Friday, October 31, 2008

My crazy brother...

is 19 today! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I heart you.


Saturday, October 25, 2008

Saturday Signs

Week 5: And it begins...



This week kicks off Diwali, the major festival here and includes a lot of noisy "crackers" ALL NIGHT LONG. This sign expresses my sentiments exactly. Photo courtesy of The Millers(they just had a new baby!).

Thursday, October 23, 2008

"My Beloved"- Kari Jobe

You're My beloved
You're My bride
To sing over you is My delight
Come away with Me, My love

You're beautiful to Me
So beautiful to Me

Under My mercy
Come and wait
Till we are standing face to face
I see no stain on you
My child

You're beautiful to Me
So beautiful to Me

I sing over you My song of peace
Cast all your care down at My feet
Come and find your rest in Me

I'll breathe My life inside of you
I'll bear you up on eagle's wings
And hide you in the shadow of My strength
I'll take you to My quiet waters
I'll restore your soul
Come rest in Me and be made whole

You're My beloved
You're My bride
To sing over you is my delight
Come away with Me, My love

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Fun Finds

Lately, I've been finding some great things on the web...fun tools and resources, etc. I thought I'd share a few.

1. Google Reader: I love reading my friends' blogs. And since I have a lot of friends around the world, I have a lot of blogs to read. Google reader helps you put them all in one place so that you aren't bookmarking 5 million blogs. It is a nifty little tool to read all your favorite blogs in one place, and it keeps track of the posts you have/have not read. So...each day you can go to your Google Reader and see new posts that have been made to your favorite blogs! Way fun.

2. Picnik: Picnik is a stinkin' cool free, online photo editor. At Picnik, you can edit your photos, adjust colors, add text and frames, etc. It's really fun if you're Photoshop illiterate. Oh, and did I mention that it's free? Here are some of my latest Picnik creations:





3. Free Fonts at kevinandamanda.com: How cool is this? Free, fun fonts...and you can make a font from your own handwriting (I've not done this yet). Here, you can download really fun, free fonts so that you're not stuck with Arial, Helvetica, Times New Roman or Lucida Handwriting! These fonts are really great to have handy, especially when you are trying to send out cute, creative updates every month.

4. I have been crafting it up lately, and this cool blog "One Pretty Thing" has a daily post chock full of DIY crafty fun. Check it out: One Pretty Thing

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Saturday Signs

Week 4: Watch out for the black lung...




"Black Smoke Lungs Choke"

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

24

Monday I celebrated my 24th birthday. It was a fantastic day! I truly felt special and loved, even though it was hard to be so far away from home and family. Special people helped to make it a special day for me. Thanks, yall! I heart you!

First, I received a few birthday packages...
1. From Mama, Daddy, Blake, Grannie, Papa and Mema...sewing goods (yeah, I just learned) and scrapbook paper, among other things

2. From sweet Eliz...birthday cake mix, UGA cups, birthday decorations and cards, letters and pictures from Athens friends!

3. From Macedonia...cards, a cool birthday hat, a pretty candle, etc.

Then, on the day...I visited my friends and neighbors and gave them sweets (as is the tradition here. The birthday person gives the gifts, but my friends also gave me some goodies, too!). Here's a picture of me delivering sweets to one of my neighbors, a lady who enjoys arts and crafts more than I do.



Later, Rebecca blindfolded me and surprised me by taking me to one of our favorite restaurants (that we rarely get to visit). It's Vietnamese food in a beautiful setting. What a great roomie, teammate, sister and friend I have!


That evening, we had some ladies over for a crafting party. Some sewed, some did paper crafts, some knitted and crocheted. There was a lot of good fellowship and food, as I splurged on an expensive favorite here...deli sliced turkey with real cheddar cheese!

Reba made the cake and decorated it beautifully...


Then, I fed her the first bite. Again, this is a tradition here.


It was a great day, and I am so thankful to everyone for their emails, Facebook wishes, thought and prayers. Yall rock!!

Monday, October 13, 2008

Today's "My Utmost"

I read this today, and it really spoke to me and my life circumstances right now. It has been easy to be discouraged lately, but He brings so much encouragement to me often in ways that I do not expect. This was a blessing to read today, on my birthday and nearly a year since I left South Georgia.

From myutmost.org

October 13th.



INDIVIDUAL DISCOURAGEMENT AND PERSONAL ENLARGEMENT


"Moses went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens." Exodus 2:11

Moses saw the oppression of his people and felt certain that he was the one to deliver them, and in the righteous indignation of his own spirit he started to right their wrongs. After the first strike for God and for the right, God allowed Moses to be driven into blank discouragement, He sent him into the desert to feed sheep for forty years. At the end of that time, God appeared and told Moses to go and bring forth His people, and Moses said - "Who am I, that I should go?" In the beginning Moses realized that he was the man to deliver the people, but he had to be trained and disciplined by God first. He was right in the individual aspect, but he was not the man for the work until he had learned communion with God.

We may have the vision of God and a very clear understanding of what God wants, and we start to do the thing, then comes something equivalent to the forty years in the wilderness, as if God had ignored the whole thing, and when we are thoroughly discouraged God comes back and revives the call, and we get the quaver in and say - "Oh, who am I?" We have to learn the first great stride of God - "I AM THAT I AM hath sent thee." We have to learn that our individual effort for God is an impertinence; our individuality is to be rendered incandescent by a personal relationship to God (see Matthew 3:17). We fix on the individual aspect of things; we have the vision - "This is what God wants me to do;" but we have not got into God's stride. If you are going through a time of discouragement, there is a big personal enlargement ahead.


My favorite line..."We have to learn that our individual effort for God is an impertinence; our individuality is to be rendered incandescent by a personal relationship to God."

What a word!

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Saturday Signs

Week 3: Slow poison...



This was inside of an auto. Apparently, he's had some issues with love.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Where have I been?

Well, here. But, I've been quite the lame face and slack on updating my blog. I promise I'll get back on it soon. Don't worry.