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Artists, creative types will love this. It makes me happy. Watch 'til the end:
Grace & Peace,
♥ M~
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"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"
-TWO Corinthians FIVE:SEVENTEEN
I cannot seem to get the ezine converted and sent out tonight guys.
evil technology.
*ugh*
*ugh* *ugh* *ugh*
Guess I will have to wait 'til we get home.
did I mention *ugh*?
♥ M~
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"Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow.
For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.”
-James 4:13-15
ten random thoughts on tuesday - this week from austin, tx!
one
Our hotel has sleep number beds. At first I thought it would be great to be able to try them.
I was wrong. They are like giant, expensive blow up mattresses. I'm not kidding.
When my husband gets up I sink a little. And when you adjust the "number" it sounds like a vaccum
cleaner! I am officially not a fan of sleep number beds.
two
We saw the bats a little bit last night. They didn't come out until moments before it got
dark and then they were on the other side of the bridge from where we were so they were
really just tiny little black dots in the dark.
three
But it was astonishing how many of them there were! (In truth it made me kinda *glad* they were on the other side of the bridge from us-don't tell the boys.) I think we're going to try and see them again tonight though so I may get up close and personal with one of the furry ones yet.
four
Our hotel has a coffee maker in the room which is nice for that first cup when you're not
ready to face the world. They have a little tray with coffee cups, packets of
coffee and packets with stirrers, napkins and what they consider coffee condiments.
five
One thing I've never understood about hotels who have these little packets is that inside the packet there is *one* package of sugar and *one* package of powdered *gag* creamer.
ONE.
Who uses *one* package of sugar and creamer??
They may as well just put a *picture* of sugar and creamer in that packet.
six
Speaking of gross packets of things (don't worry it's not as bad as it seems). We had supper at El Arroyos yesterday. I guess it's a "first-night-in-Austin" tradition
We sat on the patio and it was beautiful, but the birds were kind of maniacs. They kept flying in and landing on empty tables to scavenge what was there.
seven
One of them actually got a packet of sweet & low and *opened it* and ate it!! (Doesn't he know how bad that stuff is for you??) I have a photo, but I forgot to bring the card reader down here to the lobby with me. *ugh* I'll post it later.
eight
Little-O and Daddy-O went for a swim yesterday afternoon. Last night as we were getting
ready to go to bed (on our *awesome* sleep number pool floaties beds), Little-O tells us
he has an idea.
Little-O: "You know how we do story time and brush teeth time and snuggle time before sweep(sleep) time at home?"
Mama-O: Yes?
Little-O: Well I fought of anudder thing to do while we are here.
Mama-O: Oh? What is it?
Little-O: "Swim time! We can just go for a yittle swim before bed."
Mama *and* Daddy-O: Oh...Uh...um...
We stumbled around and came up with the fact that the pool was closed at night, "but great idea sweetie!"
nine
The April heART & Soul ezine is ready! Lots of fun birdie links and stuff. Plus a cool birdie, spiral mobile with pattern! I hope to get it uploaded tonight. Go sign up so you'll be the first to get it in your inbox!
ten
Here is a little sneak peek:
Click the button in the left sidebar that says "heART & soul ezine" to subscribe and get *free* paper goodness delivered to your email box (about) once a month!
Grace and Peace,
♥ M~
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"Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to Him than birds."
-Matthew 6:26
Hey Ya'll!
We're in Austin! Just got checked in and now I'm enjoying an extra-hot mocha in the hotel lobby listening to (of course) live music as I blog! (I am so hip.)
The band is playing a funky, acoustic guitar version of "'til there was you" right now and they are fantastic! Wish you could hear them with me.
Could it get any better?? (Having a Starbucks & live music just downstairs from your bedroom is sooooo cool!)
It'll probably be a little slow here this week, since we're out of town, although if I have time (and can figure out how to download them from my camera) I will post some photos!
{the band is now taking requests}
We're hoping to see some of these while we're here:
Bats over the Congress Ave Bridge!
This is pretty much the view from our hotel, so hopefully the creepy, little guys will make an appearance while we're here because my boys are going crazy wanting to see them!
And now for the big announcement that I know you're all waiting to hear!
The winner of my Bloggy Giveway drawing!
I used the Random Number Generator and got number 64!
And the winner is...
Naomi from superdumb supervillain! Woo-hoo!
Send me your snailmail address Naomi and your goodies will be on the way!
Little-O and his Daddy just joined me in the lobby and he's dancing around the whole lobby and making the band smile. (Little-O not his Daddy...heh-heh)
Gonna go have fun with my family now.
Grace & Peace,
♥ Melissa~
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“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid."
-John 14:27
This is so neat and *so* God.
I {heart} science and Jesus.
Take a minute to watch it and you will be blessed!
Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,
for through Him God created everything
in the heavenly realms and on earth.
He made the things we can see
and the things we can’t see—
such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.
Everything was created through Him and for Him.
He existed before anything else,
and He holds all creation together.
Christ is also the head of the church,
which is His body.
He is the beginning,
supreme over all who rise from the dead.
So He is first in everything.
For God in all his fullness
was pleased to live in Christ,
and through Him God reconciled
everything to Himself.
He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth
by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.-Colossians 1:15:20
I pray for Grace and Peace mixed with Faith for each of you reading this,
♥ M~
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"We also pray that you will be strengthened with all His glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need.
May you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father.
He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to His people, who live in the light.
For He has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of His dear Son, Who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins."
-Colossians 1: 11-14
So I thought I'd start giving you a list of fun places to visit on Fridays.
I might run out of links though and then will have to change it to Friday Fotos or something...heh-heh
These are some fun sites to make things for your bloggy:
Spell with Flickr - I love to make words with this. You can change the letters if you don't like the ones you get. Then just cut & paste the code into your post or sidebar.
Count Down to your Blogoversary! Let everyone know when your blogoversary is with this fun button. Mine is a little too far away to put up right now, but soon. :)
CoolText Make your own fun Buttons for your sidebar!
Fd's Flickr Toys This has lots of fun toys to use on your photos and you don't have to have a Flickr account to use them. You can upload your photos from your computer or online storage.
Visited Countries Make a map showing all the countries you visited! Here's mine: (I've only seen 3% of the world - I have so much traveling to do still!)
create your own visited countries map
Have a fun weekend!
Grace and Peace,
♥ M~
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"He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation."
Mark 16:15
We made oatmeal raisin cookies yesterday (and oatmeal chocolate chip too - yum!). The whole house smelled so delicious.
The last time I posted a recipe several people asked about my measuring cups. They (and my pretty red mixing bowls) are from Gooseberry Patch.
They don't seem to be available now, (I got them on clearance at the after-Christmas sale), but they do have some that are similar although *definitely* not on sale - eek!
I would really like to tell you that the recipe we used is a super duper secret family recipe, but the truth is it's just the recipe right off the lid of the oatmeal box. But it is yum-mum-meee!
I didn't even change anything except that for the Chocolate Chip version I replaced the 1 cup of raisins with 1 cup of chocolate chips.
Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups of Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
1 cup of raisins (or chocolate chips)
(I love using my macro setting on cookies, look at all those delicious nooks & crannies!)
Directions:
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2.Beat together butter and sugars until creamy. (this usually takes me 3-5 minutes)
3.Add eggs and vanilla; beat well.
4.Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well.
5.Stir in oats and raisins; mix well.
6.Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls (I use a small cookie dough scoop) onto ungreased cookie sheet. (I use parchment paper)
7.Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.
8.Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet; remove to wire rack.
Makes about 4 dozen cookies
(as I was taking this picture I saw a little hand sneak into the viewfinder in the upper left corner -so cute )
The best part of the day for me was when Little-O took a bite out of his cookie and then said,
"Yook, Mama, a hawt. I'm savin' dis for brover 'cause I yuv him."
Sweet, sweet, sweet (brover didn't really want it though - "ew, he bit off it??").
I will be at the dentist the you-know-who when you read this.
See you tomorrow. maybe.
Grace and Peace,
♥ M~
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"How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in
unity!"
-Psalm 133:1
The boys had a blast cutting up giant cereal boxes (we have to buy cereal by the cubic ton) and making helmets out of them the other day. 
One of the millions of reasons that I am so appreciative of the ability to homeschool (no matter how I spell homeschool spell check doesn't like it??) our boys.
They would never get the opportunity to be so close if they were both in an institution all day. One would be in kindergarten and one would be in high school and they probably would never even see each other, never mind enjoy each other's company.
Teen-O is so sweet with his little brother and Little-O just adores him. It blesses me so much that the main role models in my little guy's life are his brother and dad, kind, loving, men of God.
I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the life God has given me on a day like this, watching them laugh and play and learn together. And I am humbled that God trusts me with this. deeply humbled and grateful.
Who knew cereal boxes could elicit such introspection?
♥ M~
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"I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength to do His work. He considered me trustworthy and appointed me to serve Him...Oh, how generous and gracious our Lord was! He filled me with the faith and love that come from Christ Jesus."
-1 Timothy 1:12 & 14
ten random thoughts on tuesday
one
Happy Earth Day!
Thank you Lord for this amazing place you created for us. Please help us to be better stewards of it while bringing glory to Your name. amen.
two
I realize you are all probably tired of hearing about the dentist (thank you so much for your well-wishes and commiserating by the way) but I have one more visit this week that will involve "a little pressure" as the dentist likes to call it and some more heavy medication. In the meantime I have a short:
Floss your teeth people. I'm just sayin'. Floss.
three
Remember this post about the artwork I experimented with by one of my favorite artists Claudine Hellmuth?
I really wanted to try and not be a big, gigantic goober about this, but it appears I have no control over that so I have to tell you that Claudine commented on my post!
Isn't that cool? (I really hope she doesn't read this and realize what a goober I am)
four
Yesterday when I got home from the dentist and was feeling really yucky I got the best package in the mail from one of my bloggy friends.
It just couldn't have come at a better time and it makes me smile how God uses people in your life to do small, sweet things for you.
The very generous package included a beautiful handmade card and was filled with goodies from another one of my all time favorite artists Jenni Bowlin.
What an incredible treat it was to open that package (which was wrapped in gingham ribbon!!) and see all those lovely, papery things. Thank you so much Tammy!
six
It's been forever since I've done any impulse art so I thought I'd try it this morning with my new goodies.
I just love the scripture in Hebrews 4:12 that says,
"For the Word of God is alive and active and sharper than a double-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, joint and marrow and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart."
seven
I am currently enamored with spelling numbers, graph paper, circus fonts, paper lanterns and of course flowers. You might notice some of those in my collage.
I really love the way numbers look when you spell them and it seems to help me memorize scripture references when I see the numbers spelled out.
eight
In case you were wondering I am still working on the April edition of the HeART & Soul ezine. It's a little delayed because of the visit to the you-know-who (trying not to mention it again) but it's going to be lots of fun, the theme is one of my favorites, Birdies!
nine
The you-know-who is getting blamed for this too. My lack of Fitness Friday fitness. *sigh* Oh well, try again next week I guess (I did do the stair stepper twice last week though and drank lots of water for what it's worth).
ten
My hubby brought me a big basket of red geraniums over the weekend. I just love red geraniums. Aren't they beautiful?
When I went to the quilt show I found this fantastic company, My Sampler, that sells embroidery kits that are so sweet.
They have one that I really want to do for my kitchen called, (what else?) Red Geraniums.
Actually, I want to do them all, especially the scripture ones, they are so cute!
Hey, that's ten already! Be sure and comment on my giveaway post for a chance to win some goodies!
♥ M~
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"...for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask Him!"
-Matthew 6:8
{This is still a sticky post for the Bloggy Giveaway week! Scroll down to read more good stuff! Tuesday Ten is posted - imagine that...on Tuesday even! And don't miss the adventures of the cereal box boys ...a yummy oatmeal cookie recipe and my Friday Faves!...scroooollllllllll dooowwwwnnnn!}
Hey! It's time for the Bloggy Giveaway again! I'm being a tiny bit lazy and giving away the same prize as last giveaway but really it's mostly because I will be at the dentist twice this week and on lots of heavy medication so...technically it's incoherency and not laziness.
Anyway before I show you the fabulous prize that you can win just for leaving me a sweet little comment, I wanted to tell you about something super exciting that I'm working on for May/June! 
I'm going to be posting 31 crafty, papery, fabricy, flowery things to make and do in 31 days! There will be lots of links to fabulous tutorials as well as original crafty projects designed by me!
I am so excited about it I can hardly stand it! So many pretty things to show you!
So be sure and check in with me all month to see the floral extravaganza ok? And if you have great flower ideas let me know about them so I can link you!
If you want to share the flower-y goodness on your blog here is the code for the button!!
And now for the fabulous prize! I am giving away a felt basket filled with paper goodies!
The felt basket is exactly the one in the pictures, but the goodies inside may vary a little bit.
It will be filled to the brim though with yummy stuff so be sure to leave a comment and be entered!
Here's a hint:
There will be paper, tickets, flowers, tags, ribbon and of course bakery twine! You will love it!
So leave me a comment by noon on Saturday, April 26th and I will draw a name and announce the winner on Monday, April 28th!
Everyone is welcome to participate including my international friends!
Don't forget to leave me an email or blog address so I can get in touch with you after the drawing.
Thanks so much for stopping by! See you tomorrow for ten on tuesday!
♥ M~
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"Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above..."
-James 1:17
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