Thrifty Finds

Every so often I want to post things that I have found for either a deal, or have not cost me much to make myself….

Here are a couple of things I have found for nice and cheap lately.

This skirt below was from Value Village. I got it for less than $10.00. It was missing a button right in the middle, but that didn’t pose a problem. Nothing my button stash, a bit of thread and a bit of re-arranging can’t fix. :) Now I have a pretty new skirt that I kind of love.

And this one I can’t really take credit for. My mom found this at a garage sale on the weekend. She saw it on Friday, told me about it, and went back right away on Saturday. A vintage crib for only $20.00!!!! A steal if I ever saw one!!! :) I kind of made mom go back and get it. I couldn’t let this opportunity pass!!! It isn’t a full-sized crib but it is beautiful. (Blanket pictured has another story.)

And now you are probably wondering what I am going to do with a crib… well, you will just have to read the next post coming!!!! :)

Vintage Crib (and a photo shoot opportunity)

This lovely crib has a story behind it… one that I do not know. I got it this past weekend from a lady in town who was selling it at her garage sale. I got it for only $20.00, but apparently she originally paid $50.00 for it!!! I would LOVE to know the story behind this crib!! :) It is obviously hand-made, but that is all I can say about it.

Right now I am hoping to use it as a prop for photo shoots. Who knows, maybe someday it will hold a baby again, but for now it is going to have to sit pretty for my lens. Let the story continue…. :)

About 2 x 4 feet, and about 3 feet high.

This quilt is one of the quits in my Etsy shop. It comes with a coordinating sheet. The neutral colors and small duckie print add to the vintage theme.

Solid wood, and looks to be handmade. Turned spindles and held together with pins.

This blanket has a story of it’s own. It isn’t vintage (unless you call me vintage ;), but it could look like it was). My Grandma made this blanket for me before I was born. It has kept me, my siblings, and probably a number of other babies warm for almost 20 years. It is something that I hope to use for my own babies someday. Something to remember my Grandma by.

Here is where the Photo Shoot Opportunity comes it….

I am offering a FREE newborn photo shoot using this crib as one of the props. We can add anything else you would like, but I want to use this crib for at least a couple of shots.

It doesn’t have to be right away, it can be whenever it works for you, or when you have your baby. Contact me and we can go from there!!!! I am really excited about photographing anyone’s little one!!! :)

Oh, and you don’t have to worry, I will make sure I screw it securely together first!!! ;)

Lilacs

So… I jumped on the bandwagon and joined everyone else in taking pictures of the lilacs…… ;)

I have a confession to make though, although I think they are really pretty, I cannot abide with the smell. I am staying way from everyone’s homes who have them until Lilac season is over!!!! :) lol. Not really, but I am serious about the smell part. I can’t stand it.

Anyways… on to the part of this post that matters.

After a cool and rainy day, we were blessed with some sun and the rain stopped!!! :) Everything is still wet, but the water droplets just make things look more beautiful.

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And now for a touch of reality…. I post pictures of when I look nice…. here is what I looked like tonight… Don’t laugh, actually do. I did too.

PJ pants. Rubbers. Messy hair. Lime Green work shirt. Work sweater and vest. Lumberjack socks inside my boots.

I was cold and wet when I got home from work. I didn’t care anymore, as long as I was warm and dry. :)

And We Think We Are Big????

The other night I watched a video my dad got from a friend at church. All I know is that it is entitled “Indescribable” and the event it was taped at occurred in Texas. I have no idea what the guy’s name is either. He is evangelical, and a couple of things he said I wasn’t comfortable with, but that doesn’t matter.

I just know this: What he said makes you feel REALLY, Really, really, really small.

He begins at creation, where God said, “Let there be Light”…. And there was light. God created this universe with just a word.

He didn’t just create a universe, He created a universe smaller than Himself. OK, I am stating the obvious…

But get this. The universe is smaller than God, and we can’t even comprehend how big it is. We don’t even know how big it is. We have ‘travelled’ TRILLIONS of light-years away on Voyager, and we haven’t even come close to the end.

The galaxy we live in, the Milky Way Galaxy, is just a DOT, a speck of dust in the universe.

 

And the EARTH? That is just a minute speck of dust between two rings in the Milky Way. To try picture it, think of a Quarter (25 cents) within the entire mass of North America. That is roughly the proportions of things.

I know, I can’t picture it either.

Basically, the earth is NOTHING. And we LIVE on it. We are NOTHING compared to the earth.

And then there is GOD. He is BIGGER than the ENTIRE UNIVERSE!!!!! He holds the ENTIRE thing in His HAND SPAN, as the Bible says.

And then, God sent His SON to die for US. Us little measly sinners. Smaller than pretty much nothing. Throughout the Old Testament God preserved that little, scrawny bunch of people living on the east of the Mediterranean Sea. In the New Testament, He preserves us little, worthless hypocrites that always quote, “in the world, but not of the world,” and live exactly like the world does. We have the whole scripture, and we don’t even heed it. We just care about the car we drive, the lipstick we wear, and the dollars we have in the bank. OK, and we go to church on Sunday and make sure we read our bibles everyday (I mean, we are good people, right?). I don’t feel so big right now.

BUT, God sent His SON to DIE for US!!!!! FOR YOU AND FOR ME!!!!

He cares for us. He cares for the lonely person in the old-age home. He cares for the millions of lives snuffed out through abortions. He cares for a man who disappeared over a week ago, and hasn’t been seen since. He cares for YOU!!!! For ME!!!!

I seriously can’t really get over this!!!! We are so stupid, and self-centered, and individualistic. We get a bit of a sun burn, and it peels, and we get annoyed. God speaks, and LIGHT comes from His mouth and lights the entire universe!!!!! He could CONSUME us any moment, but He doesn’t. He LOVES us, He preserves us.

Seriously, we are we not SERVING HIM??? Don’t we get it??? 

We don’t, and we never completely will.

God is INDESCRIBABLE. Let us realize how small we really are, and how great God is. Let us stop thinking about ourselves, whether the Leafs will win, or how tired we are. Let our lives be characterized by Christ, and His love, not what the world says. Let God take control of your life. Let Him ‘take it and run’ as the saying goes. Let us trust and pray.

God is an amazing God. Oh, what a great God we serve!!!!!

People Who Share My Dream

I just wanted to share with you some people who share my dream of change. They might share only part of it, they might share the whole thing… They are serving God, who they LOVE and desire to worship, and changing lives!!!!

Here is the story of Marcie Little who is working for an organization called Save the Storks. This organization is saving many, many lives of unborn children with their ministry. They simply park their vans outside of abortion clinics and ask one simple question, “Would you like a free sonogram?” The statistics are that 3 of every 5 women choose to let their unborn children live after seeing their baby on an ultrasound screen. The implications of this ministry are HUGE!!!! God is working through these people wonderfully!!!!

And here is the story of Chai Ling who was one of the main leaders in the Tiananmen Square movement and survived the massacre of Beijing. She has told here story in a book entitled A Heart for Freedom. She now lives in the USA, is married and has 3 little girls. She has founded an organization called All Girls Allowed, which is “dedicated to restoring life, value and dignity to girls and mothers and revealing the injustice of China’s one-child policy” (taken from Chai Ling’s bio in the back of her book).

And Katie Davis: who at the age of 18 or 19 went to Uganda and started a ministry which serves orphans and homeless in the slums of one little part of Uganda. Who is the ‘official’ adoptive mother to 13 little girls, and ‘unofficial’ mother, doctor and friend to many, many more!!! A young woman who gave up her comfortable life in the USA to serve God on the red dirt of Uganda. Someone who is just like you and me, but has given her life to God. She tells her story in a book entitled Kisses from Katie.

And there are oodles and oodles more!!!

I have a friend who works at a youth drop-in center in Hamilton, ON.

I have a couple of friends who are involved with the Move In Organization (link is to the Toronto website, but they are all over. I have a friend in Kitchener area, and a couple in the Niagara area), moving into communities so that they are able to serve and witness to these people them better and more effectively.

I have a friend who is serving immigrants in Georgia, USA for the second summer in a row.

I know a multitude of mothers and young ladies who are using their writing and blogs to change the way that people think. They are convinced of the truth and want to share it with everyone else out there!!!!

I know of someone who has moved into East Hamilton with his family so that they, and a number of like-minded people, could start a ministry in the middle of the people they are serving instead of from the outside. He can tell you stories, one after another, about people he knows in Hamilton who are serving Christ through various ministry organizations, and personal businesses and ministries. About many lives that are being changed through the love of Christ. Through these many, many Christian people (a lot of them young people) downtown Hamilton is being transformed.

What are YOU doing???? I want to hear more!!!!

Starting With The Small Things….

…”Two posts in ONE day!!! WHAT!!! :) Blame Justine for that. ;) Just joking.

I want to bring to light something that I thought I mentioned in my last post… I guess I hadn’t. :)

Here is something that Justine said, and I want to share it with you:

“…Another thing I have been thinking of is this: you and I may not be able to change the world, but we can change one person's life for the better. And people's souls are forever, whereas this world isn't. (Not saying changing the world is impossible or that we shouldn't try. I just find it encouraging that if we try to make things better, one step at a time, one person at a time, God can use that.)…”

Here is part of my reply:

“…I agree with you and believe that that way is how we are going to start fueling change. I know we can't do it ourselves, but I believe that if we all serve God in our own calling, we can make a difference. Yes, we might always serve Him in small ways, we might also end up serving Him in big ways... I don't think the size matters, God uses even the smallest things/efforts and transforms them into something big!!!! He uses everything for His glory.
Personally, I hope to start by serving lonely people in the retirement home down the road from our house. It is small, but I hope to share with them something that I love doing -sewing. I want to learn how to crochet and knit, and spend time with those older people. Love them, and serve them, and bring joy to their life.....
I could go on for a long time, but I think you get the point.... I believe that starting small, is the way we should start. We don't start everything big and successful, it takes time. Just like it takes time to change attitudes and hearts.”

I personally don’t think our world is going to respond to a huge outcry, and lots of noise. We will either be shut down, or completely ignored. Yes, there is the occupy movement and that got in the news. Yes, there are gay pride parades, and they are in the news. But, I have this feeling that if we went into the streets marching and chanting, there would not be the same response. I could be wrong, but I kind of don’t think so.

And in saying this, I am in no way speaking against the March for Life that took place last week…. I completely support that, and I wish I could have gone. I think that that is a bit different… It shows the government that there is so much support for the preservation of life. I support ARPA, and their work. They do amazing work, and are making a difference. They started out small, and run by volunteers as well. It took time for them to rise to the higher levels, and be where they are today.

I know the last two paragraphs seem to contradict each other… it is just hard to articulate what I am thinking. Is there someone else out there who can do it better?

I believe that we need to create relationships, and in that way share with others Christ and His love. We need to be patient and prayerfully consider everything we do. We don’t need to think that we can only make a difference when we are big, everything starts small.

That is why I encourage you to join me, and start serving in some way small, let God do the rest. He will open and close the doors in the right time.

Let me know what you think!!!! I want to hear!!!!

I Have This Dream…

I have a dream… These words are what we know as part of Martin Luther King’s visionary speech, made in 1963.

I believe that we all have dreams. They might be personal dreams, they might be dreams for our family, our country, or the world.

My dream is for the whole world. It is a dream that seems to be attacked and dragged down by everything I encounter, every single day. And it is a dream that seems utterly impossible to reach.

New flash (or not): IT IS

Well, in our own strength it is completely impossible. With God on our side: It is POSSIBLE!!! God can do anything, as long as it is within His will; it brings glory to him.

So, what is this dream?

That the world will be transformed by the Word of God and our society will be turned completely around. That murder will be punished properly, that abortion would be stopped. That everything would be closed on Sundays, other than churches and hospitals. That the jails would be empty and the seminaries filled. That lawyers will be looking for work, because suing is no longer an issue. That the postmodern attitude, saying that everyone is right and there is no wrong (other than Christianity), has been eradicated!!! That marriage is properly revered and the divorce and sex-before-marriage rates are zero. That the churches are overflowing, and people are planting new ones all over, and the strip clubs, bars and brothels are being transformed into God-honoring businesses. That the entertainment industry, as we know it now, is failing because we are not ‘amusing ourselves to death’ as Neil Postman has phrased it. That God’s definition of that family us upheld and homosexuality is seen as the sin it is.

I told you it looks impossible. But I believe it isn’t.

You know what? It used to be like that. The ten commandants were part of the governing constitutions and everyone went to church. Yes, there were still problems. Yes, there were still those who did not believe. Yes, the world will never be perfect, for we are all born in sin.

It will take years, maybe generations. It will take multitudes of people and boldness in Christ. It will take dedication and hours and hours of prayer. It will take complete trust in God. It will take letting God take control of our lives, and a willingness to serve Him wherever He calls us to serve. It will take God’s hand, using us as the secondary means. Ultimately, it will take a God-sized miracle!!!

I am convinced that this can be reached, if we all share this dream and do the part God calls us to. It is going to start small, because we all know that it takes time and patience to transform attitudes and hearts.

I know there are more of you out there that share this dream with me – speak out!!! There are those of you that are changing lives, for Christ, already. You are working in youth shelters, going to the March for Life, helping others in your community, volunteering at various places in and out of your communities, moving into communities so that you will be able to serve the people and witness better. You are loving others, and showing the love of Christ through your words and actions; pairing the Word (of God) with the deed.

What are you doing in your community? I want to know, and I want I ideas!!! Take someone with you next time, and share with them this vision!!!

Will you join me in sharing this dream?

Pansies

The Pansies are in full bloom, and spring is finally here!!!! That also means that I am going to garden centers, starting this week, and have no life for a month. :S Oh well, it is only for a month, and the job is not that bad, plus it pays nicely. :) Now instead of taking pictures of these flowers, I am going to be selling them!!!!

My mom has this pretty blue and cream Bundt pan that got all scratched up on the inside…. it makes a perfect flower pot for the pansies sitting on the table on the deck. I found a similar idea on Pintrest… so head on over and check her pin out too. :)

And this one is straight out of the camera, I know, I was surprised too. :) I love how the sun us reflected through it. And the speckles…. that is what happens with your lens is dirty, it looks kind of cool though.