Give Away, Give Away

For all you giveaway fans. Here's one you'll love. This one is from simplemom.net. I love her posts and make sure you enter soon!

Here's what she's giving away.I know. Please try to contain yourself. It has a TON of features you can check out over at simplemom. Thanks for letting us know about this one friends!

On a side note let me tell you how helpful simplemom.net has been. I love getting organizing and simple life advice and I can tell you she's where it at. Cheers to simplicity that will live forever!

The Rich Young Ruler

In light of some things I have been learning and been challenged with I decided today to post a song that has been on my mind.... a lot. This is a song by Derek Webb of Cadmen's Call. It's on the album Mockingbird. He is a great artists and he talks about some of the things I have been thinking on and thinking on doing! I hope it inspires you as it has me. You can listen on i-tunes.



Lyrics to Rich Young Ruler :
(vs. 1)
poverty is so hard to see
when it's only on your tv and twenty miles across town
where we're all living so good
that we moved out of Jesus' neighborhood
where he's hungry and not feeling so good
from going through our trash
he says, more than just your cash and coin
i want your time, i want your voice
i want the things you just can't give me

(vs. 2)
so what must we do
here in the west we want to follow you
we speak the language and we keep all the rules
even a few we made up
come on and follow me
but sell your house, sell your suv
sell your stocks, sell your security
and give it to the poor
what is this, hey what's the deal
i don't sleep around and i don't steal
i want the things you just can't give me

(bridge)
because what you do to the least of these
my brother's, you have done it to me
because i want the things you just can't give me

Go out and SERVE SOMEONE!

Recently we have been learning a lot about what Jesus requires of us to follow Him. We will always rely on faith alone, by grace alone, in Christ alone but what next? Try to live a moral life that even people who don't follow Jesus can do? Survey says, "not quite." I have been pondering over the hard questions in my won Christian walk. Questions like what doe sit mean in Luke 14:33 when Jesus says, "In the same way (taken from the previous verses in context), any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple." Ummmmmmm most of the time we try to skip over these parts of God's Word and say well surely Jesus is not asking these men to give up EVERYTHING and follow him. Is He? Would He not have said something different if that's what He meant? Sooooooo here's what I have surmised as I have been asking the Holy Spirit to lead me. I have been reading a book about C.T. Studd and have been very encouraged and challenged to do some things I have never done. Most of the time, I have been so enthrawled with the work of ministry that I have not done much ministering. So, I have made a weekly commitment to serve the Hispanic community each Sunday in ESL (English as a Second Language) and become the children's coordinator. I LOVE children and God has allowed me to be a part of some wonderful children's lives and while I don't want to de-value that, I know my time spent in Latin American countries can serve me well. God allowed me to go to those places and see what I have seen to bring Him glory. I feel the Spirit leading me in this way. Woo hoo! This will add 'one more thing' to my schedule but let's be honest. What would I spend that time on otherwise? Oh wait, myself. If my life is exausted by the love I have for Christ in serving the world for Him then so be it. I want to give myself wholeheartedly to this mission of making disciples of all nations and showing the Love of Christ. So hold me to it! Whew. I feel better now that I got that out!

Can I Be Honest?

OK, I can't sleep tonight because I'm thinking of the 500 things I need to do but in stead of doing any of them I decided to blog. Ahhhh the freedom we have. So I thought I would take a minute to blog about my favorite celebrity. MARTHA. She's doing a fun contest on her blog about bloggers. Check her out and give me a shout out if you wouldn't mind. You can post about her too so go take a look see.
I also just saw Martha's section in Wal-Mart the other day (I avoid Michael's at all costs knowing her stuff is there). I just went and walked through the isle for about 20 minutes. It's shameless but I'm such a fan. It's like she know exactly what I like or something.

A Whole Lotta Scrapping Could be Going On!

Here it is friends. I just found a new blog that I REALLY like. It's called Vanilla Joy. They are giving away a fantastic Minibox by The Original Scrapbox. (Applause now!)


I have to say with Vanilla Joy's nice colors and totally helpful posts I'll be adding this to my blog reader soon. By the way, I must have been living under a rock but I just found out what RSS is from On Simplicty and I totaly love it. I can read all my favorite blogs, like Vanilla Joy, and get to customize the read list.


Ok, so back to the minibox. It's ABSOLUTELY fantastic. It's like an organizer's dream mixed with an artistic scapbookers. I really like this one and although I ususally don't participate in contests like this I could REALLY use this in the good old craft room. So here's ot hoping I'm chosen for the top 20! Thanks Vanilla Joy!

Some Words of Wisdom

Hello again. I was reading a new article from a newly found blog and I thought the words were so insightful and simple so I decided to post it here. Although I believe we should not just 'fly solo' but fly to the flight plan of Christ but it's a good reminder anyway of where we DON'T find our worth. It's only in Christ that we can find any worth or satisfaction.

On Simplicity

Post: September 16th, 2008

I’m way more knowledgeable than the average person on a couple of pretty arcane topics. (Doesn’t everyone?) Does that impress you?

No? Well, in that case why don’t you come to my house and check out the artistically displayed books on these random subjects. Are you impressed now?

No? Well, crap. See, a bit of my identity is tied up people seeing those signifiers and thinking I’m well-educated and culturally sophisticated.

For me, these books are a form of social proof. They attempt tell the world who I am and why I deserve to be listened to in the absence of any other information. The problem is, to the rest of the world I’m intent on impressing, they’re just books. No one reads the messages that I assume they’re sending. Their only true purpose at this point is to comfort me and prop up my self-esteem.

The Message Your Stuff Is (Or Isn’t) Sending

If you’re surrounded by stuff with the sole purpose of conveying a message to the world about your worth, it’s time to rethink the true value of those items. These things don’t show our imagined audience anything. In fact, they may even hinder us from actually creating the impression we wish to.

Instead of actually going out and learning new things and being genuinely interesting, I use these social proofs as a crutch and don’t bother to learn new things that would actually be interesting. Instead of talking to people and engaging with them, I’m counting on inanimate objects to tell the world my story. How stupid is that?

The Joy of Flying Solo


In essence, the concept I’m talking about is flying without a net. Could you go into the world without any evidence of your talents or success and be confident that people would be able to recognize who “you” are? If not, it’s time to go out and become that person you want the world to see. Stop hiding behind books, playlists, friend counts, and designer labels. Because in the end, your jeans don’t make your sassy, your books don’t make you smart, and your friend count doesn’t make you popular. They’re just meager byproducts of you.

Try flying without a net, and discover that your own wings take you farther and higher than any social proof ever could.

photo credit: ClevelandSGS

photo credit: Photo_Mind

A New Goal

On the road to a healthier me there are really two goals that I am working toward. The first is to lose 20 lbs before going to Sudan and Uganda with my sweet husband in November. The second is to run a 10k (what the crap am I thinking?) October 2009 in race for the cure.

I have been working out at least 3 times a week for the past 3 weeks. I have to admit I have been a bit discouraged with my results. In the first two weeks I didn't lose even 1 pound! Booooooo! But I weighed in at the beginning of this week #3 and to my little heart's delight...score 2 lbs. gone! I want just 2 lbs a week so I don't think my goal is unrealistic it has just taken a while for my body to realize what is going on. And can I tell you I feel GREAT. At first I felt crummy. Like ym body was wondering what in the world was going on. Isn't that sad but now I'm feeling great. I really do have lots of energy and while I'm not like a chiuaua on crack I'm doing pretty well I think.

Let me share with you some reasons for going down this road to health. First,to let my body know who is boss and second, to be at a health that if the Lord told me to go anywhere in the world today that I would be able to obey in my heart, mind and (you guessed it) body immediately.

This is a big step for me in radical obedience to Christ. I know I can make it and I have great friends who are backing me up and holding me accountable! Praise God for the body of Christ.

Next time you hear from me I should be a little thinner, healthier and lighter! Until then.....