Inspirers :)

{Inspiration Monday}

For the next few mondays I want to write about a few of the people who have inspired/influenced/motivated/encouraged me.
When I went to California this summer my brother-in-law, Derek, was just starting a new Bible study at church. It was on Randy Alcorn's book "Heaven" and first of all it's a miracle that I'm even half way through a book (and this book isn't small) and second,God has used it to change my view of heaven and in return, my daily outlook. This may be long but I'll try to sum up the beginning chapters quickly for you.
In chapter 1, Randy talks about all of our misconceptions of heaven - words like boring, even depressing. Nearly every Christian thinks about a never ending church service in the sky. "We loose heart, and we turn once more to the present to find what life we can." In contrast, when we have an accurate (biblical) view of heaven we will desire and look forward to it.
"We do not desire to eat gravel. Why? Because God did not design us to eat gravel. Trying to develop an appitite for a disembodied existence in a non-physical Heaven is like trying to develop an appitite for gravel."
He goes on to say how there are very few books about heaven, very little said in church services which raises the question: Does Scripture really have so little to say about Heaven? The bible says "NO!"
"Satan need not convince us that Heaven doesn't exist. He need only convince us that Heaven is a place of boring, unearthly existence. If we believe that lie, we'll be robbed of our joy and anticipation, we'll set our minds on this life and not the next, and we won't be motivated to share our faith. Why should we share the "good news" that people can spend an eternity in a boring, ghostly place that even we're not looking forward to?"
Another source of our misconceptions of Heaven is naturalism: "We succumb to naturalistic assumptions that what we see is real and what we don't see isn't. God can't be real because we can't see him. And Heaven can't be real because we can't see it. But we must recognize our blindness. The blind must take by faith that there are stars in the sky. If they depend on their ability to see, they will conclude there are no stars."

In chapter 2, he talks about the importance of using our imagination. How books about Heaven are notorious for saying we can't know what Heaven is like but it will be more wonderful than
we can imagine. "However the moment we say that we can't imagine Heaven, we dump cold water on all that God has revealed to us about our eternal home."
"We cannot anticipate or desire what we cannot imagine. That's why, I believe, God has given us glimpses of Heaven in the Bible - to fire up our imagination and kindle a desire for Heaven in our hearts. And that's why Satan will always discourage our imagination - or misdirect it to ethereal notions that violate Scripture."
"If God didn't want us to imagine what Heaven will be like, he wouldn't have told us as much about it as he has." He talks about fueling our imagination with Scripture and how nearly every notion of Heaven he presents in this book is reinforced by biblical texts (he also encourages you to look it up for yourself).
I love how he makes it clear that the Bible tells us that Heaven is a physical, tangible place; that God's Kingdom will come to Earth; that God's plan isn't to demolish but to redeem/resurrect the Earth; that a physical resurrecton awaits us.
"We should accept that many things about Heaven are secret and that God has countless surprises in store for us. But as for what God has revealed to us about Heaven, these things belong to us and to our children."
"Set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God" (Col. 3:1). This is direct command to set our hearts on heaven. To long for Christ is to long for Heaven.

I may have quoted the book a little much but hopefully it's inspired you to either:
a) think "she's crazy, I better find out for myself"
or
b) Diligently, actively, single mindedly pursue the things above.

Either way I'll be back next week with just a little more to say on the topic :)

New News

{Family Friday}
This week was an exciting one . . .

. . . Cole started 1st grade . . .

. . . Kenadi was 6 months old Tuesday . . .

. . . I made a new shirt . . .

Chase, a long time lover of connect the dots, is just as addicted to tracing his name! He's also not getting as frustrated with his drawings :)


. . . Cole also moved up to Kids Village at church . . .

Chase was pretty excited for him and gave Cole his crown :)

Just What I Needed

{Thoughtful Thursdays}

Today while me and the boys (Chase and Cy) were eating lunch I realized I hadn't said a blessing (the boys usually remind me of this but hadn't yet). Since we were already half way through I said, "Thank you Jesus for this food."
Chase chimes in immediatly, "And thank you Jesus for being in my heart."
Then in his best deep and powerful voice he says, "Your welcome, Chase" and smiles and tells me that's what God would say to him.
It was just what I needed.

Fabulous Fall

{Transaction Tuesday}

A couple of shirts . . .

. . . and now I'm inspired to make some more with matching hair clips. I'll be posting them soon!

I also listed a couple items for our Fabulous Fall section. Here they are . . .

Organization

{Inspiration Monday}

Inbetween the weekend busy-ness, I wanted to tackle organizing my closet and my new decision to make our unused dining room into a craft room (or somewhat of one since I need space and that room doesn't get used for anything else). See, my closet gets cleaned and reorganized about once every 2 months. It's the place that I shove a stack of papers when at the time they're just in the way or where I throw any other mess of stuff into when I'm tryingto clean up the house really fast (I know, shame on me). So, like many other times, it's organized chaos in there right now and it's time to make it all stop!!! Here's some new inspiration: (I'll spare you of my before and after pictures till I actually have the after pictures)

I could TOTALLY do something like this with the built in hutch we have in our dining room. (www.karenrussell.typepad.com)

We have a foosball table that was given to us in the dining room right now. Think I could cover it and make it into a table???
Ahhhh, organized closet space.


wow . . . Either Mrs. Organized did this or Mrs. OCD

http://www.joyshope.com/

I love the leaning bookcase - I want those in my living room :)http://www.heidiswapp.typepad.com/

Here's to keeing organized chaos gone forever!!!

Milestones

{Family Fridays}

First, today is my mom's birthday!!! Happy Birthday Oma! We miss you so much and wish we could spend an incredible day playing with one of the most fun and sweetest Oma's in the world!We love you!!!

Second, Kenadi's not quite crawling yet but she seems to enjoy staying up like this :)

Last but not least Uncle Nick graduated from UNT last weekend!

Daddy & Kenadi

Congratulations Uncle Nick!!!

Time Flies!

{Thoughtful Thursdays}

My big 6 six year old had his meet the teacher night tonight! Lately I've been constantly reminded of how fast time flies by. Cole's starting 1st grade this year, Chase starts Kindergarten next year, and the year after that Cy will be in school. Then it will just be me and my baby girl for a little while till they'll all be off and running.

With time flying by it brings to mind how much I want to make these years count and how we all should strive for excellence. What does God say about the kind of mom I should be and what really matters against the backdrop of eternity? Here's what I should be striving for:

{Teach them the Word}
"Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life.Make them known to your children and your children’s children— how on ithe day that you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, the Lord said to me,‘Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children so.’ "
Deuteronomy 4:9-10

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise."
Deuteronomy 6:5-9

{Teach them of God's Mighty Works}
"They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power, to make known to the children of man your mighty deeds,and the glorious splendor of your kingdom."
Psalm 145:11-12

{Teach Them to Obey and Honor You}
"Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.“Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), 3 “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”"
Ephesians 6:1-3

"My son, keep your father’s commandment,and forsake not your mother’s teaching.
Bind them on your heart always; tie them around your neck. When you walk, they will lead you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; and when you awake, they will talk with you. For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life."
Proverbs 6:20-23

{Discipline Them}
"The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother."
Proverbs 29:15

"Discipline your son, and he will give you rest; he will give delight to your heart."
Proverbs 29:17

{Do Not Provoke Them to Anger}
"Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord."
Ephesians 6:4

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"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ."
Colossians 3:23-24

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires."
Galatians 5:22-24

Update

{Transaction Tuesdays}

Here's what we've been up to at Needle in a Scrap Stack


Chelsea's "C"

The Dunham's "D"


This apron was a gift that I had to include because it was the first one I made and love how it turned out (this one was for a three year old). I plan on trying some different styles and getting them in the shop.

Falling For Fall

{Inspiration Mondays}

With school starting in just one week thoughts of cooler days and nights, beautiful autumn leaves, warmer clothes, pumpkin patches and time with family during the holidays fill my head. Even smells change like the smell of pupkin spice and mulled cider always gets me in the mood for fall. I can't wait for the change, a breathe of fresh air from these stubbornly hot summer days.
With fall being right around the corner my sister and I have been "going fall" with Needle in a Scrap Stack. We'll be listing a bunch of new items in fall colors very soon. Something new we've been making are these shabby chic hair clips. We played around with some different ideas but I think this style is coming in as my favorite.

Another reason I'm looking forward to fall and school starting again is because we'll be back on a definite routine. Of course with kids (especially a baby) you're always in a routine but I like the school routine and the feeling of getting more accomplished. Although I'm not an official homeschooler, I've always enjoyed teaching the boys as much as I can at home and having structure. An inspiration I've had in the past (it's kind of an old post) is a post on The Pioneer Womans Blog called "A Day in the Life of a Structured Homeschooler." http://thepioneerwoman.com/homeschooling/2008/10/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-structured-homeschooler/
Check it out for great ideas - I found it when I was looking for ideas on how to accomplish anything with multiple kids :)

Here's to getting ready for fall because it will be here before we know it!

Swing, Swing, Swing

{Family Friday}

Since the huge hurricane like storm tore through about 2 months ago, the kids haven't been able to play outside on the wooden playset (still hoping that all the damage will magically disappear! :) For Kenadi this means no more swinging in her little red swing. But today we went to a park where I could keep a constant eye on the boys while swinging Kenadi and she loved it. Chase was all about pushing her too.

Explicit or Assumed?

{Thoughtful Thursday}

In a post on The Village blog last week, Josh Patterson wrote on if the gospel was assumed or explicit in your relationships. Basically do people know that you've been transformed by the death and resurrection of Christ?

"Those who live life under the banner of an assumed gospel simply navigate the waters of life with an underlying foundation that is personal and meaningful. An assumed gospel often means that a person deeply values the gospel and tries to live life according to the gospel.

The issue with an assumed gospel is that it is often too personal and, therefore, becomes private. The person who lives under the assumption of the gospel often knows how it relates to their life, but nobody else does. "

I tend to lean on the assumed side. I think to myself that people will see by my example. The problem with that is that in the years and years that have gone by with me thinking this, NO ONE has ever come up to me to ask "What's different about you" not to mention I have failed time and time again on being that example.

This is something that God has put on my heart time and time again mainly because it is WRONG. When you've been in the assumed for so long with your friends, neighbors, co-workers, your passion and the very thing that your living for seem to get lost and disappear. The gospel is very personal and meaningful to me so much so that living in the assumed almost equals superficiality. Most of my friends don't know what God has done in my life when everything in me should me screaming how the wrath that God has toward my sin was poured out on Jesus Christ and I am now saved. Yes, this is my fault and I think that's why I am wrestling with this so much. But it's a good wrestle and one I need to get through.

Categories

So . . . There's a lot I've been wanting to write about lately that I have held up on mostly due to the fact that this blog is supposed to be mostly about things going on at Needle in a Scrap Stack. I do like to add in a lot of family stuff but as you can see I've done WAY more family lately and NO Scrap Stack updates due to the fact that I haven't done anything since Kenadi was born.

Well I am now BACK to creating and am very excited about it (except for all the time I waiste thinking about how I'm going to find time to work on that :) I plan on doing regular weekly updates and also will have a different category for every day of the week so that I have an excuse to write about all the other fun stuff I want to. Yay!

So here it goes. Hopefully there's enough time in the day :)

Adventures in Food

Right at 5 months, Kenadi had her first taste of real food. Since then she's tried squash, carrots, bananas and sweet potatoes.

"Mmmm . . . squash is GOOD!"

"Eeewwww, carrots!?!?"

"Okay, I like carrots"

"You've got to be kidding me . . . "

"Are you really going to keep feeding this to me?"

"I'll open up for sweet potatoes"

"No Daddy, I'll do it myself"

Catching Up!!!

I have TONS to post - lots of pictures and lots of things I want to remember. Blogger.com needs to come up with something where you can make all your blogs into a book - seriously!!!


We took a nice, long, much needed trip to California. Thanks to our family we got there in time to see my Grandma, spend time with her and enjoy reminiscing before she passed away about a week after we got there.

My favorite moments while we were there were watching my Grandma light up whenever she saw Kenadi - no matter how Grandma felt. Not that Kenadi will remember but someday I will love getting to tell her about her Great-Grandma Jeanne and about those moments they shared.

Since we've been home we've been trying to beat the heat. . . uggghhhh . . . we don't do anything outside unless it's first thing in the morning or till the sun's about to go down )and we're still in a puddle of sweat).

I love this video of Chase (by the way he's saying,"That was totally wicked!")