Forgiveness

I've said it in previous posts. I’m not a wordsmith. Never have been, never will claim to be. But I’m going to try to express my thoughts on this subject.

I’ve been working with the kids at church on our Christmas program. A few nights ago, we were just finishing up our practice when two of the girls had some words. Later, I was talking with one about something entirely different when the other came into the room and started mouthing off. I told her to calm down. I wanted to try to get to the bottom of the problem. Instead, she started yelling at me although I had nothing to do with it. She started to walk away and I asked her to come back. She flat out said, well, yelled “NO!”, threw her “whatever” hand up at me and continued to walk away. Again, I told her to come back, as she rounded the corner and continued on her way. I didn’t literally see red, but that’s how I felt. I was so angry. By this time the first little girl was in tears and hyperventilating. I calmed her down the best I could. When I had a chance I went to find the one who back talked me. I told her that I was angry, that she disrespected me (her teacher), I deserved an apology and would be happy to accept one when she was ready. I also told her she owed the other little girl an apology as well. She ignored me the rest of the night, which was fine. She needed space, I know when not to push.

Whenever I have an argument with one of the kids, I feel terrible about it. Right or wrong, I feel awful. Not necessarily because I got mad, but that my relationship with the child is in a bad spot. I know that it passes, and all will be forgiven. I feel the same way when any of my relationships are rocky. With my family, co-workers, whoever. It gives me a feeling of, for lack of a better word, ickiness. So I know that I was right to demand respect, but I couldn’t help but review my actions. Was I setting a good example for this child and others? Maybe not. I feel horrible about that. When I went to bed, I felt horrible and sad. When I woke up the next morning, I felt the same way.

We had another practice the next night and she came and acted like nothing had happened. At the end of the night, when the other kids were out of the room, I told her I shouldn’t have fussed at her in front of other people, but that she shouldn’t have disrespected me. I told her I was still waiting for that apology. She threw out a sarcastic “sorry” and rushed out of the room. I said, sarcastically, “I really believe that.” Probably shouldn’t have said it, but I don’t think she heard me anyway. I thought she needed more time but was determined that I was not going to forget. I would see her again in a few days and would play it by ear whether to remind her or not. At this point, I was feeling better about the argument and that our relationship was on the mend.
As it happened, I took her and her sister home. On the way, she sat in the front seat with me. I was mildly surprised. I figured she would want to put as much distance between us as possible. (Not that it would be that much distance considering I drive a Neon). Anyway, as we’re driving down the road, she says, “I’m sorry Miss Kara”. I was so surprised, I blurted out “for yesterday?” She said yes. I said “Thank you”. All was right with the world again. You may wonder if she really meant it. I’ve known her most of her life. I know her characteristics, I know when she’s faking. I believe she was sincere.

After I dropped them off I got to thinking about the whole situation. About how I felt when she was separated from me because of what she did. And about how I felt when she told me she was sorry (for real). I realized there is something I can learn from this whole experience.

When we disobey God, we are separated from Him. I think I know, in just the smallest inkling of a way, how He must feel when we sin. Being a perfect God, He can’t look upon sin. That separates us from Him. He loves us so much, how must He feel when we disobey Him. It hurt me that this girl chose her own path and disobeyed me. She completely disregarded my feelings and authority. How much more must God feel that when we do the same to Him. He knows each one of us better than we know ourselves. He created us to be with Him. To turn our backs on Him…I can’t imagine His sadness.

And I think I know, in just the smallest, tiniest, inkling of a way, how He must feel when we come back to Him and say we’re sorry. I was so happy when she apologized. I wanted to pull the car over and hug her and tell her I love her. What joy God must have when we come back to him. His creation, His love…

I also realize more clearly why we must ask forgiveness for each sin we commit. Maybe I’m the only one who does it, but sometimes I say a kind of generic prayer… “Forgive me for my sins.” But God is saying, which ones? There’s this one and this one… Of course, I mean that I’m sorry for all of them. But how can I know not to do it again, if I don’t ask for forgiveness for specific sins. If I don’t realize what it was I did wrong, I’m likely to repeat it. I try to remember to ask God to show me what I’ve done wrong and to help me correct it and not make the same mistake. Being human, I’m bound to mess up again. And this girl and I, we’re bound to mess up again too. But here I can see, in just the tiniest, smallest inkling of a way, God’s mercy. We keep messing up, and He keeps forgiving. I have to remember that the next time I get angry at one of the kids. If it weren’t for God’s mercy I wouldn’t be where I am right now. I have to try to model myself after Him. And hopefully, teach these kids to do the same through my example. And that means asking their forgiveness when I’ve done something wrong. They have to know it’s okay to admit when you’re wrong, even when you’re an adult. It’s okay, and it’s important to admit when you’re wrong and do your best to make amends.

I hope I’ve made sense. As I said before, I’m not a wordsmith.

If you've stuck with me this long, thanks for reading.
Kara

Life on planet Kara

What have I been doing for two months? I'm too busy to figure it out. A couple of highlights though:

My sister and I went camping in early October. It was a gorgeous weekend, beautiful weather. Our parents came out Saturday night to visit and enjoy the outdoors. I took a bunch of pictures but this one is my most favorite.

Every year our church hosts a "Trunk-or-Treat" on Halloween. Members decorate their trunks in the parking lot and kids can "trick-or-treat" from car to car. We've had tons of positive feedback from parents and the community. It's a lot of fun to get together with everyone, relax and see all the great costumes. We have a bonfire and roast hot dogs and have S'mores. It's so much fun. I try to do something different each year without using the traditional Halloween stuff (witches, scary monsters, etc.) One year, my theme was jack o'lanterns but that was about as Halloween-y as I've gotten. This year, being a lifelong University of Kentucky fan, I figured I'd go with a UK theme. Then I started trying to gather up our UK paraphanalia. I'm sad to say, I feel like a fake fan. I had a hard time coming up with things UK. In the end I managed to scratch up enough blue and white to get the job done. So my sister, my friend Kim and I, along with our dog, Missy, were UK fans.

Well, I have to go get ready for our Hanging of the Greens tonight. Thanks for reading!

Never Give Up

I took this video during the wind storm.



I wish I had caught him a few second earlier. He got caught in some stiff winds and was flying backwards.

For some reason I'm fascinated with Eagles and Hawks. They are so beautiful. And this fella had determination.

Oddities

I was walking around my backyard the other day while I was talking on the phone. I walked over to the corner where there's lots of shade and found all these red mushrooms. I've never seen mushrooms like this. Some were bright red, some had orange in the middle. Weird. Here's one of them.
Now, if these turn out to be illegal or something, don't report me. We're not raising them. They just started growing there.

WARNING!!!!!
If you don't like spiders, if just the sight of them makes your skin crawl, you may not want to go any further.

I found this critter outside my bedroom door. That's an 8 oz. cup he's in. With his legs stretched out, he's nearly the circumference of the mouth of the cup.

I thought he was dead when I first saw him. He was all balled up. But I wasn't taking any chances so I set the cup over him. It was really late, so I left him for the night. The next morning when I opened my bedroom door, he was waiting for me. Wide awake and staring at me. I think if I could have heard him, he was probably cursing me and threatening to bite me.

Turns out he was a camera hog. He worked it like a pro.

CREEEEEPPPPPYYY!!!!!!!!

I took him outside and let him go, well away from the house. I'm sure he's out there somewhere plotting his revenge. Someday, I'll walk unwittingly into an elaborate web he's devised to trap me.

Seriously, does anyone know what kind of spider this is?

Well, now I'm on a quest for more strange and wondrous things. Stay tuned.

The Wind Storm

Ike has been a bad, bad boy. I can't believe he managed to get us here in western Kentucky. He even traveled up to Ohio. I can't imagine what the people in Texas are going through right now. We were without power for 2 1/2 days and the only damage we had at my house was a dead tree blown down in the back yard.

It'll come in handy when we go camping in a couple of weeks. Not to mention all the branches that covered the yard.

A business down the road from my house lost a big tree at the front of the store.


There's a little pavilion to the right (outside the picture). It has an old, old, old wagon/car underneath it. And right next to the pavilion is parked an old 50's car, nice and shiny. The tree just missed both. I don't think there was even any damage to the pavilion. It's weird to see that beautiful old tree down like that.

We also had quite a few tree tops down in the woods around our house, and I think a couple of trees. It's hard to tell, we had some trees removed in the early spring and the company that did it left a huge mess.

The tree behind our church lost a big branch, but it didn't get the church. I've seen several other trees around town that are down. But for all that, we can't even compare to Texas. I've heard they're debating whether to even try to rebuild Galveston. My prayers are certainly with the folks who lost everything.

Sunday Scrappin'

Here we are again, another Sunday Scrappin'. Where does the time go?

My TaDas: I'm ashamed to say, I didn't get my cards sent out. But I did make one. It was for my mom whose birthday was this past week. She decided to break her ankle for her birthday present. Maybe she wanted to get some attention. It was just a fracture and the doctor has her in a boot and told her he wanted her up as much as possible. Anyway, I made this card for her.

When I sat down to make the card, I had no creative thoughts, no ideas, nothing. Then I remembered the Sunday Scrappin' challenge to use an embellishment(s) that I've had but haven't used before. So I scratched through everything and found these super cute lady bugs. I'm not sure if they are technically embellishments. Even if they aren't, they helped prompt a cute birthday card for my mom. So thanks for the challenge. It was a great help!

I went to Michael's and Hobby Lobby and managed to catch some pretty good sales. I restrained myself though. If I didn't I'd have to declare bankruptcy. I got some journals at Hobby Lobby for $2 each. They're already pretty cute but I may add some bling. They're for my girls at church. I try to encourage them to keep prayer journals or to use them during their quiet time. At Michael's, their albums were 30% off, so I picked out a real pretty 12x12 I'm going to use for a friend at church (see my ToDo's below). They also had the punches 40% off, so I picked up a square punch. I've had to borrow a friend's punch when I need a square, or cut it down the hard way. I spent about $35 for everything, so I think I did pretty good.

This week's ToDos: I will be going to my craft club this coming Saturday. We're there from 2 until midnight (or until the last person decides to go home). Hopefully, I'll be able to get a lot done. I'm going to start on a scrapbook for a lady at church who has helped me with my God's Girls group. (Here's an older post about them and a project I was working on.) I've got most of the pictures ready, just a few from the past month or two to get printed. So I'll be deciding on picture order and starting on layouts. I can't wait.

Pop on over to Sunday Scrappin' to see what others are up to!

Thanks for reading.

Fireproof

Have you heard about this new movie?



I can't wait to see it. You can learn more about it on the official website.

Sorry it's cut off. I'm not sure how to fix that. But you can click over to the website to see about it. If you liked "Facing the Giants" I think you'll like this movie. It's made by the same people. This time, Kirk Cameron stars as the lead character. I think what's cool about it, he didn't accept a paycheck for it. He asked the producers to make a donation to Camp Firefly.

Here's an article about the movie.

Sunday Scrappin'

There's this neat group over at Sunday Scrappin' where you can post your ToDo's for the week and the TaDa's you've accomplished over the past week. There's also an optional challenge. The challenge for this week: add some texture to your project. Use textured scrapbook paper, sand paper, paint... whatever you can think of!


My ToDo's for this week... Send out the cards I made at last week's Craft Club. No plans for scapping right now, but you never know.


My TaDa's were... Although I had no plans to scrap, I wound up making a card for my parent's anniversary.



Being the rotten daughter I am, I forgot to wish them a happy anniversary, on the day of. I remembered it. I just didn't have the opportunity to do it. Or get them anything, or make a card for them.
I was feeling bad about not even mentioning it to them and I got to thinking about this stamp my friend Kim has from Stampin' Up. I had seen it last week at our craft club (where I made last week's challenge). But my friend is out of town on account of the holiday. Fortunately, I have a key and I didn't think she'd mind if I borrowed the stamp set for the weekend. (Thanks, Kim. I'll take good care of it and will bring it back promptly on Tuesday).


So I started this card on Friday night and finished it up on Saturday, complete with a hand made envelope. Since it is a frog, I wanted to use green paper. I had some card stock cut to 5 1/2 x 5 1/2. So I thought I'd make an odd size card since I was going to be hand delivering it anyway. I accidently left a mark right under the frog, hence the flower. It was pretty plain so I tried doing a border with colored pencil. Didn't really care for how it turned out, but I was committed so there it is. I do like the size and colors though.

The inside is pretty plain, but I think the dragonfly is cute. It's part of the frog stamp set I borrowed.


The "flight trail" is actually a plant stem from a set I have that came from Wal-Mart. The sentiment is from the same set. I thought about coloring the dragonfly too, but didn't know what kind of colors to use.

I didn't want to just hand the card to my parents, but didn't want it to shift around in a too-large envelope. So I made one.

It turned out better than I expected, but there are a couple of things I'll do differently next time. I made it out of a heavier paper but lighter than card stock.

I didn't really do the challenge, but then, I didn't expect to make anything anyway. Plus, I'm posting this on Sunday so I think I'm ahead of the game already.

Head on over to Sunday Scrappin' and check out what others are doing. Thanks for stopping by!

Sunday Scrappin'

Maybe one day I'll actually post on the correct day. At least I did the challenge this time.

My TaDa's: A group of my friends (old & new) got together Friday night and had a craft night. We were scrappin' and stampin' and gabbin'. By 9:30 I only had one card done. I wasn't feeling well and had had a bad week, so I wasn't feeling very scrappy (or stampy). But I finally got this one finished.


I like the colors. I thought about coloring the image, but decided I like the simple look, especially with all the polka dots. Technically the purple box is a square, but the little flowers are in squares.

Then I used the same stamp on some cream paper and did water color it. I found my friend's square punches. Thinking I would punch out one of the squares, I accidentally cut more than I wanted. As it turned out, I liked what I wound up with. Flipping through the paper I had at hand, I found this orange striped patter and suddenly felt more crafty! So I put this card together.


I didn't like how the cord wrapped around the bottom. I glued it on the inside. Partly to hide the ends and partly to hold them down while they dried, I attached a strip of the orange paper on the inside. I really didn't like how that turned out. My friend Kim suggested I use her Crop-A-Dile. (Here's her blog). So this was my next creation.


I liked this one a lot better. By this time the night was winding down. Several people had already left and us die hard folks were sticking it out. While I was going through my paper and found the orange, I also found this paisley pattern and solid purple. I really liked how they looked together. So in the last stretch I started this one and finished it up last night.


I was pretty happy with the results. I was wanting to make some cards to send to long lost friends anyway. I think everyone had a productive night. Everyone made a new friend and some discovered a new craft. There were some connections made and I believe there will be more scrap nights to come.

My ToDos: As of this moment, I don't have anything planned. I'm sure that will change though.
It always does.

If you're crafty hop on over to Sunday Scrappin' and join the group!

Sunday Scrappin'

I don't know if I'm early or late for Sunday Scrappin'. I'll let you be the judge.

My TaDa's:

My sister recently had surgery and needed some thank you cards. So these are what I came up with for her to use. These are a few cards that I've done in the past. Some are recent, some are put together with parts that were done several months ago.

This first one I had stamped and colored the flower last fall but didn't really have a plan in mind for it. Then I had this piece of pink cardstock left from something so I made a card. Later on I added the ribbon. And just recently added the little jewels to the flower. I had stamped a "thank you" sentiment on the inside.
It's not really a standard size, but it fit okay in a small envelope. Out of all of these, this one was my favorite.



This one I wanted to see how quick I could make a card. I was trying to use a template from a magazine, so I just used materials that I had on hand. The butterfly is a clay charm. I didn't care for the color scheme, but I do like the layout. So I think I should spend just a little more time on my cards.











I got some small envelopes from work and put these two together. I think they look a little like composition books. Maybe because I've seen what my friend Kim has been making lately. (Which I intend to try my hand at someday).










I had some square cardstock that fit perfectly in the envelopes, so I folded one side over and extended it with the patterned paper to make the front of the card. I'm not overly excited about these two, but I did spend a little more time on them than the other one.


We're supposed to tell our ToDo's for the week. Mine for this week has nothing to do with crafting. I'm the clerk at the church I attend and am behind in some of my paperwork. So I hope to get a start on catching up. It involves a lot of writing so I may recruit some girls from the youth group to help me out.

There's also a challenge: Next week's challenge: try a new fold. Whether you're a scrapbooker or a card maker, there are many folded paper creations that can enhance your projects.
Technically, I folded the cards, but I wouldn't feel right trying to claim that as my challenge. Maybe I'll be able to do the next one.

If you're crafty, hop on over to Sunday Scrappin' and join in.

Thanks for stopping by.

Windfall

We've been without a dog for quite a while now. We've been on a search for a dog for mom. She wanted a female, preferably a young terrier type. She needed to be a small dog that mom would be able to lift. We wanted a dog that wouldn't shed a whole lot. So we'd been keeping an eye on Petfinder.com and after one or two disappointments, we found Missy. So we set a date to meet her. A few days before, these two showed up on our back porch.

Aren't they absolutely gorgeous! Fairly well behaved too, for hound dogs. They've been with us for about two months now. But unfortunately, we can't keep them. We're looking for a good home for them, preferably together.


We did meet Missy and wound up bringing her home. Here's she is. She's a West Highland Terrier/Chihauhau mix.

She loves to cuddle and nip at your toes if she catches them bare. She has a stuffed bright pink piggy, named (oddly enough) Pink Piggy, that she likes to carry around. Since coming to live with us she's claimed three gray stuffed Schnauzer dogs and a green bunny. She likes to strew them around the living room. When she's wet, she looks even more like a drowned rat. But she's a sweetie. And she usually can hold her own with the big dogs. They think she's a toy but she lets them know if they're playing too rough. I think she thinks she's the boss. I saw her take a bone and chew happily on it, while the two pups lay nearby looking longingly at that bone. Didn't even try to take it from her.


So we went from zero doggies to almost more than we can handle.

Sunday Scrappin' #32

My second one in a row!! Albeit a day later, but still....

My TaDa's: I actually did make a card this week. It was for my dad for Father's Day. I cased it from PaperCrafters magazine (June 2008). I liked the way the card looked so this is my version.

The stripe and dot paper are from packs I got at Wal-Mart. The green and white is cardstock I got from where I used to work in Cincinnati. The gold was from a pack I got at Big Lots. The buttons and ribbon are from packs I got at Hobby Lobby. And the "dad" is lettering stamps and ink from Wal-Mart. On the inside I just wrote, "Happy Father's Day". It was kind of fun trying to find the right materials to mimic what I saw in the magazine.

My ToDo's: Hmmmm, I don't really have much planned for this week. I may try to get some of my photos printed so I can do some scrapbooking soon. I've got tons of pics with my new camera. My challenge will be to decide which ones I want to scrap. I think this is where I need to get really organized and plan out what I'm going to do. I've never really scrapped that way, although I can see how that can be very productive.

I had an idea for the challenge but I didn't have the right materials at home. I may still do it. The youth pastor at church is getting married and I could make the card for them. If I do, I'll post it.

{Edit: Well, I did make one and it wasn't what I had in mind. I couldn't get my other idea to work very well. I'll have to keep working on it. This one was very rushed as you can probably tell. The ink wasn't dry when I added the hearts so I smeared it. Then I left my ink pad open and laid the card on it. I was so mad at myself. And I had no time to redo it or try to fix it somehow. So this was the finished product. I can't believe I actually gave it to them. Oh well, that's what I get for waiting until the very last minute.}
Be sure to check out the other posts at Sunday Scrappin'.

Well, good luck this week and thanks for reading!

Sunday Scrappin' #31

I have been gone so long from Sunday Scrappin', I almost couldn't remember what to do.
I have been incredibly busy. I've been on vacation to Florida and then training for vacation Bible school, camping, and just finished up vacation Bible school. It's been pretty crazy here. But now I'm back and maybe I can participate in SS more often. I love the challenges and can't wait to start on them! Some of you who have visited me before might remember that I had a regular film-based camera. So most of my blogs didn't have pictures, or the pictures would come at a later time. Good news!! I got a digital camera and I absolutely love it!!! It's a Kodak Easy Share and has so many features, that nearly 4 months later, I'm still discovering them. It even has video and audio capabilities. So I'll be able to post my pictures as soon as I take them! Yay!

But you didn't come here to listen to me go on about cameras. So here you go.

My TaDa's are actually from the past couple of months:

This one was for mother's day.




















The background paper was from a pack I got at the Dollar Tree. The dark brown came from one of those scrap packs you can get at Wal-Mart. I think the flowers came from the dollar aisle at Target. I printed the letters with my laser printer and mounted them to the card on heavy chipbard. I used copper brads I got at my local scrap store. Sorry I don't know the name brands of everything. They're just items I picked up here and there.

This next one was for my brother-in-law's birthday.

Sorry about the glare. I was using my old camera which takes terrible pictures. I had gotten a winter paper pack from Wal-Mart and liked the colors. I found ribbon to match and stuck on a couple of jewels. I made the bow with jute. I stamped the tag with "Just for You". I think the stamp came from Michael's. They had a bunch of bins with little $1 stamps. I wound up making my brother a very similar card because I loved the colors and style so much.

Finally, this is a birthday card for one of the girls in my Sunday School class. She's always creating something and loves making things for people. I probably would have done a little bit more to it, but I ran out of time.

It's hard to tell but the darker orange square is actually vellum. The "Happy Birthday" was an experimental stamp when I first got the stamps and the ink. And the flower was one of my first attempts at watercoloring. I loved the torn edge look.

My ToDo's for this week are to get all my vacation Bible school supplies and decorations put away and organized. I have to, it's all over my living room!

I'm not sure I'll be able to get to the challenge, but I sure would love to try. Thanks for reading!

Recap

I haven't posted anything about what I've been doing or what's going on in my life for a while. I think we'll start back in April and try to give some highlights since then.

First, I went on vacation. My first real vacation in years. I went with my parents and siblings to visit family in Florida. We rented this great house on Venice Island. Here are a couple of pictures.

The house














The pool















The sunset















We had a great time, spent every day in the pool. I didn't burn and the family didn't kill each other so it was a good vacation. We didn't get to the beach except once the night before we left. And that was just to say we'd been to the beach. We had a good time anyway.

Hmmm, what happened next. Not much this past month. My baby sister (who is actually 24) and her husband are in Africa on a two year mission with the International Mission Board. They've been there since October 2007, learning the culture, the language and making friends. They surprised us all by announcing they are going to have a baby! We (the family) are so excited. I'm still trying to grasp the fact that she's married, now she's going to make me an aunt. I can't express how happy and excited that makes me. Every now and then, when I least expect it, it'll pop up in my head and I get all excited again.

I took my Sunday School class to the circus. Ringling Bros. was in town. I don't have those pics loaded on this computer, but I'll post a couple sometime. We had a great time. The kids got along with one another just wonderfully. I wish they could do that all the time.

That's not everything by any means, but the main things. There is one more thing I want to write about, but that will have to wait. I'm going to be late getting back to work.

Be sure to check out Joe Joe & Michael's blog (goodbyeharan.blogspot.com) and my church's blog (aurorabaptist.blogspot.com).

Thanks for reading!!!

We're having revival at our church this week. It's actually supposed to be a community-wide "crusade". It's being held across the street from our church at the community pavilion.


The evangelist was speaking tonight about Christ's crucifixion. His theme was "what/who actually crucified Jesus?" Indifference was one of the things he mentioned. Is there something that you've come across in your life that you had absolutely no feelings about whatsoever. It was of no consequence to you. You can take it or leave it.

Some Christians are like this. They were there that day He died. They stood at the back or went about their business, not caring what was going on around them.

There are people like that today. As long as it doesn't bother them, they don't care. I see this in our kids. They hear the stories, they hear what Christ did. But it's like it doesn't touch them. They don't get it. They don't realize that someday they are going to die and they'll have to face judgement. Sadly, I know lots of adults this way too.

The choir sung "Beulah Land" tonight. Probably my most favorite hymn besides "Amazing Grace". The lyrics are:
I'm kind of homesick for a country to which I've never been before.
No sad goodbyes, will there be spoken and time won't matter anymore.
Beulah Land, I'm longing for you, and someday on thee I'll stand.
There my home shall be eternal. In Beulah Land, Sweet Beulah land.
I'm looking now across that river, to where my faith will end in sight.
There's just a few more days of labor, then I will take my heavenly flight.
Beulah Land, I'm longing for you, and someday on thee I'll stand.
There my home shall be eternal. In Beulah Land, Sweet Beulah land.
In Beulah Land, Sweet Beulah Land.

It's amazing to me to think of a place and time where the work is finished. There'll be no more pain or sorrow, hate or disappoinment. We'll be able to rest in Jesus. As they were singing this song, I glanced at a couple of the kids. They have no idea what Beulah Land is. They have no concept of that place, what it means, what it represents. I'd like to say it's because they are young and innocent. They have no worries. But that's not entirely true. My heart hurts for kids. Drugs, alchohol, broken homes, abusive parents, peer pressure, unwed mothers, ridicule..... the list goes on. It scares me to death to think of the things a child has to go through. How can I help them see there is something to look forward to. Especially when we live in a get-it-right-now world. Lord, I pray for these kids. Break my heart for them. Help me love them as you do. Use me to show them your truth.


This was totally not what I wanted to write about. I had a thought during the sermon. Something the preacher said that got me to thinking. And I can't remember what it was. It was good too. I'll have to ponder this and come back.

Off Kilter

Have you ever had one of those days/weeks that you just aren't yourself? It happens to me every now and then for no particular reason. It's not physical. At least not on the surface. It's just a feeling.



I started out today feeling pretty good. But as the day progressed, I started feeling, I don't know how to describe it. A feeling that things weren't the way they should be. Nothing I could put my finger on, just a general feeling of wrongness. Normal, everyday activities felt wrong. Like I was missing something. Every conversation I saw, every whisper, every glance in my direction made me feel as if I was...wrong.



Sometimes those feelings turn out to be that I've spent too much money. Sometimes it signals that I'm about to start...well...you know. Maybe that's what it is this time. I don't think it's time for that yet, though. Maybe I'm depressed. Maybe I'm just tired, not getting enough sleep.



It's weird. I still feel...unsatisfied with things, but I'm quite happy. I still have my sense of humor. I'm not particularly wanting sympathy or advise. I guess I just need an outlet to express what's inside (although I'm not very good at it).



I think I'll just go to bed. Maybe I'll feel right tomorrow.

Folks, We Have A Winner!

Before I do anything else I want to thank everyone who entered this giveaway! I appreciate you taking the time to post a comment. And thanks for all the suggestions. I'll definately be using them! I would like to reuse the bottles or carry a mug or thermos or something, but for various reasons that I won't go into now, the bottled water is my best option at the moment. However, I can collect the labels from the bottles and redeem them with the company to get equipment for the local schools. Since my sister is a teacher in one of them, I thought "Since I'm buying the water anyway, might as well support a good cause." Anyway, as soon as it is feasible, I will get me one of those nifty mugs or at least reuse the bottles I have.

But I digress... You guys want to know who has won the book, Embrace Grace. Well, I'll tell you. But first, let me tell you how I picked the winner. At first I was going to put everyone's name in a paper bag and draw one out. But then I thought, "This is taking too long." (I've got a bit of impatience that I really need to work on). Plus, that kind of drawing is done all the time. Sooo, I sat there at my computer trying to think of some way to choose. Do I just pick my favorite suggestion? No, no, no. Not random enough. I did want it to relate in some way to either the carnival itself or my giveaway in particular. Well, I was sitting there looking around the room when I looked upon the bin where I stash the empty, label-less bottles. And it dawned on me. The perfect random method. I decided to count the empties. Whoever was the number of total empty bottles I have saved would be the winner. Yay! I grabbed a trash bag (because I might as well kill two birds with one stone and get them ready to recycle, or transport to another location) and started counting.

So, without further ado and no more stalling, the number of empty bottles in my bin and the winner of the book, Embrace Grace is.........(can you hear the drumroll in my head?)

Tyna at Begley Blessings

Yay! Alright!
Wooo Hoooo!
Rah! Way To Go!
(That's the crowds cheering. Did you get that?)

Again, thanks to everyone for stopping by. Don't forget to come back and visit. This giveaway was so much fun, I might do it again. I'll definately be joining in on Shannon's next carnival.

Good luck to everyone in the rest of the carnival giveaways!

Bloggy Giveaways Carnival

Yea! It's Bloggy Giveaway time!

I entered lots of giveaways last time, but {sigh} didn't win anything. I also didn't have a giveaway. But I do this time.

I'm giving away an autographed copy of Liz Curtis Higgs' book, Embrace Grace.

I've got a copy which I'm reading right now. It's easy to read and the chapters aren't very long. I'm reading about a chapter a night before bed. I'm not a great reviewer so here is what Liz's website says about the book.

"Embrace Grace offers hope for all of us who long to let go of guilt and embrace the boundless freedom God's grace offers.
Liz Curtis Higgs speaks directly to the hearts of her readers in an engaging and deeply personal way. Page by page, she conveys a simple, powerful message of encouragement, showing women how to accept the gift of divine forgiveness, step by gentle step, and release lingering doubts, fears, and regrets.
Wherever you are in your spiritual journey, Embrace Grace will help you move forward with joy and confidence!"

You can read more about it on her website http://www.lizcurtishiggs.com/waterbrook/Embrace/Embrace%20Grace.htm

So what do you have to do to enter my giveaway? Well... I'm glad you asked. I drink bottled water on a daily basis so I was thinking, there has to be some sort of craft or nifty idea to reuse all these water bottles other than just recycling. So, to enter my giveaway, leave me a post with an idea for reusing water bottles. Contest ends Friday, February 1 at 5 p.m. CST. I'd love to run it through Sunday, but I'll be out of town. I will ship to anywhere so feel free to enter.

The winning entry will be drawn and I'll announce the winner on Friday night. If you don't have a blog be sure to leave a way I can contact you.

To see other giveaways you can click on the link to the right.

Good Luck and come back and visit sometime!

Sunday Scrappin' #11

Well, I missed another Sunday Scrappin' last week. But to catch you up....

My TaDa's: In all honesty, I haven't gotten any scrapping/cardmaking done this past two weeks. I did help host a baby shower last weekend. Since the father is a huge University of Tennessee fan, the theme was orange and white. My friend Kim made the invitations and some party favors. My sister Jenni made the cakes. Another friend and her husband took care of the punch using a baby bath tub and rubber duckies. My mom and I made a couple of flower arrangements. Then I made some little pacifier decorations out of lifesavers and jelly beans.

Here are some of the pictures:

I put some centerpieces together with clear baby bottles filled with orange paper, bibs, baby rattles, pacifiers, teethers, etc., the lifesaver pacifiers and Kim's party favors. She has a post on her blog that has some better pictures. I wasn't quite tall enough to get good pictures of the cakes. If you have a moment, skip on over to Reality Show Reject. You can also see the cute invitations she made. They were adorable!!! She also has a picture of the punch table.

My ToDo's: I'm probably just going to try to organize my supplies and straighten my workspace. I do have my God's Girls scrapbooks to finish though. I should try to get those done. I've been sick this past week and have been battling a migraine today, so I'm not feeling particulary creative at the moment.

The question of the week is when do I find time for crafting? That's a good question. Too often it's 5 minutes before I have to leave to go to work or meet someone or go to bed. I always seem to get an idea or have the urge to craft at the least opportune moment. For instance, today, laying in the dark, wrestling with a pounding headache, I wanted to get up and go piddle at my craft table. The next second, I was berating myself. What the heck am I thinking? I didn't even go to church, my head hurt so bad. So I squelched the urge and then slept the rest of the day.

I wanted to thank everyone for their comments on the cards and scrapbooks from my last SS post. Now, if I can only get them finished....

God's Girls Scrapbooks

If you've been reading my Sunday Scrappin' blogs, you'll want to see these pictures. It's hard to describe just what I've done. A picture is much better. So the following pictures are of the scrapbooks I've been working on. Actually, a sample of the scrapbooks.




I took a mini photo album and replaced it's pages with scrapbook pages and added a ribbon to tie them closed.

Each girl's scrapbook follows the same layout. Name and picture on the inside front. The God's Girls page is also similar in each book with the color scheme changing in each one.

The pages pull out, accordian style. This one doesn't have the journaling yet.

This is the other side. The last panel on the right is the inside back cover. The flower there in the middle was stamped and then hand stitched around the petals. I didn't do that on every book. I'd be working on them until next Christmas if I tried that.



This is one of the panels. The flower is holding the "doors" closed.

And it opens up to reveal the whole group.

Since I have 8 books, I didn't take pictures of all of them. I will take a picture of each girl with their book, probably open to the first two pages. Those will be for me to go in MY scrapbook whenever I get around to making it.

Thanks for reading!

Sunday Scrappin' #9

Ta-Da's: I didn't think I would do anything this week. But, I was feeling a little crafty and needed some solace time, so I just sat down and piddled around at my desk. To my surprise, I made two cards.

Here is the first one:

Maybe not the best of scans but better than waiting to get my film developed. I had found this cute paper with the cars puttering across the page. I had a scrap piece of the green so I put them together. But I had this large expanse of green and thought it overwhelmed the cars a bit, so I made a car to go on top. I sketched it out and used the colors from the car paper and added a little detail with colored pencil. I wanted to add a little fluff at the back for the exhaust, but I didn't have room. The sentiment is from Printworks clear stamps using the Colorbox cat eye ink in Royal Blue. I finished it with a thin baby blue ribbon. I still have the car paper left so I may take this concept and make a couple more like this in different layouts (adding my fluff to it, of course.)

And the second card:

I liked the brown and green papers together. I stamped the design on the green paper with the letter "g" from a stamp set I got at Wal-Mart. I don't remember the name. I used Encore Ultimate Metallic ink in Satin Rose to tie in the copper eyelets. I had a hard time choosing what color ribbon and what layout I wanted but I think I'm satisfied with the result. I used the Absolutely Fabulous sentiments from Stampin' Up. In case you can't make it out, the outside reads "You're so thoughtful" and the inside sentiment says "Thanks for all you do". I used Stampcraft black ink I got from Wal-Mart.

I finally made a step to get back to the scrapbooks for my girls at church and did a little bit of journaling. Which leads me to my....

To-Dos: My goal is to finish the journaling in the book I just started and maybe add some more embellishments as I go. After that book is finished, I'll two more books to complete. So I'll get a start on at least one of them this week.

This week's question:
If you could only do one kind of paper crafts for the rest of your life, which craft would you pick? I would have to say scrapbooking. I can always buy cards or other types of crafts elsewhere, but a scrapbook has your personal photos and memories that your family can enjoy for years.

Side note: I finally got pictures of my God's Girls scrapbook project (mentioned above). I'm putting them in another post that you can see here. To catch up on the particulars of this project you can go here to read the description.

I'm also going to post pictures of some crafts the girls did and a table I did for our Christmas party at church. Go to walkbyfaith.blogspot.com if you'd like to see them.

Thanks for reading and good luck this week!

Sunday Scrappin' #8

I missed the last Sunday Scrappin'. I'm not sure what I was doing. Probably sleeping. I've taken a break from all things creative the past couple of weeks.

This week's question: Do you prefer to stick with only big name-brand supplies (Creative Memories, Stampin' Up, etc.) or do you usually buy less expensive supplies?

My answer: Usually less expensive supplies. I do have a drink/trash bag holder from Creative Memories which I love. I'm even thinking of getting one for my mom. She is a sewer and a coffee drinker, so it would be perfect for her. Other than that, I tend to pick up odds and ends here and there. I've found paper at Big Lots for $1-$2 for a package of 25-50 pieces. And I've found a few small stamps at the Dollar Tree.

So my Ta-Da's: This is all before Christmas. I made about 6 cards to put in a gift for a family member. I found a beautiful painted box at Hobby Lobby. It was fairly large, painted with a white background and light pink images. The inside was lined with dark pink velvet. It was very feminine. I made some dividers for birthday cards, celebration cards, etc. added some store bought cards and a set of gel pens. I think she was happy with the gift. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the cards. I ran out of time so wasn't able to. I also altered some gift boxes for my sister to use to package homemade cookies. She's a baker/cook hobbiest and makes tons of goodies every Christmas. We give gifts of her homemade goodies so this year, since I've gotten more into scrapbooking/crafting, I thought it would be neat to help her out. I got packages of white gift boxes and Christmas patterned paper at Wal-Mart. I made about 3-4 boxes for my brother to hand out at work. I do have pictures but haven't got the film developed yet. As soon as I do, I'll post them and explain what I did. (Seems I'm always saying that).

And for my To-Do's: I'm not expecting to do anything crafty this week. I have some programs at church that we're kicking off this month that I need to prepare for. I also absolutely need to get my bedroom and living room cleaned up and organized. My sister, our friend Sandra, and myself have decided to help each other with our New Year's Resolutions. Come on, we all know what they are. Yuppers. Dieting and exercising. So we're going to set up a sort of homemade gym in our basement. We each have a couple of pieces of exercise equipment not to mention workout tapes, etc. So, the basement needs to be rearranged.

And since I missed the last Sunday Scrappin' question, which was what are my crafting goals for 2008: Finish my girls' individual scrapbooks. I'm ashamed to admit, I haven't got them done. After working frantically to finish them and then not meeting that goal, I just haven't been able to bring myself to get back to them. I got so many contributions from the ladies at church that I decided to put them into a little booklet to put in with the scrapbooks. I had found a little tin with a slot in the lid to put a picture. That's where I'm going to put the booklet.

So, now I need to go try to prioritize all the things I need to do.

Good luck to everyone else for the new year and your goals, crafting or otherwise!

Halloween

Our church hosts a "Trunk or Treat" every Halloween. The church members decorate their trunks and the kids can go from trunk to trunk, trick-or-treating. The parents love it because they know their kids are safe. We also have a bonfire and hotdogs, marshmallows and chili. This year we added a drawing give-away which went over pretty well.

This is my car. I try to stay away from ghosts and goblins and scary type things and stick to a neutral theme. Last year I had a Hawaiian theme. This year I wanted to do something more traditional so I decided on pumpkins.

OK, I know it's a little late for this, but I had the picture so here you go.
I blurred out the girls face b/c I didn't know her and didn't know if she'd appreciate her picture on the internet. This was the only photo of my car though. My taillights weren't on, I think that was a reflection of the flash.

I'll post some of the other cars on the church's blog soon. (Walk By Faith)

David & Goliath

I worked with my 5th graders to create this bulletin board. The girls love to make things so this was right up their alley.

David was so cute. We used muslin for his tunic and leather pieces for his shoes, headband, belt and slingshot. His face, arms, legs and feet are foam and his hair is made from brown felt.

I know Goliath was the bad guy, but you can't help but love this version of him.

We made his face, arms, legs and feet from foam as well. His boots, belt, sash and, er..uh..skirt, are from leather. His "armor" is aluminum foil. The girls thought since he was in armor that it was probably battered from previous "engagements", so they wrinkled and scratched it up before adding it to him. The embellishments on his belt are also made from aluminum foil. We cut his helmet from a piece of cardboard and covered it in aluminum foil as well. Personally, I think his hair and beard are the best part. They're made from pipe cleaners. His mustache and eyebrows are fuzzy pipe cleaners.


We made a border of "rocks" (balled up newspapers), cut out the letters and hearts and stapled everything up. It took us about a month and a half to finish it but the girls loved every minute of it. The white square says "tiny".

I can't wait to see what we do next!

Gingerbread Houses

Our God's Girls group got together before Christmas and made Gingerbread Houses. The girls had a great time and I think the adults did too. We worked in teams of two or three and wound up with 5 houses. Here are a few of them.





Our "Host" for this Interest Day was my sister, Jenni. She made the gingerbread dough from scratch and cut and baked the houses beforehand. Each group had "construction" materials for their houses. They had pieces for the walls, roof and chimney. We provided a wide range of candy for decorating and icing for putting the whole thing together.

I don't know if you can see them very well, but I found the cutest snowman "Peeps" at Big Lots and thought they'd be perfect for the yards. We also had peppermints, hot mints, chocolate santas, fruit gummy wedges, christmas candy corn and marshmallow trees. Each girl brought a bag of candy to share as well. They ranged from M&M's to Hershey Kisses.
This one was in honor of Faye, one of the ladies of the church. Her husband passed away in early December and the girls were thinking of her. Faye had "hosted" our November meeting where she taught them to make purses. I have a few pictures from that I'll try to post. It was really sweet of the girls to do this for Faye.

The girls are very creative. They used the fruit wedges and lollipops to make "parking lot lights". They laid front walks with hot mints and even had Santa coming down the chimney.

We wound up having extra materials so the girls decided to make a house for the church. Unfortunately, we had a mishap with one side of the roof so it was an open air church. They made little benches and a pulpit to place inside. Santa was the pastor of a congregation of little gummy bears. I do have pictures of it and as soon as I get them developed, I'll be sure to post them.

In addition to providing the gingerbread and candy, Jenni also shared with the girls a little about the history of Gingerbread. Needless to say, that part wasn't quite as interesting for them as getting their hands (and elbows and clothes and faces) dirty!