What do you think? You want to try this again with me? I failed miserably last year at reading everyday. But I've had some interest from some fellow bloggers in it lately and if you want to read along with me, I'll try it again!
Here are the rules again for a recap:
Here's the deal:
In
order to follow along, get a one-year chronological Bible. I don't
really think that the translations matter that much. The one I have is
the New Living Translation. It's super easy to read.
Read
it everyday, then we'll check in here on Mondays. I'm going to blog my favorite and/or inspiring verse and I want you to either write your own post (leave a
comment with a link there) or leave your thoughts right in the comments.
Spread the word! Use the button at the bottom to let others know what we are doing.
Notice, I changed the second point from a whole post about the reading to a verse. Part of the reason these posts didn't get done is because I was just too lazy to write the post. Just being honest here. And just like always, making excuses for not spending my alone time with God.
So are you in?
Here's the button if you are! Copy the code.
{I will add this post to the link at the top under my header.}
I wanted to show you the little village that I made for my mom for Christmas! It was a very addicting craft! My desk was a mess for about two weeks straight.
I had to set them up on my mantle before I gave them to her, you know, just to make sure that they looked good! She got six of them all together. I used cereal boxes and lots of hot glue to construct them. I followed the directions that I found here: http://www.bigindoortrains.com/primer/glitterhouses/glitterhouses.htm
That site also gives you the background on them and tons of printable patterns.
This little house was my favorite. All of the houses eventually got wreaths. They were made by wrapping a green pipe cleaner around a pencil and hot gluing three tiny red balls to them. I found all of the supplies I used at Joann, except of course the cereal boxes. Even these little fences are from Joanns. If I had been looking for something like that though, I would have never found them! They are with all the wooden items that you can paint and decorate.
The little plaques that they are glued to were a happy accident. I had originally planned to glue them to 5x7 canvases. But my Joann's didn't have any small canvases anymore. When I turned around though, there were lots of these little wooden plaques. They had the notches cut out on the corners already. All I had to do was paint them with a little white craft paint.
I also used a gray sharpie and drew the little stepping stones on the plaque. The "bushes" are that spanish moss. It came on a roll and I just cut little pieces off and hot glued them on. Then everything got covered with that "snow" - remember that stuff from when we were little? It dries hard and clumpy just like snow. Then I used a mix of school glue and water and painted the base with it. I used that really huge glitter to cover the ground.
I knew I didn't want plain old green trees to go with this village, so I went searching on the internet for something better. I found a girl who had bleached hers. I just literally dipped them in bleach til they were white. That worked out pretty well! I added a little more snow and some glitter to them too!
All in all, it was a really fun craft to make. I will probably make my own next year. There really wasn't anything I didn't like about this craft. It does make a huge mess though, considering the glitter, the moss, the bleach, and tons of little cardboard window cutouts!
And just for fun, a little Christmas Quiz. I stole this from Heather @ We are the Holdens. You should go read her quiz too!
1. Egg nog or hot chocolate?
Hot chocolate, Michelle's hot chocolate to be exact.
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
Wrap them
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
I like both, but this year it's colored lights.
4. Do you hang mistletoe?
no
5. When do you put your decorations up?
Right after Slone's birthday on Novemeber 30.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish?
Mom's whole meal. This year we are having ribs. But chili is a tradition too.
7. Favorite holiday memory as a child?
It seems like we always opened gifts on Christmas eve. I remember thinking we always got a lot that night and Christmas morning wouldn't be any fun because there wouldn't be that much. But we'd wake up to a whole bunch more. Mom is good at making a little look like a lot!
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
I don't remember. I was never huge into Santa. I was probably frightened by the thought of someone getting in our house while we were asleep.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
I got the boys pajamas, so they will open those.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
It just has huge colored lights on it and some wide green garland. The boys have put their handmade ones from school on it too.
11. Snow! Love it or dread it?
I like it. But I wish it could snow without getting on the roads. Maybe we need heated roads?!
12. Can you ice skate?
I have never been ice skating in my life.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
I can't remember a specific one. We never really made lists. But whatever Mom did get me was always way better than what I did ask for.
14. What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you?
Remembering the greatest gift, Jesus. Giving. Happiness.
15. What is your favorite holiday dessert?
Do I have to pick? I seriously don't have a problem picking at the dessert table, except if I can fit them all on my plate.
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
That my family waits to open gifts until everyone can be there. And we get gifts for everyone! And there's a lot of us now!
17. What tops your tree?
a glittery white star.
18. Which do you prefer: giving or receiving?
giving, especially giving something I made for them.
19. Candy canes: Yuck or Yummy?
yum, but just the originals.
20. Saddest Christmas song?
I'll be home for Christmas
The boys have a SpongeBob movie that has a great Christmas song. Turns out Matt does have a little bit of holiday cheer, this is his new catch phrase for the season!
I wanted this post to be a vlog, but do you know how hard it is to get even the littlest things done while your kids are on Christmas vacation?!
I thought I would take you on a little Christmas tour of my house. Well, actually, it's just my living room, because I really don't have that many decorations. It's not that I don't want a ton, it's just I have no where to store them when it's not Christmas. And Matt is a bit bah humbug on any seasonal decorations.
The new thing this year is the ball ornament wreath I made. If you're on Pinterest, you've seen it. It's out of an old wire hanger (that I had to get from Michelle, because I had no hangers!). I bought some no shatter balls at Target and strung them on. You can see the wire a little bit, so if I did another one I would buy a pack of smaller ornaments too and add them here and there. I also thought about hot gluing the little ones in it too, but I have never bought any smaller ones.
The trick here is to hang it on a mirror so it looks really big!
And the tree...
There aren't very many ornaments on it. Just the one the boys made this year. We're trying to build up our handmade supply:)
This is the only Santa I have in the house. I don't really like Santa. He never got me what I wanted as a kid and this year I'm going to have an extremely disappointed 7 year old that's not going to get what he asked for. Slone even got a letter from Santa at school, basically (in a 7 year old's mind) promising him a ds. Thanks a lot.
But this Santa was painted by sweet Ruth from our church. I got it at a white elephant exchange a couple of years ago.
And here's our "mantle". My littleputz houses sit on it with a few additions like the tractor Slone just got for his birthday (but cant play with. Don't get me started.) The houses were my Grandma Morey's. They have "Japan" stamped on the bottom of them. Mom says she always had them on top of her tv. But I don't remember that. They were always in Texas during Christmas when I was little.
A cute little snowman with a candy cane.
And just a snowflake that I have hanging in a frame.
With all the hustle and bustle, I hope you have a Merry Christmas!
Christmas is less than one week away! Can you believe it?! Then it's New Years before I know it!
There are some big changes coming to moreygirl this new year too! So in honor of a new year, it's out with the old and in with the new! moreygirl is having a sale on everything in the store. If there is something you've been eying, you had better get it now, because I'm making no promises that it will be back in the store!
Now here's the deal:
I have marked everything down in the shop...no coupon codes!
This includes the sweetest baby booties you have ever seen!
I cannot guarantee that anything will be there by Christmas. So buy something for yourself, so it won't matter! ;) But I will ship within 1 business day.
moreygirl will be closed for a week or so after January 1st, while we are loading it up with lots of new items! Hope you will join us for the sale and the grand opening!
Not only have I been doing a couple of shows and sewing, I also photographed a wedding! And I've made a few Christmas cards and taken a couple of kids/family shots!
Here are some of my favorites from the last couple of weeks.
Matt and Christa were the absolute best! She had a vision on what she wanted for a wedding/reception, and I have to say, it was one fun party. They pulled it all together better than most weddings I've seen. Christa's a teacher and wanted to run with the chalkboard theme. Just look at the chalkboard when you walked into the hotel for the reception!
And get this, the groom did it! Did I say that I love this couple!?
Then I get an email from them saying they want Christmas and thank you cards...combined. Oh, and they wanted red and burlap. And they let me just run with it! They are the dream wedding clients! This is what I came up with for the front of the card:
They loved it! and so did I.
This is one of my favorite shots from the happy day!
It was a great day! You can check out the rest on the photography part of moreygirl.com.
Ok, people. If you live in the Peoria area, you need to come to this! All handmade, and you can participate too! It's sponsored by my MOPS group! See you there:)
The first 50 people in the door get a ticket to participate in the star craft for free!
We wanted to show you a couple of the crafts that you can participate with us in! First we have a Moravian star. These look awesome on a tree! We will show you how to make your own and even send you home with the directions to make more!
(there is a small fee for this craft)
We will also be putting together these little bottle cap tags for you to attach to packages, keychains, or whatever else you can think of! They can be personalized or left just Christmas-y. (there is a small fee for this craft)
We also have one more craft available (there is a small fee for this craft).
Plus don't forget the handmade artists that will be selling their goods on Saturday too! There will be lots of unique items, perfect for Christmas shopping!
All of the proceeds from the crafts go directly to help our MOPS group provide ongoing services for local moms! We hope you can join us!
I hate writing the first sentence to this post every week! I never know what to say. It usually goes something like this...well, this is what I wore. lame.
This last week was ka-ra-zy! So I've only got one pic to show you:)
I'm really digging the scarves this year. This one is from Old Navy. It's a circle scarf. I wrapped it three times so it would be up around my neck...cuz you know, I don't want the Target fiasco to be repeated!
I just paired it with a brown sweater and my jeans and my new red boots:)
I promise to take a better picture but I love these shoes:)
I wore this get-up to Slone's school Thanksgiving play. Here's my little Indian reading his part:)
Lexi thought he was a turkey:)
I think it's really awesome when you start focusing on one thing in the Bible, for me it's thankfulness lately, and everywhere you look there is something about it.
You've all heard my spiel about giving thanks. How it all started with that book...One Thousand Gifts. I even gave a little devotional about it at MOPS two weeks ago. And we made Thanksgiving journals.
Oh yeah, and it was Thanksgiving!
By the way, did you have a good Thanksgiving? I did! We headed over to Matt's family on Thursday. Ate turkey, played scrabble. Then I stayed up all night with my sisters, sister-in-law, and niece and went Black Friday shopping. Oh my, I will never do that again. Well, I will stay up with my sisters but never deal with those crowds again. I think the best time to go would have been around 7am on Friday.
This is Lyn and I hanging out in her van while the rest of them shopped Toys R Us. Hey, we are crazy, but not quite as crazy as the ones in the store! Charity got kicked out of the line for cutting:)
(and that, my friends, is a whole other blog post, lol)
Laura getting her stash of Christmas goodies for her coworkers:)
And as Michelle pointed out, yes, we are in the panties section. We are in line! It went all the way around the perimeter of the store. But we had a great time laughing and acting crazy in that line. We were quite the entertainment for the ladies behind us:)
Back to my original thought....Michelle was kind enough to send me this verse when I was getting ready for Christa and Matt's wedding (which, by the way, pics will be posted soon!) It is amazing how God used her to remind me in my nervousness of thankfulness.
Philippians 4:6-7
(MSG)
6-7Don't fret
or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape
your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you
know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for
good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when
Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.
I'm the one getting choked:) And Life is laughing about it! Those cuties are my nephews by the way.
Sorry for the lack of posts this week! I've been busy taking lots of pics, getting ready for the holidays coming up, sewing:), and enjoying some time with my family! I'll be back this coming week with some goodies for you:)
I am thankful for:
my life
my family
good food
a forgiving Savior
and you:)
Oh and a friend posted this on facebook so it's what I'm jammin to this Thanksgiving morning!
I like "was it ever really mine"
Today started off rough for me. I get some nasty sinus headaches, especially when the weather changes. It was just one of those mornings. But I have so much to get done that I decided to get up and take a shower. I am working at home today, but will have to take the boys to church tonight so I can't just wear sweats.
How do you tie your scarves? Did I ever tell you the story about when I was in Target and could feel something in between my legs? I couldn't for the life of me figure it out and was almost too scared to look down! When I did look, my scarf had worked its way in between my legs and was sticking out the back like a tail...mmm, cute.
I'm trying to tie them differently now. At least so they are shorter and not crotch length!
I really like this short way. You just wrap it around your neck twice then tie the two short ends together. Then bunch it all around to cover up the little knot.
And I like the figure eight style too...
To do this one you fold the scarf in half and drape it over your neck.
Then just pull one end through the loop.
Then twist the loop like an eight and pull the other end through it!
We've talked about all these great things...What a creative God we have, what a beautiful world we live in, and how to be joyful in our creativity. But really what good is it, if we don't share it!
I'm hoping that you realize that is what I'm doing here...with this little blog. That I want to share with you the beauty that God is creating in my life. That I might be reminded not to take it for granted, like I so often do. That it truly is the little things that matter.
Romans 12:1-2
1-2 So here's what I want
you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your
sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it
before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best
thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture
that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention
on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he
wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around
you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the
best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
Side Note: That's the Message Bible again, I guess I'm going to have to buy one. I've had that verse memorized in the King James version for a long time and it was like reading a new verse!
Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him.
Did you read that? Oh, how He works. Yesterday, I gave a little devotional at MOPS. I talked about the One Thousand Gifts book. How I so want a bigger, better house, but evidently God is teaching me patience. An outlet burnt up, the sink is leaking, I have no closets...and the list goes on and on. But if I can't be grateful for this little house, how am I going to be grateful for a big one? If I don't know what it is to do without, how will I ever appreciate it when I do get it? If I can't keep this one clean...let's just stop right there;)
I'm going to use my chores as an offering, use my talents as an offering. It says right up there in that verse that that is the best thing that we can do for Him. Quit worrying about our peers, and quickly respond to Him.
I hope that this little series has been a blessing for you! I know that it has shown me a lot more that what I bargained for!
So this is just a comfy one....oh, if I were on What Not To Wear you know Stacy and Clinton would be yelling about "comfy" right now!
But I just got home from the gym and took a shower and amstaying home. So I get to be comfy.
sweater = old navy
red/orange tank = target
jeans = target
Oh, I love that bracelet too! It looks like a Joel Dewberry print. I got it at Pier One:)
I think this pic is funny...I'm checkin out my butt.
But look how much better my legs look in this one! These jeans were always a little tight, a little muffin top. But no more! Thanks to Michelle for getting me to the gym!
I just got an email about these cute sweater dresses from target...I might just have to get one or two...or five.
