How Much are you willing to Pay?

I don't even know where to start. I have so much on my mind, so much going on in my circle of life. A few months ago, we moved into a place of our own. At first it felt a little strange. It was a welcomed change, I mean, I was super excited to finally have room to stretch out a little. At this point, as the new bills are starting to show up in the mailbox, reality is beginning to sink in. Good things don't happen without a price. That thought really gets the ball rolling for so much more. The more you want something, the more you must be willing to pay for it, but when and how do you know that the price in which you are paying for whatever it is that you want is really worth the cost. I'm not talking about material things necessarily, but it surely applies to that as well. Time truly is a price that once gone cannot be regained. Children are only small for a season, and then they grow up and get opinions of their own, some of which you wonder where they ever came from, but you celebrate the joys as often as you can. The joy in which you receive is directly related to the amount of suffering you endure, again relating to the price you pay. The harder the trials, the richer the blessings feel. I'm reminded of the scripture, to whom much is given, of him shall much be required. That means for every positive there is a negative, for every bonus, there is a deficit, and for life's joys there comes sacrifice. To those people that feel they have been dealt an incredibly crappy life, I say to you,"You haven't been paying attention to the blessings in which you've been dealt." Maybe our miseries truly are just mercies in disguise.

To everything there is a season:

If there is one thing life has taught me, it's that to everything there is a season. Although hard at times, if I hang on to that thought, it reminds me that this (whatever this is) to, shall pass. The change of seasons can be a good thing and that's just the case this time for me. After 10 years, I am finally going back to school. I can't say that I've ever really seen myself here, but it's happening. In 4 short days, I start classes to become a sign language interpreter. If you would have told me that as little as two months ago, I doubt I would have believed it. I tried once about 8 years ago to go back to school, but baby number 2 was born on the first day of school, so that didn't happen. Since that time, I have been busy running the rat race of life just trying to survive. One night about 5 weeks ago, I stumbled across a website that got me to thinking about going back to school. So in a fluke, I applied for financial aid, and registered for my classes. The whole time I had this sense of hesitation, like I really shouldn't get my hopes up, but I just went on through the process anyway. Figuring that I wasn't going to get enough grant money to cover my classes, let alone my books or fuel (how ridiculously high they both are). Then one afternoon, everything seem to fall into place. My financial aid went through. That was the first sign that this might actually happen. Then reality set in and dh began to ask me how I planned on making it back and forth. We already live from paycheck to paycheck. In that moment a calmness came over me that can only be described as God himself. I explained to my husband that I didn't know, that I honestly didn't have a clue; but that I felt that God would provide. And if He didn't, then perhaps it wasn't time yet. My husband left it at that. The next day, I received a notice in the mail stating that I had unemployment income available for a certain number of weeks. Now you have to understand, I haven't been receiving unemployment since last year sometime and the amount that I will be getting will exactly cover my fuel expenses until my vehicle note is paid in full. But it gets better. A dear friend learned that my printer was not working anymore and she gave me one to replace mine with. She said she had just bought a new one and she no longer needed them both. I am not a cryer, but I wept with joy.

One Word

I was on Tallyscrapper looking at all the art journals and this months prompt for the journal entry is one word. What one word are you? What one word do you aspire to be? Give us you in one word. Someones one word was confidence, and anothers was willpower. Someone else's was free and yet another person's is strength. This got me to thinking...what would my one word be. After careful consideration, I decided my one word would be JESUS. I want to be like Jesus. I want Jesus to be what others see in me. But more than that, I want Jesus to be the center or my life. I want Jesus to be the controlling force in my life. I want to let go of the little things and hand them over to Jesus. I trust Jesus with the big things, now I need to let Jesus have the little things. The little things are what chip away at my heart and soul a piece at a time. How come I haven't already surrendered those things to Jesus. How come I feel like Jesus has so much to do that He wouldn't have time for my little things. Jesus has to be Lord of all or He can't be Lord at all. The fact is, Jesus is Lord of all, wether or not we know or believe it. Beliving it or not doesn't change the facts.

scrappers block

So, I have been over at tallyscrapper.com during the cybercrop, and I have been smacked down with the scrapper's block...not because there isn't any inspiration....it's quite the contrary....you see, I see all of the great talent and I am just overwhelmed.....it kinda feels like stage fright...and the ladies there are so great...very encouraging too actually,....trying desparetly to help me lift this scrappers block.....I think its finally nudging....either that or we have chipped away at it enough until I was finally able to create something.....my new blog header......what do you think....do you hear the block cracking.....Thanks tallyscrappers for you help......check out the creativity of tallyworld for youself