Trading in "Good" for "Great"

Clutter!
Anyone who knows me well, knows that I have packrat tendencies and I battle clutter in my life. I have many creative interests and with each of these comes stuff. Stuff that I feel that I cannot part with. A session of decluttering is mentally exhausting for me. Some of you reading this can relate to this - I know I an not completely alone with this. Others out there are pitchers. You find joy in tossing things out and living a sparse life. If this is you, bear with me here. Some of this may still speak to you.

This morning as I was pouring myself out to the Lord, I was asking Him to create some clear space in my life. I am craving clear uncluttered space in my life not only in my physical space, but in my mind, as well. I feel like I cannot think straight because there is just too much. I am surrounded by distractions. I asked God to show me what needs to be cleared away. He spoke to me first of the obvious:
MATERIAL STUFF: There has to be less physical stuff around me to make life simpler and clearer. How much of what surrounds me and my family in our home has eternal purpose?

But then a new surprising thing was revealed to me:
GOOD INTENTIONS. Good intentions of projects I want to do myself and with the children because they sound fun or would be "educational." All of these things that I feel I could or should do take up space in my thoughts and the stuff that goes along with them takes up space in my home. All of these things are good things. BUT...there are only so many hours in a day and it is not physically possible to do all of these wonderful projects in the time we are allotted in life even if I was the most organized person on the planet.

So, I asked God, "Help me discern and let go of the "good" to make space for the "great."

Let me repeat that:

Help me discern and let go of the "good" to make space for
the "Great."

That is the key! And the kicker is something that may be Great for someone else is merely good for me or my children. That is because God has created each of us with a unique purpose and a unique path He wants us to walk. God is the ONLY one who can truly give us wisdom in this area. Oh Lord be my guide! Help me to flush out the good (and even not so good) in my life and make room to be open for the VERY BEST that you have for me and my family!!!

A bit of art...

Just sharing a bit of art I created for worship this Sunday.

Confession is good for the Soul

This morning I was wandering about BlogLand and happened upon Greta's blog discussing the author, Donald Miller. I was intrigued and followed her link to an article called The Campus Confession Booth which is an excerpt from his book, "Blue Like Jazz." I won't go into the gist of the article, but I found it an interesting approach to sharing Christ. It is definitely worth the time to read and I am intrigued enough to seek out this book for myself.

I suppose this hit home for me because, some things have been happening in our life, especially pertaining to our church that have me questioning "religion." Don't get me wrong this in no way means I am questioning my faith in Jesus. I am questioning the rituals and man-made stuff that we try to attach to our faith in Jesus that don't necessarily have anything to do with Him. Things that clutter up our relationship with Him and sadly enough, distract those who are seeking Him. I am far from walking away from organized religion, but I am seeking a way to be a part of the solution - Asking God for wisdom. Hubby and I have come to the conclusion that our church home is in dire need of a revival. For things to turn around it is going to HAVE to be a God thing. So, that is what we are asking for. I feel like God is letting our church fail in many areas to get everyone's attention and bring us around to where we should be.

It seems as though life cycles. We can be flying high and then things just seem to wind down and we hit a low. Sometimes the only thing that can get us on the path back up again is God. I see that so often in my life. I am seeking God daily and I feel like I am on the right path and things are going smoothly. Then I get too confident in myself and think a bit less about God during my day. I may not realize it, but I begin to cycle down. Next thing you know, something happens that puts me at rock bottom. (I think so many times that God does that to get my attention!) I am at the end of myself and then I begin more earnestly seeking God daily again. This process is kind of like a personal revival. We get back on our personal path with God and our spirits soar.

I feel like I am rambling today - not sure where these thought are going. Reading Greta's blog just got my mind to thinking about these things. Reminding me that no matter what, seeking God and doing what He wants me to do HAS to be a priority in my life or it is NOTHING. Praying that *I* don't get in the way of what HE is doing.

Computer Fonts

I saw this over at the 2 Peas message board and thought it was kinda slick. http://www.stcassociates.com/lab/fontbrowser.html

You can preview any text in any ofthe fonts installed on your computer. There's no software to download; just go to the site.

Personally, I use The Font Thing (http://members.ozemail.com.au/~scef/tft.html). With this free program you can not only preview text using installed fonts, but also uninstalled fonts that you have stored on your computer. If there are too many fonts installed on your computer, it can cause things to slow down. By using The Font Thing, you can preview and uninstalled font, install it with the click of a button, and uninstall it when you are done. That being said I STILL have way too many font installed. Perhaps I am just a font junkie!

Gravel Boy

This is another photo from my a Slice o' Life photo blog. Thought it would be fun to scrap.

I used Doris Castle's Growing Up kit. I liked the scruffy quality of it and thought it suited the photo well.

I read somewhere - I think it was on someone's photo blog, that they like to take photos of the edges of scenes because they are usually more interesting. This popped into my head as I was standing over my son playing in the gravel pile watching a trencher dig for our new home's water lines. I took one photo with him centered and then this one which I ended up liking much better. This isn't actually the edge, but I like how there is more focus on his moving hand and the gravel.

New Layout

I just love the textures of these papers in Doris Castle's new Eastern Florals set (available at www.scrapbook-elements.com) I kept this page pretty simple with a few embellishments. It is a photo of two of my daughters making pancakes for breakfast one day last week. I used Virtual Photographer to add the graininess and effects to the photo.

the Princess plan

Yes you are! (Well, there may be some princes reading this, too!) We are in princess training mode in our home. My 8 year old daughter, Anna, loves all things princess. She wants her room in our new house to be decorated as a princess room. She loves to dress as a princess. BUT her current room was atrocious! Since all of her clothing seemed to have disappeared and I was suspecting that her room had "eaten" it, I took a day to clean her half of the room she and her sister share. It was even worse than I suspected! I removed 2 huge packing boxes full of just trash. Most of it just tiny little pieces of nothing. I removed 4 packing boxes of things that just didn't belong in her room: her brother's toys, dishes and other misc stuff. I then packed up most of her belongings. Normally I would have gotten more and more irritated with her as I discovered how poorly she took care of her belongings. But this time I just started feeling bad. I have tried to teach her better, but I am not a tidy organized person either and I suppose she has learned more from my poor actions than my words. :-( As I was sitting on her floor sorting piles into trash, jewelry, and Polly Pocket clothes, an idea hit me. If my daughter wants to be a princess, let her. This really is a biblical concept. As children of God, we are adopted sisters and brothers to Christ, THE Prince of Peace. So, I began forming in my mind the concept of "Princess Training." When I allowed my daughter to come back into her room, it had been cleared out and rearranged. She was thrilled with how it looked and I explained that she was beginning Princess training.

Rule #1
Princesses have nothing on their floor but furniture.

Rule
#2
Princesses don't have clutter around them.

Rule #3
Princesses
keep their bed clean, made, and pretty.

Rule #4
Princesses wear
clean clothes.

Rule #5
Princesses take care of the things that God
has given them.

These are what we are working on right now. More will be added later. As I was thinking about this, I began to look at myself. I am a child of God and a princess too, but I don't hold myself to this higher standard. There is nothing regal about my own work space. It is cluttered and unorganized. It may not be as messy as my daughter's room, but a far cry from a Princess space. So, I am taking this to heart. I need to hold myself and my family to a higher standard because we are representatives of a royal family. We are children of the Almighty King. I would really like to develop this idea a bit further. Obviously, it could work for all of us "girls" in the house, but also my son could go into Prince training. My husband.....Well he may not be real interested in playing along. He still will be MY prince no matter what!

breakfast prep

Another photo from my a Slice o' Life blog. This time it's of my daughter helping prepare breakfast. She loves to do this to bananas to serve them up "fancy." (I think you can read the recipe.) All the fun kitchen goodies used are from Mo Jackson's Dorothy's Kitchen set (the August orphan's from her site.)

the Kiss

My Anna and my Patrick came downstairs early this morning and sat in the chair together. They looked too cute so I thought I would try to get a picture for my daily picture blog: Slice o' Life They started hamming it up for the camera. I took a bunch and most didn't come out so great, but I thought this one was a gem. I wanted a simple layout, but one that portrayed a sense of fun. Thought these papers from Mo Jackson's June orphans (www.mojackson.com) were perfect for that!

been scrappin'

This was a photo of the day from my "a Slice o' Life" blog last Sunday. I recolored baby Henry's shirt to match the LO better and gave the photo a pastel coloring.

Used Doris Castle's upcoming Sweet Baby quickpages and kit.

A page about a fun evening with two of my good friends. Journaling is similar to my earlier blog entry about this.

Used Doris Castle's Eastern Floral kit soon to be available at Scrapbook-Elements.

A layout where I express my frustration that my daughter tells everyone she can't read (she really can).

Used one of Doris Castle's Summer quickpages available at Scrapbook-Elements. The title was done using a free Photoshop action called Foam Stamp from Atomic Cupcake

Oh Joy!!!

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance." James 1:2-3


Whenever it rains like this outside.....



My basement looks like THIS on the inside.

When the contractors were installing our underground tubing for the geothermal system for our new house, they cut the drainage tile that goes from our basement to our creek. So now every time we get a good rain, rainwater runs back into our basement. It was quite discouraging the first time it happened because I had too much stuff on my basement floor. Last week I went down there and bagged up lots of moldy stuff and managed to get half of it emptied. So, today's rain wasn't as disasterous. BUT moving day can't come too soon!

Home

This morning as I turn to the Lord for wisdom in my day during my quiet time, I am contemplating the concept of "home." Home is on the brain for many reasons. One big one is because we are building our new home 200 feet from our back door. We have thought and prayed about this decision for years. We have thought and prayed about every square inch of it because we want to be wise with the resources that God has given us. We carefully designed our home and are carefully making each decision concerning it. Our current house right now is a source of frustration for me. It is an 85 year old farmhouse that has received only the most minimal of care over the past few decades. It has been hindering our family life in many ways. I have to admit that I am no domestic goddess. :) Housework is a struggle for me and I tend to be a packrat, but I have really been working diligently in these areas. These things are difficult in a house that is too small for our needs and is worn and broken down. Another reason "home" is on the brain is that I have really been thinking about my role as manager of my home. I have allowed our family's routines to slack due to my own busy-ness and brain overload. It is definitely time for a renewal in this area! The children and I had a discussion about this and are all going to work on this.

Anyway, I decided to do an informal bible study on the word "home." I am using www.biblegateway.com to do a search on the word. It is very interesting to read through all the verses in the bible using the word home. You get a overview of its biblical meaning. What I am seeing is that it is a place of happiness (Deuteronomy 24:5, a place to return to (as seen in a multitude of verses), a place to teach (Deuteronomy 6:7), represents family and roots (Judges 21:24), where you raise your children ( Samuel 1:23), place of peace (1 Samuel 25:35), where to get nourished (1 Kings 17:12), a place to flee to for safety (2 Kings 14:12). Our homes are a base camp - a place to be refreshed and renewed for God's work. Sometimes our home are the place where we do God's work. I think this is especially true for those of us who are wives and mothers.

Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be
slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can
train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be
self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be
kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word
of God. (Titus 2:3-5).

Of course many are called to leave our homes to serve God.

Peter said to him, "We have left everything to follow
you!" "I tell you the truth," Jesus replied, "no one
who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or
children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred
times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers,
children and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come,
eternal life." (Mark 10:28-30)

Proverbs 3:33 says,

"The LORD's curse is on the house of the wicked, but he
blesses the home of the righteous."

It seems from this it appears that the ingredient that makes a house into a home is righteousness. Righteousness is being right with God. It is not our own goodness or merit, but having an honest relationship with Jesus Christ - accepting Him as our saving grace. HE alone makes us right with God.

Well, my little natives are getting restless and I am seeing that my "quiet" time is ending. I suppose I will just chew on these thoughts s I go though my day.

Encouragement

I was wandering around blog-land when I stumbled upon this entry: Living an Imperfect Life

I have often had similar feeling as Anissa shares here. There are days that I feel like a failure at everything, but it is good to remember that by clinging to the Lord through everything, HE makes us perfect. Thank You, God!!!

Hats

Do you ever look at all the things you do in a day and all the roles you play? In other words, how many hats you wear? I have been feeling a little overwhelmed of late. It doesn't help that I have continuous sinus headaches and need to constantly have Tylenol Allergy Sinus coursing through my veins to keep the discomfort and my grumpies under control. The headaches are due to my allergies. The mold count has been high of late and now every time it rains, the basement in this old house floods and therefore mold has taken up residence in my home, as well. So, I have not been a clear thinker lately!
During my quiet time this morning, I was thinking about my to do list and feeling tired just looking at it. I started listing out my different roles/hats. I counted 12 that I have been wearing lately! These could actually be broken down much further because each of these roles involves a multitude of duties.




(Hat graphic from Mo Jackson's Caroline kit www.mojackson.com)



These hats include:
child of God
wife
mother
teacher
cook
maid
home manager
accountant
apartment manager
home designer/decorator
digital artist (volunteer work, hobby, business)
friend

It is no wonder that my head hurts! Now, I am sure that I am not the only woman with many hats to wear. I am sure there are many out there with more! So how does one do this? Often I feel like a do many things in a mediocre way and perhaps I should focus on doing fewer things better. The thing is that during this season of my life, few of these can be eliminated. Sadly, the only ones I could give up are some of the things that give me much joy and refresh my spirit. I don't have any answers. I have a tendency to want to compartmentalize my life and separate my different roles into different parts of my schedule, but so much seems to need to happen at the same time and requires lots of multi-tasking. I know that "I can do all things though Him who strengthens me." (Phil 4:13) and I am clinging to this. I also keep in mind that "ALL things work together for good for those who love the Lord." (Romans 8:28) I am seeking God's wisdom in all this.

Good Friends

Two of my very old friends and I took a cooking class at Williams Sonoma last night. My friend Wendy and I signed us up as a birthday gift for my friend, Laura (pictured on the left). The class title was "A Night in Florence." I use the term cooking "class" EXTREMELY loosely! We expected a cooking class. You know where we would be taught how to cook several recipes. Cooking demonstration would have been a more appropriate term. The store has a very nice kitchen right in the center of it and we all had chairs to sit around and watch. The gentleman "teaching" the class was soft spoken and told us very little about what he was doing and why. We learned mostly about his difficulties finding the specific ingredients for his recipes in our town. The recipes chosen were from a Williams Sonoma cookbook and listed specific products to be used, but he informed us that because the book was a couple of years old, they no longer carried these products. It ended up being a very expensive dinner of small samples. (Sigh) A slightly disappointing experience to say the least. We could have learned more by staying at home and watching Food Network! The saving grace of the evening was that I got to spend a rare evening with two great friends!
After our class we kidnapped my friend, Wendy (pictured on the right) and took her out for dessert at a nearby Italian restaurant to celebrate her birthday which is Saturday. On our way to our cars, we discovered this giant Superman in the window of Sharper Image. For a mere $5000 he could be yours!!!

Superdate!

New blog! I started a new photo blog. Several digital scrapbookers have taken up the challenge to take photos every day. That way daily, ordinary life is captured. I love that idea and decided to do this. I call it "a Slice o' Life" and I have 3 entries for today that capture all four of my children.

Holding Henry

Last night, I was unable to sleep so I started playing around in Photoshop. I had the bug to play around with aging a photo. I grabbed this one taken last Sunday of my oldest holding my little nephew. He's such a cuddler and my two girls just adore him although you can't tell that by Elizabeth's expression. She is at an age where whe is vey self-conscious about getting her picture taken.

Anyway, if you're interested in what I did to age this photo... I adjusted the levels, darkened the edges and then placed a textured layer that I had created using a Machine Wash filter (Clogged Mesh) over it and set the blend mode to linear burn. I also created a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer in a sepia tone and set the opacity to 90%. The photo was a bit grainy looking to begin with and this was a great way to disguise my poor quality snapshot.

The rest of the goodies used to create this layout are from Mo Jackson (www.mojackson.com). Most are from her Melissa's Feast digital scrap set. The only element created by me is the little piece of string on the tag. I really have to look up some tutorials - there's is much room for improvement there.

The journaling on the little tag reads:
11 year old Elizabeth loves to hold her one month old baby cousin, Henry. But she isn’t fond of having her picture taken. 7-31-05

Blueberry Butter Cake

This is an untried recipe that was recently discovered by my daughter in a book she was reading called "Escaping into the Open - The Art of Writing True" by Elizabeth Berg. The author says that it comes from the Black Dog Cafe on Martha's Vineyard. She's that you better plan on making it to take somewhere and share. She says, "You don't want any leftovers, because you will suck them down in the car on the way home."

Blueberry Butter Cake

CAKE:
1 cup sugar
1tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 3/4 cups flour
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup melted butter
1 tbsp pure vanilla
3 cups blueberries

TOPPING:
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup cold butter in bits
cinnamon

Sift together the dry ingredients and in a separate bowl mix the wet ingredients. Then add the wet to the dry and mix until blended. Pour the mixture into a greased and floured 9 X 13 inch pan. Sprinkle with blueberries. In a separate bowl, with your hands, crumble together sugar, flour, butter and cinnamon for the topping. Sprinkle the topping evenly. Bake at 350 degrees until knife comes out clean, approximately 50 minutes. Serves 8 - 10.

If we become ambitious and make this, we'll post a review and perhaps a picture.

Play Dough

Play Dough

1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 cup water
2 TBSP. vegetable oil
1 tsp. food coloring

1) Combine flour salt, and cream of tartar in a medium saucepan.

2) Gradually stir in water mixed with oil and food coloring.

3) Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until a ball forms.

4) Remove mixture from heat, let it cool a little, and then knead.

My daughter made this playdough with her little brother for her 4-H Child Development project. She made a poster with these colorized photos to exhibit. She got Champion in her level and will go to the state fair with it.

Peek-A-Boo!

Abi plays peek-a-boo with my friend Cory during our visit to the lake last Friday.

Need for Speed!

Another lake picture!
This time of my 3 year old son, Patrick. He was very cautious about getting into the water, but had no hesitation about taking a ride on the jet ski with my friend, Cindy. He loved it!