Uphill idealist

Supplies: Square large sheet of card stock, scissors, glue stick, yarn or ribbon, Bible verse of choice, Valentine inspired artwork and markers. Build Valentine Pocket of Care: 1.Turn square card stock so points face N, S, E, W .  2. Fold South point up to create pocket base and west and east to the middle. 3.  Glue in place and then place pap er with text on top of the intersection. 4. With a hold punch make a hold at top to attach string to hang. 5.  On scrap paper, write ways to care for family and friends for the month. 6. Take one a day out and challenge each other to care of someone new! This project was made with our Family Devotions Group at First Lutheran Church in Jamestown NY. . If you need some inspiration for the caring "coupons", check out the Search Institute for more information or  reference the list provided below.  15 0 ways to show kids you care Notice them. Smile a lot. Acknowledge them. Learn their ...

Early start. I can hear the beat of my heart. Tires crunch through the snow. I know this is the way to go. Bags are packed, feeling on track, now waiting for the next leg in the road. Adventure awaits, no time to waste, only minutes till take off, depart. Warmer I pray, at the end of this day. With water, and wisdom, and heart.

Stomach bugs, laundry loads, family as team pulling together on the in between. Moving around, resting and sound; even then the wash rinses and spins out real life.

Canine Happy is... Wagging of tail, running to see if that person at the door is  you know who... Me! My requests are small - food, water and love. I'll cuddle, and huddle and protect  for all the above. Canine happy is you with me. On warm days and wet days and the days that go all the way down to 3'. (Aggie is our 5 year old rescue dog - a beagle, cattle dog, corgi and maybe Dalmatian mix. She is especially good at going on long jaunts, dancing in circles and loving her people. She is the subject of projectlife365's assignment for today - what makes me smile. :) Hope she makes you smile too!)

Project Life 365 Web Trailer from Project Life 365 on Vimeo . Project life 365 is: Daily Photos. Personal expression. Group interaction. Storytelling. Creative. Simple. Do-able. If you want to play along - join me and many others at: PROJECTLIFE365 Today's photos is a segment of a collage called "Something from nothing". I began this collage last April and re-found it this morning on contemplating the ideas of non-worry and trust. Consider the ravens, they do not sow or reap... Art and Photo by T.L. Eastman

Knots and string to a new year ring. To link and weave and knit. New hope and dreams without tattered seams, but strength and flex and wit. Sometimes we cut ourselves away from what we need to most. God picks up the end and mends again to draw us ever close. To build a life of something colorful, lovely and grand -  is something that can't only be accomplished by human hands; but in partnership with the Creator - we knit. Knots and string to a new year ring. To link and weave and knit. New hope and dreams without tattered seams, but strength and flex and wit. T. Eastman 2013 Earlier this week I was reading a parable about and eager disciple and an elder. The story goes like this...     "God, the elder said, "is closer to sinners that to saints." "But how can this be?" the eager disciple asked. And the elder explained, "God in heaven hold each person by a string. When we sin, we cut the string. Then God ties it up again, makin...

Since the news last week of the shooting in CT, I've been skimming over the grief. A good friend of mine stated, that it wasn't possible for her to look at the photo of the 20 children and 6 adults that lost their lives. I can't either, as least I can't if I stay in this space of skimming.   The extent of this loss and violence makes me feel as if I might drown in it. I don't want to really see it. I'm fearful that it will pierce my heart in an inconsolable way. And then I'm only looking at this loss from arms length.  I did not know any of these people personally, however this kind of loss cuts all of us to the quick. Children and adults that were full of life, hope and promise; were taken away. This kind of tragedy just shouldn't happen.  My dear friend Becky send me this Psalm this week to be a help to me. She gave it to me as a reminder of how God in the way that only God can - work in the midst of tragedy, call others to help...