July ADSD Blog Train

Hi all - well I remembered in time, to join the ADSD Blog Train!!! I always remember a wee bit too late.... So I made a brag book with some of the designers mini-kits. There are some great things in this blog train kit!!!

Here is my Brag Book...



You can download it here.

http://beaconscrap.livejournal.com/
http://beckmoorescrapalittle.blogspot.com/
http://nutnbutdezigns.blogspot.com/
http://candystreasures.blogspot.com/
http://cattscrapps.blogspot.com/
http://desertgirl-blog.blogspot.com/
http://foxyladycreation.blogspot.com/
http://www.digicyberscraps.com/
http://digital-keepsakes.blogspot.com/
http://fairydustprincess-magicmaker.blogspot.com/
http://heavenlycrafts.blogspot.com/
http://kikkinkreations.blogspot.com/
http://lindasdreamdesigns.blogspot.com/
http://living4him2.blogspot.com/ you are here!!!
http://magsgraphics.blogspot.com/
http://studio-mamaecha.blogspot.com/
http://mytreasuredscraps.blogspot.com/
http://pinkmaryjane.blogspot.com/
http://pixiemamadesigns.blogspot.com/
http://scrappingwithjen.blogspot.com/
http://themathematiciansassistant.com/

VBS .... busy busy busy

Wow last week was extremely busy with VBS - and this week I have been recouperating... LOL  I was in charge of the 4-5 year olds...  we were one of the biggest classes - 23-25 kids each night....  just imagine that many very energetic kids running around..... LOL

We did have a wonderful week - it was a lot of fun teaching them the marvelous truths found in God's Word!!!  We studied... Abraham and Isaac; King Josiah; Mary and birth of Jesus; Peter; Good Samaritan...  and we went thru the plan of salvation every day as well as play games and do crafts.  Our theme this year was Polar Extreme....  it was fun seeing all those people running around in hats / scarves / winter coats etc in the middle of summer.....

I would like to share with you a simple plan of salvation - it is 5 point so you can use your fingers (we learned this a long time ago from one of our pastors).

1 (thumb pointing down)  We all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God - Romans 3:23

2 (index finger sweep away) We are separated from God. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life - Romans 6:23

3 (middle finger in front of index - Jesus taking our place) substitution - For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but will have eternal life - John 3:16

4 (raise ring finger ) resurrection - Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.  1 Cor 16:3-4

5 (raise pinky) Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.  Acts 16:31

This is a fun way to share the gospel - plus it is easy enough that children can easily learn it.  It is something that can reinforce and teach the truth to all.....

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As you may know my husband is deployed and I have a lot of pictures to scrap of him in uniform from before he left.  I currently have been using Amberbaz' Hooah kit - but I decided the other day to remix my US Army Forever kit - it is NOTHING like it was before..... lol





I have made you a QP....



Download here







Here is my LO....

Does Your Life Have Meaning?

I just love today's verse of the day....

“I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Revelation 21: 2-4)

Do you know if you will be there at this wonderful occurance? What is the condition of your heart? (These are my notes from the last 2 weeks sermons at church. I just wanted to share these with you.)

John 2:23-25 (English Standard Version)

Jesus Knows What Is in Man

²³Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. ²⁴But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people ²⁵and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

Jesus knew what was in their hearts. He knows what is in your heart. Do you truly believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins?

Here are some things to think about...

Do you have a living heart? Are you living for God? Are you sensitive and responsive to God?

Do you have a listening heart? Do you listen and obey the Word of God?

Do you have a transparent heart? Are you hiding from God because of sin? Or are you confessing your sins to God - keeping current?

Do you have a commited heart? Are you hanging in there - even when things get tough?

What does Jesus SEE in your heart?

This message made me want to examine my heart - make sure that I am being a bold witness to Christ and all that He has done and is doing in my life! We need to make sure that we don't fall into the trap of getting "puffed up" with head knowledge - but to apply what we learn and make it heart knowledge - a part of our lives....


If you don't know Jesus as your Saviour, do you know what is in store for you???

Luke 16:19-31 (English Standard Version)

The Rich Man and Lazarus

¹⁹"There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. ²⁰And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, ²¹who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. ²²The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, ²³and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. ²⁴And he called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.' ²⁵But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that
you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like
manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. ²⁶And
besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in
order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and
none may cross from there to us.' ²⁷And he said, 'Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house— ²⁸for I have five brother -so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.' ²⁹But Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.' ³⁰And he said, 'No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' ³¹He said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.'"

We find out from this passage - that hell is a place of constant torment and anguish. There is no hope of escape or relief.... There will be constant agony in suffering. There will be total awareness of what is going on - bodily and emotionally - it will not be total oblivion. Hell is TRUTH (you will KNOW that who God is) discovered too late. You will die in your sins - you will take them with you forever - and pay the penalty of sin.... Hell is the place where GOD is NOT. It is not a place you want to go....

But YOU have the CHOICE - you CHOOSE where you will spend eternity..... God has given you a way out - "For God so loved the world (you) that He gave His only begotten Son (Jesus) that whoever (you) believes in Him, will not perish, but will have everlasting life." (John 3:16) God is NOT willing that anyone should perish - that means YOU - He wants YOU as a part of His Kingdom.

Will you choose to follow God's way - believe in His Son today - before it is too late....

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I have this word art for you - with a Wonderful message...



Download here

Lyme Disease Awareness

Hi all,

My fellow designer at KJOI, Amberbaz wanted to do a Lyme Disease Awareness kit and I decided to join her, as well as several others. When my 2nd oldest son, now 15, was probably bitten by a tick in 2003.  For many years afterwards, we made many trips back and forth to the ER - when he would have huge swelling and rashes.  Thankfully it has now been a long time, some of this is due to him getting antibiotics within 6 weeks of getting bitten.... 

Lyme's Disease Facts...

• About 20,000 people are infected each year in the US.
•  One of the primary symptoms is often a rash that can be pink in the
  center and a deeper red on the surrounding skin, but can vary in
  appearance.
  
• Can have a rash.
• Can have flu-like symptoms.
• Symptoms of LD may resemble other conditions or medical problems.

Here is my freebie for this event....



Download here

Is This Your Life?

There is so much wisdom in the verse for today. (There is so much wisdom in all Scripture verses....)

James 3:17-18

¹⁷But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. ¹⁸And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

God has given His wisdom through HIS Word - we can discover key things that can help us to live good lives....

• Purity - "having no faults; sinless"; we need to live lives that are good, we are "holy" - set apart for God.
• Peaceable - "freedom from disputes"; we need to live lives where we are making peace with others - no discord.
• Gentle - "kindly or tender nature"; we need to live lives that are kind to others - caring, loving - considerate.
• Open to Reason - "willing to yield"; we need to live lives where we don't have to get our own way all the time.
• Full of Mercy - "not getting the punishment that we deserve"; we need to live lives that are compassionate to others - we were forgiven of much - we need to forgive others so much more....
• Full of Good Fruits - we need to live lives that reproduce - are we sharing the love of God with others???
• Impartial - "Free from undue bias"; we need to live lives that is fair, loving towards ALL people - no matter what - this is "unconditional" love in action...
• Sincere - " In accordance with truth"; we need to live lives that are genuine, are we Sunday Christians only - or does our love for God permeate our whole lives?

If we are living a life that reflects these principles - we will have a happy good life. We will be living in peace with others - we will see this righteous living reflected in peace.

I am so thankful that God loves us so much that He gives us principles to live by. Our lives are so much more pleasant when we are considerate of those around us. We CAN live happy productive lives - with God's help.

Do you have God's help??? Do you know that God loved us so much - even in our sinful, rebellious state - that He sent His only Son, Jesus - to die on the cross for ALL of our sins??? God is waiting, with open arms to welcome you back - He greatly desires to have a relationship with you! Do you also know, that Jesus rose from the grave - He no longer is dead - He is a living Savior - He is God over all the universe? He knows and cares what is happening to you.

Run home - to the God who LOVES you so much....

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I have been taking a PSE course at Hummie's World - and I just designed my 1st thing in PSE7....



Download Here

I am having a lot of fun learning PSE7!!! At first, I did not like it at all - there is a lot of difference between PSE and PSP - which I have loved and used for several years. But PSE makes things so much easier for making a LO - no more copying and pasting - you can just drag things into your LO.... I just love it!!! Wait until I go to the next speed crop.... LOL

Here are some of my LOs I have made this week....

These 2 LOs are with Kara Jones' Tristan's Room...





I am looking for very boyish kits.... My son graduates from High School next year - and I need to get busy scrapping his life - so I don't have to do it all at the last minute.... LOL

This is my oldest....



This was for the tutorials at Hummies World - actually all of these LOs are - as I am playing with PSE7.... I recolored this QP by NinaScraps.



This LO is for the Themed Quote Challenge at Hummie's World. I used the TDC collab kit - Cherry Delight. You get a wonderful template for completing this challenge....



I can't wait to use this Template by ScrapsOfCandy!!!



This is our new kitty - I thought the Cherry Delight kit would work great with her coloring...



These last 2 LOs are of my daughter's birthday 1 year ago. I thought Girls Rock! by Heather Watson would work so well with these pics of her playing her new guitar.



Thank you for looking at my LOs - I hope you enjoyed it - and maybe you were inspired to scrap.....

Have a great day!!!

What Does Your Life Look Like???

Hi all,

As I was thinking about this week, it has been a hard one in some ways - but a great one in other ways, I came upon a few thoughts that I would like to share with you....

So what does your life look like? What do other people think when you enter a room / place?

"Oh no, here comes that person that drags others down" - or are you an encourager - are you "giving thanks in everything"?

or

"Oh no, here comes that person who makes fun / insults everyone around" - or are you an encourager - But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved
by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation
through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, 2 Thess 2:13

or

"Oh no, here comes the person who thinks they are the only one who is right" - or are you an encourager - Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." 1 Peter 5:5

Jesus warned us to...

Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." Mt 26:41

We need to be so careful in what we do. Do we bring people down? Or do we lift them up? Do you need an attitude check?

I know I do.... I have been feeling down a bit the past few days. It is hard when you see someone else going down the wrong path - and you want to warn them - but when they don't want to listen... it is so hard. But then, we need to just leave them in God's hands. If we have done our part - then that is what we need to do. (I felt God leading me to talk with this person - and I responded.) But I was reminded this morning, in my prayer time.... in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thess 5:18

So... Thank you God, for bringing to mind, this person that I needed to talk to. I thank You for the strength to talk to this person. I thank you that You LOVE us so much -- that you care about what is happening in each of our lives. I thank you that You are in control - and that you KNOW what is going on. I thank You that You are a GREAT and Awesome GOD!!!

So, what does your life look like? I pray that you can encourage someone today.....

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I have released my 1st CU Grab Bag!!!

I had a lot of fun filling it with lots of goodies - just for you! $25 worth of CU product - 5 unique products for only $5!!! You can find it at my KJOI Store.

Do you like hybrid projects??? How would you like to make this delightful gift bag set?

For a limited time you can get it for free in the KJOI Challenges. Please come join me in this fun challenge. I made mine for a wedding gift - it was a lot of fun!!!

Being Kind to Others

HI all,

The verse for today is one of my favorites....

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, ^{forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Ephesians 4:32}

It is a great verse on how we should treat others.

First we are to be kind to each other.  This is thinking about other's needs.  Being highly concerned with others - being nice to others.  It is treating others with respect, friendship, in a loving manner...

Next, we are to be tenderhearted to others.  Having compassion towards others.  Look at their circumstances and try to understand what they are going through.....

In every caring relationship - we will need to forgive others.  Things happen, we are in a sinful world - we will get on others nerves.  We NEED to have a forgiving heart - remember God forgave us through Jesus Christ of so much more....

If we follow this simple verse - our relationships will be so much happier!   We will be at peace with others.  We will have very meaningful relationships....

The most important part of this verse is to remember what Jesus Christ did for you....

He came to earth as a baby....

He grew to be a man....

He was tempted in all things - but never sinned....

He - the spotless Lamb of God - became the payment for OUR sins.  He willingly died on the cross to save us from the wrath of God.  He became the full payment for us - we can live eternally with God - only because Jesus died in our place. 

Have you believed in this wonderful thing that Jesus - the Son of God - did for you? 

I thank God that He loves us so much.....

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I decided to work on a brag book to go with my Be In Prayer kit....



Here is the 1st two pages I have done....



Download here