Resurrection Sunday

I loved this Easter for several reasons.

1. As my faith grows, my understanding of the importance of this day magnifies.
2. Church service was amazing.
3. I got to spend a wonderful day with my family.

More and more each day I recognize that The Spirit lives in me, I feel it more and more each day.  The calm, the peace, the love, the joy, all of it.  It's amazing.   I keep feeling how important it is to tell people about it.  I feel like so many people say they believe in God, they believe in Jesus but I wonder why it doesn't compel them to get excited.  To do more than buy a new dress and host an Easter egg hunt.  I'm by no means perfect and sometimes I find myself not practicing what I preach, we're all hypocrites to some extent, but I promise you I work on it every single day. 

If we celebrate Easter as a Christian then we know that Jesus told us before He left to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them.  He told us to love God with all our heart, soul and mind.  He told us to love our neighbor as ourselves.  If we celebrate Easter and eternal life then why done we at least try to embody these things?  I don't think that means that we have to all sell all our possessions and travel to a different corner of the Earth, I think it means we should all have our own ministry, we should all each day, be trying to love everyone around us and show them Jesus' love and mercy.  People should be able to look at us as Christians and wonder what is so different about us, where do we get our overwhelming hope and joy?  Jesus says in the bible that he does not come to judge (John 12:47), so what makes us think that we can?  I pray that Jesus would come back one day and His church isn't divided because people focused more on their interpretation of the word than the Great Commission; instead of the two greatest commandments that we can all agree came from our Savior.  None of us are made perfect overnight, but are we striving everyday to be a better person, more like Jesus, more patient, kind and humble?

 

This was the setting for church this morning, so beautiful, such a wonderful message.

 

Then it was off to my mom's house for family fun time!  Tula dog is one of the sweetest doggies ever.

 

Heated game of dominoes in the back yard.   I had such a fun time with my siblings playing games and hanging out in the sun.

Naan is good.

My first experience with Indian food since age 16 was a major success. So good.

Painting

I have not painted in forever. I used to really love it and create the most random things and I did it as a form of therapy. I've really gotten away from that in the last 10 years. A friend of mine invited me to this painting class and I'm so glad I went. It took place in a woman's home and she taught us a little bit about mixed media art. I forgot how much I loved doing this kind of stuff. I don't even care if the painting comes out horrible looking, the process is relaxing and fun. She had a cute little set up and inspired me to start laying out a blanket in my back yard and just painting. That'll be a new thing this summer. Hopefully I can make something worth hanging on my walls.

Dinner with my friends has changed

I haven't got to spend a lot of time with my friends lately because most of us (including me) were kind of hibernating this winter. I got to go out and have dinner at Andy's Mediterranean Grill on Friday to spend some time. I love how our gatherings have evolved from crazy girls in our 20's to laid back dinners in our 30's with kiddos. How cute is this??

The results are in...

There are so many people out there who don't believe they can make a difference, who think problems are too big to tackle. They think to themselves "Someone should do something about that." I feel so blessed to be a part of a community who doesn't sit back and watch things happen, they run after city change, after world change. My church community ate cheaply for ONE WEEK, and donated their extra cash to change the world, we raised $497,975.77. One week of sacrifice. This is what God can do. This is what His church can do. This is just ONE church community. Thirty other churches joined us this year, their results are not in yet, I canNOT wait to hear the total amount raised. I get so excited about what the church could do if it didn't stand divided. If all Christians decided to set their interpretations of the bible aside and they worked together to show EVERYONE God's love and the message of Christ. Just look what we can do...

Where does the money go?

The initiatives are in for Beans and Rice week!

Poverty: CityLink Center surrounds Cincinnati’s unemployed and working poor with a team of expert, integrated services and holistic care. It’s a bold organization taking on poverty in our city. Learn more at citylinkcenter.org.

Heroin: This drug is ravaging our local communities. And that is not okay. We’re investing in great local organizations that are doing anti-heroin work in the backyards of each of our sites.  For more information on the epidemic click here.

Youth Programs: We will help provide meals, education and recreational programming for low-income youth during summer vacation. This is a time when many students lose knowledge and skills, and don’t have access to healthy meals and safe environments. Learn more at whole-again.org.

Job Creation: The Ocean Accelerator is a business incubator program to help launch sustainable, job-creating companies. Its mentor-ship program is built on biblical wisdom and principles, helping entrepreneurs start successful Kingdom-focused businesses.

Seriousness is not a fruit of The Spirit

I love this

behind

I feel so behind on the times.  Where have I been?  I've just discovered society6 and all of it's loveliness.  I believe it's been reported that the cutest things in the world have been found here.  You should check it out.

http://society6.com/

Mugs

 

 

Cell Phone Cases

Totes

cutest right?

Spring

It' s so good to see green grass and blue skies again.

Beans Beans the magical fruit...

 It's happening again!!

Last year my church came together and ate cheaply for one week.  We substituted what we would normally eat with beans and rice, the money that we saved on groceries we pooled together to bless the community and the world.  This year we're doing it again starting this weekend, but we're doing it with several other community churches.  I'm so excited to see what the outcome of this will be!  Check out the story below!

The Art of Celebration

Oh Rend Collective you've done it again...

Coffee

I tried to cut coffee and caffeine out of my diet for a week or two as a sacrifice for beans and rice week.  I had no idea the headache and lethargy that would bring.  I had the worst headache yesterday and today and Tuesday and Wednesday I went to bed while it was still light out.  I hate being addicted to anything, anything that makes my body not perform as normal without it.  I had to have a cup of coffee this morning to bring myself back to normal.  Weird.  But necessary for the well being of those around me.