A collection of my many interests: rubber stamping, health and nutrition, all things Market America, my spiritual journey, and the mishaps and quirks of my everyday life.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Another Lightbulb Moment

  I just realized that, even though I understood that I am connected to God with a connection that cannot be broken, I still let my unworthiness get between me and the Lord. Whenever I talk to Him, I still have this feeling of something between us; something hindering. I have always been taught that my sin separates me from Him, and that I have to constantly confess my sins to be able to "stay in fellowship" with Him. But the light just went on: I am forgiven, my sins, past, present, and future, were taken away at the cross, and there is nothing, nothing, nothing between us! There can never be anything between us! It isn't possible. Reality is that I am loved, sacrificed for, forgiven, cleansed, and created anew, and Jesus's spirit is one with my spirit. If I feel that there is anything between us, it is my imagination, fueled by Satan's lies. Thank you Jesus!

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Let's Talk Books!

   This is book week for one of my favorite bloggers, dottie angel, and she is talking about a book a day. I thought that sounded like fun, so I am going to talk about a category of books each day the rest of  this week. My first category is the Love Inspired Christian romance novels. How I love these books! I get really mad at some of them because the authors make the characters do the stupidest things, but I still love these books. My favorite author in this genre is Jillian Hart. She has the most wonderful way with words, and her books are the most romantic of all. I just read one by her that was so very, very good, that I am going to keep it so I can read it over and over. It was His Holiday Bride, I think. I left it in SC, so I am going on memory here, and the memory isn't good these days! I read another of these books when I was in Ohio several years ago, Rainbow's End, which you can find just about anywhere these days. This book is everywhere! Just go in a thrift shop or Goodwill and you will find this book. It is so good! It is about a woman who lives a reclusive life on an island because her face is badly scarred. It involves a handsome stranger and a child who needs a home, how could it not be good?
   Then there are the Love Inspired series. There is one about the Hamilton Family, I think it is called the Hamilton Family Saga, and the Tiny Blessings series about an adoption agency. There is another series about a pararescue group in the army, and all of these are great! You can find these paperbacks in libraries, thrift shops, used book shops, flea markets, and yard sales.
   Oh, and they have a Love Inspired Suspense line also. They come out with 4 new books a month, and you can get them cheaper at Wal-Mart, but you have to be patient because they don't appear in the store at the first of the month. Sometimes it is late in the month before you find them. I could go on and on, but suffice it to say that if you like romance novels and you are a Christian, you will love these books.
   I would love to hear from you as to what you like to read and your favorite book. Tomorrow I will talk about some Christian nonfiction that has meant a lot to me.
Blessings,
 Janis

Friday, October 1, 2010

Good Food, Good Fun, Good Friends

   Before I left town in August, we met for breakfast one Sunday morning at Jim & Cynthia's. The conversation was great, as was the food. So many times Jesus met with people over food, and I love it when we do too. So here are some pictures that I took, or maybe Jim took them, I'm not sure now.



We should do this again, but do potluck so Cynthia won't have to do all the work. Of course, some people did bring something to share, but I forgot to bring what I had planned. No big surprise there! I haven't remembered anything 5 minutes for the last couple of months, but I think I am getting better. I was beginning to think I was coming down with Alzheimers (sp?) I really, really miss getting together with you guys on Sundays. I am so glad that we have some free believer friends here in SC.
Blessings,
 Janis
PS. Obviously, Jim took these pictures!LOL

My Class with the Queen of Stamping: Wendy Vecchi

   When Andy first started working at the Savannah River site in SC  last July, I found out that Wendy Vecchi was going to do a class August of this year at the stamp shop in West Columbia. I waited for over a year for this class, and it was wonderful! I feel so fortunate to be able to take a class with someone as big in the stamping world as Wendy Vecchi. Now if I could just get to a Tim Holtz class!






   And here is the finished project. This is actually a lot brighter than it really is, but I have spent at least an hour trying to get it right and I JUST CAN'T!!!!

I haven't been able to publish this post either. The first two went on beautifully, but I have had nothing but problems with this one. Hopefully I will get it on here tonight. Needless to say, there is gnashing of teeth and tearing of hair!
Blessings,
Janis


Our New Camper

   Going from a 24 foot camper to a 33 footer with slide-outs is incredible! It is like being in a small apartment, and I am so thankful for it. It has a decent-sized bathroom on one end, and a bedroom on the other, with the kitchen all along one wall in the living area. This is the best camper I have ever seen, with the exception of the fifth wheel I saw in Michigan years ago. It had a washer and dryer combination in it. I think I like this camper better, though. I'm wondering if we could put a small shelter out back with a washer/dryer stack in it!
We had turned the sofa around to face the TV in this picture, but we have turned it back around so that it is against the window. We bought a small recliner to put next to it. It doesn't look great in here, but it is fine, and we had to have more seating. I love the table and chairs; it is so much nicer than a booth.
Look! Counter space! Whoo-hoo!
 I love the rug.


 I bought a few new dishes because what I had would definitely not go with this decor. Can you believe I am living with all this brown? I would never have bought any dishes like this ordinarily, but I am actually enjoying them. You can't get a really good idea of how they look from this picture, but I adjusted the color as best I could. They are more gold, with a browner burgundy than the picture shows.
With all this brown, fall colors fit right in , but decorating for spring might present a challenge. I have decided that gold will do nicely for Christmas.

 This is the shelf in the bedroom. What a blessing it is! I tried to avoid taking a picture of the overflowing hampers underneath, but couldn't quite miss it. And we definitely need to update the picture in the frame at the left; that child is 8 years old now!

Next up: the pictures of my class with Wendy Vecchi.
Blessings,
Janis

A Budding Artist

   My granddaughter Cara, who just turned 8 in June, took a photography art class a few weeks ago, and at the end of the week they had a presentation for the families of the students. There were 4 girls in the class, and their work was impressive. The class was at Airlie, and they took pictures and then used various techniques to enhance the picture and make art of them. When I saw this first picture, I got excited about learning how to do this technique, but it turns out that no one knows how she took this picture. It was blurry, and then she outlined the various parts of the picture with a black pen. It looks like something an adult artist did, to me.
   I have figured out how to do this without taking a picture. I think I can just create a picture using pastels, and then add the outlining. Maybe I will actually get around to trying that one day!
   The rest of the pictures use various techniques, such as adding bits of paper to create texture. I can't remember all the techniques that they used now. I love them all!
 In this next picture, the one with all the white in the center was really interesting. It was a picture of a lot of feather that had apparently been left by some swans. Click on the picture to see it better. The "eye" picture is of Cara's eyes, with a lot of bling added.


 This is a picture of an angel statue, I think. She added some gold outlining, and maybe some color. I wish I could remember all this now. I am so proud of her!
 Not to leave out Amelia, these are some pictures of her at her new dance class.

What a doll!
The next post will have pictures of our new camper, and the next one will be from the class I took at the end of August with a "stamping master".
Blessings,                                                                      
Janis