Mothers Day at the Express Yourself Art Barn

On Mothers Day my mom and grandma and I went to the Express Yourself Art Barn in Douglas, Mi.  My mother and I have been here one other time and really love this place.  There is so much that you can do here.  You can paint ceramics, do wood projects, jewelry beading, glass work, and Mosaic tiles and much more.  We always do the ceramics but next time I go there I might try something new.  The prices are very reasonable and it is a cozy and creative environment.  My mom and dad and I are going to revisit next Sunday.  Here are some pictures from this adventure.

Grandma and mom woring on thier projects

Me doing my cupcake plate!

Grandma in the ceramics room

Mom at the barn entrance

Grandma and I sitting in the garden area

Funny Joke

Here is a very funny joke that I thought would make some people laugh.  I got it off the internet, however I do not know who wrote it so I can not credit anyone for this.  Just know I did not write this but I think it is hilarious.  So here it is:

 

The Love Story of Ralph and Edna

 

"Just because someone doesn't love you the way you want them to, doesn't mean they don't love you with all they have.

Ralph and Edna were both patients in a mental hospital. One day while they were walking past the hospital swimming pool. Ralph suddenly jumped into the deep end.
He sank to the bottom of the pool and stayed there.

Edna promptly jumped in to save him. She swam to the bottom and pulled him out. When the Head Nurse Director became aware of Edna's heroic act she immediately ordered her to be discharged from the hospital, as she now considered her to be mentally stable.

When she went to tell Edna the news she said, 'Edna, I have good news and bad news. The good news is you're being discharged, since you were able to rationally respond to a crisis by jumping in and saving the life of the person you love. I have concluded that your act displays sound mindedness.

The bad news is, Ralph hung himself in the bathroom with his bathrobe belt right after you saved him. I am so sorry, but he's dead.'

Edna replied, 'He didn't hang himself, I put him there to dry. How soon can I go home?'"

An Awesome Website on Forgiveness

http://wgvulove.blogspot.com/p/about-this-project.html

The above link is an awesome web site on forgiveness.  This I think will prove helpful in learning to forgive.  I found this link at Jumping Java along with a card that had 9 steps to forgiveness.  I will put the 9 steps here on my blog.  These steps come directly from the above link.  This is by Dr Fred Luskin.

1. Know exactly how you feel about what happened and be able to articulate what about the situation is not OK. Then, tell a trusted couple of people about your experience.
2. Make a commitment to yourself to do what you have to do to feel better. Forgiveness is for you and not for anyone else.
3. Forgiveness does not necessarily mean reconciliation with the person that hurt you, or condoning of their action. What you are after is to find peace. Forgiveness can be defined as the “peace and understanding that come from blaming that which has hurt you less, taking the life experience less personally, and changing your grievance story.”
4. Get the right perspective on what is happening. Recognize that your primary distress is coming from the hurt feelings, thoughts and physical upset you are suffering now, not what offended you or hurt you two minutes – or ten years – ago. Forgiveness helps to heal those hurt feelings.
5. At the moment you feel upset practice a simple stress management technique to soothe your body’s flight or fight response.
6. Give up expecting things from other people, or your life, that they do not choose to give you. Recognize the “unenforceable rules” you have for your health or how you or other people must behave. Remind yourself that you can hope for health, love, peace and prosperity and work hard to get them.
7. Put your energy into looking for another way to get your positive goals met than through the experience that has hurt you. Instead of mentally replaying your hurt seek out new ways to get what you want.
8. Remember that a life well lived is your best revenge. Instead of focusing on your wounded feelings, and thereby giving the person who caused you pain power over you, learn to look for the love, beauty and kindness around you. Forgiveness is about personal power.
9. Amend your grievance story to remind you of the heroic choice to forgive.

By Dr Fred Luskin

This above mentioned website is awesome if anyone wants to check it out!

Bin Laden, Dead!

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies
hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction....The chain reaction
of evil--hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars--must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of
annihilation.

Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength To Love, 1963

I am grateful that Osama Bin Laden has been brought to justice and that we have one less terrorist in the world.  However, I am pretty alarmed at the rejoicing and celebrating in his death.  Even if he was our enemy, he is still a human being that has been killed.  I do not believe that we should let our hate bring us to celebration in any lost life, even Bin Laden's.  Remember that it is this kind of hate that caused the 9-11 attacks.  This is the same kind of hate that caused so many innocent lives to come to an end. 
Also, when hate brings us to a point where we celebrate the death of our enemies we are not obeying God.  God wants us to forgive our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.  He did not say to hate our enemies and celebrate their death.  This is what the word of God has to say about loving our enemies.

You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR, and hate your enemy,’ But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax-gatherers do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:38-48).

If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins. (NLT, Matthew 6:14-15)

I know it seems unjust and not right to say we should forgive a person that has caused so much harm, but isn't that exactly what Jesus calls those who belong to him to do.  We are supposed to take our cross up and follow Jesus.  In order to follow Jesus we must have the same kind of forgiveness that Jesus had when he called out from the cross,  "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." (Luke 23:34).   Lastly I will add that this kind of forgiveness is not cheap.  It is not to say that what happened was right, but that we will not return evil with evil.  This is not cheap grace, after all don't forget that it cost Jesus his life. 
Osama Bin Laden definitely had to die, but we do not have to celebrate over it.

Tour of Grand Valley

I went on a tour of my school today, and I got to see where I will be going in the fall.  Now I am really excited to start school.  The college is absolutely beautiful.  It is a lot better than I imagined.  I know that God is going to open so many doors in my life through my going to this college and I can't wait to see all the neat things that will come to be.

I also found out that I will be starting school as a sophomore instead of a freshman.  All of the classes that I took at Muskegon Community College are going to transfer.  Even the history class that I barely passed.  The guidance counselor showed me what I would have to do to get my degree and it is looking easier than I thought to get my degree.  Now I just have to wait until June 9th to schedule my classes and go to orientation. 

Here are some pictures of me outside of Student Services.  The clock tower is behind me.

This Matter of Forgiveness

"When you choose to forgive, you go from victim to saint in your own story. When you choose to forgive, it becomes your story, not the offenders story. When you choose to forgive, you are given the potential to transcend tragedy. When you choose to forgive, you are touched by evil, you are not defined by it." Brian Zahnd  in UNconditional pg. 108

It was Easter yesterday so I guess that is what is prompting this blog, but on a deeper level I have been really thinking about forgiveness a lot lately because of this book that I am reading and because I am really trying to live as a Christian ought to live.  More and more I am convinced that forgiveness is the very central idea of Christianity.  However, it is not just the forgiveness of my sins that I need to focus on.  Christ did not just come to die for my sins.  He also came so that we might follow him and learn to forgive others their sins also.  We are to forgive because he has forgiven us.  He showed us what forgiveness looks like so that we could give it away.  We can't keep this thing to ourselves.  So what does this mean for me?  Well, I think it means that I need to love those people that hate me.  I need to show mercy to the people that I would rather punish.  If someone hurts me I can not retaliate against them.  I need to love even when it hurts.  After all, isn't this what Jesus did for me.  I am sure it hurt a lot to die on a cross.  I am sure it hurt a lot to feel abandoned by God, betrayed by friends, and persecuted for sins that he did not even commit.  Thanks to him I will never suffer to that degree.  So can I love someone when they are unlovable?  Can I love someone when they act in evil ways?  I know I will have to try.  I call myself a Christian.  That is a Christ follower.   In order to be a Christ follower I have to forgive, there's just no way around this one.

The Puzzle Pieces Have Come Together

I have finally finished the puzzle that I started months ago, literally months ago.  Now I just have to get poster mounts and I can put in on my wall.  And just in time because Part 1 of Deathly Hallows is being released tomorrow.  Yay! 
What else have I been up to?  I am still working on that afghan.  Unfortunately I am only about a third done with it so far, but at least I have made progress on it.  It takes some time to do an afghan of that size.

In my personal life I have just been notified that I was accepted into Grand Valley State University for next fall.  Also, I was given so much in grants and loans that I actually have 3,000 more than what I need for the first year.  This is good because I have an old car and it will probably need repair at some point.  God has been so good to me!  Also, I received a promotion at work and now I am an optician instead of a door greeter.  That is a big pay difference, better hours, and a lot better job duties!

It is evident that God is working in my life.  My faith is growing everyday as I see that God is in the details of my life.  I never imagined that my life could be this good or that I could be in this place, and its just getting better.  I am so grateful!

A New Headband

Here is a headband that I made today.  I made it out of some fancy yarn that I had laying around.  It basically is made out of a simple single crochet throughout the entire thing.  It was very easy to make.  I think I am going to make another one but make it a little bit thinner.  I think this one was a tad bit to thick for my hair.  This would be a good band for straight hair.

Broken Girl by Matthew West

This song is extremely powerful. I just wanted to share it. If you have abuse issues please watch this video. I know the message in this video is very helpful.

The Serenity Prayer

Here is the full version of the serenity prayer and not just the short version that we use in AA.  I love the long version because I believe that it helps me to understand it better and it helps me to apply it to my life better.  So here it is:

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next. Amen.
By Reinhold Niebuhr

What a beautiful prayer.  And how true!  I think what I like the best here is the reminder that even Jesus had to accept things and people as they were.  He had to accept sin, and the consequences of it.  And he accepted it to a greater degree than I ever will when he paid the price of my sin on the cross.  When I can remember that Jesus experienced the same things that I experience, and yet he did it without sin, it makes me hopeful that I can persevere through whatever circumstances life brings me today.  I know that in the end I will be with him, a God who has walked a mile in my shoes.  To me that is comforting!