7-in-7 2018 SUBMISSIONS

Everyone lives in a place. But not everyone lives with place. To live with place is to live with a deep sense of connection to your surroundings. Your home, your neighborhood, your town isn’t just the place you chose to live, it’s apart of you. You belong to it. You contribute. You know it. I desire to live with a deeper sense of place. It’s hard to live with place in the suburbs, but I want to try. I hope you will too.

When you have very little paint left and only 5 minutes before the Celtics game, you paint this!

Critics are already raving at how “unorthodox “ and “brave” this peice is. One critic stated, “It just tells the human story at such a deep and metaphorical level. A masterpiece!”

Continuation of day 6 song, inspired by "The Attributes of God" chapter about Love and Loving-Kindness
Got together with Tyler today to help flesh out some ideas for this song from Day 6 - Made a good bit of progress! I recorded this while trying not to wake the kids up, not the strongest quality but wanted to get it done before the night was over!

I had planned to share something from my sewing projects, but I haven’t been very motivated to work on them, so I will share some more knitting instead.

Community Crate: well curated items meant to be shared. A collaboration by Kelsey Easley and Faye Cummings; featuring photos by Tanner Easley. Today's crate is called The Afternoon Treat: Homemade Croissants Edition. Go big or go home, right?!

Poetry x2

I’m slowing down to find letters in meaningful places that remind me of His P-R-O-M-I-S-E.

As Faye heads up our children’s program I thought this verse was appropriate.

“Do you hear what these children are saying?” They asked Him.

“Yes” replied Jesus, “have you never read, “‘From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise’ ?”

Matthew 21:16

Bring your art, poetry, songs, arrangements, bring it all. We want to celebrate what the Lord did through 7in7 this week. Join us for a come and go event next Sunday evening at the building.

This is some info on our 7in7 Celebration Night on Sunday June 3rd.

For fun.

Poetry

Time card application progress.  Where did the week go?

Community Crate: well curated items meant to be shared. A collaboration by Kelsey Easley and Faye Cummings; featuring photos by Tanner Easley. Today's crate is called The Shared Breakfast: Chicken & Waffles Edition

Isaiah 40:1

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.

Twelve years into a craft I didn’t expect to do.

Inspired by this excerpt from the Nicene Creed:

And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life. He proceeds from the Father and the Son, and with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified. He spoke through the prophets.

We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church.

A song about how things aren't always as black-and-white as we'd like them to be.

A song from Psalm 62

Song inspired by Jeremiah 31:3, and from Chapter 15&16 of "The Attributes of God" by A.W. Pink.

I’m slowing down to find letters in meaningful places that remind me of His P-R-O-M-I-S-E.

Poetry

I’m slowing down to find letters in meaningful places that remind me of His P-R-O-M-I-S-E.

One of those opportunities we all encounter to “hold the hope” for another. This one’s long to cover for day 4/5.

Ephesians 5:29-30

After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— for we are members of his body.

Addison and I made sugar cookies to share with friends.

Community Crate: well curated items meant to be shared. A collaboration by Kelsey Easley and Faye Cummings; featuring photos by Tanner Easley. Today's crate is called The Happy Hour Play Date: Tincho Edition. And it's the perfect example of entertaining made simple.

Scripture Art to be used for Screensaver/Computer background.

Admiring God's Creation.

Quilts for the seasons

We will have open creating time tonight and tomorrow!

Friday, 5/25 - 6:00 - 9:00 PM (open creating time)
Saturday, 5/26 - 9:00 - 12:00 AM (group songwriting/open creating time)

Growing up with turtles as pets.

Poetry/Haiku

A song about how over time I've gotten numb to things I should feel more deeply, an "emotional exile".

"You can't make new old friends." That's been sticking with me lately, so I wanted to do something for a couple of my old friends who had things to celebrate recently.

Ever since in the creation of the universe he brought forth those insignia whereby he shows his glory to us, whenever and wherever we cast our gaze. …And since the glory of his power and wisdom shine more brightly above, heaven is often called his palace. Yet…wherever you cast your eyes, there is no spot in the universe wherein you cannot discern at least some sparks of his glory.” (John Calvin, Institutes, 1.5.1)

through serving one another...Hebrew 13:1 Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters.

I’m slowing down to find letters in meaningful places that remind me of His P-R-O-M-I-S-E.

Addison and I made a simple dessert, but one we never have made before and took it to our neighbor friends.

My poems for days 2-4.  I got busy.  🙂

Baskets of sweets for my neighbors, with a photo of mine.

Community Crate: well curated items meant to be shared. A collaboration by Kelsey Easley and Faye Cummings; featuring photos by Tanner Easley. Today's crate is called The Night in: Wine & Cheese Edition. 

Everyone lives in a place, but not everyone lives with place. To live with place is to live with a deep sense of connection to your surroundings. Your home, your neighborhood, your town is not just the place you chose to live, but it is apart of who you are. You belong to it. You contribute. You know it. I desire to live with a deeper sense of place in Round Rock. It’s hard to live with place in the suburbs, but I want to try. I hope you will too. So, I’m sharing stories of people from my life who live with place.

Co-write with Brett Mcdonald from Psalm 23

Small, single stemmed flower vase.

Typical Old West Description - Arrival of John Mankins Clan to California.

Dealing with mistakes.

A few clips of drone malfunctions, etc. 🙂

We are halfway there y'all! In case you are starting to hit a wall and need the encouragement of working around others, tonight we will have another open creating time from 6:00 - 9:00 PM at the building.

For sake of simplicity, and trying to get caught up, this video is just one long smooth Kauai Coastline Shot.

Today was just one of those days. The kind that's emotionally and mentally taxing and leaves you feeling weary and a little hopeless... So I needed some rest.

This song was so fun to write because it's the first one that Laura and I have written together. We wanted to capture the thought that in every season of life, the Spirit is speaking to us, calling us to something. We can trust in that and have hope.

Everyone lives in a place. But not everyone lives with place. To live with place is to live with a deep sense of connection to your surroundings. Your home, your neighborhood, your town isn’t just the place you chose to live, it’s apart of you. You belong to it. You contribute. You know it. I desire to live with a deeper sense of place. It’s hard to love with place in the suburbs, but I want to try. I hope you will too. So, I’m sharing stories of people from my life who live with place.

Lessons learned the hard way from a '68 RS.

Deliveries turned game night!!

I’m slowing down to find letters in meaningful places that remind me of His P-R-O-M-I-S-E.

Another song inspired by a chapter of "The Attributes of God" by A.W. Pink, declaring that God is always present no matter what the circumstances.

My confession on time

These aren't your ordinary dinosaurs. These guys know how to party.

A little song (or piece if a song) I wrote about 12 years ago

Stories from the Summer of '72.

We love doing art together. What better time to encourage her creativity and talk about God's design for us .

Working in the ICU, we often don’t know much about what happens to our patients when they leave. Every once in a while, a beautiful miracle walks through our doors and remind us why we do what we do everyday. This is one of those stories.

Start of my sewing project.

She provides food for her family. Prov 31:15

Moments for the Easley family

I am beloved.

From Luke 12:48...From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded...

The Lord has richly blessed Debbie and I so we must bless others.

Real life arrangements!

This was another co-write with a local friend & artist Zach Morris. We wanted to write something simple from the Psalms & landed on Psalm 23. This song was refreshing for my soul &  I think something I would even listen to regularly as a way to meditate on the truth & beauty of Psalm 23. God is so good to us in His provision, his care, his direction & correction. I love that He is not limited in any way to shepherd us as we need.

Poetry. Hopefully it posts uncrooked. Sorry if it does. I can type it out if you need me to so it's readable. I know my pix are crappy too.

my oldest granddaughter suggested I do chalk art for 7in7, so I made this for her. I pray that thru my actions and words I can be an example to all my grandkids to try to be humble and kind to all.  I love them so much. 💕💕

Community Crate: well curated items meant to be shared. A collaboration by Kelsey Easley and Faye Cummings; featuring photos by Tanner Easley. Today's crate is called The Happy Hour Play Date: Tea Party Edition. Dare I say it's my favorite one?! The colors! Gah!

Wednesday delivery!

I'm still a day behind, but here's some beach drone footage from CA.

This song is a declaration that the Spirit empowers us to push past our doubt, shame, and fears to give Christ the adoration and praise He is due.  It was a cowrite with Chris Mallonee

I still don't consider myself a writer, and I definitely don't consider myself a photographer... But here's more words but with a picture this time! Today, God gave me the word "resilient." Definition: able to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions.

time to hit the upper body!

Minor progress, just trying to keep this going.

Random Memories of a childhood friend and his family. (1965-66 Round Rock)

Yeah, that's a banana.

I decorated this chalkboard with some fun info on our little guy, and we'll display it at his birthday party. You might have guessed it is a dinosaur theme 😊🦕

While working on a recording for 7in7, I creatively problem-solved instrument troubles by disassembling, fixing, and reassembling my harmonica.  (Photo cred: Juliet)

Blood of Christ, wash over me, flow through me, into the lives I touch every day.

I’m slowing down to find letters in meaningful places that remind me of His P-R-O-M-I-S-E.

A confession on rest

more moments

Painting by Cade (11)

Lyrics are from Take Courage - Bethel Music and Kristene DiMarco

A picture by Lucas (7)

A short story by Lucas (7)

Short story by Cade (11)

A little boy wants a superhero friend, by Drew (5).

Love 7in7

Romans 16:2–Each of us should please our neighbors for their good to build them up.

A song praising God who is matchless in all that He is.

I wrote a lot of poetry when I was in the military (an odd paradox, right?) to work out a lot things the Lord was teaching me.  I miss doing that so my 7in7 challenge to myself is to get back to the poetry.

Community Crate: well curated items meant to be shared. A collaboration by Kelsey Easley and Faye Cummings; featuring photos by Tanner Easley. Today's crate is called The Happy Hour Play Date: Moscow Mules Edition.

Kelsey Easley

Sketch of my second arrangement

Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. 1 Peter 4:10

Leaving a basket of sweets with one of my photos on my near neighbors door step.

steadfast: firmly fixed in place: immovable; resolutely or dutifully firm and unwavering.

Poetry

We are to love our neighbors as ourself and welcome them into our lives.

A little late for Day One....Continuing with my tradition from last year's 7in7, I decided to post more drone footage.

I’ve been really excited about 7 in 7. Mostly because I feel so encouraged by seeing all of the perspectives and awesome gifts God has given to people in our church. I also love the challenge it gives us all to really think through how God has made us and even take some steps out of our comfort zones to try something new or different. Thanks for being a safe place, Redeemer💜

This year has been quite the year for our fam. I have seen God at work in such sweet ways, but I would be lying if I said I hadn’t grown weary during certain days/weeks. Walking through hard things with our kids and inviting in two precious and busy boys had put me in a place where a lot of things I enjoyed needed to be put on the back burner. Things like baking, clear thinking, cultivating and creating were set aside to really put my energy to what God had in front of me. And that is ok. But I’m also thankful for the grace to have the space for this right now! 

This week I hope to make a couple desserts, write some letters and use snail mail, pick and arrange flowers, maybe try my hand at painting 😅, and spend some time getting to know new and old neighbors. 

Today I wanted to start with writing letters to my kids. I love writing letters and it’s something that I don’t do as much as I have a desire to. I pray my family feels seen and loved and encouraged through a simple letter. Ultimately, I hope they feel God’s love and see His provision and grace for them. 

It took me awhile to figure out where I wanted to go for 7in7. If you know me, I’m not a particularly creative person - but I love working out and love sharing meals with people. So - Shaping Up & Sharing meals was born. Here we go!

Five year old Drew told this story about a girl, boy and dinosaur.

This week Judson is turning 1! I'll be creating decorations to celebrate him at his birthday party on Saturday.

A painting by Emily Reeves

TL;DR: I'm a perfectionist who doesn't generally write creative things, and also I love music.

Painting

Co-write with Courtney Strifler and Josh Reynolds

Josh had an idea for the musical parts/progression on this song. Courtney had the idea to write about how we live in that tension of being cynical when we want to live by faith. What came out I think was pretty cool!

This is my attempt to retune the Hymn "All Hail the Power of Jesus Name". I have had this idea for a few months and had the melody in mind but hadn't spent any time with the lyrics until today. I spent about an hour co-writing with Donald Zimmerman from Doxa Church in Seattle and then another hour and a half on my own. I think this is a song I will definitely need to come back to and try to refine & work on the lyrical content/arrangement.

Community Crate: well curated items meant to be shared. A collaboration by Kelsey Easley and Faye Cummings; featuring photos by Tanner Easley. Today's crate is called The Happy Hour Play Date: Moscow Mules Edition.

My confession in parenting

Beep boop beep boop boop

A short story about a worker named Jose.

HOPE butterfly ornament

I’m slowing down to find letters in meaningful places that remind me of His P-R-O-M-I-S-E.

Stepping out of my comfort zone to go back to painting - something I really enjoyed in high school. More in the full description if you’re interested!

Cooking allows me to create dishes that I hope people like to enjoy!

Over the years as a trauma critical care nurse and now trauma surgery nurse practitioner, I have encountered so many stories. Stories of triumph, loss, devastation, miracles, joy, sorrow. The list could go on and on. Here's my attempt to bring you into some of those stories, into moments that are seared into my memory forever. People whose faces I could never forget.

A reluctant gardener

Poetry

Sketch of spring bouquet