Hey Everybody!

I'm participating in a contest --check it out!
If you win --not only will will win a fabulous basket of goodies from the participating merchants - but one of those fabulous prizes will be from ME! (since I'm donating a prize!)

Go ahead! Play to win! (I won the Christmas contest and got some great stuff - a real blessing - felt like getting a hug from God the day that I received my package full of goodies!)

"No Greater Love" Valentine's Day Trivia Game Sponsored by CAST (Christian Artist's Street Team)

The Rules:

• You must have a registered account with Etsy.
(registration is free and simple!)

• CAST members are not eligible to play.

• Visit the participating shops listed below to find a trivia
question in their shop announcement. Each shop has a different
question and each question is numbered. Only the shops listed have
questions in them. Make note of the question and the question
number, there are 14 total.

• When you know the answers send an Etsy conversation to Renee from her
Etsy shop, Guiding Light Candles. Make sure your answers are
correspondent to the numbered question. (i.e. 1. Bill 2. Bob 3. Mary)

• The person with the most correct answers will win a fabulous
gift basket full of wonderful items donated by CAST members. In the
event of a tie, names will be put in a basket and a winner will be
drawn at random.

• The contest will run from January 23rd to January 27th. A
winner will be determined on January 28th and will be notified
through an Etsy conversation.

Participating Shops:

New Creation Art
What's Her Name
Lori Delisle
Whimsie Dots
Christie Cottage
Eye Candy Creative
Shazzabeth
zudagay
jabon
Deb's Random Art - that's ME!
Lady Pippie
Lamplight Boutique
Urban Creativity
Guiding Light Candles

For Pat...

....so she has something else to stare at besides the bleach spot on her pink slipper...

Several posts ago, I promised photos of our Christmas tree along with some favorite ornaments.

Here it is - the day we took it down - since we HAD to because the day after we took out the old piano and moved in the 'new' (but used) piano, we awoke to find that the tree had imploded sometime in the middle of the night:



And here are a couple ornaments - not that you can see them very well...

A Department 56 design of a funky fish with long, skinny legs.

One of several photos of Olivia on Santa's lap (the others were buried beneath the branches...)

One of dozens of homemade ornaments made by Olivia who, if given the opportunity, would spend all of her time "doing art projects." (A girl after her Momma's heart!)

There are many, many more ornaments - which I like way more than these. But again - buried!

So much for my plan of keeping the tree up until Easter!

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If a Christmas tree falls in the middle of the living room when there's no one around to hear it, does it still make a sound? no.

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Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, (or in the living room) in the place where it falls, there will it lie. -Ecclesiastes 11:3

(parenthetical addition from Deb's Paraphrased Version)

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The Door

"...Beyond the open door is a new and fresh anointing,
Hear the Spirit calling you to go.
Walk on through the door for the Lord will go before you
Into a greater power you've never known before..."

The door is open.
It's not on the hinges.
It cannot be shut.
Therefore, you may retreat once you enter.
Should you choose.
But I don't think you will.

From your vantage point
the room is lit.
Sun shines in the window.
It seems to make so much more sense
to stay in the familiar room
Rather than venture into the unknown.

The path ahead is dark.
No one knows what lies ahead.
Only the first few steps are lit.
What lies beyond?
....a greater power than you've never known before.

Go ahead.
Go through the door.
I dare ya.

"...Where He leads me, I will follow
Where He leads me, I will follow
And where He leads me, I will follow
Into a greater power we've never known before,
Beyond the open door."

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"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." -Matthew 7:7,8

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Photograph by Olena
Lyrics: Beyond the Open Door by the Gaither Vocal Band