Happy Fall Y'all 2012

This summer I made a goal for myself.  Every Christmas I take a few days to get a million all my decorations put out.  I love it.  I enjoy passing all the pretty, sparkly, twinkling goodies.  I look forward to staring at the tree all lit, and covered in matching ornaments.  My kids rooms look just a little more special with precious little trees in them.  I can't get enough....but then...December 31st comes and I MUST put the beauties back up.  Then I realize I did a lot of work to not get to enjoy them for very long....so this year WILL be different.  

I decided to put my Fall decorations out on September 1st...and I did. :) I will start to put my Christmas decorations out on....NOVEMBER 1st!  Yes, I know this is early...maybe even too early.  If I start to get sick of seeing my Christmas decor before Christmas then I won't put them out quite so early next year!!!  All that said...here is my Fall Mantle this year!!  I really like it.  I didn't spend one cent on this here project!!  Whoohoo!  My favorite is probably the sunflower-mason jar-basket thingy!  I hope you like it!  

 

Happy Fall Ya'll!!!

It's All That Matters

Two Sunday's ago we started a new series in our Sunday School class...we are studying Ephesians.  We watched a short little video then went through some discussion questions. 

We talked about the letter that Paul wrote to Ephesus {and surrounding churches} and all the sweet goodness in chapter 1.  For example: 

³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 

and

⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace ⁸ that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, ⁹ he^[d] made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ,

and

¹⁵ For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, ¹⁶ I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.

but my favorite....

¹⁷ I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. ¹⁸ I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, ¹⁹ and his incomparably great power for us who believe.

During the discussion I talked about why I love verses 17-19..and why those verses are ALL THAT MATTERS.  

Paul wants us to read the Bible and have all the wisdom and knowledge through it so that we can understand life!!!  I mean without striving to "get" God's word we are just floundering around in life.  But if we delve into His word, and we pray for "enlightenment" to understand it, God will reveal all that we need to make it through life...like how to pick a mate, how to raise your children, how and why to tithe, how to praise Him, how to intercede for others (look up there in verse 15!!!), how to stand up for what's right, how to bring OTHERS to Christ!!  It's all in the study, knowledge...understanding God's AWESOME WORDS!!     

How blessed we are to have God's word to draw from!! 

Very blessed are we!!

 

Liar, Liar Pants on Fire!

I knew this day would come, but I prayed it wouldn't be here so soon...

My oldest son, Aidan, lied to us.  No, I don't expect that this is the first time.  But it is the first time that counts!!  A SUPER long story short as short as I can make it....

A few weeks ago we found out Aidan burned his retina's looking at the sun back during the solar eclipse in May (I think!).  It was upsetting, but the doc suggested he take eye vitamins...it hasn't been tested to fix this problem, but we were going to try it.  My dad bought the meds, Aidan took the meds.  Well, this past week we discovered he had been lying about taking his medication!!!

This momma was floored.  I was so sad...disappointed.  I told him that when I tell people about him I say that he is "a big helper, smart, trustworthy and he always tells the truth"...those are my exact words.  I told him now I cannot say that anymore.  It breaks my heart that I cannot trust him now.  He will have to earn back my trust.  I love him so VERY much.  I know this type of sin will only get worse as he becomes a teenager.  I lied, I lie...but thank the Good LORD, the Holy Spirit convicts me when I do.  I pray that now that Aidan has accepted Jesus into his heart that the Holy Spirit will move his heart as well.

He lost MANY privileges over this little bout of lying, but we knew he needed to do more to learn how God views lying....

So we decided to have him write down EVERY single verse in the Bible that talked about lying.  It had to be legible.  He wasn't thrilled about it, but he didn't fight us either.  I believe it made a difference....I pray it made a difference.

But in case you were wondering, Aidan's eyes were checked a few weeks after the initial appointment and his retina's weren't burned!!!  Yay...he does however have floaters...little black spots roaming around those pretty eyeballs.  And we have continued to make him "take" his pills...without success, but hey, we are doing our best!!  :D

Wordless Wednesday {SOUR CREAM!}

{New Blog!!}

Just wanted to plug my new photography blog!!

Go HERE!!

Hop on over and take a look!  It's just about time to start taking family pictures again, and I am super excited!  I hope my old clients will want to sign up again, and that new prospects will want my services!! ;) 

I am doing my first Newborn photo session soon and I am SUPER excited and VERY nervous!  I pray it all 

goes well and that I can get some amazing shots. :)

Have a great week dear friends!!

Pinteresting Sayings

Just some sayings I've pinned recently:

Source: pinterest.com via Ashley on Pinterest

totally hilarious...but oh, so true.

Source: adornonashoestring.com via Ashley on Pinterest

sadly, very much how I have felt a lot lately...but, just keep smiling, just keep smiling!!  Ha!

Source: vwbblog.com via Ashley on Pinterest

Amen, Amen, Amen!!  Somedays I can't tell God thank you enough for all He has done to bless me!!

Source: someecards.com via Ashley on Pinterest

LOVE!!!

Source: i.imgur.com via Ashley on Pinterest

For real!!!  Seriously!!  ;)

Source: whenhellomeansgoodbye.blogspot.com via Ashley on Pinterest

Oh, how much I love this saying.  I used to say I could never let my children grow up to be missionaries.  I know...pathetic.  But now, I pray God can use them to the best of their abilities for HIS GLORY!

Source: someecards.com via Ashley on Pinterest

OMGosh...so funny!!

Source: etsy.com via Ashley on Pinterest

And of course I had to end with this saying...one of my TOP FAVORITES EVER!!  

I hope you all have a great week!!

Random

Okay...so I set my alarm for 6am every weekday so that I can get MYSELF up and get MYSELF ready.  Then I wake the kids up at 7am and we proceed with our morning...making breakfasts, making lunches, getting them dressed, stopping the arguments, etc.

Well, that is the plan....but since the beginning of summer Owen has been coming into our room at approximately 5:45am.  Ugh!  I mean, really?!  He slept in 2 times this summer...yes TWO!!  That is it...since it only happened twice they are very memorable!!  Ha!

But what really irritates me is I am already getting up so stinking early so I can focus on myself so that I can COMPLETELY focus on them at 7...I REFUSE to get up an earlier!!  So that's it...just complaining about a problem I can't fix!  Hahaha!!

Finn has started taking gymnastics!  He is super excited, and I think he will be AWESOME at it!  Last week was his first time...I wish I could say how he did...but all the other excited parents were blocking the only tiny window that looks in to the ginormous gym.  This week I might just have to elbow a few of them to get a glimpse of my own personal Danell Leyva (he was the 2012 Olympian that carried around his "lucky" towel...and had his crazy, funny dad by his side all the time)!!

I am co-hosting a shower this Saturday for a super sweet and very deserving couple.  They have struggled through many miscarriages and losses and now they are adopting a baby boy.  He is due NEXT MONDAY!!!  We are hoping he doesn't make his arrival until at least Sat night!!  ha!  I've been working hard on decorations...a wreath, a pennant banner, a rag banner.  I hope it all turns out okay...we are having it  at our preacher's house.  I've never been there so it has been kind of hard to plan everything out!  Oh well, I'm sure all will be fine!  I am planning on taking lots of pictures.  :)

I've been on blood pressure meds for  3 weeks.  I'm trying to decide if it is making my pressure too low though.  Some days I can barely keep my eyes open and I get all lightheaded when I stand.  Guess I should call the doctor!!  Ha!

I'm LOVING the AMAZINGLY cooler weather here in Fort Worth!!  It's such a WONDERFUL break from 110!!

Well, I think that's all the randomness I've got for now!!  Have a GREAT Monday friends!

Nest Meets Wreath

So I had a pretty crafty day this past Friday!! :)  

I bought this precious little birds nest in Canton back in early May.  I didn't know what I wanted to do with it, but I wanted people to be able to see it.  Well, after many attempts at sitting it on its side, I decided that wasn't gonna work.  I also didn't like what I had in one of my art niches in the foyer.  I sat and pondered for a few months days and came up with the following idea...my nest + a skinny wreath + some feathers + some other fillers = something cute...maybe?  So a month ago or so I bought all the pieces (very cheap with Hob Lob coupons..probably only spent $10 plus the cost of the nest at Canton, which was about $4).  And the process began:

I just randomly stuck these pretty neat looking reeds down into the wreath...they fit so well together...

Next I added this BEAUTIFUL off-white feather.  I love it...

Then I added this little feather bunch.  I don't know why feathers are so dang expensive...but I found this little beauty for $1.99!!  Yay me!

The next step was to hot glue that little nest right on the wreath!!  I adjusted everything and voila!!  So beautiful!  And it accomplished my goal of getting that precious nest up and visible!

In its new home...sorry the picture quality seems so fuzzy.  I was taking all these pics at night, so I was working with a harsh flash. :(

One last look.  :)  

I plan on keeping this up through Fall and put it out again during winter.  But I will probably put it away for Spring and Summer.  I really like it a lot.  I still need to dress this area up a little more, but I love this addition!!  {A shout out to my Momma...THANKS for the awesome wreath holder!  I love it!}

Farm House Treasure Revamp

I'm so excited to share my most recent project!  While on vacation this year my grandma (or mom, I can't remember right now) picked up this AMAZING treasure for me!!  It is an old wooden frame that hung in my Grandma's farm house when she was a little girl!!! It belonged to my great grandparents!!  I was in love...I love old...vintage...but I ESPECIALLY love finding out that it belonged to my family!!!!  It has seen better days...it's a bit rickety, kind of fragile...but so special to me!  So here she is in all her glory:

A close up of my favorite part...look at the detail!  Simply lovely....

Worn and chippy...

And now the revamp process begins!!  I laid it out on hand writing paper...cause that's how I roll...whatever is cheap and easy.  

And I just thought it was so cool that it still had all the old hardware!  So I snapped a picture of it!

And I painted it...yes, turquoise...my favorite color EVER!!  I wonder if I will always love this color.  Hmm?  

And here she is!!!  So fresh, blue, funky, clean...perfect!!  

And again...a close-up of my FAVORITE part...the swirls and stuff!!  Probably my favorite picture too!!

And now hung up in her new home!  I won't tell you what was hanging here first...well, maybe I will!!  It was a beautiful cross wreath, but it was covered in way too many layers of dust!!  Embarrassing!!!  But it is hanging pretty high...too high for my swiffer duster!!  Teehee!

I just love it...SO.VERY.MUCH!!  ;)  I'm so glad my family brought this to me, I can't express how much it means to have it hanging in my house!