chalkboard fun!

I posted last week that a friend and I threw a shower for my lifetime friend as she prepares to welcome Miss Serenity! As part of the decorations and as a gift I wanted to make a personalized chalkboard with little Miss's name! 

I was looking for a frame to paint myself but when I found this on the clearance rack at Christmas tree shoppe, I just couldn't resist! $6, yeah baby!! The edges are JUST the look I was going for.

 I took the glass out and sprayed it with chalkboard paint. BEST. INVENTION. EVER! Everyone should have a can, or 5! I put a good 3 coats on with a decent drying time in between, 20-30 minutes.

 After packing it all back in the frame and making it nice and tight, I decided to add some more fun! Rosettes are TOO easy to make! Check out these tutorials!
Cherry Street Cottage - fabric flower tutorial
Maize Hutton - frayed flower tutorial

I added some buttons and arranged the flowers like I wanted! 
 I just love the finished result!!! Cute, Cute!

feeling fantastic

Monday I got to play personal assistant for my uncle! He was away on a trip and had some deadlines he needed help meeting. I have to admit it was a lot of fun! 

Because I am not working right now it was fun to have a "job" to do. When I was finished with all the projects he had me do I decided to drop in to one of my favorite stores, Goodwill. I am not ashamed of it at all! I just love good deals and not spending much money! 

I snagged these fun things for a total of $13! Score! 

 BRAND new with tags cropped orange/red pants! Originally from Target for $29, I got them for $5!

 Old Navy seersucker grey and white pants! love, love, love! $5

Old Navy grey fitted v-neck tee. $3

I just love good deals!

2 years

Given the events of the last few weeks I was so thankful to upload the pictures from my camera and find such fun and sweet memories sprinkled in the recent days as well. Great is Your faithfulness, oh God my Father!! 

This last weekend was the middle man's second birthday! I remember the day this child was born but not for very happy reasons. I was stuck 600 miles away while my parents and sister loved on him and his big brother, mommy, and daddy. For 15 miserable days I was separated from them and meeting the newest addition. Thankfully it didn't last too long and I was able to hold him at long last!

The theme was construction and my sister set me loose on the decorations. This is my favorite part of parties and so I went a little crazy! 

Just to warm everyone...don't buy emergency/construction grade/marking spray paint. It DOES NOT STICK TO CARDBOARD!!! Do you see all those orange signs? Look pretty good, yes? From afar they are great. But for heaven's sake, do not touch them. You will look like you stuck your hand in a Doritos bag! UGH! 

For the "road work ahead" sign I ended up scraping the paint on the sides to be able to paint the black around the edge. I had to use E6000 to paste the letters on. Good grief!

Other than the dreaded orange paint, I simply LOVE how things turned out! We included J's special oggie (stuffed dog) in the fun! Along with some of Papa's things from his years of work in this field and some supplies from his shop we made an awesome 2 year old construction party!

One of J's most favorite things is Yo HO (Jake and the Neverland Pirates). When Grandma and Grandpa landed this awesome gift he didn't take it off the remaining of the party! Notice him using his sword to open the packages! hah!

He also LOVED the weed whacker!

Sneaking oreos!

Blowing out the candles!

Tackle time with Aunt Madalee!

After the party I stayed with my sister and her family for a week. We spent the days playing all over NOVA and even spent a day in DC! We had a blast and I loved a time away getting refreshed!

I just love this view!

One looking...

...and the other...

Now them both!!! Gosh, I love these boys!

National conservatory!

I just love sunflowers!

Celebrate Serenity

 Caution! Old picture alert! circa:2006

This girl and I have been friends for as long as I can remember. When my family moved and started attending our church the two of us became fast friends. Everything from sleepovers to playing on the same soccer team. Time and interests have taken us in different directions since graduating 5 years ago. Although our paths have crisscrossed so many times and never stayed in one place for very long we have managed to stay in touch. 

In the recent months God has supplied multiple interactions. One of them was to celebrate the soon arrival of her little Serenity!

 Little girl stuff is so much fun! We had a blast with the fun pink and frills! We had the guests write messages on diapers for encouraging tidbits during those late night changes. We also had a mirror for them to sign with glass markers! We pray those little messages will be an encouragement to her as she grows!

 We had a potluck dinner and cupcakes! It was fun to fellowship and love the mommy-to-be!

 You are loved already Miss Serenity! Can't wait to meet you!

Me and the mommy-to-be!

smiling

Recently I have been meeting with someone to discuss my past, perfectionism, the fight to succeed, and why all of those things fit together. I don't like modern terminology and phrases, fact of the matter is, I am gleaning wisdom of the aged woman like Paul exhorts in Titus.

Why, do you ask, is this relevant to anything I am about to say? Allow me to direct you to that little word in the list above. Perfectionism. I struggle with a terrible case of it. There, I said it. I am not perfect even though every fiber of my being feels like it has to be. I have a hard time letting go and going with the flow. Every defect no matter how small wears on my nerves.

You don't know how big this is, so bear with me. Here is the kicker to all this. Perfectionism is a sin. It is not a godly characteristic and in many cases (mine not excluded) it can become a god. Suddenly the need and the drive to be and do everything right is number 1. As we find in Matthew 5, it is to be a striving and a goal. Never a god. However, it so easily consumes our being.

Still not seeing the relevance? That's ok. Hang on.

Recently, The Master of the story, The Great Physician and Author, The Beginning and the End lead me through a part of His magnificent story that hurt a little. Through my perfectionist eyes I saw failure. Through His eyes, He saw my hurt and gently directed me to what was His best for me. I didn't fail. I obeyed. I can say with confidence that I went through every step and came out the other side with no regrets. I held to my standards, convictions, and beliefs. I didn't give in, give up, or give over.

So as to avoid the elephant no longer, guy and girl are no longer. When I introduced you all to our story I had no intentions of ending things so soon. When we started I had every reason to think we were doing the right thing. He had prayed. I had prayed. He talked to my dad. He pursued me and we went where we felt lead, together, with so many cheering us on.

In the recent weeks my heart started feeling tugged in a different direction. I wanted it to go away. I didn't want it to beat me. I couldn't see how this was striving to be perfect as He is perfect. As He lead, I began to wonder if I had heard correctly. Confirmation upon confirmation later, our best isn't together.

Guy is not a bad guy. I still hope he achieves his goals and dreams. It just won't be with me in his cheering section.

This week has felt like an uphill climb. I have been trying hard to remain joyful. I am thankful for this. I am not sad or regretful. This verse has encouraged my heart in the present days. I am donning myself in strength and dignity and I am smiling at the days ahead. My Father has my heart and is holding it tenderly. He is leading and I don't doubt the last few months were in His plan. He works everything together for good for those that love Him.

I covet your prayers.

Patient in trials, expectant in hope, joyful in the wait.

The great quinoa quest

I have recently formed a fascination with quinoa. It happens to be loaded with protein and fiber (both fantastic for me!) and it is one grain my stomach will handle. Although it is technically a seed, it cooks and acts like a grain. Plus (and this is a HUGE plus for me) it is a mild flavor so adding all kinds of flavor to it is REALLY easy! 

Here are some I've come up with so far! I use the 1/2 cup of quinoa to 1 cup of water. It makes enough for 2 or leftovers for the next day! Score! 

For both of the recipes I used the directions on the back of the package to cook the quinoa.

At the time the quinoa was just about done I threw in some frozen broccoli florets. You could use fresh but be sure to add them sooner or steam them first.  I covered the pot with a lid and let that sit until all the quinoa absorbed the water and the broccoli was tender. 

I used this recipe as a base for the sauce. SUPER easy and SUPER tasty! I altered it this way.

1 clove of garlic
2 tablespoon of olive oil
1 cup cauliflower steamed
milk (I used lactose free 2% because that's what works best for me)
parmesan cheese
olive oil
Italian seasoning
salt and pepper to taste

cook garlic in oil. throw cauliflower and cooked garlic with the oil from the pan in the food processor. Blend a little until mixed a little and chopped up. Add milk and oil until sauce consistency. Add salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning to taste. I also blended in some Parmesan cheese for flavor! YUM!

Pour sauce over quinoa and broccoli. Mix together and top with some extra Parmesan cheese! Enjoy!

Super easy and tasty!

1 roma tomatoe
salt and pepper to taste
Italian seasoning

Again, when the quinoa is just about done, throw in the some Italian seasoning and chopped tomato. Let that heat up. Season with salt and pepper, top with Parmesan cheese, and Enjoy!

Joy in the Journey: drawing from sources

Last week I posted about the question that plagues our generation today. Unfortunately, our girls.

"What are you going to do with your life? Don't throw it away with fairy tale ideas."

Since when did becoming a wife and mother merit the term "fairytale."  How did we as a nation go from having high school classes devoted to helping girls fulfill their God-designed and planned roles to pumping up the feminine success that drives our current culture?

Sad, very sad.

Seeing as I am not the norm, I have never really cared for the norm, nor will my thoughts be changed anytime soon (or easily for the matter), I choose to break the pattern my generation has laid firmly. I choose to be career minded in the blueprint written and sketched in the love letter from my Father. My job description can be found here and the requirements/qualifications can be found here. Just as I wrote in my last post, I am in training. I am working hard!

Like I wrote, it is sometimes trying. Sometimes, it is hard. However, I wanted to follow up with some helpful hints. I can't say it enough, DRAW from sources around you! This will be your most helpful text book!

1. Surround yourself with people who have done it, are doing it, and want to do it. Gain insight, encouragement, and passion. When you are with like-minded individuals you will grow in your love for the subject. It's like music. Alone, a guitar or piano sound nice. If you put the two together, and add drums, electric, bass, maybe a little wind, all of the sudden you have a fantastic sound all because you added it together. Same in life. If you feel discouraged about the next step in obedience, get some encouragement. After a while the sounds together will become a wonderful and big sound.

2. Read about it. There is a whole new world of encouragement out there thanks to the internet. Some of my favorite reads are moms young and older who I find full of information and passion for their positions. They post, funny stories, recipes, family activities, ways to add fun to teaching your children, and fun organizational or budgeting tips. Thier resources are endless if you stockpile enough of them in your bloglovin'!! Try it out! Some of my favorites are:

Raising Arrows
Grace Full Mama
Raising Homemakers
Time-Warp Wife
Serving Joyfully
Simply Helping Him
Blissful and Domestic
Unveiled Wife

3. Teach, teach, teach. It is said that your retain more information if you are teaching someone else what you're learning.  That is exactly why I turn the tables on my ESL class and have them "teach" me or each other a new phrase they learned or why a word is pronounced a certain way. In order for them to teach they have to learn and once they tell the others they are more apt to remember. Same principle applies here. Grab a sister, or honorary sister, have a baking party, plant a garden, babysit, clean something, make a meal for someone, do a project, the possibilities are endless.

God has provided not one, but 2 built in learners. Being in the middle of 5 girls, I have 2 older to learn from, and 2 younger to teach (and sometimes learn too! =D). I have the best of both worlds!

4. Draw from where you find the passion in the first place. Lean heavily on the Father. He is your source of strength. He planted in your heart the desire and He will finish in you the work He has started. In His Word he has printed time and time again that He is your joy! Find it!

5. Remember you are already a Bride. As Christ followers, bought with a price, we are already brides of Him. We may not be able to cook Him meals, and rub his tired shoulders, but anything we do to the least of these, we do to Him. He says in His Word, everything you do, do ALL for the glory of God. Your life of service will praise His name or tear it down. So living the right now to HIS glory is our ultimately calling as brides of Christ.

Take heart! Enjoy the journey!

Joy in the journey: the things they don't tell the trainee

"you aren't going to just sit around and wait for prince charming to come along are you?!"

Can I get a, "mmhmm," if you've been asked this question?!

I did. I have for the last 5 or 6 years. When it became evident that God was clearly leading me away from the "further education" route, so many well-meaning, godly individuals questioned my decision. For a choice that seems so foreign, I was being so judged. From those in authority, brothers and sisters in Christ, pastors, leaders, and the like all casts eyes of disapproval with sighs of disappointment and sympathy as to voice thier concern for me "throwing my life away."

I hurt, literally, by the comments, well-meaning or not, that people gave freely and in abundance. I didn't see Sally Mae get the same treatment for her choice of school or Billy Jo for his choice of country to be a missionary. Unfortunaetly all these were lofty, grand, humbling, and bold statements of thier faith to step out from the childhood and into serving God on college campuses and locations around the globe.

And me? Well, I wasn't. I wasn't grabbing my passport and heading to the airport. I wasn't cashing in my highschool books for college edition. I wasn't packing my things and headed to a discipleship school. To them I wasn't doing anything.

Is any of this resonating with anyone? Am I playing a few familiar cords? What I heard as obedience from my heavenly Father, to others was laziness, an excuse to sit around and loaf, and a poor example of a "good Christian girl." To me, oh to me it was much different. I felt a calling of a different kind. To Sally and Billy they followed Jesus onto a college campus and into the middle of a remote village in Uganda. My calling wasn't to a school or overseas, yet. My calling was for my life. I wasn't devoting 2 years post graduation to a people group or 4 + years to a degree and eventual success. I was devoting my life to the the calling that I find clearly laid out in His Word for me.

When asked as a child what I wanted to be when I grew up it was always one thing. A wife and mom. End. of. story.

I knew then God's call on my life would follow close to this. As I have grown and matured, I have seen it play out slightly different than I expected but it remains the same call.

Allow me to explain. I didn't jump out of my cap and gown and into a wedding dress, followed by a baby by anniversary #1 and house with a fence, jobs set, and 3 or 4 consecutive small ones to follow. I didn't stay home with my rooms all tidy and mannerly children. It hasn't happened that way and I wouldn't want it to. As with any job I need training. That, my friends, is where I am now. I am in training.

You would never lay down to open heart surgery preformed by a man who woke up one day and put on scrubs, would you? NO. And you wouldn't hire a man to file your taxes who never heard of the various forms and filing systems, would you? NO. And you would never ask someone to plead your case in court who never cracked the cover of a law book, would you? NO.

All of these occupations and so many others require schooling, training, hours of practice, observation, attention, work, and a desire to complete said job. For most careers on this earth you can't just walk in and express that you woke up and wanted to be whatever it is. It takes time.

To be clear here, the moms who had less training this doesn't make you less equipped. God knew what you needed and how much you needed. If you did jump from one thing to wife in a matter of months God designed that for you. For me, He plotted out a few more months/years. However the amount of time, you still need training. To be a wife and mother requires work and training. Those two occupations hold so many hats and take so many talents.

So, to answer the question, no. I am not going to sit around while I am waiting. I am training. As with most things the waiting and training are hard, draining, and difficult at times. The things you don't hear are often the things we don't want to admit for fear of "failing."

Things like:

#1 At the end of the day, it's still training. You will tuck in someone else's children, clean someone else's kitchen, and put away someone else's food. You won't come down your stairs at the end of a long day and curl up next to your hubby.

#2 You are going against the grain of our modern culture. Any time you go against the flow it take a LOT of work.

#3 There is no time line. No "end in sight" at any given moment. You don't know when your training will be over and you can't plot out the events of your days accordingly. You have to devote your time and energy to training and God will decide when you have completed it, not you.

#4 You're being watched and that is weary. It is hard to be constantly observed. So many are just watching you and what you do mostly because of #2.

It doesn't make this job easier to express these things. The only thing it does do is help you realize that others feel the same way.

I have struggled with perfectionism for a long time. I am learning that it is rooted in something not eternal seeking and I need to s.t.o.p. However, for so long that fed my need to NOT admit that I had feelings of failure. It is a work and a striving after Him and His ways. It is not an overnight feat and I thought that if I voiced my concern for a issue, problem, or shortcoming I had altogether failed. NOT TRUE! Not at all my friends. Admitting where you come short shows His strength all the more.

So, dear readers, if you are reading along and feel like it is a little tiring right now rest on these things.

• God is with you and promises to always be. He will never leave you or forsake you and He will give you strength to get up and do it again.
• You are not alone...There are so many out there who feel the same way. Take heart that there is Joy in the Journey. 
• Strive with all your heart for the end result and that is to glorify the Father. I heard it said last weekend, "God, if you are glorified, I am satisfied." Be satisfied in that. 

Happy Wednesday!  

the great 9 week to-do list!

Earlier this year I made the choice to chop my job. I cut out 2/3 of the kids effectively reducing my paycheck to 1/3 of the normal amount and taking out 90% of the occurrences causing some major draining on my emotional and physical bank accounts. I know the math there was kind of faulty, just roll with me on this one! 

Many are the plans in a man's heart...many! But it is GOD'S purposes, plans, and priorities that will prevail! 

After making this decision I waited until Friday. You see, Friday was the horizon I had been working at seeing over for 3 months. On the other side was 9 whole weeks of freedom! Yes, you read that correctly. For 9 weeks, 45 workdays I will only be working a grand total of 8 hours each week. Doable? I think yes! 

With the other time I plan on getting some projects DONE! I can't wait to roll up my sleeves and attack some serious Proverbs 31 woman jobs! My goal will be to post 1 job each week that I accomplished! Follow along and tag along if you care to and post some of your summer projects! I'd love to get inspired! 

I have no rules for myself because I am taking this new approach that says, "if I finished a job I succeeded." (more on that later)! I want fun and work to tango to provide a refreshing and rejuvenating few months!

As many projects as I can do, 

1 post a week about said projects,

and 9 weeks to do it! 

Let's begin!

mirey clay

He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm. Psalm 40:2

I promise, I am still in existence. It's been a whirlwind month or so. Learning lots and tons to be thankful for. I am headed away this weekend after I wrap up the last day of full time work for not one, not two, but 3 whole months of 1 day a weekers! Praise the Lord for some time off! God knew I needed it! 

Working on some posts...promise! Excited about the directions I'm being lead.

Praising Him from the rock and wish you all a happy weekend!