It Amazes Me How We Become Real

It amazes me how God uses our life's story. 
It amazes me how He can take our trials and turn them
into something beautiful later. It amazes me how our 
specific story
can touch someone else and help them
to make a life-changing turn for the good in their life.
It amazes me how he can
take someone that is broken and has the
cracks to prove it,
and then mold them, cracks and all, 
into a beautiful vessel. 
  HIS ways are just AMAZING!

So if YOU my friend, are in the middle of a life's trial
that you don't understand, don't loose heart.  
YOU will make it through.  
It will be the beautiful scars in your life that will end up
helping others

in the AMAZING ways that no one else can.

Since a child, I have loved the story of 
The Velveteen Rabbit. 

I love the part when the Skin Horse explains to Rabbit

what must happen in order to become real.

(My favorite quoted part of the book)

"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room.  "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"
"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse.  "It's a thing that happens to you.  When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."
"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.
"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful.  "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."
"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"
"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse.  "You become.  It takes a long time.  That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept.  Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in your joints and very shabby.  But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

I'm so glad that being REAL is a
good thing, 

since my hair is thinner and my

joints seem looser than they used to be!

So go out and be the amazing and real

person you were created to be this week.

You might have a velveteen rabbit

watching YOU...

SHOW SOME CREATIVITY SATURDAY #10

Have you ever

just had some fun with stamping on

images along with your painting?

It's really fun.

 My Cherry Patch

A delicious cherry pie sounds 

so good about now... Yum!...Oh and
 new blooms
sure to come eventually,
sound so nice too!

Petal Pushers

"  I perhaps owe having become

a painter to flowers."

Claude Monet 

Okay it's your turn!  What are you doing

to think yourself into some happy

weather thoughts?

Hope you have a great weekend,

A Gift From A Friend

Look what I just received in 

the mail from Poland!!

My friend Rhonda over at http://cityhen.blogspot.com/

had a giveaway and I won this beautiful

stained glass angel.

-Thank you Rhonda-

 

You must go over and give her blog a visit! 

She is the sweetest lady and has an awesome story.

She and her husband went to Poland to
open coffee shops

where they now minister to those who enter.

Just visiting her blog makes me  feel 

comfy, welcome and in the mood for a chai tea!

Don't you just love
meeting new friends?  I sure do! 

I hope you take time this weekend to simply

enjoy being You and spreading 
that special and unique You

around to those you meet.

Oh and enjoy
some time at a coffee shop along the way!

 "Don't forget to be kind
to strangers, 
for some who have done this have
entertained angels without realizing it."

Hebrews  13:2 

  

In the Middle of Some Blog Changes

My blog design is under some new construction right now. 

My wonderful son-in-law
is helping me put my own header onto my blog.

  Until we get it just right, you may see different

things happening as you stop by.

Hope you have a wonderful 

day and that it turns into
a wonderful week!

SHOW SOME CREATIVITY SATURDAY #9

First off, I want to ask your opinion on my new glasses.  I liked them when I picked them out, but my daughter thinks they look too wide.  Be honest, what do you think?

 

 

So on to something new I tried creating. A local church has opened up an art ministry where anyone can come and join in on art classes they offer on making various types of creations. They offer the classes absolutely free!  Isn't that an awesome gift to give your community?

At this class I learned how to create

Foam and Lino Cut Block Printing. 

This is part of my sketch pressed into foam with a pencil.

  I started with a thin piece of foam and used a pencil to sketch on my design.  Then I went back over my sketch by pressing harder with the pencil to make my indents. Next I rolled on some paint and then pressed it onto the paper to make my print.  I actually like my sketch on the foam with paint still on it better than the actual printed piece on the paper.

The is the entire sketch penciled onto foam. There is paint left over on the sketch from when it was printed onto paper.

  

 This is my sketch that I printed on paper from my foam.

  

It was really fun learning this and I can see where you could use this in collage art or even make a design to print directly onto a wall as a stencil etc..

If you have a creation you'd like to

share with us, 

just leave your link in a comment below.

I used to have

Mr. Linky attached to these 

SHOW SOME CREATIVITY  SATURDAY posts

but didn't get much response. 

I will put Mr. Linky back up if I start to get

  more people leaving comments about

 wanting me to do it again.

"To get the full value of joy, you must have

somebody to divide it with."

Mark Twain 

HAVE A WONDERFUL VALENTINES DAY AND A GREAT WEEKEND!

Taking Every Thought Captive

Wow!  I just came from reading the 
most wonderful post at

http://bushelandapeck.typepad.com/my_weblog/



<
Every Wednesday for the next few weeks she is doing a series
on your hopes and Dreams.
  She is such a lovely soul and has experienced what she is passing on to us.  
She has me thinking about what is holding me back
from the dreams in my heart.  
Today I learned that I need to

take every thought captive, 

and stop listening to the negative.  YOU will be blessed
and encouraged
by going over and reading her post,
  just as I have been today. 

(doodling some happy)

I just love the friendship and encouragement I receive from my blog land buddies! It is always my desire to spread some your way too.  "Friends are angels who lift our feet when our own wings have trouble remembering how to fly." Anonymous

Thank you from the bottom of my heart! 

Just Stay Calm

I could stay calm in the middle of a daisy field!!!!

 

Oh my goodness, how these verses spoke to my heart today when I was reading about Moses.  God told him that He was going to use him to part the Red Sea so the Israelite people could cross safely to the other side and escape the harm of the enemy army
that was chasing them.

"But Moses told the people, 

"Don't be afraid. Just stand still
and watch the Lord rescue you today". 

The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again.

  "The Lord himself will fight for you.

  JUST STAY CALM." 
Exodus 14:13-14 NLT

How often do we stand still long enough to let God rescue us while we remain calm through a crisis?  I can't say that I'm good at waiting calmly.  I wonder how many times God was ready to bless you or I
through a time of trial, but we gave into panic or 
our own devices instead and missed it?  

I believe God does miracles for us everyday, but we aren't always watching for them.  The birth of a baby, the flower blooming, the rainbow in the sky after a rain, that special person he sends into your life just when you need them most, etc...  Moses had to remind the Israelite people to remain calm
and trust in God to rescue them. 

"The  Lord  himself  will  fight  for  YOU. 

JUST STAY CALM". 

Wait on God to give you his best.

  He indeed has a special blessing waiting

just around the corner for YOU.

Staying calm and standing still

with a daisy in my hand just for you!

 

Action Keeps You Blooming

Spring is getting closer.  Only about 6 weeks away!

I think this weekend I'm going out to buy some paperwhite bulbs to start growing indoors.  That should brighten up things around here on these not

so very sunny Midwestern days .

My goodness, it would be so easy to loose focus 
on these dreary days, but I am 
determined to live out my ACTION word I chose for 2010.
On a few other blogs I noticed they made their
word for 2010 
into WORD ART to keep themselves inspired.
So I sat down and did the same while
watching t.v. with my hubby the other night.
I just used some markers on cheap 
drawing paper, but it was so fun.

"If you wait for perfect conditions, 

you will never get anything done."

Ecclesiastes 11:4

So how about you?  What are you doing this winter
to keep yourself focused and joyful? 
I hope it's something fun.

Keep blooming inside my friend, no matter
what the weather!

Getting Wings Can Be Painful

My daughters and granddaughter

I must admit that I've been a little sad lately- no it's more like a lot sad lately!  I'm really missing my daughters and my grandchildren.  (oh and I miss my son-in-laws too).  How do you do it when you live states away from your children and grandchildren?  I'd really like to hear from you on  how you cope with this. I'm most of the time, a very positive person, but this is an area that I cry to God about very often. I'm sure He understands, because He misses us when we are distant from Him. Maybe someone else out there feels this way too.  I'm going to get more vulnerable today than I've gotten before in a post, and I hope it helps someone else that is reading this.

I remember, not that long ago, when my husband and I were raising our children and praying for their futures. It was our prayer that we do all that we could to prepare them for when they needed to spread their wings and fly out into being and doing all that God had planned for them. To live their dreams and be happy.  They are doing this and we are so proud of the beautiful women they've become. So when I say that I'm sad, it's not because life didn't turn out for them the way we hoped it would. 

-mute my music on sidebar so you
can enjoy this beautiful video and song-

Mark Harris - Find Your Wings
Music Video Codes at www.yallwire.com

I guess I just have trouble "letting go" and I always have.  I think it stems from feeling lonely as a child.  Both of my parents have passed away, so I feel I can share this with you. I loved my parents but learned to be a little adult very young.  My mother developed a mental illness in her twenties and my father wasn't around very much.  When they were together, my siblings and I saw a lot of fighting and saw things children really shouldn't have to see. We took care of ourselves and of one another.  If the doctors would have known then what they  know now about mental illness, I'm sure my mother wouldn't have had to endure so much pain.  In spite of all her trials, she had a beautiful smile and a very compassionate heart. When I turned 12 years old, my parents divorced and my grandparents were given legal custody of me and my siblings. It was like heaven on earth living with them in my mind, because I finally felt secure under their roof. I call my grandparents my angels because they are the ones that gave me wings. Their love and encouragement and the Lord's love truly made an extreme difference in my life. 

"Every experience God gives us, 
every person He puts in our lives, is the perfect preparation for the
future that only He can see."

Corrie Ten Boom

So another part of my loneliness stems from having to leave my mother. When I was 39 years old she passed away with cancer.  She was only 57 years old.  It seemed to bring back up all the lonely feelings from my childhood again when she passed away.  My father passed away about 4 years later. My grandparents  have since passed away also.  I guess I've had to grieve a lot over my life.  When our daughters got married (10 weeks a part) and left the nest, then my husband started going to college in the evenings after his full-time job. I am so proud of him, but I miss him too.  He graduates in December 2010!!!!!! Hallelujah!!! (I'm so proud of him!)

I couldn't say all that I've just told you about myself without also telling you that the Lord has been there with me through everything and still is today.  When these lonely heart feelings come to me, He is the one who picks me up and gives me the spiritual hug I need. It's then that I can see, all of the blessings that I have been given and even blessings that have come from the trials and pain of my past. 

 

I love this picture, don't you?

Okay, so if you've really stuck with me down to the

bottom of this LONG post,

I'm so thankful. 

If you have some "missing your children" tips

for me,  I'm all ears!! 

Truly, my friends, I will cheer you on as you learn how to  Fly.......