Who am I in Christ?

Who are we in Jesus Christ?

Because of what Jesus has done for us, we have a new citizenship, a new status, a new purpose in life. Let's start with the letter A. Meditate on each characteristic that you are now endowed with. It's not what you have done, but who you are. Claim it as a promise and a truth and let God work in your life.

Say to yourself.

I am...

Able - Philippians 4:13

Abounding in grace - 2 Corinthians 9:8

Abounding in hope - Romans 15:4, 13

Adequate - 2 Corinthians 3:5

 

I have...

Abundant life - John 10:10

Access - Ephesians 2:18

Spiritual Keys - Critical Spirit

Spiritual Keys - Confrontation

Spiritual Keys - Communication

Spiritual Keys - Codependency

Spiritual Keys - Childhood Sexual Abuse

Spiritual Keys - Caregiving

Spiritual Keys - Anger

Spiritual Keys - Alcohol and Drug Abuse

Spiritual Keys - Adultery

For more of this, go to hopefortheheart.com

Become Beloved

In Henri Nouwen's book - Life of the Beloved, he implores us to recognize that we are the Beloved. When we realize that we are the Beloved, he encourages us to take the great spiritual journey of becoming the Beloved. We become the Beloved in our daily existence, in everything that we do.

The first step in becoming a Beloved is to acknowledge that we are Chosen. Nouwen recommends three guidelines in this spiritual journey. First, we have to keep unmasking the world for what it really is. The world is manipulative, controlling, power-hungry, and destructive. All of us face the world and call it different names. We have to unmask the world, realize the lies it is telling us about ourselves, refute the lies and repeat truths to yourself. If the world is telling you, buy that new TV. You need it. You can always charge it on your card and pay for it monthly. The truth of the matter is you don't need a new TV. Paying for it monthly means you cannot afford it. You am the Chosen one, and that is not the way God wants you to live. Unmask the world - unmask the psychology it teaches, and seek the truth.

Second guideline is to look for people and places where God's truth is spoken and where your identity as the Chosen one is affirmed.

Third, celebrate your Chosenness. A simple thank you to those who affirm you as the Chosen one and to God who has chosen you. Gratitude begets gratitude.

Get in touch with your Chosenness with these three guidelines.

As I go on my special seat in my room to reflect on my Chosenness, I learn another guideline. Do not talk about myself but speak in a way to reflect that I am the Chosen one. All my words and action should reflect to others of my Chosenness.

Spiritual Keys from Hope for the Heart

This is a wonderful resource for Biblical counseling. It gives Biblical verses and principles how to handle different kinds of problems. 

Go to the following website
http://www.hopefortheheart.org/site/PageServer

Look for Help Topics / PDF Downloads

Select your topic.

Look for Free Download

Sign in or register to become a member.
It's that easy.

Chopped Salad

This is my latest food craze as my friends can tell you.

I first had chopped salad at Hyatt Hotel in Richardson. The rationale in the chopped salad is so that you taste different ingredients instead of just the greens. So I got hooked on to it.

My chopped salad has about 10 ingredients to it. I don't chop it that fine, but a little smaller than bite size. There's always fruit, vegetable, meat, nuts, hard boiled eggs and cheese.

Pick and choose
Strawberry
Pears
Apples
Raisins
Dried Cranberry
Banana
Brocoli
Bell Pepper
Mushroom
Cucumber
Sweet Onion
Celery
Toasted Pecan
Toasted Walnut
Cheese
Turkey Ham
Roasted Chicken
Hard boiled eggs


Try it. Healthy. Delicious. No regrets.

Events in October 2010

Cottonwood Park Festival

It's fun and you can bring your dog!

October 2-3

Cottonwood Park

Beltline (nearest junction Beltline and Coit), Richardson

Free admission

http://www.cottonwoodartfestival.com/

A Storytelling Festival

October 8 - 9

Frisco Public Library, Frisco Square

http://www.lonestarstories.org/

Discount Coupons for the Arboretum

Visit the Arboretum

 I mean go smell the roses - not just visit the website!
http://www.dallasarboretum.org/

Discount coupons valid till end of this year. Go smell the flowers! Now you can afford it, and you cannot afford not to.

Discount Coupons for Dallas Arboretum

September Events

Garland's Wild West Cowboy Round-up

September 18, 2010

10am - 7pm

Downtown Garland

Free Admission

http://www.garlandcowboyroundup.com/event.htm

Aspasians Fall Arts & Crafts Fair

September 18, 2010

9 a.m. to 5 p.m.  

Historic Downtown Rockwall Square

Free Admission

http://aspasians.com/aspasians.htm 

Grapevine's GrapeFest

Always wanted to go for this one...hopefully we get to go this year!

September 16 - 19, 2010 (Thur - Sun)

Admission is free on Thursday and Friday

https://www.grapevinetexasusa.com/festivalsandevents/grapefest/tabid/228/default.aspx

Oktoberfest in McKinney

September 24 - 25

4 to 11 p.m on Sept. 24 and 10 a.m. to 11 p.m on Sept. 25
Historic Downtown Square
Free Admission  

http://www3.mckinneytexas.org/www/mainstreet.aspx?id=3720

Uptown Festival

September 25, 2010

11am - 10pm

On Fairmount St. between McKinney Ave. and Cedar Springs 

Free admission

Parking space is limited

http://www.allaboutuptown.com/

Western Day at Lewsiville 

You have to print out the ticket or pay at the entrance.

September 24 - 25, 2010

Lewisville, Texas

http://www.lewisvillewesterndays.com/

Western Day at Lewisville - Free Ticket

Japanese Fall Festival

September 26, 2010

Dallas Japanese Association

South Side Parking Lot

4100 Alpha Road

Dallas, TX 75244

Japanese Festival

How to Use Greenshot

Greenshots is a cool program to capture your computer screen. I use it to give instructions on how to use the computer or website.

Short Tutorial
1. Open the program. There will be an icon at the corner of your monitor or where you place your icons.

2. Find the key on your keyboard that says Print Screen or Print. Press it and you will see lines on your monitor with a cross in the center.
3. Move the cross to the top left hand corner of your image and click and hold the left button of your mouse. Move it to the bottom right hand corner of your image and let go your mouse.
4. Your image is captured and a window will appear with the image.

5. You can now save the image using the icons or click File. Remember to change save as to the format that you want. The most common usable form is JPG.
6. Press Esc (escape) if you do not want to continue capturing the image.
7. To exit the program, go to the icon, click the right button of your mouse and choose Exit.

Tip: Move your mouse arrow away from your image when you hit the Print or Print Screen Key. That way you will not capture your arrow. But if you want your arrow there, then place it in the right place before you hit the Print or Print Screen Key.

Where you can get Greenshot
http://getgreenshot.org/

As you can see, I used Greenshot to generate the images on this tutorial. Have fun!

Open Source Software

As you can see, I am on the quest to find open source software.

Scribus - Desktop publishing (Have to download Ghostscript first)
http://www.scribus.net/ 

Inkscape - Vector drawing
http://inkscape.org/ 

Avast (Not exactly open source - just free) - Virus scan

http://www.avast.com

Primopdf (Not exactly open source - just free) - PDF converter
www.primopdf.com 

Musescore - Write music
musescore.org 

Greenshot - Capture Screen
getgreenshot.org

Ghostscript

http://sourceforge.net/projects/ghostscript/files/GPL%20Ghostscript/8.71/

 

For more software go to
http://www.gnu.org/software/for-windows.html
http://directory.fsf.org/

You can choose your platform in sourceforge or just go to this link
http://sourceforge.net/search/?&platform[]=Windows

Rock Barrel

We seem to drive and drive along Sherman Street which is not very long. This is not a place that I want to be at night. When we finally found the store, it didn't look very impressive. But when we went in, it was a hidden treasure. When I say treasure, it's really treasure. Not diamonds but rocks. We went on Thursday but couldn't get enough and went again on Saturday. You get so engrossed, you wouldn't even know who else was at the store. Beads, rocks, and pearls all over the store. Young and old are fascinated with the rocks. It's all so sensual. You hold them in your hands and feel the smoothness and coldness. Then you look at them and see the beauty and uniqueness of each rock. If you have nowhere to go, just pop into the store and look at what God has created.

Their location and contact

13650 TI Blvd, Suite 104

Dallas, TX 75243

Tel:972-231-4809
http://www.rockbarrell.com/ 

June Hunt's Seminar on Conflict Resolution

June Hunt has a radio program where callers call in with their problems. This caller told June about his problem with abuse. He told June that he and his wife were sitting on the bed. He pulled his wife towards him and she fell off the bed.

June immediately asked how is that possible when he pulled his wife towards him and she fell off the bed. He confessed that he flung her off the bed.

June really listens with her heart and her mind.

Attend her seminar this Saturday - Sep 11, 2010

For more information

http://www.hopefortheheart.org/site/Calendar?view=Detail&id=101746

Music Notation Software

Have you all tried MuseScore?

http://musescore.org/

Easy to install and use.
Tutorial is on the website.

Have fun composing. For me, it's transposing some scores for the recorder.

Vector Drawing Program

I needed a program to draw tatting designs and crochet designs and found this freeware - Inkscape. Very new in vector drawing and learning how to use the Bezier tool to draw curves. Watch out for my own tutorial in this blog.

Easy to download
http://inkscape.org/

Tutorial
http://inkscape.org/doc/basic/tutorial-basic.html
http://inkscape.org/doc/advanced/tutorial-advanced.html
http://learningame.org/tutorials/pages/Inkscape/3.htm

Lots of other tutorials out there some where.

Granny Squares Crochet

I love Granny Squares. Make as many Granny Squares you want. Place it out to form the size that you want. Join with single crochet but with the joining on the outside.

Most Granny Squares use the double crochet stitch (dc) but I use the single crochet (sc). It is stiffer with less gaps. Ideal for bags!

The pattern for Single Crochet Granny Square

Abbreviation
ch - chain
sc - single crochet
ss - slip stitch

Start        4 ch. Join with ss. It forms a ring.
1st row   8 sc into the ring. Join to the first sc with ss.

2nd row  1 ch, 3 sc into next stitch, 1 sc, 3 sc, 1 sc, 3 sc, 1 sc, 3 sc, 1 sc. Join to first sc (first sc of the first group of 3sc) with ss.

3rd row  1 ch, 3sc into the next stitch, 1 sc into next 3 sc (that is, 1 sc, 1 sc, 1sc), *3 sc, 1 sc into next 3 sc, **. Repeat * to ** twice.  Join with ss to the first sc.

4th row   1 ch, 3sc into the next stitch, 1 sc into next 5 sc. *3 sc, 1 sc into next 5 sc**. Repeat * to ** twice. Join with ss to the first sc.

5th row  1 ch, 3sc into the next stitch, 1 sc into next 7 sc.  *3 sc, 1 sc into next 7 sc**. Repeat * to ** twice. Join with ss to the first sc.

6th row 1 ch, 3sc into the next stitch, 1 sc into next 9 sc. *3 sc, 1 sc into next 9 sc**. Repeat * to ** twice. Join with ss to the first sc.

The group of 3sc forms the corners of the squares, and the individual 1 sc forms the sides. Each row will increase by 2sc for each sides. Continue until desired size.

Last row
Use 4 sc for the corners of the squares. This will help when you need to join the Granny squares.

Variations
Use both loops of the sc or just the front loop.
Change colors

Uses
Coasters
Bags/Backpacks/Drawstring bags
Throws
Placemats
Scarfs
Shawls
Baby blankets

Anti Virus Protection

Try this free anti-virus protection for your computer. I've used it for almost a year, but I do not download freeware very much or play virtual games.

To download go to:
http://www.avast.com/free-antivirus-download

You have to register and they will e-mail you a license key. With the license key, go to
http://www.avast.com/registration-free-antivirus.php


That's it, you are good to go!

Free Audio Books

Words are great - written and spoken. I love to read but listening to audio books has been a great find for me. After a day of reading books and papers, and staring into the computer screen, I really need to rest my eyes. Listening to audio books allows me to tat, and crochet. Try it.

Christian audio gives away free audio book each month. https://christianaudio.com/
This month is Spiritual Leadership by Oswald Sanders.
Check out as per normal. If you do not have a membership, just start one. At check out, type in the code, SEP2010. When you check out, you get to the page to download the book.
I've downloaded A.W. Tozer's Pursuit of God and enjoyed listening to it. It was an impetus for me to draw near to God.
When you've downloaded the book, you can keep the book for life.

Try it. You'll love it. You have nothing to lose.

If you've missed A.W. Tozer's book and would like to have it, post me a comment.