A Time for Every Purpose...

What a wonderful weekend that I've enjoyed. It's been one of the best and most relaxing and productive weekends that I've had in such a long time, that I am in awe of the Lord for allowing me to have it for all 3 days. My husband and I were able to work on the backyard for 2 of the 3 days and get rid of a ton of stuff; even stuff that he thought I was unwilling to get rid of. We made such a huge dent in clearing, cleaning, and ridding the backyard of excess stuff - we were able to enjoy our backyard again with a fire in the firepit And watch game 3 of the NCLS West, all while lounging in the backyard. We are by no means done, but man oh man, it's such a HUGE difference. The Bible says "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven. He hath made every thing beautiful in his time;" (Eccl. 3:1,11).
        When I started this weekend, I did not envision getting as much done as we did. My husband and I were also able to spend some real fun couple time, by doing a dump run and me going to work with him the last 3 days, as our little one was in school. I can't believe how much spending time alone really brought us together, as a husband and wife. God is so good!!
         I didn't spend any time crafting or scrapbooking and I usually feel incredibly guilty because I haven't spent any crafty me time, but man.. nothing that happened this weekend made me feel even remotely guilty. I do admit, that I do not want to go to work tomorrow, although I'm extremely thankful I have a job, I just don't want the feeling of completeness and comfort that I've enjoyed this weekend to end. However, the Bible says that I am complete in Him, this is the ONLY way to experience completeness ..."And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:" (Col. 2:10).
         So much has happened this weekend, my babygirl lost her first tooth... Oh my where is the time going; she no longer wants to sleep with us at night - this is something we finally gave upon on after 5 yrs, and even my big boy (19yrs) is showing more concern for things around him and doing random acts of kindness, just because he thought of them. I also received a huge box of crafty goodness, from a sweet sister in Christ, that I only know through her blog.
        God just loves us in such a huge way that I just cannot even attempt to wrap my head around it. I know God abundantly blesses us, yet I am always astounded when He delivers more than I can ever think about. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." (James 1:17). Thank you Lord for all that you do for me and mine, even when I amd way to selfish and self absorbed to acknowledge or even consider what you do. I love you Lord.

Unconventional Birthday Bash!

Happy Belated Birthday to me!! I spent yesterday doing something completely opposite of what is considered common practice on one's birthday... I spent it in service to my family. This verse is a perfect picture of my day: Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Phil 2:3 First, I spent the day cleaning my house and working on a few projects to streamline our daily life, as it gets hectic with a young adult and a very rambunctious 5yr old. Then after picking up my little one from school, we headed over to the In-laws house. Where I spent the next 7 hrs cleaning and de-cluttering their house. My poor MIL was so clearly overwhelmed and really felt awkward accepting help, as she is generally the one doing for others, but I know she has been struggling with getting her house in order and I just wanted to help while I could. As the hours flew by, it was more fun than it was work and I think she actually enjoyed having someone there to help encourage her in this process, instead of telling her to "just get rid of it." Bear ye one another's burden, and so fulfil the law of Christ. Gal 6:2 Being able to help her, I think took a tremendous load off her shoulders and gave her a HUGE sense of accomplisment...We still have 2 more rooms to finish today and then all she really has left is the last 2 bedrooms and the garage....should be eazy peezy!! I think my day spent in service to my family did more for me than for them. Thank you Lord for reminding me that I need to remember that I should be in service to my family - first, because how can I help and minister to others, if the ones that need me most are left without the love and assistance they need most. And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works Heb 10:24

God has a sense of humor!

God has a wonderful sense of humor...all the time!! Me - not so much...like right now!! I've been allowing life situations to take over and discourage and overwhelm me. I started a new business... CTMH - Independent Consultant, started a blog, got product and immediately got overwhelmed and discouraged by all my current responsibilities and obvious shortcomings. Long story short, I neglected both blogs, neglected anything even remotely creative, and instead focused on "being a martyr to my responsibilities." Well, the Lord showed me this was not healthy for myself and my family. I was recently diagnosed with RA and Fibromyalgia and allowed these health conditions, along with my hectic work schedule, and very large family responsibilities to more than discourage me. Sooo, after much prayer, I decided to take my life back and to live the way the Lord created me to be ...I'm MORE than a conqueror -Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. Romans 8:37. Anyway, so as I've tried to rev my motor, I logged into my other blog to finally tweak, post, etc. I CAN'T!!! my blog is inaccessible due to a Global Blogger Issue. Apparently this issue has been ongoing for at least 2 weeks. God is LOL'ing!!! Thank you Lord!! So, I'm left with: Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Amen!! Dear Heavenly Father, help me to remember today that even though I wanted to accomplish certain tasks - You ultimately know what I need to accomplish and that it does not always correspond to what You had in mind. I'm thankful for your loving kindnesses and that no matter how much I strive and struggle, it is You that gives the increase. ...So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God giveth the increase (1Cor. 3:17). Amen.

Abundance of Things

So.. after having my AP cart for the last 2 weeks, I've finally taken it out and played with it - thanks to my very inquisitive 4yr daughter. She opened up the book and oohh'd and aawww'd over every single image she saw. It was refreshing seeing her reaction to something that I had already taken for granted in less than 2 weeks...Yikes!! She selected multiple key and butterfly images and was just so thrilled to have them all ready to paste to a piece of paper for her next project. I really love creating with her. I sometimes forget how much fun creating just to create can be. No trying out the newest trend, latest fad, or next big tool or technique... just creating for the fun of it. She reminded me that: "...take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of things which he possesseth." Luke 12:15 Thank you Lord, for reminding us of your Word, by lessons taught in seemingly obscure ways. Hopefully, I will post a few pics of something made today. Abiding in Him, Tiff

Slice of My Chaos

Wheeeeewwwww.... I have spent the last 3 hrs tweaking a blog to which I've never posted to.... hahaha. All in a vain attempt to motivate me to feel like Ive actually accomplished something towards my creative goals. Although, I must say the majority of the 3 hrs has been researching code and tweaking html within the template to be aesthetically pleasing to me... Wow... Ive got big brain!! My husband says that whenever I do something, I usually do it big!! Thanks honey. Hopefully in the next few hours I will have actually created something more than eyestrain and will post to both blogs.

Abiding in Him,

Tiff

Wow.. it just occurred to me that its been Well over a month since the last time I posted. Lots been going on here on the homestead. We've all been sick with one type of illness or another, with my poor daughter getting it the worst. Aside from the physical challenges, there is always the too much month at the end of the money, which always makes me feel a bit more guilty about doing anything for myself; including anything creative like Scrapbooking. [SIGH...] So as the Lord has been stretching me in various ways, I've also been praying for the last 6 months whether or not to start a home based business... more as a creative outlet but with some income earning potential. Pleased to say that my husband gave the go ahead and after a ton of research and waiting on the Lord's timing, I am now a Close To My Heart Independent Consultant. Yippee.... and as soon as I received my kit I instantly became overwhelmed... so what do I do now??? I keep plugging along. I started another blog to post all my projects and I am committed more than ever to keep this blog updated as this is my outlet to voice what the Lord is doing in my life. Like, He gave me a New (to me) laptop with a ton of bells and whistles for free to help me in posting to my blog (as I was posting from my Smartphone before and it was a bit tiring).

I know, I know this was a long post, but so much info to share. God is so incredibly good to us that sometimes it is hard... almost unbelievable ...to understand how and why He loves us... but He does and no words can adequately describe the depth and breadth of His love for us.

For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

...That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with the fulness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us....

Ephesians 3:14, 16-20.

Thank you Lord.

Almost in th'groove...Almost!!!

Yaay ...this weekend was definitely a welcome change of pace for me! I was able to get quite a few things accomplished around the house And still find a few moments to finish one project and get halfway through 2 more!!! I still have to finish a thank you gift for a sweet sister in Christ who always encourages me (will post pics when its complete) and I started a 2page LO of Boogz from October 2009...ya Im behind (waaaaay behind)!! But I felt a bit of that creativity groove coming back...almost coming back! So hopefully I will be able to finish the gift and finish this LO on my next weekend. Very excited for what the Lord allowed me to accomplish...I pray that I will continue to follow His leadings and be a wise steward of the time He blesses me with. It may not be a full day of scrapping...but its still what He blesses me with!! Thank you Lord.
Abiding in Him,
Tiff

Preschool Valentines...oh my!

Well..its taken me awhile to narrow down and finally configure a preschool friendly valentine to make for my daughters class. It was an unbelievablely difficult process because everything I wanted to do to be different ending up being difficult and costly to pull off for 17 preschoolers. So after scouring my Cricut cartridges, I came up with a cute, simple and budget friendly design. My daughter was super excited to help build the valentine; after I set up the Cricut to cut out the shape, then all we had left to do was glue the pieces, tie the ribbons and paint the clothespins that hold the goodies on the back of the "card." Epic win for the Mommy & daughter design team!! I pray they will have blast tomorrow!!

My Gideon's Fleece

Recently I've been praying wether or not I should restart this blog. Let me say that I am so like Gideon, in that I want to always test God's answers by putting out my fleece and then change up the guidelines just so I can make sure that I understand what God really wants me to do. Well a lovely lady whose blog I've been recently following found my blog and left some very encouraging words for me. God used her as an answer to my prayer...she was my fleece. I pray that I continue to seek the Lord when I lack wisdom knowing He will answer me because He delights in providing for His children (James 1:5). Thank you Lord.
On a side note, I hope to finish at least one of the projects on my work table so that I can post pics. Until then...

Abiding in Him,
Tiff
Gal. 6:17