Thursday, July 30, 2009

Journaling #5

Just a quick post until later!! I appreciate your visit. Today I'm posting Journaling question #5
As a child did you grow up in church?

I hope you are enjoying these journaling prompts! If you have started your journal let me know! I'd love to read your comments. Be sure to check out www.cpcmag.com lots of inspiration and fun paper crafts that are faith-based to see!

Our Ladies Morning Bible Study is almost done with our "closet makeover" study called "Me, Myself and Lies" by Jennifer Rothschild. It's all based on the Scripture in Psalm 19:14 "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer." With the Lord's help I'm getting rid of the mind trash, none of it's good for even a yard sale (ha!), and soon the closet of my mind is going to be looking good! I'm working on it daily. Until later, have a wonderful day!!

blog signature


PS. I'm getting the craft itch... I hope I can get at my table and start creating soon!

TEACH ME YOUR WAYS O LORD; I WILL WALK IN YOUR TRUTH; UNITE MY HEART TO FEAR YOUR NAME. PSALM 86:11

Sunday, July 26, 2009

From Forklifts to T-Birds

Hey just a quick post!
Hope you had a good weekend, it's winding down. I'm finishing up some laundry before heading to bed. I wanted to post these pictures of Jakob and Kerry. Jakob visited his Poppa at work at the lumber yard, more specifically he wanted to see Poppa's forklift! And he was just too cute for words! Actually both of them were!! But please don't tell Kerry I used the word "cute" to describe him, okay?




Hi Grammie, I'm drivin' the forklift!

He's a big boy!!

From forklift to Classic T-Bird!
And Addy slept through the whole adventure!

blog signature

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Journaling #4 and Eventful Saturday

Hope you are enjoying the weekend!
It's been a busy Saturday. Kerry my dh and I went out for breakfast (weekly date) and then visited with our son Sean, his wife Amy and our little granddaughter Riley, isn't she a cutie...
She is such a little rascal. I was having so much fun pushing her around the yard!

Yes, she's posing!

She was thinking she was so funny on the slide!

They just moved into a new house (renting) it's 3 bedroom 2 bath and a huge backyard.
The yard needs work but what potential! I've offered to help with the yardwork one of these Saturdays soon.
After our visit, we went to the hardware store bought some paint and some bedding plants and then we were heading home to work! I'll have to wait to take pics of what we've been doing in our entry way but I'm excited to share. We put in new laminate flooring and Kerry painted one of the walls "Log Cabin" it's a rich brown. Oh it looks so good, I love it. So, while Ker was doing the inside stuff I was busy with weeding and planting. I worked from 1 to 5 and my hands are gnarly, I should have worn gloves! I even got a cut on my pinkie (boo-hoo!) but now the area around the sign at the church is looking pretty good AND colorful!

Well it is Saturday so that means we have our 4th journaling assignment. Have you started one?? It's a pretty neat thing to do to pass down to family members or just as a faith journal as a keepsake for yourself. It's fun to stir up those memories and the older I get the more I'm forgetting!! So I want to write it down as a testimony of God's goodness. Hopefully it will record that I'm growing in God's grace, too!

Here is the 4th assignment:

Do you write in your Bible? Why or why not? And what do you write?? Well there it is, pretty simple don't you think?
Here is a sample of what I'm thinking about putting in my journal. This will be an easy one for me.
You should see all the writing in my Bible! All the different colors of pens and highlighters and to be honest, no rhyme or reason for the colors, I don't have a "system." I've written notes in there from sermons I've heard that spoke to me and I want to remember, I have dates when perhaps the Lord laid that particular Scripture on my heart. I can look back and see how God had moved in that certain time of my life. Sometimes I've just highlighed a passage that I want to memorize. So there are lots of different reasons I write in my Bible. When I study for a lesson I'm going to teach I write in the margins, and I might want to emphasize a word or phrase and so that helps me to remember or perhaps I write the definition of a word. Those are just a few reasons I write in my Bible. And I would truly feel lost without it!! If I was to start with a new Bible I would still write in it but I would most likely have a better system, I would recommend that to a new believer. The Inductive Study Bible has an excellent system for comprehending the "whole counsel of God." That's probably pretty close to what I'll be writing in my journal I may add a bit more about the Inductive system, we'll see.... Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog and I hope to hear from you!! God's richest blessings to you! Have a wonderful Sunday - don't neglect spending time with others worshiping the Lord and learning more about Him!

blog signature

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Obstacle Course...simple right?

Hello, thanks for stopping by!

Well, yesterday was "Kill-her" Wednesday Workout and of course it lived up to it's name. My trainer daughter Amy is always trying to mix things up to keep things interesting. So, she had a very simple "obstacle" course for me to start the workout instead of the "kill me now" jump roping.
Here is what she set up :

Yes, you see correctly, it is 6 magazines in a row, that is my obstacle course! Now this is how it worked (looks simple, huh??) how hard can this be, right?? Well, with feet together jump over the magazine. Easy peasy. Should be a cinch, no problemo! "Okay" I say boldly, much easier than jump roping (I'm thinking) Yes! Uh, no... because after jumping with feet together all 6 magazines I must do 10 squats and then come back to the first magazine by doing lunges (with my short legs that's about 8 of those kill-hers) and after I do the lunges I must do 10 jumping jacks and repeat that process 5 times.


(Bobbi I hope you are taking notes if you are reading this - it would be a great way to torture your PE class).


By the time I got to the last set of jumping jacks I'm sure my feet didn't get 2 centimeters off the ground! AND to add insult my dear daughter was behind me and said if she caught up with me I'd have to do it some more. PUSHY! but effective... I finished the course ahead of her, even though my lungs were burning!


You would think that was enough but no... there was more to come. Kettlebells, lots of kettlebell exercises for the upper body and then to top it off I had to sit, actually that's how I started, but eventually ended on my back on a big ball and balanced myself for some "ab" work with the kettlebells! Can I say enough!! Needless to say before I went to bed I took some Aleve to relieve!


Am I sore today, you may ask? Do have to ask?? But because I'm driven to live a healthier lifestyle and to fit back into the clothes I already have in my closet I am determined, with the Lord's help. And believe me, I'm praying all the time I'm working out that I won't strangle my dear trainer. Of course my arms are too sore to be effective and she is faster and stronger than I am. However, when we workout with the boxing gloves...hmmm. Okay my dear readers perhaps you'd better pray for me or Amy or both of us! Oops sounds like I'm walking after the flesh instead of the spirit. But I guess I am exercising self control. :-)


After working out, my mom fixed us dinner (hubby was at Men's Ministry and I had already fed him!) and then we went over to my other daughter Kelly's and we watched one of their favorite childhood movies "Wild Hearts Can't be Broken" I think next week it'll be Fried Green Tomatoes. Well this post has become a novel, I applaud you if you read the whole thing! You must be exhausted! Have a super excellent day...

blog signature

PS: I wrote my exercise bike 10 miles this morning... am I crazy or what?

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Journal Writing #3 and Hippos will be Hippos

Hello! So glad you stopped by to visit.

Today's journal writing question is pretty simple! When did you get your first Bible and do you still have it?
For those of you new to serving the Lord this should be fresh in your memory!!
Before I was saved we received a Living Bible from friends of my parents, as a wedding gift, it had a wonderful note inside to us and just a few years ago I was able to tell them how much that meant to me, now that I was serving the Lord, that was my first Bible. However, I still remember the little KJV Bible I had right after I gave my heart to the Lord, 27 years ago, I read it until it literally fell apart! I don't think I still have it anymore and it had very few "helps" in it, but I made a few notes in it and transferred those to my new Bible, which was a NIV Thompson chain reference Bible which I used until it was falling apart! It had the best references in it and I truly miss that part of it.(I still have it) Now I have a NKJV Women's Study Bible that my dh Kerry, bought me on Valentines Day 1996 and I would have to say if I had to teach without it, I would be lost!! We are that close! (lol) I have a couple of other Bibles but my Women's Study Bible is my main one.

Jakob the "bear hunter"

Now I'm changing subjects and going from "spiritual" to "hilarious" (at least to me... my daughter wasn't to happy about this though).
Evidently the other afternoon, Jakob (2yr old) decided to empty his diaper into his bed during naptime. (I am so glad I didn't have to deal with this....I must confess I have a weak stomach, Nurse Nan I am not.)
Back to the story...
Daddy Ray wakes Mommy Kelly from her nap and says, "Jakob wants you" Hmmm....did Daddy open the door and get one whiff and close the door, I'm wondering? So, without getting too descriptive, there were all sorts of shapes and sizes of "said content of diaper" from one end to the other in our sweet little grandson's crib. Of course Mommy is telling Jake that this is not a good thing to do, it is yucky. Which Jake replies, "Hippo eat poo-poo, yucky!" Which Mommy so eloquently but loudly says "WHAT did you say??!!??" And Jakob repeats his statement very clearly.
Now Hippo is Jakob's flashlight, that has a large mouth that shines forth light and Mommy Kelly in great horror finds "said diaper content" in Hippo's large and now less than shiny mouth. How it got there of course is quite disconcerting but we know that hippos will be hippos.

Moral of this story: It is time to get potty trained before Grammie starts babysitting on a regular basis in September!
blog signature


I call to You, God, and You save me. Even if I cry out in distress evening, morning and noon, You will never fail to hear my voice. Psalm 55:16-17

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Win $1,000 at TheCuttlebugSpot.com!

I have just discovered that The Cuttlebug Spot is having a contest - "The Journey to 1,000"! They are trying to reach 1,000 followers by the end of July and need your help. To enter all you have to do is go to their site, sign up as follower and complete a few easy steps and you could win a $1,000 gift certificate to Custom Crops (www.CustomCrops.com)! GO NOW and check it out at www.TheCuttlebugSpot.com


blog signature

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Sketch with a Spin (SSS13)

Hello!
Hope you are enjoying the weekend and your summer and happy 3rd weekend in July! And you know what that means....
It means that over at the Sweet 'n Sassy blog http://www.sweetstopsketches.blogspot.com/ it's Sketch with a Spin week! Whoo-hoo! Here's the spin and the sketch, you must use a Christmas image in the following very cool sketch


Here's the payoff: It's Christmas in July over at Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps and all the Christmas Stamps are on sale AND if you play along by making a card and submit at the Sweet Stop blog you could win $10 in digis!!


If you play along be sure to share a link back to their blog so others can play too & leave them a comment with a link to your creation. They can't wait to see what you've created!! When uploading to galleries and forums, please use keyword SSS13.

blog signature

Baby Shower for Addy

Just want to share a few of the photos from the baby shower that the ladies at church gave for Addy! I can't believe she is already over a month old.

Looks like it's a good dream!

She slept through the whole shower!



Here is Kelly posing with the cake!

Isn't the diaper cake cute!
Stephanie did a great job putting it together,
she's the mom of 5 boys and she recruited them to help!
Addy received some very sweet outfits and Kelly got a beautiful diaper bag (the one she wanted but didn't feel like she could afford it) from her big sis Amy. A few tears were shed on that one.

We thank the Lord for a wonderful time and we thank all the ladies who were so sweet to be there and share the day with us.
blog signature
PS I'm so proud of Kelly she's lost sixteen pounds since she gave birth and that makes her 6 less then when she found out she was pregnant!

Killer or Kill-her workouts plus a little more....

Good Morning! I don't want to even think that July is half over, but it is!!

I'm getting ready to jump on my exercise bike and go for a quick ride, I'm still working out the soreness from the "Killer" Wednesday workout or also known as "Kill-her" Wednesday workout. I've renamed it that cause I'm not sure if I'm going to kill my "personal trainer" aka my daughter Amy, who is working my fanny off, literally or if she's trying to kill me "butt" I guess it will be worth it all in the "end" (couldn't resist that one!).
A couple of my readers will appreciate the humor... you know who you are!! ; - )

I must say my jeans slide off my hips "like butter" which I rarely eat anymore! I'm starting to see it in inches but not in pounds! I hate the scale anyway, I don't know why I torture myself, after all I'm just trying to live healthier not necessarily get skinny! Monday will begin week 14 of my quest! Okay enough about me and my woes....

Today is Saturday and here is Journal Writing Assignment #2
"If you have received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, share your salvation story. And if you haven't what is holding you back?"

My salvation story is fairly simple however I can see many of the events that the Lord allowed in my life to bring me to that point of receiving Him. So, I'm not sure how much to write. I will probably do a draft or two of what I want to put in my journal and really pray about it and ask for the Holy Spirit's help. I'm confident He will give me the right words to put down on paper.

Well, time is getting away from me... I really need to get on my bike and get those miles in. I hope everyone has a blessed day and I'll be posting the Sweet Shop Sketch later this weekend! I thought for sure I'd get a card made this past week but I didn't! I'm bummed but I did take a class called "Distress to Impress" and that was a lot of fun learning new techniques using Ranger products. Can't wait to share.... but I gotta practice a bit more!

blog signature

LET THE WORDS OF MY MOUTH, AND THE MEDITATION OF MY HEART, BE ACCEPTABLE IN THY SIGHT, O LORD, MY STRENGTH AND MY REDEEMER.

PSALM 19:14

Thursday, July 16, 2009

This Faith Journey

Hey thanks for coming by!!
Just wanted to share today about what we are doing over at the Christian Paper Craft community http://www.cpcmag.com/ and at our Ladies Ministry Wednesday morning Bible Study http://www.bluelakechurch.org/ (if you have difficulty in checking out the church website please keep checking back we are undergoing some updating and I'm not sure when it will be complete).

Now, I don't like to call it a challenge but more of an encouragement, to leave a journal of our faith walk for future generations. We all have a story or a testimony on how we came to faith in Jesus Christ and I think it's important (especially as I get older!) to leave it in some form for my future generations. I don't have much as far as worldly possessions but I have a faith legacy to leave my children and grandchildren, and my prayers for their salvation have gone on ahead of me to the ears of God, so I want to leave a path for them to follow. That's my hearts desire...

To begin this faith journal and to make it easier we will begin with questions to get the creative writing jump-started. Patter Cross will be posting questions each Wednesday and Saturday at Christian Paper Crafts and I will be repeating them here. These questions or statements may not be applicable every time so don't worry about that, they are just a springboard to get you writing. I hope you'll join me in this journey of faith. We serve such a wonderful Savior and I want to bring Him honor and glory through this!

Let me know it you plan to join us!
Perhaps you belong to a Ladies Ministry at your church, wouldn't this be a wonderful ministry to help them write their testimony. So many are fearful of sharing their faith, concerned that they may need to answer hard questions concerning the Bible, but that's just fear from the evil one, something we all can do is be a witness of the goodness of God's wonderful gift of salvation in Christ Jesus. And besides, if you don't know the answer to something, how difficult is it to say "I don't know, but I will get back to you when I find a biblical answer to your question". Be bold! Be honest for crying out loud! ;-)

I can't help but think of this Scripture in 1 John 5:11
"And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son."

So without further ramblings from me, here is our first writing assignment.

#1 : Introduce yourself and share a bit about your desire for this journal. (Remember: Future readers may not know you personally.)

blog signature

And I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, "See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." Revelation 19:10

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Sweet Saturday Surprise

SSS12


Hello friends! So glad you stopped by today. Here is this weeks fun sketch from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps http://www.sweetstopsketches.blogspot.com/ be sure and check out the very creative cards on Korin's blog "The Sweet Shop" cute stuff there! Also be sure and check out Christian Paper Crafts at http://www.cpcmag.com/ I was chosen as CASE artist for this Saturday. Honestly I was so taken back when I saw my name because I truly thought it was another Natalie. (even went to check out "her" gallery and blog only to find out it was me!!) I'll be laughing about that for awhile. Should you participate in the challenge be sure to label your creation CAS12 if you post it on your blog or gallery. Anyway I just hope you'll check out the Community over at CPCmag and join us for great online fellowship and fun challenges both artistically and spiritually! Well, it's really late or early depending how you look at it! My clock says 12:01 a.m. so it's officially Sunday and I'll be up in about 6 hours for church, this grammie is tired, we took care of Jakob and Addy so their parents could go out on an overdue date after the baby shower!!
Have a wonderful day in the Lord and may God speak to each of your hearts today as you gather together as believers worshiping Him and encouraging one another.

blog signature

Friday, July 10, 2009

Simply Bloom!

Lazy days of summer!!
Yes, it's summer, late morning here in "sunny" Blue Lake, the temperature is a "scorching" 61 degrees according to my back porch thermometor! Is it a lazy day? Rarely! There is always something that needs to be done! Today is errand day, so I'll be in town for most of the afternoon. Where it will reach a scorching 57 degrees (on the bay) this afternoon maybe it will hit 60 degrees. My computer says the temp at the airport is 54 degrees. Of course this means we will be getting the inland "tanned" people flocking over to the coast to get out of their high 90s weather. I would love a little bit of that heat, perhaps they will bring it with them! I'm not bitter, I'd just want to see some blue skies! But to be real we don't get the higher temperatures (75-85 degrees) in Blue Lake until late July through early September, so I'll wait patiently for it.
Besides, this is the day the Lord has made and I WILL rejoice and be glad in it!
In the meantime over at Christian Paper Crafts (http://www.cpcmag.com/ ) today is Fun on Friday (FOF13) and the challenge is to make a card with flowers everywhere on it, from embellishments to paper.
So, here is my card! Very simple and easy.

I made my own pattern paper on the cardstock



Here are the paint colors and stamp pad I used



This is a sample of the stamps they are from Inkadinkadoo and the plain cardstock I used as the base. The rust color cardstock I used to mat the strip of coordinating stamped paper.


I titled this post "Simply Bloom" because that's what the Lord desires of us, just to bloom where we are planted. We are His field and He cultivates us to grow into a beautiful garden.
1 Corinthians 3:9 says that we are "God's fellow workers; you are God's field, you are God's building". I love to think of each of us being a beautiful flower in the field created by God, individual and precious, and as He cares for us we grow into a reflection of His workmanship. Are you allowing Him to tend to you? Or are you "self" sufficient? For me, I need Him to water, provide the right kind of soil, and provide the sun (Son) to shine down on me to help me grow into that creation He desires. He has His work cut for Him! The weeds of distraction try to keep me from Him but I'm so grateful He continually tends to my root system to keep me strong.
Thanks for visiting today and may you bloom for the Lord in all you do!

blog signature

PS The sun is peaking through the overcast skies, I will see blue skies today, WHOO-HOO!!! See how much God loves me, I really wanted to see the sunshine today!! He knows the very desires of my heart!!

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Altered Keepsake Box

Thanks for visiting and a special Happy 4th of July to you all, I hope your day is filled with lots of love!

I'm finally blogging, let me tell you I've had "blog block" lately! It's not like I've not been doing anything, it's just when I sit down to write, I get a big fat nothing!! I kinda still feel that way but at least I have something to share that I made for my new little granddaughter, Addyson. The ladies at church are giving her a shower next Saturday so I've been busy finishing up an altered keepsake box/birth scrapbook. I've had this planned for about 3 months and I've finally put it together at the crop last weekend.

Here are the ingredients and directions!

I used the Tim Holtz tin organizer for clear stamps (it's discontinued, so once it's gone that's it!) I used 4 Adirondack Alcohol Inks: Shell Pink, Cloudy Blue, Currant, and a Pearl (mixative) That's it for the tin. I applied Shell Pink all over with the applicator and then made a pattern on the foam piece (as best as I could) to form a flower (cloudy blue, currant) and then added the pearl mixative in the center. ( see the photo)

(silver tin box, originally for clear stamp organizing - blue flowers are not showing up well in the photo you may have to click on it to enlarge)

The tin has the d-ring binder section which comes with the plastic sheets for the stamps which I used for my scrapbook. The size I cut my base paper was 6.25 x 7.5 and that worked perfectly to fit and not cover the holes already punched. My pattern paper was from Daisy Bucket and my cardstock was Bazzill, I also used chipboard to make a top and back for the "scrapbook" then covered it with the pattern paper.

inside first page

For embellishments I used buttons and my punches to make flowers, a older stamp from my stash, a Thickers glitter letter A, I kept it simple and it's purpose is just for the hospital stay and memorabilia so I didn't want the scrapbook to be too thick, (it has 6 double-sided pages), it needs to leave room for the outfit from the hospital.

The two boxes were from my Heidi Swapp chipboard letters which I emptied out sanded, painted and decorated with paper and then used the "A" for Addy which I painted and distressed. I believe they can keep the hospital ID bracelet and perhaps the booties & cap that were given by the hospital and made by a volunteer.

two boxes (repurposed & altered)

(sample of two album pages)


Well that's it! I hope I've inspired you to be creative, although I know most that look at this blog are already so very creative and I'm in awe of you and your talents!
I pray you have a safe 4th of July and that it's a day of reflection of what our forefathers did for us and that we are indeed thankful for their sacrifices. Remember these words: "...and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all" God's richest blessings to you and your families.

blog signature