Love & Joy

Tator chose to keep this one.

A while ago, I started painting these little blocks I found at a free "second hand" shop. They were originally painted white with light-blue speckles all over and the letters w.e.l.c.o.m.e. in pink. They were very 1990's country folk art. And very not cute.
So with bright visions of a re-do in mind, I took them home.
I do wish I'd taken a picture of the original state of these little blocks, so you could see just how much better off they are now...

Angel chose this!

I'm pretty satisfied with how they turned out. My girls love them.. And for free!! ...these ex- Hallway Hurdles make a cute little addition to their evolving bedrooms.

I have JUST hatched a NEW IDEA! A craft project to piggy back off this one...
More word blocks featuring...

The Fruit of the Spirit! 

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." Galatians 5:22-23

 As Christians, these things are a gift, a blessing we just get to tap into. We are called to live in these things and convey them to others.
To love as God has loved us... To be joyful in His Grace and Mercy. 

The following scriptures on LOVE and JOY were pulled from All About God.

Love - "And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him" (1 John 4:16).
~ Through Jesus Christ, our greatest goal is to do all things in love. ~
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails"
(1 Corinthians 13:4-8).

Joy - "The joy of the Lord is your strength" (Nehemiah 8:10). 

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:2).

So my little Fruits project will commence...  I'm going to Home Depot soon and buying a big huge 4x4 and chopping it down to make fruit blocks! Of course I'll post pictures and write stuff as I go. ;)

Now to check out the makings of LOVE & JOY

You've seen this photo before. They are the Hallway Hurdles.

First coat of paint!!

And you've seen this one too... from the debut post: Things I'm Loving.

After the initial painting, these poor little blocks sat for a couple of weeks. Finally, though, I decided it was time to finish the job. So I started in on the painting process. 

First thing's first... stenciling.  Like I've said before, I am NO perfectionist. You will laugh when you hear what I did for my stencils. 

I googled images of the letter " j " and, after finding a whole alphabet of letters I liked...
I took a piece of printer paper and placed it over the letter on my laptop screen and traced it!  YAH!  I sure did! 

Then I cut them out and placed them on the blocks and traced around them!

EASY.

Then I painted. And I was watching Friends again. 

You can see the paint drying. Thank goodness it dries fast. I am a little impatient. Ha! In these photos, you can see how awful the backs of the blocks were looking before I got a hold of them.  Now they can sit proud with their fresh white coats. 

And Finite!

1 Corinthians13:8 

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails ...

Psalm 28:7

The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.