Thursday, September 25, 2008

Jewels of Friendship

Here is a sampling of some new creations for my jewelry show tomorrow.
Earrings always seem to sell the best, so I've stocked up on those! Wish me success!






I took a much needed break from my labor yesterday for a lovely luncheon with some friends. This sweet hostess had cookies made and brewed me up a Chai Latte' when I arrived. The lunch was divine with toasted avocado and swiss sandwiches and a homemade minestrone soup that another friend brought. All I had to do was get there with my big belly and 3 daughters. It was sooo relaxing. Although, I did go home wanting to re-decorate my house after being in her super cute home and seeing all her special touches. Her closets are sooo organized! Ummm, can you come to my house next and be my hired organizer? I'll pay you in jewels!


Each one fearfully and wonderfully made.
~ christa jean

Monday, September 22, 2008

Ordering my steps

I am the type of person who always loads and unloads the dishwasher in the same order.

I have to envision the route I will take when I am driving to a destination and I usually like to stay in one lane the whole way to keep it easy.

I get really overwhelmed and, ahem... cranky when there is a lot to do and those to dos are fighting in my head for prominence. I must put them in order on a list to feel less crazy!

"Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established."
~ Proverbs 16:3 ~

All those reasons and more have prodded me to become more orderly. I have finally finished the book that I started in April, "Managers of Their Homes" and decided to implement... a schedule. Gasp! I never thought I would succumb!

The first step was to write out an Activity Worksheet for myself with time allottments assigned to each one. Here is what I came up with after a week of working on it. I love that the top of the worksheet says:

"Activities God wants me to accomplish"

Read Bible & Journal ~ 30 min.
Prayer & Planning ~ 30 min.
Fix my face/make my bed ~ 30 min.
Breakfast prep/clean-up ~ 30 min.
Morning Chores ~ 30 min.
Bible & Dance time w/ girls ~ 30 min.
Pre-school w/ Joy Berries ~ 30 min.
Pre-school w/ Olivia Jean ~ 30 min.
School w/ Grace E ~ 1 hour
Lunch prep/clean-up ~ 30 min.
Get girls ready for naps/reading ~ 30 min.
Reading w/ Grace E ~ 30 min.
Personal rest/ reading time ~ 30 min.
Computer/ jewelry designing ~ 1 hour
Play time w/ girls ~ 30 min.
Dinner prep ~ 1 hour
Family Activities ~ 1.5 hours
Bath time ~ 30 min.
Bedtime routine w/ girls ~ 30 min.
Evening chores ~ 30 min.
Husband time ~ 1 hour
My time (bath, nails, reading, etc.) ~ 30 min.
Sleep ~ 8 hours
= 22 hours

I left myself an extra 2 hours and lots of wiggle room here and there, which will be essential in 3 months! I also didn't include eating times, because sometimes we eat fast and sometimes a certain child will be at the table for an hour after we've moved on! Family Activities would include those nights that we have scheduled plans elsewhere. I didn't factor it in the list, but plan on starting a load of laundry during my "Morning Chores" and having it totally completed by my "Evening Chores". Then there is potty training, which we've been working on for a while. Luckily, I can stick Joy on the toilet and she reads books while she goes!

The next step was to fill out worksheets for the girls. That was fun! They get special times of play together and arts/craft time and get to help me a lot. Being together overall is important to me.

The step after that was to choose a seperate color "Preparation Worksheet" for each individual and transfer the activities into the appropriate sized slots. I spent an hour last night cutting them all out and fitting them into the "Master Schedule". It was like working a big puzzle, some places were difficult to figure out. But with sticky tack on the back of the squares, I can move them as we run into complications. This may seem like an overwhelming amount of work ~ enough to get me cranky! ~ but it was not when I just hunkered down and did it!

A snapshot of our morning


My goal was to talk each girl through the schedule today and then begin slowly implementing it this week, starting with just the morning half. HA!!! It was a nice goal to have. When hubby's around we like to be together. And I'm making jewelry this week, soooo, maybe next week.

I can already see that my challenge will be to stay r e l a x e d.

I really love how the author points out again and again that a schedule is not my Master, Jesus is. I hope to use this as a guide for us that is flexible. I'm also only planning to follow it 4 days a week. I am excited for the activities I have scheduled now that I never had "time" to do before, like play with the girls.

"This is the day that the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it."
~ Psalms 118:24 ~
~ christa jean

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Fanciful Fun!


One week from today, I will be doing a Jewelry Show up in Washington.
Here are a few of the designs I came up with this week...

I'm wearing this pretty today, and I may just have to keep it!

The photos never do the pieces right. These are quite sparkly in person!


I think I must really like blue and green, for they show up in all my work.

This one is really funky and random, but I'm diggin' it.


~ christa jean

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Just spit it out!

I figured it was time to post again when I woke up this morning with numerous post titles floating through my head. Did ya miss me?! Ha ha, you were probably glad to have one less blog to read!

Visions of boots were floating through my head this morning as well. And clothes... and purses.

There is something about this time of the year that kinda makes me go cuh-razy (with googly eyes rolling in my head). I'm not sure if it is the memories of a more "advanced" allowance for school clothes (thanks mom!), or that cooler weather is on the horizon, or that the clothing marketeers really are effective, orrrrrrrr that I've been reading too many shopping magazines lately. Well, whatever the reason is, I want. I want to look cute. I want to be stylish. I want those boots I saw and drooled over. But, I can't. I can't have. And I really shouldn't be wanting like I do. It only breeds discontent.

I went in to apply for WIC (Women, Infants and Children ~ food and nutrition assistance) a month ago. I walked into the WIC clinic and was surrounded by mothers of different ethnicity, crying kids, and pregnant teenagers. I felt out of place. Don't I live in an adorable house? Don't I have a closet full of cute clothes? Didn't I used to spend loads of money on the healthiest food and all organic produce?
I thought "I'm not one of them" and sat down. But it was an ugly thought and it caught me by suprise. I chewed on it for a bit and then decided to spit it out. Pride. I won't swallow my pride this time, no way, it was like an old piece of nasty gum that had lost it's flavor hours ago, yet I was still chomping on it. That gum doesn't deserve another chew, you realize, and pa-tooey, into the trash it flies.


If being in a state of need strips off a little more pride, then SO BE IT.

I began to see those ladies and babies and teenagers with different eyes then. They were lovely, they were precious, they were loved.

And those boots that I love? Take a peek.
Are you drooling too? Or maybe your mouth just dropped because you saw the price of those pretties. Yeah, mine too. Believe me, if I had that amount laying around, I would not be spending it on boots! I would spend it on something more practical like our house payment or something.
You see, they're just another thing that I don't really need. I don't need them to make me happy, for that happiness is fleeting. I don't need them for other's approval of my fashion sense, for my true worth is in Christ.
Besides, what if during this pregnancy, my feet explode and my calves enlarge and I can't get into boots forever after? Now wouldn't that be a shame!

If being in a state of need causes me to see what is really important to me, then SO BE IT!
"Be content with such things as ye have."
--HEBREWS 13:5
~christa jean

Monday, September 8, 2008

Re-Focus

I'll be taking a break this week from terrorizing the blogosphere!

Must re-focus. Must not give in to the tormenting thoughts of "How can I blog about this?!" ;-)

Must prioritize. Must organize!

Must socialize.

Must focus my thoughts, time, energy on what is truly important to me...

Posted by Picasa
Maybe I'll be back next week to break my fast, and to scratch that blog itch...
ta ta for now!
~christa jean~

Friday, September 5, 2008

Re-Birth

Click play on my player for the soundtrack to this post!

If I can get my mid-life crisis over now, that would be great!

I am 30 now and in looking over the last 30 years, I'm not sure I like what I see.

Didn't I specifically buy glasses with rose-colored lenses so that I could have a better outlook on life?! Well, they did look nice on me... even if they don't really work.

Everytime I look at myself, I see a person that I am disturbed by. And I keep trying to do things to change that person.

I do not like who I am as a wife. You'd think after almost 9 years of being that, I would have figured it out! But I see I have not. I still think of my needs first. I do not look for special and extra ways to love my husband. I do not yet know which way he feels loved best (although, that one seems obvious ;). I complain more than I want to. I do laugh at his jokes though. That's something!

I do not like who I am as a mother. Gosh, this one makes me cringe. I see my time with my children ticking away, so fleeting, like sand between my fingers. I have a picture of what I want to be and yet, that always seems just beyond my grasp. But I am taking baby steps toward it. I actually made a list of the things I've done that I've hung my head in shame over. I will talk each one over with my gracious husband and seek forgiveness and prayer, releasing the burden of shame, breaking the shackles of the past so that I may move forward into the future with hope.

I do not like who I am as a friend. Why is it that when I sit down with pen in hand, I can't shut the overflowing fountain up, yet when I sit down with a friend, the words dry up and it feels like I'm striving to make small talk? And why can't I be more funny? Why don't I love more deliberately?

I do not like who I am as a daughter/sister. I still try to keep up the facade that "all's well" and don't let myself be vulnerable with the ones who care the most. I don't pray for my family like I want to. I don't serve.

I suppose that sums up in a small way what I see when I look at me.

But, you wanna know what I've realized?
Lean in close... listen carefully, for it's revolutionary.

I can not fix myself.
Self? Did you hear me?!

Oh sure, I can make wise choices and foster good habits. This statement, for me, is not a cop-out. It is life-changing. It is releasing. It is freeing.

"... who has saved us with a holy calling,
NOT according to our works
But according to His own purpose and grace
which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began."
~2Timothy 1:9~

When you finally get to the end of yourself and the striving to be better, you begin to find real life in Him.

These lyrics have always meant a lot to me and will forever remind me to just knock it off!

"Got a stack of books,
So I could learn how to live;
Many are left half-read,
Covered by the cobwebs on my shelf.
And I got a list of laws,
Growing longer everyday;
If I keep pluggin' away,
Maybe one day I'll perfect myself.
Oh, but all of my labor,
Seems to be in vain;
And all of my laws,
Just cause me more pain;
So I fall before You,
In all of my shame;
Ready and willing to be changed-

Own me
Take all that I am,
And heal me
With the blood of the Lamb.
Mold me
With Your gracious hand;
Break me till I'm only Yours-
Own me

Oh, you call me Daughter,
And you take my blame;
And you run to meet me,
When I cry out Your name,
So I fall before You,
In all of my shame.
Lord, I am willing to be changed

Own me..."
~ Ginny Owens~

I had a dream the week before my birthday. In this dream, a friend and I were praying for someone and really praying hard, even trying to cast out evil spirits from this person. We were getting nowhere. I asked the person to look at some images of Jesus that were hanging on the wall and then draw what she saw. She drew these mutilated and deformed pictures. Then when I looked back at the wall, that is what I saw as well. I woke up from that thinking "Wow, I really need to pray for that person!" But as I wrote the dream in my journal later, I felt that the dream was not sending me a message to pray for that person... it was sending me a message about how I see Jesus. As powerless.

I had another picture of myself with this sticky ball of black goo, this represented all of the junk I see inside. In my mind's picture, I see myself flinging it at Jesus. But the image of Jesus was fake and so it just bounced off of him and struck me in the face.

These things, and others, have caused me to think more seriously about my belief.

Is Jesus really my Saviour? Or am I?
Do I know the Jesus that is real? Or is He just a kind person?
Where is the Jesus that calmed the storm with a command?
Where is the Jesus who conquered death and said "It is Finished"?
Why is it not finished in me?
I say I believe, but Lord, help my unbelief!

I woke up from a dream on another night and heard a storm breaking over my house. These words came to mind: "I created the storm"

Whatever is going on inside of me right now feels like chaos. It is as if years of old thoughts, like cobwebs are being swept out of my mind. I am doing my best to yield to it. And it feels to me like maybe, just maybe, I'm finally seeing more clearly.
No more haze and darkness and confusion.

A re-birth.

Aren't you supposed to be wiser by the time you reach 30?! Maybe in another 30 years I'll be really wise!!!

Uh huh, yeah.

~ christa jean

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Wastelands

"There are dry, fruitless, lonely places in each of our lives, where we seem to travel alone, sometimes feeling as though we must surely have lost the way. What am I doing here? How did this happen? Lord, get me out of this!

He does not get us out. Not when we ask for it, at any rate, because it was He all along who brought us to this place. He has been here before--it is no wilderness to Him, and He walks with us. There are things to be seen and learned in these apparent wastelands which cannot be seen and learned in the "city"--in places of comfort, convenience, and company.

God does not intend to make it no wasteland. He intends rather to keep us--to hold us with his strength, to sustain us with his sure words--in a place where there is nothing else we can count on.

'God did not guide them by the road towards the Philistines, although that was the shortest...God made them go round by way of the wilderness towards the Red Sea' (Ex 13:17,18 NEB).

Imagine what Israel and all of us who worship Israel's God would have missed if they had gone by the short route--the thrilling story of the deliverance from Egypt's chariots when the sea was rolled back. Let's not ask for shortcuts. Let's keep alert for the wonders our Guide will show us in the wilderness."

~Elisabeth Elliot (have I made it clear that I love her writings? I do!)