A Bike Ride in June and Beautiful Poppy Pictures

Today I’m going to share a few photos and some encouragement as well.  Being Sunday I’ve been fair bursting out of my skin with the Joy of the Lord!  I don’t quite know how to explain it - so I won’t even try.  I’ll let this sweet video take care of just how I feel when I get close to my God!

What have I been up to this week? 

Well, my sweet Mr. took me out on two fun dates this week.  The first was a bike ride.  Osoyoos has a great trails system but we do mostly walking on them.  We chose instead to bike some of the streets, he was the leader and I just happily trailed along behind.

 

We rode up onto the hills where the golf course is and the conditions were perfect to get a view of Hayne’s Point - the strip of foliage laying out in the water?  Hayne’s Point is a provincial park, absolutely lovely and super busy so you should make reservations if you hope to stay here.

And then we pedalled alllllll the way over to the far side of the lake and enjoyed the silky sand at the new pubic Rotary park (not a campsite)  Such a lovely day with the sunshine beaming on us.  Our weather has been up and down and all over the place from hot sun to thunderstorms with rain. Keeps things exciting.

The second date?  It was to garage sales and out to Dim Sum this Saturday. 

♥♥♥

I want to make a little shout-out to Betty Dish who’s blog and twitter I’ve been following and enjoying lately and who recently hosted a contest/giveaway thing sponsored by Booster Juice and I won… well everybody won something and I’m pretty excited about that. haha!  Betty Dish likes to blog about food and food being good for us.  Why don’t you check her out HERE? (and thanks Betty!)

♥♥♥

I’ve also been making a few cards, just some sillies using up some Stickers I bought a while ago on sale:

Just silly cards like these.  I used a real non-electric typewriter for the sentiment on each.  These are available at Indie Lulu Living on Main Street!

♥♥♥

And I wandered around in the flower patch yesterday and I’ll share some of the beauty with YOU. (and yes, I did lay on the ground a lot to get some of these)  I’ll call this group “Poppy Love”

illustration credit:
KimB's HeartyTarty Craft Paper & Staple

There is not always a 'thaw' in January, nor do all spring-like days come in winter come in January. As the old-fashioned almanacs would put it, scattering the words down the page for January:

About - this – time – expect – several – warm – days.

Even if the 'about this time' were the last of February, the country people would regard it as 'our January that, only about a month late this year!'

The first of these warm days is often cloudy, and so misty and cloudy that the ground seems to steam. The snow that may have fallen two or three weeks ago is nearly melted. Then how slushy it is! - how 'disagreeable getting about' the older folks would say.

From St. Nicholas magazine, January 1904

Ohhh SO gray, gray - GRAY! I'm trying so hard to not let it get to me, but two weeks of THIS. Its bordering on ridiculous. I've always loved having SEASONS but I'm beginning to feel like a mushroom, I swear my skin is turning into paste! I still make myself get outside. I heard a broadcaster on CBC radio the other day and he was saying (not that I entirely agree with him) that great art is only made in anything other than happiness... so this depression SHOULD make me really artistically inclined. Well, it DID inspire me to write the following poem after yesterday's dreary walk:

grungey, brackish dirt exposed from beneath white scabs of retreating snow -

the soil giving off a sharp acrid reek, like a complaint

dull gray clouds pressing down petulantly into the valley

to meet the cold steely gray of ice on the lake

cold, scratching fingers of bare tree limbs standing forlorn

the air, sluggish and stubborn pushes to keep one indoors

outside, small birds feast furiously on whatever they might forage

hawks wait, there's a bird-eat-bird meaness in these half-dark days

a lone plane growls through the duskiness – like an insect trying to migrate to sunshine

day morphs into evening and then to night with very little discernment

dawn and dusk a mere shade darker than the day

longing for sunshine

This is what the weathermen/women say. But I know who's REALLY in control, so I'm taking it to the Lord in prayer...

God is mighty! He is able to deliver;

Faith can victor be in every trying hour;

Fear and care and sin and sorrow defeated

By our faith in God's almighty, conquering power.

Have faith in God, the sun will shine,

Though dark the clouds may be today;

His heart has planned your path and mine,

Have faith in God, have faith alway.

~ Author Unknown

♥♥♥♥♥

And so, to brighten up YOUR day, I've created a second version of the Wreath Frame - Enjoy!

(and send SUN, please *wink*)

Personal Use

download

I'm writing this Saturday night, going to save it as a draft and try the 'scheduled post' feature of blogger and see how this works out. I don't want to overwhelm you with two posts in one day, after all!

I'm sitting at my computer with a soft light on. The snow is falling outside, heavily and gently in big, fluffery flakes, turning our almost melted world back into a magic looking one. It makes me feel so peaceful. I had some music playing in the background and then I realized it was competing... with other music. And that music was LIVE. And that music was SO beautiful. Its the sound of Mr. Miles and his friend Nathan practicing worship music for tomorrow's service.

Songs like Blessed is the Name of the Lord, and Lord Have Mercy... and their voices and playing together wafting up through the floorboards is moving me to tears. I'm reminded, the God who can turn our melted away landscape into a pretty winter wonderland in the span of a few brief hours is all-powerful. His ways are beyond our comprehension. The weathermen can predict conditions all they want, but God can change all that in a heartbeat.

So it is with the economists. They're just reporting it like it is. They want us to be careful, live within our means. God wants whats BEST for us. Sometimes that just seems wierd, when you think of it. For, as the song says "He gives - and takes away" I'm sure it does not always feel like what we have is best. I'm sure if I got "it" all taken away from me I'd fall flat on my face. For its all nice, and good - but its all a crutch. If you're leaning too hard on that 'ol crutch, when its taken quickly, you'll fall.

And sometimes, thats where He wants us to be - flat on our face, though He'd rather it be a willing thing. Its when and where we are 'richest' - strange as that may sound. Its where we have intimate communion with Him. And the more 'stuff' we get to look after, the more easily we are distracted, tending to the things of the world.

I'm reminded of Solomon. He had it all. Knowledge and wisdom. Castles and cash. Slaves and animals. You woulda thought he'd be in luxury - always amused by all this things. But, even he summed it up like this:

Ecclesiastes 2

1 I thought in my heart, "Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good." But that also proved to be meaningless. 2 "Laughter," I said, "is foolish. And what does pleasure accomplish?" 3 I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was worthwhile for men to do under heaven during the few days of their lives.

4 I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. 5 I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. 6 I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. 7 I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. 8 I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired men and women singers, and a harem as well—the delights of the heart of man. 9 I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me.

10 I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;
I refused my heart no pleasure.
My heart took delight in all my work,
and this was the reward for all my labor.

11 Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done
and what I had toiled to achieve,
everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;
nothing was gained under the sun.

So, I'm going to get down, flat on my face, freely and I'm going to thank the Lord for all my blessings (and not just the THINGS) I'll get used to being down there, so when my crutch is taken, I may already be flat - and the crutch will be... just a crutch. Something nice to use if its handy, but not something that I rely on when I should be relying on the Lord.

I thought today would be a great day to share some FREE stuff with you. If you go to the site of Phil Wickam you will be able to download this BEAUTIFUL worship album, in it's entirety, for free. So though I am blessed to hear my husband's and Nathan's awesome songs of Praise as they practice, you can have something good to listen to, too!

You will be asked to fill out a your name and email address and then he will send you the link. What a sweet thing to do - its a great album, I've been listening to it while working on my spirit while my machine works on my physical body.

click HERE to visit Phil and get his album!

And I found out about this free album through a newsletter I recieve which gives me MORE free music each month. If you've never heard of it before, its the FreeCCM Newsletter, and you can sign up for it by clicking HERE. This is a great place to hear new releases - the free songs this month are Mike Farris - "Streets of Galilee", Darlene Zschech - "Call Upon His Name" and Derek Webb - "She Must and Shall Go Free"

There are also new free desktop wallpapers and greeting cards from Crosscards which you can find by clicking HERE.

*****

BEFORE the big flurffy snowfall of last night (cause you are reading this on Sunday, so its last night - oh, I could get so confused prewriting this!) Before this snow, on Friday, I took some photos down by the lake again. I thought I would share a few. Click them to view a bit bigger.

I think a racoon mebbe, what do you think?

My friend Cicero always takes these looooonnnng shadow pics...
so she inspired me. Visit her blog(click HERE) and I bet you'll see one somewhere.
She does 'two headed' ones with her husband.
I'll have to get Mr. Miles to lend me his head soon.

*****

Thrift Store "Good Buy" alert!

I bought one of these at the thrift store the other day. It was still in its new wrap and I only paid $3 for it. I looked it up and it regularly goes for $9.99. I love gadgets. Its actually my gift to Sabastian, our van, cause it folds up nice and flat. It gets tight hauling a full size colander around when we are camping. This will be good for so much more.

I keep breaking things at the store too. Before Christmas I broke a lid to a beautiful teapot set. I made the mistake of telling the ladies and they would NOT accept payment. I tried every which way to convince them to charge me, but they would not. Sigh.

So, on Thursday, when I bought this colander, and was having a good look around, (and when I look around I really look AROUND - my whole self twists and turns and... well, they hide some good stuff either way down on the floor or way up near the roof for heaven's sake!) And, I'm clumsy at the best of times. Plus this with a big purse that day and ... I broke a picture frame! So, this time, I put it in with all my purchases and paid for it first, THEN asked the clerk to take it out and throw it away!!! LOL - she told me she would not have made me pay, so I'm glad I DID!

Do YOU have a 'breaking something in a store' story to share too?

Well... I've chewed your ear off for long enough this morning. I hope you have a great day!

Our new church sign

YAY! Our church has a new sign - something that is funky, fresh and ... totally does NOT go with the look of our building at the current time LOL! To be honest, the facade of our building is aged and worn, with some of the lettering falling off... but there is a NEW spirit within and God has been blessing us - and we are beginning to dig ourselves out and bring about some welcome changes. It has been a year of great growth and renewal and it will be exciting to see what 2009 brings about. We desire to be a church that does not seek only to who comes in... but more importantly, who will 'go out' from our body as missionaries.

My multi-talented husband designed the sign - he'll be blushing I said so, but I can't help but show him off.

Speaking of churches etc...

I will link you here to an article I heard on NPR radio - did you know that (and this is a sign of our times) some churches and synagogues are planting GPS chips in their nativity displays - to help locate them when they get stolen? Truly - you can read all about it (or listen, just click on the little red speaker symbol at the top) by clicking HERE. Who'd have ever thought there would be Geo Caching for Jesus?

Layout by Judy (my SIL)
credits: Barb Derksen (me) Heart Music Kit

Love this layout of my niece Melissa and her guitar instructor strumming out a tune on the guitar Melissa recently recieved for her birthday. I am impressed how you cut her out, Judy - looks great!

Tag by Nina (my Sister!)
credits: Music note image design by Barb Derksen (me)
Burgundy cardstock from Nature Preserve Recycled cardstock,
DCWV- Clear Glitter paper,
Figgy Pudding Kringle Designer paper.
Unknown elastic cord.

It is so exciting to see my items used in a hybrid project. Really - it sort of makes it 'come to life' I always get a new appreciation for my items - seeing them used this way. Thank you Nina, for sharing! I suspect we may see more items coming from Nina's blog in the future. In fact... speaking of which, she'd asked me to make a 'gift kitty' for a project, so I whipped one up. Only... when I showed her, she said she wanted a birthday kitty, not a Christmas one, so I'm going to share this one with you.

I've put a watermark over kitty in this preview, but the download will not have it on. I do this to prevent pirating in the form of just downloading a jpg - so my terms of use are included in the download. I hope you enjoy this purr-fectly delightful little kitty.

personal use only
download

And while we are on the subjects of kitty's ... here's a quirky, funny, typical kitty video which you will get a giggle out of, I'm sure.

Its so easy to get caught up in all the hustle and bustle this time of the year. Emotions run high and we're all in a rush to get it all done, yet for all our frenzy, it will somehow come together in the end. We're so busy running to and fro that we think we lose connection with God, for we've not managed to set time aside to seek Him. What we sometimes forget is that He is ALWAYS with us. He's not just there when we make some quiet time - He's here ALWAYS.

If you don't have time to get away from all the distractions, yet you need to know that He is with you, lift your prayers wherever you are. His love is ALWAYS with you. Every moment, every second of the day. He's waiting to share your every joy and sorrow. He can meet you the second you invite him to.

Be happy today - have cheer, knowing that God is with you.

The following song by Michael W. Smith is not your traditional Christmas song, but I hope it will speak to you the way it has me. I feel so joyous and hopeful through the words. 'specially the part about being in the crowd... for I feel 'crowded' this time of the year and long to know that God has time just for ME (and you) anytime we need it. I also am comforted to think of God's amazing love this way - that I can't 'escape' it - I might lose track, wander at times, neglect it or try running the other way to rebel ... but He's here.

ESCAPE YOUR LOVE
Michael W. Smith - Stand album

It's like starin at the sky above
When I look in your eyes
Now where in the world did you come from?
You're so beautiful
And I know

I can't escape your love
Escape your love
Escape your love
I can't escape your love
Escape your love
Escape your love

Everytime I turn around you're there
I get a feelin' that won't go away
Nothing else in this whole world compares
You're surrounding me
And I know

That I can't escape your love
Escape your love
Escape your love
I can't escape your love
Escape your love
Escape your love

And in the righteous crowd
Your face is all I see
I hope you know by now
That I just can't escape
I can't escape your love
Escape your love
Escape your love
I can't escape your love
Escape your love
Escape your love
Oh yeah
Yeah yeah yeah

The Lord is near to all who call upon Him,
to all who call upon Him in truth.

Psalm 145:18 NAS

My sister Nina needed to make a tag for a gift for a music teacher and so I whipped up this graphic for you, too, in case you have someone musical you'd like to bless! I'm going to make this one so you need only to click on it to download in PNG format. Please credit me if you use it by linking back to my blog. I'd love to see how you use this - why not send me a jpg of your project and I'll publish it here on my blog?

You can check out Nina's blog (lets pester her till we see how she uses the tag, right? by clicking HERE. She's been doing almost a card a day - whew!

You may also enjoy a visit to JanMary's blog - from Ireland. JanMary is into day 13 of blogging the 25 days of Christmas. Just click HERE to be transported.

click on graphic - then right click and 'save as' and choose PNG

PERSONAL use only

Happy Birthday - Melissa!

credits:
KimB CATW Kit - papers, elements
Barb Derksen - festive sequins

Isn't Kim's kit perfect for this layout of my niece Melissa's birthday layout? I know, I'm sort of stuck on the 'cut people out and stick them in a frame theme' right now, but they do say practice makes perfect.

Melissa, we hope you have a LOVELY birthday - I'm sure your family has a lineup of fun great activities coming up, and ohhhh your gift, I'm sure its amazing. Melissa belongs to my SIL Judy, so you may want to pop on over HERE to leave Melissa a birthday wish and see Judy's layout too in honor of this special day!

I'd love it if you have a moment out of your busy day to check out the gorgeous card my sister has created - I love the writing technique, its giving me ideas. Just click HERE to see what I mean.

It is also my niece Rachel's birthday tomorrow, but I don't have a recent photo ... but I'm making a little free giveaway to say Happy Birthday to these two lovely young ladies!

And speaking of birthdays has reminded me that our countdown to Christmas is really a countdown to the day we honour the birth of Christ - the REAL reason we should be focussed on. So, I'm leaving you with this poem I found.

Somewhere amidst confusion in
the frantic Christmas race--
the deadline shopping, start and stopping
at a frenzied pace.

The name of Christ has been removed,
left off the Christmas scene.
Without the name of Christ, what then
does Christmas really mean?

No longer do the schools release
for Christmas holiday;
it's incorrect politically,
but Winter Break's O.K.

Now scenes of the Nativity
are banned from public streets.
Too much religiosity's
considered indiscreet.

Does Christmas portend Santa Claus,
whose sleigh and reindeers fly,
as Rudolph with a shiny nose
guides them through starlit sky?

For presents stacked high by the tree
the children eagerly reach.
What message does this scene present?
What lesson does it teach?

Is Christmas spirit portrayed here?
What it is meant to be?
Is it to wonder of those gifts
How many are for me?

There's nothing wrong with Santa Claus,
let's keep him on the scene,
but let's replace Santa Claus, with the name of Christ
to teach what Christmas means.

Another lovely place to visit to get into the Christmas spirit is over at my friend JanMary's place. JanMary lives in Ireland, and she's been blogging DAILY since Dec. 1st - all the traditions etc. Very interesting reading and wonderful photography... and its her daughter's birthday too! Just click HERE to be transported.

And here's my giveaway for you today - its fine for all uses, though you must credit me in your TOU upon use. Please do not share this file with your friends, I'd ask you send them here to download it for themselves.

I'd love to see how you use my products. Just send me a jpg and description and I'll post it here too!

fine for Personal, Commercial and S4H
(must credit me in TOU)

download

~My Sister Gets A Blog ~

Ah, I'm all warm and fuzzy today. I get to brag on my talented Sister and Sister-in-laws! I'll begin with my sister, Nina. Nina just had her birthday recently and I finally convinced her to consider starting her own blog. She's been hand-crafting beautiful scrapbook-type cards for quite a while now and this will be a showcase for her lovely work. I helped her get set up a few weeks ago, but she's just now ready to 'make her entrance' - I hope you'll give her a warm welcome.

I'm so proud I could just bust at the seams.

click HERE to visit my sister's blog!

This is the type of amazing carding she does - I feel a little intimidated by her talent! Welcome to bloggie world, Nina.

PS: don't b'lieve all that mush she says about me... *blushing!*

my birthday card, created by Nina, my Sister!

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~My Sister-in-Law Makes Christmas Craft~

And of course, I've shared a special blogging bond with my sister in law Judy, for quite some time now. Judy has been a crafter for YEARS and amazes me with her handiwork. I love that her blog is a showcase for her close-knit family. Thanks for blessing us, Judy.

hand-made Christmas Crackers
made by my sister in law Judy.

Judy has been gathering with a few of her close family to share some fun evenings of preparations for the festive season. It seems that the warmth and fellowship of family brings out the creative side. You can visit Judy at her blog by clicking HERE.

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~My 'Nudder Sister-in-Law Sells Her Crafts~

And finally, my sister in law Neti has been taking part in a Christmas Fair held in Sparwood, BC, where she was selling her incredible crafts. Looking at these photos she's sent. I'm trying to figure out how many hours of hard work this represents!

Ohhh - lookit the SNOWMEN!

Crafts by Neti - my sister in law
Next craft sale - November 27th, 2008
at the Sparwood Mall

So, if you just happen to live in the area, please drop in to check out Neti's tables. G'wan, give her a hello from me too!

Neti, you're the next for a blog, right? Don't worry, us Sisters have got it down to a science.

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I've had requests coming in to re-issue some of my older Christmas Kits - so here's the one I've been getting the most requests for (which delights me seeing our King and Savior being honoured!) I'd love to see how you use this kit, just send me a small jpg of your layout along with credit details and I'll make you the star of my blog. I think there is someone I'm forgetting who's already sent me a layout. If you're out there can you please let me know?

Worship The King Mini Kit
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