Happy Heart Day...

If I could wait here for you,
Without hope or knowing what to do…
Watch the light fade away,
Without fear or knowing what to say…

If I should hold all my dreams,
Through the night of the way life sometimes seems…
And if I can't see which way to go,
I'll stay lost in silence 'til I know.
Cry the tears from my eyes.
And leave me here long enough to realize.

Where is love now?
Where is love now,
Out here in the dark?

~ Excerpt from Where is Love Now? by Nickel Creek

Reader: "Wait...what kind of a Valentine's Day greeting is this?!  This is downright depressing!"
*Goes to close tab.*

Hold on.  If those words seems depressing, it's because they are.  Don't get me wrong, Nickel Creek is an amazingly talented group, and I am a huge fan of their music.  And the tune of this song is just lovely...

BUT...the point is that the lyrics are depressing.  The real question is...why?

Well, it has something to do with the apparent definition of love.  Rather an oft-considered, multi-faceted subject, no?  Although I've never been in any kind of romantic relationship, I've lived with my family and been around my friends long enough to know that their love isn't perfect.  More importantly, my love isn't perfect.  Because quite frankly, I'm not perfect.  Far from it. 

BUT...God is.  Which means His love is as well.  Quite dissimilar from our worldly encounters with the phenomenon, in fact...  I've recently been mulling over a section I read in New Morning Mercies that speaks to this very thing:

"You always begin to understand anything that is new to you from the vantage point of your own experience.  All the human love we’ve experienced has been flawed in some way.  But not God’s; His love is perfect and perfectly steadfast forever.  It is the single most stunning reality in the life of a believer.  God has placed his love on us and he will never again remove it.  There’s a reason to continue, no matter how hard life seems and how weak you feel." ~ Paul David Tripp

Wow.  As much as idealistic ideas of romance often infiltrate my thinking, over the years I've realized something.  This "stunning reality" can't possibly be emphasized enough... My hope of one day discovering true love cannot be in any human person.  Just recently I heard a wonderful sermon on the subject of HOPE.  In it, the pastor said something that really stood out to me: "Even human relations can't provide hope.  Sometimes they dash it more than anything else."  In reality, I've already discovered true love and hope.  That is, in CHRIST.  The perfect love of my God will never fail, as much as others fail me.  As much as I fail others.  As much as I fail myself.  And as much as I fail Him.  Far too quick am I to forget that precious thought and go on dreaming.  His is the only love that can truly satisfy and never disappoints. 

The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. ~ 1 John 4:8-12

Have a blessed day, friends!

Wednesday Wisdom No. 6

“Some people care too much. I think it's called love.”
~ A. A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh    

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable." ~ C.S. Lewis

Hmmm... It's been a week since Heart Day...

It has officially been a week since Valentine's Day. Maybe I should post about it. Yes. I think that's a good idea. December 23rd was a long time ago...
Here's what I've been up to...

My Valentine cards this year were very similar to last year's. I took a couple of plastic animals, set em' up on a decorative paper and snapped a couple of photos. Then I had this crazy idea that I could sell them at my co-op. Ha! I printed out at least 16 sets of 5 and only ended up selling three. I wasn't very prepared anyway.
Here's a couple of close ups...

I basically had four different sets of animals: Woodland, Wild, Farm and Dog. Woodland was probably my favorite.

Packaging was a little tricky. I tried wrapping the sets in tissue paper, wrapping paper, ribbon, yarn... None of it worked. Finally, I found some little cellophane jewelry envelopes. They ended up looking very nice. Professional was the look I was aiming for.

Hope you had a Heart Day filled with love!

Valentine Sweets - Beautiful, Edible, Love - able!

Happy (late) Valentine's Day to everyone in blogland!



I was pleasantly surprised when I received some flowers from my parents! Some miniature roses and whitish-yellow lilies (they hadn't bloomed yet in the photograph.



A few days before Valentine's Day, I attempted to make some 'lacy chocolate hearts' to 'place daintily on little cupcakes.' In the Martha Stewart Living magazine, there was this really fantastic looking cupcake with a little chocolate heart on top. It looked relatively simple, so I decided to try it.



They worked relatively well, except that they began to melt after they were taken out of the fridge. There was a lot left over, so a made a ginormous chocolate heart!

This year for Valentine cards, I took some photographs of little plastic animals.



For my monkey/chimpanzee/gorilla loving little brother.



For my mom.



For my actually 'lego loving' brother, but he likes polar bears too.



For my 'used to want to be a herpetologist' brother.



For my dad.



Hope everyone had a day filled with Valentine Sweets!

Valentine Cards

For Valentine's Day (in 4 days, by the way,) I have edited a few photographs in photoshop elements.



Hopefully I'll have time to make some hand-made ones too!

Scotties and Beagles and Rushing, Oh My!

Hello to all those in blogland! After my measly 2 posts in January, I am going to try to better this month. So far in craft world I have been making some clay puppies.





These little guys were supposed to look like Scottish Terriers, but ended up looking more like black mutts. As you probably can tell from the hearts, I made these for Valentine's Day. I had intended to set up an Etsy shop, but with only 9 days till, I doubt that will happen. All the dogs are completed, but I haven't made the boxes, or figured out what to send them in. Correction. I have started making the boxes, but I don't think any one would like to receive one, considering they are lopsided and would probably collapse on the trip.

I have also been making some beagles (a mischievous little dog)...







You can see it in their eyes. The good thing about these is that if I do ever get a system set up to sell them, they don't have to be for a certain holiday.