Being an ole southern gal, I have firecrackers for blood. (teeheehee) That being said, I don't care for those little words, "I can't". In fact if someone tells me I can't, I'm even more determined that I can.

It's my belief that our Lord has given us all a measure of creativity. I love all kinds of crafts, hobbies, you name it. I'm especially fond of paper and felt crafts. I don't however have a great deal of patience. (type A here) For the past few years I've been praying the Fruit of the Spirit prayer everyday with an emphasis on you guessed it patience. UUGG!! You'll be happy to know it's paid off in a big way.

Let me give you a quick background here as to my love of the paper and felt crafts. My Mama told me that when I was a baby, she could sit me down with an old oatmeal box and I would sit for hours tearing that thing apart. Hence, the beginning of paper crafts. Fast forward to my tween years when I got my hands on some felt, who knows from where. I spent hours cutting and gluing very large flowers of all different colors. I then proceeded to glue all of them on the ceiling of my bedroom. Oh yeah before you ask****BIG TROUBLE****(hahaha). Oh well. I thought it was beautiful and so it began. I'm sorry to say that I don't have a picture of that to share with you.

I dabbled in a lot of stuff over the years but I really do keep going back to those 2 first loves so to speak. Here is a little sample of what I do now:

The above is a handmade paper quilled card.

This is a felt wall hanging. Both of these were made a few years ago. I've come a long way since the oatmeal box. I have lots of other things that I'll share over the next few days but I wanted to start here.

It's my belief that staying close to my real first love Jesus Christ and tapping into the creativity that He has blessed me with gives me the I cans instead of the I can't. The Fruit of the Spirit is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Gentleness, Faithfulness, Goodness and Self-Control (Galatians 5:22)
Everyone is creative at something. Sharing with others is the reason our Lord has blessed us with it. Tap into your creative side with the help of God, pray the Fruit of the Spirit prayer and see what ya come up with. You might find you have some firecrackers in your blood as well. Oh and by the way be careful of that (patience) thing...sssshhhh!!!

Seasons Changing

I'm sitting here looking out over the small forest behind our house. It's been raining and cold for 2 days and the leaves are changing and falling off quickly. As I reflect on this I think about changes in our lives. I wonder how it is that we notice some of them when they happen because it's a big change and others just pass us by until maybe even years later. It seems like sometimes we only remember the ones that cause us sadness or grief. I believe if we look for the happy changes we'll find a lot more of them than the ones we think are bad. Really when you think about it most of the sad or bad times actually end up in a place where something good happened after all. As I begin a new season of change I choose to reflect on the positive. We might not be living in this house next year. There is a sense of big change coming for us but embracing the change and moving on is very exciting for me. It's my prayer that you will embrace your changes with the assurance that God is in control.