Button Ornaments

This year I have really been drawn to buttons. They are just so fun for crafting! In recent years we have agreed to stop exchanging gifts with my brother and his wife and instead focus on the kids at Christmas time. So we started a tradition of exchanging ornaments instead. This year we planned to swap ornaments on Thanksgiving so we could enjoy them during the current holiday season. I had planned to make mine so when I came across these button ornaments by Martha Stewart, I knew they were just the thing.
I was extra blessed in this endeavor as one of the followers on my Facebook page generously mailed me a bunch of buttons from her stash for no cost after I inquired about where to buy them in bulk. Thank you so much Jerre Lollman:)

 Here's what I came up with (one each for my brother, sister-in-law, and 2 nieces):

That's a reindeer, a snowman, an elf (or leprechaun as I kept calling it at one point;), and a Santa. I am planning to make some more to attach to gifts and am going to come up with some special ones for my boys so I'll post about those when I finish them. If you are interested in making some yourself click the Martha Stewart link above. The only materials you need are buttons, pipe cleaner, and ornament hooks. These literally take minutes to make and would be a fun project to get your kids involved with as well. Happy Ornament Making!

Happy Father's Day!

“My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me.“- Jim Valvano

"Praise the LORD! Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in his commandments! His offspring will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed." (Psalms 112:1-2 ESV)

I feel as blessed as a girl could be today as I celebrate my own father and the father of my children. The two most special men in my life (for now anyway, there are three little boys who will one day join their ranks!) deserve honor and celebration for their very important roles in both my life and the life of my kids.

My dad is everything those quotes up above describe. He has always believed in me and I grew up thinking that anything was possible if I put my mind to it and worked hard. As an adult I find myself soaking up his words of wisdom when it comes to ministry, parenting, and marriage. He is so wise and I appreciate that he is willing to share what he knows, good and bad, to help make my journey through this life a little smoother. And you want to talk about a man who fears God and delights in his commandments? That is my dad, a man who gave up his passion for fighting fire for his calling to seek and save the lost through missionary work in Mexico. I truly believe his heart matches the heart of Christ himself in how he longs for each and every person to know our Savior. And because he has made that choice to live his life for the Lord, I am blessed. Like I said, I am one lucky girl!

Shortly after leaving the protection and guidance of my dad I was joined together with another amazing man through marriage. Let me tell you what, the longer we are married the more I see my dad in him. He is hard-working and supports his family but he also knows how to cut loose and play like he is a kid himself. Watching his eyes light up when one of the boys does something funny or sweet is enough to make me fall in love with him all over again. Becoming a dad has changed  him for the better and I get excited when I see him pour into them because I know that their lives will be richer for it. And even though my husband is a newer Christian, he already has an intense love for Christ and amazes me daily as he grows into the leader God is calling him to be both in ministry and in our home. I am undoubtedly blessed in having this man to spend the rest of my life with.

I hope on this Father's Day you are feeling equally blessed and that you are taking the time to let those important men in your life know just how special they are.

Holding back

Do you ever find yourself holding back? What about when it comes to an area in your life where you could be blessed....do you ever hold back then?

As I sat down earlier this evening to read my study for women's group tomorrow, I found myself blessed and filled up by the contents of Ruth. Yet it forced me to stop and really evaluate myself and the way I have been doing things. Take this study for instance - every week when I read through my study book and the Bible I gain so much from it. In fact, it is usually spilling out of me which is why I have to come immediately here to share it. Yet week after week when the initial blessing I receive from the word "wears off", I go right back to choosing laziness. I could be reading every night taking it in a little at a time and really letting it wash over me, spill into my day and my week. But instead I put it off, sometimes cramming it all in the night before. Do you think I am able to really soak that all in the same way I would had I spread it out over the week? I doubt it. I am holding myself back from receiving the full blessing I could be getting out of this study.

Every time I skip my devotional time, don't go to church, don't participate in one of my small groups, I miss the chance to be blessed. What about those times I feel the urge to call someone I haven't talked to in awhile just to check on them but brush it off? When that tug to help out a stranger who looks like they are struggling nags at me but I just assume some one else will do it? Or when that overwhelming urge to stop whatever I am doing to pray over someone hits but I don't act on it because I am intimidated or embarrassed? In these instances I am not only missing out on the blessings God wants to pour out on me, but also holding back the other person from receiving a blessing from God through me.

I don't want to miss any piece of what God has to give me. And I certainly don't want to get in the way of another person's opportunity to be blessed. My prayer today is that I give God every thing I have, every piece of my life. That I never hold back. I am so thankful that He never holds back when it comes to loving me and showing me grace and mercy. He gave his all, gave the life of his son so that we could know him and receive his blessings. "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8) What a gift!

A sigh of relief

The last 24 hours has been quite an emotional roller coaster.You see about a week ago we were able to pay off our car. Something we have been working hard to accomplish before this new baby comes so that we could purchase a second car that will actually hold all of our children. Not only did we pay it off, but with our tax return we had enough to put down on the next car. Talk about awesome, right? We thought so too and had been feeling so good about what we had accomplished. Until yesterday. Sunday night as Jeremy was driving home from work he heard a sound coming from the engine that concerned him so when he got up yesterday he changed the oil hoping that would help. I continued to go about my day driving downtown to Kindermusik with our youngest and noticing no problems whatsoever. But as I was driving home the car began to make a clicking sound. This sound got progressively worse so I called my husband and he urged me to get off the freeway immediately. I took the long way home hoping and praying that nothing would happen before I got where I needed to be.

Our in-laws arrived at our house shortly after I did and my father-in-law gave the car the once over deciding it would be best to take it in. He thought it would be something minor as did the mechanic at initial glance. Then we get the call. The call telling us it is the engine and the entire thing is going to need to be replaced. Oh and did I mention that it would run us somewhere around $3,800? GULP. That is unless we had receipts to prove we had been keeping up on our oil changes on our own as that would mean our 100,000 mile warranty on the engine would still be good. But of course, we didn't have those receipts. Now came the wait. Would the dealer honor the warranty despite the fact that we didn't have these tiny pieces of paper? This meant the difference between only paying a $100 deductible versus almost four grand out of pocket. This was one of those moments where the wheels in my brain begin to spin in overdrive playing out every possible outcome. Allowing myself to feel so sorry for us that we had only gotten a week of peace about the car situation before something was threatening to take it all away. Anger that a car that is only 5 years old with 55,000 miles on it was giving us this kind of trouble. Doubt that this could all possibly work in our favor.

But before these thoughts could completely consume me I began to call those closest to us just asking for prayer. Knowing that this was completely out of our hands (oh how I hate to have no control!) and that all I could do at this point was to give it to God. Last night as I tossed and turned I kept trying to pray for peace. For the ability to not look ahead but just take this one decision at a time. I don't think I got more than a minute in each time before my mind began to wander. Then this morning we got a call saying that they were sending out the inspector and hadn't even asked about the receipts. That if this person gave the thumbs up all would be well. But that we wouldn't know until tomorrow night. So we continued on our day just trying to push it out of our heads until tomorrow. Then Jeremy's phone rang around 12:30. It was the dealer. The inspector had made it and they were agreeing to honor our warranty. Not only that but they are paying for us to have a rental car for up to 10 days. All of this will be taken care of in a little over a week and is going to cost us about $100. This situation couldn't have turned out any better. And we give all the glory to God. We are so thankful that he heard and answered our prayers in this way. We are thankful to have such amazing family and friends who not only offered to help in anyway possible but who also lifted us up in prayer. I don't know another time that I have breathed such a big sigh of relief. We are feeling truly blessed.