 Season's Greetings!
The year is heading towards it's end and a new year will begin. We have had another year full of strange things in this world - but these are all things to be expected as we can learn through the study of scripture. Despite it all we still had a good year, trusting the Lord in all that we had to do and we hope you did too. It's certainly a time of great lessons in developing trust in our Savior and hearing/listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit, that's for sure. Personally: Throughout the year we participated in different activities. Warren did a lot of Kayak Bass Fishing and through attending a few tournaments he had qualified for the KBF (Kayak Bass Fishing) Nationals in Shreveport, Louisiana! Although he didn't place in the top 100, he still was 233 out of 400 fishermen who participated in the Nationals. He had sponsors to help him get to the Nationals: Miller Auto & Miller Marine, Trobec's Bus Service, KR-Digital, Kwik Trip, Batteries Plus, Warren's BBQ and NotesNBling. A big thank you to all his sponsors! Warren is planning to participate in more tournaments next year and who knows maybe he will qualify for another Nationals event. We also had our BBQ season with the biggest event being in Deerwood MN for their Summerfest. We have been there for 8 years now participating there with food. We also continued with managing the TNT Fireworks Tent in the Coborn's Parking Lot in Sauk Rapids in July. Events/Jewelry: I was busy with lots of jewelry creations, custom orders, shows, art fairs, my annual Open House and newly added in December a "Sip-N-Shop" for my loyal customers and friends! I'm grateful to all who have visited my booth at the various shows around town, county, out of town and even in Illinois! Thank you for purchasing my creations! Next year, mark your calendars for February, March & April: FIRST Saturday each of these months for the Sartell Farmers Winter Market at the Sartell Community Center back to the normal time from 10-1. July: Art in the Gardens at Munsinger Gardens THIRD Thursday of that month (21st), my booth will be in the usual space at the Lower Gardens. October: My Annual Open House, Saturday the 8th at my house. December: Sip-N-Shop, planned for December 10 (unless the date changes due to being at a Craft Show), but I'll have that announced once December gets closer. Of course I'll plan to be at other Art & Craft shows in the area and maybe also in the Chicago area again and I'll have the announcements either via here and certainly on my NotesNBling Facebook page as those dates get booked! Music: After almost a year of not singing anywhere, we were invited to come back for playing a concert at the Barnabas Christian Coffeehouse in Chippewa Falls, WI this past weekend. What a WELCOME we had!! The house was FULL and the greeting was warm and enthusiastic as soon as we walked in the door!! Sure made us feel so welcome! This little coffeehouse in Chippewa Falls (and another one in Sheboygan WI, the Upper Room) are two places we absolutely love and feel we have family there in the folks who attend there. What a blessing to play music again, sing with people as they join in and just worship, invite the Lord to move in the room and touch our lives and be encouragement to one another. Thank you Barnabas Coffeehouse friends! We love you! Depending on how the year goes, we hope to have more music dates again, but that's up to the Lord and I'm contend with His plans. Well, this is pretty much our year in a nutshell. We hope that everyone continues to stay strong in these uncertain days.... however we do have one certainty and this is that Jesus Christ is Lord and He is always with us. We can invite Him or reject Him. But how could we not invite Him to guide our lives, as He continues to be the constant, the peace and the wisdom for living today. We wish you all a very blessed Holiday Season, good health, strong and unwavering faith in our Savior! Blessed Christmas, Happy New Year! Peace On Earth! Sam & Warren
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You guys..... I've just realized that I haven't even posted an update since MARCH!!! I've been more active on my Jewelry (NotesNBling) Facebook page, as my lil business has been growing through events we had this year thankfully. Now with the busy fall and holiday shopping season coming about, I thought I should at least update everyone on the shows where I'll be. Music wise it's been very quiet. Several reasons.... lots of them personal and private which I don't want to share. However I'll be picking up my guitar again and then see where the Lord leads or if that season of my life is done. That is up to Him as I'm determined to serve Him, hear Him, listen to Him and then follow where He leads without me creating or striving for anything. These are times where hearing from the Lord and being still before Him are vital!, UPCOMING EVENTS:  THE BLING: In a way I'm really sad that I haven't posted about all the events I've been at this year so far. Starting with a wonderful show in McHenry County in the Chicago area, little shows here, the absolutely AMAZING Munsinger Gardens Art In The Park event, that blew me away! What a response to my jewelry! THANK YOU to all! Then we had the Annual Old Creamery Craft Show in Rice which coincides with the Little Falls Craft Show. Always love it there and met SO many wonderful new people! It's been cool. Now - second weekend in October it'll be time for my Annual Open House again and as last year, it'll be in my backyard under my event tent, with chairs to hang and visit on the deck. You have to email me (notesnbling@gmail.com) to get the address if you are planning to attend. Stay up with more news and pictures of all my new jewelry on my Facebook page: www.facebook.com/notesnbling. Then many other shows are to follow for the holiday season I'm looking forward to being a part of (see picture of my schedule). WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT:
Short and sweet: Trust the Lord, REMAIN in His LOVE, do NOT FEAR, keep serving Him and keep your eyes upon Him. Belief vs Unbelief: The Greek word "pisteuo" means "believed". to be firmly persuaded as to something to believe with the idea of hope and certain expectation. (pistes - faith) We stay firmly persuaded of what Christ has done on the cross! We have hope and have a certain expectation of being with Him for eternity if we do not shrink back, nor fear. The Greek Word "apistos" means "unbelief". not worthy of confidence, untrustworthy, a thing not to be believed, incredible. Now that's NOT how we want to regard our Heavenly Father. He is worthy of ALL of our confidence, ALL of our trust and most of all He is to be BELIEVED! Psalm 34:7-10: The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him and rescues them. O taste and see that the Lord is good, how blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him. O fear the Lord you His saints; for those who fear Him there is no want. The young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but they who seek the Lord shall not be in want of any good thing. Psalm 3:25-26: Do not be afraid of sudden fear, nor of the onslaught of the wicked when it comes; For the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught. If Jesus is not your Lord and Savior, He will hear your prayer of repentance and confession of sin right wherever you are. You don't have to go to anyone or be in a certain place to ask for forgiveness and receive Christ as your Redeemer and Savior. You don't have to say a formulated prayer or do complicated things. Just from your heart to His ear - simply and humbly.... Receive His forgiveness, accept His sacrifice for your sin and then be obedient to Him and humbly walk with your Lord. Love you all! Keep shining His light! Sam   I would just wildly guess that most of us are ready for Spring to arrive after all the snow we have received all over the place! In late February we finally got a few snow days up North and it seems like the polar vortex took over the whole US with a lot of never experienced hardship down South. Hope all you guys have survived without too much damage.... Prayers to all for sure! UPCOMING EVENTS: Event: Sartell Farmers Winter Market (NotesNBling & Warren's Sauce) Day: Saturday, March 6 Time: 10 am - 1 pm Where: Sartell Community Center, 850 19th Street South Town: Sartell, MN  Event: Pot-O-Gold Vendors Market. (NotesNBling) Day: Saturday, March 13 Time: 10 am - 4 pm Where: Smith's Central Weddings & Events, 3315 Pearl Street Town: McHenry, IL My daughter Cindy & friends are hosting this event and I'm so thrilled to be back for it this year with NotesNBling showcasing my jewelry line!  Event: 12 Hour Minnesota 24/7 BURN (Music) Day: Saturday, March 20 Time: 9am - 9 pm. (our worship set will be 1-3 pm) Where: Harvest Fellowship Church, 400 2nd Ave. N Town: Sauk Rapids, MN  RECAP: February pretty much was spent indoors with the exception of the Winter Farmer's Market. Of course that day was the first day of the polar vortex! Despite the coldness it was a busy day and we were able to sell. I'm excited I sold one necklace to a good customer who has eyed said necklace for almost two years, wanting it but always choosing something else she liked even more. Well after all this time she got it! She was so excited it was still there (so apparently it was meant just for her)!! It amazes me sometimes why things stick around for a long time on my displays but also have had the feeling with some pieces they are to be there until that ONE person comes along who it's supposed to belong to! I'm thrilled this necklace is now being enjoyed by the person who has wanted it for so long! It's been nice to also have gotten a few custom orders which brought much joy to those who requested them! The photos below are my setup at the Winter Farmers Market at the Community Center in Sartell. The middle is a custom earring request and the last is a new choker design I have available. WORD OF ENCOURAGMENT:
In these tumultuous times we definitely must set our hearts aright unto the Lord, constantly enduring temptations and trials and not make hastily decisions in time of trouble. Lets cleave unto Jesus (Yahusha) and not let our hearts go astray so we may stay confident and increased in faith. Whatever is brought upon us we need to consider to take it cheerfully and be patient when we face tough times and are humbled. James 1:2-4 says: Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Remember gold is always tried and purified in the fire and so it is with acceptable mankind in the furnace of adversity. Often that's when our true self comes out (and believe me mine isn't always pretty!! 🤷♀️). Adversity is hard and often scary. It's ok to be scared but not ok to be faint! I'm sure Moses was scared, Daniel was scared, Shadrach, Mechach and Abednego were scared, Peter was scared.... lots of examples, but yet all remained faithful (yes, even Peter). So always believe in the Lord and He will help us as long as we order our way aright and totally trust in Him. Fear (revere, honor, obey) the Lord, always wait for His mercy, don't go aside otherwise you'll fall (or fail), believe Him and your reward won't fail you. Always hope for good and for everlasting joy and mercy. We must remember that the Lord is full of compassion and mercy, He's long-suffering and patient and He forgives sins and He saves in times of affliction. However, me must not have fearful hearts or faint hands! If we are fainthearted we actually aren't truly believing and trusting, so therefore we make wrong decisions and end up in a mess. Let's not lose patience!!! Let's prepare our hearts and humble our souls in His sight and let's not disobey His Word because if we love Him, we will keep His ways. Let's always seek that which is well pleasing to the Lord and we will be filled. It's so much better to fall into the hands of God than the hands of man, for as great as His Majesty is - so also is His mercy! May you have a wonderful March and if you're local maybe we will see you at any of the upcoming events. Blessings, Sam  Hi to all who are still reading my updates 😄😄😄 I can't believe how fast time seems to fly. It's February already (past the middle now) and it sure looks like this site isn't very active when I don't do monthly updates. 😳 Guess y'all just gonna have to hook up with me on Facebook (there's a button for that on here) to get a lil more interaction and you can 'holler' at me over there as well. Today was planned for me to do some web updating and I thought the January update was done - nope, that didn't happen. 🤷♀️🤷♀️🤷♀️. So I better git 'er dun!!! Well, we just have come out of a freeze up North that was colder than the freeze down South, but the southern freeze felt colder to everyone there than our temps where here in the North. 🥶🥶🥶 Who would have thought it would ever get that cold in Texas! 😳🤔 Praying for all the folks still out of electricity/water. I think the electric plants down there might need to insulate all their equipment so they are better protected! Crazy times! May we all thaw out without too many broken water pipes and other issues! Well, here are a couple events that will take place in March for us so you might want to put the dates on your calendars if you want to connect. Two events in the local area (St. Cloud) and one in Illinois (Chicago area). So I'll get right to it and post those.  UPCOMING EVENTS: Event: Sartell Farmers Winter Market (NotesNBling & Warren's Sauce) Day: Saturday, March 6 Time: 10 am - 1 pm Where: Sartell Community Center, 850 19th Street South Town: Sartell, MN Event: Pot-O-Gold Vendors Market. (NotesNBling) Day: Saturday, March 13 Time: 10 am - 4 pm Where: Smith's Central Weddings & Events, 3315 Pearl Street Town: McHenry, IL My daughter Cindy & friends are hosting this event and I'm so thrilled to be back for it this year with NotesNBling showcasing my jewelry line! Event: 12 Hour Minnesota 24/7 BURN (Music) Day: Saturday, March 20 Time: 9am - 9 pm. (our worship set will be 1-3 pm) Where: Harvest Fellowship Church, 400 2nd Ave. N Town: Sauk Rapids, MN  RECAP: January started off amazing with our New Years Eve BURN into the New Year with worship and prayer focusing on our Heavenly Father to give Him thanks for all the good things He has done, despite the world going crazy. We truly do have a lot to be thankful for! Jewelry wise, I've been making a few custom pieces for people and working on a few new projects as well. So make sure you check out my NotesNBling Facebook Page to see the most updated items. I will update the Etsy shop soon as well. It is quite more time consuming to list items due to all the details which need to be mentioned as far as descriptions goes. The beginning of February we finally had the Farmers Winter Market opening once again in Sartell after their Community Center had shut down due to all the restrictions. At least now we have one show a month in person until April. Then we will have to see what will happen next. Looking forward to one music event in a while, which will be at our home church (Harvest Fellowship in Sauk Rapids). This time it'll be 12 hours from 9-9. People can come and go or stay as long as they feel led to stay. Don't have all the line-up yet, but we will be having our music set from 1-3 in the afternoon. Event link: https://fb.me/e/1cqv8UQLK) WORD FROM THE WORD:
I love Psalm 91! I've learned some neat insights lately about this Psalm, it's not in depth, but just a few points. I always get excited when I learn new stuff and want to share it! A lot of people have been mentioning Psalm 91 as a Psalm of protection for what plagues our country and the world. However there is a prerequisite that applies to this Psalm. It is for people who keep the Word of the Lord (Psalm 119:11). It is for those who have made the Lord their habitation (Psalm 119:114). It is for those whose refuge is the Lord (Psalm 142:5). Revelation 3:10 says "because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I will also keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world to test those who dwell upon the earth." Perseverance is one of those words that really jumped out at me. Are we persevering in our true faith or are we succumbing to fear and worry? Proverbs 29:25. The fear of man brings a snare, but he who trusts in the Lord will be exalted. Who are the leaders in the faith we listen to? Are we exalting them above God? Are they true to the Word or are they of some "movement". Beware believer who your spiritual "fathers" are in this life. Be a Berean and check things out against the Word of God. If we've been caught up in certain movements in the Christian faith (and it happens to all of us, me included), we must begin to seek God and show us all the false beliefs we have learned, get rid of them and get right with God! The enemy of our soul has been extremely busy these days. He brings about the snare of the trapper. (Psalm 91:3) A trapper is also called a fowler, bait layer, trap setter. We can be so unsuspecting and then get caught up in a mess (spiritually and physically). Our stumbling blocks are, that we actually end up putting fear or false beliefs upon ourselves by the music we listen to, the movies we watch, the news we absorb, the preachers we listen to, the thoughts and conversations we have. There is SO much more to this Psalm and would take too long to really dive into it here, but - this is a time when we must ask ourselves - how deep is our faith and how much are we aware of the trap layer who wants to steal our peace and joy. How deep is our surrender to our Lord -Yahuah (in Hebrew)? Yahuah means "God of my Salvation". I love Him SO much! Praise be to Him who gives us hope and has saved us from sin through the cross!! He shed His blood as redemption for our sin! May we never take this lightly nor cheapen His grace! May we stay humble and in repentance! Much love, Sam  I just realized the last time any news went out was August! Whoa! 😳 Usually I try to update you guys what's happening and if we are at any events. So I missed sharing about my Open House I hold every year, a couple worship events we took part in, so I guess this is going to be more of a re-cap. First an upcoming event.... UPCOMING EVENTS: Event: New Years Eve 24/7 BURN Day: Thursday December 31 Time: 6pm-1am (We will play from 6-7) Where: Jubilee Christian Center, 3125 Cty Road 74 Town: St. Cloud MN This is an evening of worship/prayer and thanksgiving of God's goodness in 2020. MUSIC RECAP: With so many places shut down this year, including churches and Christian Coffeehouses and Ministries, including all my favorite places (oh how we miss everyone!!!), there was not much music happening. Very grateful for the couple opportunities to participate with the BURN 24/7 Ministry in sharing music and sharing with my WOW Ladies study when we did meet in person. I have to admit that I haven't been playing much, because my attention turned to other things which entered our life, including helping others with some projects. I have lyrics written to one song that I'm yet to put music to. So the goal for next year is to also include the music back into my focus.  NOTES N BLING: You can imagine with all the closures happening everywhere, most of my shows, craft fairs and festivals have shuttered as well. So my yearly October Open House time came around way too fast and I've held off and off trying to decide if I was going to do it or not.🤔 Usually it always took place within my home, generally for two days and we all had enjoyed a great time visiting, hanging out, sharing snacks, tea, coffee and shopping. With the situation this year I figured people wouldn't be comfortable to come inside. So I thought, why not utilize my new event tent I bought this year (hoping to have events). This would be the perfect setup!! It would be outside, for one day only, we could social distance and still visit. The weather had been in the upper 60's and lower 70's, unusual for October, so the invitations went out. The day of the Open House, it was a tad chilly in the morning (of course the temps lowered that day 🙄), but there was NO WIND!!! It turned out to be a very beautiful day. Folks came out, some hung out for a while and visited. What a blessing! So imagine this - the next day - it was SO terribly windy, there would have been no way to do a tent outside, it was that bad. Ah, so grateful for a beautiful Open House day! If the weather is nice next year, I may just do the same thing again! In the meanwhile more craft shows are being held, however those became either hard to get into (as you can imagine, people were eager to share their wares) or they were too far away or simply people I haven't worked with in the past and I'm cautious who I do events with. Even our Winter Farmers Market in Sartell had only ONE single event which was on the first Saturday in November before everything shut down again. For now the Community Center is not open. We did get to set up at the mall in Hutchinson for 4 days last week which was very cool. Thankfully I've had some custom orders come in here and there and time to try out some new designs, which have been well received so far! More to come next year! PERSONALLY
This sure has been a weird year, yet I can say that we've had a LOT to be thankful for and are grateful for God's provisions for our needs. We got a lot of yard work done, which is so cool, something I've been wanting to tackle for the last 3 years, but always seemed so daunting. Now about half of it is done and no more weeds! YEY!!! The other part hopefully we can finish in the spring, which is another major project, but hopefully it'll be super nice once it's done. I'd really like to have a little fountain/pond going, so we will see if we can get that done next year. We have been busy helping some friends with their home remodel project. So that's been really cool. Other than that, we are staying home a lot and that's nice and hard all at the same time. I think this whole year has affected each of us emotionally in one way or another. We miss hanging out, going out to eat, shopping..... hopefully things will open up soon. We are praying that 2021 will be a year where we see God's glory manifested in every believer's life. No matter what happens, God is always in control and never unawares! We wish you all a blessed holiday season and may God grant you wisdom for your life steps this next year. Peace, Sam |
Christian Organic Folk Singer/Songwriter & Author
based in Minnesota See my Jewelry!
 Psalm 100 Scripture
1 Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth. 2 Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing. 3 Know that the LORD Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. 4 Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. 5 For the LORD is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting And His faithfulness to all generations. Archives
June 2020
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