Welcome the Storm

"In a musical instrument there are some keys that must be touched in order to evoke its fullest melodies; God is a wonderful organist, who knows just what heart-chord to strike. In the Black Forest of Germany a baron built a castle with two lofty towers. From one tower to the other he stretched several wires, which in calm weather were motionless and silent. When the wind began to blow, the wires began to play like an aeolian harp. As the wind rose into a fierce gale, the old baron sat in his castle and heard his mighty hurricane-harp playing grandly over the battlements.

Just so, while the weather is calm and the skies clear, a great many of the emotions of a Christian's heart are silent. As soon as the wind of adversity smites the chords, the heart begins to play; and when God sends a hurricane of terrible trial—you will hear strains of submission and faith, and even of sublime confidence and holy exultation, which could never have been heard in the calm hours of prosperity.

Oh, brethren, let the winds smite us, if they only make the spices flow! Let us not shrink from the deepest trial, if at midnight we can only sing praises to God. If we want to know what clouds of affliction mean and what they are sent for, we must not flee away from them in fright with closed ears and bandaged eyes. Fleeing from the cloud is fleeing from the Divine love that is behind the cloud. "

Theodore Cuyler, 1882

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Painted Patio Wall Transformation - Our New "Secret Garden"

Michael and I have discovered a Secret Garden every where we have lived since getting married in 2010. Whether it was the creek that ran behind our first apartment in Sacramento or the tiny little space of our 520 square foot, 1962 single-wide, mobile home in Rancho Cordova, California, we were always able to discover and create a unique sanctuary to call home. Even though, in years past, we did what we could to make our surroundings uniquely wonderful, we never had the room to go really crazy until now. Since moving to our new home in North Carolina in May, we have not only discovered a world of exotic creatures and plants outdoors, but we have also started taking full advantage of the additional space we now have available to add our own touch of whimsy to the new "Wood's Secret Garden". Our first major project was the Patio which joins the in-law quarters (where mom lives) to the kitchen entrance into the main house. We have received so many questions abou

The Project!

So, I had a huge jar of left over glass pebbles--you know the kind that you get at the craft store in those little net bags. I use the flawless ones to make my custom art pendants and rather than throw away the flawed ones, I kept collecting them in a large glass jar hoping someday I would come up with a brilliant idea. Well, here it is! It's a work in progress... Clip I first cut out pages from an old pocket Bible that was falling apart and missing pages. Clip I them spent a good part of a day, decoupaging them to a long section of the hallway wall. Clip Once the decoupage had dried; I began at the bottom of the wall, gluing one glass bead at a time, using (you guessed it) E6000. This process took at least 10 separate, 1 hour sessions. Once I glued about 5 or 6 rows, I used lengths of scotch tape to secure them to the wall and allowed the glue to dry over night before starting another section. Clip This took a really, really, l

Custom Doll Trunk with Doll and tons of clothes and accessories now available!

This took forever! After transforming the 24 inch Bratz Dolls into "Just K.I.D.S" as part of the campaign to help rescue kids trapped in the sex trafficking industry, I got the crazy idea to convert a vintage suitcase into a doll trunk. After making the inside compartments and decoupaging and hand painting the entire outside of the suitcase (both front and back) the set is now complete and up for auction on Ebay. Leave a comment if you want to bid on this amazing doll trunk. You even get to pick which doll you want to be included.

The Wood's Secret Garden

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