Pandora is incredible- I’ve stopped eating sliced bread since discovering this service. You know why? Because its better than sliced bread- thats why (you knew it was coming, don’t pretend you didn’t)! Check it out and thank me later.

Alrighty… I promise I’ll stop my shameless service plugs here for at least a few days… I think…

The wedding invitations are coming in tomorrow! I feel so very blessed- O’Neil printing is comping our order completely as a wedding gift to us (Conny and Tony- you are truly blessed friends- THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart). For the designers of you out there who are actively looking to pick up a friend in the printing business, I would suggest, no scratch that… I would BEG that you get in contact with O’Neil Printing. There is no finer, classier, nobler printing company out there. They truly do break the mold with their customer service and self interest in their clients. The company itself is employee-owned so everyone that works there has a vested interest in doing the best possible job for all their clients. Now they most certainly won’t comp your order but they’ll give you a very competitive price and will guarantee the best quality product available on the market. I love this company… can you tell?

Due to O’Neil Printing, I was given the rare opportunity to dream up an invitation from scratch. The finished product is an oddly sized 5.5″x5.5″ shell which contains a pocket flap with stepped inserts containing information about the ceremony, reception, registry, and directions. It is printed on a beautiful pearlescent-type paper and aqueous coated for durability. It has turned out to be a really gorgeous print piece! I’m really jazzed about all of this and am thinking of investing into the wedding preparation design market. I’d like to specifically focus on those couples who want nonstandard print materials which distinguish them from design norms that abound in the current market. This all of course will be after my own wedding, but still- it’s exciting to see a potential design niche to grab onto and explore.

Hello friends- I hope that you all were able to enjoy a very restful Christmas with friends and family! The Christmas season is an awesome reminder of what Christ, our Savior, has done for us. Its not only a time to remember his birth, but a time to remember that He was born for a reason. Indeed, He was born to die for our sins. I admit that I often lose sight of this and regret my self-centered actions. As a sinful man it seems that it is all too easy to lose focus on Christ in favor for my own worries and stresses. Friends, I pray that you and I may run to the cross always. Let us never forget that the problems of this life are fleeting, but our God is forever.

I would appreciate prayers in the upcoming month. My fiance and I are approaching the final month of wedding preparations which has its unique, yet often blessed, stresses attached to it. Please pray that God would continue to draw us closer together through our love and service to Him alone. I am also looking at quite a rigorous schedule of design work coming up which should definitely prove to be challenging. It seems that I have often been reminded of my inability to control circumstances of late. However, I take courage in the fact that God is control of all things. There is a great couple of verses in Psalm 127 that I find particularly encouraging (1,2):

Unless the LORD builds the house,
its builders labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchmen stand guard in vain.

In vain you rise early
and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat—
for he grants sleep to [a] those he loves.

What a great reminder for me personally! I try to control things so often. In vain I stay up late. I lose sleep while trying to accomplish impossible tasks. Though its hard to do so, I’ve found that it is often better to let go of some of these ‘impossible’ stresses and just sleep on it at times (I am definitely preaching to myself first and foremost on this… see my “Sleep- I Defy Thee…” post for confirmation on that!). After a good night’s sleep I find that I am refreshed and empowered in the morning. In this way I am much more able to rely on God to fully give me the strength to persevere through any trial. How often do we forget that God created rest for a reason? God delights in the rest of his people and designed us as human beings to operate this way. May we never forget the value of a commitment to restfulness in our Lord.

Between JJ Abram’s highly anticipated movie ‘Cloverfield’ and Lost Season 4… man… that’s just creative talent coming out the ears…

My pastor spoke on the parable of the treasures today. He did an excellent job using scripture to illustrate how God does the choosing of His people; not the other way around. I love Pastor John’s straightforward style and felt like this was some much needed spiritual food for the soul. How blessed am I that God sought me out and made me His child? You can check out this sermon and more from Grace Covenant at our broadcasting site hosted at Sermon Audio.