Just "be good"

"Thy Will, O Lord, Be Done"

When in the wondrous realms above

Our Savior had been called upon

To save our world of sin by love,

He said, "Thy will, O Lord, be done."

The King of Kings left worlds of light,

Became the meek and lowly One;

In brightest day or darkest night,

He said, "Thy will, O Lord, be done."

No crown of thorns, no cruel cross

Could make our great Redeemer shun.

He counted his own will but naught,

And said, "Thy will, O Lord, be done."

We take the bread and cup this day

In memory of the sinless One,

And pray for strength, that we may say,

As he, "Thy will, O Lord, be done."

We sang this hymn yesterday in church as we prepared to take the Sacrament. The words and music of this hymn struck me, so much so that I am still thinking of them today. The last lines of the last verse hit home for me. It does require strength to align our will with the Lord's. So many times I feel like we're taught that we ought to just "be good" and things will work out. We're seldom taught how. We're even more seldom taught that it is hard.

If anyone knows how hard it is, it's Jesus Christ. He suffered for me, and all of you, not for glory or praise, he did it because it was his Father's will, our Heavenly Father, and therefore it was His will. I'm reminded of Luke 22, Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane suffering unimaginable pain and cries out to God for help, asking him to make it end, to take it away, to "remove this cup." But he presses on, saying, "nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done."

I cannot imagine the pain our Heavenly Father had to have felt at that moment. As a parent, I cannot imagine having to watch as my innocent child suffered, so much as to bleed drops of blood from every pore. Heavenly Father was fully capable of taking it all away, but He didn't because He knew the glorious consequences of this moment. Because of Jesus Christ's Atonement, we're able to all return to our Heavenly home, to live with our Savior and Heavenly Father. We're able to repent, and be forgiven of our sins. The Law of Moses was fulfilled, and we are the benefactors.

Now it's up to us, to align our will with His, and to "be good."

My little cupcake is 1

{1 month old}

Last weekend we celebrated Emma Kate's first birthday. We threw her a cupcake-themed pool party. The location was great (thanks to my friend Kelly who reserved her community's club house) and the weather held out for us. It was a wonderful day!!

I made a banner using my Cricut, some paper (left over from the invitations), and 2 different pretty ribbons.

Her highchair just didn't match the theme, so I made a banner for it. It read "I am 1". The spaces in-between the letters are cupcakes; again done on the Cricut (I love my Cricut!).

I made the party hats using some scrapbooking paper, paper garland I found on sale at Michael's, some foam stickers, and some elastic (the kind used for making jewelry). As my template I used a cheap hat from the party store. I just traced it on my paper (2 per), cut it out, glued together with hot glue, fancied them up with my embellishments, and then used the hot glue again to fasten the elastic. My inspiration came from this tutorial at Such Pretty Things.

This is a book my friend Meghan made for Emma Kate. Inside were pages for guests to write messages for Emma Kate to read when she's older. It turned out great, Meghan is so talented!

For the guest tables, we used pink and green table cloths and used the favors (pink and green bubbles) to anchor our pink and green balloons. They were quick and easy center pieces.

Then of course are the cupcakes. I was planning on making them myself, but at the last minute decided to buy from Sam's Club (30 for $12.99). They were nowhere near as good as home made, but they saved a TON of time. The cupcake stand is made by Wilton. I got mine off of Amazon for a great deal. I decorated the stand with scrapbooking paper and made the cupcake toppers by cutting the shapes out with the Cricut and using a pink Sharpie to draw the design on. Lastly I used craft glue to adhere them to a lollipop stick. I must give credit to Kim at The TomKat Studio for these cute cupcake ideas. Her blog is so inspiring!

For food we had BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, mac and cheese, chips, veggies, Puffs, Cheerios, and watermelon. I tried to come up with a menu that would work well for adults and children (we had about 10 other 1-year olds there, too).

I made her birthday outfit because I couldn't find anything I liked better than the picture in my mind (does that happen to you, too?). Her shirt is a plain tee from Children's Place that I used iron transfers for the images and then applied "liquid sequence" on top. Her tutu is light pink, hot pink, and green. I made it using this tutorial at Plumtickled. Her bloomers were a gift from a family friend. They're embroidered with her initials (EKK).

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This next set of pictures are from her second birthday party. Yes, you read that right. This was a much smaller deal, at our home. I used a lot of left overs from the big shabang (like favors, chips, drinks, banners, and party hats). I did end up making some fresh cupcakes, and they were yummy. I used a recipe from Martha.

My girl's one, I guess it's time to start planning her 2nd birthday. =)

Giveaway!

Rebecca at Blue Cricket Design is holding a giveaway. She's cleaned out her craft room and one of us gets to reap the benefits! Woo hoo! You can enter here.

Pay it forward

Paying it forward (from Little t Jane)

Woohoo! Time to spread some crafty love around! First 5 people who comment on this post will receive something special and handmade from me! It will be unique and special and heartfelt!

* In return, all you need to do is please post a Pay It Forward on your blog:

The first five (5) people to respond to this post will get something made by me.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations so please read carefully:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make.

2. What I create will be just for you, with love.

3. It’ll be done this year (2009).

4. I will not give you any clue what it’s going to be. It will be something tangible.

5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

6. In return, all you need to do is post this text into a note of your own and make 5 things for the first 5 to respond to your note.

7. Send your mailing address if you don’t live close to me!

IMPORTANT: This offer is null and void if I do not see you post your own note to pay this forward.

I really want to win this!

Check out this giveaway over at Make It and Love It. These watches are so cute!