Introducing.... (and a giveaway)

...drumroll, please...

Introducing....

Yep, here she is!  My Etsy shop!

....these are just a few of the items that I feature in my shop...  I don't have a huge abundance of listings (yet!) but I hope to add more as I can :-)

And now- because you all have been such patient readers- I reward you with a giveaway :-)

To you, one of my wonderful readers, will go the prize of any one pair of earrings of your choice in my shop...  Just use the widget below to enter!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Have a fabulous day, my friends!

what do you think?

Because I had to make a banner for my Etsy shop anyway, I redesigned my blog last night... my wonderful sister Melody made the flag for my header.  I just love her cartoonish style!  I had the picture in my mind for my header and decided to just take the plunge and do it.  I'm pretty happy with how it came out- what do you think?

 Do you like the new name?  

...and to tide you over your wait for my shop, here is one of the items available in Melody's shop:

Aren't they cute?  They're little hot pink iPod earrings!

Click here to go to her shop.  There are only a couple of items for sale at the moment but our house seems to be bursting with fresh ideas and she is making more stuff to list- very soon!

Ok, back to my busy-ness!

Source: etsy.com via Amy on Pinterest

coming soon!

Hello, friends!

Yes, I know that I have been very far from this blog recently- poor little thing hasn't seen many posts in the past month or so...

But here's why-  I have already said how I have been at work within our family's ministry and that has been taking some of my time... but now the other thing that I'm working on is....

...drumroll, please...

My Etsy store!

Yes, I'm going to open a little shop soon!  When it opens, I will announce it on my blog and maybe even do a little giveaway...

Anyway, more excuses for my not blogging....

Hope to get on a more regular schedule once my shop is up and running :-D

Until next time (that may be tomorrow, may be weeks from now...)!

~Amy

be anxious for nothing...

Hello, my dear friends!

So sorry to have been absent for so long... I came down with a cold on Sunday and have been up and down ever since- but I'm feeling much better today. :-)

The Lord was teaching me something this morning.  I was very worried and anxious, I was scared and nervous.  I started talking to the Lord about it and He caused me to remember this verse:

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God."

(Philippians 4:6)

I began to obey.  I prayed for the Lord to help me in that area, to guide me- to take away my anxiety.  I thanked Him for the opportunity to talk to Him, that He is always there to hear me, and that He cares about the little things- the little things that blow themselves up and cause me to stress over them.

A peace began to wash over me. 

 "And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."  (Philippians 4:7)

  This is my little brother Peter... I thought his smile was a pretty good reminder to not be anxious :-)

Are you anxious?  Is there anything that is making you nervous or scared?  

I always feel like it's ironic, so often I will feel down and start to complain- until I realize- have I even talked to God about it?  As I'm shaking with nerves and complaining that "it's" too hard, or "it's" annoying, have I bothered to cry out to Him who loves me the most?

Have you talked to Jesus about your fears?  Have you explained to Him that you know that you are weak, and you know that you need Him?  

Have you thanked Him for all of His blessings that He has already bestowed upon you?

Perspective is everything.  If we start praying and thanking God for His blessings, if our minds are focused on higher things, how small do the problems that we were so worried about seem!

We're So Blessed!

A few years ago our family received a magazine with this article in it- it has served as perspective to our family as to just how blessed we are ever since.... enjoy!

• If you own just one Bible, you are abundantly blessed.  One- third of all the world does not have access to even one.
• If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than the million that will not survive this week.
• If you have never experienced the danger of battles, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.
• If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death, you are more blessed than 3 billion people in the world.
• If your parents are still married and alive, you are very rare, even in the United States.
• If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace, you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy.
• If you have food in the refridgerator, clothes on your back, a roof over your head, and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of this world. 

Just a little more perspective...

When I Consider...

Many of us have been blown away by these photos...

 

 

 

 

Some of you may or may not have seen the above star, Canis Majoris.

Want to have a little perspective on how big our God is?

If you put Canis Majoris in the place of our sun it's surface would extend to the orbit of Saturn- that would mean that Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, and Jupiter would be covered. 

I was reading in the Psalms with morning and came across these verses:

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, 
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained; 
What is man that You take thought of him, 
And the son of man that You care for him? 

~Psalm 8:3-4

When I see all of these amazing photos of things that God has created- things so much bigger than we humans- and even our planet- it amazes me that the Maker of all this would come down in the flesh to suffer and die at our puny hands- so that we might have fellowship with Him.

Have you ever seen this photo?
It's called "The Pale Blue Dot".   Can you see it?
That's you and me.
That's where we are sitting right now.
That's been our home since the beginning of time.
Every life that has ever lived has lived it out on the "mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam" (Carl Sagan).


Now, want to see more of how amazing God is and how He is "intimately acquainted with all our ways"?


Allow my friend, Louie Giglio, to intoduce you to a little thing called Laminin.

Be blessed my friends, and know that you are loved by the King!

~Amy