One Little Word | February + Blog Hop

Welcome back, fellow OLW blog hoppers! :)

"Faith" in February.

I knew when I started this journey at the beginning of January that it would lead to me to some unexpected places. And that was for sure the case in February! I've been waiting for my word to "speak" to me, to "surprise" me, as people are saying, and in all honesty I was getting a little frustrated and impatient. I just wasn't feeling it. I think I was maybe focused a bit too much on the word itself, and forgetting to keep my mind open to the mysterious ways that God works in our lives. Which is really kind of the whole point of my word (or a large part, anyway). Finally, it hit me... In February I was being called to work on my perfectionism. (For those of you who may not know, I am a certified, card-carrying, type-A perfectionist. In all areas of my life, not just scrapping.) First, while browsing the bookshelves at the library, I came across this book: Be Happy Without Being Perfect: How to Break Free from the Perfection Deception. It intrigued me, so I checked it out, read it, and liked it. Around the same time, Big Picture Classes ran a new two-week class mid-month (free, no less!) called Embracing Imperfection. Wow. What an amazing class. Reading and participating on the message boards was like therapy, really. It really awakened me to all sorts of possibilities of ways that I can re-examine my life and make some changes. Changes that are likely to bring more peace into my life (perfectionism can be very stressful). I loved the class, I got a ton out of it (I expect its impact may reverberate through my life for a very long time), and I also really liked the teacher, Karen Grundberg, and her style of teaching. So much so, in fact, that I've also signed up for her next class at BPC (that started last week), Finding Your Way. It's all about the search for authenticity in your scrapbooking style, and I'm excited to see where it will lead over the next couple of months.

A few entries in my "Acting on Faith" log this month:

February 2, 2011: Today I started reading Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, and the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation. Through this book I hope to find greater understanding of and empathy for young American Muslims.


February 3, 2011: Today I finished reading Praying with Katie: God, My Cat, and Me. Definitely an interesting little book. I liked that it had a different perspective and that it made me think about my relationship with God in a different way. The difference was refreshing.

February 9, 2011: Today Embracing Imperfection started at Big Picture Classes. Just listening to the initial slide presentation, I think I have a lot of work to do!

February 17, 2011: Today as I was driving Hannah to her piano lesson, I was thinking about embracing imperfection. Suddenly I noticed the marquee at G- Christian Church: “Welcome to your journey.” Well said, Lord.

February's OLW project: photos of Faith.

Sadly, this is where I really dropped the ball. I think I let myself get dragged down by the initial disillusionment of my word this month, and then after all the self-examination got started, I just got swept away into other things. I also decided I didn't want a bunch of pictures of my literal word, as I was first thinking. So then I had to reach deeper, creatively, and try to figure out some photos to take that would be more representative in a figurative sense of what I am wanting from my word this year. And sometimes that's not so easy. I did some brainstorming though, so in lieu of photos I thought I would share my ideas with you (I know, it's not as interesting, sorry!). In the list below, the first part of each item is one component of my word; after the colon is my photo idea(s).

• Strengthen my faith, find a church home: a church
• Faith that my son William will overcome his autism (read this post if you'd like more details on that) and that God won't give me more than I can handle: William, puzzle pieces
• Faith that the world will go on post-2012: Earth (as seen from space), a 2013 calendar
• Faith in myself: me
• Faith that I am strong enough to do the things I need to do and get my life in order: free weights?
• Faith to persevere through the changes in our life: the building where my husband works? (as this mostly has to do with changes in his job environment and uncertainty in the future)
• Faith that I can overcome my clinical depression: my antidepressants
• Faith that I can overcome my (Type II) diabetes: my blood sugar testing equipment
• Faith that I can lose the weight I need to: a scale
• Faith that God is in charge of my life and through Him I can have peace: a cross?
• Having faith in others: a friend, my mother
• Faith that someone else can take care of my kids as well as me: someone else with my kids
• Faith that reaching out to others won't always end in rejection: 2 hands reaching towards each other
• Faith that I am worthy of true friendship, and allowing that to develop: a friend
• Inspiring others' faith in me: email, a telephone

It's for that last item that I actually do have a picture (taken last April as part of my Week in the Life project):

You might notice that some of the items in my list above have question marks, indicating that I am unsure. So if you have any brilliant ideas for photos I could take, please share! :)

Finally, I'd just like to mention that I have finally finished my December Daily album for 2010! I will be updating my December posts with photos and comments of my album. In the meantime, the album can be seen in its entirety at Flickr: December Daily 2010.

That's it for now! Thanks for stopping by! :)

Next blog in the hop: Cindy at Serious Play or start from the beginning of the blog hop with Margie at Xnomads.

This post is part of a series. Click here to see all posts relating to my One Little Word.

If you're lost in the blog hop, here's the complete list:
Margie: http://xnomads.typepad.com/
Monica: http://scraplifters.blogspot.com/
Jill: http://jillconyers.typepad.com/
Miranda: http://mirandasscrapsite.blogspot.com/
Donna: http://www.donnabryantdurand.blogspot.com/
Lynn: http://www.crafty-creativity.blogspot.com/
Stacey: http://www.TheAcornGarden.com/blog
Lisa: http://backtoallen.com/writers_blog
Cassie: http://craftycassiescorner.blogspot.com/
Abbey: http://athomewiththerichardsfamily.blogspot.com/
Nicky: http://seejanebake.blogspot.com/
Holly: http://lovingrobots.blogspot.com/
Karen: http://breathenowsmile.blogspot.com/
Claudia: http://creative-moms.com/
Rebekah: http://istampscrapcraft.blogspot.com/
Kimberly: http://foreverdaisies.blogspot.com/
Kat: http://www.katswonderings.blogspot.com/
Kristina: http://ciqis.blogspot.com/
Jan: http://mysimplelittlelife.typepad.com/
Nikki: http://www.inkyart.com.au/
Amanda: http://www.scrappnbee.blogspot.com/
Lisa: http://luluoz.typepad.com/
Sam: http://learncreatedo.wordpress.com/
Maureen: http://cookingmylife.blogspot.com/
Kristi: http://theprojectofme.wordpress.com/
Tere: http://terecontodomicorazon.blogspot.com/
Karen: http://womenontractors.blogspot.com/
Katrina: http://k84mansramblings.blogspot.com/
Monica: http://questtoperfectimperfection.blogspot.com/
Mandy: http://captureandcreate.wordpress.com/
Lisa: http://makeyourownescape.blogspot.com/
Chrissy: http://getcraftywithchrissy.blogspot.com/
Lee: http://linarstudio.typepad.com/embracelife/
Jen: http://www.byjen.com/
Sylvia: http://baxtersmom1.blogspot.com/
Christianne: http://christiannemarra.blogspot.com/
Cheri: http://cheriandrews.blogspot.com/
Joy: http://www.undiscoveredjoy.blogspot.com/
Beth: http://justbebeth.wordpress.com/
Jennifer: http://www.studiojenn.blogspot.com/
Kathryn: http://www.katlodesigns.com/
Heather: http://scrappyhare.blogspot.com/  <--YOU ARE HERE
Cindy: http://seriousplay.typepad.com/
Cynthiau: http://paperpapereverywhere.blogspot.com/

One Little Word | January + Blog Hop

Welcome to my blog.

Today I'm participating in a blog hop as part of the One Little Word class at Big Picture Classes. So if you're new to my blog, welcome! :) Although I've had this blog for a number of years, unfortunately I've had a bad habit in the past of forgetting to update it... So not too many posts. I also don't post a ton of pictures (mostly laziness lol), though I've made an exception for y'all today. ;) If you're looking for more photos and projects, you can check out my work on 2Peas and Flickr.

One Little Word: Faith in Action.

My One Little Word for 2011 is Faith. (Check out this post if you'd like to read more about my word and what I hope to achieve with it in 2011.)



Title page for my OLW album.
Click image to enlarge.

One thing I did while I was researching my word was look up the definitions for all of the synonyms. This is something I learned in French class in high school: various words can all mean vaguely the same thing, but can often have very different connotations, and ultimately, different meanings. Sure enough, some of the synonyms didn't end up making it onto my layout, because I didn't feel that the meanings they embodied were really what I wanted to convey. On the plus side, I was pleasantly surprised by several of the words, being so specifically related to the non-religious side of what Faith means to me. I will likely print out these extra words (and their definitions) and slip them into my album in an 8.5x11" page protector.


Exploring my word. Click image to enlarge.

I'm still waiting for my word to "surprise me," as they say, although I see it nearly everyday, mostly in the many churches I pass on the road. Only a few entries in my "Acting on Faith" log this month:

January 4, 2011: Today I am being inspired by reading through passages in the Bible as I search for relevant quotes. I especially like the book of Romans. I also signed up on About.com for a Bible verse to be emailed to me each day.


January 7, 2011: Today I bought some songs about faith on iTunes. Then I added a book to my list in Goodreads. I intend to go to the library and read some books on faith throughout the year.

January 23, 2011: Today I finished reading After the Baby Boomers by Robert Wuthnow. A disappointment, given that I am generally fascinated by sociology, and especially if you’re talking about my own generation. I gave it only 1 star on Goodreads: “The last chapter was everything that I needed to know about this book. Of course, I didn't get there until I had waded through the previous 213 pages. The concept of the book was interesting, but the text of the book itself, I felt, was exceedingly dry. Waaaaay too many statistics in the actual text for me. I was sucked in at the library by the subject, and the catchy chapter titles. Too bad the chapter contents didn't live up to the character of their titles, because this could have been a really interesting book.”

You'll notice (if you are a classmate) that my self-portrait is conspicuously absent from this post. That's because I procrastinated taking it until just a few days ago. I have randomly uploaded one to have printed for my album (at my favorite developer, Mpix). I may change it out at some point during the year, and I may decide to just go with it. No commitment.


Well I guess that's it for January! Thanks for stopping by! :) I can't wait to see what Ali has in store for us in February, and throughout the coming year...

Next blog: Life on Lilypad Lane

This post is part of a series. Click here to see all posts relating to my One Little Word.

Resisting this process.

With just a few days left until February, today I decided I should probably buckle down and take that self-portrait that I'm supposed to have for my One Little Word album.

I hate taking pictures of myself.

With some help from Chris, I took 47 pictures of myself this afternoon. 25 of them were deleted almost immediately (most were blurry or out of focus). In the end I had 5 photos that made the final cut:



Holding on to faith (#1)



Holding on to faith (#2)



By faith, not by sight

Leap of faith



Praying for faith



They pale in comparison with the amazing inspiration I was working with (I've just linked to them here since I can't get Blogger to embed the images directly from Flickr... I guess the uploader isn't working? something about the URL incorrect or some other B.S.): 

• http://www.flickr.com/photos/marrngtn/2749129013/in/faves-scrappyhare/
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/katieelizabethphotography/3306085106/in/faves-scrappyhare/
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennystonephotography/4961305505/in/faves-scrappyhare/
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/hayleyjohnsonphotography/4333811954/in/faves-scrappyhare/

In my defense, I am not a professional photographer. I have a nice camera (a Canon Rebel XTi), but I do not own professional equipment or have access to a well-lit studio. I am not a model. Nor do I spend hours in post-processing. However. I must admit to a certain amount of dissastisfaction with my own images. They look so much more like casual snapshots than carefully-planned photographs. The suburban background is simultaneously mundane and distracting. And anyone who knows me knows well what I think about pictures of myself... ;)

I actually have a bunch more inspirational images bookmarked on my Flickr account, but they all feature some kind of beautiful necklace with a cross. I have one such necklace... somewhere. It is small and gold and delicate, and it was a gift to me from my godparents on the occasion of my baptism. Some years ago the chain broke, but I know I still have it. I know I do. So if any of you happen to know where I left it, I'd be much obliged if you'd let me know. ;)

Speaking of letting me know... I'd love it if you'd leave a comment telling me which photo you think I should use as the opening photo for my One Little Word album. Which photo speaks to you? 

This post is part of a series. Click here to see all posts relating to my One Little Word.

Clarity.

I had something of a "breakthrough" moment while I was driving home from yoga class this morning... Recently my weight loss has stalled and I've been trying to think about ways that I can change to get it started going again.

One of my big issues is eating late at night. So I started thinking, well, why do I do that? I think part of it is to help my body keep going as I stay up late. So what if I went to bed a little earlier? Then I wouldn't need to eat at night. And suddenly it dawned on me, I used to have sleep issues. I had terrible trouble falling asleep. Sometimes I'd lay there for hours before I finally fell asleep. So maybe what I need now is FAITH that I can fall asleep at night without being dead-dog tired from staying up late! And I need to have FAITH that my body will get all the nourishment it needs during the day, and I'm not going to starve if I don't eat every 4 hours around the clock. And when I realized all this, it was like, all of a sudden everything was perfectly clear. Of course! Now as I type this, I'm wondering how long this knowledge was simmering in my subconscious. So I should add, I need to listen more to what my body tells me, and have FAITH that it knows what's best for me. :)

This post is part of a series. Click here to see all posts relating to my One Little Word.

Faith is a scary word.

Is anyone else a little scared of their word, and what it might bring in 2011? My word is Faith, which doesn't sound all that scary, until I realized the enormity (for a type-A control freak like me) of handing my life over to God's hands and willing that He bring into my life exactly what I need right now. Whether that's something I think I need or not.


A big part of my journey to Faith this year is going to be working towards having faith in myself (and in others). Faith that someone else can take care of my kids as well as I can. Faith that reaching out to people won't always end in rejection. Faith that I am worthy of true friendship, and allowing that to develop.


I found a quote today that I really feel speaks volumes to this topic:

“As your faith is strengthened you will find that there is no longer the need to have a sense of control, that things will flow as they will, and that you will flow with them, to your great delight and benefit.”   Emmanuel Teney

Definitely something I need to keep in mind as I work on that letting-go of control.


This post is part of a series. Click here to see all posts relating to my One Little Word.

One Little Word for 2011.

My word for 2011 is FAITH. It chose me about a week ago as I was thinking about the next year and trying to pick a word.


I feel like I’m being called to strengthen my FAITH – as in, finally find a church home here. We’ve lived in this city for 10 years but never found a church we were truly at home in.

I need to have FAITH as my son is tested for autism – faith that everything will be ok and that God won’t give me more than I can handle.

FAITH that the world will go on post-2012 (which makes me more anxious than I care to admit!).

FAITH in myself, that I am strong enough to do the things I need to do: get my life in order, persevere through the changes in our life that are happening right now (new NASA contracts mean my husband is changing companies although his job is the same), fight the depression and the diabetes and all the extra weight that (literally) weighs me down.

FAITH that God is in charge of my life and that through Him I can have peace in my mind and in my heart.

It’s a little bit of a scary word for me; when you let God take the reins you never know what will happen!! But I feel like this is what I need to do right now. For sure it will be an interesting journey!

This post is part of a series. Click here to see all posts relating to my One Little Word.

One little word.

Working my way through Ali Edwards' aeZine challenges. I just discovered this gem of a newsletter (totally inspiring!!), so I'm a little behind... January 3rd's challenge was to identify one word to focus on for the coming year:

Can you identify a single word that sums up what you want for yourself in 2007? It can be something tangible or intangible. It could be a thought or a feeling or an emotion. It can be singular or plural. The key is to find something that has personal meaning for you.

This week your challenge is to create something, anything, that celebrates your chosen word for 2007. Maybe a layout. Maybe a blog posting or a journal entry or a simple post-it note that you put somewhere you can see it each day. Make sure to journal about why you chose your word and what it means for you - the more you let yourself explore the more benefit you will receive in the end.

After some thought, I have decided that my word for 2007 is more. At first, it seems like an odd choice; a lot of people these days seem to still subscribe to the "less-is-more" philosophy that first appeared as a backlash against the excesses of the 1980's. But really, when I thought about what I want for 2007, more just seemed like the perfect fit... In 2007, I want:

• More time with my family. I need to remind myself what is truly most important to me in life, and adjust my priorities accordingly. Spend less time behind the camera and more time actively participating. Live life, not just document it. And after all, I have to make memories before I can scrapbook them, right? ;)
• More confidence. Why do I sell myself short so much? Why do I have such a hard time believing compliments, denying them inside even as I graciously accept them on the outside? Who am I, really? What do I even want out of life? Good questions to ponder over the next year and a half; hopefully I will enter my 30's with a measure more clarity and confidence than I have had in my 20's.
• More peace. I've gotten a good start on this one already, going to church every Sunday, and using Jesus Take the Wheel (Carrie Underwood) as the ringtone on my cell phone to remind me to pray and keep God in my daily life.
• More organization. Starting with my studio, of course. (Yes I will post pictures when I'm done.) The kitchen and the garage are minor disaster areas, and all of our closets have a lot of wasted space. And eventually, I'm going to have to do something about all that junk in the guest room...!
• More time with Jennifer. Life just hasn't been the same since she moved, though we talk daily and our friendship is just as strong as ever. Miss her so much.
• More weight loss. I'm down almost 50 pounds since April 2005, but I haven't done much lately to further this progress. Need to get back on track to better health, which will also help my confidence!
• More sleep. I'm still a night owl - but lately I've definitely felt the effects more strongly of burning the candle at both ends. Chris and I have been trying to get to bed earlier, but it's so hard to resist the temptation to stay up just a little bit longer... He loves his video games, and I love to scrapbook, and most of that fun stuff is done after Hannah goes to bed at nine. Of course, being the night person that I am, a lot of times I feel like my brain doesn't even wake up to its full creative potential until 10pm! Still, I think an earlier bedtime could do a world of good: I think Hannah would benefit from a more enthusiastic Mommy, and I know my body would respond better to my diet if I got more rest.

So that's my list. Just about the only thing I don't want (or need) this year is more stuff!
Here's to a great new year full of possibility!