tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19410463625058433092026-01-31T15:50:24.640-06:00Kelli in TNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613670506840938966noreply@blogger.comBlogger29125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941046362505843309.post-46899089177798905442011-05-28T12:51:00.000-05:002011-05-28T12:51:21.552-05:00

 The "Q"Tipping Mom has a great giveaway  for anyone interested in getting their coupons organized!

Kelli in TNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613670506840938966noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941046362505843309.post-70223826192638494582011-03-25T20:36:00.002-05:002011-03-25T21:17:30.708-05:00

I don't have to live like this. If I have not told you, and I've tried not to mention it very often but then I've also made no attempt to hide it either, I'm taking a break from secular books and secular music for the Lenten season. I'm also taking a break from playing Bejeweled but that is only because Bejeweled will suck up your time before you know what happened. The books and the music? I'm

Kelli in TNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613670506840938966noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941046362505843309.post-78012725454784230242011-03-19T19:46:00.003-05:002011-03-19T20:04:35.703-05:00

And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:18It is easy to see how far I am from what God meant for me to be. There are still so many rough edges. I imagine you have your own rough edges, too. Don't be afraid to examine those rough edges, run

Kelli in TNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613670506840938966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941046362505843309.post-27786496227148204712011-03-17T00:41:00.000-05:002011-03-17T00:41:21.605-05:00

Busy day, science and history day which means all three of my kids plus three more dear friends, all here for school. Science projects and history discussions, playing outside in the sunshine and spring air. Loud and rowdy and mostly happy. And then we break for lunch. Burgers, with the cheese buried inside the meat patty, homemade french fries. As usual, a television show for lunchtime

Kelli in TNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613670506840938966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941046362505843309.post-52790539905175141662011-03-15T17:26:00.001-05:002011-03-15T22:57:53.896-05:00

Loneliness engulfs me. Friendship has always been so very hard to maintain. As far as my memory stretches back across time I have felt left out. On the outer fringe. Excluded. Elementary school, those taunts, "smelly kelly ate too much jelly and got a fat belly", chanted over and over the entire walk home. We left that state and moved. A fresh start. But not really.  Jr. High, I thought I

Kelli in TNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613670506840938966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941046362505843309.post-55479184817956191822011-03-13T22:10:00.000-05:002011-03-13T22:10:01.840-05:00

Simple adornments for the altar this first Sunday of Lent, smooth stones, rough burlap, flames inside plain jars the color of desert sands. Flames. Inside plain jars. Isn't that what this earthly walk is anyway? Carrying that spiritual flame in our earthy, plain jar? But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.   &

Kelli in TNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613670506840938966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941046362505843309.post-18540862177213416072011-01-01T14:44:00.002-06:002011-01-01T18:48:32.225-06:00

A Glass of Water is the first novel by poet Jimmy Santiago Baca. As a child Mr. Baca was cared for by his grandmother until he was placed in an orphanage. At thirteen years of age he was a runaway. At twenty one years of age he was in prison. It was in prison that he learned to read and write and found his voice. A Glass of Water follows the story of two Mexican illegal immigrants who find each

Kelli in TNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613670506840938966noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941046362505843309.post-42445026252050188262010-12-29T11:01:00.000-06:002010-12-29T11:01:48.221-06:00

January-Organize the laundry room shelves. Get clothing ready for February cruise. This will include several visits to Goodwill, altering a formal for Shalom, and packing! February-Go on a cruise. Pick paint colors for main bathroom and GET IT DONE!!! Purchase bath linens, towel bars, etc. March-Buy weatherproof fabric and recover cushions for back deck furniture. Convince husband to move that

Kelli in TNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613670506840938966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941046362505843309.post-50702819624854592952010-12-29T08:05:00.000-06:002010-12-29T08:05:12.872-06:00

Blogging seems to have fallen by the wayside since the rise in popularity of social networking sites. It's quick and easy to put a status update up and then come back later and see the conversation that ensued about the little news snippet. It's good to be in control of who reads the "wall" and views the photos as well. It occurred to me, however, that I have missed blogging. I think I knew this

Kelli in TNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613670506840938966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941046362505843309.post-25505788824812252472009-12-29T09:49:00.000-06:002009-12-29T09:49:51.628-06:00

2010 is nearly here! I am not one to make lofty New Year's resolutions, but I do like to set some goals. So, for 2010 I'm laying out the following as my plan for my home: January-empty, clean out and restock all of my kitchen cabinets. Purchase some decorative items for my kitchen.Clean out and reconfigure decorative shelves in living room. Paint the upstairs bedroom and make curtains for it.

Kelli in TNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613670506840938966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941046362505843309.post-64829946538857027362009-11-15T16:37:00.000-06:002009-11-15T16:37:49.096-06:00

We went back to Thrive this morning. We started out with four churches on our list. We kept our list small by first deciding what matters to us in a church. Of those four churches, Thrive is the one in which I feel the most "at home". I think I might be the only member of my family who feels this way. But since it's my blog, I guess it's okay for me to say how I feel. There is just something

Kelli in TNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613670506840938966noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941046362505843309.post-58117973641385271432009-10-26T21:33:00.000-05:002009-10-26T21:33:04.103-05:00

We went back to Northbrook again this Sunday. We got there in time for muffins and coffee, but there were no muffins because apparently someone forgot to bring them. Just our luck. We did have time to mill around awkwardly in the coffee area. That's always a good test of a church's friendliness! How long will the church members let the newcomers look awkward? At Northbrook, not long at all. We

Kelli in TNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613670506840938966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941046362505843309.post-30174037229361606622009-10-18T14:06:00.001-05:002009-10-18T14:06:55.454-05:00

We had planned to go back to Northbrook  this morning, but Shalom had asked to go to Fellowship earlier in the week and when I told her we were not going to Fellowship she gave me the sad face. Since I can't resist Shalom's sad face and since she will be on a Girl Scout backpacking trip next Sunday, I asked Bobby if we could change our plans and he agreed. All I have to do is say "Shalom

Kelli in TNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613670506840938966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941046362505843309.post-7266429019251005972009-10-04T15:24:00.001-05:002009-10-04T15:24:56.292-05:00

No church today. I knew before I went to bed last night that I was not feeling well. I asked Bobby if he wanted to take the kids and go somewhere but he did not wish to visit a church without his wife. Understandable. Plus, we are already weary of it. In a way, my heart feels like it has already found a home, but if it is the one God intends then I have to keep my mouth shut and wait on Him to

Kelli in TNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613670506840938966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941046362505843309.post-62347998844548684822009-09-29T15:18:00.000-05:002009-09-29T15:18:32.773-05:00

My last regular physical was in April of  '09. Everything was normal at that time. On the outside I don't look so good, but as for cholestrol levels, blood pressure, etc, I was okay. In July, after a month of intense stress and worry, I began to have some chest discomfort and I got pretty scared and went to see my doctor about it. My heart checked out fine, but my blood pressue was up; way

Kelli in TNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613670506840938966noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941046362505843309.post-42987001400343021832009-09-27T21:02:00.000-05:002009-09-27T21:02:20.353-05:00

What a beautiful afternoon! We decided to kill two three birds today. We took a photo walk to get some co-op homework done for photography class, try to sell some Girl Scout fall products, and start breaking in Shalom's new hiking shoes in preparation for her backpacking trip next month.

Kelli in TNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613670506840938966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941046362505843309.post-86086977401326138072009-09-27T10:09:00.001-05:002009-09-27T10:13:20.940-05:00

Well, not anymore, but I did. We all did. We decided to listen to the chorus of voices after the Boy Scout Spaghetti Supper last night; singing nearly in unison "After the past two days I don't think we'll make it to church tomorrow." and we decided to sing along. And so today's agenda is to reset ourselves to prepare for the week ahead.  Photo courtesy of stock.xchng

Kelli in TNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613670506840938966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941046362505843309.post-3586126894718503592009-09-26T14:29:00.001-05:002009-09-26T14:44:21.430-05:00

I had two online incidents in recent days in which I may have been misunderstood. Sometimes I am quick to jump on something without checking it out carefully. This happened the other day when a video of kids rapping a song praising Barack Obama was going around the interwebz. Without thinking, I grabbed the video and passed it on. I honestly did not react to the video because it was about Barack

Kelli in TNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613670506840938966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941046362505843309.post-46834806379050544672009-09-25T11:00:00.001-05:002009-09-25T11:00:26.714-05:00

just trying to link my blog to facebook

Kelli in TNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613670506840938966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941046362505843309.post-41725067608749047862009-09-24T19:20:00.001-05:002009-09-24T20:00:11.314-05:00

I have enjoyed blogging our search for a new church home. I started this project because I had a blog, an empty blog. I had purged my blog thinking I would start it all over but had not yet decided what my blog should be. Homeschool blog? Mommy blog? Sewing blog? And long term I still don't know what my blog will be or if I will even keep it up. But for now, I am using to think out loud. To

Kelli in TNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613670506840938966noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941046362505843309.post-46353959558801662382009-09-24T09:32:00.002-05:002009-09-24T09:33:23.603-05:00

Usually we try to break our church visiting up and not visit a church twice in a row. If we visit on Sunday, we don't want to visit on Wednesday, for example. But we decided to go ahead and visit Wednesday night at Thrive this week. The kids and I went alone as Bobby came home with one of his terrible work induced headaches. I don't get the impression that he misses having a Wednesday night

Kelli in TNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613670506840938966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941046362505843309.post-67006868568173913802009-09-20T13:52:00.001-05:002009-09-20T14:50:40.965-05:00

I am going to call this a first visit even though we have visited Thrive Community Church once before. Our prior visit was before we began to actively search for a church home; we were there to visit with our son and to meet his awesome pastor. (Hi, Pastor Herb, I know you are checking this to see what I say about Thrive!!!)The first word that comes to mind in describing Thrive is intimacy. It's

Kelli in TNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613670506840938966noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941046362505843309.post-49683568508165757422009-09-13T21:50:00.000-05:002009-09-13T21:59:50.129-05:00

Tunic for Shalom from Ottobre 1/2009T-shirt with 3/4 length sleeves and my first wax paper stencil for Shalom.Tunic with elastic thread shirring from Ottobre 1/2009.Jeans for Justice from Ottobre 4/2008

Kelli in TNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613670506840938966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941046362505843309.post-80227750238562711612009-09-13T15:23:00.000-05:002009-09-14T11:28:41.816-05:00

In our ongoing saga; The Search for Home (otherwise known as "Where in the World did the Appletons Attend Church this Sunday?") we bring to you our third first time visit with our visit today at Northside Assembly of God.We noticed as we walked in that church grounds are very well kept. The greeters were warm and friendly. The sanctuary is spacious and comfortable.My first observation about the

Kelli in TNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613670506840938966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941046362505843309.post-43166930510154972032009-09-09T22:38:00.000-05:002009-09-09T22:56:59.328-05:00

The kids and I dropped in on the Wednesday night activities at Northbrook. The elementary boys have the traditional Southern Baptist Royal Ambassadors. The elementary girls have a Girls Club based on Keepers at Home. The youth also meet during this time. I was just going to sit in the lobby, but the pastor greeted me and invited me to come sit in on their membership class. I intended to decline

Kelli in TNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613670506840938966noreply@blogger.com0