Bloomin’ Idiot?

 

I had this thought today:


If we want to bloom for Christ…we will.


It matters not the position in the garden,

Bloom6

the nutrients of the soil, 

the loveliness of the container,

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the adoration of the crowd,

the heritage of the seeds,

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the salubriousness of the climate.

If a plant decides to grow and blossom and thrive, it just does.

Bloom3

Are you blooming for Him today?

If not, why not?

"For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground…" ~Isaiah 53:2

If you want to be a gorgeous, blossoming, thriving Christian, then just decide that you will be; and go to the Master Gardener for your every need.

"For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody."~Isaiah 51:3

"But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus."~Phillipians 4:19


Bloom on, my friend!

Alesha

Managing My Monday

How did things go at your house today?  Did your week get off to a normal start?  Were things thrown off kilter by something out of the ordinary?  How did you manage the change?  Did you let anger fester because your plans were ruined?  Were you grumpy and unkind because things did not go according to your expectations?

It happens to all of us, doesn't it?  It's difficult sometimes to just "go with the flow" and manage the crisis without getting all out of sorts.

I know that the only way I can handle the normal interruptions of life is with the Holy Spirit as my "internal governor".  I need that "ballast" on the inside to stablize my ship when it's tossed about by a storm. 

I'm certainly not perfect at maintaining a peaceful spirit in times of turmoil, but I do try to handle each new wave of change with a belief that my God is in charge of every aspect of my life.  No matter what happens, it is never out of His control.

~~~~~

Today I "managed" my house all by my little lonesome…well, until after noon, anyway, when Doug came home.

Ike's caregiver could not be here today.  Her mom is very sick and in the hospital, so she went to spend some time with her this past weekend.

So, I did Ike's 9 a.m. feed, and his first clothing change, and many, many, many minor adjustments that he insisted were absolutely necessary. 😉

Needless to say, my day seemed a little out of sync due to that schedule change.  Add to that the fact that my laptop is acting up again, and you can see that my day was definitely not according to my normal routine for Mondays.

It is nice, thought, isn't it, to be completely out of your ordinary schedule – occasionally?  I think so, anyway.  I really enjoyed my morning – just me and my boy.

~~~~~

By the way, this weekend, I got a great start to one of my 2012 goals.  I've entered a "blog party" for jewelry makers.  Aaaaaaaaand…I am blogging again on my jewelry blog and you can read all about the party here.

I am very excited to be back at my desk, working on my jewelry again.

Here's hoping that Tuesday is a little more "normal" than today! 🙂

Alesha

 

 

 

Managing My Monday

Managing my Monday this week means phone calls…

LOTS and LOTS of phone calls!!!

Some for me…some for Isaac…

It is not one of my favorite things to do, but it is one of those necessary evils.

How are you managing your household today???

2012 Goal Planning – A Beginning

Sigh…

I'm pretty sure that this blog will reveal waaaaay more information about my weird psyche that any of you ever wanted to know…so I begin this post with some trepidation. 

I'm not really worried that you won't like me after reading it; but I'm pretty sure you will be thinking, "Yep…I knew she was a bit strange!"

Heh heh heh…

Today, I was finally able to find some quiet time to work on my list of goals for the year 2012.

I have 4 typed pages, in outline form.  I know!  It's a lot.  That's one of the reasons I dragged my feet about beginning this project; but I am very glad I persevered with it. 

I'm not going to show you a picture of those pages, because I feel like it's just too personal.  I will, however, share with you the categories that I came up with.  I read 3 other blogs, to see what categories they started with.  In every case, they were not exactly what I needed for my goals.

Setting yearly goals is a very personal thing, isn't it? 

Case in point, my husband made his goals for 2012 quite clear when he hung this cartoon on the refrigerator:

Resolutions
You can be SURE that I included his resolution in my list of goals, as well!!!

These were my categories:

  1. Personal
  2. Residential

I found that everything else fit into those two headings.  I have many subheadings under these two categories.

Under "Personal", I included the following:

  1. Spiritual
  2. Physical
  3. Emotional
  4. Marital
  5. Parental
  6. Familial
  7. Relational
  8. Ministerial
  9. Recreational
  10. Vocational

Under the "Residential" group, I included these subheadings:

  1. Financial
  2. Nutritional
  3. Ornamental
  4. Agricultural

I think most of those are self-explanatory, except for "ornamental".  I was really stretching there, trying to find a word that ended in "-al" that meant all the improvements I'd like to make around the house this year.  I used my thesaurus, even, to come up with that one, but I was pretty pleased when I found "ornamental"!

By the way, don't let "agricultural" conjure up visions of acres of land, tractors and grazing cattle.  My goals under that were as follows:

  1. Plant two vegetable/herb plants in the spring
  2. Water plants every day
  3. Find organic fertilizer for plants

It's ok to start small, yes?

This is actually the first time that I have ever done such extensive goal-setting.  I will be very interested towards year's end to see how I have done.  I am really looking forward to making progress on all of them, though!

I also picked a theme for this year, and a Bible verse to go along with it.  I had to have a starting place before my ideas would start to flow.  Once the Lord gave me those, I was ready to begin.

My theme for this year is "Fear Not!", and my theme verse is the following:

Fearnot

Isaiah 43:1 –

"But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not:  for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine."

Well, I think I've got a pretty good foundation laid for this coming year.  I pray that I will pursue these things faithfully, as I feel the Lord has laid them out before me.  I hope, too, that I can let go of anything that might hinder me from following them. 

As always, I will keep in mind to hold my plans loosely, should the Lord decide they need rearranging at some point during the year.  In fact, I'm almost certain this list will evolve as the months pass.  Maybe I'll accomplish so many things that I have to add on others to carry me through to December of 2012!

I'd love to hear how you go about planning for the new year.  Please leave a comment and share your ideas with me.

Fear not in 2012,

Alesha

 

Foto Friday

We bought a new harness for Kepler.  It has a lifetime guarantee of replacement, even if chewed up by the dog.

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Well it's a good thing!

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And, in totally unrelated Kepler news…

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The "cone of shame" is not to keep her from chewing up her harness!  She was spayed this week, and was sent home with this lovely ensemble.  They said she has to wear it for 10 days.  REALLY??? 

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Well, let's just hope it lasts that long!  She's already begun the gradual mastication of it!

That's it for Foto Friday.

Have a great weekend!

Alesha

Are You Thirsty?

 

Another great idea for the New Year

Newyear

I finally treated myself to a new copy of my old favorite:  Streams in the Desert by L. B. Cowman. 

 

http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=akconklisxang-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=0310607051  

This is the copy I bought.  Although the book has been updated, this is the original version, and it's the one I recommend.  The original copyright of this book was in 1925, which tells you quite a bit about the language it contains.  It is rather poetic and antiquated in some of its phrasing, but I love it. There is a real beauty to it that I find refreshing.

Of all the goals you could set for yourself for this New Year, I pray that one of them is to spend more time in the reading, studying and meditation of God's Word.

No other practice will affect change, promote success or encourage your heart like that will.

Blessing to you today,

Alesha

 

Managing My Monday

It's the first Monday of the first month of a brand new year!

I'm not much on "New Year's resolutions", but I do love a time of new beginning.  I feel motivated to be more than I was yesterday, last month, last year.

Usually, with me, that's a nebulous concept.  I have a list (up in my head) of my life goals, and I aim toward those.

I've been impressed with my friends who sit down at the end of the year, and actually write out their goals for the next year.  I have never done that.  Perhaps it's something I will try this year.  I haven't decided yet.  (which means that I probably won't, but don't despair – there is always hope that I will decide before much of this new year slips away!)

I did decide to do something new today – something I have never done before. 

Two years ago, I invested in some popular, expensive mineral makeup.  I liked it just fine except for the price!.  Last year, I found a smaller company that sells an excellent product – a mineral makeup – with a much smaller price tag.  So I have switched almost completely over to their line of products.

However, I am still using the brushes from the popular brand makeup because they are so fabulous!!!  I'll let you do that math, though, when I admit that I have never cleaned those brushes.

So, for this first Monday of the first month of the new year – I decided to do just that!

Here are my results:

Before

Before1

During

During1

After

After1

Side-by-side Comparison

Beforeafter

I used a mild dish detergent with no scent (I didn't want to be brushing "Crisp Fresh Apple" into my pores every time I applied my makeup!) and warm water.  I shook them vigorously like I would have cleaned a paint brush, then brushed them back and forth on a thick towel to help them resume their shape.  I left them to air dry, which took a few hours.

I was very pleased with my results. I will certainly not be waiting so long to clean them again!

Happy New Year, my friends!  May your year be filled with new experiences that bring you great joy!

Alesha