Giving Thanks during uncertain times.......

It's really tough to give thanks when you feel that things aren't going your way, or perhaps you don't have that job you have been wanting.  I know, believe me.  I have been unemployed for over 2 years now after the real estate market basically came to a halt.  I made the decision to get out of that profession because I felt like I was spinning my wheels and I was not making any sales or income.  So here I am a couple of years later and what has the Lord done in my life, well do you have a few hours?

Anyway, what I have been able to do is spend more time creating and being home with my husband who I feel needs me more than ever.  See, Larry is diabetic and his meals are very important so I have more time to prepare the type of meals that he needs.  Also I've been busy as a bee creating Angels of every kind possible for the holidays.  I am looking for work online mainly, writing or other type of work so I am busy at least.  But back to my point of giving thanks, I do have so much to be thankful for and I will explain what those things are.

Namely my family, my three grown children who I adore.  They all have their busy lives but every time they say I love you mom, well my heart beats faster, you know what I am talking about.  Then my adorable grandchildren.  I spent the day with my granddaughter Macie yesterday and we had so much fun.  We had lunch at McDonalds, then went to the park to play a bit, then came home and made cupcakes, which she so proudly tells everyone, I added the marshmellows on the top.  She is a blessing to me and I wouldn't trade those times for anything in the world.  So being unemployed, well has it's great moments.

I am also thankful for my husband Larry, he is such a great man, he cuts wood for me to make my Angels or anything else for that matter.  He is there ready and willing and loves doing it.  I love him with all my heart and I hope that we have many more years together, traveling and just being together.  Thank you Jesus for this awesome man you have blessed me with.

Then there is my friend Carolyn, she is such a beautiful person.  She has some health issues right now and I always keep her in prayer for healing.  We have coffee every Tuesday and we really enjoy the time together which is when we can vent and just share what has been going on in our lives.  We see eachother at church on Sundays to and get to go to breakfast, but it's not the same when it's just the two of us.  Thank you Jesus for sending a friend that never judges me and just listens when I need to talk to someone.  Same goes for my sisters, I have a bunch of them....he he he.  They are all my friends and I just wished that we communicated more often, but they too have busy lives.  They have a special place in my heart that is for sure, my two brothers too.

I wanted to thank Jesus for the gifts he has empowered me with.  I love taking photographs, making angels and just making beautiful things for others.  I know it honors him greatly when I do this and I will never take that for granted. My faith is strengthened when I see big smiles on the faces of those that are touched by a certain gift that I made, it brings so much joy to my heart and I know it does to God as well. 

So I hope that whatever you are going through this Thanksgiving day, be sure to look inside and find the good in you and others.  Find the things that God has blessed you with and share them, and I am sure they are many.  Jobs come and go, but what you do with what you have right now is what is important.  Make sure that you use all your God given resources to do the best you can, who knows maybe this is a way for you to start that new business that you have always wanted to, or start a new career....just look to God and he will guide and show you, if you will trust Him.

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving - and God Bless you!

The day after the election.....

Top of the morning to you friends.  For the past couple of years I have been following politics pretty closely I may add, hoping that of course my candidate would win the final vote, but he did not.  My heart goes out to Mitt and Paul and all the others who worked so hard during this campaign.  But, because of the negative protrayal that the other side painted of these two, along with other issues they were not victorious.  I was sad, disappointed and very discouraged last night as I knelt and prayed to God the Father.  I truly felt betrayed and afraid for our country, still do.  But, after my prayer - I can honestly say that I do not feel those emotions any longer, because I know that there is a higher purpose - God's purpose.  God has always been faithful and will never leave us, he will always work a bad situation and turn it to the good for those who love him and are called according to His Purpose.  He was able to get that deep into my bones and I felt like even though this was not what I wanted, God has a plan.  I have a strong feeling this is a test on our faith as American's.  We have tried at every turn to take God out of our lives and our country, God maybe showing us what will happen if we keep him completely out.  Also that we rely too much on government, we are headed in the wrong direction in so many ways, economically and spiritually but only the next four years will tell.  Do we trust God or do we trust our government?  That is the question and it's as clear as a bell for me, I will always trust God. This life on earth is only temporary and it might be painful, but I am a child of the Most High God and I will trust Him with all my heart and soul.

The other thing I struggled with was "God, why did you allow this to happen".  This is a natural human reaction, because I was hurting.  Because I see so many things that this President stands for that go against the will of God.  He then showed me that I will only find a fulfilling and comforting answer when I seek His wisdom and truth. If I apply his word to my every day life, ask for His viewpoint on this situation, then use scriptural principles that He teaches, I will be able to endure these painful circumstances and grow through them.  I am not alone, He assures me of this.  So instead of feeling like a victim, even though I had tears last night, I can face today, because joy comes in the morning.  I can face it with joy, peace and expectancy, confident in His promise that He will reward my faithfulness and something worthwhile will come of this pain.

So after an evening of prayer, followed by a morning of reading scripture and more payer, He calmed my spirit and heart.  I cannot change the elections outcome, but I can change my attitude about this situation and to keep on hoping and praying that this President will follow God's will and not his own.

Letting our conscience be our guide......

Top of the morning to you all.  I was reading Charles Stanley's In Touch magazine and this particular subject caught my eye.  The reason it did is because we do rely on our conscience to be our guide, but what if we have "bad" data that we have stored in our conscience as a child and never replaced it with "good" data such as the word of God.  See, God has given every person the capacity to discern right from wrong.  Which is our conscience, it is programmed with a distinct belief set and functions differently from everyone else's. As children when we begin to process instructions and warnings, our conscience is developing a code of conduct by which we will live.

Whether our parents or other authority figures in our life offered sound life principles and fair consequences or provided little guidance of real value, our conscience collected the data - good or bad.  As children when growing to adulthood we pay close attention to the words and actions of others.  So both the positive and negative results are stored into our data bank of conscience.  The programming continues on throughout our life, so every situation we get to encounter has the capacity to affect our decisions and actions.

So when we begin our young life with a biblical perspective, it can absorb this data and adjust our values and perspectives.  That is awesome news, but when we begin with poor programming we can still make necessary adjustments by reading and following God's words of wisdom for our life, so that is a win win situation.  But when we expose ourselves repeatedly to falsehoods and vain philosophies, and ignore God's wisdom and truth, we will assimilate the deceptive viewpoints of this modern world and culture.

So today, I pray for those of you who may not have been raised in a Christian home or with God in your life.  My prayer is that God's amazing grace, mercy and love fill your hearts and that you may be drawn to his love as well.  He is there for you, He always has been, it's time to reprogram that conscience......Amen!

Halloween approaches then Thanksgiving then Christmas.....yahoo!

Halloween has never been my favorite holiday, it was when I was a young child.  I loved getting all that candy and then coming home and dumping my bag on my bed, I can still remember my sisters and I trading for the ones we liked the best.  It was such fun and my kids enjoyed this holiday as well.  But as we get older and in my case ancient.....:) we don't see this holiday as something that is of much significance.

Don't get me wrong, I think it is definitely a fun holiday for children, because unlike any other day this is the day they get to pig out on candy and it's ok.  The dark side is that it's all about ghost and witches and well, I just don't like celebrating something that is of an evil nature.  But having said that it is almost upon us, and I can't wait to see my younger grandkids in their chosen outfits this year.

The other holiday after Halloween in Thanksgiving, now that is a special one because on that day we give extra special thanks to our Creator - God for all the blessings we have received throughout the year.  For me it's always large numbers because I can thank him for getting me out of bed for the last 365 days......:)  Seriously, I have so much to be thankful for, nine adorable grandchildren, two handsome and awesome sons who are wonderful fathers, husbands and hard workers. Then there are their wives who are angels to say the least.  My daughter who is my pride and joy with all her talent and sense of humor, this girl makes me laugh sometimes till it hurts.  She has such a spontaneous personality and I love her dearly.  I love all my children and believe God has blessed me beyond measure, then there are my grandkids each and every one of them are special in their own sense of the word.  I pray for God's blessings to pour upon them each and every day.  Then I was gifted with a man who loves me very much - Larry.  He is my friend and confidant.  What else can a person ask for but awesome sisters who I can call or text at anytime of the day and know they are there for me.  Thank you Jesus.

That brings me to Christmas - my favorite.  It's such a wonderful time around here because we usually have snow on the ground and that makes Christmas just a little bit more beautiful. I love the gathering of my family when they can all come over.  I am praying and hoping this year all my children and grandchildren will be here, it will be so special and the memories that will remain in my heart will be priceless.  That to me is all the gift that I will ever need or want.

So, having said that I wanted to share a new hub with all of you.  It's my third one on handmade ornaments to make for Christmas, it's called "Adorable handmade Christmas ornaments".  This hub has links to the other two where I feature  more ornament ideas as well.

I also have a website with a few "free patterns" you may like as well.  It's Artists Website, so be sure to check those out and maybe you can get some ideas on what to make for those special people on your list this year.  When you go to the website, go to the navigation bar on the left and click on "Free patterns & more" to get the PDF files of the patterns, then just click on them and download the files.  Easy!

Until next time - may God's face shine upon you and bless you today and forever!!!!

Some food for thought!

I found this to be very interesting in the fact that there are so many individuals who do not believe in God or Jesus or any existence of a higher power.  I thought about this and was instantly reminded that it is so important how we live our lives here on earth, because one day we will stand in front of our Heavenly Father and give account. 

Let's say you give your heart to Jesus and live a Christian life, then at the end you just die.  Which is the argument you hear from Athiest and non-believers alike.  Well the worst thing that could happen is that you lived a life blessing others, did what was right by following God's law and biblical teachings. You would have impacted more people than if you would have lived a selfish prideful life.  But what if they were wrong?  Then their spirit lives on to meet our Heavenly Father face to face, in the presence of the Creator of the universe?  What then? That is the real question and I hope and pray that there is still time for those who have not yet trusted our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, that they will soon.  For God's amazing grace to come over them, that their hearts will be softened and eyes and ears open to the truth of the gospel.  Let's all keep praying!

Food for thought!!! Blessings to you.

Spending time with family is heart warming........

I spent the last three weekends with family and I want to say that it was the best time ever.  The weekend of August 25th I spent it with my oldest son and his family in Arlington.  I had a wonderful time and really enjoyed all the grandkids and just being there.  I laughed and just loved on them so much.  I am very blessed to say that my oldest son Ken who has 4 awesome children is getting ready to retire from the Navy this year.  He is a pilot and has served our country in the most trying of times after 9/11 and Afghanistan.  We are so proud of him and I continue to thank God for all the protection he has given to my son during those times.  So my time with them was so precious and now my oldest grandson Kenny is getting ready to join the Marines.  I am in awe at how grown and how he is such a wonderful person inside.  He is a hard worker and I just know in my heart that he will be the best Marine ever!!.  Of course the other grandkids in my son's family are also wonderful, and I love them all dearly.  Thank you Jesus for my family and for this awesome job of being a grandma....it's the best.

The following weekend I went and spent time with my daughter Michelle in Seattle.  What a blessing that was.  Her and I spent a lot of time talking and sharing stories of politics and the like.  She took me to church on Sunday to a beautiful old church right in the center of Seattle then we had brunch at a local cafe.  I cooked my fabulous ribs for her that evening and she loved them.  We spent a lot of time just talking about things and her work.  She is a Designer at Amazon and loves it.  She is very thankful to have such a wonderful job while so many are out of work.  That is another blessing from Almighty God which I am so grateful for.  All my children have great jobs and are so blessed beyond measure.

The last weekend which was the weekend of Sept. 8th was the funeral for my brother in law Steve.  It was held at Harborview Park in Everett overlooking the water.  What a gorgeous day it was.  All the boating activity in the background and then sitting there at the funeral services with his picture on the table while the Pastor read scripture was truly a special time.  Steve's friends from Boeing went up and talked about all the pranks Steve was always pulling on his fellow workers.  It was funny and of course sad.  When the Air Force gentleman played taps on the bugle is when I lost it.  It felt like a knife just entered my heart and all those feelings of anger, and hurt come in play because I would never see my dear friend Steve every again.  I am sure it was double that for Marsha my sister in law and my husband Larry.  But all in all it was a time to reflect and remember how beautiful of a person he truly was.  Afterwards we went to Marsha's and had a potluck dinner where we spent time with their friends. 

So this completes my last three weeks, in between I am always creating, writing and just loving Larry.  Blessings to you!

Ever been at the right place where God needs you?

Hello friends,
I am an Avon Representative and deliver my Avon books and products to my very loyal and awesome friends on Tuesday. This Tuesday I met with my girlfriend Carolyn at our local coffee shop and had our mocha and jalapena bagel, which was awesome. We talked about everything that happened in each of our lives and about family all that happened in the past week.  I always cherish this time with her.  She is my best friend from Almighty God and I love her so much.  Anyway, we talked and laughed and talked some more.  When I left there I had a few deliveries of Avon orders to make, which takes me around town.  When I delivered a specific order to a photography shop owner I found myself feeling that God really needed me there.  By this I mean when I walked in the door my friend Ryan was sitting at this computer and with tears in his eyes he was very worried.  So I asked him what was going on.  He proceeded to let me know about his new computer and how he was attempting to retrieve a lot of photographs onto this new computer, and so far it wasn't working. 

Well, at that moment my faith kicked in, and I told him it was going to work, we serve an awesome God and he just needed to remember that.  We chatted for a bit and while we were talking he would look at his computer and then at me, then with a smile on his face, he said it's working, the files are uploading onto the computer.  Praise God is all I had to say.  We had a wonderful conversation and I have to say that my faith in God has been strengthened from this encounter. In the fact, he will place us at the right place when someone needs a little confirmation and reminder of what God can do when we place our trust in him.  I was so encouraged and uplifted that I believe in my heart I was supposed to have been there at the exact moment, only God can create and orchestrate these type of situations and I grateful he can use me anytime he wishes. 

Bless you all and have a wonderful week.......let us keep in our prayers the families of those who lost loved ones at 9/11. Also for the families who had loved ones at the Embassy in Cairo, our heart and prayers go out to each of them as well.