Blessing for your Birthdays

I actually made this card last year but thought today would be a great day to post it. Today is my granddaughter's birthday, and it would have been my mom's 78th birthday. Happy birthday, Sweetie! I miss you, Mom. That particular granddaughter and her great grandmother were very close and I know she still thinks about her. Tomorrow is my son~in~love's birthday, 30 years young he will be! And last but not least, Thursday is my dear friend Kim's birthday. Happy Birthday, Kim!!  I love all of you!

Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. Whenever I pray, I make my requests for all of you with joy...,   and I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. Philippians 1:3-4a, 6

Random cards I thought I would share.

I don't plan to post cards much, but I have made a few in the last year I thought I would put on here.

You have seen a version of this one before. My friend Kim made one like this for my birthday and I posted it last April. Okay, she did not make one like this one, I designed this card off of her beautiful card. It was fun to make, one of my favorites.

This card was also so much fun to make. I felt like I was playing, sort of how I loved coloring as a kid.

This little poem came to me in an instant. I had started this card but was not even thinking about it when this popped in my head. It is a bit of a spin off of a nursery rhyme that one of the recepients of this card loved when she was a little girl.

This card was so much fun. One of my favorite color combinations and so Sweet!

Sometimes you just have to stop and say a simple thank you to someone that has shown you love.

A small gift for a dear woman going through a horrible time and would be sending some Thank You cards.

And then a special card just for her went with the Thank You cards.

Just a grace note.

Simple but great message, such sweet words, Bee Happy!

Let your love shine.

When we were in the market to buy a house here we contacted a couple that work as a team. They turned out to be trustworthy people to do business with and completely lovely people to get to know. After going through a few houses together we discovered that we shared something; we all love Scottish Terriers. They had two, Mac and Molly. We often talked about Mac, Molly and Baxter. A while back I got the most heart breaking email from them. They lost their 12 year old Scottie Molly to stomach cancer. I was so sad; that email really broke my heart. Obviously, there was nothing I could do so I pulled out some paper, a stamp, some ribbon my Cuttlebug, new Nestabilities and ink, and made a card. Somehow that always makes me feel as if I have contributed something positive in the life of those grieving.

This is not the first sympathy card I have sent for a Scottie.  In February 2007 a wonderful little Scottie boy named Duncan passed away. He belonged to two of our friends in Shawnee, Kansas. this is the card I made for them.

I realize that I am talking about fur family and not traditional family, but the loss of someone we love is painful. The absence of a loved one leaves a really big hole in our heart, one that can never be replaced because everyone, including our furry friends, are unique, irreplaceable. I could go into a little talk here about how God meets all of our needs, and He does. I could talk about how He mends the broken hearted, and He does. I could talk about putting our trust in Him, and better advice is not to be found. I could mention how much He loves us and His love and mercy endure forever, and He does and it does. But what I want to say right here, right now is don't take those you love for granted. Show them you love them and make sure they know it. Don't squabble over little things that when they become strife can open the door for all sorts of nastiness and evil. Give love freely and unconditionally. Never let those you love have to wonder whether you love them or not, give them the gift of confidence in your unconditional agape love (the kind of love God has) for them.

Cookies, cards, family and friendship.

Thank you, Kim. You are a good friend and a generous one!

Those items in the picture above are gifts my dear friend Kim gave me for my birthday in September 2009. I feel awful because I am just now posting them. They are all from her heart. The Nestabilities are the only ones I own and I love them. The pad comes with them and the stamps are so beautiful, she knew I would love those. I have never seen All Creatures Great and; Small, until she sent the DVD's to me. What wonderful tales of veterinary medicine and animals in York! The card. Kim has made some very amazing cards over the years. This is my favorite. I is the most beautiful card. My favorite colors, vellum and baking too! I have it displayed in my spare bedroom with other cards she has sent me. Thank you, Kim! 


I believe the last time I made a card was July, 2009. That is SO sad! I am redefining my life right now; I am taking it back and making it what I want it to be. Card making may not be the defining point of my life, nor sadly enough it may not be a huge part of my life, but it is most definitely one of the pleasures of life as far as I am concerned. It is therapy at its finest as it provides stress relief, an outlet to create and time of quite and meditation ~ even if I have a DVD popped in. I made a this card that same weekend we tried this church. That is huge. Sad, yeah I know. It was the first card I have made I think since Kim sent me the Nestabilities, I used one of them. They are wonderful! How easy to make that circle now. Did I say, Thank you, Kim??? My daughter had a VERY trying week that week, and that was the easy part. My son~in~law and grandson experienced big time yuck that week. Card and cookie time! It is so hard as a Nana to be so far away when nastiness strikes. So, what does a Nana do? Pray. Pray and pray. Then when you have done that she stands firm on the promises she just prayed over those that need it and then she makes a card, bakes some cookies, and heads to the post office.

Loads of Love!!!!!

And how better to say that than with pink M & M's?

     I can not end this post without saying how happy I am for the Green Bay Packers win this year at SuperBowl XVL! Any of you that followed my blog back when I was faithful to write in it know they are my team.  My husband and one son~in~law are Chicago Bears fans. Another son~in~law is a Washington Redskins fan, and one of my grandson’s is a Minnesota Vikings fan. Christmas this year brought plenty of evidence of that. NFL.com made out quite well with my family this year as you will see in the picture below, and that was not all of it. The amazing thing was that as devoted as we are to our respective teams; the Christmas Spirit was also abundantly evident in how we all gave each other that which meant something to the recipient even though it was a little against our own preferred favorite team. Green Bay did win the SuperBowl and I was proud of them and delighted, but not anywhere as much as I was this past Christmas of my family, when giving from the heart is always more of a win! The blessed life.

Christmas Spirit!

Just a word?

I just love seeing these colors when I drive up to my house and pull in. I love Autumn!!

Since my last post was in September and titled Summer is over..., and this is November, clearly I could call this post Autumn is here... if only it were the same year. It is though not a little over a month later, but a a little over a year later. I enjoy writing and sharing things, and I have been reading some of the blogs I enjoy. This last year has been quite a growing time for me. With growth there is usually stretching and often some pain. Let me just say, I have grown a LOT this last year. I would start to blog and become overwhelmed. There was so much I wanted to say and share. Too much I suppose. I imagine some of what I have learned will start to come out over time here on my blog. I do want to share with you some wonderful, life changing things I have been discovering. I also have a few things to share that do not come with such energy, just simple good things from the year.

In the mean time, and for quite some time, there is something that has really made me quite uneasy. Truth be known, it has honestly grieved me at times. That grieved feeling just occurred as I just encountered this particular issue again. I decided it was time to write about it. Writing seems to sort it all out for me. I have been writing this year, just not blogging. While writing what follows, I decided it was time to and that I was ready to get back to blogging. I don’t typically post a rant from a soap box, and I do wonder if it is really the way I should step back in to the blogosphere. This entry on my blog is a bit of a rant and it is how I am getting back into this world of blogs that I do enjoy.

Here goes.

The word “sweet” is used as a verbal response to everything from a job well done to kids succeeding at some mischievous deed. The latter concerns me. The word that I feel is so vastly and erroneously, if not simply ignorantly used is “awesome”. The way this word is so cavalierly thrown around honestly disheartens; no it actually grieves me. We have “dumbed down” our society in so many ways and lowered the standard for so many things once held dear. Language and good communication have an important role in achieving and maintaining a good quality of life. I suppose I could roll off into a tangent here about texting, IMing and other social medias where loose abbreviations, flat out misspelled words and little if any grammar or punctuation is used. What I really want to comment on here however is the way “awesome” is abused. The word “misuse” connotes simply using something wrongly where no harm is present. Abuse denotes using something so wrongly that harm is brought to bear. The correct word here is, abuse.

awesome:

c.1600, "profoundly reverential,"

Original meaning in 1600’s according to the Online Etymology Dictionary Douglas Harper, Historian.

I understand that some of the events God caused were and are awesome. Since an offshoot definition of awesome is: to be characterized by awe, and awe inspiring, it is still connected to who God is . The root of those things is the things God created or did, and He is the only One that could create or do them. So basically, they still go back to the original meaning, “profoundly reverential”.

c.1670’s from awe + some. Meaning"inspiring awe”

Online Etymology Dictionary Douglas Harper, Historian.

The Lord replied, “Listen, I am making a covenant with you in the presence of all your people. I will perform miracles that have never been performed anywhere in all the earth or in any nation. And all the people around you will see the power of the Lord—the awesome power I will display for you. Exodus 34:10

By the early 1960’s this word had adapted a dumbed and watered down usage. Awesome was truly weakened and stripped of its original beautiful meaning. It became the familiar and common vernacular for something being really good, impressive or great. That is a huge step, leap down from "profoundly reverential". What is worse, typically the word “totally” is said directly before awesome. How many times have you heard, or sorry to ask, said, “That is totally awesome!”? In a current Thesaurus, under the word “spooky” the synonym “awesome” was listed. WOW! From a wonderful adjective to describe God, to a being a word to sensationalize the word spooky is so very sad.

If we diminish our language by using words that are intended for the majesty and glory of God for the works and emotions of man, then we deny ourselves the opportunity to have the incomparable and unparalleled relationship with God we were created to have. We diminish our ability to rightly give God his rightful place, or at best desensitize ourselves to equate God with being really good, impressive or great. Both are sabotaged by simple familiarity and common mediocrity. When we in any way compromise the value of our personal relationship with God and all of the promises and love therein, we put ourselves in a position to experience harm.

God’s handiwork is awesome. His authority, power and majesty are awesome. HE is awesome, and there is none like Him! Now that is awe inspiring to the degree of life changing!

The highest angelic powers stand in awe of God.He is far more awesome than all who surround his throne. Psalm 89:7

And as Aaron spoke to the whole community of Israel , they looked out toward the wilderness. There they could see the awesome glory of the Lord in the cloud. Exodus 16:10

“Who is like you among the gods, O Lord—

glorious in holiness,

awesome in splendor,

performing great wonders?" Exodus 15:11

There are other wonderful verses with the word awesome perfectly placed by describing our Awesome God.

Given the vastness of this word being used (abused) the way it is used, it is likely and I am aware of this, I could be standing alone on my soap box. Before he left this world and stepped into glory, at least I had one concordant soul.

C.S. Lewis once said:

“Don't use words too big for the subject. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.”

Summer is over...

although here in Oklahoma, there are days that still hit the 90's, like today when the mercury easily hit the low 90's. Oklahoma, has much to offer, but I think I have come to the conclusion, I am a colder weather girl. I like and miss the snow. Anyway, technically summer is over and here is a my offering to its close. Like everything else I have no business eating, I will take this to work in the morning.


As always, click piccies to enlarge if you like.

Front

Back

The cake is dark chocolate filled with cappuccino crème and frosted with vanilla buttercream. I am thinking about calling this combination, Cappuccino Cocoa Cake.

Needless to say, this post will not be getting the Healthy Eating or Nutrition label.

Autumn is here!!! My favorite time of year!!! I will be doing something for the office to express that, soon. Stay tuned. :-)

Cake and Friendship

I don't suppose I have ever mentioned this on my blog, but I am not a social network fan. I have a Facebook page so that I can see pictures of family and keep up on their day to day goings on, as well as a couple dear friends in Europe. I however do not really like Facebook, MySpace, or ClassMates and definitely not Twitter where people shoot off streams of tweets to each other. I like a quiet uncomplicated world and see no use for the time or energy spent to throw food at each other, play Mafia Wars or Farkle, see what a persons favorite tattoo is, discover what city they should be living in, which Michael Jackson song they are, what Disney character they are most like or any of the other mindless, useless and time consuming twaddle that goes on. I have so many other things that I love to do and want to accomplish that to engage in, or even read all of that nonsense makes no sense. I have a list of books I really want to read, and the list grows. I never seem to have enough time to read my Bible like I like to, or spend time just talking with God at length... really spending quality time. I love to sew and enjoy making cards. I don't get to spend enough time out with Debra, or on the phone with Kim, in Georgia. I like the art museum, zoo and even the National Cowboy Museum, go figure. Though I try, I never seem to get my fill of those things. Not to mention painting some of the rooms in our new home. Suffice it to say, I guard my time and those social network activities, even reading others activities like those mentioned above simply have no place in my life.

Now, having said and meaning all of that I have tell you a little something. Jon enjoys the connections he has made through some of the social networking he does. Michael Hyatt, is a christian, runner, and writer, all things Jon is and does. Jon enjoys keeping up with him through Twitter. He has discovered helpful things through that connection like better note taking skills that suit his personality while in meetings, better shoes for running, an author named John Eldredge, just to name a few. Recently, Jon pressed in to connect with classmates from high school and college. He has re~connected with a few friends that he has wondered about over the years and is now enjoying contact with them. I imagine there will be a meeting of some sort before long. One of the friends he connected with is a high school classmate named, Scott. Scott has put an adult lifetime into a career that has served him well thus far. His passion however is cakes.

Allow me to digress here briefly. Remember that list of those things I enjoy doing up above? Those of you that follow this blog may have noticed that I did not mention baking desserts and making cakes to decorate. I have mulled over the idea of baking full time and stepping out of corporate America as far as punching a clock for someone else for a couple of years now. Within the last month I decided to start taking steps to do that. With pen in hand and constantly thinking about just such a venture, I am beginning to see how I can do that. Since making that decision it is amazing the things that have transpired. It is like I raised my rod (made a decision), and God parted the Red Sea and showed me how to get to the other side, and with His blessing.

Back to Jon and his rekindled friendships. In the course of conversation, Jon mentioned to Scott, my love for cakes. After a week or so, Scott and I were communicating. Since that time he has made me privy to priceless professional decorating tips, ingredient ideas, tools that he uses that he designed himself and so much more. Scott, has a cake business called, & Eat it Too! He does NOT use fondant, bar the few flowers surrounding a cake on rare occasion. He had me right there! I know it is pretty and all the craze right now, but it does not taste good, has a nearly repulsive texture to chew and is way too much work on the back and shoulders to ever be worth using. He is strictly a Buttercream man and has a great selection of flavors to choose from. I don't think they are all listed on his web site. Here is a link to that web site. I have added his business card as a link to my sidebar as well. Beyond all of this new information I am blessed to be receiving, I feel like I have made a friend with a kindred spirit.

The cake photo below is a cake he made for a wedding yesterday. The couple met in a book store, hence the tiers being books. How creative is that? He designed and decorated this cake, and those are regular cakes, no shaped pans here. Now lets take it a step further. Autumn begins this week. The cake is a spice cake with apple filling and cinnamon buttercream frosting. Books, apples, cinnamon and spice... how much more Autumn does it get?

I am so excited about my new friend and his beautiful work that I wanted to share this with all of you.

Once Upon a Time, and Happily Ever After.

I still have no use for the folly frenzy mentioned at the opening of this post, but I am so grateful to have the opportunity to have made a friend like, Scott. I am thankful for Scott, period. Take a little time and go look at his web site and its sidebar links. If you like to play with icing and cake, you will be inspired. If you just enjoy and appreciate good craftsmanship, you will be impressed. If you just like pretty things, you will be pleased. If you live in the Canton, Ohio area or within 75 miles and are in need of a cake, call him! :-)