1000 gifts and then some...

Continuing the count - at least the written count (#168- #180)

and remembering gifts given throughout time:

The souls who have fought for the ideals of this great country - throughout time...

Sitting on the breeze way
with the family
because the electricity went out during the severe storms last Tuesday...



Hearing the tornado sirens go off in the distance and thanking God
that it is only our comfort
temporarily compromised...


Eating up the ice cream from the freezer all in one sitting since it was going to just melt anyway!

Listening to Michael's "opera metal rock" while watching the fireflies flit,

and eventually watching the fireflies tuck themselves in for the night...

Don't you wonder why they go to sleep when the sun totally disappears?

4 days of rest for the husband...

Enjoying tweener "sleeping in" and remembering those days of my own!

Early rising to go volunteer at the Equine Therapy Center...

and husband having as much of a good time as tweener!

Prayers for health from a son far away...

and our entire family does enjoy exceptional health for our ages!

Wind in grass, childhood memories softly emerging...a young girl, playing with grass heads gone to seed, calling them "fox tails" because of the reddish tint of the head, 

and because of the soft brush of them over the cheeks....

that Texas is actually having a spring this year!

Fresh, cool air...

God's grace on it all...

Joining other grateful and gracious souls at Ann's:

 

Sneak Peak Friday...Eternal Words Tutorial

I am so glad that we have Friday "deadlines" to help motivate me sometimes!  Creating the video tutorial was quite the challenge!  But it is complete (yay), I sound like my sister, my hand is in the way some of the time (I will work on adjusting the camera angle even more for next time), and you have almost 76 minutes of video to watch!

Supply list:

10 inch by 10 inch gallery wrapped, pre-primed canvas
Paints: titanium white; light blue; carmine; and black
Brushes:  #4 fan; #6 filbert; #6 round; #3/0 round; 5/8" flat
Black water color pencil
Misc...(you can use these or something of your choosing): sponge; cotton swabs; paper towels
Pre-printed words in the font of your choice

Optional - workable fixative
Finish - varnish of your choice

Videos (Links to You-Tube)
Parts 1 and 2 - 1st steps on the background
Parts 3 and 4 - adding red to the background and 
                        painting large words
Part 5 -  adding the first layer of "cross-hatch"
Part 6 - adding the white layer of "cross-hatch"
Part 7 -  adding back in more red with "cross-
                  hatch" and more work on word letters
Part 8 -  Finishing the letters, adding more text 
                   and more red
Part 9 - tweaking, tweaking, tweaking
Part 10 - paint splatters
Part 11 - tweaking and text words finish

If you have trouble viewing, please leave a comment - and I will make sure you can see them!

Click here to join with other creatives and Jennifer at StudioJRU

The Beauty of Holiness - Part 6

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

Continuing on with exploring "the Beauty of Holiness"...
looking at the second part of Psalm 29:2:

In (or with) the beauty of holiness: בהדרת קדש behadrath kodesh, "the beautiful garments of holiness."

Beauty:  this word means "adornment, ornament, glory, holy ornaments, garments worn at solemn
              festivals (but not priestly garments).


Holiness:  "to be set apart as sacred and unique"


In its fullness, the verse could read:

"Bow before Him, let your very breath, your every breath, testify of Him in total acceptance and awareness of the adornment, ornamentation, the holy weightiness (glory), holy accessories, and festal garments - all that is ours because of being set apart as sacred and unique"


Matthew Henry's Commentery explains it this way:

"Give him your crowns; let them be laid at his feet; give him your sceptres, your swords, your keys, put all into his hand, that you, in the use of them, may be to him for a name and a praise."

And here, is it possible to list your crowns, your sceptres, your swords, your keys?  Just so we can give them back to Him, and also use them to be for His a name and a praise?  I know I must go and research - I know my swords, my key(s), where to find out about my crowns, but I had never considered sceptres before!  (This perhaps could be another post!) But this I can do:

bow            in worship
breathe      uttering the unutterable Holy Name
be               beautiful in what He has bestowed

            and in so doing we

bless           Him, ourselves, and those around us

And I followed a link to this song just yesterday...a beautiful leading into a quiet time 

of bowing, breathing, being and blessing...

The Song of the Beautiful - by Christy Nockels
(You-tube removed the video however)

Joining with Tiffini at Word Women Wednesdays

and

Emily at Imperfect Prose

1000 gifts and then some...

Continuing the count - at least the written count (#163- #167)

and remembering gifts given through out time:



it is still mostly cool at the end of May in Texas

Thunder in the heavens (as I write!)

The twinkling dance of fireflies
on a muggy evening
(reminding me that sometimes God's Word is just
like this:    a beautiful surprising glimmer 
that fades quickly in the darkness 
softly enveloping me)



Celebrating the Lord's Supper with the church family

Pierre the cat returning home after a full night of heavy rain and thundershowers

(more firefly photos here - beautiful!)

The following was the song sung in Hallmark's movie "The Shunning"


Another song about fireflies:
"I get a thousand hugs from ten thousand lightning bugs teaching me to dance" -love it!


Owl City's official video of "Fireflies" -

Joining other grateful and gracious souls at Ann's:

 

Sneak Peek Friday - New Eternal Words painting + tutorial coming

New "Eternal Words" painting...

drum roll, please...: )

A few minor adjustments and it will be finished!  The small words are from 1 Corinthians 13...

This canvas is the one that you will follow me through in the (put on the info-mercial voice) "upcoming, soon to be released, long promised, technique tutorial" due to be released next week...LOL!

I am planning to perhaps even have it ready for next week's sneak peek!

Here is another look at the first two "Eternal Words"...
I actually have started re-working "Faith" a little - it was just a little too busy..

Click below to

Join with other creatives at Jennifer's 

Sneak Peek Fridays at StudioJRU

The Beauty of Holiness....part 5

Beginning with Selah time (part 4 here), the exploration of this theme - The Beauty of Holiness - has entered its midpoint.  We have looked at scriptures describing the beauty of the heavenly realm, we have seen the beauty evident in a fallen creation, we have documented the beauty within ourselves, we have looked at the hope for resurrection beauty coming from seeds of dark, hard places...and we paused to let it all sink in.

Now, we will look at the actual definitions of the words in this phrase from Psalm 29:2:

Worship the Lord in the Beauty of Holiness. 

Worship:  The word translated "worship" here is the Hebrew word "shachah " which literally means
                 to "bow down"  (There are actually at least 7 different words translated as "worship", each

                 indicates a different posture or action.)

To bow our head to worship is the exact opposite of having "a stiff neck" which is always a figure of speech for having the kind of pride that says "I don't need the Lord or His help".  Bowing shows submission to the one bowed to...how are you bowing in your heart, with your head, or with your entire being today?

the Lord:  The unutterable Name of God is translated "the Lord"...I love this thought by Rabbi 

                 Lawrence Kushner and retold on this blog in detail (and it was also referenced in Ann
                 Voskamp's site)...but below I have summarized the main point in the article:

The letters of the Name of God in Hebrew are YOD, HAY, VAV, and HAY. They are frequently mispronounced as “Yahveh.” But in truth they are unutterable. Not because of the holiness they evoke, but because they are all vowels and you cannot pronounce all the vowels at once without risking respiratory injury...This word is the sound of breathing. The holiest Name in the world, the Name of the Creator, is the sound of your own breathing.

Breathing while bowing...remembering He is the source of all life, of this life that I am now living...even if I don't understand or don't like aspects of it.  Ask: "Are my breaths deep and rhythmic, indicating peace and an attitude of patient waiting or calm receiving?" or "Are my breaths shallow and rapid, indicating anxiety or fear or worry or an uncertainty of this relationship between Creator and the created?"

Today I am checking myself...and you? 

(More definitions next week!)









Joining with Tiffini at Word Women Wednesdays
and
Emily at Imperfect Prose

1000 gifts and then some...

Continuing the count - at least the written count (#146- #162)

and remembering gifts given through out time:

this crazy Texas weather!  Cold in the middle of May!

another birthday gathering

playing in the fountains at the park, even in the cool temperatures

tweener girls, giggling and delighting in each others' joy

the gift that kept on giving (thanks Jordan)

Reminding me of the Gift that keeps on giving!

the robot kit! (thanks Sophia) just what she wanted!

 powerball maker - another gift in the science category (thanks Mimi and Bennie)

and all the girls gave a gift that was exactly keeping with dear daughter's personality and likes...crafting, science, Claire's, and collections - *sigh* - wonderful!

cupcake cakes from Wal-Mart - birthday cake ice cream! - hoops and yo-yo balloons and cards - conversation with adults! - for school today, doing "science" and "home-ec" as an opportunity (excuse) to continue working with all the gifts! - life-group with friends - memorizing scripture together (so fun!) leading to - in depth discussions at home with the Word open! -

enjoying the life He gave us to live!

Joining other grateful and gracious souls at Ann's:

 

1000 gifts and then some...

Continuing the count - at least the written count (#139- #145) -

and remembering gifts given through out time:

sharing with my mother over the miles between us
(treasuring the time now and recognizing the measure is becoming smaller)

Getting taken out to eat - TWICE!

Going to the matinee
("Thor" is great - action for the guys with just the right amount of romance for us girls!)

Tweener recognizing the honor and power of courtship

A generous husband
(in patience, time, finances, overlooking my imperfections, honoring me, blessing me)

Finding books at the bookfair that have captured the entire family's imagination!  As powerful as the Chronicles of Narnia

check them out here:  kingdomseries.com

children at the bookfair with swords slung over their backs...openly declaring their desire to be "Knights of the Code"

Joining other grateful and gracious souls at Ann's:
 

Sneak Peak Friday...Write the Vision!

I have been busy this week plunging into creating the website for the vision...

the above is a little "Sneak Peek" covering what the future holds!

and working on the technique tutorial...

we went to our area's homeschool bookfair - that was totally fun and exhausting...

Linking with other creatives at Studio JRU

The Beauty of Holiness....part 4

Isn't it interesting that when you are being led of the Lord, He puts the same topic before you often and in many sweet ways?  This past week was like that...and this week's post is a collection of what has come across my path as I visit friends on the internet!  And as I was preparing this, the Spirit whispered "I just want people to take a Selah moment; to pause and think about this; to soak in My ideas of beauty"...

If you are short on time, I highly recommend to read number 1 and number 3!

1.  First up, from Jen Price of I Believe In Love...her words, under her photo, in four lines say the Beauty post of last week...(she gave me permission to re-post this - so full of grace)...

dream a little dream

cast aside fear

plant a seed

watch it grow

2.  Next up:
Cloverton's "Take Me Into Beautiful" song...found through my friend Paulette Insall's sharing it on her blog...she has just launched a new creative class titled "Divine Romance" - teaching how to recognize the connection to the Creator when creating!

3.  If you read anything this week...read Joybird's post about her post-Lenten thoughts and God's ways being wrought in her heart...someone in the midst of His hand molding the Beauty of Holiness....

4.  And finally a great video whose title captured me:

The Beauty of Different: Is Everyone REALLY Beautiful?

Linking with Tiffini at the House of Belonging

and

Linking with Emily and other imperfects at Imperfect Prose

1000 gifts and then some...

Continuing the count - at least the written count (#128- #138) -

and remembering gifts given through out time:

sweet daughter's 10th birthday!

family togetherness at our favorite birthday restaurant

working with family to clean up the yard area behind the mailbox -

(it looks so good when we come up the drive way now)

working hard and then going into town to get shaved ice

(almost 100 degrees on the last day of April!)

THEN

turning the heater on in May!

(loving this crazy Texas weather!)

  

enough rain to end the burn bans in the county

(maybe now we can get our pile of dead branches which has grown to the size of a small house!)

the royal wedding

clinging to God's hand through a rough patch last week

dear husband who listened as tears spilled...

gaining spirit strength as I
connect to Him in prayer

winding yarn balls

Joining other grateful and gracious souls at Ann's: