Blessed

 

Can you believe it? September is here already!

It's been said a million times but let me say it again - where does the time go?!?

 

Obviously I've continued to maintain a status of blogging irregularly, and not doing my regular columns like before. I hope y'all understand my reasons for this. Time is precious to me and I want to make sure I spend it the best way I can. Blogging just for fun doesn't fit in that plan anymore sadly.

 

So please try to understand. I love y'all readers to death, and I hate to neglect this whole thing but "for everything there is a season."

 

This season of my life, I'm just trying to take advantage of the blessing God has bestowed abundantly on me, and use it to bless others in return.

 

Ways I am trying to do this:

• By spending quality time with my family/brothers/parents.
• Trying to help with projects and endeavors at church.
• Finishing the projects I've started, musically, writing-wise and film so that others might enjoy the finished products and be pointed to God.
• Learn as much as I can about the world God's created, and His Word, so I can once again be a blessing to others with knowledge and wisdom to share.

So yeah. These things alone take up plenty of time, and I don't even spend enough time on them as I'd like sometimes. a lot of the time.

This is another of those random ramblings posts. In other news, I cleaned my room and decluttered a number of things I didn't need. Above is my renovated desk bulletin board. Doesn't it look fabulous?

 

 

 

Also, I was notified that I won a writerly survival box giveaway from Meghan at her blog Every Good Word! Today, the package came and it was so exciting. I ran out there at 10:30 PM to retrieve the mail and there it was - this big, fabulous box. (Couldn't get the mail earlier because I was out all day with my lovely grandma, aunt and mother on a shopping trip a couple hours south in snowbird/tourist land!)

 

The box included a lovely handwritten note from Meghan, a set of mechanical pencils, pens, a planning book, notebook, issues of The Writer magazine, and two writing related books!! Not to mention a pack of M&M's, suh-weeeeet - overall, the collection equals perfection!

 

I can't wait to read these! Especially that "What Would Your Character Do". *grins*

 

 

OTHER delightful news: on Sunday, we got the chance to visit some wonderful, incredibly sweet friends of ours from out of state. We'd not seen them in about a year!!

 

I love these people. They're like family to me. Everyone has grown up so much though!! It's so immensely hard to believe. I feel so short - as you can see in these two pictures above, I'm not the tallest girl in the bunch here anymore, like the old days. It's scary when you're 5'8" and that is short, next to your friends. Eeek. And I liked being the tallest. *sniff*

 

Our two families all together. This is quite possibly my favorite picture of 2013 so far. I think I shall insist upon it being printed, framed and hung in some well-noticed spot in our house, okay? Very RARELY do any big group pictures we take result in such a good photo overall. We'll typically have somebody making a face, not looking at the camera, or the photo is out focus. It's hard getting the perfect picture when you have a bunch of kids in the family. So. It's really quite amazing that, this, only the SECOND attempt, turned out so fantastic! We're even slightly color coordinated.

 

Okay, okay,  I'll stop bragging on this and quit yacking. (In conclusion, I was so thankful for this visit, and it was such a refreshing time of fellowship and fun. Praise God for sweet brothers and sisters in Christ!)

 

This week has been good. To think of it, so has this whole year.

 

And the best is still yet to come.

 

 

Soli Deo Gloria,



Life Is A Balance

 

I don't know about y'all, but lately my life has been full of reminders.

 

Reminders of how precious time is, and how little of it there really is. Reminders that my childhood is slipping away; and that soon adulthood shall be at my door, beckoning me into its world.

 

This isn't a bad thing., no not at all. Sometimes however I let it drag me down.

I mean, seriously...the time passes so ridiculously quick, does it not?! If you think on it too much it can get you in a mindset of serious depression.

 

If you think on it too much.

And forget to be thankful for the days you've already been blessed with.

 

 

Something else that's been on my heart lately has been the fact that so easily, things in life can get out of balance.

 

One particular activity takes center stage while more important things slip to the back burner.

 

Priorities get misplaced and suddenly you're wasting time on something completely NOT on the schedule.

Unfortunately, it happens oh-so-easily. Without even thinking about it, I manage to do exactly what I

'preach against', so to speak.

 

Lately, I'll admit that I've struggled with misplaced priorities. I've gotten on Facebook and spent way too long there - whether it be chatting with friends, commenting on other peoples' posts or even just scrolling the newsfeed. I've given it too many of my hours, and for what outcome? How will spending so much time on social networking sites benefit me - or others - in the eternity to come?

 

When I spend too much time "connecting" on Facebook, what better, more fruitful activities could I be doing instead?

 

I've also been considering how much time I spend blogging. I currently own four different blogs, and contribute regularly to at least two of them. This has occupied a good portion of my time as well. At least with blogging, I've told myself, I can see visible end-products. I can hope that my posts have touched y'all's hearts and pointed you to the Savior. I can hope that I was able to pass on useful information which might benefit you readers.

 

Still.

 

Which is more important - blogging about God, or actually spending time with Him?

 

Please note - I aim not to condemn anything or anyone, but only to raise some heartfelt questions.

 

If I were to say nothing else but a few more words, I'd say this: Life is a balance.

Everything we do, every choice we make - it's all about balance. You can upset the balance by misplacing priorities and putting important things on the back burner while more trivial items get center stage; or, you can maintain proper balance by making sure the more vital things are accomplished first. And if these things do get accomplished first, everything else will fall into place.

 

Once, several years ago, I was in a season of almost-too-abundant (wait...who am I kidding? My whole life has been way-too-abundantly blessed!!) blessing and I puzzled over why things were that way. Why had God given me such favor?

My mom gave me an interesting answer. "Because you've been putting Him first in your life". (paraphrased)

 

I still believe that all my years have been blessed incredibly beyond what I deserve. I do not exaggerate when I say incredibly blessed. It's just truth plain as that.

However, some days you feel the presence of God more than others. There were days when I felt His presence so incredibly often. I had joy that was indescribable. Sure, I had days when I fell out of whack and didn't give Him the time He deserved, but overall that joy was immense and oh-so-wonderful.

 

I still experience this joy now, but sometimes I wonder if I am subtly pushing my Creator away by the things I do - or don't do - in my days. The choices I make for how I spend my time affect my relationship with Christ. My choices affect my future.

 

Choices are so important. And it's all the more vital that we make the right ones. ANYTHING can be overdone, or had too much time/energy/thought put into it. Anything can be placed out of balanced, prioritized wrongly. Anything that is, besides God and His Word.

So, I know this was a rambling kind of post. Hopefully it wasn't boring or preachy-sounding to you. I have just had these thoughts on my mind and felt led to share them with y'all.

 

On a lighter note, summer is here and I can't wait to go to the beach in a few weeks. Above is a collage of photos from 4-5 years ago at our beach hotel we visit every year for our annual family reunion.

 

This one (yes, I edited it and put a filter on it *grins sheepishly*) was from 3 years ago.

 

Am I the only one who is loving this jumping-in-photos thing? My brothers and I did the whole shebang before it even got popular, as evident above. ^_^ I hope we can take some more fun jumping pictures this year too.

 

What are you looking forward to about summer?

 

Soli Deo gloria,

In Which I Retrieved The Long-Lost Colored Pencils...

 How many of y'all like to draw or sketch?

Personally, I take great pleasure in creating art...of various forms. Whether it be by musical means, by words in my written works, or by using pencil and pen on a piece of blank paper, it is a thoroughly satisfying pastime. 

Mostly I do black and white pencil sketches, some of which you can see by clicking my Art & Illustration page on the top tab of this blog. I used to do a lot more colored pencil work, but lately, it has rather intimidated me and I've been too lazy to try it again; so I've stuck to plain ol' black and white. Which is fine, because I love b/w drawings in general. But God did create a world of color, so it only makes sense that one should use it at some point, does it not? 

So, the other day, I sat down quite at random and decided to retrieve the long-forgotten and long-unused Prismacolor colored pencils I'd used so often, so long ago in my earlier days. By the way, if you ever are looking to get a set of nice, high quality pencils these are definitely my recommendation! They lay down the color so well and the quality is evident immediately. They're a little on the pricier side by so worth it. I have a set of their regular colored pencils, their VeriThin colored pencils, and some of their markers. 

These photos constitute the finished product of my work. (Even though I can never seem to capture my art completely in the original form on camera, no matter what I try!) 

For using mediums I'd not touched for at least a year and a half, I'm pretty happy with this drawing. I know it has a lot of things which could be improved (let me know if you have some honest advice on how to do this!)  but I guess that's the case with just about anything one does, isn't it?

SO. I'd love to hear what you thought of this! And, like I said, if you have any ideas or tips on improvement of future colored pencil art, I'd love to hear it!

Be on the lookout for more review posts coming soon... there should be another one probably this Saturday or Friday.

OH, and before I forget, let me tell you about today's praise report!! I got my accordion fixed! A wonderful lady named Rose drove up two hours just to help me get the job done. I'm so thankful! Praise be to God for His provision and blessings which never cease!! He is so good!! Another answered prayer. Never doubt His planning because He knows exactly what He's doing!!

Hope y'all are having as blessed a day as I am!

Nothing Left to Say

(Taken when I was 14- Sorry for a random, old picture, I'd upload something more recent and exciting except Blogger won't let me upload new photos for some reason. Grr....)

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I keep falling, I keep falling down/If you could only save me, I'm drowning in the waters of my soul/I'm giving up, I'm giving up, hey hey, giving up now.

Imagine Dragons' song "Nothing Left to Say" has really been hitting home to me in my life today. You know how some days go really well, others go simply awesome and, sometimes, you get a day that's about one degree away from utter perfection? I'd love to tell you that today I experienced one of those days.

But that would be lying.

Today was actually the worst day I've had this year. I don't know why exactly and the reasons I have figured I need not go into detail with. But I truly have been "falling down, drowning in the waters of my soul."

Without God, this could be true for every day of our lives. It's only when I get off track from His will that I find myself in this situation, drowning. I know that I've been doing some things which are not what He would want me to be doing, so I can only blame myself.

Do you ever feel like you've confessed to God the same sin literally hundreds upon hundreds of times? This is another thing I've been struggling with, and if not dealt with properly, it can eventually lead to drowning.

I've come to the position and conclusion that as the song says, it's true. There's nothing left to say.

The Lord didn't save me because of what I did, but what He did.

When I ask for forgiveness of my sins, He forgives me because His mercy is never-ending, not because of my mere human words or what I do to try and prove myself.

There's nothing left to say.

You just have to surrender to God, admit you were wrong and thank Him for His ever-so-abundant mercies. That's all. You don't need to go into lengthy detail, just ask His forgiveness, and mean it.

Ask Him to help you repent, and He will. But you have to LET Him. This is very challenging in itself.

And here's where we come to letting go, giving up.

"I'm giving up, giving up, hey hey, giving up now."

Give up those emotions of hatred, anger, resentment, bitterness, heartbreak, whatever they may be.

Give them up entirely. Don't let any smidgen remain in your soul. Let Him take them away, wipe your slate clean.

There's nothing left to say.

Another Year, Another Crazy Adventure

(Adam on his and Andrew's birthday while we were at a local restaurant a couple weeks ago in December)

TWENTY-THIRTEEN. Now I will have to get used to saying that. As a friend declared on Facebook, "I barely had gotten used to saying 2012!" With every closing of a year, I always tend to focus on all the things I failed to accomplish that year.  But, as our pastor reminded us last Sunday, instead of dwelling on what you didn't get accomplished, focus on the many ways God blessed you, and the many things you did accomplish.

I can truly say that this year was a blessed one. Blessed far beyond my deserving. I am constantly amazed at how the Lord proves His goodness and mercy to me. Sometimes, it seems almost too good to be true.

So. Today I thought I'd share some highlights and things I'm thankful for, from good ol' twenty-twelve.

1. The opportunity to remain home schooled, and with my family here in the wonderful, beautiful countryside of North Florida. The continuing opportunities to spend time with my hilarious, sweet little brothers, my lovely role model mother and hard-working role model father. 

2. The opportunities we've had to travel to different places together. We got to go to Washington D.C. on a family road trip for one of my dad's conferences, and visit many historical sites and museums, including the National Air and Space Museum, in which the photo above was taken.

(Luke on his 6th birthday)

3. I've been able to babysit a ton this year, not only for my family but a paid job for some local kids which lasted several months and was an excellent way to bring in some money...and gain TONS of valuable stories and experience!!

(We had a really fun, crazy sleepover full of tea, chocolate, hair styling and foot massages!)

4. Got to visit with precious, beloved friends from out of state, the Caliguires. Love that family and it was so good to get to see them two different times this year!

(It was totally a surprise visit...everybody managed to keep it a secret from me until they got here...and keeping secrets from me is typically very difficult!)

(The second time the C's came down, in April. Here are us, them, the Floods and DeLucas all together in front of our church.)

(Daddy speaking at the ASGA conference in LA)

5. Got to accompany my dad on more ASGA conference trips across the country. Got to visit Boston, MA for the very first time, as well as Los Angeles, CA. My very first trip going to the west coast! Among other trips, also got to go to NYC, Orlando, and South FL as well as Jacksonville.

(Daddy and I in Boston at the U.S.S. Constitution)

(NYC!)

(Mom, Me, and Mammy in Jax)

(The boys and I in Jax)

(Me in front of one of my favorite paintings at the National Gallery of Art in DC)

(Southern Son playing during the 4th of July Celebration)

6. I was invited to join Southern Son Ministries, a Christian southern rock band at our church. I have been playing with them for almost a year now and it has been a most interesting experience. I have learned an incredible deal about working with other musicians in an organized band, coping with sound systems, stubborn microphones and PA systems which like to be naughty on us, and improvising on the keyboard. We've played at multiple different churches and I've gotten to play on multiple different keyboards. One had the pedal installed backwards, meaning, you had to push it down NOT to get sustain. O_O That was a crazy night, to say in the least. Oh, yeah, and I'm the only gal in the band. :P

7. I started singing in the microphone. OFFICIALLY. At church, and in Southern Son. Once I started I got hooked. I sing back up vocals/alto/the harmonization parts mainly but I also sing solo on some songs. It is sooooo much fun and I will hopefully never stop.

8. YHWH let me reconnect with a very sweet lady who is now my best friend (outside the family). Maygan and I are sooooo much alike it scares both of us sometimes. I am truly thankful for her friendship. In April, ahe and I formed our own folk music band, Southern Lights. We have played at numerous locations now.

Several of my favorites? Ocali Country Days was a blast. We dressed up in period correct attire, swapped outfits, ate tons of shaved ice and junk food, and got to meet other home schooled musicians while there. Beside it being SUPER COLD one of the mornings we were there, all was wonderful.

Another favorite place we played? The McIntosh 1890's Festival. God blessed us incredibly that day with letting us make almost 70 dollars in only 2 hours or so. It was so much fun playing for such a big crowd. Thousands of people attend that festival yearly.

(It's fun just to jam at home, too!)

9. I picked up playing guitar. Never would have thought I would, but that's how things played out. I love it and it's a really fun instrument to play. I've also picked up learning bodhran, an Irish hand-drum. (pictured  above)

10. I discovered how much I love bluegrass music and playing it.

11. I've continued to play piano, but this year has been a year of teaching myself and being lazy about that most of of the time.

(Us in a hotel getting on a sugar high during a trip to a Rays baseball game)

(Adam at the Rays spring training baseball game)

12. I ran 10 miles.

13. I did a ton more meal prep and planning, and increased my skills in botany, herbalism, plant identification and natural healing.

14. I worked in my two gardens and successfully put two more fences up around them.

15. I continued to write in my primary WIP, The Rebels of Florida, and reached 70,000 words.

16. God allowed us at Glory Film Productions to make more short films including a 13 minute parody/remake of the classic fairytale Rumpilstiltskin. We started work on our biggest project ever, a feature length film.

17. I got to do a TON more drawing and sketching, and improve my skills in such art.

18. I discovered how much I love to act.

(The GFP crew, February 2012)

(The GFP cast in Rumpelstiltskin, April 2012)

(Andrew)

(Luke in one of his favorite places, the sandpile.)

(Will + facepainting =Very, very amusing)

(Luke)

(Maygan and I playing at the 4th of July Celebration)

(Driving Grizzly crazy after working in the garden)

(Mom enjoying some homemade ice cream at the Reddick BBQ Festival in March)

In twenty-twelve, the Lord taught me many spiritual lessons and showed me many things about myself and His Character.

Some of the things I struggled with this year, and survived living through?

A terrible season of flu and sickness earlier this March. If anything here on earth could be compared to hell in the least bit, that was it. Several weeks of horrible weakness and zombie-like existence. It was the roughest few weeks I experienced in '12.

  I struggled heavily with patience and gentleness, and learned a lot about controlling my temper. I learned how hypocritical I can be if I don't watch.  I struggled with putting God first in all that I did.

I struggled with trusting God and resting in the assurance that He forgives when we call upon Him for forgiveness, and repent.

-

Overall, this year has been wonderful. Quite frankly, the best year of my life. So many learning experiences, adventures and precious memories.

I am eagerly awaiting making 2013 the best year of my life and quite confident already that God's going to do awesome, mighty things this year.

Adventure is out there. Twenty-thirteen, come at me. Give me what you've got, 'cause I'm ready for whatever you want to send my way.

I can't wait to fulfill the goals I've set, use my time more wisely, grow closer to my family and become a stronger woman of God. I can't wait to see what He has up His sleeve for the coming 365 days ahead.

How about you?

Wintry Little Faces

Merry Christmas, you dear, wonderful followers who have taken the time to come read my rather pathetic little blog posts. I am honored by you who would take a few minutes out of your busy day to read something I've written, you should know that it means a lot to me. So, thank you. Thank you very much.

Wishing everyone a lovely day today! Whether or not it be a white Christmas, (you think we get white Christmases?!? In Florida?!? Seriously?!) may it be a truly special time for you and your family and friends. Enjoy your cool, chilly, perfect-day-for-a-cup-of-hot-chocolate days while they're here. We sure are!

Remember, as this year draws to a close, how blessed you truly are, how much you have been given.

And, don't ever forget to do what you were created to do..."Give unto the Lord the glory due His Name..." (1 Chronicles 16:29)

Warm fuzzy hugs,