Freedom To Be

I have been busy taking an online 6 wk class 

called "Soul Restoration" 
that I WON 

from the

 Brave Girls Club, 

taught by

the artist, Melody Ross

with her sister Kathy Wilkins.

It has been amazing so far with

some tough heart work being involved.

We also do art projects but you don't

have to be an artist to take this class.

This is a bookmark I made to go along with

my Altered Art Journals that

I have been creating for my etsy shop.

Melody Ross

gave us a list of truths

and journal entry starters and these were

some of the words from there

that meant so much to me.

I've decoupaged them onto a bookmark.

This class is helping me to look back

at some of the untruths (lies) 

I  picked up along the way 

since just a little girl and have carried 

with me to adulthood. 

You don't know what lies

you've believed sometimes unless you

get BRAVE and

go back there to take a look. 

The wonderful thing about it all is,

that once you

see some of those stuck places caused

by lies you may have believed, 

you can then replace them with the

REAL TRUTHS 

from your Truthteller

which for me is 

GOD my Heavenly Father.

♥

If you hear a voice within you say

"you cannot paint,"

then by all means paint,

and that voice will be silenced.
Vincent Van Gogh 

My newest Altered Art Journal creation

"   I can't believe that 

God put us on this earth to be ordinary. "

Lou Holtz 

♥

You don't have to stay stuck!

You don't have to let those lies 

that have kept you stuck,

keep you from being

all you were created to be

and  to become.

You don't have to hold back from believing you

can make the dreams in your heart happen.

Actually, you can Fly like you 

were meant to do

when you see the truths that God has

planned for you all along.

"Be strong and courageous,

all you who put

your hope in the Lord."

Psalm 31:24 

Will You come fly with me?

I think I see your wings unfolding too!

There's some Splashin Going on Here

Splish Splash...♫..♪..

I was taking a bath....♫..♪..

♫....la la la la ...la la ..la..♪.♫

YAY!!!!!  We finally

have our water back!

The plumbers have come

and gone.  Woo Hoo!!!!

(the party might be over once the bill arrives)

but for now...

..♫..♪..I am Splishing and

a Splashing♪..♫..

..Reelin' with the feelin'..

..♫..♪..movin' and ..

a groovin'..♪♫..

Rockin' and a rollin'

♫..♪..yeah...♫..♪

Splashes to you all...

Hope you are singing right along

 with me!

When Things Go Wrong

Well, I was hoping 
to have another post put up by Saturday,

but we woke up with

 frozen water pipes

 in our

over 100 year old house yesterday,

and are still waiting to have them

 repaired today!
We may even be waiting until tomorrow!

It seems here in the Midwest with these

 below freezing temperatures, that many are having

the same problem and therefore

we may be waiting longer than hoped.

I'm very thankful for my

sister (and brother-in-law)

who live near by

 and opened their home
to us while we've been waiting!

So this post will be short, 
(I knew I couldn't make it short)

 as I am writing it from their home.

At times like this,

I could

get very frustrated and insecure! 

 (courtesy of the Graphics Fairy Blog)

 

Things could be so much worse, I know,

and I'm so thankful for all I've been given. 

It's just that at times like this,

 it makes me stop and think more about those

 without a home or shelter over their heads to go to each day.

My heart hurts more when my thoughts go there.

But then, that is a good thing when

we are put in a position

that makes us think, hurt and feel more

for those who need a helping hand.
Right?

"Suppose one of you

says to them

"Go. I hope everything turns out fine
for you.

 Keep warm. Eat well."

And you do nothing about what they really need.

Then what good have you done? "

James 2:16

 (New International Reader's Version)

 When things like

 "needing a plumber"

happen to us,

just maybe it's really God

preparing our hearts to be ready 

 for that person in need

that is going to be placed right in our path soon!

I pray my eyes and heart

will be open and ready to DO something

about their needs and not just

wish them well. (like I've done many times before)

♥

"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait

a single moment, before starting to improve the world."

Anne Frank

Thank you my friends,

for making my life so much

warmer!

I want to do the same for YOU.

♥

 

Wanting BEST instead of GOOD

Our dreams are so important and that is why last year I chose the word "Action"

to focus on for 2010.  Doing so produced some amazing results for me.  

I accomplished everything on my 2010 "to do" list plus learned so much

more about what I am made of and also that my dreams are exactly the 

right direction for me. So thank you to the word "Action" for keeping me

accountable last year. We were a great team!

Dream Altered Art Journal

I recently created for a customer- 

using old book covers

So now to share with you my word for 2011. It isn't what I call a pretty word.

It's not even what I think of as a desired word. I even went and looked it up in 

the Thesaurus, thinking I could find a more flowery word to use instead of it,

but there wasn't one.

Some words are just what they are and mean just what they mean.

Yes, PRIORITIZE is my word for 2011.

I kept trying to find another word, but

I couldn't get away from

hearing God tell me in my soul that this is

what I needed to do this year.

♥

"  Commit your work to the Lord,

then it will succeed.

Prov. 16:3

♥ 

You see, when I chose Action for last year,
my creativity doubled and

tripled for me and it unleashed so many

good things inside of me. My spontaneity and 

imagination came more alive
and my hopes and 

dreams became actual open doors

  to begin walking through.

I was and am so excited about what is ahead.

But, other things happened last year too,
like loosing my job,

then starting another new part-time job and my
schedule changing. I also went through

a biopsy because of pre-cancer then a lump removed

which (a big YAY!!) ended up showing
no pre-cancer or cancer.

.....so now I know it is important that I start caring 
more about my health 

and what I can control like taking better care of it 

with exercise and better food choices. So I need

to make it a PRIORITY.

 I am in the process of seeking what
God and I want for my list of priorities to be this year.
I already know that creating art will be on
that list, along with
family time and time spent
daily with the Lord. To make
my list, I have so many good things that I
could pick from but
sometimes you have to give up 
the good for the Best.

"Decide what you want,

decide what you are willing

to exchange for it.

Establish your priorities 

and go to work."

H. L. Hunt

So I would love to hear from you about 

some of your tips on prioritizing. If you are 

an artsy person, tell me how you plan your day

creating.  If you have a part-time or full-time job 

away from home, tell me how you fit in

working towards your dreams etc..

Anything you want to share I know would be

helpful to either me or someone else.

Thank YOU in advance.

Wishing Y♥U, my friend, 

the BEST always!

Come and Gone

Hello everyone!  

I have sure been missing YOU.

Our family Christmas celebration in January

has come and gone

and everyone is back at their own homes again.

Some special  kind of memories were made,

but wait until you hear what happened!

  It has taken me a week

to get back into the swing of things.

Here are our daughters together.

Jessica and Jaymie

  Oh how sisterly love is forever special.

Even if you live hours away from one another.

Our grandchildren stayed

with us part of the week without

their parents, because mommy and daddy

went to a Couples Retreat together.

Papaw and I had one day with our sweeties,

  before a nasty

flu virus made it's appearance and 

messed up our plans.

Our little grandson, Ezra, was the first one to have it.

And the poor little guy still had it when he

left to travel back home 6 days later!

We felt so sorry for him because everything he ate just

wouldn't stay down and he was miserable.

.........and

papaw and grandma just weren't the same

as having mommy and daddy around when you are sick!

You can see that he looks a little energy drained here

in this picture with papaw and Aunt Jaymie.

After this photo above,

our granddaughter Ella and Aunt Jaymie

 came down with the nasty flu bug too!

Aren't you feeling a little sorry for us about now?

It's something
what grandparents will resort to when

 entertaining their grandchildren!

  This photo isn't the best

in color but I just had to show you
what a trouper papaw was

in bending his body all around, in the game Twister,
just to make 

his granddaughter so happy.

She and her pony sat back and gave the instructions! ha

Well five days later, when mommy and daddy

arrived back from a Florida Pastor's Couple Retreat,

grandma gave into that nasty bug too
that had been trying to

show it's face earlier, but she just couldn't let it until the

Calvary arrived!

We celebrated our family Christmas quietly in

our comfy home and had to cancel the larger family

get together with my siblings that we had planned. 
That made me super sad,

because a few of my siblings haven't met our 

sweet grandchildren yet. 

But they understood and really didn't want that bug

invading them.

We still had some wonderful hugs and smiles going

on through out it all.  Ella showed me how to use her

new paper bead machine, and we worked on making little

pot holders that I bet you too remember making as a child.

 

It's funny what life brings your way sometimes,

especially when you are least expecting it. Everyone

is well now and I am so grateful

that we still had this time

together. 

I'm just planning on a much more fun trip

in the future with no bugs allowed!

Be sure and tune in tomorrow, 
because I want to

talk to you about something for the new year. 

I've come up with my "WORD", instead

of resolutions, for 2011 and I'm

hoping it will also be an encouragement to

 many of you.

I'm so glad to be back with YOU my friends!

 Great Big Hugs

without any bugs attached!