Buying Friends

I really want to get 500 friends on Facebook. So to kick start our Friend-drive we are giving away free stuff!

You can win this sweet little Owlie necklace just by telling your friends about us. Get 15 of your friends to "like" our page and post your name on our wall. That's it. Each owl is different. You can choose between orange, green, and turquoise. There are 50 necklaces available. Contest ends on Valentines Day or when necklaces run out. One necklace per person. U.S. residents only.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rebekah-Blocher-Designs/134460123245423?v=info#!/pages/Rebekah-Blocher-Designs/134460123245423?v=wall

Obedience

If you are looking for a great book to read go get

Save me From Myself; How I Found God, Quit Korn, Kicked Drugs And Lived To Tell My Story:
by Brian “head” Welch, former member of the band Korn

I picked this up in Barnes and Noble a couple years ago to flip through while I had a cup of coffee. I didn't leave until I had finished the whole book. The lesson I took from this book has stayed with me and I wanted to take a minute to share it. If you aren't familiar with the band Korn, they are a pretty scary bunch...tattooed from head to toe, addicted to all kinds of drugs, hard rock band with parental advisory stickers on every album. And Brian Welch was their lead guitarist.

In his book, Welch opens up about his addiction to crystal meth and how God rescued him. But the part of the story that struck me was this...

He got an email from a friend that basically said "Man, I know your gonna think this is wierd and I feel kindof uncomfortable doing it, but I really feel like God is telling me to share this verse with you". The verse was Matthew 11:28  "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." He was drawn to the verse because of the part about rest. He had struggled with drugs and shame from the addiction. He had wanted to stop for his 5 year old daughter and felt guilty about dragging her into the darkness of his life. He had thought over and over about leaving the band and getting out and away from it all. But life went on and so did the drugs and partying and all the things that go along with a rockers life on the road. Well some time later his friend invited him to church which he thought was kindof funny. no one ever invited him to church. He said no. Then a few days later a lady that lived near him came over and invited him to church. He said no but thought how strange it was that it had happened again. Then his friend that had sent him the verse called him up and invited him to church. This time he was really freaked out. He said he felt like God was after him, stalking him down. He couldn't say no. He had to figure out what was going on. So he went and the pastor that morning got up and said God had told him to preach on Matthew 11:28. Welch broke down. He was so amazed. He knew God was calling him to lay down all these burdens he was carrying and come find rest in Him.


What so amazing to me about this whole story is the lady from his neighborhood. God told her to go invite him to church. That couldn't have been an easy thing to do. I mean look at him. He is intimidating and scary and everyone knew his reputation. But she was obedient and she did it. She had to be thinking "What, God?? him??". When he turned her down and she walked back to her house she must have thinking she had missed something or that maybe God hadn't spoken to her. The thing is, God never meant for Welch to go to church with her. That's not why he told her to ask him. God knew that he needed to feel pursued. The first two people had to ask him in order for him to say yes to the third...the one that really mattered. Their obedience was hugely important even though they never saw God's purpose or reward in the whole thing (until they read the book, I'm sure). Our obedience is important every single time. God never ask us to do something for no reason and we won't necessarily see what He is up to. Which is why He tells us not to rely on our our understanding but to trust Him.


Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understading. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths."

Footprints

I just learned about a great ministry in Birmingham called Footprints and am so excited about getting involved with the good work they are doing. It's so cool how God orders our steps and puts people in our paths for His purposes.

I met Lurenda Avery, the director of Footprints, in the elevator at St. Vincents Hospital in Birmingham. Her arms were full of Christmas stockings she was delivering to the moms of babies in the NICU there. I was so touched.

When I was on bed rest last year for almost 11 weeks with a subchorionic bleed I worried day and night about little Jana. I would wake up in the middle of the night coughing and then stress out that the coughing would make the bleed worse. I would get so stressed out that my heart rate would go up. Then I would worry that the heavy heartbeating would also make the bleed worse. I couldnt go back to sleep until I got out the fetal monitor that I rented off the internet and heard her little heartbeat. So I can't imagine the stress and worry those parents must experience while their little ones are in the hospital. It must be such a helpless and scary feeling. Which is why I think the work Footprints is doing is so important. Footprints delivers gift bags every month to 7 different hospitals and offers prayer and support to the parents during a difficult time. Their mission statement is "Walking in God's Grace and Sharing His Love with Families in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit" They have an active email prayer chain and offer other special events at the hospitals throughout the year. The week before I met Lurenda in the elevator, Santa had visited St. Vincents and had his picture made with all the babies.

We are excited to be including our heart necklaces in the gift bags they distribute and are in the process of designing a keepsake necklaces for moms who have lost babies.
www.nicufootprints.org

My Baby

How sweet is this!!! My garden is a disaster. It's been totally neglected all summer but somehow things keep managing to pop up. I have one cantloupe , one watermelon, and oodles of cayene peppers I have no idea what to do with. Does anyone have a good recipie for homemade hot sauce?

Handmade 2010

Cindy Parker did a great job putting together this year's Handmade art show in Homewood! Her house looked amazing (as always), the weather was perfect, and all the artist's booths were beautiful. One thing I love about doing this show is it's one of the few times a year I can get together with both of my sisters. Rachael made crosses out of old wood and rusty old found objects, burlap pillows, chalkboards out of old doors, and other funky folk art type pieces. Julie brought her little hand stitched embroidered birdies down from West Virginia. She also brought something new this year...

Julie made these incredible baskets out of gourds. Each one was etched with her own designs.

Laura Stacy's butterfly tanks were amazing. They looked like they were glowing with the sun coming through behind them.  Laurastacy@earthlink.net

I just finished a brochure for Heart of the Bride's new campaign. How precious are these babies?!!!
NOW is an aggressive campaign to raise $365,000 by 1.1.11. They have so many incredible life-changing projects that have critical needs right now. Here are a few of the projects...

Multipurpose Ministry Building: Nehemiah Boys Ranch
Additional Space: Ukraine Orphanage
Nafasi Training Post for chidren graduating from the orphanage: Kenya
Maternity Girls Home Completion: Zambia

One of my favorite projects is their maternity home in Zambia. Since early 2009, abortion is on the rise in Zambia because of increased US government funding. Through the crisis Pregnancy Center led by our partners thousands of girls have given birth to babies that would have been aborted in recent
years. The NOW fund will provide for the completion of a larger Maternity Home giving many young mothers the real help needed to choose life. NOW offers a way for you to give directly to life.

NOW Campaign