Composition Notebooks

Today I wanted to share a little something about one of my recent projects. This year my Dear Friend encouraged me to keep better track of my devotional readings by way of journaling. I didn’t think I could make it work for me, but I have taken what she does and tweaked it to make it easier for me to use. 

As a special gift for her I took a standard composition notebook and covered it with scrapbook paper and embellishments. I have made another for someone else and one for myself. They make great gifts for anyone who likes to journal. I’m planning to try some miniature ones for Christmas gifts next year. 

 Every Sunday afternoon I try to sit down and write down my goals for the week. Every evening I brain dump for the next day and make a To Do List as well as recap anything I want to remember from the day. Each morning I record what I read in my devotions and any special insights I was given plus any prayer requests I need to pray over, then I review my To Do List I created the night before. It’s working better than any attempt I’ve made in the past and I don’t have a bunch of little notes to myself laying all over the house or different notepads for different things. Everything is now in one book that I can easily refer to when needed. Here are a few photos of a couple of composition notebooks I have enhanced.

                                             Notebook #1

Notebook #2

I use heavy printed card stock for my covers and inside pockets. I also make sure I have very sticky permanent glue. If you try this for yourself, please let me know and share your photos.

Somehow it just seems more fun to journal in a pretty notebook rather than a plain one. 

Royal Blessings, 

Linking Up to Hodgepodge 410

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 410 Here are the questions to this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog, then hop back here to add your link to the party. See you there! From this Side of the Pond 

1. Is March coming in like a lion where you live? Aslan, Simba, Elsa, The Cowardly Lion...your favorite 'famous' lion? 

For our area March is coming in rather lion like, but it could be worse. Yesterday was very cold and windy with a little snow, today is a little warmer but still quite windy. I guess I would say Aslan as that wind can get pretty powerful at times and definitely goes right through you. 

2. In what way do you 'march to the beat of your own drum'? 

Well I play an instrument that doesn't seem to be widely accepted these days. I was recently told no one can relate to the organ anymore and so even though I feel playing the organ is a calling, I should ignore that and just play the piano. I refused to give in, change who I am, do something I'm not comfortable in doing just to cater to someone else's agenda. 

3. What item that you don't have already, would you most like to own? Any chance of that happening soon? 

A quality organ for home practice use. No, I don't think that will happen soon, if ever. 

4. March is National Flour Month...are you a baker? Cookies-cakes-or pies...your favorite sweet treat to bake? What's the last non-sweet thing you made that called for flour? 

I am not much of a cook or baker, I don't care much for being in the kitchen. I bake cookies for my husband once in a while, but not very often, poor guy. I do make bread in the bread machine once a week. I can't eat it much anymore, but husband eats it daily and he doesn't like store bought bread anymore. 

5. There are 31 days in the month of March...where were you and what were you doing when you were 31? If you haven't hit that milestone yet, then tell us where you were and what you were doing 31 months ago? (if math is not your thing, that would be August 3, 2018) 

Wow, I had to think about that one. We had been living in this small town for 3 years. I had a 3 year old daughter and a 6 year old son and I was trying to be a good parent to them while trying to help my husband run a small printing business. I had my hands full! 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Today was a special day. I was asked to help a couple at church celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary by playing the organ for their vow renewal service. It was so precious watching them hold hands and renew the vows they said to each other before God 50 years ago. She told me she didn't get to walk an aisle when they married the first time, no wedding dress, nothing special, just a simple ceremony in front of the justice of the peace. I was honored to send her down the aisle with trumpets and fanfare.

Technical Difficulties

Yesterday was an awful day from a technical standpoint. From waking up to an email stating my information was on the dark web to my laptop dying to not being able to access my business email on anything other than my now dead laptop. I'm stuck for business email right now and hating that my life has to be so dependant on technology! I am blogging today on my husbands computer and even in the blogger program everything is different so I have no idea how this is going to look when I'm done. Speaking of how things look...because I couldn't use my laptop yesterday I thought I would try blogging from my phone...can I just say I had no idea my blog page would look so awful and unreadable on my phone! If anyone is reading this, I would appreciate help from more seasoned bloggers as to how to make my page look good in both desktop and mobile formats. I will be looking into that more as soon as I get my new laptop. I had hoped to share a little something about one of my recent projects, but I need to have access to my photos and I can't seem to get this computer to access them. If it's not one thing, it's another and I am so exhausted from it all. I hate the fact that I just started blogging again and now I will have to put it on hold for several days. Ah well. I hope your week is going better than mine. Royal Blessings, Julie

Maestoso Grazioso?

 

It's always very difficult to begin blogging again after a long hiatus. I didn't intend to be gone so long, I had some changes take place in my life and it took time to sort through them. I'm looking forward to being back and hope I can stay somewhat consistent. I've thought long and hard about how to begin again. Rather than a long boring timeline post starting from where we left off, I'll just start with today and as we go on I'm sure I'll be weaving in stories and lessons learned from the past year and four months. I'm sure if there was anyone following me from before they are long gone, but I hope to connect with some old friends and find some new ones along the way. I used to struggle to find things to blog about, now I have much to blog about but I'm so busy I may find it difficult to find the time. Anyway, this is the first attempt...if you're here, please let me know, I'd like to visit your blog as well. 

My husband stepped into the pulpit yesterday for our pastor who is
enjoying a much deserved vacation in Florida this week. He preached from the book of Haggai from which he shared four messages that Haggai gave. Message one - Build the temple. Background for this can be found in the book of Ezra. Message two- It's not the size of the temple, it's the size of the God of the temple. Message three - Holiness cannot be transferred, unholiness can and message four - God will keep His promise. I encourage you to read this short book and look for application for us today.

Every morning through text message our Pastor sends out a devotional passage for us to read. This mornings passage was from Joshua 3:1-4. I love how the Old Testament is still so applicable for us. The people were being instructed to watch and follow the ark of the covenant as it led them; verse 3 "...when you see the ark of the covenant...then you shall set out from your place and go after it" and from verse 4, ..."that you may know the way by which you shall go, for you have not passed this way before". In this last year I've heard the term "unprecedented" used a tremendous amount and it's true...we "have not passed this way before"! In addition to maneuvering through COVID protocols, I also went through a process in my personal life that was unlike anything I had been through before. If I have been made keenly aware of anything this last year it is that God leads us through everything life can throw at us if we are actively obeying Him and following His lead. As I look back over this last year I can see His hand in every decision my husband and I made regarding the life changes we went through and how He continues to bless us as a direct result of our obedience to His leading. Often we are called to the difficult things in life in an effort to draw us closer to Him. The grief I have suffered was not pretty, it wasn't fun, but the blessings on the other side have made it all worth it. 

Monday. Mondays this year have become extremely busy days. Here is a good place to interject information that the challenging process I spoke of in the previous paragraph was leaving our church family of 30 years and making ourselves at home with a new church family. This year most of the weekly activities were scheduled for Monday and since I am involved in most of them, Monday became BUSY! A typical Monday starts around 7 a.m. (I'm sleeping in these days, more on that later). After having breakfast with my Dear Husband (after he walks his dog and blows the snow) I usually have my devotional time with my Lord followed by a little housekeeping and food preparation. After lunch I head to church where I practice on the organ (there will be more on this topic later...it's a love story) until 3:30 when I head to the basement to participate in a Bible study on the book of Revelation led by my pastor's wife and new best friend (please refer to this post because she is one special lady that I love telling people about...I can't believe this post is so close to being 2 years old now). As soon as that lets out around 5 ish I run home (one block away), quickly reheat and eat the supper I prepared that morning then return to church for 6:00 when I practice the songs and hymns with the worship team. We usually practice for 45 minutes or so and then Contenders starts at 7:00 and runs until around 8:30 unless we talk a lot afterward, we are currently studying New Testament Survey. WHEW! Today however since our pastor is enjoying vacation, all the events I participate in have been cancelled so I have a day "off"...which I get to spend with a sink full of dishes, a hamper full of laundry, a dirty bathroom and dust, dust, dust! I'm trying to take it slow...I plan to get a lot accomplished but at a pace I can manage. I'm understanding a bit more how my fibromyalgia affects me personally as it can be different for each individual. After a busy Saturday and usual Sunday responsibilities I am grateful for an unusually quiet and less busy Monday. I am finding I can no longer have busy day after busy day without a quiet day to recover in between, I get so incredibly exhausted I can barely move. 

Well I believe I have sufficiently dipped my toe in. Please do say hello if you've stopped by and I'll be searching through my list to see if I still know anyone here. 

Royal blessings,