This is so true!  We can be both....WE ARE BOTH.....we really have to be both to function....to receive and give love....because we have to see ourselves as the wonderfully unique and deeply loved individual that GOD made us to be to find our purpose, fulfillment and contentment being known by Him.  So, YES....we absolutely are a Masterpiece!!!!  However, we cannot become so prideful that we refuse to understand that we are still learning and growing and that we will probably be on a life-long journey to perfection which requires us to be broken and molded.  It requires us to listen to others, to care deeply for them and to seek to understand even when we do not feel understood.  It requires us to apply scripture to our hearts for them to stay tender and for us to remain teachable and compassionate.

A prayer from my reading in Uninvited...I understand the title of this book, but I have found it soooo inviting as God has used it to speak intimately to me through a really difficult season of my life.  I am thankful for Miss Leslie for blessing me with it at Christmas.  I feel like I am reading it so slowly...haha....but each section is perfectly timed out, so I know God has already figured in my snails pace with the personal messages He has waiting for me in it :P

"Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High.

Lord, draw me close.  Your Word promises when I draw close to You, You are there.  I want my drawing close to be a permanent dwelling place.  At any moment when I feel weak and empty and alone, I pray that I won't let those feelings drag me down into a pit of insecurity.  But rather, I want those feelings to be triggers for me to immediately lift those burdensome feelings to You and trade them for the assurance of Your security.

I am not alone, because You are with me.  I am not weak, because Your strength is infused in me.  I am not empty, because I'm drinking daily from Your fullness.  You are my dwelling place.  And in You I have shelter from every stormy circumstance and harsh reality.  I'm not pretending the hard things don't exist, but I am rejoicing in the fact that Your covering protects me and prevents those hard things from affecting me like they used to.

You, the Most High, the name above every rejection, have the final say over me.  You know me and love me intimately and personally and fully.  Let my reactions to all things make it evident that I spend a lot of time with You.  I want my gentleness to be evident to all.  I want Your fullness in me to be the atmosphere around me.  I want Your love to shine through me.  And I want Your peace to be the path I walk.  Your truth to be my wisdom when I talk.  You are my everyday dwelling place, my saving grace.  Amen."

How do ya do?

What A Wonderful World

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61zsUcnKAKs

We enjoyed lunch at Chili's today for Kenna's 14th Birthday :)  I know they just keep growing up, but it just seems to happen faster and faster!

Yesterday was a crazy day full of prom preparations.  Vannah started it off early by helping a couple of her friends with their make up, then we gathered all of her things and went over to one of her friend's homes to start her process.  I had agreed to do her hair, but also told Brad I would help him choose a car to pick her up in for a surprise, so I had to tell her I was leaving for a little while to get "more bobby pins and hairspray" in order to meet him at the location where there were multiple cars for us to choose from :)

The younger girls loved helping us choose and riding around in them :)

This Fairlane was our final choice for the evening....gorgeous car!

Vannah with two of her friends....ready for dinner at Ichibans

Posing in the car :P

After dinner we had time to kill until 8pm when the prom started so we made a couple stops in Jackson, MI for photo opps and the other girl's parents met us.

The old post office has some great columns for pics....I loved this one of Vannah :)

We also stopped at the railroad station and took a few pictures...

I'm glad she had a wonderful evening....(I know I am biased), but I thought she was breathtaking....and I was having a lot of fun taking all these pictures.

May the 4th Be With You....Always!!!

Was wishing to combine my enjoyment of Star Wars with my love of all kinds of Mexican foods....so thought I would use the force to merge them and get two days of each :P

Some Star Wars Mariachi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaW8cZpxDHg

Vannah told me today she received a message from the Red Cross asking her to donate blood again.....the message told her they had already used her blood and needed more of her type....she is almost a universal donor with O+ blood.  She just donated for the first time in March, so I was checking on how often you are supposed to be able to donate and I found out most people are able to every 56 days....that is pretty amazing.

The Only Way Out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cmOQ2ukLe8