Sunday, March 1, 2015

A Few of My Favourite Things in…February


“It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold:  when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.”

-         Charles Dickens

Happy first of March, dear friends!

As clichéd as it may sound, just where has the time gone to…? 
I can scarcely believe how swiftly this beautiful month has flown by!

February never used to be one of my favourite months of the year, but I have come to change my outlook on it as the Lord has graciously showed me how important it is to enjoy every passing moment…

It is always lovely to look back on a month gone by…  I love to stand back and review it – I love to see how I’ve grown as a person or in my walk with God, or a few ways in which I need to grow… 
…Or smile at the wonderful new friends I’ve had the privilege of making or the fun projects I’ve been blessed to be able to try!

Thus…here is the month that was…

 Sunset, taken from our deck...

February…

Such a beautiful, challenging, amazing, difficult, happy, sad, inspiring, and truly wonderful month!
A month of sunny and rainy weather…quiet and busy moments…  A month of waking up to darker mornings as our part of the world begins to trade places with the north and autumn comes once again…

~

Sometimes I wonder what the Lord must think of me…  I am so frail and weak and my understanding of Him is so narrow – will I ever see Him in all His majesty with my limited vision, or understand His incredible love for me with my small human mind…?

But I know that His love for me is unfailing and unwavering.  It is unstoppable and unconditional.


February was the month of love… 

I am so thankful that Jesus’ love is everyday – not just on a certain day or for a limited number of days only – it is always and forever - it never fades away.

For me, I was truly more aware of Christ’s great love for His children during this month, which in turn lead me to seek Him further and spend more time in His Word.
I once read how crucial it is for a young lady to ‘submerge’ herself in the Word of God during her single years...  Not only should she never be idle, for idle hands can become destructive, but she should spend more than sufficient time with the Lord so that she neither sways to the left nor the right…

~ “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”  James 4:8 ~

The Enemy is real – the Bible says he prowls around searching for those he can destroy – I don’t want to be one of those people.  Thus, I need to make certain that my roots are in solid ground and that my faith is strong so that when the storm comes, for come it must, I will not be blown down by the first gust.

I want my thoughts to be pure and beautiful and reflect the glory of God, and I want to radiate His wondrous love, but how can I do that if I’m not being filled with His love each day?

Among other things, this is an outline of what I’ve been learning of late – we never stop learning and I hope that I will grow stronger in my faith with each passing day!

~

I thank Jesus for the special Titus 2 women I have been blessed to meet over the past month or so…  Dear ladies, thank you so very much for your beautiful encouragement and for writing what is true! 
And I am also very thankful for the lovely sisters in Christ whom I have also just recently met – you inspire me to strive for beautiful womanhood and for the Lord’s best!  Thank you!

~

February also saw me…

Participating in an enjoyable ‘Literary Heroine Blog Party’ – does that not sound like wonderful fun?!  You can see my answers to the set questions over here!

Participating in a beautiful ‘Tea Cup Exchange’ – I am so very excited to share more about this sweet exchange in the coming month!  For now you can visit dear Stephanie’s blog to see what it is all about!

Starting Heartmade’s blog – oh my!  I have had such a lovely time adding new crafty posts to my new blog! 
Heartmade is the small business that my mother, younger sister and I run together – we are passionate about creating quality handmade products with love and attention to detail – we focus mainly on sewn items such as bunting, traditional jointed teddy bears, soft toys, décor items,
 etc. and paper items such as cards and tags.  Nancy is the crochet queen of our family and makes the most adorable owls on rustic twigs, decorated with beads and buttons in gorgeous colours and patterns!
For more about this delightful little venture of ours, click here.  And you can visit our blog over here!

~

A few of the lovely things I enjoyed creating this month…




Cards…I just love card making!

My wonderful mother and dearest friend celebrated her birthday on the 14th of February!  My mom is my inspiration and a very special part of my life!
My sisters and I had such a delightful morning organising, arranging, cooking, baking and decorating for the special meal we gave her that evening.
See more about our lovely dinner here

Beth and I baked a delicious RedVelvet cake…hmm!  It was so good!

Beth, Gabrielle and I enjoyed some SuperSpecial Sister Time – while it originally was my hope to have a slot each Sunday for our meetings, it just hasn’t happened that way…
Instead, I have found my weeks being filled with time for each little sister – I have been greatly encouraged to take the extra time and either bake or cook with one of them, or help them with a sewing or craft project where I can...or simply read them a story.  It has been so sweet to see how we have drawn closer to each other!

Such adorable girls – Sofia and Rebekah…  These two are so mischievous and yet here they look as if butter wouldn’t melt in their mouths!

And then there was some baking that took place…

Nancy loves spending time in the kitchen with her little sisters…

…And gardening and harvesting…

 More coming soon!

…As well as some bread baking…
 
Beth and Gabrielle have become our official bread bakers – we usually bake about twice a week, making about three loaves each time.   These two girls have taken on the responsibility with ease and I am just so impressed with them!

~ Blessed is every one who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways.  When you eat the labour of yours hands, you shall be happy, and it shall be well with you.”  Psalm 128:1-2 ~

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Now my dear friends do share some of the happenings in your lives from the lovely month of February with me…
As always, it brings me great pleasure to hear from each of you and your comments brighten my day! 

~

“Just as we cannot believe and love Him of whom we have heard, so we cannot grow in our faith and love Him if we do not learn more about Him.  We will not grow much in Godliness if we do not know much of what it means to be Godly.  We will not become more like Christ if we don’t know more of what Christ is like.” ~ Donald Whitney

4 comments:

Heidi said...

Lovely post Kelly-Anne! :) This is Heidi (from Along the Brandywine) and we just *met* through the Literary Heroines party. :) Over on Hamlette's blog, I happened to see that you mentioned you're hoping to read Persuasion soon! I love Persuasion and actually just finished hosting a read-along for it (where we went through chapter by chapter). Like I said, we only just finished, but I wanted to let you know that (if you want to), you're more than welcome to read through the posts and comment as you like. (My main blog is at ladyofanorien, but I hosted the read-along on a second blog at: http://literaryadventuresalongthebrandywine.blogspot.com/.) Feel free either way -- but I wanted to make sure and extend the invitation! ;)

Abigail Lennah said...

That cushion looks so cute! February was the month where my life turned upside down-- nothing much happened. I'm not saying it in a negative way; it's just that I'm so caught up in being busy that the sudden quietness took me by surprise. I think God is trying to reach out and tell me something, to be honest, but what, I am not sure.

xoxo Morning
http://theworldthroughmywindowsill.blogspot.com/

Kelly-Anne said...

Hello sweet Heidi and thank you so much for this delightful invitation! I will be visiting your blog to take a peek then - I remember starting Persausion a long time ago, but I don't recall ever finishing it!
Thus, I would say reading Persausion is on my list of 'to do's this month! :).
Thank you very much - hugs to you!
Love, Kelly-Anne

Kelly-Anne said...

Hello dear Morning and thank you for your sweet comment - how lovely to have you visit again!
Yes...I fully understand - I too have experienced something similar, and in many ways February was also a very quiet month for me after the hustle and bustle of January, what with birthdays, friends, etc...
May God continue to lead and guide you as you trust in Him!
Much love,
Kelly-Anne