Love Is In The Air

We were laughing hilariously at Neal and Karen Montgomery (the guest speakers) when this was taken.

This is a photo taken at the Valentine's Dinner our church recently held.  Not the best picture, but shows how much we do enjoy laughing.  It was a fun evening (BunBun admitted in front of 50 people that his butt is his best feature.)  Neal and Karen are hilarious and so friendly.  The meal was great...prime rib, baked potatoes, green beans, green salad, rolls, cheesecake...yum!  Except I got sick the next day.  From the meat.  No one else did, but BunBun reminded me that the last time I ate seasoned meat the same caterer.  No barfing but just feeling like it.  REALLY BAD  ALL DAY AND NIGHT.  So that is how we spent this year's Valentine's Day.  With friends, each other, and thanking God for one another.

Love So Amazing

Today is Valentine's Day, the day we celebrate love, romance, and that special somethin' somethin' with our spouses.  And while I think it's great that there is a day set aside to remind us all how much love we are surrounded with, I hate the commercialization of special holidays.  But that isn't what this post is about.  It's about the most awesome love of all time.  The love Jesus has for us that He would allow Himself to be crucified for our salvation.  We sang this song in worship service this morning.  It's one of my favorites.  I've defined the bold words in the song.  All definitions are from dictionary.com.  Also if you want to know the how and why of Valentine's Day, look no further.  Just click here.

Jesus Messiah
by Chris Tomlin
From the album Hello Love

He became sin
Who knew no sin
That we might become His Righteousness
He humbled himself and carried the cross

Love so amazing
Love so amazing

Jesus Messiah
Name above all names
Blessed Redeemer
Emmanuel
The rescue for sinners
The ransom from Heaven
Jesus Messiah
Lord of all

His body the bread
His blood the wine
Broken and poured out all for love
The whole earth trembled
And the veil was torn

Love so amazing
Love so amazing

Jesus Messiah
Name above all names
Blessed Redeemer
Emmanuel
The rescue for sinners
The ransom from Heaven
Jesus Messiah
Lord of all

All I hope is in You
All I hope is in You
All the glory to You, God
The light of the world





sin:  transgression of divine law.

any act regarded as such a transgression, esp. a willful or deliberate violation of some religious or moral principle.
any reprehensible or regrettable action, behavior, lapse, etc.; great fault or offense

righteousness: the quality or state of being just or rightful

messiah: the promised and expected deliverer of the Jewish people first and then the entire world
Jesus Christ, regarded by Christians as fulfilling this promise and expectation.

redeemer: one charged with the duty of restoring the rights of another and avenging his wrongs

Emmanuel: male personal name, from Gk. form of Heb. Immanu'el, lit. "God is with us."

rescue:  to free or deliver from confinement, violence, danger, or evil.

ransom:  the redemption of a prisoner, slave, or kidnapped person, of captured goods, etc., for a price.

Lord:  a person who has authority, control, or power over others; a master, chief, or ruler

Fleece Heart Wreath How-to

Valentine's Day will soon be here.  We will celebrate this day with a Valentine's Day Banquet at our church.  The decorations will be done by the women and the food will be prepared by the men.  We are looking forward to it since we didn't get to attend last year.  In preparation for decorating the fellowship hall, I created a heart wreath.  Not sure if it will be used in the "official" decorations or not, but I absolutely love how it turned out.  If you want to try one of your own, here are the simple steps I took.

Supplies:
* small amount of pink fleece, cut in strips.  My strips were 1 inch by 4 inches.  Make sure you make the 1-inch cuts on the width of the fabric.

* wire coat hanger
* wire-edged gold ribbon.  Mine is 1/4 inch wide ribbon from the dollar store.

**Bend the hanger into a basic heart shape with the hook at the top.  It's not as difficult as it sounds.
**Start tying the strips around the hanger.  You don't need to knot it.

*Continue tying your way around the hanger until you are back at the hook.  Leave some room to maneuver the gold ribbon around the hook.

*Once the hook is completely wrapped (I used about 1 yard of ribbon), you can either hot glue it in place or just start tying fleece pieces over the ends.  I skipped the hot glue gun this round.

*Fluff up your fleece and hang it on the wall!  I decided to make 3 "curls" of ribbon to hang down into the center, but that is totally up to you.

What do you think?  Let me see if you try it yourself.

 Also, today is the day our country observes Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday.  Please remind those around you that are younger what an important man Dr. King was to the civil rights movement of our country.  Two movies that I always watched with my children at this time of year were,  Selma, Lord, Selma and Ruby Bridges.  Both are well-done films that tell the story from a child's perspective. Have a God-blessed day.