Born Again

I'm taking a detour to share about a recent change in my life.

If you could let me ramble here, I wanted to share my experience being recently Born Again!

I'm from Ohio, we went to a Methodist church back home. Being "born again" wasn't really talked about a lot, I never knew much about it except the story of Nicodemus

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+3&version=NIV

and that I was a believer in Christ. As a girl, I knew I wanted Jesus to "be in my heart" as my parents taught me. But it wasn't until I made my own decision as a young adult to follow Him.

Well, I've experienced something new, 15+ years after choosing a relationship with God. It's been weeks since it happened, I wanted to be sure it wasn't just an event that came and went, like so many Sunday mornings. In my life, I've known the Holy Spirit, felt Him move in my soul many times. I have talked with God and felt His answer in my heart, what a blessing! I've been in a group of 100+ people and felt the burden of their despair all at once, it is too much. That's another story, but I believe it was God moving. I had seen a glimpse of Heaven once and it was almost too much to bear, just that glimpse!

But a few weeks ago, we had a speaker at our church. And this isn't about him at all, it's just that he's the one who God used to change me. I've never understood why I had so much pain and agony in my heart from abuse suffered as a child. Why I couldn't find joy even though I desperately longed for it. WHY I couldn't just find peace in my kids and husband instead of being angry & bitter for no reason! I prayed, I cried out, I turned my heart cold to God many times when He wouldn't answer me. I tried everything and surrendered to a life of misery, that's just who I am, I thought.

But God spoke to me one morning through this kid (I say kid, he's in his 20's) and God filled me for a moment and I was completely frozen. I couldn't do anything or think anything except GOD. That was the moment, I don't remember anything else much from that day!

Since then, I have found joy even when dealing with tragedies around me. I feel bad, being joyful. But I know God has given me this gift of joy! I have found it essential to my soul to take care of people who have noone, nothing, give what I have away. I've donated toys, coats and bedding to others in the last few weeks. We have less now than we did, but then, we are rich compared to so many others! I don't have money to give, but we have so much excess stuff it's shameful.

This song, Born Again by Third Day, says it all. I know it's on the radio all the time, and they're a popular Christian band. But the truth and description of being "born again" is all new to me, and I'm there. It is so amazing. Please watch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHnIJWUGQ-4&feature=related

Thanks for letting me share

Merry Christmas 2010

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Wish List

Here are some tools I think I need...NEED Right?
I love refinishing furniture, but don't really have the space to work with potentially bad-for-kids products. Like sanding and painting...bad. Staple guns that use air compressors and electric sanders...bad. Crowded garage we can't even park in...bad!
BUT if I could, here's what I would wish for....

Fredrix Deluxe Canvas Stretching Pliers
...thinking these can keep my digits safe when stapling uphosltery!

Grex Longnose Upholstery Stapler...and it's pretty :)

Wish List

Black & Decker Mouse Detail Sander

Owls Everywhere!

I am quite pleased with how this bedding set turned out :o) Made a reversible duvet cover, a pillowcase and 2 throw pillows (with girly pom-pom trim) for the sweet sweet teenage daughter of my dear friend. Hoping to get some close ups of the project, but until then, here's a pic of the cutie they were made for!






And I HAVE to show off this cake her mom made! An owl themed party must have an owl cake, right? Isn't it adorable?? Michelle used things like Oreos, coconut (or is that white chocolate?) and the little bananas from the Runts candy! LOVE it!!

We Interrupt This Program...

Ugh. Recovering from food poisoning is a slow process. I'm finally back to myself, I mean, it's 11 pm and I'm not completely nodding off. So. I'll be back on board here soon :)

Well, if this isn't art....

Eldest convinced youngest these special stickers would give him superpowers after he took them off. Later I heard J ask N, "um, bruder, can you take off my superpowers now pwease?"

And for future reference, in case it comes up in your house, foam stickers are not made for skin .

That Blasted Built in Desk

Or should I say, "That Blasted Spot We Pile All Our Junk"? UGH. When we built our home up north, we very much made it a point to NOT have a built in desk in the kitchen, knowing just that would happen. But now we don't have a choice and I was determined to make it functional, not just [another] crap-pile.

I put some cork squares on the backsplash to cover their ugliness until we can afford to switch it up. It had to be cut out around the outlet and phone jack, but it works. I used a basket from when the boys were babies to hold folders with tabs, one for each of us, and our family calendar, whatever else. So once school starts, the kids can empty their things into their folder and we know where to look! YAY! No more morning-of-the-field-trip looking for the list of what they're supposed to bring! (Um, I mean, that has never happened here...)

I had this cool glass dry erase board I was originally hoping to use on our backsplash, but drilling through tile to attach it is beyond my capabilities. So now it is on the desk surface to help hide our vomit colored countertop (I say that affectionately). And I can slide art, notices or a calendar under there to keep handy. It also has these cool clips on the sides to clip whatever to the front! So fun. (Yes, that is a Twilight calendar under the glass. I'm one of "them". I just like to look at Kellan Lutz. But I did open it to July so it has the appearance of functionality. hehe)

In the drawer we have our phone lists and grocery list I was able to customize at

www.vertex42.com/ExcelTemplates/grocery-list.html

As well as stamps, all those sticky notes and so on. Hidden. In a drawer. So we will see if we can keep it under control. Steven was very impressed and happy to see me attempting to organize and make our home functional, not just pretty.

A Little Squirrely

Happened upon this little guy lounging on our deck... Even when the boys rumbled down the steps and smacked their little faces up against the windows, he was content to just lay there...

Here he is looking for his friend...

There he is, down by the grill. Hmmm...looks like the deck could us some attention...

Kitchen Table: Part1

Ok, so I'm a Craigslist junkie. We had this big rectangle table in our kitchen with country-style chairs. They were dark brown wood, as our cabinets are: it was too much dark for me. Plus I felt like we were always bumping into the corners of the table jutting into our walkways. So I got this great table on craigslist, decided last minute the chairs would work, and found a glass top the same size that would finish off the look.

Just need a little spraypaint (for the base to match our current barstools), some sandpaper, black paint, some hand mixed color and a template for the tabletop design (searched those wall lettering sites where you peel and stick designs onto your wall, found some swirls I liked and drew it onto the painted top. Filled in with paint.)

Here's the before picture:

This is what the table painted looks like, I love it but the surface is rough, it was a strange almost sticky surface I had to work with. The glass top will be just the right touch.

Here is the finished table top. I took more templates from some random site, drew the designs I liked onto huge sheets of paper, cut them out and blue-taped them to the back of the glass. Then I used frosted spraypaint so you could see the black tabletop through the swirly pattern. Love it!

Wait a minute, did the table guy guestimate the diameter of his table instead of actally measuring it for me?! Yep, NOT 48" like the glass is....like. he. said. It is only 42" Grrr.

I thought they felt different when I would break my back moving them! So much for my perfect plan. Well, it looks ok I guess, but I will soon find out it is not quite going to work....stay tuned for part 2...and 3....

Scrapbook Cards

I saw an article in a scrapbooking magazine about some great layouts for hand made cards and was inspired. This was the resulting frenzy one afternoon. It was quite fun and the kids were only mildly neglected.