A Plan for the New Year

The new year approaching has been on my mind. Some new things will take place in the new year - like for one, I start taking classes again and will be preparing for the nursing program. And there are a few things on my heart that I would like to accomplish or to be a part of. I really want to start visiting with the elderly and shut-ins again. I think I've needed to take an emotional hiatus from that ministry the past few months to heal from losing Mrs. Jessie. My heart is eager to begin again and receive the blessings that that ministry brings.

Now, I've always been one to over-schedule myself and fail to make proper time to nourish myself in the Lord while serving and doing for others. I love serving others, and increasing my own joy by seeing the joy of others increase, but it does not do me any good if I am not also spending time with God in His word and seeking to be filled with joy in Christ alone.

Ever so faithful, the Lord has provided me a resource to help guide me in the New Year. I came across A NEW YEAR'S PLEA: PLAN! by John Piper. In this article, Piper sets forth scripture and the importance of why we need to plan both in our prayer time, Bible study, ministry, and even in our work and personal/family life.

"Nothing but the simplest impulses gets accomplished without some forethought which we call a plan.

All of us know this and practice it in relation to the basic physical necessities of life. We take steps to see that we have enough to eat and clothes to keep us warm. But do we take our spiritual needs that seriously? Do we apply the same earnestness in planning to maximize our ministry as we do in planning to make a living?"

I'm so glad the Lord has chosen this time to teach me this - to admonish my heart to be more of a planner when it comes to my time, ministry, family, work, school and most importantly in my relationship with Him.

I'm eager to see what this New Year will bring and what the Lord will teach me. And even though, I rarely adjust well to change, I welcome it because I know that is how I grow and move to new places.

Proverbs 16:3, "Commit your work to the Lord and your plans will be established."

Hopeful Post-Christmas Melancholy (Post from Desiring God blog)

I came across this while reading Piper's blog and felt compelled to share it on my blog as well. I pray it blesses you as it blessed me.

Hopeful Post-Christmas Melancholy

December 27, 2008 | By: Jon Bloom
Category: Commentary

(Reposted from last year)

Each year Christmas night finds members of my family feeling some melancholy. After weeks of anticipation, the Christmas celebrations have flashed by us and are suddenly gone. And we’re left standing, watching the Christmas taillights and music fade into the night.

But it’s possible that this moment of melancholy may be the best teaching moment of the whole season. Because as long as the beautiful gifts remain unopened around the tree and the events are still ahead of us, they can appear to be the hope we are waiting for. But when the tree is empty and events are past, we realize we are longing for a lasting hope.

So last night, as Pam and I tucked our kids into bed, we talked about a few things with them:

• Gifts and events can’t fill the soul. God gives us such things to enjoy. They are expressions of his generosity as well as ours, but gifts and celebrations themselves are not designed to satisfy. They're designed to point us to the Giver. Gifts are like sunbeams. We are not meant to love sunbeams but the Sun.
• Putting our hope in gifts will leave us empty. Many people live their lives looking for the right sunbeam to make them happy. But if we depend on anything in the world to satisfy our soul’s deepest desire, it will eventually leave us with that post-Christmas soul-ache. We will ask, “Is that all?” because we know deep down that’s not all there is. We are designed to treasure a Person, not his things.
• It is more blessed to give than receive. What kind of happiness this Christmas felt richer, getting the presents that you wanted or making someone else happy with something that you gave to them? Receiving is a blessing, but Jesus is right—giving is a greater blessing. A greedy soul lives in a small, lonely world. A generous soul lives in a wide world of love.

It’s just like God to let the glitter and flash of the celebrations (even in his honor) to pass and then to come to us in the quiet, even melancholic void they leave. Because often that’s when we are most likely to understand the hope he intends for us to have at Christmas.

I pray you have a wonderful New Year!

Kathryn Scott's "Search Me Know Me"

I just heard this song by Kathryn Scott and I really like it. Here are the lyrics:

Search me know me
Try me and see
Every worthless affection hidden in me
All I'm asking for is that You'd cleanse me Lord

Create in me a heart that's clean
Conquer the power of secret shame
Come wash away the guilty stain of all my sin

Clothe me in robes of righteousness
Cover my nakedness with grace
All of my life before You now I humbly bring

What a prayer to pray.

Words of comfort for the wee hours...

Well, another Christmas has come and gone and is tucked away into my photographic family archive.

There are many things I feel I could write about, but I think I'll just keep them between me and the Lord for now. I'm still having trouble sleeping so I'm trying to spend time with the Lord in prayer and in his word. I wanted to share a verse that I read and just absolutely love!!

2 Samuel 22:47 (ESV)

47"The LORD lives, and blessed be my rock,
and exalted be my God, the rock of my salvation,

The Lord lives! Oh what sweet words! May God be exalted indeed!

All for Jesus

I am praising God this morning for this time of year, that we can celebrate the incarnation of Christ and ultimately the sacrifice Jesus made for those who belong to the Lord.

Ephesians 1:7 (English Standard Version)

7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,

My mind has been on Jesus these past few days because of some conversations I have had with friends lately. I shared part of my testimony the other day and I was reminded again of the depth of God's love for me and the incredible sacrifice Jesus made and responsibility that He bore - for me and my sin. OH! That I would remember this and carry this with me every minute of every day!

There is such comfort in knowing that I am His!

Psalm 100:3 (English Standard Version)

3Know that the LORD, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

So as we enter this Christmas season, the Lord has renewed in me the true reason for this celebration.

Oh what a joyful time of year!

In light of all this, my mind and heart has really been on those I met while I was in India. Especially the little kiddos in the orphanage. They are so hungry for truth there and I long so much to be able to go again and share the gospel with the Indian people.

Inside a classroom at the Christian school in Chennai

I pray the Lord will allow me such an honor again to labor for him among the people I love so much.

"I think my wife's a calvanist"

My friend Christy posted this on her blog, and I thought I too would share it. I think it's pretty funny.

Dreaming of cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudel...

Christmas Eve has finally arrived, and in ever, true 'Amber' fashion I was up into the wee hours of the morn working on some homemade Christmas gifts. I've been disappointed in myself this year because typically most of my gifts are things that I've made, but I honestly don't know what happened to the time this year, and well, time escaped me. So unfortunately I bought most of the gifts I'm giving - which I know the recipients could care less whether it's from the store or my hands, but for me, I just enjoy slowing down and taking the time to piece together something from my heart.

And now that I have all of you gagging, here are some pics of this years' Christmas project. I used some of the portraits I took of my nieces and thanks to Jeanne Winters' blog, I was given the idea of doing a collage on canvas for each of them.






I also found these pics from last year. My brother Jason built this picket fence bench and I painted flowers to match her room on the toy bins for Lauren for Christmas last year. I love it when we can do a project that is big like this and involve more than just me : ) For Madison's first Christmas my dad and I built a dollhouse bookcase for Madison - it is one sort of like my dad built for me when I was little. I'll try to find the pictures of that. Of course that was 10 years ago and I'll have to hunt down the picture or negatives. I hadn't gone digital in my photography yet!

Willison Family Christmas Dinner

Okay, so I seem to be backtracking and getting caught up in posts, But last Friday we (Me, my mom, my brother, sister-in-law, and two nieces) traveled to Louisville (pronounced Lewis-ville) Illinois for the Willison Family Christmas dinner. We are so blessed with a wonderful family, that is large and close to one another - and we always, always, always have such a wonderful time when we all get together!

It is so wonderful to see the families grow each year. Mom pointed out that with the Willisons there's always a baby at a gathering! I love big families! So anyway, here are just a few pictures. If I have more time, I'll try to post some more!





I am completely blessed with such a wonderful family! It would have been even better if Jason and Amy could have joined us, but we'll all be together soon!!

Oooooh!

I've been working so much lately and that has resulted in an immense amount of pictures and graphic design files on my computer, so much that I can't do anymore until I clear off some space for my workhorse to do what I tell it to. Anyway, I came across these pictures I took not long ago. Actually this was just before the remnants of Ike ripped through our area. I came home to a beautiful sight above the house. Anyway, I hope you enjoy them!

My unexpected gift to myself…

So last night, I went shopping for a special Christmas gift for a dear person in my life. I’ve struggled with what to get her and spent nearly two hours traveling up and down each aisle in Target trying to get an idea for a special gift.

I usually make my gifts that I give, but this year I have been so incredibly busy that October and November raced by and before I knew it, here it is 4 days until the big day. No time to make a quilt or piece together a scrapbook – I have to go commercial at this point.

In my hunt for a creative gift or even a grand idea for one, I came across a hand mixer that had three different attachments – one in particular was of great interest to the baker in me. It had dough hooks that would cut through cream cheese straight from the refrigerator!! I’ve used one and was amazed at the ease with which it cut and blended, and you can only imagine my glee when I saw that this particular hand mixer was on sale for $17.99. I caved and decided that it would be a gift to myself – and a time saver in the end, as I won’t have to wait for cream cheese to soften before baking a cheesecake. (I’m sure at this point you are wondering why on earth such ramblings about a hand mixer are important and questioning my own sanity and wondering how a person can be so excited by such a simple thing – but trust me, it doesn’t take much to make me happy : )

Defeated, idealess and feeling a migraine coming on that I’ve been fighting all week, I made my purchase and happily carried my new kitchen gadget to my car. Upon realizing that I had spent the time equivalent of a full-length feature film dodging shoppers and wondering aimlessly, I decided to call it a night and head home.

Now I have a reputation that I confess I am not proud of. I tend to drive a bit fast. And even though since graduating from college and being more settled I have slowed down, I still tend to chase pavement a bit quicker than I should every now and then.

Lost in deep thought and traversing I-164 for the Bluegrass state apparently I blew right past an Indiana State Trooper who clearly did not have the Christmas spirit for a gift weary and migraine plagued gal.

It’s really sad that I can identify law enforcement solely upon the shape of the headlights in my rear-view mirror – but that is just the case. I was ripped from my deep thoughts and plunked right back into reality when Trooper Scott hit his blue lights.

So this year for Christmas instead of enjoying my hand mixer with the special dough beaters, I’ve decided to punish myself and take it back because now I’m supporting our local law enforcement for the holidays. So, kudos for our law enforcement for keeping our highways and byways safe from unruly drivers such as myself!

Perhaps I will acquaint myself a little more with cruise control.

Please MOM!!!! PLEEEEEAAASSSSEEEEEE!!!!!

A throw-back to one of my all-time favorite silly Christmas songs!!!

Bug's Christmas Recital

This is a video of my youngest niece's Christmas recital. She was a Christmas Cowgirl. Lauren is the one on the far left at the end of the line.

Sorry it's small - I'm still trying to refresh my Final Cut Pro video editing skills.

Praise God for This Man

This is audio from a sermon by Paul Washer titled "Shocking Message" for youth today that was made into a video and put on YouTube. I've heard this sermon many times, yet fall under conviction each time I hear it.

I praise the Lord for using Paul to speak the truth of scripture against our/my culture.

Silly, Silly, Silly!

I read this joke while reading the Girl Talk blog (you'll find the link to it on the right) but it was a good laugh so I thought I would pass it along! : ) And, it's complete with a silly picture of me and the girls.

Smart Blonde Joke

A cop pulls over a blonde, and says, “Ma’am, you were speeding. May I please see your driver’s license?”

“Oh, well, you see officer, I don’t have a drivers license,” the blonde replies. “I never really had the time to go to the DMV and stand for hours in line…and anyway, all you get are terrible pictures.” The slightly taken aback cop says, “Well, then, may I see your proof of registration?"

“Well, officer,” the blonde says, “this isn’t my car. I wanted to borrow it from my neighbor, because it’s so much faster than mine and I was late for a wedding – that’s why I was speeding – but he said no really rudely, so I hit him over the head with a tire iron and stuffed him in the trunk.”

The horrified police officer backs away and calls for backup, and the police chief himself comes out, along with a squad, to see about this.

“Ma’am,” says the chief, “may I see your driver’s license?” The blonde hands it to him and it hasn’t expired or anything, everything’s okay. “May I see your proof of registration?" The blonde hands that to him, and it’s her car, and everything’s okay. “I hate to bother you,” the chief says, “but may I look in your trunk?”

So she pops the trunk and there’s nothing in there. The chief comes back to her window. “We’re sorry, ma’am. The officer over there said that you didn’t have a driver’s license, this wasn’t your car, and that you’d killed a man.”

“You know what,” says the blonde, “I bet he told you I was speeding, too.”

A Little Perspective For Myself...

Yes, so I think upon reading my last post that I am going to ban myself from posting anything in the midst of a full-on, old-fashioned come-apart! I apologize for the ramblings - but needed to get all the junk out of my head. Now that I feel human again, and I'm not quite as busy, I feel I can post now with sound mind.

It's so funny how I get so incredibly scatterbrained, out of sorts and overwhelmed when life gets so busy. A dear friend pointed out that it seems to be magnified when we aren't getting the sleep we need. And that was last week to a tee for me.

But upon reflection, I see now that my focus and perspective has been off. I had been so focused on the jobs and responsibilities that laid before me, that I failed to keep my mind and focus on the Lord.

So I've chosen to make this post an interactive one. For those of you who follow my ramblings, how do you make time for the Lord and keep your focus on Him in times when family, responsibilities, careers and life in general pull you in different directions?

What scripture brings you the most joy and comfort in the midst of an overwhelming "to do" list?

Surely I'm not the only one with this struggle. And my thoughts today are on the fact that as a single woman, I don't even have nearly the responsibility that many of my friends do that have spouses, children, and homeschool, and even have jobs. So I know I need to get a handle on this in case the Lord has those things for me in the future.


So the pictures that I have posted today are from a recent trip to the zoo and aquarium in Cincinnatti. (If you don't like even the sight of snakes - I will warn you now to not look at the last picture! It's the third one down.) Anyway, just a bit more of God's amazing creation by an amazing creator. How can I not know in the midst of the storm that it's all going to work out??

Just when I think I've learned the lesson of trusting in the Lord, taking a deep breath and not coming-apart, the Lord shows me just how much farther I have to go.

Where are you Peace?????

In the midst of one of the worst days I've had in quite a while, which just happens to be at the tail end of one of the most horrible weeks I've had lately, I'm trying oh...so...hard to find a bit of peace in between photo assignments here at the paper. The picture above is from one of my favorite places, the Berkshires in Western Massachussetts, and I remember that day vividly. I went hiking with a friend in the snow on one of the mountains there (I'm blanking on the name). But OH! It was so beautiful and peaceful and quiet.

So many things have occurred this week and then, aside from a wonderful brunch with a dear friend this morning - my day completely unraveled. I don't like to cry at the office - and only have once (when I was working on a photo story about a cancer patient and his relationship with his daughter who was just 10 at the time - very emotional for me) but I just couldn't contain it today. I was assigned another emotional photo assignment, one of a few this week alone, and I guess too many times I hide my emotions behind the lens.


One of the cemeteries here has an annual Holiday Luminary Display where folks can come out and place a luminary at the grave of a loved one. Fresh and still raw from losing Mrs. Jessie and with thoughts of my dad since the holidays are here, it's a bit hard for me to hold back the tears when talking with others who have also experienced the pain of losing a loved one. The gentleman in the photo above just lost his 10 month old daughter a few months ago. I cannot imagine the pain and pray I never do. Before I left, I placed a luminary at my dad's grave and Mrs. Jessie's grave too. It's a really hard thing to justify photographing someone in the midst of their grief. Yet, I had a job to do and struggled greatly while doing it.

>>Pause my writing to shoot the basketball game<<
So, now that I'm at the tail end of my day, I really just cannot wait to go home and just be. (I'm waiting for some technical stuff to be finished on the paper's website so I can link up the pictures and finish the day.) I really don't think, at this point, I even have the energy to reflect upon the day anymore -- but I found myself crying out to the Lord that I just don't have it in me to be strong anymore. I so want things to change for myself - but shouldn't I be content in where God has me today? Or is the Lord confirming my current path to change through this discontent? Jeese, do I even make any sense??? All I know is, I am not strong enough to work three jobs at one time, yet every three months it seems, all three jobs I work have their busy time all at the same time.

All I'm hoping for now is some rest and renewal and perhaps a lull in the chaos that is my life right now.

Oh those views!!!!

Being a lover of all things Space related and Christmas related, I decided to share a really cool website I found today!

What a better way to count down the days to Christmas than with images from the Hubble Telescope of God's amazing creation!!

Enjoy : )