Showing posts with label christianity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label christianity. Show all posts
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Thankful and Creative~ Was I successful?
Thankful and CrEaTiVe
Those were my words for 2009. Was I successful? Maybe.
I am learning to be more thankful. Every breath is a gift and I am not guaranteed anything in this life. I am guaranteed heaven and I have eternal life because I know Jesus. Everything else is simply a blessing from God.
So, in light of that perspective, I am thankful. I won't be perfect until heaven but I am learning and making progress, however slowly.
Now for creative. Creative is a word I would not use to describe myself. I can copy someone else's creativity but coming up with a creative idea on my own is not something I do on a regular basis.
I want to be creative. {insert a great big whine here} Creating fun ways to connect with each of my children individually is really important to me. I don't want them to think of me as the boring task master. This is so hard for me. Being a task oriented person is hard to unlearn. I want to put relationships before my to-do list, though. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak! Help me, Lord!
Decorating is not something I am good at either. (What am I good at, I wonder??? ) In 2009 I challenged myself to decorate the neglected areas (and there are many) in my small house and redecorate the areas that were decorated but not loved. Most furniture in my house is either old and worn out or mismatched because it was a gift. Nothing wrong with those things. I just didn't know how to use them in ways that reflected my style (do I have a style??).
This sounded like fun but there was this ever present problem of lack of $$$$$$$. Nothing like the lack of funds to make a person get creative. THANKFULLY, (did you catch that I was thankful ;) ) a local ministry opened a thrift store in our town in 2009. It has been a gold mine for great finds. Another thing that has been a help is reading all the decorating blogs in blogland. I will have to do a separate post to list my favs someday.
So here is a list of some of the "creative projects" I completed:
1. painted the great room and hall (includes kitchen, dining, and living area)
2. new curtains for kitchen and living room (on sale)
3. new border for kitchen ($1 a roll clearance find~ jackpot since we only needed 2 rolls!!)
4. bought items from thrift store, ebay, and hobby lobby (with gift cards) to decorate tops of kitchen cabinets
5. painted light fixtures in dining and living room Lighting makeover
6. bought slip covers for my very worn out couldn't find any more threads to sew together sofas Slip Covers
7. completed a laundry room/pantry makeover Laundryroom/pantry makeover
8. new flooring and paint in hall bathroom (the kids did this project~ YES) I am including a link but it doesn't look this way now. I redecorated the redecorated bathroom. LOL Hall Bathroom remodel
9. started yard sale shopping again and found some great stuff ~ I have used some of it but have some put away for later ~ I have a plan though. Trash to Treasure
10. learned to use spray paint and repurposed some things (the chalk board is no longer over my kitchen window and the little round chalkboard isn't in the girls' room. I know I know. So undecisive. projects
11. Repurposed some old frames for art for my bathroom frames
12. Learned to bake bread (thanks Mrs. Marie) Bread
13. Made Christmas ornaments for gifts homemade ornaments
14. learned to make laundry soap laundry soap
15. I almost forgot! I made two wreaths like this. One I gave to my mother in law at Christmas and the other is hanging on my wall.
How did I do? Pretty good? I think so. I am thankful you have let me share this with you!
Those were my words for 2009. Was I successful? Maybe.
I am learning to be more thankful. Every breath is a gift and I am not guaranteed anything in this life. I am guaranteed heaven and I have eternal life because I know Jesus. Everything else is simply a blessing from God.
So, in light of that perspective, I am thankful. I won't be perfect until heaven but I am learning and making progress, however slowly.
Now for creative. Creative is a word I would not use to describe myself. I can copy someone else's creativity but coming up with a creative idea on my own is not something I do on a regular basis.
I want to be creative. {insert a great big whine here} Creating fun ways to connect with each of my children individually is really important to me. I don't want them to think of me as the boring task master. This is so hard for me. Being a task oriented person is hard to unlearn. I want to put relationships before my to-do list, though. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak! Help me, Lord!
Decorating is not something I am good at either. (What am I good at, I wonder??? ) In 2009 I challenged myself to decorate the neglected areas (and there are many) in my small house and redecorate the areas that were decorated but not loved. Most furniture in my house is either old and worn out or mismatched because it was a gift. Nothing wrong with those things. I just didn't know how to use them in ways that reflected my style (do I have a style??).
This sounded like fun but there was this ever present problem of lack of $$$$$$$. Nothing like the lack of funds to make a person get creative. THANKFULLY, (did you catch that I was thankful ;) ) a local ministry opened a thrift store in our town in 2009. It has been a gold mine for great finds. Another thing that has been a help is reading all the decorating blogs in blogland. I will have to do a separate post to list my favs someday.
So here is a list of some of the "creative projects" I completed:
1. painted the great room and hall (includes kitchen, dining, and living area)
2. new curtains for kitchen and living room (on sale)
3. new border for kitchen ($1 a roll clearance find~ jackpot since we only needed 2 rolls!!)
4. bought items from thrift store, ebay, and hobby lobby (with gift cards) to decorate tops of kitchen cabinets
5. painted light fixtures in dining and living room Lighting makeover
6. bought slip covers for my very worn out couldn't find any more threads to sew together sofas Slip Covers
7. completed a laundry room/pantry makeover Laundryroom/pantry makeover
8. new flooring and paint in hall bathroom (the kids did this project~ YES) I am including a link but it doesn't look this way now. I redecorated the redecorated bathroom. LOL Hall Bathroom remodel
9. started yard sale shopping again and found some great stuff ~ I have used some of it but have some put away for later ~ I have a plan though. Trash to Treasure
10. learned to use spray paint and repurposed some things (the chalk board is no longer over my kitchen window and the little round chalkboard isn't in the girls' room. I know I know. So undecisive. projects
11. Repurposed some old frames for art for my bathroom frames
12. Learned to bake bread (thanks Mrs. Marie) Bread
13. Made Christmas ornaments for gifts homemade ornaments
14. learned to make laundry soap laundry soap
15. I almost forgot! I made two wreaths like this. One I gave to my mother in law at Christmas and the other is hanging on my wall.
How did I do? Pretty good? I think so. I am thankful you have let me share this with you!
Friday, January 15, 2010
Word of the Year
For the past couple of years I have been joining a group of friends in choosing a word to focus on for the year. It is something we pray about and ponder. Usually it is an area we feel the Lord is leading us to focus on or maybe it is something He is teaching us. Sometimes it is a combination of words and not a single word.
My word for 2008 was sorrow. Let me tell you that I did not want that to be my word. It was the first year I chose to participate and I didn't even tell anyone what my word was because I did NOT like it. Who in their right mind would choose sorrow as their word for the year? But the Lord impressed upon my heart that this indeed was my word. As always, He knows best and He taught me much using the word sorrow. The year 2008 was a big healing year for me. But for healing to come I had to face many memories and facts about myself. I had to face things about others.
I had to mourn for loss in my life. I had to mourn for loss in the lives of others. I had to grieve the death of dreams and goals. I had to learn that my Lord is a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief (Isaiah 53:3) and that because of that He can heal my brokenness. I had to learn about Godly sorrow vs. worldly sorrow. 2 Corinthians 7:10 says Godly sorrow produces repentance that leads to salvation without regret. My anger and rebellion needed godly sorrow.
Praise God for the word sorrow and it's work in my life.
I had a couple of words for 2009. They were thankful and creative. I was so thankful for all that God had taught me in 2008 that thankful just seemed appropriate for 2009. I also wanted to focus on being creative in my life. Making the best out of hard situations, being creative in relationships, doing crafty things, and being frugal were all ways that I tried to express creativity this past year.
Although the lessons I learned in 2009 weren't as emotional as those in 2008, I still learned some things. I learned to be thankful for special people God has placed in my life and I am learning to love people as they are without placing my expectations on them. I learned to decorate on a budget and have finally decorated most of my house~something I have put off for a long time.
For Christmas, I made many of the gifts that I gave. Not only did it save us money but it gave me a creative outlet.
The word of the year for 2010 is surrender. This year I want to focus on surrendering my will to the Father. I want to be obedient to whatever He asks of me with a cheerful heart. I am looking forward to walking with Jesus with a surrendered heart in 2010. Here is a post I did about my 2010 word. my word for 2010
My word for 2008 was sorrow. Let me tell you that I did not want that to be my word. It was the first year I chose to participate and I didn't even tell anyone what my word was because I did NOT like it. Who in their right mind would choose sorrow as their word for the year? But the Lord impressed upon my heart that this indeed was my word. As always, He knows best and He taught me much using the word sorrow. The year 2008 was a big healing year for me. But for healing to come I had to face many memories and facts about myself. I had to face things about others.
I had to mourn for loss in my life. I had to mourn for loss in the lives of others. I had to grieve the death of dreams and goals. I had to learn that my Lord is a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief (Isaiah 53:3) and that because of that He can heal my brokenness. I had to learn about Godly sorrow vs. worldly sorrow. 2 Corinthians 7:10 says Godly sorrow produces repentance that leads to salvation without regret. My anger and rebellion needed godly sorrow.
Praise God for the word sorrow and it's work in my life.
I had a couple of words for 2009. They were thankful and creative. I was so thankful for all that God had taught me in 2008 that thankful just seemed appropriate for 2009. I also wanted to focus on being creative in my life. Making the best out of hard situations, being creative in relationships, doing crafty things, and being frugal were all ways that I tried to express creativity this past year.
Although the lessons I learned in 2009 weren't as emotional as those in 2008, I still learned some things. I learned to be thankful for special people God has placed in my life and I am learning to love people as they are without placing my expectations on them. I learned to decorate on a budget and have finally decorated most of my house~something I have put off for a long time.
For Christmas, I made many of the gifts that I gave. Not only did it save us money but it gave me a creative outlet.
The word of the year for 2010 is surrender. This year I want to focus on surrendering my will to the Father. I want to be obedient to whatever He asks of me with a cheerful heart. I am looking forward to walking with Jesus with a surrendered heart in 2010. Here is a post I did about my 2010 word. my word for 2010
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