Funnies from a 15 yr old

On a random note to list the thing that automatic comes to mind upon reading a word:

Sex - six - Latin word for "six"

One Night Stand - "One Night Sit"

Marriage - "forever"

College - "hockey"

Divorce - "terrible"

Pajamas - "hallelujah!"


That's my girl!

PolkaDot Alley Give-away

Check out the cute products on PolkaDot Alley. They are having a give-way that I read about on I Heart Faces. Here is the link button:




Good luck, but I get to win, ok?

Oh, and here is the I Heart Faces Link Button, too!

Constructive Feedback Friday at I Heart Faces

This is a picture of my niece when my db & family met my dd in FL over Spring Break. She's a cutie, don't you think? I think the photo is a little dark and washed out. I have Photoshop CS2, but I'm just starting out and don't know much about using it. I also have i-photo, which is what I use most of the time. So I'd appreciate any help or advice for brightening this one up & making it more eye-catching. I'd also love to do some sort of framing around it, but I don't really know how to do that.

"A Changing of the Guard" by Nancy Leigh DeMoss

I read two posts yesterday about death and the changing of the guard that were really meaningful to me This one touched me quite a bit as I think about the loss of Jerry at Sunrise. It is a good read.

"A Changing of the Guard" by Nancy Leigh DeMoss
http://bit.ly/rvP4e

Try Something New!

"Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that amateurs built the Ark. Professionals built the Titanic." Dave Barry

Gratitude Questions

I read an article today that talked about how gratitude can improve your health. The article can be found here: Gratitude Improves Your Health. It recommended three questions that you could answer each day to help focus on gratitude in your life. Here are the questions.

* "What has surprised me?"

* "What has touched me?"

* "What has inspired me?"

I am going to give it a shot this week and see if I don't feel better. Today - March 23, 2009:

* "What has surprised me?" Birds singing.

* "What has touched me?" My husband fixing our dripping dryer vents last night

* "What has inspired me?" A post at Christus Gratiam Dat. - "Hotflashes: The Refiner's Fire?", written by a new Twitter friend.

Chinese Fashion Show

I Heart Faces "Green" - Kids Category

Jess in the Chinese Fashion Show Modeling a kimono from the 12th century. It was beautiful and so was she.

I Heart Faces - Green - Adult Category

Father & Daughter - I love this picture of these two. The theme this week is "Green" in celebration of St. Patrick's Day. Hop on over to IheartFaces to check out the contest.

Intriguing Article: Why I Don't Go to Church Anymore

I read this article today on Heart of Wisdom blog. It is written by the author of the book by the same title. The basic premise is that WE are the church, not the brick and mortar building or the "institution" or the "organiztion". I have felt many of the same feelings of lack of authentic fellowship or meaningful connections with other believers. This has been the topic of several conversations I've had this week, so it seems sort of "fortuitous" that I happened on this article. If you have ever been disillusioned with organized church, you might find encouragement by reading this article.

http://heartofwisdom.com/blog/why-i-dont-go-to-church-anymore/

Photos from the Lake

SUNSET ON LONG LAKE (a small inland lake just south of the Straits of Mackinac)


ROUND ISLAND LIGHT - MACKINAC ISLAND

MACKINAW BRIDGE IN WINTER

FEZZIK & J ON THE BOAT


TOWING J BEHIND PANACEA

A Woman Inspired - Online Conference

If you go to the link at Life with My 3 Boybarians, you might win a free pass to the conference. All you have to do to win is post a comment and she will choose a winner. Check it out.

http://www.lifewithmy3boybarians.com/2009/03/woman-inspired-give-away.html



Here are a few details about the conference:

What do the following women have in common?

Lysa TerKeurst from Proverbs 31 Ministries
Darlene Schacht from Christian Women Online Magazine
Janice Croze from Five Minutes for Mom
Allison Worthington from Blissfully Domestic
Melissa Michaels from The Inspired Room
Tsh Oxenreider form Simple Mom.net
Lisa McKay from The Preacher's Wife
Marybeth Whalen from Cheaper by the Dozen
Amy Bayliss from In Pursuit of Proverbs 31
Sheila Wray Gregoire from To Love, Honor and Vacuum
Shelly Ballestero from Beauty By God
Alllison Bottke from Boomer Babes Rock
Cindy Beal from Cindy Beall.com
Natalie Witcher from Stiletto Army
Ginger Moore from Speaking Thru Me Ministries
Lynn Donovan from Spiritually Unequal Marriage

Brought to you by the same women who bring us Heart of the Matter Online, A Woman Inspired Conference is an opportunity for those of us who want the benefit of a conference without leaving home.

4 days of topics.
Lots of door prizes.
And all those amazing women on that list will be presenting.

You can learn more at the conference site - http://www.awomaninspiredconference.org/

I Heart Faces Creative Crop: Little Boy Blue

AFTER





















BEFORE PHOTO

I Heart Faces Creative Crop: My BFF and Smores

BEFORE



AFTER




Cook-out where we had a big bonfire, lots of friends and messy, messy smores! Our Japanese friends came and got to experience the American way of eating outdoors, bonfires and more. Kego just loved being outside and running too and fro in the twilight. The hotdogs cooked on a stick over the fire were big hits all around.

Another Give-Away at Ten Two Studios - St. Pat's Day

http://countdown.tentwostudios.com

Hop on over to Ten Two Studios for Lisa Vollrath's wonderful holiday countdown giveaways from now until St. Patrick's Day. She is so generous with her free downloads. She will be adding new posts each day.

LOVE & Jerry

"Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" Matthew 22:37-39

This Bible verse has been coming up in my life over and over again since Jerry died. Most of us that knew him agreed that his life beautifully illustrated these verses in the way he lived his daily life. Not that he was perfect, but he really did this well. He loved his Lord first of all, then his wife and his boys and then his fellow man. He invested so much into those people around him and never seemed to get too flustered by the humanness of it all and by the chaos and pain that was involved in working with people. His example was so encouraging to us all. And now that he is gone, many of us are attempting to take up the torch and live more like Jerry did.

It seems sort of interesting to me how often these verses keeps coming up. It was in the One Year Bible Blog Daily Bible study today. Thew were the theme verses for the ladies retreat that K and I went to last weekend. I've heard it on the radio, read it in books, heard it in sermons......So do you think the Lord might be trying to tell me something? I believe I need to listen closely and meditate on these verses daily. It is often difficult to love the unlovely! I do pretty well on my friends and family - it is the other people out there that I come in contact with that challenge me daily. I pray that I can be more intentional about this as I go through my daily life.

Black and White Childrens Photo Contest at i heart faces

Black & White Photo Challenge at i heart faces

This is a pic of my dd "geeping" around at a gathering of dear friends. I entered this into the i heart faces b&w photo contest that I discovered while checking out the Pages of our Life blog at this link:
http://www.pagesofourlife.com/. So I checked out the i heart faces website and thought it was pretty cool - lots of things you can learn about photography . I've been trying to take better photographs and I'm thinking that this website can help me. There looks like there are some great tutorials on the site, plus lots of good photos. If you'd like to learn more, just click on the link below.

Forty Trash Bag Challenge for Lent

I am a member of the Yahoo group for Flylady and also of Flylady.com and today in our email updates there was a note from a lady about decluttering for Lent. It really resonated with me as to what I need to do to help myself be less stressed and bogged down. I always think of giving up food for lent, but this made more sense to me for this year. Clutter really weighs you down mentally, emotionally and tends to make you tired just looking at all you have to do. I thought this was a good way to tackle some of the clutter and bless others at the same time. Below is the letter that was enclosed that describes the process. Anyone want to join me?

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FlyLadyMentors/message/55811

Dear FlyLady,

I picked up this handout at church recently: The Forty Trash Bag
Challenge. It looked like a great idea, and it fit right in with the
Decluttering for Lent email I just got in my inbox. Here is the Forty
Trash Bag Challenge:

Every day during Lent this year, empty one bag of 'stuff' that is no
longer needed from your house, totaling a loss of forty bags of stuff!

1.) Taking a look at the size of your family and household, with an
acknowledgement of how much 'stuff' is present, make a prudential
choice on the size of bag to be employed during this challenge. Bag
size should be small enough that the goal of 40 bags during the season
of Lent is able to be accomplished, while not being too big that you
are left with nothing. We must still live in the world, after all!

2.) If smaller children are a part of your family, a 'gauge' may be
helpful to keep them engaged and help them keep track of progress. As
part of your preparations, make a 'paper chain' of forty numbered
links. As each new bag is started, place a new link in the bottom of
the bag. This way, as the chain gets smaller, there is a greater sense
of accomplishment.

3.) This challenge necessarily involves sacrifice. Each member of the
family should be encouraged to give something to each bag, or there
could be designated bags for each member of the family.

4.) Instead of just throwing things away, recycling is a great way to
encourage good stewardship of the gifts we have been given, as it
symbolizes that we are passing along our gifts to others. Families
with children are encouraged to pass along clothes that no longer fit
or toys that sit dormant in a closet to families in need instead of
just throwing them away.

5.) Units of count need not necessarily be trash bags, either; however
they should be equivalent. For example, a box of gently used toys or
clothes could equate one bag off the chain. A stack of books donated
to the parish library is another easy equivalent.

As the family accepts this challenge together, bonds will be created
that will last a lifetime. Lessons are also learned not just by
saying, but by putting it into practice. Here, the simple lesson will
last throughout life that having fewer things can lead to a greater
contentment in life.

(Credit due to the Archdiocese of Cincinnati for this handout on
vocations and family faith formation)

Women's Retreat

I was able to take my dd to a retreat for women this weekend. It turned out to be an awesome and inspiring time There were missionaries there from SE Asia and we met and networked with lots of neat ladies from around our state and the US. One of the first things that happened was that me dd met another young woman who is interested in missions. It was interesting how much they had in common and it turns out that they only live about 25 miles away from each other. They are already talking about her new friend going with her to Mexico this summer. It is really amazing how God works.