Completely Overwhelmed!

Last night, we went to our first Bible study after the summer session.  It was so exciting, studying Revelation, the last book in the Bible.  I've taken it before and was a bit overwhelmed over some of the language and pictures brought out in the text.  But this year is an eight month study of it, not a six week study, so it will be more in depth and we read through all 22 chapters last night, and it ended in victory for those who follow the Lord Jesus Christ (Messiah) and believe that He is God's Son and that God sent the Holy Spirit to minister, teach and guide us after Jesus' death and resurrection.

Today, my heart is overwhelmed though, because this book predicts that there are people who will still reject following the Lord and who will curse His name.  The book describes what will happen to those people and at the time, I felt sad for those, but this morning, I'm completely overwhelmed!  It won't be a life sentence, or a 10-20 year sentence, it will be an eternal life sentence and it won't be pretty and there won't be relief.  So overwhelming!  If you're not sure who falls under the sentence of eternal suffering, see Romans 1:18-32 and Romans 2:1-16.

We are in the "Grace period" right now.  This time period in the plan of God, is a time for mercy for those who are doing things against God.  God provided this time because He doesn't want to see even one person lost to the predicted eternity that is in Revelation.  In Romans 3 it talks of not one of us being righteous or worthy, but that God provided a plan for us to be seen as righteous, and that is through the sacrificed blood of His Son, Jesus and by having faith in Him, see Romans 10:9-11.  This grace period has an ending as it says in Romans 11:25, where it says that when "the full number of Gentiles" (those who are not Jewish) reaches the limit set, Grace will end and then a period of horror will begin.  Even in that period called the Tribulation (will last seven years), one will still be able to cry out to Jesus and be saved.  Unfortunately, these people who accept and believe at this time, will be beheaded by those in political power at that time.  But seriously, it is better to be in God's grace instead of giving into those in power, because it means the difference between an eternity in paradise or an eternity in the worst possible pain and thirst that has never been known to man.  One who stands against the mark of the beast (a digital device under the skin in your hand or forehead) will have to be so strong to defy them and stand for Jesus.  But be strong!  Don't take the "mark of the beast" in your hand or forehead so you can buy and sell, refuse it and stand for Christ and you will be saved, not from the violence of that time, but from an eternity of suffering which comes after your death in that time.

After the reading of Revelation last night, I became so overwhelmed that anyone would see such fate! Some may say, "How can a god be so cruel, I won't serve a god like that!"  But what I see is a God of love who is so concerned that anyone would see that fate, that He would tell a prophet all that is to come, warning us, so we know how we can escape this fate!  You see, God planned all before He even created anything.  He knew there would be a chance that man would fail and follow his greedy heart and turn against Him, so He put a plan B in place, just in case that happened!  He went to men who were faithful to Him and He spoke the words of the Bible and how to be saved from the wrath that followed if they had followed their selfish hearts instead of Him.  He gave all the answers as to how to be delivered from that fate!  He gave us a way out!  He has told us the ending to the entire story, so that we can be saved from that fate and all we have to do, is turn back to the One who created us and this world, and follow Him with a pure heart.

I'm going to conclude with this-when you read this, here's several things that may come to mind:

1. Oh listen to miss holier than thou, trying to tell me how to live my life!
2. What does she know, she hasn't lived my life!
3. If you had any idea what I'm going through right now!
4. What kind of god would let people suffer the way he does? I'm not turning to a god who does things like this!
5. Look at what's happening in this world right now!  What kind of god would allow these hurricanes and floods and so many people who are now homeless?

That's a small list, but some things I myself have said before I came to the Lord.  I understand those questions and so does God!  He's ready to answer them for you!  He gives a lot of those answers in the Bible, especially in the New Testament.  But bottom line, God tries to get through to each one of us through the situations that are happening in our lives and there comes a time when he let['s go and let's people wallow in their sin (see Romans 1:24, 26, & 28).  Yet He waits for each one to call to Him and come back, then He welcomes each one who comes back, to His family and grafts them in, see Romans 11:13-27.  He has made a way for each one of us to come to Him and He has told us why and what will be happening that we need to turn away from so we will never suffer His wrath.  

Yes, there are horrible things that happen here on earth and that is part of what happened when man fell away from God in the Garden of Eden, by not listening to Him, but listening to one of his ex-servants who was jealous of the relationship He had with His created, and tricked them into thinking they could be like God with God's power and knowledge.  Unfortunately, that is where plan B comes in, because God already knew there was a chance of this and because they defied Him, they were kicked out, and God's plan B then kicked into place to bring each one of this line, back to Him.  Folks, we are of this line!  But the world was struck with death and destruction because of this, and that is where these terrible things began.  None of these things will be in eternity if someone turns back to the Lord and serves Him to the end of these days on earth.  God has written a book for us and has shown us the end, so we can avoid it by taking action to come back to Him.  How many authors do you know who write a story revealing everything, including how to escape? 

How amazing is our God for writing such a fascinating, true book that is filled with great hope and delivers us from the horrible ending!  Thank you for giving us the answers so we can escape the tragedies that are soon to come!  Come, Lord Jesus, Come!  Please save multitudes before that though, including those in my family who haven't come back to you!  Please lead my grandchildren to you with open eyes and hearts and minds, so they may help others come to you as well. Please open the eyes of my nieces and nephews, brothers and sisters, friends and those who are not my friends...if there is a way, please don't allow any humans to fall into the trap of defying you, but let all come to you and obtain your mercy and grace and be grafted into your root as a member of your family.  I love you so much Lord!  Today, I'm having trouble telling you that enough!  You have saved me, given me mercy and grace that I do not deserve!  Yet you love me so much, that you provided the sacrifice that is so pure, that all can come to you and be forgiven and saved.  You amaze me every single day!  Thank you for seeing past my faults and loving me perfectly!  Please save all these people that read this, from the destruction and chaos that is to come!  Again I say, Come, Lord Jesus, Come!  In Jesus precious and holy name!

Sincerely Me,

LuAnn Marie

An Issue Overcome!

A big hello to all of you who follow my blog!  It has been a busy seven months! Let me share with you what has been going on!

As you know, we moved!  One of my struggles was with organizing the art room aka, studio which now is also my business office as well.  As of two days ago, I have overcome the clutter and have gone through all the boxes that were piled to the ceiling!  I went through and decided three things:

1. Give away
2. Throw away
3. Stays

In doing that, I was able to concentrate better.  I had one thing in my hand and that was the only thing I allowed myself to concentrate on, which helped my brain to not shut down when in such clutter.  That is the change I made this time.  I get to give away a van load of items to a rummage sale coming up that is being held to send people to Africa to teach people how to sew and deal with medical issues as well as help with making wells for water with them.  What's so great about having a vision of something beyond myself, was to make this project of organizing the office/studio, not about me!  It really helped me to focus on what was most important about doing this!  I now have that van-full of things to give to the rummage sale to help others and will be dropping it off on Wednesday!

Now my job is going to be to go make labels for my bins and drawers so I know what is inside.  I don't have a memory to draw back on to find something and that is the hardest thing for me.  Once something is moved, that's the end of the memory of the item forever.  I will be doing that after today's holiday!  I'm giving my brain a rest for today!

Yesterday, I gave myself a gift for accomplishing this task!  I invited a few friends over for lunch after church!  I slow-cooked a pot roast (okay, two pot roasts) and it was delicious food and great company!  They all were really excited about how the office/studio looked because they knew what it looked like before! haha!  So they were very excited about the change!  So folks, reward yourselves when you overcome something!  My reward was a healthy meal with wonderful friends!  How can it get any better than that?

My hope for all of you is to overcome and turn darkness into light, to turn grief & sadness into joy and to turn hopelessness into a life filled with hope!  God created each of us with His own hands and because we're in a broken world, His plan may have gotten pushed to the back burner!  Our job in life is to find the path we know was created for us through Him, and overcoming hurdles to get there!  In that place, that is where we will be fulfilled!  It is the journey of overcoming that brings us joy and hope!  So turn your hurdles into smooth paths of joy!

I'll write more soon!  Keep smiling!

Sincerely Me,
LuAnn Marie!

Life in the Last Year!

Here we go again!

I have got to find a way to remember I have this blog! Just found it again and of course, as I've said repeatedly in previous blog posts, I don't remember having written/posted these things. So will give you as much of an update as I can as to what's happened since the last blog.

The art room never got organized, even after we moved in July of 2016. I did, however, find things I didn't remember having! Haha! Jackpot! Haha! What, you ask, did I find? Yeah, not a clue, but I remember saying that to the gal who helped me pack for the move several times, “Wow! I wonder where this came from!” hahaha!

So, as I said, we moved from our house to a two bedroom apartment. No more shoveling or caring for the lawn! Yay! However, WHAT A DISASTER! Moving for someone with short-term memory loss, is insane! I search constantly for things, but finding stuff in the kitchen is getting easier. However, yesterday, I needed my rolling pin to roll out a pie crust! Yeah! It wasn't in the kitchen, it was in the art room! There are boxes in the art room, but I have no idea what is in them. So, will work on that after I get over being sick, which I am now. I'm also sick of being sick! This is week three of being sick! (Feeling grumpy).

Another reason for not tackling the art room is because in December of 2016 and January of 2017, I had carpel tunnel surgery in both wrists and had a trigger thumb released in my left hand. On the final recheck with the surgeon, he informed me that I have rheumatoid arthritis in my right thumb that will require trigger thumb surgery eventually which is a repeat of what happened in my left thumb. Comes from years of using my hands I guess or can be inherited from a parent. However my mom doesn't have arthritis in her hands, so it must be my craftiness that caused mine.

Something good that came out of the surgery though is, that my hands are no longer numb! Yay! It had gotten quite bad right before the surgery. I was no longer able to sleep because the numb hands were intensely painful. I know, that doesn't make sense, but numb means tingling and sharp pains that shoot into your hands and fingers out of nowhere! Just suddenly, a zinger (as I call it) shoots into the hands. After we moved, it got so bad that we almost went to the emergency room because if felt like lightning bolts were shooting from my elbows into my hands. It was so bad that I couldn't even sit down and I was pacing and freaking out. But my husband remembered something that was done in the past that relieved pain, so he took hold of my wrists and slowly pulled down on them from different angles and soon the pain subsided to a pain level I could handle. That's what led to testing and surgery. I am so thankful that the pain and numbness is now gone!

A sad note, a month before we moved, our 11 year old cat died. She was the talker and followed me around daily, meowing (talking) to me all day long. She was so cute! She was petite and so beautiful! She was an orange tiger cat with orange eyes. I miss her very much.  Her sister is still alive and has since taken over the daily talking routine! Haha! What a cutie! She will be 12 years old in May.

I also didn't update to tell you all that we now have a grandson. He is now 16 months old. He is completely adorable and has a great sense of humor! Here are some pictures to update! Hehehe, grandma's have to share these, it's a law! Hahahaha!

My first time with my new grandson who was born October 2016.

What a great sense of humor this boy has!

This is one of my favorites!  Graham and his cat Moe who was checking out this new creature!

Graham and his dog who is deaf, Beethoven

I love the way Graham put his hand on grandpa's shoulder when laughing!  That was hysterical!

Our cute little Toy Story cutie!

We also inherited two other grandchildren, Willow-8 and Zayden-10 in September.

There you go!  My big butt, my daughter and my new granddaughter!

Aren't they cute! :)

Okay, so the last update is the new craft I have begun to learn and do, and that is Quilling! Quilling is something that I have completely avoided for many years because it just looked too hard to do! But, I put aside the fear of failure and bought a quilling kit on Amazon.com and fell in love with the art! So I will show you a few things I have done! Hopefully, if I remember this blog is here, I will show you more in the future!

I can tell you that the toes on those feet can shoot across the room without warning when assembling the feet!  The cat had a blast running after them! Luckily she didn't swallow them! haha!

Here I put things I quilled into my grandson's first birthday card that I bought. 

 This I call "the nervous breakdown tree" because it was extremely hard to put all these little pieced together without shooting them across the room! 

The following are the envelopes of cards I gave to family members for Christmas.  These weren't mailed though, the post office would throw them out if I did that! haha!

So there you have it!  An update of 2016 into 2017!  My wrists are mostly healed, but it will take time before I can lean on a table to get up out of a chair or clap! haha!  Every day I stretch the nerves, hands and wrists and in a month or two I'm sure they will be 100%  

Always remember, you may have limitations and ailments, but there's always hope!  You just have to learn how to do things differently!  Sometimes it's frustrating, but when you find a way to overcome something, it's time to celebrate and praise God for that wonderful day!

Hope to write more soon!

Sincerely Me,

LuAnn Marie

It has been quite some time since I've been here.  I can't seem to remember I have this avenue of creative expression.  It so gets on my nerves!  But thanks to She Writes, and emails from them, I have found this blog again!  It seems I haven't been here since 2014, but it truly doesn't feel like that long to someone who has memory issues.  To me, it seems I haven't been here for  a few months, not years.

Right now, what I'm dealing with is a move.  We are moving because my husband's heart health has gone downhill and my spine issues have gotten worse.  We can no longer maintain our acre of land due to these limitations.  So we are getting ready to move to an apartment and allow others to do those things for us.  I am not sure how I will survive this move, because when things are moved around, I have no memory of them.  I found this out when my daughter came and thought it would be great to rearrange things in my writing area and move all my reference books that didn't seem important to her, to a different place.  I had no idea how bad my memory loss was until those things were moved.  I was distraught for several days after that and all my reference books I was using in writing my book were gone and I have no idea where they are.  This move is going to be quite a challenge.  It's taken us eight years to set things in place where I could function at a seemingly normal level in my home and moving to a new place will be quite an experience I'm sure!

Yes, I'm writing a book which in itself is quite comical I must say, but also extremely frustrating.  From one day to the next, I have no memory of what I wrote, so I have to review what I was writing the day before so I can continue to write today.  I am writing a book talking of my thoughts and God thought it would be awesome if I checked out if my random thoughts matched up with what His word, the Bible, said!  Believe it or not, I was actually convicted of some shortcomings of my own, just by reviewing what I had written!  It's a great book...at least that what I say every time I reread it! haha!  I am completely convinced that God has a huge sense of humor, because He watches me daily being amused by things I struggle with due to this memory loss and He laughs with me, then holds me on those days when I don't find my memory loss so amusing.

We are to overcome obstacles in our lives, not fold under them or throw tantrums and blame God because things may be hard.  He looks for us to learn from His Son Jesus Christ, as to how to continue, even in the worst of circumstances.  So I use Jesus as my example and work toward being the best me I can be in order to glorify Him and all He has done for me!

Well folks, nice chatting with you again!  I hope you missed me!  I hope I'll remember I have this blog so I can continue to share with you the twists and turns in life.  Stay joyful, trust in the Lord for all things, and laugh instead of cry!  Your days will go so much better that way!

Sincerely,
LuAnn Marie

Getting Ready for a Craft Show

Hi Folks!

So, Labor Day weekend is fast approaching and I have a booth booked at our Labor Day Craft Show here in the big town of Redgranite!  Whooo hooo!  Last time I did this was in the beginning of the recession and I had like 4 sales!  Many seasoned crafters had the same results, so it wasn't just inexperienced me!  The question is...what things should I do to get ready for a craft show that is a success, not a failure?

The first thing I did was invest in a credit card scanner through Intuit.  I chose Intuit's credit card scanner because there is no monthly charge, it charges a percentage for each sale and it sends receipts to the patron through their email.  This credit card scanner attaches directly to my iPhone!  I have unlimited talk, text and web on my iPhone, so we're good to go!  I did do a test scan, and it worked great!  Yay!

Now figuring out what to sell.  If I sell paintings, I will have to frame them and have a peg board contraption.  I have a lot of things to sell, but not sure which to put out.  It is close to fall, so maybe I should focus on fall and Christmas things.

Decisions, decisions, decisions!

Sincerely Me,
LuAnn Marie

There are Days! (ok, for me weeks or years)

Hi folks!

Sooooo, just discovered I had this account!  There are days that I get so irritated with this short-term memory loss, because I don't remember I have a blogger.com account.  Apparently, I haven't been here since March of 2013!  Kinda don't really remember being there then, but will reread my own blogs posted to find out what I had to say!

I have been quite lax on working on my art and on organizing my art room!  When I come to start to organize the room, it is so overwhelming to me that I pack it back up and leave the room!  I just have to stop doing that!  So, for as long as I remember, I will start to try to hanker down on getting back to my art work and organizing my little room!  (I hope I can remember that!!!!).

Ok, so for today, I can't write more than this because I am quite wiped out after a super busy day!  So will work on remembering to post more within a day or two.

Thanks for your patience!

LuAnn Marie

Well folks, spent the last couple of weeks dealing with two flu type things and major pain from the change in weather and snow in our area.  I don't know if you know this, but I can tell you when a storm is coming days before it gets here!  What an irritating ability!  But, having the spine of a 90 year old when you're only 52 will do that to you!

So, I blogged last time about making the light box.  I have taken pictures within that  light box and I'm quite impressed.  I concentrated on the "white" background first, so that is what I have to show you right now.  Once I get completely over the stomach flu I have now, I'll take pictures with different backgrounds to show how something can be enhanced or even declined in the value of the view.

First I want to tell you that lighting was a disaster and I had to move the lighting around for several pictures, but I don't remember which ones!  I probably should write things down when they are happening!  Yep, I think that might be a great idea since I can't remember the details minutes later!

So here is a series of pictures taken, please let me know the "goods" and the "bads" that you may think of when seeing these pictures because I really would like to know before I post these on Etsy!

The first 3 are acrylic paints; The next set of 10 are wood burned, then painted; The last are acrylic paints on buckets (small buckets, but could be done on larger buckets as well and could be done for outside with outdoor or glossy paints).

Now all the pics seem to have a color appearing instead of just being white in the background, which wasn't there when I took the pics. I do think it may be a reflection of the colors of the pieces themselves interacting with the light applied to it.  Whatever it is, if I wanted a whiter look, I would have to find multiple ways of lighting up the box instead of just over the top to get rid of shadows that to me seemed light, but in the picture, appear darker. I could put a bulb coming in the sides of the box that were there as handles, even under the cloth if they don't get hot that is!  Don't want any fires!

I have others to take pictures of as well, but will also try other background colors to show how a little color behind and under the item can change the hue and the feeling about what is being seen. 

So that's it for today!
Have a great Easter & an awesome day! :)
LuAnn Marie