and asked if I would like some help.  I quickly replied in the affirmative.  I had not even thought to ask anyone to help for thought that all the ladies were busy wrapping gifts.  Certainly glad the one lady finished quickly and could help me.   I even let her pick out which quilt went to which child.  Then I would roll and hold while she tied the ribbon and attached the name tag. With her help we had all the quilts tied and ready to go in a very short time.  The saying that many hands make the job easy was so very true tonight. 

I had not signed up for the wrap party meal but since there was tons of food and I had not eaten, I had supper after we finished rolling the quilts.  I especially enjoyed the two desserts of pecan pie and German chocolate cake.  I know I should not have had two desserts but I could not resist and after all it is the Christmas season when we all eat too much of what we definitely do not need in our bodies.

Hope the little boy getting this quilt likes cows since the back is nothing but cows wearing Santa hats.

I bought this panel with store fronts years ago for a special project and needless to say it was never made.  Some young child will enjoy it I am sure.

I used to collect Santas so I think that is the reason that I had so much fabric printed with Santas.  If I had done all the Christmas projects that I had planned for all the Christmas fabric I bought, I could cover all the walls in my home plus the walls of the homes of all my family and friends.

 More Santa fabric but at least this one also has beautiful red roses.  Definitely for a girl.

Quilt number thirty and so glad that all are finished and now in the gift bags at church.

Quite a pile of quilts and I am one happy lady that they are all finished, rolled, tied, and at the church waiting to be delivered to the children.

Went to the Christmas area to look for a wreath and saw they had trees on sale.  Was about to get a three foot one for eighteen dollars when I saw the four foot one for twenty-five dollars.  I decided to go with the four foot tree that I will put on a table since I don’t have room for an eight foot one on the floor.  Can’t decorate until after Monday when I have all the quilts delivered.

Was going to finish the five quilts that I quilted yesterday but with the time I spend running errands, I did not get home until seven o’clock.  I did manage to work up enough energy to trim the batting on the topside and Monday will pin top and back together, sew, trim the bottom, turn, and topstitch.  I can do all that in three hours or less so am not staying up until the wee hours of the morning to finish them tonight.

There are thirty-three kids on the list that Donna gave me but even though I have three more quilts ready to quilt, I am not going to make them for the three kids not getting quilts are twelve and thirteen.  I did make for a couple of girls that are twelve years old but they had younger siblings and did not want the older child to feel left out.  The three I deleted do not have younger brothers or sisters.  Besides I have reached the breaking point on making quilts and I simply cannot start three more quilts.  I have done my quilting for 2011.  But the new year will be here in less than a month and I will start again.

I finally finished the quilting on five quilts.  I was hoping to completely make four today but just could not manage it so decided to just quilt and will put the five together tomorrow.  I am seriously thinking of making only thirty quilts instead of thirty three.  There are three older kids on the list and that would be a good place to stop.   And I am afraid that my sewing machine is going to quit on me.  It sounds horrible and the foot pedal also has a problem.  I am just praying that it will at least hold out until I get the five finished tomorrow.  I could take until the twelfth to finish the quilts but I want them finished for the fifth when the ladies have the wrap party for that will be the best time to get them in with the rest of the gifts for each child.  And I want them out of my house so that I can concentrate on something else.

Finally located an electric blanket for a reasonable price.  The ones at Walmart are ninety-nine dollars and I refuse to pay that.  Target has one for thirty-five but is on sale through tomorrow for thirty so am going to make a mad dash to Monroe tomorrow morning to pick up one.  My old one was getting the bed slightly warm but last night it was not even doing that.  Since my bedroom is not heated I really want to crawl into a warm bed.  I like sleeping in a cold room but I want the bed warm.

Nearly midnight so off to bed and hopefully will be up at eight and on my way to Monroe since Target is open at seven.

Since I was in Walmart I looked for an aqua sweater like the red one that I bought to wear under a low necked black sweater.  Really wanted an aqua so I could wear my silver earrings with turquoise stones.  Now isn’t that silly?   But I really like aqua and black together, almost as much as red and black but not quite.

I knew that getting four quilts finished in one day was a fluke.  Today I only managed to complete two.

Santa and angels.  What more could a kid want?

Definitely colorful.  I hope that the child receiving this quilt is not afraid of kittens for the back is covered with kittens.

I am still wondering why I bought this piece of fabric.  I must have had someone in mind but it definitely was not me.  But I am sure that the little boy that gets it will like it.  At least I hope he does.

This is definitely a colorful quilt.  Hope it brings a smile to a little face.

I really like this fabric with the dark background.  I know that I bought it with a specific project in mind but that never happened so now it is a quilt for a young girl.

With all the Santas this will be a good quilt for a very young boy or girl.

This is the other side of the previous quilt.  I normally do not make both sides of a quilt from a panel but these two happened to be the last pieces that I had pulled and I was not in the mood to go searching for a different piece for the back.  Besides the child who receives the quilt will not mind I am sure.

I have been posting to this blog for years and I just tonight realized that I can click on my photos and they will enlarge.  Well duh.  I knew that it was possible but thought that one had to install a program for the photos to be enlarged.  Some days I wonder about my brainpower.

I have had several ladies ask how I do “Deanna’s version” of meandering quilting.   I was pinning a quilt together today and noticed that the stitching actually shows up clearly on the batting.

I roll the fabric and batting on one side and then start stitching in the middle on one side. I simply sew one direction, turn the other direction and keep doing that until I reach the edge.  I also chain stitch the two sides of the quilt so that when one piece of the quilt is finished I have just one seam left on the second piece. Anything to save time.  And this method does not require pinning.  If I am doing a large quilt then I do it in sections for ease of handling and ease on my shoulders and arms.  Am sure the quilt police would frown but frankly that does not bother me one bit.  This works for me for it is fast and I have hundreds of quilts that I hope to make for missions and cannot take time for fancy quilting.  Hey, the kids don’t care about the quilting anyway.

Started from scratch with this one today.  It is just two pieces of fabric that are quilted in my version of meandering.  Each side is quilted separately and then the two are sewn together, turned, and then top stitched on the edge with a decorative stitch.

One of the children receiving quilts is a little girl who has heart problems and was asked to make a soft one for her.  Unfortunately I had no flannel in my stash but did not mind buying some.  I only buy fabric these days if I do not have what I need in my stash.  The alphabet fabric is the flannel.

I had hoped to do at least one more quilt today but I was just too tired and am happy that I got at least two finished.

My plan was to wrap the presents for the advent calendar for Bryce and Brody when I finished the quilts but I am just too tired.  Will be asleep by nine thirty.