This month our church has been corporately reading this Amazing book called "The Daniel Dilemma" by Chris Hodges. It has recklessly convicted and inspired me all at the same time.
You see we live in a culture & season of broken individuals... we ALL are wrestling with who we are & if we are not grounded in who's we are we become lost, depressed and not able to navigate life at our full potential.

For me this means living an uncompromising life and as a parent... it means being able not just to teach it but to walk it out. It is not easy always being in a place where we want to worship, or completely trust God in a difficult situation or even not allowing all the worlds static (political, Hollywood, etc) to influence our thoughts and our behavior. However if we look at Daniels life nothing was so different for him and yet he never compromised in any area. He dealt with all of these issues and never compromised his LOVE for God even when it meant his life.

You see convictions are all about the choices we make before we are challenged.
What strengthens these convictions so that we can walk our Faith out are...
1. WORSHIP
2. GOD'S WORD
3. HOLINESS
4. FAMILY
5. LIFE
6. HUMILITY

I don't always get it right , but I get my courage & find sustainability by choosing to keep a Christ centered life. Don't let culture or society try to explain away what God says is true and the truth is that God will always use the tests in our lives to make our faith stronger. Nearly every moment of  our life is a test... allow it to navigate you to God and this is where you & I will live & walk in our FULL POTENTIAL!

One of my favorite things is gift wrapping more than giving the gift itself. I love making a gift look oh so pretty! Figures because  my love language is "Acts of Service" so the work behind the gift to me has always been more important than the gift itself. I always knew that I loved adding extra details that required a bit of work to a gift, or creating something like a meal was more important to me than the gift itself. What I didn't know was the why. Why was I this way? Until years ago I found a book called "The 5 Love Languages" by Gary Chapman.



It changed my life in a way that it allowed me to accept me just the way I am but also to really look at all the people around me and LOVE them just the way they need to be loved. It really is my go to book.

I have for you today a great & inexpensive way to decorate for the Holidays. Add a bit of charm to any room with these easily printable Christmas Winter Prints. Even better yet you can print, frame and give them as a gift that can be treasured through the winter months and each year.

 I printed these on some Cougar 80lb cardstock with amazing results. I like that it kept the print a crisp white for the output. However if you want just a bit of a non crisp white base try printing it out on some  Curious Metallic Cryogen White 89lb cardstock. It has a tiny bit of shimmer and your output will be super smooth and really beautiful!

• Use a tripod and a slow shutter speed when it's snowing to cause a "streaking" effect in the image. This can look very creative!
• If the snow is blowing around in strong winds, though, you'll need to use a much faster shutter speed.
• If there's no wind at all, you'll probably need a slow shutter speed of around 1/15th of a second.
• Use a slower shutter speed to capture variants in the light, particularly at sunrise or sunset.

I have also learned that you should avoid using flash, as it can bounce off the snow and cause overexposure. If it's actually snowing while you're shooting, the flash likely will turn snowflakes into distracting balls of overexposed light.

YOU CAN DOWNLOAD KRAFTY WINTER KIT: HERE

This has been such an interesting week. I spent all yesterday morning in the ER....not anybodies favorite place to be but I must say I am feeling so much today. I had a real bad cold that has been lingering for a few weeks but it was the swollen glands that really had me feeling just miserable. So a steroid shot and some pills later I'm starting to feel a wee bit like myself again.

I have managed to get some work done despite how miserably sick Ive been. I guess when you get such beautiful Kits from A Kiss On The Chic.com you cant help but perk up real fast. Their December kits is almost all gone so go quickly but man are they really beautiful. You get some GORGEOUS Prima, Jenni Bowlin, some vintage items in them and much more.

I also just finished some cards for Embellsih-online.com . I once again will insist that you visit their gallery. If you love making cards and you are looking for some inspiration this is the place to be ! These gals blow my mind at how good they are ! This is what I came up with.

This company is going places. This month they had Linda Beeson and Roree Rumph work their magic for them so make sure to head over to their blog at http://www.cutcardstock.blogspot.com/ . Also visit their store at http://www.cutcardstock.com/ to see their gorgeous products.
Well I think that's all for this week.
Have a wonderful Blessed Day, Norma Kennedy