Sunday, April 18, 2010

The Cry of my Heart

I find it amazing how much music moves me. I unconsciously have linked certain songs with certain places and times. Church is no different.

When Fairview started their early service I was the Sunday School Chair. I taught Sunday school as well as took my turn staffing the nursery. It was because of the nursery that I really enjoyed the second opportunity to worship. That meant that I didn't have to give up a service to serve. It was during that service that I became familiar with some of the Contemporary Christian music used in church.

One song in particular stands out in my mind. It was a version of "It is the Cry of my Heart" that I have never heard anywhere else. It was a somewhat island themed. There was even a steel drum solo in the middle. Jim, the minister, would often choose to play it in dreary days and it never ceased to bring a smile of to my face to think of worshiping Him on some white sanded beach under the palm trees next to the clear blue ocean as opposed to where I was in a overcast and grey Cleveland morning. It always got everyone there moving. That song more than any other reminded me of the wonderful blessings I received while attending those early morning service. It is always the song I associate with that church.

As we were searching for a new church home I only heard that song one other time. When I did it was of course not the arrangement I was used to. Rather than being uplifting and bringing a smile to my face, the result was the opposite. It reminded me exactly how homesick I was for the church that was no more.

That song however continues to be a blessing to me. We sang it today in church. I was not homesick any more because I was at last home. No it was not the same arrangement, but it still felt like home. And that is the cry of my heart - now and always to be at home with Him.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Buyer Beware

Confession time here. I am cheap. I am not just thrifty, but I am honestly cheap - and if I am honest, I am proud of it. There is nothing that makes shopping more satisfying than getting a really good deal on what I want. (and yes, it has to be both. It has to be a good deal AND I have to want or need it. If I don't need it then paying any money for it is a bad deal in my book.) Freecycle, Ebay, Goodwill, Angelfood and Craig's List are good friends of mine.

Because of this the first place I go to in any store is the clearance section. I am not averse to buying off season clothes or last season's hot scrap papers. A sweater is just as warm when I get it from a garage sale as when I get it from the mall. Well of course when I got the email that Scrap Supply was going out of business I had to have a look around. Being cheap though, I didn't get anything right away. When I got the notice that the discount was up to 75% I figured that it was worth a look.

I have to say that I was very proud of my purchase. For less than $30 (including shipping) I got some wonderful papers, a cartridge for my Slice - which of course was bought on Ebay - some embellishments and some rub-ons. I really like image rub-ons but I do not use them too often because you guessed it, they are not cheap. When I saw them marked down I decided to splurge and get some pretty ones. I don't use the rub-on letters much because I am always running out of the letters I need. (It is much cheaper to just use hand lettering or my dies) This was one of the rub-on sets that I purchased:

Most of the time, I do not wonder why things are marked down or cheap. Sometimes it is obvious - a dress has the wrong size so no one who it would fit ever tries it on or there is a button missing etc. Other times I just think that what I like is just a little off center of what everyone else likes. That can be both good and bad. Good in that I can usually find something I like in the clearance section, bad because I know that means that what I like will never look or be "normal". Oh, well, it is not like I am normal so I guess it doesn't matter much. I don't honestly think about it. If I need it and like it I will get it. I didn't think twice about getting the rub-ons. I was just looking at the images and thought that they would be great to use on my scrappy projects.

When my package arrived I was very happy to see what I got "live and in person". That is when I first noticed the quote on the rub-ons. Here it is:

Who thought this was a good idea? The first thing that came to mind was someone tucking in their kids with a shotgun. I guess that there is no real mystery why this particular set of rub-ons never sold well and ended up in the clearance section.

I can't imagine making a layout where I would ever use this saying, but you can look for the rest of the flowers and flourishes coming to this blog or one of the galleries at the websites listed to the right.

Happy scrapping!