Everything

Am I your everything,

The air you breath?

Am I your everything,

The mighty King?

Is your heart, soul, and mind consumed

With blood and love poured out for you?

 

The rules you’re bound to,

They are not from me

Your heart is my desire

Fill it with Me

Is your heart, soul, and mind consumed

With blood and love poured out for you?

You strive to please me

All I want is you

Surrender everything

I’ll carry you

Is your heart, soul, and mind consumed

With blood and love poured out for you?

Peace, my child

My love will satisfy

Peace, my child

Know that my love is wide

Deeper than all the sin you cling to in your heart

but my redeeming love will not let go

I won’t let go

And I am waiting still

To take your hand

Betroth you to myself

This is my plan

To offer you a door of hope

I am your God, you are my own

Peace, my child

My love will satisfy

Peace, my child

Know that my love is wide

All this I’ve done for you, my bride

Another Painting

I didn't have a chance to post this one the other day (i was working on it when i posted the rest) and i'll continue to post them as i finish various ones.

$30 Donation

India Inspired

Here are some 8x10 paintings I've done over the last couple of weeks. I'm hoping to sell them to raise funds for our India Team that will be visiting Asha House in May.

(SOLD)

$30 donation

(SOLD)

(SOLD)

$30 donation

(SOLD)

Year in Review

I cannot believe another year has passed... and SO MUCH has happened this year. I mean i just can't believe it. it's been a hectic but simply wonderful year, full of adventures and experiences i never could have imagined. really, my mind is blown... so looking back...

JANUARY.

• Helped lead worship at Winter Retreat... this was just an amazing experience, with an amazing group of people, and we saw one of the most amazing sunsets.
• Longview got quite a bit of snow
• and Sam Started karate. :)

FEBRUARY.

• Kids had the flu and we got more SNOW!
• Dave and a few friends Survived the Austin marathon (i can't say "RAN the Austin Marathon", because dave says he didn't run the whole time so it's doesn't count... uh, whatever!). and since we were in Austin, we got to see some cousins i hadn't seen in about 10 years!

MARCH.

• Desperation Band came to crossroads.
• a group of us celebrated brett's birthday... shreveport style

APRIL.

• Zosia turned FOUR! (that be a pancake birthday cake)
• Dave and I performed some covers for the Downtown Longview Brown Bag Lunch Concert Series

MAY.

• Our Favorite Herring boys recieved their black belts!!!(we consider them part of our family now, that's why they get some blog time) ;)
• We started supporting a little boy through Compassion International.
• and I decided to go on a missions trip to India and actually blogged about it.

JUNE.

• We Celebrated Jessica's Birthday with much cupcakery and goofery. :)

• Dave and i started teaching the kids wednesday night class. we taught them about and prayed for 10 countries where christians face persecution.

• and My Sister, Jenny, graduated from highschool!

• oh and there was this little show called The 5 Dragon Daughter that our family was a part of...

JULY.

• Dave and I celebrated 11 years of Marriage!

• Annabelle Turned six and we celebrated by invading the herring"s house and pool... :) gotta love that family!!

• Grandma Carol came for a visit!

• The 5 Dragon Daughter added 2 more Performances and I submited a photograph for the chapter 2 artwork (posted here).

• We celebrated Sarh Black's birthday princess barn style.

• And Micah got her ears pierced for her 8th birthday! :)

AUGUST.

• I turned 32.
• ate some curry... got some henna... visited the TajMahal... met the most beautiful people/children in the world... oh yeah... IN INDIA!!!! (which i still haven't finished blogging about, but hope to do next week while in houston... maybe, lol)

SEPTEMBER.

• said "see you later" to INDIA.
• went henna crazy on my kids.
• East Texas had crazy wildfires... hundreds!
• Taught the kids about 9/11 on the 10th anniversary.

 

• I started teaching a higschool course on photography for ELO.

• Dave swam, biked, ran the Rose City Triathlon and he turned 36!

• 2 more 5 Dragon Daughter shows. this time I entered a couple paintings for bean field and imposter... the roots spell out "hope"

OCTOBER.

• We said "see you later" to a dear brother, friend, and worship leader... yeaaaah, he had to go chase a girl ;)
• Sam and Micah took a class at Artsview children's theater.
• Annabelle and Zosia got to be flowers in the Yamboree parade in Gilmer. :)
• and we celebrated Connor's birthday scavenger hunt style and Lydia's 21st Birthday with Girls night out!

NOVEMBER.

• Annabelle rode her bike without training wheels. :)
• our kids became penpals with some of the kids at asha house.
• Another 5 Dragon Daughter Performance!
• and we had people over for thanksgiving!

DECEMBER.

• Sam Turned 10 and we had a fun lego party!
• the asha house family moved into a new building!!
• I got to spend a couple days with my dear friend Deb while they were in town.
• I started making arrangements to go BACK TO INDIA in april!!!!
• photographed my first wedding!!!

so yeah.. wow.. what a year, and obviously these are just the highlights and i didn't include all the hours and hours of practice for 5 dragon daughter that happened or the hours of photography lesson planning and worship planning or of homeschooling or of friday night fun or regular life. anyways... that was our year. i'm looking forward to the next one!

blog ya later!

Salt Dough Ornaments

so this year we decided to make some salt dough ornaments for our meals on wheels folks (we deliver to the same 10 every week, unless someone moves, or someone is added).

i kept it SUPER simple since we've been pressed for time lately. but they turned out nicely. kids painted them white and i stamped the words on. Tied on some ribbon and Voila!

 as we delivered each meal today, we sang a christmas song and handed them their ornaments and a christmas card. the kids absolutely loved doing it and are ready for next year. and we got quite a few smiles outta the folks we delivered to. it was a joy!

the recipe i used was 2 cups flour, 1 cup salt, 1 cup warm water. i ended up adding about another 1/4c of flour just to make it a bit less sticky. rolled out, cut with votive glass, made hole with straw. baked at 250 for about an hour, i don't really remember. ;)

Sam's Birthday Bash

after the first few years of having big parties for the kids i decided it was too much to do four a year... so instead the kids get a party when they turn five and ten. other years, it's just family and maybe one friend. (annabelle is the exception though since her birthday is july 4th, but that's life and usually most of her friends are out of town, so it evens out). anyhow.

Sam's birthday popped up in the middle of a very busy time, but the party turned out great. whew! he's officially the BIG 10. which is scary but cool. so here are some pics of what we did.

Lego block and Lego head cookies :)

 we made little favor boxes that had hershey nuggets wrapped in post-it label tape marked to look like lego blocks and a lego head and a few other small toys. inside had a printed label that said thanks for coming.

water bottles labeled with "Happy Birthday Samuel"

 

 made square pizza with mini pepperonis to look like a lego board. :)

Sam requested carrots, celery with peanut butter & raisins and fruit. 

found the rectangular paper serving trays at hobby lobby :)

simple colors... i didn't want it to get too rainbow, but didn't want blah either. 

simple set up... sorted legos and a road or green board at each spot...

a table where the other kids could display their favorite lego contraption

 we had building contests. the first round each person could only use 10 pieces. then they had to explain what they had built. most creative use of 10 peices won a prize. 2nd round they could add ten more, but it had to be something completely different. last round was a free for all. it was fun and challenging.

sam had a blast, absolutely loved his gifts and having all his buddies around. thanks to everyone who came and celebrated with us! :)

Tortila Soup (that hubby actually likes)

i love tortilla soup, but dave doesn't. but it's soup season so it's bound to show up on the menu and that's all there is too it. well, this time i thought i'd try a few little change ups. normally i use a 1/2 packet of ranch dip and a 1/2 packet of taco seasoning, cause that's the recipe i first had and i liked it. but of course in trying to use as many organic items as possible, i don't really like the organic ranch mix. anyways, the recipe is below but with just a couple simple changes, the hubby declared that he actually liked it and didn't mind taking some for lunch the next day! hooray!

INGREDIENTS:
crockpot :)
1 can light red kidney beans*
1 can hominy
1 can diced tomatoes with italian herbs*
1 small can green chilli enchilada sauce
1 cup frozen corn*
6 chicken thighs*
1 packet Chipotle Black Bean Dip mix*
4 cups water plus 2 Tsp of "Better than Boullion" chicken base (or just use 4 cups chicken broth/stock)
handful fresh cilantro or 1-2 tsp dried cilantro*
fresh squeezed lime juice (half lime)

DIRECTIONS:
1. place rinsed and dried thighs on bottom of crockpot.
2. sprinkle dip mix over chicken.
3. add remaining ingredients, cover and cook on low 8 hrs.
4. serve over rice, topped with tortilla chips, avocado, shredded cheese and a slice of lime.

*organic