Wednesday, April 28, 2010

The Awakening

The Awakening
by: Joseph M. Martin


I dreamed a dream,

A silent dream,

Of a land not far away.

Where no birds sang,

No steeples rang,

And teardrops fell like rain.

I dreamed a dream,

A silent dream

Of a land so filled with pride

That ev'ry song,

Both weak and strong,

Withered and died.

I dreamed a dream.

No alleluia,

Not one hosanna,

No song of love,

No lullaby.

And no choir sang to change the world.

No pipers played; no dancers twirled.

I dreamed a dream,

A silent dream.

Silent. Silent....

Awake! Awake! Awake! Awake!

Soli Deo Gloria! Awake! Awake!

Awake! Awake, my soul, and sing!

The time for praise has come.

The silence of the night has passed;

A new day has begun.

Let music never die in me!

Forever let my spirit sing!

Wherever emptiness is found,

Let there be joy and glorious sound.

Let music never die in me!

Forever let my spirit sing!

Let all our voices join as one

To praise the Giver of the song!

Awake! Awake!

Let music live!

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Create

Everyone has a special talent, or hobby, something that they love to do to get their minds off of things. For some people it's sports, for some people it's going to a movie, or a movie, or even just simply listening to music. I know that as for me, there are two (well.. probably more than that but.. oh well) things that I know can get my mind off of things. My first love being music and secondly is something that I've only gotten into more recently. Within the past year, I have developed, a love, or, well, more of an obsession, for scrapbooking and card-making. It started around Halloween of last year, I decorated 5 Halloween cards for some of the "smaller" members of my family, and I absolutely LOVED it. Since then, I have made numerous cards for birthdays, weddings, and "for the heck of it" along with almost completely filling a scrapbook.
It's not just the fact alone that all of this stuff gives me an outlet for creativity, it's the reaction I get when the person that is the recipient, knows that I've spent special time on something just for them, rather than just buying a Hallmark card and sticking it in the mail. (Not saying that that is so horrible, because that's what most people do)

So here are a few of my older cards and/or pages:

This one is the inside of the Halloween card I sent Andrew:



This is the front of a wedding card I made for my cousin Devin:



... and this one is a scrapbook page I made of Kyle & I's 1 year anniversary:



These last two are my most recent


This one is a birthday card for my dad:



.. and this one is a birthday card for my mom:



I someday hope to do this (or something LIKE this) for a living, so if anyone knows of a job where creativity is main aspect, please let me know!