Year: 2011 (Page 4 of 9)

Christmas Ornaments in July

July 21, 2011 / Jennifer Coleman / 0 Comments

For the last 12 years I’ve been buying the kids

each an ornament at the after Christmas sales.

For a while they enjoyed receiving them and hanging

their individual ornaments on the tree, but the last couple of years

they’ve decided that that decorating trees was a waste of time

and can’t understand why I would even buy them any. :-/

So last December, I decided that it was time to put away their ornaments

and collect some ornaments for myself and have a more grown up tree.

I got 20 of these ornaments at Trees and Trends 80% off on New Years weekend.

I like the colors because it goes with the soft colors in my home.

I knew I wanted to make some ornaments that were centered around Jesus;

nativities and/or had the names of Jesus on them, so I started looking ideas on how to

make them and started studying my collection of lists of His names.

I decided to make quilted ones because I love to hand sew

and thought they would last a long time (maybe survive the pets).

At first, I thought I would embroider His names on them,

but quickly decided that it would be faster/easier

to print them on the computer.

I designed 5 different styles of ornaments using Photo Shop on my computer.

I am making 5 of each ornament shape with different names

so that I will have 25 in all and around 150 of Jesus’ names.

The kid’s first reaction was, “They are so big.” They are about the size of my hand.

I wanted the print to be easy to read standing a few feet from the tree.

And I’d found so many names that I loved, so they had to be big enough to hold them all.

I’ve completed the first 5. I pieced the first 10 together before

our trip to Alaska so I could work on them on the planes.

It’s taking a lot of fiddling to decide on how to embellish them.

I am not sure I am in love with how they turned out. It will be strange

to see them on the tree this coming December (I hope I get them all done).

I am working on embellishing the second set of 5 now.

They are more centered around Jesus as the Lamb of God and have a little lamb

at the bottom instead of a cross that I am trying to decide how to embellish.

Maybe they won’t survive the pets. 🙂

Maybe I should be looking into getting some cat/dog repellant.

Love,

Jenny

Church and Moving Friends

July 17, 2011 / Jennifer Coleman / 1 Comment

I made it back to church today. Yay!
It was such a great service, too. I am so glad I didn’t miss it.
Worship was awesome! Sitting during worship wasn’t too weird.
Pastor Carol’s sermons are always awesome.
She preached about fixing our eyes on Jesus so we can see clearly with eyes of faith.

I had wanted to go all week;
missed a women’s meeting Thursday night
because I was wiped out from shopping at Costco
and took a nap instead.

It only takes me about 25 minutes to shop until I drop.

I had a hard time finding something that fit comfortably
other than the maternity shorts that I’ve been wearing.
My stretchiest pants fit way more snugly
than they did a couple of weeks ago.. swelling.

Later, I realized that I could have worn a dress
with no waist and been more comfortable.
Good idea for next week.

I got to wear this new necklace that my friend Tonya gave me yesterday. Thank you, Tonya. 🙂

She is one of two of my homeschooling friends
who is moving away this summer.
I’ve don’t have many friends here so
I am taking the moving news pretty hard.

Tonya made this necklace from a smashed Tinkerbell penny.

She is crazy about collecting smashed pennies from her travels.

She has a blog called the Traveling Praters, where she writes about homeschooling and her traveling adventures.

Most of the field trips we’ve attended since moving here, Tonya put together. She has the coolest ideas and I have yet to find out her secret for finding such great places to visit. Maybe she’ll tell us on her blog soon.

She and my other moving friend, Lee Ann, and I have similar homeschool/parenting philosophies, and have felt very blessed to have each other’s support and friendship. Lee Ann and I met while living in Florida and I eventually followed her here, where she introduced me to Tonya. 🙂

I am so thankful to have known Tonya and Lee Ann; my life is so much richer for it. I guess it’s like the saying, “It’s better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all.”

It has taken a long week to be able to say that. Just yesterday, I was thinking about how I still haven’t fully recovered from our last move and haven’t really been fully sharing my heart with the few friends I do have here.. and how that didn’t do me any good because my heart was still broken to see them go. I know better, but knowing and doing are two different things.

I am very thankful for all the ways we have to keep in touch these days; free long distance, e-mail, Facebook and our blogs all help to take away a little of the sting. And these two are moving to states we’d like to visit in the next couple of years, so maybe we’ll even get to see them in person before too long.

Mostly I am thankful to know that God is with them wherever they go and will lead them and guide them And has a great future planned for them and their families.

Okay, I am crying now.. but glad to have my eyes fixed on Jesus and to see more clearly with eyes of faith and not be as focused on my loss/pain as I was yesterday.

Now you know, I write so I don’t have to pay to see a therapist.

Love,

Jenny

The Law: Nailed to the Cross

July 17, 2011 / Jennifer Coleman / 1 Comment

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My favorite TV preacher is coming to Joel Osteen’s Church!

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I love Pastor Prince because he teaches what
most pastors will not; what I believe to be the true gospel;

the gospel based on the Word, on Jesus’ finished work,

on grace and freedom from condemnation;

the gospel that really is good news.

My DVR is full of Joseph Prince teachings.

Every time I watch an episode, I come away mouth gaping;

feeling full and excited about Jesus,

about how much He loves me,

and how much grace God has provided for us.

It still blows my mind that GRACE is the MEAT of the Word.

One thing I love about Joseph Prince is that

I almost never catch him taking a verse out of context.

When it sounds too good to be true,

he will show you from the Hebrew/Greek

exactly what the words mean/say.

I love it!

This week I saw this verse in a new light.

(Pastor Prince’s teaching was much better/fuller than I can share here,

but I’ll try to share just a tidbit of what Holy Spirit

is helping me to understand from this one verse.)

Colossians 2:13-14 (NKJV)

13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh,
He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,
14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us,
which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way,
having nailed it to the cross.

A. We were dead; He made us alive with Him.

B. Wiped out the “handwriting of requirements” – Whose handwriting?

His own handwriting; the law; the 10 commandments written with His finger.

C. The law was “against us”, “contrary to us”. It does not help us.

The Holy Spirit alone is our helper.

D. “He has taken it out of the way”.. The law stands in the way of our relationship with God; it condemns us (Jesus does not).

It makes us feel either guilty or prideful (when we fool ourselves into believing we are keeping it).

We run from God when we feel guilty.

God stands against us when we are prideful.

E. “Nailed to the cross,” “forgiven”.. both past tense.

We live in the present! Hallelujah! Where we are forgiven and where

there is nothing left between us and God.

We are free to draw near in boldness. The only requirement is: believe.

Part of the reason I never “saw” this verse before is because other versions

have translated it differently. True grace is so beyond our comprehension that

translators think it must mean something else than what it actually says.

I still love this verse from Galatians.

Galatians 3:1-2 (MSG)

1 You crazy Galatians! Did someone put a hex on you? Have you taken

leave of your senses? Something crazy has happened, for it’s obvious that

you no longer have the crucified Jesus in clear focus in your lives.

His sacrifice on the cross was certainly set before you clearly enough.
2-4Let me put this question to you: How did your new life begin?
Was it by working your heads off to please God? Or was it by responding
to God’s Message to you? Are you going to continue this craziness?
For only crazy people would think they could complete by their own efforts
what was begun by God. If you weren’t smart enough or strong enough
to begin it, how do you suppose you could perfect it? Did you go through
this whole painful learning process for nothing? It is not yet a total loss,
but it certainly will be if you keep this up!

I am so happy to be free from the law;
from condemnation; the power of sin and death;
To have the Holy Spirit leading and directing and perfecting me;
To have the Sabbath Rest that He promised;
the rest that leans on, believes in and trust fully in Jesus and His work;
to have the true JOY of my salvation.. and so much more.

James’ Guide to Car Ownership (x2)

July 11, 2011 / Jennifer Coleman / 1 Comment

Day 1: Spend 8 hrs. shopping around town with Dad for a used car.

Buy great car with all the extras and 170,000 miles.

Arrive home with new car; watch engine light come on.

Week 1: Spend close to $1,000 on repairs and new tires.

Week 2: Have fancy car stereo put in.

Week 3: Total new car on the way to church. 🙁

Thank God that no one was hurt.

Wait for the police and tow truck; fill out reports; deal with insurance.

Get an awesome raise at work for being such a wonderful employee.

Week 4: Shop with Dad for another used car.

Find a newer car with fewer miles and fewer gadgets.

Hope that the title for your totaled car comes in soon so you can sell it to the junk yard.

Tell your mom that if she blogs about this,

that she better mention that she totaled her mom’s car when she was his age.

Sorry, Mom.

Making Strides

July 7, 2011 / Jennifer Coleman / 0 Comments

I am feeling more energetic now that I am off antibiotics
and 5 weeks into my recovery. Yay!

Moving from feeling happy to be alive to mad at the kids for
leaving my laundry in the dryer to wrinkle.. is a good sign.

My pet peeve meets their lack of training.. 🙂
Last week I was too weak to be mad.

I am still having to be careful not to do too much..
Trip to Birmingham and back on Tuesday
wiped me out and left me sore yesterday.

My stretches/exercises are coming along slowly.
Judi has her first real shift at the YMCA this week.
I am looking forward to going in with her
sometime soon and using a tread mill.
Not sure how long I’d last.. but at least I can get started.

I am still afraid of people bumping into me in a crowd,
so we’ll see how that goes.

Love,

Jenny

Mini Verse Books

June 29, 2011 / Jennifer Coleman / 0 Comments

I love having Bible verses with me to read when I am out and about..

I’ve taken mini verse books with me to Judi’s gymnastics classes,

to pray over at the abortion clinic and to many doctor visits.

They’ve been a great tool for re-focusing my mind

and calming my spirit during this difficult time.

To turn a collection of verses into a mini book I first
divide my text into two columns and make the font very big.
I usually use Veranda 16. I like Veranda for it’s clarity.
When I remember, I number the pages to help me keep them in order later.

Next I go into the print menu and under “layout” choose
to print 4 pages per sheet from left to right.

Then I use a paper cutter to cut each page across the middle in half.

Then I fold each half page in half with the print on the out side.
The fold makes a very nice, thick, page edge for easy turning.
As I fold them I stack them in page number order.

Next I design a cover on a page length wise so that it’s wide enough to
wrap around the pages and trim with a little bit of a lip left over.
I print it on card stock and trim it to fit.

Next I use a nail to punch holes through the cover and pages for binding.
I’ve tried paper punching and drilling the holes.. the nail seems easiest.

I use this crayon holder the boys made in Royal rangers for the nail to punch into.
I’ve seen home made clamps with holes drilled into them made
especially for book binding.. maybe I’ll make one one day.

To finish up, I take some thick thread and sew it together.
I’ve been happy with how the books have turned out.
They last a long time. 🙂

Thankfulness that Fills Me with Joy Part 2

June 29, 2011 / Jennifer Coleman / 0 Comments

In April, I posted about the collection of favorite verses

and confessions that I was rewriting into praise.
You can read the post here.

Now I am going to tell you what I did with them and how they help me

focus on the kind of thankfulness that fills me with joy.

I’ve been taking collections of verses and turning them into mini books
that I can carry with me in my purse to read and/or give away for a while now…
More about that in my next post..

When I first was diagnosed with breast cancer, I took all
the healing verses I had collected over the years and found a wonderful
PDF put together by Joyce Meyer on healing confessions (her link)
and made them into a mini book .. I read and researched it more
than I did the stuff on breast cancer.. I had to to keep my sanity. 🙂

This time I wanted something different. I wanted to be able to have them
a little more accessible than in a book.. eventually I’d like to have
them hanging on the wall and have a plan for that ..
a project for when I am feeling better.. 🙂

As I re-wrote the verses. I used photo shop to turn my verses into little colored, round tags.
This was great therapy because I got to spend so much time with each verse.

Then I used this great circle cutter by EK Success
that I got at Hobby Lobby for 40% off to cut them out
and put them in this little bowl.

I took them with me to the hospital..

they are great.. like popping pills of joyful praise. 🙂

You are my Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener,

and Standby), who abides with me forever; John 14:16

Reading them out loud works wonders.

Sometimes I re-read the same one several times

to make sure it soaks in real good.

I am filled with hope when I remember that Your great love never ends and that

Your tender compassions never fail. Lamentations 3:21-22

The more I read them the more joyful I am.

I love that I can pull them out of the bowl at random.

On bad days, I make it a point to stop and read more often than others.

I will not be wise in my own eyes, but worship You alone and turn from evil.

It is healing to my body and refreshment to my bones. Proverbs 3:7-8

Love,

Jenny

Thankfulness that Fills Me with Joy

June 29, 2011 / Jennifer Coleman / 0 Comments

This post probably needs much more attention than I can give it today.
Last night the incision lines across my tummy started turning red..
so I am back on antibiotics which means;
I am fighting foggy brain, headache and yeast again.
Plus it’s that time of the month which makes it all a little more difficult to endure.

Since I have begun finding joy in Him,
I’ve been on the constant look out for things to be grateful for.
I am so very greatly blessed.. I have such a wonderful family..
that alone would be enough, but I have so much more,
and if I lost my family and all, I would still have Jesus with me..
and He alone is more than enough to fill me with thankfulness.

Since the beginning of my breast cancer diagnosis,
I’ve been thankful for many things;
thankful that God is still God and that He loves me,
thankful for how wonderful Mike has been through it all,
thankful that Jesus paid the price for my healing..

And thankful that things are not much worse;
thankful that they caught it early,
thankful that I didn’t have to do chemo,
thankful that I wasn’t loosing an arm or something much more dear to me,
thankful that I am young(ish) and healthy(ish) and should recover quickly.

At my last appointment in Birmingham, I met an older woman,
who had a similar surgery to what I had and had one breast that
would not heal.. 5 total surgeries on that one breast to try to correct
things.. still has a drain and is still on antibiotics..
I really have a lot to be thankful for..

This morning I started to wonder if it was right to let my
thankfulness wonder in that direction.. If it was right to take comfort
in the fact that my discomfort isn’t as great as someone else’s.

I am still praying on this..and I am beginning to realize that
that kind of thankfulness doesn’t fill me with the same kind of joy
that I get when I am thankful for example.. for God’s goodness.

Honestly, for me.. I think being thankful that things are not much
worse is a form of self pity.. and part of the problem with it
is that things can always get much worse… and that thought leaves me afraid.
I learned long ago that fear and joy don’t mix (nor do joy and anger).

So I am going to choose not to allow my thankfulness to wonder in that
direction for now.. concentrate on being thankful for better things..
hang on tight to the joy God has given me and not let anything steal it away.
(More on how in my next post.)

Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way. James 1:2-4 MSG

Love,

Jenny

Found a New Favorite Movie

June 25, 2011 / Jennifer Coleman / 2 Comments

My Top Ten Favorite Movies

I’ve been spending lots of my time watching movies lately..

So i thought I’d share with you some of my favorites.

The King and I (1956) –
My favorite movie for 20 or more years..

I lost count of how many times I had watched it after 39..

“Shall we dance?” “One, two, three, and..”

Ever After: A Cinderella Story (1998)

When it comes to this part of the movie, my whole world stops..

Danielle: It is not fair, sire. You have found my weakness, but I have yet to learn yours.
Henry : But I should think it was quite obvious.

…it reminds me of a meeting I had once with Jesus in a dream.

Fiddler on the Roof (1971)

Tevye: You are just a poor tailor!
Motel: That’s true, Reb Tevye, but even a poor tailor is entitled to some happiness!

“If I were a rich man!”

Pride and Prejudice

I don’t know which I like the best –

I own all three:

the book, the BBC version and this one (2005)

“Nothing is more deceitful … than the appearance of humility.

It is often only carelessness of opinion, and sometimes an indirect boast.”

Little Women (1994)

The book is way better than the movie.. but I still like the movie..

“Oh, Mother, if I’m ever half as good as you, I shall be
satisfied,” cried Jo, much touched.

The Sound of Music

I love this movie more every time I watch it.

“Fraulein, is it to be at every meal, or merely at dinnertime, that you intend on

leading us all through this rare and wonderful new world of… indigestion?”

Ushpizin (2004)

If you haven’t seen this one, I have extra copies..

wonderful, wonderful movie about love, hope and forgiveness

The Last Sin Eater (2007)

Wonderful story of redemption and salvation

based on a book by Francine Rivers.

Bed of Roses (1996)

In this one, the couple lives together before getting married..

so have the fast forward button ready..

But I still love the Cinderellaish story.

“I noticed the other morning you didn’t order any breakfast.

I wasn’t sure if that was because you weren’t a breakfast eater…

or because you thought I was gonna kill you”

And for number ten.. a movie I saw for the first time today

An Affair to Remember (1957)

I first heard about this movie while watching “Sleepless in Seattle”

and had wanted to see it since. I loved it! Best ending of any movie ever.
Scared the kids a bit by all my crying.
“And all I could say was, “hello”.”

New Patio Furniture

June 20, 2011 / Jennifer Coleman / 1 Comment

How do you like our new patio furniture?
We got it off Amazon. 🙂

This is my new favorite place to spend the mornings and evenings.
The ceiling fans, wind chimes, ducks and the lake make idealistic.

Last night I was weary of hurting and so glad
for the little break from consciousness that sleep brings.

This morning this verse from Luke stood out to me:

By your steadfastness and patient endurance
you shall win the true life of your souls. Luke 21:19

I am happiest when I am busy accomplishing things.
Sitting all day feels like a bunch of nothing.

I would use the word “boring” here, but I am purposed to keep
it out of my vocabulary and keep a thankful, Pollyanna attitude.

I am so glad now for past experiences that forced me
to learn to draw patience from the Lord.

And so glad to know that I can do something as important as
wining the “true life of my soul” while waiting for healing.

I really am so blessed.

Love,

Jenny