april is, finally, over.

wow. i'd like to start by praising God that i lived through the last month. i am fully convinced that i would have been a much angrier and vengeful person without Him. now, on with everything else.
april signified the last round of Nerd Wars: Tournament the First. so, of course, i submitted things for a couple of challenges. first, in the Giving Geeks category, the challenge was tsunami and earthquake relief. there were a great many suggestions as to what one could do to contribute. i chose to make the DanDoh scarf in green. please read about it here on the designer's blog. i chose to think of it as one is supposed to think about a prayer shawl (or at least the way i choose to think about a prayer shall). when i make a prayer shawl, i have a specific person in mind for it. as i work on it, i keep them in my thoughts, pray for them and the things going on in their lives. as the knitter (and this may just be me), i find it to be an incredibly moving experience. my goal during prayer shawl creation is to be consumed, not by the knitting, but by intersession. don't get me wrong, i'm not terribly good at it, my mind has a serious tendency to wander about without my noticing immediately. but hey, it is something i'm trying to train myself in. i have a good feeling that i'm going to treat baby blankets the same way when i eventually start making them. anyway, second, in the Team Spirit category, the challenge was EXTREME ULTRA MEGA BIG CHALLENGE OF DIFFICULTY (their use of capitalization, not mine). it actually had nothing to do with team spirit at all, to the point that you couldn't get team spirit points due to the nature of the challenge (the name of which was rather misleading). it revolved around spring cleaning. the objects was to finish up two works-in-progress (wips). i finished the only one i had and then did some stash busting for the second half of my entry. for my wip, i finished up my brother's hat. his wife had requested a hat for him in grey. his only request was that it be long enough to cover his ears. for my stash buster (an item made to use up some amount of yarn in one's yarn stash), i used up the last of some red and white cotton i had. i made three headbands (only one of which i liked and have worn). the first is three braided i-cords (this is the best one). on the second, i attempted to put a diamond shape in the middle, causing the whole thing to function better as an eye patch than a headband. on the third, i ran out of yarn, so it turned into a bracelet or anklet instead. ce la vie. the point is that i did enough to get all of the points for the challenge (using up yarn i didn't know what else to do with was definitely a bonus though).
so, at this point in what is now may, i am working on a gift for a delightful nine-year-old girl (more about that later) and trying to decide is want to participate in tournament the second that starts in june. having trouble deciding. also, if i participate again, do i want to change teams? again, having trouble deciding. let me know if you have any thoughts on the matter.
so, this past month has been more than a little trying (loads of work related stress). as a result, i've been working on adjusting my attitude. i know that i won't stay at my job forever, just until tiny ones entire our lives. so, i'm currently seeing the whole thing as a means to an end, which doesn't really seem like the best view of the situation either. as my mother would (and has) say, "you can survive anything for short amount of time when the end is clear." i know that. however, i'm coming to personally see it a tad differently. i know i can get through anything for a short time. i know that the end result will be worth it. however, seeing it as temporary only removes a very small portion of the frustration involved. i'm seriously working at cultivating a more positive, more healthy attitude, and i know that i'm going to need arm-loads of support and love from friends and family, but mostly from God. i'm going to complain less because let's face, as human beings, we enjoy wallowing in our own self-pity. there's no point and it helps noone. so, there's my first effort. i'm going to look harder for the positive, since every cloud has a silver lining (cliche, i know, however it rings true). i'm generally pretty good at this. in the work aspect of my life, however, i am not. so there's the second. i think i'll just work on two for now and add on later.
God, please guide me on a path of contentment and peace that only you can provide.