My Story

I recently was blessed to be given the opportunity to speak at a moms group I go to and as I prepared my heart and my words to open up my journey with women that I am still getting to know past fears and Satan's lies tried to fill my head. That I would be judged, that grace would not be given and I would be looked down on.

Now, these women have never done or said anything that would make me think that this would be their reaction but Satan works in a way to make us throw out ration and plant seeds, in my case it was fear of rejection. He doesn't want me telling my story. He knows the Glory it brings to God every time I share it. I overcame the power he and this world had on me and I turned to a Savior.

He(God) saved me time after time after time. I made some very poor choices in my past that were far from safe or healthy and I cant help but think that I should have turned out a whole lot different but He saved me. I was the wondering sheep in his flock of 100, He chased after me. He blessed me with a church, with a man who would love me unconditionally through my garbage, who would respect me when I needed to see what it was like for a man to actually respect me, who would love my daughter as his own. Who would lead our family spiritually and who would challenge me.  He blessed me with His love, His grace, His mercy and His redemption.

I have a story, a sin filled messy story. We are all sinners in need of forgiveness, In need of His grace and His mercy. Im thankful I heard His whispers..... although by the time I payed any attention to them I think it was more of a shouting.

***I thought about writing out my story for everyone but it is a long story and it is a part of not only me but my family and I hold it dear to my heart. I am sure there will be a time where it is all out there on the internet for whomever to see (if that is on Gods plan) but right now I dont feel that is what God is calling me to do. If you genuinely want to know I would love to email you privately and share my journey with you.

Prayer and Praise board

This next item I cant take too much credit for. My husband came up with the concept, design, made it and I just assisted in purchasing the chicken wire, stapling it onto the frame and providing the small cute little paper clips but I wanted to share because this is one of my favorite additions to our house.
We used old pallet wood, chicken wire and some nails and voila!!

We will use the board to put up prayers we have for ourselves and those around us and also use it for praises to the Lord. I am still working on deciding on a template for how I want to do the cards but I am thinking of having the same cards but on the back of each have some with Prayer and some with Praise.

It can be multipurpose you could put up pictures, Christmas cards, kids artwork, etc....the possibilities are endless

I was even suggesting to J that we throw these bad boys up on Etsy.

Christmas DIY Part 3

NOEL NOEL NOEL.....

Love this fun new addition to my mantel in our basement......















Thanks to some wood letters from Hobby Lobby, some spray paint, acrylic paint, yarn and berries and the idea and motivation from J's cousin (Shout out to Carolyn Munday ) I have this fun and festive Decor.

Psst.... you can even see the fun Glittered reindeer I posted about in Part 2 of my Christmas DIY

Christmas DIY Part 2

I had seen this adorable little glittered reindeer on Pinterest and couldn't wait to try it.

Here is my step by step

• I searched Reinder Silhouette images on google and printed out the one I liked best.
• After printing I cut out the image and traced it onto a 12x12 canvas I had
• Then I got the goldest glitter I could find at Hobby Lobby and some elmers glue and one small section at a time I painted on the glue
• I shook on the glitter then off the excess until I had glued and glittered the whole thing 
• I then brushed off any excess glittered that was anywhere it shouldnt be with a foam paint brush
• Then I sprayed the heck out it with extra strength hairspray and let it dry for a couple hours. 

I couldnt be happier with the results. I even got inspired to do something similar for new decor for my daughters room (which I will show later)

Christmas DIY part 1

I love anything I can save a buck on and DIY myself so as I started to decorate our new house for Christmas I realized I had a lot more space to decorate and not as many decorations so I decided to get creative. Luckily I (like everyone else) has Pinterest for inspiration along with lots of fun shops locally that I can window shop for ideas.

So I started with some pallet boards we have had in our garage for forever and some white paint that the painters left when we moved into our house.

I took an older brissely paint brush and lightly brushed the un sanded pallet boards with the white paint to give it a distressed look.

Then I had my husband cut down the boards to the size I wanted and decided on the phrase for it.

Once that was done I took a stencil I have had in my craft room and after trying acrylic paint and getting beyond frustrated I got advice from a friends in a moms group I go to (Shout out to Amy Langhans) and she suggested a sharpie.

Turns out sharpie was the way to go! After stenciling and coloring in everything I took some sandpaper and rubbed it over the letters to distress them a bit too.

My husband attached the boards with a couple of small strips of wood we had on hand and voila.... I had this 

I love love love the way it all came together

Goals, dreams and the unknown

If you know my husband well you know that he is a Goal person. He makes goals, works towards them and reaches them every year. From his career goals, to our marriage and family, his spiritual, physical and everything in between.

I on the other hand am not.......

I never really knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to be a mom, a wife and that was pretty much the extent of my dreams for my future. I didnt go to College for many reasons, one of which I didnt know what I would want to go to school for so I made the decision at first not to go and then being a single mom pretty young I decided it was not in the cards for me.

Fastforward to present day..... I am a mom and a wife and I love it. I am content and satisfied in that, or so I thought.

My husband and I recently had a conversation about what my hopes, dreams and goals were for myself and our family. I sat there with a blank stare and tears in my eyes because I was embarressed. Not one thing could come to mind. Sure there were things in my far off wild dreams that I would love to do but I dont think I have ever had the confidence instilled in me to believe any of that was actually possible. I have done one thing ever (other than my family) that I have loved and that was ministry.
Since that conversation with my husband and many other after that and as I have begun to dialouge with God and realizing that while I love being a mom and a wife one day my kids will grow up and they will move out and I will be lost.... and then what?

My husband had the confidence instilled in him from a very young age that he could do what he put his mind to. He has tried many things and while  he may not always have succeeded the way he wanted to he tried it. I cant say the same for myself.

I read an article written recently by a man who was recently divorced and was giving marriage advice and something he said hit me like a ton of bricks

One piece of advice he gave to husbands was to allow your wife to have time for herself especially after she has kids because she will need to get re-centered and find herself after she gets lost in serving the husband and the kids

It dawned on me I never had a chance to find myself. I became pregnant at 20 and a mom at 21. I didnt know who I was, what I stood for or what I wanted out of life. So I went into parenthood not knowing those things and not really having the time to figure it out. When I did get married and have a husband who does give me time for myself I didnt know what to do. I was lost. He always joked with me that I needed to get a hobby and I would laugh it off saying I had some but it turns out I didnt.

I still dont know what I want to do. I have lots of things that I love to do and I am praying where God may lead me but I know now I have to atleast try. Even if I have to try a 100 things and fail at 99 of them to find where my passions lie and where God is calling me.

I love to write, craft, decorate, speak to women, speak to highschoolers and young adults, I love ministry, and children so who knows what avenues I will be able to put my energy into but I am going to start here. Have something for myself.
 I have said it before and I am sure I will fall off the blogging bandwagon again but I am at least going to try and be more consistent and see where this takes me....
So stay tuned and help to hold me accountable.