year four

Happy Anniversary Mr. Christopher.
Today we are four.
Number four has been the best so far hasn't it?
At least much better than that nasty number two.
Woo-wee, that year was a doosey!

You are so good for me and so good to me.
You are kind and gentle.
You're realistic, but you've learned to soak in my dreamy dreams.
You're patient.
You think inside your head (unlike me who thinks everything very much on the outside).
You trust me.
You let us get a dog.

I love you.
I love you in the morning (especially on those school days when you get up in the wee hours of the morning to make me coffee, every single day).
I love you when I come home and you take a break from work to be with me and sit at the kitchen table in your spot and me in my spot and we talk. And I love you when you're willing to not sit at the kitchen table you at your spot and me at my spot, but instead on the couch (even though we said we never would, oh well) and we watch wheel of fortune and eat our oven-baked pizza. I love you then, too.
I love you in the evenings when we go outside in our new-to-us back yard. And you work with that saw and that shovel and all those other things and you chop things up or down or whatever (but you never take off your shirt, darnnit!) and you work so hard for our home and then you sit beside me with your cup of sweet tea in that blue mason jar that is so girly you never would have had it in a million years if you hadn't married me but you drink it and you are happy and content. I love you then too.
I love you at night when you stop what you are doing to tuck me into bed, because we all know that you are a late nighty night person and I am very much the early bird and so momma needs her sleep, and you tuck me in and kiss me goodnight and walk downstairs.

But most of all, I love you because you love Him, because you love Jesus and because you love him your life is all about Him and you challenge me to make my life all about Him too. I love you because you put Him first and then me and challenge me to do the same. And then our dog. Or maybe other things after that, but she is definitely up there somewhere.

Thank you Mr. Christopher. I wish I were with you today on our year four to give you a big smooch and pinch your butt.

Seattle says hello!

p.s. Remember when we walked down the aisle to the tune singing Love, Love, Love, Love is all you need! That was fun.

tutorial tuesday: whimsical pinwheel branch

This afternoon I am so very excited to share with you a tutorial for a project I made yesterday in my homey home.

I'm calling it a Whimsical Pinwheel Branch. First, here it is:

Now, here's how you make it... in photos:

Materials include: scrapbook paper, paper cutter and hot glue 

(other tutorials recommend regular glue, I say nay, bring on the HOT glue gun!)

For a large pinwheel, I use 2 sheets of paper, and cut them into 4 - 6 inch x 12 inch strips (see below).

For a medium pinwheel, I use 1 sheet of paper cut into 3 - 4 inch x 12 inch strips.

For a small pinwheel, I use 1 sheet of paper cut into 4 - 3 inch by 12 inch strips.

The thickness of your folding can vary. For the large pinwheels I folded mine every inch. For the smaller pinwheels I folded them every 1.5 inches.

Once you are done you can either hang them, tape them or use them however you want. I fastened mine to a branch in my backyard and hung it above my mantle.

Forewarning: the natural lighting in my living room is terrible, so I apologize in advance!

That's all for this tutorial! Are you crafting up anything in your home lately? Please share!

...

p.s. "Live in the sunshine" print is handmade by one of my favorite etsy shops. Check her out. I just want all of her things! They're beautiful!

This one is my new favorite. I think I will ask for it for Christmas.

what i'm reading

The Shack | I read this book a few years back when I was in college. I think my Aunt encouraged me to read it. I remember being blown away by the book, being challenged in my view of God and who He is and what He is like and how relational He is to us.

If you're like me reading is something you love but it takes a little while to get back into it. The Shack is one of those books that is interesting and also an easy read. I wanted to read it again to be challenged once again in my view of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit but also so that it would help me to transition back into a reading mindset for the summer.

Favorite passage | When all you see is your pain, perhaps then you lose sight of me? 

Jesus Calling | I started following a devotional earlier this year with one of my friends, Mallory. After doing a few rounds of it she mentioned Jesus Calling in one of her emails. I remember thinking that I needed something consistent and physical this summer to read through and be challenged in. Jesus Calling is just that. I love hearing Jesus' calls to us through the author, Sarah Young. It's been a great way to spend my mornings.

Favorite passage | Time with Me cannon be rushed. When you are in a hurry, your mind flitters back and forth between Me and the tasks ahead of you. Push back the demands pressing in on you; create a safe space around you, a haven in which you can rest with Me.

The New Testament | It has been a habit of mine to want to read the Bible since I became a believer. Now, wanting to read the Bible is one thing, actually making it a habit is quite another. I've loved having unpressed time in the morning to read however much I want, soak in the words, hear them read from my lips, my heart and my reflections. It's been a blessing to have this time with the Lord.

Favorite passage {this is always changing!} | Do not store up for yourselves treasures on Earth, where month and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21

What are you reading right now? Any recommendations for my next book?

thrift my junk: birdcage

Today is the LAST post of my thrift my junk series.
I feel accomplished to have finished what I set out to do.
Wahoo!

Before: an old birdcage
Price: Bought at Goodwill in Moberly, MO for $4

After: Fireplace plant stand
Price: $5 for paint + primer white spraypaint
(I also used the rest of this can to re-finish a black mirror (into a white mirror) and a black frame (into a white frame). Maybe if I'm motivated I'll show you these bad boys later.

(Photographed as a plant stand first upstairs, because lighting in living room is terrible).

Honeybadger approved!

Any ideas for a future blog series?
Feedback would be awesome!
Happy weekend!

[And it is not over yet]

Today I planted.
I planted thirty gladiolus bulbs 
and eight cannas bulbs.
A few weeks ago I planted four dahlia bulbs.
I am so eager for them to grow.
Some already are.

As I was planting I noticed weeds growing up.
Weeds growing in the spots I have already weeded.
My heart was bummed and a little tired.
And then I was reminded of this lesson the Lord challenged me in last summer.
And I was reminded that I am not done pulling the weeds.
That I will be pulling weeds in every season. 
Always.

While I was pulling and planting, I prayed.
I asked the Lord to make this season easier.
To take away the hardship. The trials. The suffering.
If only this season could be easy. Could be about pulling weeds that are only rooted at the surface, rather than deep below the ground.

He just told me [This season will be hard. And it is not over yet].
My heart broke.
But at the same time, I am hopeful, that no matter how hard this season becomes or is, that He is there beside me through every bit of it. That is something I can put my hope in.

**p.s. Please say prayers for my Dad this week. He is finishing up his second week of radiation very soon. Please pray that his health is maintained and that he can still taste food as long as possible!

[Be content in the small]

Somedays I see little corners of my home, like this, and I get really excited.
I take a double look.
I imagine future swiftlets sitting beside a window, book in hand, eager to learn and explore.
I imagine my white hardwood floors stained and dirtied with little footprints that are precious.
I imagine a future life that seems exciting and different and adventurous and sacrifical
and so adult-like.
And sometimes I get anxious.

Sometimes instead of just taking that double look and smiling and enjoying the moment of dreaming dreams for a future time, sometimes instead fear and anxiety and covetness takes over. It steals the joy and excitement and the patience that my soul has in store.

It tells me what I am not. It tells me what I have not. It tells me what is lacking and sad about where I am at right now. It tells me that I need this and I need that and I need to be doing this or that or the other thing before any of this can happen.

Sometimes it tells me that I am too old or unprepared or hurry up with it already, you're missing out! It tells me that I don't have enough, that I am not enough, that I need to go, do and buy to make up for it.

And them I am left feeling empty, or worse, believing those things. Those lies.

It's interesting how things that are blessings and joys and good can sometimes become idols. How they can sometimes be the things that tell us that if only we had those things, life would be good. I would feel better. I would be content. 

Yet, the reality is that I am striving for a non-existent life.  A life that is not really mine. And that instead of all of the striving to be something I am not, something I have not, something that is not me, I instead need to strive for contentment in the here, the now. Contentment in the small things. Contentment in where He has me today. Right now. This place.

Today I was at the store. I had only a few things on my list, but there was so much more I wanted to buy. Living in our fixer-upper home means that I constantly have a million things on my mind that I want to buy to update or fix-up or repair. All of these things were going through my head when I heard his plea to [Be content in the small]. To enjoy the small things. Where he has me.

I am deciding that this lesson to [Be content in the small] is a lifelong lesson that He is wanting me to learn. And the more I learn in my twenties, the easier (I hope!) it will be in my thirties and forties and so on.

And so I am challenged today in this: to love where I am at, to be appreciative for where He has me and to [Be content in the small].

What is He challenging you in right now?

embarrassing myself

Summer officially begins today.
(At least for me).
My life has been in chaos for the past weeks.
Well, let's just say months.
Mostly good chaos. School, work, ministry, weddings, yadda, yadda.
In the meantime, Mr. Christopher and I have let some things... go.
Like our house.

Exhibit A: Our bedroom

I'm not going to lie and tell you that I am one of those people who has their home all together.
I have friends who are like that. They're amazing. They baffle me.
But that ain't me.

We have piles people.
But we have baskets for those piles, or at least time requirements on those piles.
We at least organize our clutter (normally).

But lately... even that has gone downhill. (What even is going on up there?^^)

Exhibit B: Our living room

Even the spare rooms that we don't even sleep in are a hot mess:

And the kitchen... probably the dirtiest. Maybe not as much stuff but dirty.
I was being nice to myself in taking the photo from this end:

But you know what we're doing today?
This:

Resting.
Thoughts have gone through my head throughout the day that I am lazy, selfish, dirty, incompetent, less of a woman, yadda, yadda for having an "unkept home." But i've decided that those things are lies. And that today I deserve to rest and to do whatever the heck I want to.

Which right now... is blogging.

Everything else begins tomorrow.

Happy weekend!