This trusty ol' blog is good for one thing right now: my Pinterest endeavors. Tonight I post my first Pinterest fail.
Pinning etiquette says your pin must link back to the source of your pin, complete with step-by-step instructions. Apparently, the creator of "The Best Potatoes Ever" felt it adequate enough to instruct pinners to simply boil, smash, season, bake. I obviously needed a bit more info. :)
And we have success! I'm tellin' ya, I definitely would not consider myself crafty in the artsy department. That's why Pinterest and me have a love-hate relationship. I pin things that look amazing and super easy, then I find myself walking around the Man Store, Goodwill and Michaels like a deer in headlights. I can't help thinking, "What in the world am I looking for again?!"
Thanks to my bestie, Jay Dawg, I was able to get exactly what I needed for the coolest shelves ever: rain gutter bookshelves. And thanks to my wonderful hubster who measured, printed out exactly what I needed and hung these bad boys, my kiddos have their own personal reading nooks.
Ever come across someone who is: gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, sugar-free, and wonder what in the world they can eat? I'll be honest, I'm not sure how people do it day in and day out. However, thanks to two wonderful women in my life, my mom-in-love and sis-in-love, I'm entering into that world and loving it.
Happy New Year!! I can't believe this blog is still here. Pretty sure I didn't post once last year. Life is full with 4 kiddos and homeschooling three of them. Chasing my youngest should be an Olympic sport. Man, can that kid get into mischief. Just tonight I found a package of toilet paper in their room, a book in the pantry and I still hear him talking in his bed. It's 10pm!! He's our little busy blessing.
So this year I'm hoping to write a little more. I can't tell you how often I think of things to share but time is just not there. I'm doing good to keep clean clothes in the drawers. Or at least off my bed. Anyone else keep a pile of clean clothes on their bed with full intention of folding and putting away before bed; only to shift it back to the laundry basket? yah, me too...(I'm really hoping I'm not the only one)..
Nobody likes feeling like a failure and by this time of the year you might feel like one because you've set out, with good intentions, to keep some New Year's resolution, but have already slipped and caved in. Whether it's giving up a bad habit or starting a good one, it's hard to stay on track. For those of you going strong--way to go!!
One resolution that tends to lose steam and excitement is reading through the Bible. It's no fun going to your checklist and seeing the missed days and soon, you table the idea. It's like those dates mock you, sneer at you and scream failure in your face. Okay, maybe it's just me. Point is, if you're like me and really wanted to make this your year, you haven't even started and it kinda stinks. In the past I might have had good intentions to "just start today" but it's no fun checking a box that reads January 1 and it's January 29.
I'm here to share with you a very cool new Bible reading plan that's for shirkers and slackers. Check this out, it's called Bible Reading Program for Slackers and Shirkers. Love it! Read Margie's story and hope you find some inspiration!
Happy reading and growing in God's amazing grace this new year!
I know some pretty incredible people and they make some pretty amazing things. Need gift ideas? Let me introduce you to some of my very talented friends who can fill your stockings and bless that special someone without the crowds.
Custom boards for home decor can be found here at Corner Barn & Co. Tina says it's not too late to get your custom Christmas order in!
Our new favorite soap comes from Yvonne at Clean Hands Soap Company.
Want to teach your kids who God is in a fun way through music? Check out Dana and her family at Songs for Saplings!
There are two more really cool ladies I know that own shops on Etsy, but they've closed shop for the holidays. Check them out after the new year for unique, hand-made items. Sarah Kate at Cranny and Sarah at The Casual Princess.
Happy Shopping!
I'd be surprised seeing that I haven't posted in like, forever! I don't have to tell you that life is crazy. Busy, busy, busy and this time of year is no exception. In fact, it's this time of year that schedules are packed full of holiday activities. I so wish I had more time in my day.
But, if I had more time, I'm pretty sure that wouldn't guarantee I'd post more-or start using it wisely. Might as well learn to live with my 24 hours God gave me.
It's December 2 and I really don't want to decorate for Christmas. Not because I'm not loving this time of year, quite the opposite. It thrills me to pull out our red bins from storage and hear the kids get excited. It's buggin' a little that I don't see when I can do it and I don't want to decorate two weeks before Christmas. We leave tomorrow for a weekend in Sunriver to attend Oregon's Make it With Wool Contest. I'm looking forward to seeing Doug's sister and family from Sweet Home. Oregon, not Alabama. :) And this is something our family looks forward to as it provides a little vaca for us. Plus, the girls worked really hard on their skirts and we get a kick out of seeing them model them for the judges.
Next weekend we have Doug's company party Friday and then Emily's Piano program Saturday. Guess I'll have to decorate in the middle of the week. Couldn't I just skip this year? It's all for Jesus, right? He doesn't care if we don't put up a tree.
Just kidding. We'll decorate. But, I want to know what your family does this time of year to make the art of decorating for the celebration of our Savior's birth not become a dull task or laborious job.
Just might have to make room for this one.
DugDownDeep_Carnahan.mov from Covenant Life Church on Vimeo.
If you know me well, you know that I have the tendency to be all or nothing in my thoughts/actions/attitudes. As you also have seen, I don't write on this here bloggy-blog very often as I'm a busy mama of four. There are so many things I want to write about (a line I think I've written several times already on here) and yet the time just doesn't allow. Time-management is an area I struggle with and am working on. But, I digress.
Here recently I've come across several videos that I thought were worth sharing. If I had my act together, I would make them three different posts, as they are all un-related. However, I am doing it all--to avoid doing nothing. :)
My first video is of Mark Driscoll sharing his thoughts on the church family. It was very convicting and I am curious what speaks to you through what he has to say:
The second video is a funny video that some may see as a slap in the face if it's the way their church does things, but I see it as a way of showing us that we all have our own style of worship and without Christ, it's just routine. Let's not lose sight of what worship is. For me, I want my outward actions to be a pure, natural reaction to what God has done in my heart. How about you? Does worship matter to you and how to you overcome idols of the heart?
"Sunday's Coming" Movie Trailer from North Point Media on Vimeo.
Sorry our mommy hasn't been on here writing about stuff, but we keep her pretty busy. :)
"For Christians, the beginning of the day should not be burdened and haunted by various kinds of concerns that they face during the day. The Lord stands above the new day, for God has made it. All restlessness, all impurity, all worry and anxiety flee before him. Therefore, in the early morning hours of the day, may our many thoughts and our many idle words be silent and may the first word and the first thought belong to the one to whom our whole life belongs "
~Dietrich Bonhoeffer 
Since entering the blogging world I've noticed a fun trend of bloggers making a list of 100 facts (useless, humorous and down-right interesting) about oneself when they reached their hundredth post. I couldn't wait until I reached this seemingly notable milestone in the blogoshpere.
But fate would have it that at my 100th post I felt led to write about the marvelous grace of God and recount how He drew me to Himself.
Now I'm thinking it would be fun to make a list and join the par-tay and just add eleven more to my "list". So, here I go:
1. I love being a wife.
2. I love being a mom.
3. It's not easy being a wife.
4. Or a mom.
5. I shop at the world's largest Costco.
6. I have a desire to grow in godliness but battle laziness and self-sufficiency.
7. Jesus Christ paid my debt and wish I had words to explain how awesome that is.
8. I don't like bees.
9. My husband is a visionary.
10.His latest project is to raise bees.
11. I have no desire to help.
12. His bees died and I was secretly rejoicing.
13. I repented in my heart and told him I was sorry he lost his hives.
14. I'm thinking this list is getting more boring by the second.
15. I will say that I have THE best friends a girl could ask for.
16. God has been ever so kind to bring these godly women into my life.
17. I'm thinking about abandoning this project.
18. Like, right now.
19. Hey, I know. I'll just copy the 111th Psalm. Let's see what that says:
Psalm 111
Great Are the LORD’s Works
1. Praise the LORD!I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart,
in the company of the upright, in the congregation.
2. Great are the works of the LORD,
studied by all who delight in them.
3. Full of splendor and majesty is his work,
and his righteousness endures forever.
4. He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered;
the LORD is gracious and merciful.
5. He provides food for those who fear him;
he remembers his covenant forever.
6. He has shown his people the power of his works,
in giving them the inheritance of the nations.
7. The works of his hands are faithful and just;
all his precepts are trustworthy;
8. they are established forever and ever,
to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness.
9. He sent redemption to his people;
he has commanded his covenant forever.
Holy and awesome is his name!
10. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;
all those who practice it have a good understanding.
His praise endures forever!
And to that list, all I can say is, AMEN and AMEN!
This post is for the ladies.
The other night I was at Jen's house and she read this from her facebook feed,a status that said:
Know any ladies interested in modeling? My sister's company is looking to hire Seattle-area female size medium models who are athletic, fit, tone, and not self-conscious about wearing a sports bra in front of a crowd of 40+ men and women. (Must be at least 5'5" women's size medium, fit, and between ages of 20 and 35). ...
To which she replied: I have the height and age limit down. I TOTALLY fit the description...under a few layers of course. thanks for the good little giggle tonight...at my own expense.
We were laughing so hard. Oh the mental pictures that went through my head thinking of myself sporting my non-fit body. Ain't nobody who wants to see that! Except my sweetie. He is so loving and kind to love me and my fat rolls and doesn't care I have a few stretch marks and a 6 months pregnant-looking bod. Well, I am nursing, so cut that down to five and a half.
My sister (in whom I admire for her self-control and discipline) challenged me a couple of weeks ago to do a weight-loss program with her and my mom. I'm supposed to be counting calories, drinking water, journaling what I eat and exercising. And no, my rebounder doesn't count. Oh, it would if I actually exerted myself, but let's face it, I'm lazy. With a capitol L. It's hard and I don't like to sweat. Needless to say, I haven't done much.
The other day a friend was over and she shared her desire to start exercising and change the way she's feeding her family and wants encouragement and accountability. She had talked with a few of our other friends about starting a "Biggest Loser" type accountability plan. I totally begged to jump on that train.
Well, I got the email tonight that it's going to start. Rats, no more procrastinating. I do need all the help I can get but it's like giving birth. No matter how much you know or how many great coaches, doulas, midwives, doctors, experts you have, in the end, it's all about you and the baby (and the gracious hand of God). No one else can come in and do the hard work for you.
So now I'm mentally preparing to be ready to go on Monday. I had to remind myself that this is not to feed my own vanity. How hard is that going to be? We women want to look good in our clothes and be attractive to our husbands. But as I mentioned before, my sweetie takes me as I am. So if I were to be totally honest, I want to lose weight because of me and how good I will look.
Trying to remember 1 Corinthians 10:31.
I want my life to speak of God's goodness, greatness, love and mercy. Not how good I look in my jeans.
This is going to be so hard.
...while I re-arrange and give my blog a little make-over. I could spend so much time on here but must run. We're leaving the kids (and their tattling and complaining) to Nana and going on a date night. :)
Come back soon!
Hey, what do you think of the new name?
Oh, and one more thing. Can I just say that Jessica over at A Blog to Brag About is awesome!
Emily told me it's not good to brag. :D
Any parent will tell you that time flies when you have kids. As you see your kids grow up before your eyes you ask yourself, "where has the time gone?".
Yesterday we celebrated 5 wonderful years with our Lydia Kay. She is such a sweetheart and it is my prayer that we will not waste our time with her, or her siblings, and that we continually teach her about the wonderful work of God and His amazing love toward sinners.
Happy Birthday (a day late) to our baby girl, Lydia.
Sunday afternoon I thought about this coming Sunday being Easter, a day we celebrate Christ's work on the cross, and I was sad that it didn't do much in my heart. I wasn't doubting my spiritual state, but recognized I had become dry in what it means. I haven't forgotten the desperate condition I'm in without Jesus because I do find myself slowly walking the christian walk of faith and repentance. But there was a time I had cried over John 19 and I wanted those tears to come again. I want my heart to rejoice every day, not just one Sunday a year. But it just wasn't there. Until today...
In my twitter feed, I saw this video:
Then I thought about John 19 and how it doesn't end there. Christ is risen! He conquered death and gave us life.
And the tears came.
Hallelujah, what a Savior!
Prepare your heart now for this Sunday. Seek to marvel in Christ's work today when you are dealing with laundry, crying babies, stress at work, strain in relationships...you name it. If you are a child of the King you are not lost in His love for you. Another quote from my facebook feed: Though grief comes, God will show compassion, so great is the Spirit's unfailing love in your life. Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Lamentations 3:32 & 1 Cor 13:7.
Maybe you are on top of the world, so-to-speak, and life couldn't be any better. Marvel still. One of the elders of my church asked a question along the lines of this: "What does the resurrection mean to you?" Today I saw that the resurrection shows me my self-exalting, self-sufficient, all-about-me-and-my-flesh attitude, then crushed it beneath the cross. The resurrection brings life and freedom. My best day is because of God's grace. My worst day is still ordained by my gracious God. Let us not forget why we celebrate Easter.
Here's to a great week in preparing for the celebration of the most glorious day the world has ever seen.
This story made me smile so big and say, WOW! What a God we serve!
http://mollypiper.com/2010/03/we-had-an-ultrasound-today-wanna-know-more-2/
If you know me, you will know that I talk a lot about ideas on organizing our home. I do not like clutter. Have I mastered this? No way. Are we getting closer? You betcha.
Because I am not task oriented, I went to my dear hubby. He is all about projects and getting them done so he was naturally my best teammate in helping me with my hot button: toys on the floor. No matter how many times a day I ask the children to clean up, there is always remnants of their imaginative play. Play kitchen mixed with dress-up scattered with farm toys littered with books, puzzles, trucks, tractors, doll house....aaaAAAhhhHHH! It's all too. much. stuff.
So, we took out the play kitchen and put the dishes in a bin, dress-up had its own bin, dollhouse was given away (they weren't playing with it) and farm toys were put in its own bag. In a nutshell, each toy had its place. Baskets held trucks, tractors and train sets while plastic bins kept like items neatly together. But it still was too much.
A while ago, my sister was telling me about a program she watched about the people of Denmark, I think, and how they paid outrages taxes but were still able to pay cash for their homes. They were definitely living the Dave Ramsey lifestyle. Not using credit and owning very little. Now I'm not going to rant (I've done that before) about how we consume way too much. Instead, I want to share how we are trying to show our kids they don't need all these stinkin' toys.
My kids' room has been a sore spot with me for some time. I'll get around to getting rid of toys at Christmas and near birthdays, but it's never quite enough. Once the toys get organized, I stop there because I'm satisfied with the end result of the toys being put away properly. Until five minutes later, when they are pulled out again and all over the place.
Okay, back to our experiment. Despite the organized bins and baskets, I still found it wasn't enough to keep the chaos down. So, we brought all their toys into the front room and allowed them to pick out only a few toys each to play with and we bagged the rest. We're talking bare minimum. The girls have one doll each and a stuffed animal. Let me just say that was a HUGE step for them. They have a ton of stuffed animals and all are very special. Micah has a few trucks and two stuffed animals.
That's it for their own personal toys. Now, we still have play sets that belong in bins but they are out of reach so I control when they come down and make sure they are picked up when they are done. It's really hard to appreciate this huge step for us without seeing before and after, but let me tell ya, it's a whole lot nicer around here in the area of clutter.
If toy clutter is your hot button, give this a try. And if you aren't a task-oriented kind of gal, get someone who can help. Believe me, you will need their voice of reason when you find yourself saying, "oh, maybe they can keep this one..." I've been there, done that because once the toys got organized, I would stop and rethink the idea of downsizing. Now that we've succeeded, it feels great.
For great organizing tips and simple living, visit my favorite blog: www.simplemom.net
It always amazes me when I see a mom maintain not only a blog, but a blog about doing things yourself. Like this:
Cute isn't it? But, how does she have the time to maintain a home, raise her kids, love her husband and make burlap wreaths--THEN tell the world about it? Well, I'm sure she would say she doesn't do it all because she is some super-human. I'm slowly seeing that there are many talented women out there that do things differently than me, and not because they have some secret hidden power. I believe they have found their gift, embraced it and use it to the glory of God. Okay, the last is assuming they have moved from appreciating God's common grace into His saving grace. But, the point is, I need to stop looking at other people's gifts with envy and sadness and start praising God for what He has given me, then rejoice and use it.
I posted a facebook status the other day that said: Has a burden to minister in my season of child-rearing. How to balance it all? By God's grace. Romans 1:16. This sparked a lot of thumbs-ups and several comments that reminded me of my first and foremost area of ministry: my children and husband. My kids need to be raised in the truth and knowledge of Jesus Christ. My husband needs my support and encouragement to walk worthy of the Lord. Together, we need to raise our kids with a purpose to make much of God. I can not agree more. This time of having my little ones at home is fleeting and I better not get so involved with the church that I neglect my family.
But, having said that, I also can't get so wrapped in my family that I neglect the church. Though I have four children, I am not too busy to serve. There's a reason for why I think I'm not serving or serving enough. Because I look at what others are doing and I compare my talent to their talent. I have spiritual envy. Instead of rejoicing over the gifts of my fellow brother and sister, I pine for the same talent or sulk at the inability to do it their way. How sinful.
God did not make a mistake when He made us. Each has a unique gift and a season to use it in. As I manage my home I want to be more aware of the little eyes watching me and make sure I am making so much of God, that I become invisible. These little ones will learn more by my actions than my words. So I pray I will become a doer of the word and not a hearer only.
Lord, help me keep this burden to serve continually before you. I need direction and gospel-centered motive so you will be glorified and magnified. Satisfy my longing heart with your steadfast love, grace and mercy. In Jesus' name.
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