Pinteresting it up

I love Pinterest for two reasons. 1. I always am finding really cool things in the vast place that is the internet. There's so much information out there! And so many funny things! I can't always remember where I found it. With Pinterest when I find something I love I can pin it and there it is, where I can find it easily! Nice. 2. People are so creative! I see so many things on Pinterest and I'm just like, "That is brilliant!!" but I never would have thought of it myself! This world is full of smart, creative and frugal people. Thus, I made a pretty way to display and keep my earrings! I never, ever would have even thought of storing my earrings in this way but it is an excellent idea! Have a look...

Talk about easy! I had this picture frame laying around because the glass broke in it. So I finally took all the pictures out and threw away the template thing. I decided to keep the cardboard backing though because...well I don't know why actually. Then I glued a pretty piece of scrapbook paper onto it. I guess that's why I decided to keep the cardboard...anyway. I cut some ribbon into appropriate lengths and I glued them onto the back. Voila! Now I can hang my earrings either in the bathroom or my bedroom and have them easily accessible.

It took me about 10 minutes to make it and it was free! (Because I already had everything laying around my house) Thank you Pinterest!

New Things

Last year I decided that I was going to try new things. Things that I just had never tried before because for some reason I thought I wouldn't like them. I mostly tried new foods because come on, I don't want to get crazy or anything! Here are some foods that I tried this past year for the first time: Kiwis. I know right? I'm not sure why I thought I wouldn't like kiwis! But now I do, in fact they are probably my favourite! Salsa. I had a legit reason for not wanting to ever eat salsa, I don't like tomatoes. At all. Trust me, I've tried! Turns out though that I do like salsa. Hot Pepper Jelly. Delicious. Cabbage. Of course I've tried cabbage before, my mum made me try it when I was a kid but who likes cabbage when they are a kid? Once you are an adult though it's not so bad! Avacados. Not a fan. Fried onions. I just don't like onions, that's just the way it is. So I assumed I frying them wouldn't change that. I assumed wrong! As you can tell, I'm not much of a risk taker. Even with what I eat. However, all this trying new food action has shown me something. If you're not willing to try something new you might be missing out on something great! I mean hello, kiwis! So in this new year when something new comes my way I'm going to try not to say no instantly. I'll try giving it a chance. I'm not talking about just food either! Activities, instruments, musical genres, friends. We'll see!

The Blood of Christ

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the blood of Christ…do you know how precious that stuff is? Worth more than any earthy thing we could ever possess. Seriously, let’s consider this for a moment. When Adam and Eve sinned they really messed things up. They opened a huge chasm between mankinds relationship with God, a chasm that unfortunately cannot be bridged BUT for the blood of Christ. So Adam and Eve could come out from hiding God had to make them animal skins to cover themselves. (Genesis 2:8-9, 21) but here’s the thing: an animal generally has to be dead before you can skin it. This was the first death God used to make atonement (the literal translation for atone is cover) for sin. From then on out God’s people needed to shed the blood of animals so that they could be in right relationship with God. I gotta tell you though, it was not a perfect system. Now don’t go all pitch fork shouting “blasphemy” on me, God Himself said that the system was flawed! “The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under the system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship” [Hebrews 10:1] You see the thing is God’s people continually had to make sacrifices for their sins and even then they couldn’t ever actually be in the presence of God. One guy, the high priest, could go into the Holy of holies once a year and only after extensive purification rituals and sacrifices atoning for his sins and for the people sins. Even after all that they still tied a rope around his ankle and put bells on his robe in case he was struck dead in the presence of the Most High God. See, flaws. Then Jesus entered the picture! (cue the angelic choir sounds) Jesus came to earth for a very specific reason. To be the One sacrifice for all. That short sentence is bigger than it sounds. What Jesus did required personal sacrifice, it required humility, it required obedience, it required blood. When Jesus died on the cross He bridged the chasm, forever! His spilled blood caused the curtain in the tabernacle to rip right in half (from top to bottom none the less) opening the Holy of holies to show that the presence of God was now made available to all! You guys?! This is a HUUUUGE deal!!!!!!! No longer do we need to slaughter sheep, doves and bulls to obtain forgiveness; no longer do we need a High Priest to go into the Lord’s presence on our behalf. Jesus was our High Priest, for all time! The thing about all this that is just blow me over amazing is that because of this, because of the blood of Christ we can go boldly into God’s presence, with no condemnation for our sin. Wow. “And so, dear brothers, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By His death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting Him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.” [Hebrews 10:19-22] We are able to go into the presence of God, whenever, with no condemnation!! God, who is holy and blameless; without sin! That's what Jesus did for us when His blood was spilled.

Hello again darling

Wow. Hello my name is Joni and I am the worst blogger evah! BUT WAIT! There is posts coming in the near future! Pinky promise!

I Like Pictures and Stories

Have you ever checked out Suzy's blog? Well you should! Because she always has interesting things to say and cool projects to try out and funny stories to tell! Her blog is where I scammed the idea to do this: Step One: Post your very first facebook profile picture Step Two: pick just one picture from each consecutive year up to the present one Step Three: Explain/tell a story about each one Fun right?!

I was suprised that this was my very first profile picture...I definatly thought it was a different one! Either way, this is a testament to the Tim Tam Slam! For a while there my friends and I were very into the Tim Tam Slam and did it pretty much everytime we all got together! If you don't know what the Tim Tim Slam is...well I'm kinda sad for you. This picture was from 2007.

2008. This picture was taken at the end of a ministry trip we took to Calgary during Easter break. We had a great week helping out at The Food Bank, The Mustard Seed and some other Christian organizations in the city. We also stayed in a church that didn't have any showers, we all took 2 showers at the community pool throughout the week. The four of us were sitting in the back of the can during the last hour and a half drive home and taking silly pictures. This is our "who turned out the lights?!" picture. It made sense at the time!

and here we are in 2009, on a weekend inbetween camps. Craig, Kaylyn, Debbie and I had a most excellent Saturday off! It started with a leftover picnic in "the space van" after which we went for a drive on reserve land and picked berries out of the window. Then we went to the camp and spent the afternoon floating on tubes in the lake. We went waaaaaaay out the the middle of the Lake where a man driving a boat circled around us until we were being tossed by the waves. Also on the list of activities for the day were: a visit to the museum, laundry, listening to creepy music and planning our deaths in a car crash and eating ice cream. It was a really good day! Also, 2009 was a really good year! A lot happened during it.

2010! Also a lot of good things happened but whenever I think about the year it always revolves around the 2 weeks I spent in Regina during the summer for Becky's wedding! I had such a blast helping her do the last minute things and doing all the fun before wedding stuff. Plus her wedding day was just amazing!

One of my most favorite days in 2011!! My 27th birthday :) My friends really went above and beyond to show me I was loved! We went mini golfing, then had a birthday cake picnic, followed by playing W5 and doing some singing around the fire. THEN my friends kidnapped me and drove me around until I was very confused as to our location! When we got to where I had no idea we were going my friends put off FIREWORKS!! It was the best!

And all this brings us to 2010. This picture was taken mere seconds after the new year began. We were all hanging out at a farm playing games, eating food and having a lot of laughs. New Years Eve is one of my favorite nights and I was very happy to spend this last one with these 2 girls, they are a couple of my oldest and dearest friends. That was nice. I'm glad we had this time together :)

Thoughts on The Hunger Games

Ok, first off. I don't want anyone to ever mistake me for a bandwagon jumper oner, or a trend follower or anything like that because I'm really not. I like to decide for myself if I like something or not. Example: I've never, ever read any of the Harry Potter or Twilight books. I also have never seen the movies. And guess what? I never will! Because, even though, they've been all the rage with society and with pretty much all my friends I checked out what they were about and I decided that wasn't something I was interested in.

So there's that.

Now, The Hunger Games is a different thing altogether. I've known for a while that this would be a story I would be interested in. Mostly because even though I'm not a sci-fi fan per se, I do like futuristic settings. I also am drawn to survival stories as well as stories about the underdog rising up against injustice. Thus I knew, this was a book trilogy I would probably enjoy reading.

I've only read the first book but trust me when I say that I devoured it. I bought it on a Friday and by the following Wednesday I had read it twice. I sorely regret not just splurging on the entire trilogy at once because I am very anxious to get on with the story and find out what happens in the world of Panem. Anyway, yes I enjoyed the book. It was well written with complex and beautiful characters along with a tragic storyline about the deep injustice of dystopian societies. I also admit that I am in love with the Katniss and Peeta storyline.

And I know, I know, it's "about" kids killing kids. And everyone who is trying to be a good person says, "How can you read a book or watch a movie about THAT? It's horrible!" But that's the thing, it is horrible! It's unjust and disgusting and no one should be pleased with it! That's kind of the point of these books, the country of Panem is grossly dominated by the Capitol and in order for them to remain in control they intimidate, steal from and bully the surrounding 12 districts. The Hunger Games is just one of they ways the Capitol reminds everyone that they are in charge and there is nothing anyone can do about it. Or at least that's what you might think.

I also watched the movie. Yes, it was violent and no, I wouldn't suggest anyone under the age of 15 watch it but it was very well done.

One last thing: dystopian societies are real, that's not a reality that is far removed from us. None of them might have something as horrible as the hunger games but they have other tactics of control, just as horrible. I just wanted to put that out there.

It's been a while

I have not said anything in a long, long time on here. I feel bad about that. Mostly for myself though because I love blogging.

I can't believe how busy life has been recently. It's crazy but it's oh so good! God is very good! He's been setting up divine appointments and giving me opportunities and looking out for me all over the place!

Here's a picture I love. This was one of my favorite moments from one of my favorite weekends this "Spring"