Wonderfully Made and (OMG) Officially My Gift

Psalm 139:13-14 

For You created my inmost being; 

You knit me together in my mother's womb. 

I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

I share this heavenly conversation with my daughter, Isabella, when she was 8 year old:

Isabella: "Mom did you know, Pheewee (term of endearment for her big brother Phil) told me, that 4 people are born and 2 people die EVERY SECOND?!"

Mom: "hmmm really?!" 

Isabella: "Yes! so isn't that amazing?! God is really working hard! He makes 4 people every second, and then, He has to turn the ones who die, into angels! And, He does that on top of watching over all of us!" 

Mom: "WOW!" (was all I could say)

Isabella: "And! I am so glad, when God made me, He put me in your stomach, and gave me to you!!!"

Mom: (blissfully stunned!)

Isabella is our 4^th child after 3 boys with an 8-year gap from our 3^rd son. We certainly didn’t plan a 4^th pregnancy nor were we adamant on having a girl. As a matter of fact, on each of my previous pregnancies, I begged God for sons because I was scared to raise a daughter in this world. I felt I was not mature enough and equipped to bring up a daughter. Having said all that, one might think that she’s an “accident” or an “oops” baby. To be very honest, when I first found out I was pregnant again for the 4^th time after almost 8 years, I got shocked and worried instead of happy and excited. My thoughts were that I have to start all over again just when I could finally do things for myself again (like go back to work or school). Selfish eh? By the way this was all during my “B.C.” life….my life before Christ…hence, my selfishness and fears (and maybe a hint of discontent?). Little did I know then that, just like our boys are precious blessings from Him, Isabella would be the gift of an angel daughter who would be an integral part of my spiritual journey to enlightenment. In line with Pastor Anne’s series on ‘Does Everything Happen for a Reason?’, we have learned that it is false to assume that whatever happens in life is God’s will and plan. But when it comes to the birth of a life, we can be assured that we, each and every one of us, are fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of our Creator. So, no, Isabella is not an “accident” or an “oops” baby. She’s an OMG!....as in Officially My Gift!

Dear God, In Your image, You made us. How humbling, How empowering, How amazing! Help me to see, that In loving myself, Imperfections and all, I'm loving you as well. And thank you for putting an angel daughter in my stomach:)

Smiling Indy

We caught him smiling. He likes to sleep on his back. We call it his "bum" position...taking after his owner, Ian.

A Noble Duty

"I long to accomplish a great and noble task,

but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks

as if they were great and noble."

- Helen Keller

"Whoever can be trusted with very little

can also be trusted with much,

and whoever is dishonest with very little

will also be dishonest with much.

So if you have not been trustworthy
in handling worldly wealth,
who will trust you with true riches?"

-Luke 16:10 (Parable of the Shrewd Manager)

" 'Well done, my good servant!' his master replied.

'Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter,

take charge of ten cities.' "

Luke 19:17 (Parable of the Ten Minas)

"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant!

You have been faithful with a few things;

I will put you in charge of many things.

Come and share your master's happiness!' "

Matthew: 25:21 (Parable of the Talents)

Miracle in a Normal Day

Powerful Women

I just had to post this very witty email I received from my dear ate Cecile.

Live your life in such a way that when your feet hit the floor in the morning,

Satan shudders and says...

'Oh shit ...she's awake!!!'

My Thoughts:

what would make the enemy shudder?

• "the joy of the Lord is your strength" - Nehemiah 8:10
• "When you rejoice in the midst of your difficulties, you're giving the enemy a black eye" - Joel Osteen
• Begin each day with a grateful heart
• "This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." - Psalm 118:24
• Love overcomes evil; live your day with God's love in you

Studio Show Photos

now available at Photography by Julie Campbell

Here are the proofs of some of my personal favourites

Isabella's endearing number with dad

her tap choreography to dad's Rhythm of the Rain

Rescue Me

Cooties

JAZZ (Shop Around)

Ballet

TAP (Billy Jean)

Ms. Tara

Isabella's teacher/dance inspiration

Red Hot Bathroom Reveal

There's no stopping us now....when it comes to decorating, that is. After Isabella's purple and pink bedroom, we moved on to our hallway bathroom. From "victorian grandma" style (sorry no before photo) to grand and red hot design. Isabella and I had so much fun with this project...from choosing the color to the actual painting. I did the top portion while she tackled the bottom section. She said she feels like a "design star" (I think we watch too much HGTV:) Whenever I start to get anxious she reminds me to "breath". I think we inhaled paint fumes that we got silly at times...acting like design stars. Then we forgot to realize that we cannot paint behind the toilet...so comes Phil to the rescue...our toilet engineer/hero:) We finished it in 2 days in time for her dance rehearsals. Hmmm what should we tackle next? either back to Isabella's bedroom to paint the walls her fave purple color (now that we've had some practice) or should we tackle the fence first? We'll see...we sort of just go with the "flow", so to speak, depending on how we feel at the time:) I'll keep you posted.

Isabella's new bedroom

It's keeping us excitingly busy these past couple of days. Dancing to the theme of ballerina princess in purple and pink...her favourite colors. Finally a bedroom of her own (not that she sleeps there yet:) Since our move a year and a half ago, we didn't feel a need to decorate a room for her. She sleeps with mommy and daddy still and I like to keep it that way for as long as I can. But this summer she wants to invite some friends and we thought a girl's room is in order. We truly enjoyed shopping together and she is ecstatic at the outcome. She can't wait to have friends over.

Here's a "before" photo

Grand Chandelier

I got this from my friend Tessie for almost next to nothing considering it's a one-of-a-kind Kreiss design. Thanks GFF... now my dining room looks grand!

Light from within

People are like stained-glass windows.

They sparkle and shine when the sun is out,

but when the darkness sets in,

their true beauty is revealed

only if there is a light from within.

- Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

For God who said, "Let light shine out of darkness",

made His light shine in our hearts

to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God

in the face of Christ.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay

to show that this all-surpassing power is from God

and not from us.

2 Corinthians 4: 6-7