Post Christian America?

With the social benefits of professing to be a Christian no longer in place and the social stigma of not professing to be a Christian now lifted, those who were part of Christendom America are simply no longer pretending to be part of Christian America.

That's a quote from mega-pastor Mark Driscoll in a rebuttal to an article Newsweek did on religion in America. You can see the whole article here: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,519517,00.html

I really liked this quote. It's long been an issue for me for people who in no way could ever be convicted of being a Christian (if put on trial for such) claiming to be one. Driscoll hits it on the head here. There were social benefits to claiming to be a Christian and stigmas to not being one. Neither of those exist anymore.

What really gets my knickers in a twist, though, is Christians crying because the national tone has changed. As if legislation would make them righteous. As if everyone going to church on Christmas eve and wishing everyone "Merry Christmas" makes them righteous. As if abortion being illegal or gay marriage being illegal would make them righteous.

The Bible says that the way to Life is narrow and few there are who find it. Maybe that's something to consider.

Who's an artist?

We all have our own definitions of what "creativity" means.

Years ago, when my dearest friend introduced me to scrapbooking, I said I wasn't creative. She teases me about that on occasion still.

But I could always qualify that by saying that I have "different kind" of creativity. I still don't think I can do home interior designs (maybe when I don't have any men in my house to mess it up!!), but I feel pretty confident in my own little niche.

I've always defined being artistic as being able to draw. That's been a Rubicon I'd never even try to cross.

But...

Mike's birthday is tomorrow. I wanted to make him a fun card that wasn't too girly. Cupcakes are pretty popular right now but my cupcake stamp (which I'd stamp, color then cut out and add to a card) is little. And I want to make him a big card. So what to do?

I drew a cupcake.

Yes. You read that right. I drew a cupcake in pieces, used it as a template and made my own. Complete with cherry on top.

I am so excited! I can't wait to try new things. I've got a little turtle for a new baby card that's next...

The remarkable Susan Boyle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dennis-palumbo/what-if-susan-boyle-could_b_187804.html

The first link is to the You Tube video of Susan Boyle's audition for "Britian's Got Talent." It appears to be a show in the UK sort of like our American Idol.

The second link is to an interesting editorial about the reaction to the hauntingly beautiful voice housed in the ordinary body.

I agree. We should not judge books by their cover. Why would we assume that if a person is not beautiful, they shouldn't have any other talent either? Why should we even enter a discussion about it? Does no beauty = no talent? Does being beautiful mean you are gifted in everything you try?

The editorialist sugests we think about what we might think about Susan if she couldn't sing. What if she'd been like William Hung? You might remember him from American Idol a few years back. He simply couldn't sing. But we loved him. Still can't figure that out. And I use "we" meaning "the rest of my crazy society."

What's so remarkable about Susan? That she can sing? Or that she's so ordinary looking AND sings like an angel on loan from heaven?

Personally, I think this culture is obsesses with the visual. With the birth of MTV back in 1980, video media really did kill all others. Nowadays, mass market success is reserved to those who are both talented and visually appealing. Some success can be had with one or the other. Mostly it's passable talent and beauty rather than amazing talent without the beauty.

I wonder how many other amazingly talented people are sitting behind closed doors and unturned rocks. How many watch folks like Susan and sigh, wishing they could have a chance to be really seen.

Working on my fantasy card

I wanted to try my hand at a Cardvaark's challenge so I'm working on a fantasy themed card. It's the princess one. Only problem was that I couldn't think of a good "fantasy" sentiment. So I piddled around with a few other sketches and ideas. I am going to have to do more with the transparency sheets!

You always make me smile
Happy Mother's Day

Happy Birthday Princess

Happy birthday

baby cards

So I've got a stash of cards in my scrap room for all the various and sundry cards needs I have in life. Maybe if I keep this up, it'll be worth having a booth at the craft fair. But for now, I enjoy making them and giving them away.


A couple at church are having a baby and we're doing the shower thing. I was thinking it was a boy, but then had a moment's doubt. I realized that I have cards for baby girls and for baby boys, but none for "we don't know yet." So I made these.

Two new creations

For the Craft Mad April sketch challenges, both cards and layouts, I created these. It was fun to have a little challenge to get my mojo flowing!

Lynn and gramma scrapping:

Nina and Lynn:

Friendship card:

Easter card:

Black Thursday

Not a good day in the Martin household. Mike got laid off this morning. We've been through this before. 7 years ago. But it sucked then and it sucks now. We've been without insurance before, but at least Nick is covered now. And he's got unemployment that's not too bad. But I'm worried about my parents. My dad might get hit with this one. And it would not be good for them to be without insurance. At least my mom is done with her chemo.

Mother's Day cards

New baby cards

Thinking of You/ Friendship/generic cards

Birthday cards

I've been making cards lately like a crazy person! I'm stockpiling so that I won't have to dash to the scraproom to make a card an hour before leaving for the party!

My latest obsession

World of Warcraft.

Last Christmas, my oldest son suggested that since I liked another PC role playing game, I would really enjoy this one. He tantalized me with a 10-day free trial and the promise of playing with him at some future date.

It took less than those 10 days for me to become unbelievably hooked.

What a great stress relief it is for me! I have to spend so much of my day saying the right thing when the needed thing gets bit back. But I can go home and kill - as my granddaughter puts it - "bad dudes." And kill them I do!

But what's even cooler is that on occasion, I can do a quest with my son. We can chat while we're both playing, even when we're not playing together. That's pretty cool.

But so is my - as of today - level 41 human warlock!

and now for something fun...

Fill this out about your Senior Year in High School
The longer ago it was, the more fun the answers will be!!

1. Did you date someone from your school? yep - and eventually married him

2. Did you marry someone from your high school? yes

3. Did you car pool to school? nope - I usually walked

4. What kind of car did you have? None.

5. What kind of car do you have now? a Pontiac Bonneville that is in dire need of retirement

6. It's Friday night....What would you do now? fast food dinner, grocery shopping and home to watch TV

7. It is Friday night...where were you then? probably watching TV

8. What kind of job did you have in high school? none

9. What kind of job do you do now? children's mental health

10. Were you a party animal? um....no

11. Were you considered a flirt? depends on who you asked. My shy sister would say yes. I'd say no.

12. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? Choir two years in high school

13. Were you a nerd? no, just awkward

14. Did you get suspended or expelled? heaven's no!

15. Can you sing the fight song? Did we have a fight song? nope

16. Who was/were your favorite teacher? didn't have one

17. Where did you sit during lunch? somewhere in the cafeteria with a couple of friends

18. What was your school's full name? Wellington High School

19. When did you graduate? 1987

20. If you could go back and do it again, would you? I would not go through that again for all the money in the world!

21. Did you have fun at Prom? no

22. Do you still talk to the person you went to Prom? frequently

23. Are you planning on going to your next reunion? dunno. I skipped the 5, 10 and 15 but went to the 20. I had more fun than I expected I would and might just go to the 25, assuming we have one.

24. Do you still talk to people from school? I work with a couple and still see a few others on occasion

25. What are/were your school's colors? crimson and white

Who asks you the hard questions?

So, our pastor talked this last week about discipleship a little bit. He talked about thinking about who discipled you and who you're discipling. It made me think a little bit.

No one. I have never discipled anyone because I wouldn't know how to do it. No one ever discipled me. No one walked with me to show me the way. No one came alongside me and helped me find my path. Not even my parents. I love them, don't get me wrong. But the memories I have are of stumbling around in the dark trying to find my own way. Often getting it wrong.

The logical person, I suppose, to ask me those hard questions would be my husband. But he doesn't. His main goal in life is to be friends with everyone and never hurt anyone's feelings. My dear friend Drea is probably the person most likely to ask me a question I don't want to answer - but need to.

Maybe this is something I should be more intentional in seeking out?

Beware!! Whine to follow!!!!!!!!!

Okay...you've been warned. I feel like such a crybaby.

On Saturday morning, I had an awful gallbladder attack. I've never had such pain. It is my new standard for pain levels. And I have a high tolerance for pain. Guess not. So surgery is scheduled for Monday.

Then, on Sunday, I was cutting onions for burgers and cut my right index finger.

And on Monday, I slammed my left middle finger in the front door.

*wailing and gnashing of teeth*

I am now on a health drive. I'm going to get and feel healthy if it kills me.







Okay...maybe that shouldn't be my ending point. I don't know how I'm going to go about it, but I'm going to get healthy.

Okay. I feel better now. Thanks for listening.

Oh...and because I have only marginal use of my dominant hand, I haven't been able to scrap for the Winter Wonderland Crop over at Scrapadilly. I haven't even been able to upload my creations from Friday nite at Drea's. *sigh* Maybe the next one!

He said it first

I have, through painful experience, learned not to take things for granted. Today, when I was dropping him off for school, Nick said "I love you" first. Maybe you've never been in the "mom" places I have - and I would say you're lucky - but where I'm at, that was a special moment I'll hold on to for a while.

I've made some decisions for my life. One of my goals for this year is to be more creative. To not wait until I "have time" or "feel like it" but to work to keep those creative juices flowing regularly.

I've also made it a goal to get healthier. That's not going to be easy, but starting with eating healthier and working in some exercise I'm going to try to be a size healthier by the end of this year.

I've also decided to work on my family. I do a lot of things that get in the way of being a wife and mom. I've told my pastor that I need to quit teaching my class. I'll be praying that God will send a replacement music leader so I can step down from that as well. It will be hard not doing those things - I do love them! - but I need to focus on some somewhat more important things. I want to see Nick healthy. And leaving him to his own devices while I'm off doing all those other things is not the way to get there!

I'm a work in progress. I just want to be a little more deliberate and intentional about the "progress!"

Scrapping like crazy

Well, I have a tidy little bank of $20 or so in my Scrap to Spend account. I have so enjoyed getting back into the art and craft of papercrafting. I really missed it. I don't have any lofty goals. I don't necessarily want to be published. I am not looking to join any design teams. I just want to enjoy a fun and rewarding hobby. And give nice handmade cards to friends and family. That's about it. Not that it wouldn't be nice to be published or to be on a DT somewhere. But those are rewards for pursuing the craft. Not the goal itself.

I got a chance (after fighting off a very persistant bug) to go scrap at Drea's. I love scrapping with her. It's sort of like exercizing with a partner rather than alone. We don't spend terribly much time chatting, which I'm never good at anyways, and she always gives great advice when I'm stumped on what to do next. As a result, I got a ton of stuff done! See the gallery at www.scrapadilly.com if you're interested!

My goal is still just to scrap consistently. I want to do four layouts a month. Or a pair of cards for one layout. Just that many. Not twenty or thirty layouts and lots of projects. Just four. That's do-able!

Scrap to Spend in 2009

I'm going to keep track of my different things for the Scrap to Spend challenge at http://www.scrapadilly.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2589 for Scrapadilly this year.

Here are the ways to earn Scrappy Bucks:
For everyone layout you make you get $1 in the Scrappy Account.
Cards are worth $.50
Altered items are worth $5
Entire albums of at least 20 layouts are worth $10
2 pages in small albums count for $1 in your account.
For every 100 posts, add $1 to your scrappy account.
For every thread you start, add $.05 to your scrappy account.
If you are chosen for the Creation of the Day: add $1 to your scrappy account.
If you do a product review you must upload pictures of you using that product to the gallery. For this you will receive $1.
For every referral to our site.........that means if a new member joins and puts your username as the referral, you will receive $1.
For special crops, I may from time to time offer bonus items for you to add to your scrappy account.

And here are my running totals:
layouts $1:
cards $.50:
altered items $5:
whole 12x12 albums (20 layouts): $10
small albums $1/2 pages:
every 100 posts $1 (starting post total 707):
COTD $1:
Product review w/pictures $1:
referrals $1:
other bonuses: