Scripture Word Challenge: HOME

Home... one's place of residence.  A familiar or usual setting.  The social unit formed by a family living together.  A safe place. 

How lovely is your dwelling place,

O Lord Almighty!

My soul yearns, even faints,

for the courts of the Lord;

My heart and flesh cry out

for the Living God.

Even the sparrow has found a HOME,

and the swallow a nest for herself,

where she may have her young,

a place near your altar,

O Lord Almighty, my King and my God.

Blessed are those who dwell

in your HOUSE;

they are ever praising You.

Psalm 84:1-4

This is the scripture that immediately came to my mind for this challenge... and this picture.  It's from a VERY fun day my family spent at Coquina Beach.  My sister and her daughter were visiting, my parents went with us, the sunset was AMAZING... I sat on the beach snapping pictures of my husband playing ball with our son.  I was COMPLETELY overwhelmed with God.  What better picture of HIM, than watching a father play with his child?  Instructing, guiding, laughing, encouraging, cheering, enjoying... This is the picture I have of Heaven.  God enjoying His children.  I love the fact that this picture also has a sand CASTLE in it, which reminds me that God is our KING.... and also has a vast amount of the sky, and shimmering water, which makes me think of the "Glassy Sea" from Revelation 4. 

Christmas. For real.

Can you believe I have ALREADY made a Christmas project, and it's only FEBRUARY?!?!  And no, it's not a Left Over that I wanted to make for LAST Christmas.  My sister, Tracy, came to visit a couple of weekends ago, and brought a fun project for us to make.  First, let me say, I'M SHOCKED that we actually did it!!!  We usually get too busy talking and drinking coffee to remember to do everything we planned.  But, I digress...

She saw these on someone's blog (she's a complete stalker) and ordered them for us from the Scribble It company.  (http://www.scribbleitonline.com/) Super fun, and EASY, and probably most importantly, QUICK.  Your order comes with 2 plain wood blocks, and a plain wood plank (for the base)... and enough decorative paper squares and white vinyl numbers and words to adhere to the sides of the blocks.   We painted the blocks with red paint, which I "distressed" with a brown inkpad.  Used super strong double sided tape to hold it all on the block.  Bang.  Done. 

If only it were DECEMBER, I wouldn't have to put it away....

Scripture Word Challenge: ABIDE

Abide... amazingly enough, this word is NOT in the NIV version of the Bible that I normally use ~ so I used http://www.biblegateway.com/ to find other versions, where "Abide" IS used!  I find the definition of the words from Merriam-Webster dictionary online, and this word had about 6 variations... I went with "to continue in a place"... although, "to remain stable or fixed in a state" was working for me, too! 

Anyways, when I was searching out verses, the first one I read was Psalm 91:1, and I couldn't stop thinking about our summer vacation, and our trip to Mount Rainier National Park... I stood in the shadow of that mountain and had a moment where I was just overwhelmed by God.  It was really impressed on me when we were surrounded by all those mountains on vacation (we're from FLORIDA - flat) that this is the "picture" of God that I have in my head.  Unmovable... Majestic... BIG... awe-inspiring.  In the NIV, this verse goes like this:

HE who dwells in the shelter

of the Most High

will REST in the shadow

of the Almighty.

And I'm really liking that word for "abide", too.  This is what I NEED to do... rest in Him, continue in a place with Him... in the shadow of Him. 

So, the picture is (obviously!) from our trek up Mount Rainier...  it's in the SHADOW of Mt. Rainier... it is actually La Grande Dam, just outside the National Park.  We pulled over to take pictures because the view was so amazing.  This could be why it took us so long to go through that park... we kept stopping to take pictures.  And be amazed.  And AMAZED we were...

Content

My sister, Tracy, told me a few weeks ago her "Word" for the year is CONTENT.  She also mentioned that she wasn't too thrilled that it was her word... you know how when you ask God to show you what you need to work on and then He does, and you start working on it.... it isn't so easy?  (note to self: NEVER pray for patience.  Just saying.)  When I got my "Graphically Speaking" Cricut cartridge and saw her jumbled up word, I knew exactly what I wanted to make her for her birthday! 

A word about "Content":
    So, I was hunting around for a verse to put in the frame.  I knew this verse since I was little (Philippians 4:11 "... for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.") but never realized that it came 2 verses before my favorite-since-November verse.  Kind of made me smile, you know?  ANYWAYS, I had to add in "I can do all things through Christ" on there when I payed attention to what verse 12 says:

I have learned the secret of being content

in any and every situation...

then verse 13 comes in with "I can do all things through CHRIST who strengthens me".  Love it.

I loved making this for her, it was fun, but also really good for me to figure all that out.

I cut out the "Content" word using the Cricut my sister, Laurie, gave me for Christmas and my Bday (LOVE IT, thanks, Laurie!).  I cut it out 6 times on SU! Kraft cardstock, then one more time on patterned paper (K&Company, Urban Rhapsody).  I glued it all together (layer by layer) so it would be like chipboard.  I touched it up randomly around the edges and top with Bravo Burgundy craft ink (SU!) then embossed with clear glittery embossing powder.  Same deal for the verse, but using nestabilities Label One, and printed the verse on the computer onto the same paper (K&C). The patterned paper on the side is Basic Grey, 6x6 lemonade paper pad that my mother-in-law gave me for Christmas (also, LOVE IT!!!).   I got the frame at Marshalls... and it's official!  I like making "art" :)

Happy Birthday Tracy!  So happy you were here this weekend to celebrate with your Birthday Buddy, Ben... and Ryan wanted me to remind you that you said if Ben was born on your birthday, we never had to give you another birthday present... so, I want the frame back!  You have my address.

Gift Sets

Here are a few gift sets... Cards and post it holders.

Paper:  K&Company, SU (cardstock)
Stamps: TAC

Scripture Word Challenge: TEMPTATION

Hard to say if it's the little gleam in her eye, or the mischevious smile.. this picture seemed pretty appropriate for the word challenge.  This picture of my daughter was taken 2 years ago, and just seconds before that snowball hit ME!  I think her face says it all: most days I GLEEFULLY prance towards temptation with little thought of consequences.

I have to be honest... I wasn't crazy about thinking about this word.  I'd rather ignore the fact that it's a problem for me.  LOVED these verses the most:

For we do not have a high priest

who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses,

but we have one who has been tempted in every way,

just as we are, yet was without sin.

Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence,

so that we may receive mercy and find grace

to help us in our time of need.

Hebrews 4:15,16

Even though the actual words are not on my image, I love the aspect that Christ gets what we are going through, by experience.  His experience.  I wanted to focus on these 2 parts of these verses:

1. we have a high priest who can sympathize,

2. what to do about tempation... go to God (with confidence!) for help!

Might not have loved the word, but taking the time to search and think about God's word really made a difference to me in the past couple of days, and I really am thankful for this challenge... it's been good for me:)

New Challenges for 2010

I have come across a Challenge on another blog that I have decided to "Play along" with this year... it seemed like a great resolution, and "spoke" to me.  If you have read our family blog, then you know that I love to make new blog headers, especially with bible verses on them that are "speaking" to me at the time.  When my niece introduced me to http://www.picnik.com/, I'm sure she had NO IDEA the monster she was creating! 

Anyways, the challenge can be found by following this link HERE and you can see Patter's first entry, as well, HERE.  For me personally, it was GREAT to look for verses and spend some time thinking about what it REALLY meant to me. 

I decided to NOT make scrapbook pages of the word (my family has heard enough about my issues with scrapbooking lately!) or a card!  But a digital image that I can get printed and put wherever.. I am thinking they will make great magnets for my refrigerator! 

Oh!  and this is no random photo, either! (shocking, I'm sure!) I'm not sure they will ALWAYS be this appropriate, but this picture was taken last week while we were in Michigan.  It's my mailbox where I used to send letters to Ryan every day when he was home on summer break.  The mailbox where HE sent out letters to me everyday (those were Pre-Email days!)  A box filled with HOPE.  I knew there would be letters.  My mailman in Massachusetts KNEW there would be letters.  In fact, he always KNEW when Ryan was actually visiting because there were NO letters!

Ok, that's Jack. The mailman. That picture is from our summer vacation 2007, when Ryan and I drove by my old house (keep in mind my parents hadn't lived there for over 5 years at the time!) in Southbridge, Massachusetts.  I couldn't believe he was out delivering mail still!  (yes, I had just gotten finished telling Ryan how much I REALLY wanted to see Jack!) He said he was retiring in 3 months and seeing us again made his day!  Hope. 

If you aren't inspired to take on this challenge, I HOPE you will at least be inspired to take a minute to think about what YOU are hoping for today.