Hi I’m Allison.

This is where I get to tell you a little bit about myself.  I married my best friend 14 years ago and I’m now a mom to two beautiful step-daughters and two lovable, yet mischievous, dachshunds.  I get overly excited about starting a new knitting project but have countless unfinished ones around my home!  Hosting a house full of friends and family brings me complete joy.  I love spending time in the country walking with my husband down quiet roads or fishing at the lake.  I have dreams of moving out to that lake one day!

Those are the basics but what I hope is that you might come to recognize me and know me better because of the way I live and who I strive to be like.  That would be my best, best, best of all friends, Jesus!  To help you better understand that I would like to share how God has blessed me with the gift of time!

My husband Rick and I are embarking on a new stage in our lives. Our girls are young adults, ready to burst into the world and start their independent lives.  My husband, along with his business partner run their own web based business which, despite long hours, provides him with some flexibility around those hours.  We have found ourselves entering this new stage in our marriage, that time where you get to reacquaint yourselves with each other now that you have the time and aren’t so involved with the kids activities (some of you might relate to that stage of life!).  In order to spend a little more quality time together we thought we would try and align my work hours with his.  This led to me leaving my office management position to providing admin support to my husband’s company. This is where God’s gift of time comes in!

I’m extremely grateful for this gift God has given us.  It’s important to me not to take it for granted and I want to use it responsibly. I’ve prayed and asked God what He would like me to do with this extra time.  Now, I am a creative soul with ideas constantly flowing, so I was not a loss for things I could do. But the big question was “did they align with what God wants me to do? I spent a lot of time in his word, praying and sharing my ideas with my family and Christian mentors.

I’ve been passionate about knitting for a long time and felt certain that I would like to incorporate that into a new ministry.  My Mom taught me how to knit when I was about 8 years old as I was working towards earning my brownie badge in the craft. I have kept my needles busy since with many projects.  I managed a knit shop in Vancouver and then went on to open a knitting store in Calgary called Knit One Chat Too. I’ve also started a prayer blanket ministry in our church called Cross Stitchers. The store has since closed but one common theme in all of these ventures was the sense of community that can be formed when two or more get together and enjoy conversation while knitting.

While I knew I wanted to continue creating that sense of community through knitting, I also felt God encouraging me to share my faith with a larger community than I currently was.  This was a big hurdle for me. I accepted Jesus into my life just over 15 years ago. Although I don’t feel like a baby Christian anymore, I certainly don’t feel that I’m qualified to share my faith with others, especially those that I am not personally acquainted with.

God is persistent though!  He highlighted to me how I have grown more confident in my walk as I have leaned on the comments and feedback others give in online bible studies that I’ve participated in or blogs that I have read.  I have found comfort in knowing there are others that have the same insecurities as I do.  Hearing their stories and the victory that they have found in Christ carried me along when I felt so alone in my faith.  He has taught me that sharing my journey in coming to know Jesus deeper might be of value to someone, even if it is just one person out there that might be reading this.

Believe me I fought the nudging that the Holy Spirit has been giving me.   English was my least favourite and probably my worst subject in school. I’ve felt like I have always struggled to write and express my ideas verbally.  I struggle with technology and as an example depend on my husband to guide me through issues with my iPhone!  So it may not surprise you that launching a website and blog, as perfect as it seemed, was a big leap of faith for me.

Last summer we were so blessed to spend some time at the lake with our pastors. I shared with them how God had been encouraging me to take my passion for knitting and combine it with sharing my Christian walk with others. The idea of starting the ministry of knitting mittens to hand out with the toy hampers was not mine, it was my pastors.  She had done something similar in one of her previous postings.  Her sharing that with me was the start of it all!  A mitten ministry seemed like a perfect fit. After talking about it that day I lied awake that night in our trailer. I couldn’t sleep as ideas beyond just knitting mittens were flowing through my head. I hopped out of bed, grabbed the flashlight, found a corner in our small trailer and jotted down all the ideas in my journal as my husband continued to sleep! The name CommuKNITy Cares just came to me and I was amazed that the domain name was actually free. I was up most of the night and and couldn’t wait to share all my ideas with my husband as soon as he woke.  I ended up reserving the domain name that morning and things began growing from there.

I don’t claim to have it all together but I believe God is refining me more and more each day as I spend time with him.  I’m not certain if God is using this blog and ministry to encourage another in their walk or if it’s to encourage me in mine. I’m really not sure but I do believe this is what I’ve been called to do today.

So to sum up “who is Allison”  I would say I love waking up each morning and devoting my day to pleasing my saviour and being obedient to his direction.  With that I would like to welcome you to CommuKNITy Cares and the new website and blog! I look forward to sharing more about the mitten ministry, our classes and groups and my journey as I walk along side Jesus through it all! I welcome your comments and feedback as we create this community together.

Blessings, Allison