Happy New Year!

Well, here we are, January 3, 2019.

It's been a wonderful, crazy year. We sold our house in a whirlwind turnaround this fall, moved in to a great apartment, and got settled in just in time for the holidays! We did the Polar Express out of Williams again this year, and got our picture taken with Santa-

This year I'm making GOALS, not resolutions. Resolutions, once they are broken, tend to be forgotten. Goals on the other hand are things the you keep working on until you achieve them! So here are a few of my goals:

Getting to my goal weight- 140
Walking/running 500 miles
Being more intentional about reading scripture
Spending more time in prayer
Working on my marriage

and of course, all the adventures!

One of my goals is to write more regularly here, and cross post it to Facebook. I'm hopeful that you will find me here that way and join in the conversation!

Here's to all we will ALL achieve in 2019!

It's been a while

Just in case there's anyone out their still listening, I apologize for the lack of content this year.

I'm keeping the blog up, but don't know how much I'll be adding in the near future.

Thanks for reading!!

1st Sunday of Advent

On this first Sunday of Advent Jesus admonishes the disciples to 'be watchful' but it's not a passive waiting~

Mark 13:33-37

Jesus said to his disciples:
"Be watchful! Be alert!
You do not know when the time will come.
It is like a man traveling abroad.
He leaves home and places his servants in charge,
each with his own work,
and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch.
Watch, therefore;
you do not know when the Lord of the house is coming,
whether in the evening, or at midnight,
or at cockcrow, or in the morning.
May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping.
What I say to you, I say to all: 'Watch!'"

He leaves us with the work He has given us to complete until His return. Our is an active watchfulness, not a passive waiting for something to happen.

So my thought for today is, 
          What is the work that God has asked me to do? How am I spending my time while watching and being alert for His return?

LOA 2017 Week 3

Hey, how about that?!! I made it to week 3 of the competition!

Here's my entry~

Kit: Celebration of You by Aimee Harrison Designs available here 

Font- Sanvito Pro semibold

LOA 2017 Week 2!

Kit: Seaside Treasure Add On Mini by

Booland Designs

Available here

Fonts: Rockwell Condensed and Segoe Script

I love this pic of my folks from their California trip in 1980!

LOA 2017

Wow, it's been a while since I posted here! Need to fix that!

Let's start with my Week One entry into the Layout Artist competition over at theStudio-

Kit: Fall Fresh Mini by Nibbles Skribbles

Font: Caflisch Script Pro

Wish me luck! :)

This teaching is hard

Today's first reading is one that I struggle with-

Reading 11 JN 3:7-10

Children, let no one deceive you. 
The person who acts in righteousness is righteous,
just as he is righteous. 
Whoever sins belongs to the Devil,
because the Devil has sinned from the beginning. 
Indeed, the Son of God was revealed to destroy the works of the Devil. 
No one who is begotten by God commits sin,
because God's seed remains in him;
he cannot sin because he is begotten by God. 
In this way,
the children of God and the children of the Devil are made plain;
no one who fails to act in righteousness belongs to God,
nor anyone who does not love his brother.

How are we sinful, fallen creatures to live up to this standard? Called to sinlessness, called to righteousness. The surrounding verses make this no easier to bear. 

So, knowing that I will at some point fall into sin, I still have to act. I still have to live in righteousness in THIS moment.

Not for fear, but for love. Choose the loving thing now, this time, breath by breath.

The Lost Art of Listening

This is really just a germ of an idea that has been rattling around in my brain for a week now.

In this faceless, instant communication society, with the use of Facebook, Twitter, and the like we are so quick to 'speak' our minds but we are losing the ability to LISTEN to what others are saying.

So many people have 'unfriended' others over the election, over their religion, over their beliefs, whatever. Have you ever thought about why you became friends in the first place? When's the last time you actually TALKED to them, and really LISTENED?

We need to re-cultivate our listening skills. Each one of us.

Ask questions and LISTEN to the answers. Take a moment of silence to THINK about what was said, and not just reply immediately.

This is an idea that I want to flesh out for a class that I teach, and so as I'm doing that I will post more here, and have some links that I want to look at in more depth later.

https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/openforum/articles/5-ways-to-master-the-art-of-listening/

https://www.psychologytoday.com/collections/201210/the-art-listening

https://lonerwolf.com/the-art-of-listening/

http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/unssc/unpan010392.pdf

LOA Week Three

Kit: Hallow's Eve Collab by Berna's Playground, Christine Art, Jen Maddocks Design, and The Urban Fairy Available here- https://www.digitalscrapbookingstudio.com/digital-art/kits/hallows-night/

Layout Artist Competition- Week 2

Kit: Faithbooking Joy by Jenn Maddocks Designs

Template: Artisan Favorite Templates 13 #6 by Jen Maddocks Designs available here- https://www.digitalscrapbookingstudio.com/digital-art/templates/artisan-favorite-templates-13/

Font: Tiaga

Wow, it's been a year?!?!

Oh my gosh, am I embarrassed! The last thing I posted here was from the Layout Artist competition LAST YEAR!!! Oh well, I'll endeavor to do better going forward and keep folks updated on what I'm working on, musing about and such.

For now though, here's my Week 1 entry in this year's Layout Artist competition at theStudio~

Kit: Beautiful (May 2015 Mega Kit) by the Studio designers including- ADB Designs, Terry Maruca, Let Me Scrapbook, 

Snickerdoodle Designs, Laitha Designs, Vero-The French Touch, Patty B Scraps, The Urban Fairy, 

LouCee Creations, Jilberts Bits of Bytes, Designs By Brigit, and Zesty Designs 

Font: Lucinda Handwriting Italic

And here it is in my normal 8.5x11~

This kit is available here~ Beautiful

Layout Artist Week 3- At the Farm

For this week, we got to play with the September 2015 Mega Kit- Fall Colors!

Kit: Fall Colors Sept. 2015 Mega Kit by the designers at theStudio available here

Font: Freestyle Script

And in the 8.5x11 format I use to print-

Layout Artist Week 2- Shutterbug

This week we had a fabulous Collab to showcase!

Kit: All About Me Collab by Jilbert's Bits of Bytes, Nibbles Skribbles, and WendyP Designs available here 

Font: Pristina

Layout Artist Week 1- Just Play!

I'm participating in the annual Layout Artist contest over at theStudio

Here's my week one entry! :)

and in my usual LTR format-

Credits-

Template- LOA Week 1 White Space Template by Heartstrings Scrap Art available here

Kit- Adam Plays Outside by Nibbles Skribbles available here 

Fonts: Papyrus and Nueva Std

Moved by Ignorance

Something Father Dan said during the homily today really struck a cord with me. Today's reading from Mark chapter 6 verses 30-34-

The apostles gathered together with Jesus
and reported all they had done and taught. 
He said to them,
“Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” 
People were coming and going in great numbers,
and they had no opportunity even to eat. 
So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place. 
People saw them leaving and many came to know about it. 
They hastened there on foot from all the towns
and arrived at the place before them.

When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd,
his heart was moved with pity for them,
for they were like sheep without a shepherd;
and he began to teach them many things.

Often  times in the Gospels Jesus is moved by pity, compassion, or the faith of the people around him. In many of those cases he performs miracles of healing. When you think about it, the time and energy for Jesus to heal some one is generally seen as something that happens instantaneously and with minimal effort of Jesus' part. 

But in today's Gospel, Jesus and the disciples were tired, hungry, and just needed to rest in quiet a bit. But when he saw the crowds he was moved with pity for them. Not because they were in need of physical healing, but because they were lost. He was moved by their ignorance and desire to learn, to be shepherded. This is not some instant fix, but something that required Jesus to spend his time and energy (of which he was running low, remember? He hadn't eaten, and was physically tired BEFORE getting into the boat!). But this was important, he saw the people's need to learn, to be led, and he took the time to meet their need. 

Father Dan this morning quoted St. Jose Maria Escriva on this- "Jesus is moved by hunger and sorrow, but what moves him most is ignorance."  

Lord, help me to recognize my ignorance and lead me to You and Your understanding. Thank you for being willing to spend time with me, to teach me an lead me to greater understanding.