plans

jeremiah 29:11-14 says "for I know the plans I have for you" declares the Lord. "plans to prosper you, and not to harm you. plans to give you hope and a future. you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you. you will seek me and find me when you seek me with your whole heart. I will be found by you," declares the Lord, "and I will bring you back from captivity..."

this was our lesson in sunday school today, and one that i needed. i have been in funky place the past couple of weeks...i have not been letting God show me what He has for me. i have been depriving myself of the blessings He promises...and today was a beautiful reminder that He is there, if i will only listen and walk in faith with Him. someone also said today, that He is waiting to bless you, but you have to do something for Him to bless....sometimes comments like this are so simple, yet so profound. of course he can't bless what you are doing if you aren't doing anything!!!

may you seek Him and find Him, and His plans for your future!!!

~princess alana~

so last night i had the distinct pleasure of hosting the lovely princess alana at my home! we had a most lovely time!!

the painting of the nails...

beautiful!!

auntie kacy's turn!

very careful!! she did a great job keeping the paint on the magazine.CHEEEEEEEEESE!

weekends

so it's monday...again!! why is it that some weekends i feel like i need to come back to work to get some rest, and others, i feel like a complete sloth!! this weekend i did pretty much nothing!! i mean, i did some laundry, clean the kitchen, worked sat. night, went to a planning meeting at church yesterday, washed my car, and went to the grocery store....but i had a lot more things on my never ending list that i didn't do. when i list all the stuff like that, i feel a little better, but i know i could have gotten a lot more things done than i did!! some weekends i am so productive, nothings going to stop me, i surprise myself with how much i get done, and then some weekends, it's all i can do to get up in the morning!! i guess that's just how it goes!! i hope to get some things done (house cleaning-wise) in the evenings this week so i can do some crafty things next weekend!!

i've been crafting!!

here are three projects i have done this summer...just wanted to share =)

i got this table and chairs at the flea market at the end of june...the chairs are actually pretty comfortable, but the paint was rusty and, well...boring...

so i re-vamped it..how fun is that? it only took two cans of spray paint and about 1/2 a yard of fabric!! i love sitting out there for breakfast and reading, or working on my computer!! next i decided to add a little excitement to my laundry area...

i saw this project of craftster.org, so i thought it'd be fun to try and liven up my little laundry closet!! i mean, who wouldn't love to do laundry with these on the walls!! they are laundry instruction symbols...these are 'wash cold' and 'line dry' these are 'iron medium heat' and 'bleach'
ok, here is the last one...i found this old birdcage in my mema's basement on mother's day...it was very rusty and she had stuffed some other old junk into it. when i asked her if i could have it she said "what would you want with that old thing?" i sanded it really well and put a good coat of paint on it and now it's a fun plant container!!

beautiful!!

here are the pics i said i would post from the fabulous wedding of valerie and patrick...here is the happy couple and her beautiful cake!

here is the pole barn that they used for the reception. this is valerie's parent's land, and her mom did a lot of work preparing this area (like having the floor of the barn concreted, and planting all kinds of flower beds around the area). it was a beautiful day, everything was perfect!!
here is the group of jack in the box folks that attended..from l to r: aimee, sharon, valerie, dan, maria, me, melissa, gail.

congrats to the newly weds =)

i made an apron!!

so i have an apron that a dear friend gave me a few years ago with some beautiful embrodary on it. every time i wear it, i try not to get it dirty...kind of defeats the purpose, huh!?!? so i decided to make another one out of some fabric i already had...so it didn't cost a thing!!

keep in mind that i can sew a little, but i no where near great at it, but i do enjoy it from time to time!! here are the pictures (thanks maria for capturing the action shot =))

this is a close-up of the applique...i will keep working this...i like applique, but this is the first time i've ever done it!

don't be surprised if an apron is your next gift from me =)

at mema's

i am sitting in the living room of my grandmother's house in franklin...good times!! i love being here, i love just listening to my mom, her sister, and mema talking about people...people i don't know, and probably never will, but they just talk. i love looking at the field and the yard and all the things that have been here for my whole life...it's very comforting! in a world that is always changing and when new things are always being built, it's nice to be able to come here and just take in God's creation. the best is in the summer when it's dark, the field in front of mema's house will be filled with lightening bugs, and it looks like a million twinkling lights...a beautiful show just for me!
just a bit of nostalgia...do you have a place like that?

prayers

we all know prayers work, i feel like i know a lot of folks who need them right now.

a friend at church, paula, her mom is pretty sick, and right now they are waiting on tests to find out what's going on. she has several medical problems and has just been very sick lately. please pray for some clarity in the test so that they will be able to get a plan of action together.

maria, who i lead acteens with, had an accident on her boat this past weekend, and fell on something that injured her tail bone/rectum. she had surgery yesteday and is doing well, just keep her family, the cooks, in your prayers as she is recovering.

debbie, who also leads acteens with us, her husband is searching for a job, and is having to work nights right now, which is a huge adjustment for them. i pray for a short job search and that God will lead bill to the right job, and that the two of them will be able to endure the yucky schedule they are living with now.

karen, in my sunday school class is going through chemo for breast cancer right now. she is absolutely the most graceful woman i have known while going through treatment. she is very hopeful, and seems very "matter of fact" about the whole thing. i pray for her doctors and her family, and that if she needs to, that she have people that she can be raw with about this. i've not gone through it myself, but know those who have, and cannot imagine the fear/anger/questions that one would have.

pray for me as i am struggling with some things this week... i am ok, i just know that i could be better, and i am trying hard to work on that, but satan is trying hard for me not to.

i know there are others, these are just the ones that have been weighing on my heart today.

busy saturday!

so this past saturday was much fun!! in the morning i met melissa, john, janna and alana for breakfast and then we went to the farmer's market and bicentennial mall...

this is alana being silly at breakfast!! the farmer's market was much fun, as we just looked around all of the beautiful fresh produce and the fake designer purses...that's always fun. i got some cherries and peaches..very yummy!!

after the farmer's market i went to ava grace's first birthday party...boy does that little girl have lots of folks that love her!! it was a great party just watching her enjoying all the people!

after that i went to probably one of the prettiest weddings ever!! valerie, a girl i work with, got married in pulaski, tn on her family farm. her mom took a pole barn (a barn with no walls) and poured concrete on the floor of it. that's where the reception was...there was fabric draped on the poles and lots of flowers every where. the kids were playing in the creek right beside the barn...it was so lovely!! i will get some pictures up soon (they're at home, and i'm a work right now).

do you journal?

do you? i have off and on from time to time since i was in high school...the longest was when i was 19-20 or so. i actually filled up two spiral notebooks, and during that time it almost seemed like things in my life weren't real unless they were written in my journal. about 3 months ago i started writing everyday. sometimes it is a prayer, sometimes just a list of what i did that day, sometimes a few pages about things that are going on. the only rule i have about my journal is that every page doesn't have to look the same. i used to get hung up on making it look perfect, but now i have let go of that. if i want to draw or doodle or write quotes, scriptures, lists, whatever....it's ok! i have slacked off on writing the past few weeks and a friend encouraged me to pick it back up, which i finally did today. just putting pen to paper makes me feel calm for some reason. so pick up a pen and get to writin'!!