Pray that ye enter not into temptation

"And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation." ~ Luke 22:40
Twice at the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus told His disciples to pray that they would not enter into temptation, but rather than pray, they fell asleep. I wonder how many times I have simply fallen asleep rather than pray for that which Christ laid on my heart. It's humbling....

Coffee on a Rainy Day

 

 

Hello World,

Here in Wisconsin is a beautiful rainy day.  I love days like this, especially when you can just stay home, get things done - like cleaning your house - and drink coffee. Coffee is wonderful, I'm just sayin, especially when it's made your favorite way, in your favorite mug.

 

Oh, and if you were wondering, here is my "favorite way" to drink coffee:

 2 cups, hot, freshly brewed coffee
2 Tbsps. Coconut oil
1 shake Stevia powder
2-3 shakes of cinnamon
Blend it all up in a blender till frothy and heavenly. Pour into your favoritest large mug. If you are like me and enjoy the extra touch, shake on a little more cinnamon. If you are like my Mom and prefer the plain and simple, tell your daughter not to shake on extra cinnamon. Sit down on a cool, rainy day and sip slowly, remembering to thank God for every blessed moment He has given, especially this one.

 

 

I thought I would share this song with y'all. It was such a beautiful reminder to me today of what Christ has done for me. It is so amazing to think that God has washed my filthy hands and that I now wear His righteousness! What a great and glorious God we serve!!!!! We can hide beneath the shadow of wings and find refuge in His arms. Christ's blood has cleansed us. Just let that sink in for a moment.

It's amazing.

 

 

Savor this day friends, whether it's sunny or rainy, whether you a on a mountain or in a valley, whether life seems hard or easy, savor these moments. They will not last forever.

New Project - "Call Him, Maybe"

Perhaps you have heard of the song, "Call Me, Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepson. I heard it for the first time about a year ago and thought it was one of the dumbest songs I had ever heard......but, well....time went on and the song kinda grew on me. :-) Now I just wanna dance every time I hear it.

A few months ago, some of us girls were laughing about a joke that had to do with handing out business cards with Dad's phone number on them and I started singing "Call Me, Maybe," except instead of singing, "...here's my number, so call me, maybe?" I sang, "...here's my dad's number, so call him, maybe?"

Now I love parodies. I think they are simply hilarious. I just about fall over from laughing every time Tim Hawkins comes up with a new song parody. And I don't know about you, but those silly Christian pick-up lines crack me up to no end....mind you, if someone actually used one on me I'd probably walk into a wall from shock. Or just stand there and laugh hysterically. Or glare. But that's beside the point. This idea of writing a courtship themed  "Call Me, Maybe" parody has been running around my brain for long enough, so Rachel and I started re-writing the song. My gracious! We have had some great laughs over this project. Unfortunately, I am an utter fail at poetry so coming up with lines that fit the tune and actually rhyme has proven to be quite difficult.

So, I thought I might recruit a little help. For those of you familiar with the song, do you have any good ideas for some fun rhymes and lines for the song? We've got the chorus down, but we'd love to here your ideas so drop a comment below and let us know your ideas. Be warned, this will probably lead to some sever stomach pains and failure to breathe from laughing way too hard.

We'll probably be getting some help from Dad too.....he's really good at the whole rhyming thing. :-)

Hopefully in the next couple of months a new post shall appear called "New Project - "Call Him, Maybe" Music Video." Wouldn't that be epic!

Andrew Makes Cheese Toast

This is Andrew.

 

Andrew is my little shadow that follows me wherever I go with a never ending song of, "I'm hungry, I'm hungry, I'm hungry."

As soon as he is done with his meal or snack he smiles and says, "Kaila, I'm hungry."

So I decided that he was going to start helping me prepare some of his own food. 

Spaghetti was on the menu for dinner so I thought the little man would enjoy making some cheese toast to accompany the meal.

His face lit up as bright as the noonday sky when I told him that he was going to "paint" the bread for me. He was so careful and gentle as he brushed on the cheesy butter.

Haha, at this moment he is sitting next to me saying, "I just wanna eat my bread. Keeya, I just wanna eat my bread. Can I please eat my bread? Keeya, I just wanna eat my bread."

 

There is nothing like being a sister to lots of wonderful siblings. I love it! I really do. It's crazy and it's insane sometimes, but I wouldn't trade this life for anything!

Someone asked me the other day if I really wanted to have kids someday and my response was "YES!!!"

I would love to have children someday if the Lord saw fit to give them to me. I love living a life with children of all ages all around. Of course there are days when the noise is a bit much and the stress a bit high, but it's all so wonderfully worth it!

If I didn't have my siblings, I wouldn't get these precious moments like the one I just had with little Andrew.  Someday he will probably be bigger than me and I will look back on these days and laugh!  I will look back and thank God that He gave me precious moments with these little ones because they don't stay little forever.

the Landfill Harmonic Orchestra

Just watch it....

The Master Artist

 

Isaiah 40:28

"Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding."

 

Is it not thrilling to know that God is our Creator? That he made the entire earth? That He never tires and becomes weary? That He made us in His image and likeness?

 

As one of God's creations that enjoys creating things - namely pictures -  I think art is one of the most incredible gifts God gives us! Art is all around us! We are pieces of God's artwork, intricately created to be the perfect one He intended us to be.

 

Meet my beloved tools!

I cherish these guys. Each one of them serves a huge purpose to me in creating my pictures. God didn't need lots of tools though. His power is so great that He needed only to say a word and the earth was created. Without my tools (my pencils, erasers, blending stubs, sharpeners, paper, etc.) I would not be able to draw a thing. I would be a helpless artist....actually, I wouldn't be an artist at all! (Not that I would rank myself as an artist, I am just a person that enjoys art as a hobby.)

 

 

 

Whenever I start a new drawing, I start to get a bit thoughtful. :-) I think about how my life is like a drawing. Life starts with a blank page, then slowly lines are drawn, strange shapes begin to appear, and for a long while things can seem frustrating and confusing. Then suddenly one of the shapes becomes clear.

It's an exciting moment, but it's soon gone when you look at the rest of the page. Sometimes my siblings will look over my shoulder as I draw and frown, but I smile because I know what they don't know. As the artist, I have a greater knowledge of what I'm doing because I know what the end result will be.

 

And so, I draw. Some images become quite clear. Some just look like abstract shapes, stupidly placed. But slowly and with care the picture comes together. Suddenly the end result shows up and no one but the artist remembers the confusing shapes and the abstract lines.

 

Most people look at it and simply see a pretty picture, but an artist looks at it and sees the confusing shapes and abstract lines that made this picture what it is.

 

 

In my life, God is the artist and I am the piece of art He is creating. Sometimes I wonder why He draws these odd shapes onto my life. I wonder why He places certain people here and there. I wonder how anything beautiful can come from such confusion. But gently He shows me how He is working all these things together for good. The confusion will eventually make sense.

 

As I look back I can already see how He has made beautiful things out of the lines and shapes He has placed in my life already. I won't lie, a lot of this picture is still unknown to me, but I'm learning to trust the Artist. He is teaching me daily that He has a plan infinitely greater than what I can even imagine. My life is secure in His hands because He is the most skilled Artist that has ever been and ever will be.

 

 

 

These four guys are my most trusty helpers. I have a whole bunch of other pencils that I sometimes use, but these guys are my main quartet. And yes, I do refer to them as guys. Today I was actually trying to figure out why I always refer to my drawing pencils as "him," and I came to the conclusion that it is because they remind me of men in suits; crisp and sharp. :-)

 

 

 

Isaiah 64:8

"But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand."

I don't do pottery, but I love this verse because it gives us that picture of God as an artist. We are that lump of clay that He is molding into something beautiful.

We are that canvas that He brushes paint on.

We are that piece of bristol paper that He draws and erases on.

 

Someday, we will be that perfect masterpiece standing before Him in glory.

A Survey

This is a very good, interesting survey! Check it out!
http://www.gen2survey.com/