Life is Hard

I have discovered over the years that life is very hard at times. This is one of those times. Again. My husband and I have moved seven times in the past eight years. He has had ten different jobs in those years as well. We have had eight years of infertility and two miraculous adoptions. It has been a rough, rocky road, with some fun turns but a lot of potholes that have left us clinging to our God for hope and perseverance. I still believe He has a plan for our family. Over the years I have often clung to my two favorite verses:

Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will carry you through."

Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a hope and a future."

We are in a place of trust once again. My husband started his own consulting company last fall and immediately acquired three great clients. We were doing better than ever. Than out of nowhere all three clients quit in March. We couldn't believe it. My husband has been relentlessly trying to find a job ever since. As most people are aware it is really tough out there. My consistent prayer has been for stability. Stability in a job, stability in our church home, stability in our home/location, just plain old stability. Stability is the one thing we have yet to experience in our marriage/family.

If you are reading this and could spare a prayer for us we would appreciate it. Also if you know of any job leads we would gladly love to hear about them as well. Right now we are completely open to anything.

I am just so thankful that our faith has remained stable after all this time. We know that God loves us and is working on things that we can't see. We want to be faithful to Him above all else. Because he has always been so faithful to us.

Amazing

This past weekend I went on a women's retreat with my church and it was amazing!  And now I definitely know why Satan didn't want me to go.

The first night there God blessed me to be able to help a 52 year old woman discover why she needed Jesus in her heart, and I got to witness her open up her heart and life to HIM!  She accepted Christ and almost immediately you could see the scales fall from her eyes and her heart fill with peace.  We laughed and cried and rejoiced! It was amazing. 

During the next two days God used me to share, console, bless, encourage, exhort, and love on about 7 other women.  He put me in the right  places at the right times and gave me the words to speak.  I felt God living and moving within me for the first time in months, maybe years, and it was awesome.  Usually people go on women's retreats to see what God wants to teach them.  God ended up bringing me on this trip to be there for others.  It felt so good to be used by Him, I felt like I was right where He wanted me to be. 

I want to feel like that everyday.  I want to live IN His presence.  I want to feel that my life is an act of worship, not just the songs I sing.  God really impressed it on my heart that I need to serve, I need to be aware of the needs of the people around me and do whatever I can to help meet those needs. 

Andy and I both have been going through a sort of spiritual transformation over the last few months.  It's like that verse Ephesians 2:10 "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared IN ADVANCE for us to do."  I feel like God is preparing us for something that he wants us to do as a family.  Whether that is a ministry, a mission, or church leadership, we don't know yet.  But our job right now is to allow God to work on us, shape us, mold us, so that we can be in the right place to be used by Him when that time comes. 

I am so glad I squashed all those fears over going on this retreat.  God is sooo good and I can't wait to see what else He has in store for our life :)

Black, Gray, and White

The past month or so I have been praying about taking my faith to the next level.  The one area of my life that I haven't given over to God completely is the TV shows that I watch.  Every week at church I come away feeling like God wants to me to let go of this area of my life and let Him guide what I watch.  This past Sunday our pastor talked about not letting even a hint of immorality into your life, which includes laughing at coarse jokes.  Well, we all know that TV is chock full of coarse jokes.  Even some of the most innocent shows have parts of crude humor.  I have been talking to my husband about this and he agrees but is also struggling with completely letting go of some show that we have been watching for years.  It's like being in the middle of a book and having to put it down and not know the ending.  It's not exactly easy.  So we decided to put the shows we like into categories.  Black shows are the ones with very blatant sexual themes or characters that have anti-Christian beliefs.  Gray shows are the ones where the story line doesn't revolve around sin but there are small amounts of sexual content or violence in side stories within the show.  White shows are plainly just shows that we feel comfortable watching with our kids in the room.  We decided to completely remove the black shows, keep the gray shows only on the TV in our bedroom and the white shows on the TV in the family room.  It sounds easy enough but it is not.  It has been one week and we have already cheated and watched a few of the black shows.  The goal of course is to watch less TV, spend more time with my kids and husband,  read more books, and grow more in my walk with God.  I think most people's black, gray, and white lists might be different based on your struggles and what God lays on your heart.  I am sure you are wondering what is on our lists and I am happy to share a few.

Black shows:  Grey's Anatomy, Modern Family, Mike & Molly, How I Met Your Mother, Glee, 2 Broke Girls, anything on MTV.
Gray shows: Mentalist, Hart of Dixie, Pretty Little Liars, the Bachelor
White shows: American Idol, Survivor, Amazing Race, HGTV, ESPN, Pioneer Woman, Once Upon a Time

There are a few more but I can't remember them now.  It is so easy in our lives to just let things slip in and have an influence over us without even realizing it.  Many of these shows seem so innocent but they really do impact the way you think and view the world.  I want to live a life that pleases God, and often time that will require sacrifice.  If I have to sacrifice a few TV shows to get there, it is definitely worth it.

Bargain Furniture Makeovers

So as you know I have recently gotten into upcycling old furniture pieces to make them more modern and fun!  Last weekend while my husband was painting the tallest wall in our house a beautiful blue I was doing some painting of my own.  Over the past few weeks I found a child size rocking chair and a "phone table" from the sixties at Goodwill and a garage sale.  I also found an awesome end table on the side of the road.  I sanded them and painted them and they are like new!  It is so fun to transform something unwanted and distressed into something beautiful! :)

Rocking Chair (before):

 Rocking Chair (after):

 Phone Table (before):

 Phone Table (after):

End table (before):  This is the only pic I took. It had green legs and a wood top.

End table (after):  

I absolutely am loving these little projects!  If you have an old piece of furniture, don't give up on it!! Give it a new coat of paint and you might just find it will become your favorite piece!! :)

February, already?!

Hi friends,
I apologize for my absence from the blog world.  The Christmas season, although wonderful and full of blessed memories, was exhausting!  January has been my month of recuperating and figuring out what kind of year I hope 2012 to be.  More than anything I want this year to glorify God.  Our family started going to a new church at the end of last year and we have felt ourselves being challenged daily to consider how our actions, thoughts, motives, and hopes reflect God's will for our lives.  It's exciting and difficult at the same time.  Seeking God daily means being continuously accountable for your actions.  I have been struck lately with just how quickly this life is going to go by and how important it is to live every single day for HIM and not just myself.  At the end of each day I have been reflecting on what went well and what can be improved upon, it is a constant journey that will never end.  This week in particular I am potty training my 2 year old and PATIENCE is definitely the first thing on my to do list.   If you have ever potty trained a child, you know exactly what I mean.  And if you haven't, well, consider yourself blessed :)

In other news, I have been exploring the idea of opening up my own little etsy shop!  Over the last year I have really gotten into restoring old furniture and making it look vintage, shabby chic, or just colorful.  I have quite a few pieces I am working on now and will hopefully start selling in the next month or two.  I will put a link to my shop on here once I list them.  I'm also making and selling those Alphabet magnets I posted on here a while back so let me know if you are interested in a set.  I do all colors and they are SO cute :)  I will be selling those on my etsy shop too soon.

I hope that all of you are having a good beginning to 2012!!  Time sure does go by quickly!  Make the most of every opportunity and ask God each day what He has in store for you!  I will be back soon!

Many Blessings,
Jamie

Kitchen Chair Project

This year we decided to host our first Christmas party with some friends!  We were excited but there was one problem.  Not enough seating.  Our table only sits 6 people and we had invited 10 for a sit down dinner.  I knew I could buy a card table from Target to extend our table but what do about chairs?  Lucky me, as I was driving home one day I saw that someone had set on the side of the street four kitchen dining chairs!  They did not look good and when I asked my husband to throw them in the truck he looked at me like I was crazy!  But he knows me and he went along with it.  I saw something that I liked about the chairs, the etching and cut out of the wood. It was really unique and pretty.  The chairs were painted a dirty orange-yellow-cream with some antiquing paint that looked as bad as it sounds.  The chair seats were covered with old fashioned floral prints from the 80's.  No bueno!!  But I had a vision.

 First thing we did was go to JoAnne's Fabrics and pick out new fabric for the chair seats.  We have a beautiful navy and tan rug in our kitchen area so we found a print that was a deep blue with very small white dots.  I liked the blue color but I also like that if the kids spill drinks or food on them it won't be too noticeable.

 Then we went to Lowe's and picked up white primer and spray paint to repaint all of the wood of the chairs.  I have to admit that my husband was the one who did most of the work from here on out.  I was busy cooking and cleaning and shopping for our party!  He did a great job!  He first painted all of the chairs with two coats, one primer and one paint.  He took the chair seats off, cut the fabric, and then stapled the new fabric over the old.  We figured it would give the seats a bit more cushioning.  My husband also did some reinforcing of a few of the chairs so they weren't so squeaky and lose.

They turned out amazing!  They look like something out of a designer furniture store but they cost us less than $50 for all four!   Oh and our party turned out great!!  We ended up with only 6 guests so we didn't need the chairs after all but we used them and put our older ones away.  This was one of my favorite projects so far!  What do YOU think?? :)

December: 25th Day of Giving

                                                            MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!
For today's giving we are sharing gifts with family.  I can't believe we have made it through these 25 days of giving!  It has blessed my family so much  to do the things we did this month and I feel like my kids got a sense of what the true meaning of Christmas is.  It's not about what you get, but what you give and the heart with which you give.  It is also about Jesus, who gave us the greatest gift of all!  He came to earth as a tiny baby and lived and died so that we could have a relationship with HIM!  The best gift in the world.

From my family to yours, May you have a very Merry Christmas, may the Peace of God be in your hearts, and may the Love of friends and family make this a day you will cherish always.