a Sunday Blessing

Biblically speaking the making of art

is not an option but a command.

Harold Best

God is an artist and he is beautiful. He has woven his image into the fabric of our lives, which explains our drive to create things which are beyond us and which we don't always understand. Perhaps more important, he has issued a call to us that carries with it the possibility of obedience or disobedience: the call to respond to his beauty with creative worship. God calls us to create a space in time for ourselves and others to meet with God, to gaze upon his beauty and to worship him.

Michael Card

cards and painting for sale on etsy today!

I have the hardest time sitting myself down

and promoting myself...

It takes so long to put each item up for sale on etsy,

to reformat each photo to the correct pixels,

and to be oh so clever in the description.

So my dearest husband made me

this delicious concoction.

You know how much I like cappuccinos.

Yum, slurp.

I think I can, I think I can,

so here we go...

This painting is for sale here...

and this set of 4 cards here...

and this set here also.

Oh by the way -

all proceeds from this set of cards

goes to this wonderful organization

called Mercy Walk.

Check them out.

I think you get the idea.

Wouldn't it be great to buy the set of 4 cards,

frame one for your own enjoyment,

(I just slipped them in an inexpensive frame with mat

from Michael's)

and give the other 3 to your favorite friends?

They are waiting for you...

such a deal at $3 per card

made from an original painting

or photo by me...hee hee!

Cloud turns 21...

My "most favorite younger son"

- he used to call me

"the best mom I ever had"

so now we are even -

turns 21 today.

He loves clouds and was even called 'Cloud'

when he worked at camp last summer.

He also joined the "Cloud Appreciation Society"

and has a certificate to prove it.

And finally, one of his favorite bands is "Cloud Cult"....

So happy birthday Nicholas!

We love you lots!!!!!

Here are some photos that take you from a wee tot

to the fine young man you are today.

Let us begin.

exploring...

exploring some more

and getting stuck...

looking oh so sweet...

arrgghh!!!

sort of...

posing with Creampuff...

selling sea shells by the sea shore...

made quite a killing too with his bear

holding his homemade sign.

Harry fever...

no fear of birds...

many hair styles and colors...

and braces...

and friends at sleepovers...

and growing into a man...

We love you Mr. Nick!

our winter projects are done

We finished our penguins today

by adding globs of glittered glue

and cut out snowflakes.

Just love them!!!

I blogged about how to make a snow globe

on December 30

and here are the kids' snow globes.

This one turned into...

this...

and this one transformed into...

this winter wonderland.

We are moving onto spring next

in hopes that winter is nearing an end...ha!

a Sunday Blessing

You are the salt of the earth.

Mt 5:13

finally finished!

I love this verse.

Hopefully I can be salty in my everyday, ordinary comings and goings of life.

To be 'salt' does not mean that one needs to do extraordinary things,

but that one is open and available to see

daily opportunities

where a little salt could change the world.

guard dog...

my guard dog would literally guard these cheetos

(please no lectures - they called out to me at the market

today and needed a good home)

until the end of time...

I forgot to put them away and an hour later

she was still in vigil mode...

sorry girl -

I would hate to be cursed with your nose.

an exciting package arrived...

the other day I received the

most wonderful

package in the mail...

the purchase was wrapped in a

magazine page

so of course I had to study that first

(and I literally screamed at my poor husband

when he came home and thought

it was trash

to be disposed of...)

and the wonderful hand-stitched cards

were accompanied by other postcards...

and a wallpaper band stitched with care...

so all in all I just studied the

whole presentation...

and felt like a little kid at christmas...

absolutely scrumptous...

and she even lives in the same town as me

-such a small world!

please visit her blog and etsy shop...

she will give your day a good smile..

I always laugh when I spend time

on her site

and my husband asks me what I am chuckling at -

"oh just visiting dottie angel (aka Tif) and used dog and little olive again

I say"

try it, you will like it...