shaken

^{My heart is overwhelmed. 
As a counselor I am often helping others deal with stress, anxiety, fear and anger...and yet as I feel these things so deeply I cannot do anything but sit in them. I have been shaken to the core and am grieving the many losses that result from my circumstance. And so all I know to do is to turn back to my Lord and ask "why". I am so glad is big and mighty and can handle my questions and my pain. 
I am certain everyone who has lived has experienced pain and my words are not falling on unknowing ears. I find myself desperately wanting to believe the words of Psalm 27. Lined with reassurance, pain, grief, fear, hope, peace and desperation; here are the words of David:}

^{Psalm 27}

¹ The LORD is my light and my salvation—
   whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life—
   of whom shall I be afraid?

 ² When the wicked advance against me
   to devour me,
it is my enemies and my foes
   who will stumble and fall.
³ Though an army besiege me,
   my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
   even then I will be confident.

 ⁴ One thing I ask from the LORD,
   this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
   all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the LORD
   and to seek him in his temple.
⁵ For in the day of trouble
   he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent
   and set me high upon a rock.

 ⁶ Then my head will be exalted
   above the enemies who surround me;
at his sacred tent I will sacrifice with shouts of joy;
   I will sing and make music to the LORD.

 ⁷ Hear my voice when I call, LORD;
   be merciful to me and answer me.
⁸ My heart says of you, “Seek his face!”
   Your face, LORD, I will seek.
⁹ Do not hide your face from me,
   do not turn your servant away in anger;
   you have been my helper.
Do not reject me or forsake me,
   God my Savior.
¹⁰ Though my father and mother forsake me,
   the LORD will receive me.
¹¹ Teach me your way, LORD;
   lead me in a straight path
   because of my oppressors.
¹² Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes,
   for false witnesses rise up against me,
   spouting malicious accusations.

 ¹³ I remain confident of this:
   I will see the goodness of the LORD
   in the land of the living.
¹⁴ Wait for the LORD;
   be strong and take heart
   and wait for the LORD. 

 

the cave

I feel encouraged that I am nearing the end of "The Great Organizational Challenge", but I am not quite there fully. So I will share some of my home decor and later detail the organizational solutions I have reached for our very small space. Also- the challenge has grown more challenging as we now make room for baby :o)
Anyhow- this is a corner of our bedroom. My husband calls the little nook where our bed is "the cave". The name really fits since we have such low ceilings in the bedroom and the black armor extends the wall alcove to create this cave-like nook where we sleep. It is very cozy and I happen to love it :o)

For our "headboard" I traced the top of a large cup with a pencil then painted over the stencil. The wall art is a poster taped to the back of an old window and our night stands are some of my photography props :o) Both lamps and the comforter are from ikea and the pillows are from a variety of clearance racks.

My jewelry window is one of my favorite completed projects. The window came from an antique store and was marked really low because it only had 2 glass panes remaining in it. The "S" hooks are from ikea along with the chair and little makeshift table (which is actually a part of our desk...) I love quilts and I have to point out this quilt was made by my great grandma Darbro.

 

So there you have it. I am sure there will be small update here and there, but I suppose it is silly to keep waiting until it is "done". As all creative people know, there will always be new inspiration that bring about new projects! And that is one of the little joys in life. 

baby!

Rumors have been flying around for years now, and finally they are true! We are having a baby!

We kept our secret for quite awhile, and even so I'm not sure it has totally hit me yet...but sometime around July 8 there will be a little baby in this little house :o)
So now of course opens a whole new chapter in life- aside from this being one of the biggest life transitions a person faces, there are also so many new things to make decisions about! Before I wouldn't really pay attention to articles and news stories about babies, children and parenting,...now I think "oh wait! I may need to know this!" I am certain that parenting used to be much less complicated than it is now. Already I am so overwhelmed with research and opinions and an overabundance of information that at first seems helpful but quickly starts to complicate the few things you thought you had decided.

So hooray for a new journey! Like most parents I am convinced that I will be the laughing stock of all my people as they watch me raise this child :o) But hopefully with God's help it will turn out ok.

I am only waiting to get a rug for my living room before continuing the postings on the new house. My thought is that next time it would be smart to begin with a rug because it is very hard to find one now that it is the last thing to go in the room!

advent

So I was aware it had been awhile since I posted...but November 19?? Thats pretty bad. Well perhaps not- life has been pretty intense the last few months and thankfully it is just now slowing down to a much more manageable pace. (this of course only happened through diligence, not luck!)

The holidays were wonderful- Advent this year took on a new meaning for me as I realized, perhaps for the first time, what advent is and means.

"Advent reminds us there is Joy in waiting...Advent is about Hope...Advent is about expecting, waiting, hoping and praying....rejoice; don't loose heart" 

These phrases (taken from an amazing video click here!) for some reason blew the lid off of all I had previously thought about advent and presented a new and somehow refreshing challenge to relieve myself of the secular stresses of Christmas and instead celebrate Advent. Unintentionally we were so busy between the holidays that we did not put up a single Christmas decoration! This was rather depressing to me, and I can't be honest and say that I really embraced all those messages quoted above- but interesting how even without the decorations Christmas still came and was experienced. So for next year I am challenged to consider how we can celebrate Advent more than the American Christmas with which I am more familiar. 

No- I'm not going to forsake decorations or discontinue gift giving- but perhaps a new emphasis on hope, anticipation, praying, joy even in waiting and rejoicing - and maybe our hope won't be for the items on our Christmas list, and the anticipation won't be for Santa and the praying will be less for ourselves and more for others, and joyful waiting allow for a new work in our hearts to be possible and as we rejoice it will be not just for family and all we are blessed with- but rather we will rejoice that God is Emmanuel, that he is Lord and is present in our time of greatest blessing and in our greatest suffering! How amazing that the hope he gives and the joy he gives transcends all circumstances! Praise be to God!! 


Ok- two of my favorite moments from Christmas. The best was in two parts: 1. Hearing my grandmother read the Christmas story from the bible on Christmas morning. There is just something about the way she reads that makes me excited and reminds me of listening to her recite the 23 psalm when I was a kid. 2. Hearing my grandfather very tearfully read a poem he wrote about hope- seeing his heart as he read was something I will never forget. 


Second favorite memory (among many great memories) was very simple, but it is these simple things I miss every day with my little sister because of the distance that separates me and my family. We made cupcakes :o) 

Gratitude

For Thanksgiving most years my mom puts me in charge of the table decorations. 2 years ago I put a bunch of branches together and asked everyone to write on a card something they were thankful for and hang it on the tree.

 This year I have decided to change it up a bit and use quotes and scripture verses with mason jars and candles. I never really know how these things are going to turn out, but I thought for now I would share the quotes and verses I have picked and will be using:

"Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!" -2 Corinthians 9:15

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more." -Melody Beattie

"Give Thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God is Jesus Christ for you." -1 Thessalonians 5:18

"It is not happy people who are thankful, it is thankful people who are happy." -unknown

"I thank him who has given me strength, Jesus Christ our Lord" -1 Timothy 1:12

"What if tomorrow you woke up with only the things you thanked God for today?" -unknown

"Do not be anxious about anything bit in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving present your requests to God." -Philippians 4:6

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them." -John F. Kennedy

"I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers" -Philemon 1:4

"And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful." -Colossians 3:15

My 6 year old sister at the time wrote this card- precious!

"But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." -1 Corinthians 15:57

"You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God." -2 Corinthians 9:11

"And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the father through him." - Colossians 3:17


While the dictionary.com seems to think thanksgiving is a noun, I have to disagree and say that it is a verb- it is an action. Notice how the various definitions below all require action...and how it is clear who we are thanking...

thanks·giv·ing

  /ˌθæŋksˈgɪvɪŋ/ Show Spel[thangks-giv-ing] noun

1.

the act of giving thanks; grateful acknowledgment of benefits or favors, especially to God.

2.

an expression of thanks, especially to God.

3.

a public celebration in acknowledgment of divine favor or kindness.

4.

a day set apart for giving thanks to God.

I hope your Thanksgiving day is full of more than food, traditions, shopping and football- but that the greater part of the day will be spent in reflection of God's grace and giving thanks for the many things you are blessed with. 

mason jar peach cobber *sweet yummy goodness*

I must be on a run with cooking cause here is another recipe I must share! We made the peach cobbler in mason jars as a fun end to dinner with friends (for extra fun make the dessert together! Thanks Amy!) This is the not only one of the simplest desserts I've ever made, but also one of the best ever! It is an instant family favorite! I found the recipe HERE

Here is what you need to make 4-6 jars:
1 large can of peaches in heavy syrup
1 box yellow cake mix
3 table spoons of butter per jar
cinnamon to sprinkle on top

Fill the botton 1/4 of the jar with peaches, divide the dry cake mix between the jars and just pour over the peaches (thats right- do not mix together the cake mix with anything!) melt the butter you will need and pour the melted butter over the top of the dry cake mix. Sprinkle cinnamon over the top and bake at 350 for approx. 45 min. (These instructions may not exactly match the link- but this is how we made it!)
The results:

Before

After

Adding icecream made it even more unbelievable!

  

Too amazing and too easy not to try!

pepperjam chicken bundles

So today I went to Trader Joe's because I was feeling like cooking something for lunch but didn't want to take the time to look up a recipe...so we went for something very experimental! As I put these in the oven I told Kevin they would either be terrible or wonderful- he seemed pretty excited about the experimental cooking and concluded it was a winner. Since I NEVER cook I thought I should blog this as evidence that once in a far while I do actually cook :o)


So we need a better name for these...suggestions are encouraged!
I don't really know how to format this into an actual recipe, so I will just tell you how I made it: 2 crescent roll triangles placed together to form a rectangle (one can of crescent rolls makes 4 of these) with precooked chicken placed in the middle, topped with a spoon full of creme cheese and then topped with a spoon full of pepper jam. I then pulled the edges of the dough up and closed it up then cooked about 15 minutes at 375.

Kevin said pairing these with the apples was perfect. It ended up with a sweet taste and almost unnoticeable spice taste which was awesome with the chicken and creme cheese. I must admit- they were pretty awesome!

Enjoy!