It's MOVING DAY

Hi all,

I will no longer be posting here on this blog - I am moving to http://living4him2.com/  I purchased the domain name and I am combining my blogs in one place.  But don't worry - they all have distinct areas!!!  You will also find my former posts and new ones on this NEW and IMPROVED blog!!!  The freebies including the CU Blog Train are there too!!!

To celebrate, I am having a BLOG PARTY - be sure to check it out!!!

KJOI Studios Mothers Day CU Freebies Blog Hop

Hi all - we are doing a CU blog hop for you!  Our theme is for Mother's Day - kind of early, but we want to help you to be ready for it in May....

Please check out each of our blogs - and grab these wonderful CU items....

1. Panda Bear Designs- http://pandabeardesigns.blogspot.com/
2. Katlens Kreations- http://katlen124.blogspot.com/
3. Sandez Creationz- http://sandezcreationz.blogspot.com/
4. Lizard Dau Designs- http://liz-lizarddaudesigns.blogspot.com/
5. Dragons Lair Designs- http://dragonslairdesigns.blogspot.com/
6. Lori Imel- http://living4him2.blogspot.com/
7. Digidesigns by Amberbaz- http://weallhavetostartsomewheredigiscraps.blogspot.com/
8. Designs by Angel- http://scrappingwithangel.blogspot.com/
9. Scrapz 'N Bitz- http://scrapznbitz.blogspot.com/
10. Ayu Ravenwing- http://ayu-dark-dream.net/AyusScrapping/

Here is mine...

 

Download here 

I hope you enjoy this great blog train!!

You Are Loved!

Do you know that you are precious to God?  Do you know that He LOVES YOU?
GOD DOES LOVE YOU!  He sent His only Son Jesus to die on the cross for your sins.  When did He do this - while you are still a sinner.  We did not earn this love, we can do nothing to deserve it.  God did it!  He loves you so much that HE provided a way for you!  Jesus paid the debt for YOUR sin - by dieing on the cross. 

We are so precious to God!  He loves us so much that He wanted to fix this broken relationship with us. 

Have you trusted this truth - that Jesus died for your sin - so that you can know God?  You can be forgiven of your sins.  You can know God's great love for you.  Just believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sin.  He is God's Son - who loved you so much that He was willing to die on the cross for you.  But He did not stay dead - He rose from the dead and is now in heaven preparing a place for us - so that we can live forever with HIM!

I praise God for His great love!!!
____________________________________________________________________________________________
I just realized that I need to do my MONDAY's MOTIVATION

So here is a list of things I need to do...

* Reflect God's LOVE to everyone around me...
* Make some new file folder games
* Finish Quiet Activity Book (3 done)
* Make some Valentines cards
* Do at least 3 LOs
* Have fun with my kids!!!

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8)
____________________________________________________________________________________________
I am so amazed by God's love - how He takes care of us.  We are precious to HIM!  It makes me want to share HIS great LOVE with everyone!!!  This includes my kids.... 

I have been having so much fun creating File Folder Games with my youngest!  My husband and I have been blessed with 9 wonderful children.  Each one of them is precious to us.  They are loved by God!  So how do we treat them?  Do we do everything as parents (Mother's specifically) and nothing for our own families?  We are all busy either making LOs, or designing kits, or taking that special photo...  BUT are we taking the time to do things for and with our kids???

So lately,  I have been making these fun and creative games for my 2yr old.  She is loving that I am making something for her!  I think of her as I am creating these games.  I think of what would appeal to her - what she would enjoy - but yet I am thinking how it will challenge her ever growing / learning mind.  I also homeschool my kids - we will be graduating our 3rd oldest this year!!!

So here is one of the games I have recently made....  Time To Play....



I am having so much fun creating these games from the paper packs / kits that I have made, along with the clipart that I have been purchasing from DigiWebStudios.  It is so much fun producing quality games for my kids to play.  So I have also made them available to you at my store at KJOIs!

After she played the game, I realized I should have added a pocket for the cards...  SO here is a pocket for the cards.  Plus if you are making this for a gift - I have made you a greeting card and envelope.  It is great for any occassion!!!  I hope you enjoy this little freebie - and sample of the work I am doing. 


Download here

The above matching game is about sports - your kids will match the sports item, with the child that is playing that sport.  This is a fun visual discrimination game!!!  I hope you enjoy making this fun game for the wonderful children in your life!!!

What Should Life Be Like?

Hi all - So what should our lives look like?  This passage is really neat - some new things hit me, as I read it today....

19 So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; 20 for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. 22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
26 If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. 27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.". James 1:19-27

vs19-20  Are we really taking the time to really listen to others???  Are we being patient?

vs 21  We are to remove all evil (sin) from our lives, and receive the Word.  Jesus did it all - He paid the price for our disobedience - He died on the cross for OUR sins - so that we can live in HIM!  He SAVED our souls!!!

vs 22  We need to be doing - God's will.  How do you know what HE wants us to do - we need to read HIS Word - daily.  We need to live a life that is pleasing to HIM

vs 23-24  WOW!  Something in these verses just struck me....  the last phrase "goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was".  Does this refer to our sinful nature?  It is not that he forgets what he looks like - but is this a mirror to our soul?  We can take the time to look at what our life really is like.... but then we get busy with life and forget about what we just learned.... 

vs 25  We need to surround ourselves with God's Word - read it daily - listen to it - in song - have it written on the walls of our houses.  We NEED to remember!!!  HIS law is perfect - it gives us freedom!!!  How will we be blessed?  In what we do.  What are we doing?  What God has commanded us to do?

vs 26-27  These verses show us a bit about our everyday life.  1st if our words don't match what we are trying to do - then it is useless.  I have heard that it takes so much more to correct 1 word said in haste....  We need to be careful what we say and how we say it....  We can hurt people so bad by what we say.....  It all goes back to verse 19....

In the Bible times - the orphans and widows were often neglected, they were the ones ignored.  We need to pay attention to those around us - if we are truly listening to others - we will "see" their hurting - we also need to respond..... 

The last phrase - reminds us to be pure....

This passage is so refreshing and a great reminder on how our lives should look.  I pray that my life might reflect Christ in all that I do.  Thank you God for working in me to make me a better reflection....
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

So I missed a lot of days last week - Wednesday I awoke with a migraine that just would not go away....  In fact, the effects have lasted a lot longer.  I am having a hard time concentrating on one thing - or should I say - I am having such a hard time concentrating on one thing - that I cannot multi-task.....  LOL  hard for a Mom with 9 blessings at home....  So it is taking me a lot longer to get things done.... LOL

So I will do Monday's Motivation (of course Bible Time is my 1st activity of the day)

* Make Quiet Activity Book for my youngest - for church & small group  (I have 3 of the 8 "games" finished)
* Homeschool
* Make cards / holders for File Folder Games
* Do at least 3 LOs

So how about a Tuesday Twists???
You will never know what I will have you do....  How about your favorite scrapbook blog / website?  Post in the comments section - with your favorite link and I will give you a $1 gift certificate to my store.  Post a comment with any of my challenges - and I will do the same.  (If you go back thru my posts - please contact me privately - so that I know that you posted a comment in previous posts).  This will be applied to my KJOI store. 

What ARE Your Plans? Are They Flexible?

Hi all - well let's try this again....  it all disappeared as I was working on it....  something went wonky....

But is that true of things in our lives - they don't go as we plan.  We need to learn, especially as parents to go with the flow - be ready to change our plans as needed.  Or we will miss great opportunities to teach our children, or to even meet a need - emotionally or spiritually.

This morning as I was having my quiet time with God, my 2 year old awoke.  She settled down in my lap for awhile, so all was fine.  But after about 5 minutes she became too distracting.  So it was time to change my plans - I know as a Mom of 9 blessings, I need to take care of them.  That is my responsibility - that is my pleasure.  I look at my children as blessings - even when they are driving me crazy at times....  My 2 year old can be hard to keep up with (I will be 46 in Feb) -- and sometimes I think "how am I going to do it" (raising such a young, active toddler) - but then she will give me that look, or a huge hug - and I Praise God for blessing us again!!!

But this got me thinking about life and it's busy-ness....

The Bible tells us....  Matthew 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, this is the main project that Jesus asked for us to do.  Pretty much everything is summed up in this command.  So how are you sharing your Faith in Christ???  Who are you sharing your faith with???  Your neighbors next door, down the street;  people you meet while shopping;  your friends, aquaintences, co-workers, etc???  How about your family???  How about your own children???

Sometimes we are busy doing for everyone else that we forget about discipling / training our children.  They are important ones that God has blessed us with - they are precious to HIM as well as the world around us.  They should be more precious to us - since they are from our own flesh....  I challenge you to take the time to train your children - to share your faith with them.  Let them know why you trusted Christ as Your Saviour!!!

Be sure to do this today, look for an opportunity to talk to your children / family!!!

I Praise You God - for Blessing us with a Wonderful Family!!!


Today is Tuesday's Twists (I just updated the names).....  I challenge you to do a LO - but Journal about your faith / something God has been doing in your life lately.  But, here is the twist - make it as a kids LO.  Write it to your children - explain it so that they understand it....

I will upload mine later - as we are in the middle of school.....  I do things, especially in the beginning of our school day - hanging around if they need help with their math etc....  :)

Here is my LO....

I CAN do it!

Hello - What a glorious morning!!!  God is so good to us!!!

I was reading this section of the Bible this morning and I wanted to share it with you...

Romans 8:28-39  ²⁸ And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. ²⁹ For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. ³⁰ Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. ³¹ What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? ³³ Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ³⁶ As it is written:  “ For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”^{[c] 37} Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

What a powerful passage!!!  Why do we always stop at verse 28???  There are so many verses that POP out at me today.  We can overcome any obstacle that is before us - through Christ!  I am so thankful that God LOVES us so much that He CARES about the details of our lives.  I praise HIM for helping us through everything that we face in our days!  GOD IS SO GOOD!!!
So I have been thinking about this blog and the direction I want to see it go.  I also was thinking about the Memes (I may just change the name of that....)  SO I think I will try and have a digiscrapping goal/ life goal for each day - I will share mine and hopefully motivate you too....

So today is Monday's Motivation....

Life is so busy - not sure I want to write out all that I do during the week.... especially daily  LOL

1.  Spend time with God / share something here
2.  Share some craft inspiration here
3.  Homeschool
4.  KJOI Studios
5.  Scrap a few LOs
6.  Make Hybrid items
7.  Homemaking

The list could go on - and in NO way is that a list by priority (except for the 1st one) LOL  It started off in order, but then many of those things are interspersed.... 

Where is MY Treasure?

“[Treasures in Heaven] "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21)

My eyes have been opened again...''

I was leaning forward to change my daughter's diaper and I started feeling whoozy - kind of like when I have had a panic attack in the past.... SO I knew I needed to get out and get a breath of fresh air.  So I also went into a quiet cool room and discovered a mess.  I almost did not go into that room, because of the mess..... but I knew it was cool and quiet.  The mess was when my daughter was looking for a clean towel the other day  - there was lots of clean sheets etc in the closet now....

Did I actually know where all of these sheets were?  Maybe, maybe not....  To take up the slack, while my hubby was deployed, the kids helped me out a lot....  So now, there are things put in places that I am not so aware of....."

But this also got me thinking about other things....  am I spending too much time with my wheels just spinning?  Where is my focus???  I need to rethink my day - what I do and why I do it....  It is a good thing to think about what we do and why we do it???  Sometimes what started off as a good thing has turned into needless things....

I know one thing....  I want to continue sharing from my heart!!!

Here are some sweet verses I read today.... 

Psalm 65...  By awesome deeds in righteousness you will answer us.; 

Ps 33:4 For the word of the LORD is right,  And all His work is done in truth.

I praise God that He is a GOD of detail!!!

Every Day Living

Yesterday, I wrote and thought about how I need to come to God and remember daily to rest in HIS arms.... 

This morning, as I was awoken early, had my quiet time with God, then went back to sleep - I was wondering what I was going to share with you....  as I was getting ready to write, I was still wondering.... LOL  so I pulled out my devotional book (I had gotten it to help me to write to you - give me ideas etc and it is always great to have someone else to inspire me with God's word as I share with you...) 

Well today's devo was on "Daily Bread", you know from the Lord's Prayer - thanking God for providing our daily bread.  This is so significant to me, as we have been experiencing that ALL coming from God....  Also the devo mentioned how God provided daily Manna when the Israelites were wandering thru the desert.  God knows that we need to come to Him daily....

Without going to God daily - we can get so distracted....  negative things bombard us daily.... things that take us away from God's Truth.... things that discourage us....  things that frighten us....

When we LOOK to the Master, the One who Created it All, Who Holds ALL things together....  we have a HOPE, a REFUGE to turn to!

I thank GOD so much that HE LOVES us so much and that HE CARES about the DETAILS of our lives!!!

“Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” (Ephesians 5:1-2)

The Truth???

Hi all,

This morning as I was reading Psalm 62 - I was reminded many times that God is our REFUGE!!!  This is such a good reminder - I am praying that I can remember this fact every day..... 

Yesterday was a bit rough, mostly hormonal - I have  been perimenopausal for about 6 years now and things are happening now....  So I have to deal with emotional ups and downs....  plus hot flashes etc....  But there are always going to be things that distract us from the TRUTH.  What is the truth....

John 8:32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

John 14:6  Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Jesus is the TRUTH!  We need to rest in HIM - rest in the REFUGE that HE alone can bring.

Well this morning I just received some not so good news, my father is having a lot of problems and they discovered Shingles.  In the course of some treatment, he developed some serious problems yesterday....  BUT....  I am resting in the knowledge that GOD IS MY REFUGE!!!

Resolute to Choose Abunant Life

Hi all,

What a great day! I started my morning off right by spending time with GOD!!! My goal this year is to grow stronger in the LORD and not get so distracted....

Recently, I purchased the book "Lies Woman Believe", to work with a friend through it. But when I started reading through it, plus through a book we were doing in our cell group - I realized that I have a lot of misconceptions as well..... lies that have seeped in.....

A verse that struck me this morning is...

John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

The question was, Am I living an abundant life? Or am I just getting by? WOW!!! Who wants us to fail? Then enemey / thief. Jesus came to give us life - but more specific, an abundant life..... WOW!!! I don't know about you, but I NEED to draw more on HIM who WILL give me this abundance.

I immediately started thinking about the "Armor of God"....

10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age,[c] against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplation for all the saints— 19 and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. Ephesians 6:10-20

We need to be prepared - spending time every day with God - reading & studying HIS Word, praying. Also we should surround ourselves with little reminders of God's Power (verses, music, etc)
Here is a freebie I would like to share with you. To help you to remember to draw on God's strength....

Download here

I pray that this bookmark blesses you!!!