A Child Sowing Seed

I am so very proud of my 4 year old daughter, who is able to grasp certain concepts that many of us adults can’t – or choose not to.

Last week we had some friends visiting from out of state and we were able to go to her parent’s house on Thursday evening ( a week ago) to see her and her kids.  When I told my daughter that we would be seeing Kaylen (one of the daughters) her eyes lit up and she said, “Mama, I want to give Kaylen a Barbie doll.”

I let her know that we weren’t going to have time to go to the store to buy her one since we were leaving in about an hour and a half to go see them.  Bella promptly said, “No, mama, I want to give her one of MY Barbies.”

Now, I’ll admit, that for about 3 seconds I hesitated and for 2 reasons.  One~ I don’t want to give someone a ‘used’ Barbie and Two~ she just received about 10 Barbies for her birthday and I didn’t want her to give any of those away….

WAKE UP, KARI!!!!  After that 3 seconds of hesitation it occurred to me that Bella would be sowing a seed, something I’ve talked to her about A LOT.  And at that moment I was so proud of her.  So, we went to her large collection of Barbies and she carefully went through them and she picked out THE ONE that she wanted to give to her friend.  She went and brushed the doll’s hair and made sure her clothes (well, bathing suit – it was a summer Barbie) was on right.  I made sure she understood that once she gave Kaylen her Barbie, that it would be Kaylen’s  and that she was going to take it home – and she said she understood that.

When we saw her friend that night, Bella was so excited to give her the gift, so I went with her and she put the doll behind her back so it could be a ‘big surprise’.

“Kaylen, I have a surprise for you!”

Bella took the doll out from behind her and gave it to Kaylen along with a card she drew for her.  Kaylen held the Barbie and just looked at Bella while Bella was telling her that she was giving it to her.  I don’t think Kaylen understood.  So, when I told Bella it was time to go, Kaylen started handing the Barbie back to Bella. 

“Honey, Bella gave you that Barbie – now she’s yours.  You get to keep her,” I told her.

Her eyes got HUGE  and she got the BIGGEST smile on her face and started running off saying, “I have to find my mommy!”

We followed Kaylen outside and she ran and told her Mom (my friend, Kerry) that Bella gave her the Barbie.  Kaylen was so excited and the cool thing was – so was Bella.  Kaylen ran off again to show someone else, then came back and asked me, “Do I get to keep her clothes too???”  How darling.  I told her, “Of course!”

Bella and Kaylen back in June (2009)

So, this little girl got a beautiful gift from her friend and was so excited.  Bella was so excited to give her the gift and when we got in the Green Disco to go home, she with joy overflowing out of her said, “Next time we see Kaylen, I want to go to the store and buy her LOTS of Barbie dolls,” and she just sat there and giggled!

What a lesson for an adult.  She was able to let go of something she liked so much and give it to someone else – and she was happy to do it!  We are told that “The Lord loves a cheerful giver”

“Let each one [give] as he has made up his own mind and purposed in his heart, not reluctantly or sorrowfully or under compulsion, for God loves (He takes pleasure in, prizes above other things, and is unwilling to abandon or to do without) a cheerful (joyous, "prompt to do it") giver [whose heart is in his giving]”

2 Corinthians 9:7

We are also told that:

Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

Luke 6:38

That is known as seedtime and harvest.  When my daughter told my mom that she gave Kaylen her Barbie, my mom immediately said, “Oh wow, Bella.  Now how many Barbies are you going to get back?  100???” (referring to Mark 10:29-30, again in reference to sowing seed and receiving a harvest.)

"I tell you the truth," Jesus replied, "no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel ³⁰will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life.

Mark 10:29-30

Well, her harvest is coming in already.  Last night we were at my in-laws to celebrate Hubby’s birthday and Bella’s birthday (both in July) and she got a – you guessed it – Barbie.   And we did not tell them that she wanted Barbies.  It is a ‘Biker Barbie’ with a bicycle and accessories.  She also got a package of 4 Barbie outfits along with accessories for each outfit.  His Word is true.  And amazing how the ‘faith of a child’ can put into motion spiritual laws that adults work for years to try to get to happen in their life. 

She was a cheerful giver and everyday she was expecting her harvest.  She would ask me, “Are my Barbies here yet?” because I told her about sowing seed.  Well, Bella, they’re making their way to you!  I love you  my little girl for teaching me so many lessons in such a simple way!

My Wedding Party & More….Show Us Your Life Friday

Head on over to Kelly’s Korner for more wedding posts from the blogging world.

Me and Charley – November 4, 2000

We were engaged on June 16, 1999 and we were wed on November 4, 2000

You can view my WEDDING GOWN post here!

• Our colors were Lavender, Silver & Ivory
  
• Our Theme:  True Love
  
• Bridesmaids Procession: Love Can Build A Bridge by The Judds
  
• I walked down the aisle to: When I Said I Do by Clint Black & Lisa Hartman Black
  
• Walked down aisle as bride and groom to: Always With You, Always With Me by Joe Satriani
  
• First Dance: Love Song For A Savior by Jars of Clay
  
• Garter toss song:  Keep Your Hands to Yourself by Georgia Satellites
  
• Not only did my dad walk me down the aisle, but he officiated the wedding.  My dad was ordained a pastor at World Harvest Church in Columbus, Ohio in September 2000 and officiated our wedding as Pastor Roger Anghis.  I was honored to walk down the aisle on the arm of such a wonderful man.
  
• This was a hard thing for my dad to do and at the end of the ceremony he was so nervous he forgot to say, “You may kiss the bride.”  So, we didn’t have that part in our wedding :o)  We laugh about to this day.
  
• My brother sang “Love Song” by Third Day and Charley’s cousin, Keely, sang “I Need You” by Leeann Rhimes. 
  
• We were married in Golden, Colorado at Foothills Chapel
  
• Our reception was at Baby Doe’s Matchless Mine, which since then has been torn down :o(
  
• Since we were married in November, it snowed up until the day before our wedding, was beautiful for the rehearsal and the day of the wedding, and then we had a major snow storm the day after.

My wedding was pretty much a ‘hands on’ wedding.  My mom and I did most everything and kept the budget low. My parents hosted 2 weddings within 16 months of each other – and both were absolutely beautiful, in my opinion.  Had I to do anything over – I may not have had so many flowers everywhere, but we thought it was great then and everybody said it was beautiful, so…..

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

These were my programs and the little cones we had chocolates in for the guests.  Yep, we made these.

The outside of my invitations.  I had gotten the idea from Colin Cowie’s first wedding book.  We used natural paper that we hand ripped on all 4 sides and natural ‘sheer’ paper for overlay on the inside.  We then used a champagne satin ribbon on the front and on the inside to secure the reply cards.

They really turned out beautiful!  We had the text printed for us in a beautiful silver ink.  They were gorgeous finished.

I made close to 150 of these. 

This isn’t the best scan job….But, just as I had found the wedding gown I wanted at Jessica McClintock, I also found the bridesmaid’s gowns that I ‘had’ to have.  Well, I couldn’t ask them to spend $400.00 on the dress, so I found a Nicole Miller pattern, amazing metallic silver fabric and sewed away. (Below are the gowns at the store)

I was able to duplicate the dresses I had found at JM almost to a T!  The girls also wore black velvet wrist gloves and a black sheer sash around their necks.

This is my friend Amanda whom I’ve known since the 6th grade and you can find her blog at IN OLIVIA’S ROOM.

The back of their gowns had a sheer, metallic silver train that was attached to a metallic silver silk flower with ribbon.  I made these trains detachable so they could remove them at the reception.

We each had 5 attendants.  We had Charley’s twin cousins as the ring bearers and a friend’s daughter as the flower girl.  My maid of honor was my sister and then I had Amanda, Jaime, Kerry and Julie – all friends from school (6th grade on up).  Charley had his 2 half brothers as his best men, and the other groomsmen were my brother, Danny, Mike and Matt (both his friends from school).

The flower girl.  Her dad was a groomsman and her mom (in this photo) also did my hair for the wedding.

My mother in law made the gowns for the flower girls.  Lots of tulle, velvet top and flowers scattered on the tulle.  They also wore little headpieces made out of ribbon and silk flowers.

All of our flowers were silk flowers and my mom and aunt did all the bouquets and arrangements.  We had some arrangements at the chapel, but most were at the reception, so without giving the whole reception away, here were the flowers we did there.

Mine was a small bouquet with ivory roses that had light pink pearls in some of them and then ‘rain’ drops on others.

See how small my bouquet was.  I didn’t want anything too huge. 

Topiaries for the centerpieces.

Part of the bridal table.

A table full of photos of me and Charley and some of the family.  We had our engagement photos and others we had taken over the years before we were married.

The Bridal table.

The cake table.  I LOVED my cake.  They did it exactly how I wanted them to.

The topper was beautiful organza flowers.  It’s a little bouquet that my mom made.

So for a few extra details of the wedding …

This was the back of my dress.  I didn’t have it posted on my wedding gown blog.  I had silk flowers at the end of my zipper and my organza lace up.  I had lost some weight before the wedding and almost didn’t have any more dress to ‘tighten’.  It was a tad loose that night and I had to keep pulling it up.  My mom ended up having to tie it so tight, the ribbon had to be cut off. 

This is one of my favorite photos from the night.  These were girls that I had known and gone to school with since I was in 6th grade, some I met later in school, but they were all my school friends and were able to share this special day with me.  Looking at this, 9 years later I still keep in touch with all of them :o)

My mom didn’t want a typical mother of the bride gown, so we found this pattern and again, I sewed away.  She looked beautiful in it.

I also made her a velvet purse with beaded fringe on it for the wedding day.  She has always loved that purse.

Me with my beautiful, long veil that my grandma made for me.  If you look close you can see some sparkle.  She put about 100 Swarovski crystals on it.  Beautiful.  

This is a photo of my brother singing at our wedding.  He sang ‘Love Song’ by Third Day.  The words to that song were also printed inside our invitations.

I married my very best friend that day and we will celebrate our 9th anniversary this November.  To you, hon!  Love.Love.  

Thanks for stopping in again this week!

Vengeance. Woodstock. Love. In No Particular Order.

Do any of you remember Woodstock?  Woodstock, you ask?  What does that have to do with the Bible?  Well, nothing, but I remembered a quick, short, funny story that involves Woodstock that I wanted to tell before I got into my post!

So, obviously, being only 34 years old, I DID NOT attend Woodstock, though for a couple years (17-21) I was enthralled with it all and wished I could have gone.  Why?  I honestly don’t know because I like to wash my hair, I shower, I wear deodorant and I’m not into bathing in a lake (most likely filled with leeches) with absolute strangers WHILE being videotaped so it can be shown to the world 30 years later on PBS during telethon season.  Anyhoo – don’t know why.  I even wanted to go to the modern 1994 Woodstock.  Dumb.  Sorry if any of you went, but my generation tried to duplicate the original and got it all wrong.  ATM machines?  Selling bottled water?  Ummm, not quite the same (though the port a potties were a good idea, though I can’t even  stand those).  (I should find some photos of those wanna be a hippie years and post them – yea, right :o)

What’s the funny story????  Okay, YEARS after my Woodstock obsession I was talking to my mom and I was completely honest with her and told her that I was glad that I didn’t go to Woodstock, because I probably would have ended up doing drugs just like everybody else.  My mother in sheer shock, looked at me in utter disappointment and in a very upsetting tone said, ‘Kari, you would have done drugs?’

I looked at her with my ‘Duh’ look and said with my ‘Duh’ tone, ‘Yea!  I’m not gonna dance around naked in the mud sober!!!!’  Haha!

(although I think this shot was from the 1994 Woodstock)

It might be one of those ‘Had to be there’ stories, but it crossed my mind this morning, so I thought I’d share it with ya’ll!

On to bigger and better things!  Hopefully this won’t be long – I tend to be long-winded, but the info I want to share today is really important and I think it can help all of us see things differently to the point where it can dramatically improve your day to day lives!  So grab your coffee, tea, water – whatever and give yourself 5 minutes for a good read.

* * * * *

“Vengeance is Mine” saith the Lord!  Ah, come on, let it be mine, Lord, PLEASE!

Let’s all be real today and admit – we don’t necessarily like everything we read in the Bible.  Now, I didn’t say that I wouldn’t be an obedient child of God and ignore what God has instructed His children to do – but I’m not jumping with joy, happy with some of it – like the following:

“Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”   
~ Romans 12:19

Seriously, what fun is that?  Revenge is fun.  Revenge is needed (so we think).  Revenge is deserving….at least in the eyes of man with an un-renewed mind.  But on a serious note, that isn’t what we always want to do – “let go and let God”.  I’m not going to act all super spiritual and pretend as if I’ve never wanted to play God and avenge my enemy.  Nor will I act like I’ve never actually done it (oops).  Our flesh gets hurt and we want to ‘pay someone back.’  We want to ‘give them a piece of our mind.’  Well, as much as we may want to do those things, it’s not our job.

I know some Christians who still have the attitude of ‘An eye for an eye’ and that isn’t right.  They try to justify it and try to make people actually believe that God still has that attitude.  Well, if you would actually read something other than that verse, you would know that THAT attitude is not okay and is not of God and His children should not be operating that way.  It may not be easy, but it is possible.

What is our commandment in the New Testament (which translates, New Covenant)?  It is: 

³⁷And He replied to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind (intellect).

³⁸This is the great (most important, principal) and first commandment.

³⁹And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as [you do] yourself.

Matthew 22:37-39 (Amplified Bible)

Do you realize that if you follow the first and second commandment, you won’t disobey any of the other commandments.  Have you ever thought of that?  If you love God with all that you have – you won’t commit murder.  You won’t commit adultery.  You won’t covet your neighbor’s possessions.   AND you won’t walk in hatred towards others, wanting evil to come upon them.

The wonderful thing about God taking care of your matters, instead of you trying to take care of them, is that God is a God of mercy.  Why doesn’t He want us to have ‘vengeance’ on people who may hurt us?  Because we would kill people off in seconds flat and the earth would have a very small population right now.  We would be harsh and cruel to people – that’s what happens when we act out of LOVE and in the flesh.  BUT GOD….But God has mercy on people and He loves those who hurt you as much as He loves you. 

If you can think back to BC in your life and no I’m not talking about Before Children, but Before Christ – isn’t it wonderful that you had God’s grace and mercy?  Isn’t it amazing that even though you may have hurt people, intentionally or not, you didn’t get wiped off the face of the earth – but instead God loved you and gave you chance after chance to repent and get yourself going in the right direction?  Maybe He had your mom in His face praying for you daily.  How could He allow someone on earth the right to show you vengeance for a wrong you may have done.  It’s not up to anyone on this earth to have that authority over any man.  God knows the beginning from the end and He is a gentleman.  He never forces Himself upon anyone.  You can serve Him or you can choose to reject Him.  Either way, He gives you that right and choice.  I know many people think God can interrupt our lives and do whatever He pleases – but that would be against His Word.  Now, this statement in itself needs another blog post to explain, and I think I will write one soon so people can understand what I mean – but to get back to my thought for today….God gives us time to get to Him and that is why He says, ‘Vengeance is Mine’.  I’m not saying that God’s vengeance is people getting saved – but He does tell us to leave it up to Him.  His patience and temperance and longsuffering are perfected and in those periods where we think God is taking too long to accomplish something, somebody’s life can be changing.  What mercy.  And I, personally, would rather someone give their life to Jesus then to live without Him and experience the manifestation of that choice in their lives.

What I think is great is that His patience and temperance pays off oh so beautifully.  What better vengeance is there than to have that person who hurt you come to Jesus and give Him their life?  Now the enemy, Satan, has lost yet another – that’s better than ‘an eye for an eye’. 

This is Biblical.  Remember Paul?  Yes?  Well, do you remember when he was Saul?  He KILLED followers of Christ.  He imprisoned them.  He PERSECUTED them.  Now, he’s the best candidate for ‘an eye for an eye’ revenge by the people he was hurting.  People were livid with Saul and how he was treating Christians.  The funny thing was – he considered himself a Christian.  Just like the Pharisees, we have many people today who are so steeped in religious, man made rules in the church, the love of God is thrown to the back burner.  These are usually the people the world sees and is a major reason why people in the ‘world’ want nothing to do with God.  In reality, if they KNEW God, they would want to have Him in their lives, but they don’t.  All they know is religion and religion has nothing to do with God.

Back to Paul, then I’m almost done.  Saul was an enemy of the followers of Christ.  The true followers.  Not those who followed the law of the church, but those who followed the teaching of the coming Messiah.  And what happened to Saul?  His life was forever changed on the road to Damascus!!!  Woo-hoo!  That’s the grace, mercy and favor of God.  I’m sure most people would have preferred to stone Saul (and I’m not talking the type of stoning that took place at Woodstock) – but Vengeance is God’s and look what He accomplished.  On the road to Damascus and after the shortest prayer of salvation on record:  ‘Lord!’ – Saul became Paul and became one of the most committed followers of Christ.  He spent the rest of his life changing the lives of others by showing them Jesus, The Messiah!  An eye for an eye would have killed him and would have deprived us the opportunity to have learned so much from the revelation he received from God Himself.

God can use anyone.  He uses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise!  ~ 1 Corinthians 1:27

Isn’t it great to know that He can use you too?!!!!!

So, even though it may feel wonderful to give someone what they deserve (deserve in our opinion), isn’t it even better that if we hand it over to God (1 Peter 5:7) and allow Him to work on our behalf as we pray for our enemies and those who have hurt us (Matthew 5:43-45) – then they will get what they really deserve – a new life in Christ!

I think that we often forget that, we too, were once away from the Lord and not living and doing right – and because of His grace and mercy, we are where we are today.  Why shouldn’t everyone be afforded that opportunity?  Instead of making people feel like they have no chance and that they don’t even deserve a chance, let’s show these people the God we serve.  Not religion, but God Himself, Who IS Love.

So, that’s my thought for this Thursday and I think I’ll end up doing a few more posts ~ branching off from this one over the next couple of weeks.  “God’s sovereignty” and “The Names of God”.

Enjoy your day today!  Walk in God’s Love!  When you do this, your life WILL change for the better.  No more grudges.  No more heartache.  No more feelings getting hurt all the time.  Just LOVE.  Pure Love.  Undefiled Love. Beautiful!

“In all your getting, get understanding.” ~ Proverbs 4:7

Introducing … Sarah.Hart.Pearsons

I absolutely believe that the best form of advertisement is word of mouth.  I don’t know about you, but when I find a product I like, go to a great restaurant, see a worthy movie, find the perfect hairdresser – I usually let everyone in my world know about it!  Think I’m exaggerating?  My husband calls me the walking billboard for the Mountain Midwifery Birth Center (where I gave birth to my baby boy, Scout.)  Why?  I was so impressed with their service and care for mothers and my experience was amazing, that I let everyone know about it.  I’ve even had a couple people switch their care over to them after hearing my ‘praise’ for them.

So – that brings me to this.  There are a few ‘worthy’ finds of mine that I want to pass along to you this week.  I always enjoy getting on and reading blogs and finding things I never would have found on my own.  Talk about a TIME SAVER.

Today I want to introduce you to my girl from Texas,

Sarah.Hart.Pearsons

A few weeks back she released her debut album entitled,

Love Songs For The King

… and I have to tell you that it is amazing! 

If you like music.  If you like Christian music.  If you like worship – you need to check out this cd.  If you go to THIS WEBSITE,
you can listen to samples of every song.  My husband and I think she sounds a bit like Sarah McLachlan – but 1,000 times better.  The cd is only $10.00 and worth the small investment.

It is a cd filled with worship songs – but they’re not your typical organ in the background, monotone worship songs.  I know people have a stereotype of Christian/worship music – but that’s not what you’ll find here.  These songs are beautiful and are filled with Love for the Lord.  Sarah’s passion is to serve the Lord with her entire life and music and worship is her gift (in my opinion).  All 12 songs are original and written by Sarah – whose heart is overflowing with Love for God and His people.  Each song is ‘centered’ around specific scripture from the Bible.  Her worship is done in faith and this album is truly about Him and not about her or her creative abilities.   She sincerely wants to touch people for Jesus Christ through her music.

Sarah is a beautiful person, inside and out.  I’ve only known her for about a year and a half, but she has been a blessing to me and this CD is one of my favorites.  I encourage you to go TAKE A LISTEN and if you like what you hear – purchase the cd, which can be done from the website.  If you do standard shipping, it’s free.  I received mine in about a week!

Trust me, this is worth the listen and worth the

purchase!  For more information, visit:

www.sarahhartpearsons.com

Thanks for stopping in today!  I’ll have more ‘worthy finds’ throughout the week, keep checking back!

* * *  this post was done strictly for purposes of me passing along information.  I was not asked to do this nor was I was not given any compensation for sharing this information with the blogging world!  :o)

* * * the photo above is copyrighted by Eric Ryan Anderson

A Masterpiece

We could look at life as a big canvas and we are the artist. Whenever we do something in life, it will end up on that canvas creating the portrait of our lives. Are we striving to create a masterpiece? If not, we should be.

Why would we choose to waste our hours, days, months and years? Why would we deliberately live a life that, when we are 50 or 60, we'll wish we would have made different decisions and had different priorities?

Using a quote from the movie, Titanic, "To make each day count!"

If only we would begin seeing what is truly important and focusing on those things each day. All the material stuff is good and fine to have, but all it does is help us enjoy life more. Where is your foundation? Do you even have one? Where is your hope? Where is your focus? Where is your love? Where is your future? Who is your Source? Who is your Guide?

Work on your relationships. Be the best parent to your children; get involved in their lives. Show your spouse that they mean everything to you. What good is a big house if there is division among the family members? What good are all the toys if your children are lacking love, hugs and affection?

We need to create our lives as a beautiful work of art with exquisite detail. We should dare not waste another day, hour, minute or second. Live life to its fullest each day. Make each day count. After all, that was God’s plan to begin with!

“The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).”

John 10:10 (Amplified Version)

My Favorite Kid Photo – Blog Hop 7.28.09

I admit it. I’m one of those who always follows the rules, except when it comes to picking out A favorite picture. I have over 20,000 photos since my daughter was born in 2005. No joke. I am trigger happy. So, I have a plethora of photos this morning. Not too many – but the ones I could grab this early in the morning before the little guy woke up and my day would be done on the computer until tonight.

So, here we go. Some of the photos of my kids that I cherish. Some aren’t that great quality, but it doesn’t make a difference to me :o)

Bella has always had a contagious smile. To this day, she can get the biggest, most beautiful smile!
Above (10 months) and below (12 months) is what she would do if you told her to ‘Praise God’. Now, being 4, when I tell her to Praise God, she says “Hallelujah!” Precious to me.

Ummm, a little too sexy for a girl who just turned One in this photo. She still likes to pose for the camera :o)

Beautiful!

How can this not make you smile??? She was 15 months old.

This was just taken in June 2008 at my brother’s wedding. She is so beautiful, it amazes me.

This is Bella and my nephew Cody at my brother’s wedding.

My Jerry Bean!

Jerry likes being wrapped in blankets, so my brother added a caption to one of the photos I took of him. Since we call him Bean, he used ‘Obean’ and since he snores….

A snout only a mama could love ;o)

Nuff said!

He’s got the smile like his sister.

He just makes me smile. He is always so happy!
My precious gems. I love them with all my heart!

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