New BK Commercial?!

So I was listening to Air1 this morning and the dj's were talking about the new Burger King commercial aimed at kids with the purpose of selling kids' meals. They were talking about how improper it is, especially for children so of course I had to go and watch it. And then I was a little outraged and thought about posting it here, and blogging a little steam off, so thanks for reading. BK is just out of hand, with people waking up with the creepy King in their beds, and now this "kids" commmercial. I mean, come ON! I know that talking about it is just giving them more press, but still. This is a reason Charly doesn't watch TV that has commercials on it. I'm not going to post the video on here, but I will link you so you can choose to watch it yourself. If you wanted to email BK, I'm sure that would not be inappropriate. I think it's important that they hear from parents whose kids may see this. Here's the video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pjo8uEngP8s

And family, don't worry, I'll post a family update soon. Just know that all is well, Charly had a fun and busy Spring Break last week, and we're all gearing up for May!

-Shannon

Happy Fifth Birthday!

Charly's birthday party was on the 28th and it went really well. 3 boys came, 2 from church and one from school. One of the church kids and the one from school didn't get along well at times, but kept away from each other for the most part. At one point the school kid punched the church kid because he took Charly's toy. Starting fights already, I know! Other than that, it was a nice party. The cake was good, the company was good, and the party was about 2 hours. I made a slideshow so you can see most of the pics. I let the kids run around with Charly's camera, and they took some photos, but Nate has the card for that camera with him and he's not here at the moment. So I will get those pics up soon. :) Here's the slideshow:



I've entered a design contest at Inspiration Lane. The winner gets to sell in their store, which is a pretty popular store. We will have to complete 4 challenges, and along the way we'll be given tips and tricks to help us grow in our craft. I thought my challenge one entry was really good, but of course there were things for me to work on, namely staying within the assigned color palette. To my eye I did that, so now I have to figure out why what the contest judge saw doesn't match what I'm seeing. In case you're curious, here's my kit: Springtime, Kiddo!



I made a Photoshop brush that makes it look like I've sponge painted on the paper. So I let Charly make her own ladybug :)



She chose the colors and colored it in herself, though I did select the image and make sure she couldn't color too far outside the lines.

The challenge was due by 11:59 pm this past Saturday, and I wasn't able to really start working on it until Friday. Then no matter what I was doing my computer would freeze. I couldn't do anything in Photoshop, I couldn't do anything online, I couldn't even edit an Excel spreadsheet. Praise the Lord we still had our tax money in our account so that I could go to Best Buy and pick up a new computer. We're so blessed! You can find it HERE if you're interested. So then I got PS loaded onto it and was able to make the kit Saturday. Even though I was trying to learn a new operating system, and set up, and keyboard and all that, lol. This is my first Vista computer, and I hate to admit it, but so far I don't mind Vista. It's not so bad. :) And so far the computer has been able to handle all that I've thrown at it, which is awesome!! But we'll see how long that lasts. *-)

So that's about it for now. I'll update more later. After this post, I will be updating the Project 365 blog with pics from the 2nd half of Feb and the beginning of March. Yay!

-S

A Letter From My Pastor

Today Pastor Sean, our pastor sent out this email. I wanted to post it here because he makes a few really good points. And for more reading on this subject, check out the book Case for a Creator by Lee Strobel. Here's the email:

My friends,
If you have wondered if you are really living in a post-modern, anti-god world just open Google today and click on their little picture above the search box. What you will see is the celebration or commemoration of Charles Darwin's 200th birthday-February 12, 1809
One of the largest Internet associated corporations is promoting the acknowledgment of someone's birthday, Charles Darwin a man who denied the biblical account of creation and suggested an untenable alternative-man came from monkeys.
Pause for just a moment and consider the number of people in hell because of the influence of this man who convinced them that there wasn't a God.  Darwin's unbelief and alternative philosophy is not compatible with the Word of God-to suggest otherwise is to deny the faith.
Christians are called upon to contend for the faith, and this begins with the presupposition that there is a God who has revealed Himself to mankind in special way through a trustworthy book-the Bible.  Anything other than that is a lie from the pit of hell designed to confuse and destroy.
Christians are often intimidated by intellectuals who present themselves as having all the answers. Be aware.  These intellectuals do not have all the answers; they live in darkness, seeking to know the truth. The god of this world has blinded them from the truth, and their only hope is the mercy of God that can shine a light into the depths of a dark heart and reveal the truth.
One canNOT serve two masters, and a Christian cannot have a partial biblical worldview-evolution is completely incompatible with the Word of God-do not be deceived into believing that parts of the Bible can be true.
God created Adam as an adult male instantaneously, or the entire Bible is untrustworthy and Christianity is one large hoax-there isn't an alternative or a lukewarm middle ground. Do not be deceived into thinking that one can play both sides of a court. You can no more be a Duke fan and a Carolina fan than you can subscribe to Darwinism and the Word of God.
Serve God, believe the Bible, trust in Christ and you will never regret those decisions.
See you at church.
Your pastor,

And yeah, I did go to google.com and did click on the picture above the search box. And it was all about Darwin. Do you think at Christmastime they posted a picture that would link you to information about Christ?

-S

Who's This Kid?

So, Saturday Charly got a big-girl haircut! And talk about adorable! Katie, one of our friends from church, happens to be the best stylist in Fayetteville, no joke, (it said so in the newspaper!) and she came to our house and did Charly's hair. She so rocks! So here are the much anticipated pictures:

I am in LOVE with this last one! Charly so totally rocks! And yeah, she is still 4, she didn't age ten years overnight or anything like that. *-) The cut completely fits her personality, and she LOVES it! Saturday it'll be my turn, I can't wait!

Everything else is going well. I released my latest kit last week, and sold a few. It seems to be well-liked, so that's always good. I spent a lot of time and energy on it. I've been trying to keep up with doing the Bible in a Year. It's been tough some days, as I have mistakenly had my priorities focused on other things. Last Sunday was Pastor Sean's third and final sermon on tithing/giving. This time he spoke from Jesus' teachings on tithing. Up to this point I had felt pretty good about our tithing situation, until Pastor Sean helped me to realize that tithing and giving to God isn't just about money, but about other things too, like our time. And I was cut to the core when it occurred to me that though I've been giving God the firstfruits of our labor, per se, I've been giving Him the leftovers of my time. And the Bible says "Give, and it shall be given unto you..." (Luke 6:38). Basically what this means is that if I only give a little, that is what God will give back. If I use a teaspoon to measure my giving, so will He. And then I thought, do I want God giving me a teaspoon of His time?

Until next time...love you all!

-S