Doodlie-do!

Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophetic utterance when the elders laid their hands upon you.  Practice these duties, devote yourself to them, so that all may see your progress.”  ~ 1 Timothy 4:14-15

God inspires us in so many ways!

He sends us many different inspirations to

ignite our spirit & develop our souls.

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(Just like Halloween-costumes.)

And I have met so many beautifully creative souls in blog-play-cyber-space!

Some play with words.

Others music.

There are the sketchers. (Mum’s sketches make my heart giggle.)

The fashionistas. (Toby has a great-eye for style!)

And faith-believers!

And those who jumble it all squish-blissly together!

I love how they (all) inspire me with their unshakable hope! (He is my rock-star!)

I love how they ignite my courage and help me to fluff-up my wings in my own attempts to fly-forward with my creative-pursuances. (I believe I can fly…I believe I can touch the sky…think about it every night and day…spread my wings and watch me play…   Can I get an Amen, R. Kelly?)

One particular creative-spirit, whom I must acknowledge as one of my favorite bloggity-bloggers, is

Doodles Invigorate

I met this lovely young woman as I troddled through a few inspirational sites and I was drawn instantly to her doodles of INSPIRATION!

I STRONGLY encourage you to check-in at her blog space!

(It is a lovely slice of heaven and always manges to pick-me-up-nicely with each post she creates!  )

Recently, I had the BLESSING of commissioning a little doodlie-do done by her!  I asked Shannon (creator-extra-ordinare at Doodles Invigorate,) if she would wave her magic pencil and create an INSPIRE-ational graphic for me to use on my Instagram page to announce a NEW post on my site.  And abbra-ca-dabbra her creative spirit whipped up a splendiferous delight!!

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I love my custom-commisioned Instagram stamp done by Doodles Invigorate!

There are so many beautiful spirits filling our world.

The real.

And (even) the cyber.

I’m grateful for each one I’ve encountered.

And I look forward to those I will meet down the path I continue to troddle (upon.)

*I sure do hope I can commission one of these Peepity-Peep Sculptors someday…

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Photos taken at the ‘Erie Peeps Show’ hosted by Villa Maria Elementary!

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(I’m thinking in leau of an ice sculpture at our daughter’s wedding…

a peepity-peep creation instead! Brilliant!)

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hugs n’ creative blessings!

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”  ~Ephesians 2:10-11

everlasting light

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Jared \j(a)-red\   pronounced JARE-ed.

The name Jared is a Biblical name from the Hebrew name יָרֶד (Yared) or יֶרֶד (Yered) meaning “descent.”  In the Biblical Book of Genesis, Jared was the sixth link in the ten pre-flood generations between Adam and Noah; he was the son of Mahalaleel and the father of Enoch, and lived 962 years (per Genesis 5:18).  The meaning of the name is “he who descended” (Hebrew root YRD). In the Book of Enoch it is explained that Mahalaleel named Jared because during his lifetime the angels of the Lord descended to earth. The name could also be understood as “he who shall rule” (future tense of the Hebrew root RDH, as found for example in Psalms 72:8).

Your personality is ruling, commanding, as a factor from “coming down.”

You have a deep inner desire for a stable, loving family or community, and a need to work with others and to be appreciated.  You tend to be quiet, cooperative, considerate, sympathetic to others, adaptable, balanced and sometimes shy. You are trustworthy, respecting the confidences of others, and make excellent diplomats, mediators and partners. You are often very intuitive. You like detail and order, and often find change worrisome and may sometimes feel insecure or restless.

 shine brightly, jare-bear!

these hugs n’ blessings are just for you today…

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“I have loved you with an everlasting love…”

Jeremiah 31:3

*Using this song was inspired because of Jared’s love for Henri Nouwen’s writings, especially The Prodigal Son.  Music by: Natalie Grant.

oh, bother…a star is born!

My fluff-stuff this week is a memory-go-round replaying for me.  Sweet thoughts spinning around of precious moments spent together in our family of 5. At the time the tale began our children were little and growing into professional ‘pester-ers’ of one another! They were probably each 9, 7 1/2, and 5 1/2 years old at the time, but they easily could have been giving lessons to other aspiring pester-jesters & received quite a performance fee with the skills they would have shared with their peers! (Luckily, their booking-agent came up with a better skill-set for them to potentially share with the world!) Their performances often seemed to begin just about an hour or so before bedtime.  If we were lucky the performance bear-ly made it past the first act; however, in growing frequency, they seemed to work the act all the way through to an encore!   My cuppy-cake & I quickly became very oh-botherly-bothered! oh-bother We grew weary ending the night on such a deflated note…so, about that time is when “Our 3 Most Favorite Things” became the new show to arrive in town, (or at least in our home!)  Let me set the scene:  Gathering the kids together in (one of) their bedrooms for nightly prayer we would first say together the Guardian Angel Prayer:

Angel of God, my guardian dear.  To whom God’s love, commits me here.  Every day, be at my side.  To light, to guard, to rule and guide.  Amen.

Immediately following we would then each take a turn to share with one another what Our 3 Most Favorite Things of the Day were. Opening Night was a smash hit! And for many seasons following!  Even on the rare nights, if any pester-jestering resurfaced, it only took the mere mention of canceling the show, or escorting said heckler from the room and this deterred any continued/repeat behavior.  Our children looked not only forward to sharing their own 3 Most Favorite Things of the Day; but just as much, if not more so, in listening to what each other would share were theirs!  Of course the answers were rarely ever “grand,” but they were amazing! (If only to us.) Like: “Wearing my Steeler shirt to school today.” Or, “Trading my apple for a cupcake at lunch.” Or, “Letting the lizard out of it’s cage at pre-school. Maybe tomorrow we will find him!”  (Silly, ol’ Jare-Bear.) The memory-go-round for all of this began when I saw a blogging event posted by fellow blogger Nerd in the Brain.  A fun blog, I instantly loved her blog event which she created titled: three-things-thursday-spreading-happiness1 All of this has been like a re-run-re-union.  Like the Brady Bunch reunion episode, or Gilligan leaves the Island. Thursdays henceforth, (at least this one,) shall  be for-me a time to re-examine all God has given me to be grateful for. I’m quite sure I can think together 3 blessings to give praise for…even in this head of fluff and stuff!

Photo courtesy of Winnie the Pooh Friendship Gallery
Photo courtesy of Winnie the Pooh Friendship Gallery

3hugs&blessings i give today for:

my friend Tina (who is not a llama,) air-popped popcorn shared with my cuppy-cake, & the potential new baby grand-daughter  we may welcome into our family this summer!