Back to card making

(I did not realize it had been so long since I posted here. I have had two successful cataract surgeries and look forward to June when I hope to be finished with doctor checkups for them. It is amazing to see when I am lying in bed in the morning.)

I have also been able to get back making cards - I managed to make one for Mother's Day, a birthday card, and one more for the Jingle Belles challenge, shown here.

We were to follow a sketch and use "bling" - I put Stickles (glitter glue) on the white snowflakes around the  text, although it does not show in the picture.

Lenten Photo Challenge Day 37, 38, 39, 40 -What happened?

I feel like I need to explain the past week for anyone who was following my Lenten Photo Challenge - I did not make it to the end.
**Wednesday, Day 37, I was preparing for my first cataract surgery the next day. Praise God that physicians have the knowledge to do operations like this. I am looking forward to greatly improved eyesight in the coming days.
**Thursday, Day 38, I had the surgery and found that it was best for me to take it easy and not try to use my eye too much. No Maunday Thursday service this year. We did remember that special meal that Jesus shared with his disciples and were glad to celebrate it on Easter morning at church.
**Friday, Day 39, I had a checkup with the doctor and my reading vision was not as he expected it to be. I will wait for time and continued healing. Distance was excellent though. I did make it to the Good Friday Tennebrae service at church that night.
**Saturday, Day 40, we went to see all our kids and grandchildren at the Cardinals/Nationals baseball game in Washington, DC. It was so good to see everyone having a good time and the Cardinals won!

I think the Bible verse I had chosen for Day 40 may tie up these final thoughts and is for the word relent:
  "For their sake he remembered his covenant, and relented according to the abundance of his steadfast love."  Psalm 106:45

How comforting it is that even though I was not able to complete the challenge I tried this Lenten season, God relents and forgives us. How comforting is the abundance of his steadfast love, which never wavers or forgets us.

Jingle Belles cards are caught up!

I have managed to get caught up on my Christmas card challenge before Easter! Yeah!! This is another card using recycled materials and I have had the ribbon with the tree on it for many years. I never remember to use ribbon on packages so it works very well as the center piece for cards. The actual card is left over from Christmas cards I made two years ago too.

Back to Christmas cards in April

I finally had time to work on the Jingle Belles challenge for this week. We are to use throw away items, in honor of Earth Day this month - recyle! My first card here uses an old Christmas card that was 3-D. It stood up, but I have taken the snowmen and scattered them on this stair step card. I also have more snowmen to make another card.

I also used an old decorative scissors to cut the tag. I often think about throwing those away, but they do come in handy from time to time.

Lenten Photo Challenge Day 36 - Crowd

Crowds can be exciting or overwhelming. Five years ago we had a family reunion with about 85 immediate family members present. These are the children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren (with spouses and fiancees) of Emil and Helen Sprick. It was an amazing time, visiting with some family that we had never met!

 Do you believe in "mob mentality"? Sometimes people in a group or crowd find themselves doing things that they would never consider doing when alone. This kind of group would not give the same happy feelings shown in the photo above.

Crowds gathered around Jesus throughout his ministry: Matthew 14:19-21, with the feeding of the five thousand; Matthew 15:30-31, when he healed the lame, blind, crippled, and mute; Matthew 21:9-11, when he entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. These groups saw his power and love for people.  However, the same people may have been in the crowds described in Matthew 27:17-23, when Pilate asked "Then what shall I do with Jesus who is alled Christ?"

I also have found myself caught up in crowd mentality - when a group makes plans for a Sunday morning outing, when friends want to see a movie that I personally would never go see on my own. It is a constant struggle to stay in God's word and do his will. May each day grant me the strength to what God has planned.

Ephesians 3:14-19 - "for this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may granat you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith -- that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."

Lenten Photo Challenge Day 33 - Weep, Day 34 - Tomb, Day 35 - Humble

We were out of town the past three days. Previously I had noticed that many of the words this season seem to follow and connect with each other. I found a connection to these three days and so I have made one entry with three parts:

Weep -
If I fall down and scrap my leg, I probably start crying because of physical pain. The crying actually can help relieve the pain because I focus on something else.

Weeping is the same physical activity of shedding tears, but more intensely felt. This is the kind of crying that leaves a person drained. I think of weeping in relation to emotional pain rather than physical pain.

Lazarus had died when Jesus was was summoned to Mary and Martha. John 11:35 says "Jesus wept." He must have had deep emotions at the time.

Recently, our 13 year old yellow Lab passed away. Our family cried and wept and tears still come from time to time. These feelings are real, but nothing compared to the feelings Jesus had toward the end of his time on earth. They cannot be compared to the feelings we will experience again on Good Friday when the full impact of what Jesus did for us sinners hits home with us again. Then the world will weep.

Tomb -
When Jesus wept (above), it was because a friend had died. However, Jesus went to the tomb and commanded the man to come out - and he did. That tomb was now empty!

The same thing happened when Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to the tomb of Jesus after he had died. Matthew 28:8 - "So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples."
The angel had told them that the tomb was empty - Jesus had risen as he had said he would. The tomb could not contain him.


Humble -
When I saw the word "humble" for Day 35, I imediately thought of Wilbur, from Charlotte's Web. Wilbur was the pig that Charlotte, the spider, described as humble and that word, along with others, saved Wilbur from the usual end of pigs.

Jesus, who was God in human form is described in Philippians 2:8 - "And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."

Because he did not escape death, we do! May we continue to follow the advice Matthew gives to us in chapter 23:12 - "Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted."

Lenten Photo Challenge Day 32 - Asleep

I find it interesting how the words I have used this Lenten season all connect to each other. Day 31 was daylight and I referred to sleeping. Now today I see the word is asleep. Can I use yesteday's post again? Not this time.

I looked at I Thessalonians 4:13-14 - "But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

I see why "asleep" has a special meaning during the Lenten season. We typically think of "asleep" as a temporary condition and "death" as a permanent condition. In the verse above I see that death is also a temporary condition for those who belive that Jesus died and rose again.

We attended the funeral service for a friend who was a member of the church we joined when we moved to Fredericksburg in 1987. She was one of those friendly, welcoming "church ladies". She lived her faith. We have a small plaque that her husband made for many of us years and years ago that simply says "Jesus". It is made from broken popsicle sticks. At first glance it may be hard to make out the word, but once it is seen, the word always shows then.

God's love is like that - once we find it, we will see it all the time.