Photography Challenge Week 2

Texture

Photography Challenge Week 1

I've started a photography weekly challenge along with my husband and several friends. The goal is to post one new photo each week highlighting the theme of the week. This week's focus was macro.

A Sneak Peak...

Okay, so I have decided to work on a Bible quiet book for my kids. As I started collecting ideas and templates, I discovered that most of the Bible quiet books came from blogs by Mormons. Some of their pages were great, but others were based on stories that aren't in the Bible, so I assume they come from some of their other writings. Obviously, those were not of interest to me. Thus I determined several things:
1. I was going to have to make my own templates for quite a few pages that I'd like to do.
2. I wanted to share my templates and final outcomes online for other evangelical Christians who are wanting to make quiet books for their children.

I am waiting to get a sewing machine to get started on this project, but in the meantime, I am continuing to collect ideas and create my templates.
Here is the tentative plan for my book:
1. Joseph's coat of many colors
2. Baby Moses in basket on river
3. Peter's fishing boat
4. Nativity scene
5. Cross, tomb, and resurrection of Jesus
6. Jonah and fish
7. Armor of God
8. Noah's ark
9. Ruth harvesting in field
10. Rahab hiding spies on rooftop
11. Woman at the well with Jesus

I am using Bible coloring pages found online to get me started on most of the templates as I am not an artist. Give me time as I will be working on this project for quite a while (remember I have 3 young children!), but I am excited to work on this project and will look forward to sharing with you the results.

Lent: A Time for Repentance

A friend of mine posted the following link on Facebook: 40 Things to Give Up for Lent. I was reminded as I read over the list that the Lenten season is one for repentance. One may argue that we need to be living a life of repentance all day, every day of the year. Which is true. But, it doesn't negate the necessity at times of going a little deeper, pausing to reflect and allow the Holy Spirit to do some extra "cleaning" in our lives. I generally keep my house clean and I have a weekly cleaning spree. However, my house definitely benefits from a deep spring cleaning at least once a year. How much more my spiritual life?

I was challenged as I read over the list from the link above and I will be prayerfully reading over this list again in the coming days. I pray that the Holy Spirit will continue the work of opening my eyes to the sin in my life and enabling me to conquer it through the blood of Jesus, my Savior. I hope you have a blessed Lent!

Meeting Needs

Mark 6:30-34 tells the story of Jesus continuing to give and give to the mass of people that desperately needed Him, disregarding His own weariness. He is a beautiful example for me to emulate. As a mother of three little ones, sometimes I feel so exhausted by the end of the day after meeting needs all day long. I feel annoyed if one of them needs me for something after I've tucked them into bed.

Reading this passage, the Holy Spirit convicts me of my own selfishness, wanting some down time, time to myself, instead of giving the love and attention my children need from me. My little ones are God's precious gifts to me, and while it's not sinful to feel tired, it reveals a problem in my heart when I become angry at having to answer another call from the kids' bedroom. I am grateful that at such moments, I can call upon my Lord to fill me with new strength for the task at hand, knowing that He, too, felt weary at times and that He offers me grace sufficient to respond correctly to every situation. I'll try to remember this lesson next time my babies ask yet again for something when I feel less than able to meet the request. After all, He, my good Father, has never turned me down when I have been needy before Him.

Welcome to my blog

I should rather welcome myself to the blogging world. I am excited and hopeful that I will be able to share some great ideas with you along the way. I haven't made much time for writing recently, although I did quite a lot of it during my single years. My hope is that keeping this blog will help me hone my skills but also be a creative outlet and mental exercise for me. I have many interests from homeschooling, to natural skincare products, to cooking simple, yummy foods and so much more. Stay tuned for many posts to come on an abundance of topics!