halfway there

Hello friends! We are halfway through the week!
here are my favorite things this wednesday:

I took my first test in my class last night, and it went so well! I am so relieved!

 I love how easy these bags are--and so cute!

 This comb is so adorable--and would be easy to make many with different colors!

 I saw pumpkins at the grocery store this weekend--I think it's time!

Happy Wednesday! What are you loving this week?

dreams

I am a dreamer, a planner
a liver in tomorrow-er
I have dreams of homes, of babies, of new jobs, of more education.
I want to be the best at what I do; I want to be appreicated by those I work with
I dream of being the Proverbs 31 wife, of helping my boss find the esterase.
I dream of  a PhD.

but in all these dreams, who am I?  sometimes I wonder if I am fit to be a wife, a mother, to get more education? In all of these dreams, am I missing things now because I am focused on things to be?  I do not want to count the life I have now as a failure because I didn't fulfill these dreams.

dreams hurt. when I share these innermost desires; I am admitting pain when they don't happen.  but I want to feel. to feel the joy, and the pain. I don't want to be numbed to disappointment and quit dreaming.

I want to relinquish the utter control of those dreams.  I am not saying those are not still things my heart desires, but to know that I have  God who is good, and who delights in giving good gifts.  and if He fills those dreams, or if He gives new dreams, I can be full and giving thanks. I want my dreams to be able to change. I want a new dream; a dream that seeks only to bring glory and praise to the one who made me. a dream where the glory is not in my accolades, but in the goodness of God that I have seen.

because I still have dreams, and a God that fills them.

Friday Morning lovelies

Happy Friday Friends!

I have quite a few shop updates for you, but it could result in some mega discounts or winning a giveaway, so listen up!

1. I have submitted my work to Heartsy, a kind of groupon for Etsy. It could result in some MEGA DISCOUNTS for you.  I need votes to make it through the first round of the selection process.  Would you vote for me? 


2. Have you entered the Bloom giveaway?  My sweet friend Nicole is hosting it and you should absolutely go and enter.


3. As we enter fall, some of the shop items are going on sale.  When I'm out of fabric for them, they're gone!  Go get them while they are hot! Visit Seek First etsy shop.

this season

the weather is changing.
well, sort of.  it's Houston. it's still hot.
but sometimes in the mornings it's a little bit cooler.
the promise of fall is there.

and maybe it's just me, but the changing of the seasons gets me all weepy with the changes of our lives.
this fall I started going back to school.
and it will be a three year journey of our lives.
a year of pre-reqs, and two years of nursing school.
a change to our lives; for the better.

for the first 8 months of our marriage, we both just worked.
just work, and home. work and home.

and now there's school.
and everything is changing just a bit.
i'm gone two nights of the week for now.
and studying on the weekends.
small changes now, more to come.
and in the spring it will be two classes.
and then nursing school starts next fall.

and i get all weepy thinking about those first 8 months
they were/are a huge blessing.
a time the Lord gave us to just be.

but I know the Lord has given this season as well.
and while I'm nervous about balancing it all.
and wondering how much I can work.
or if I will work during nursing school.

but as the seasons change,
I'm embracing this change as well.
excited for the season to come.

What I'm Loving

Good morning!
This Wednesday morning I am loving the promise of this verse:

You can go get yourself this print from Naptime Diaries.  You won't regret it-I have a couple and love them!

I am loving pumpkin spice lattes from Starbucks!  I had my first one of the season last week, and love them!

 Love these mismatched bowls.

 Is everyone else as obsessed with chevron as I am?  This tape is to die for.  Thinking about the red one for Christmas wrapping.  Who wouldn't want a gift wrapped in brown butcher paper and that red tape?

 This weekender tote makes me excited for fall and all the trips that come!

 I love this perfect, simple necklace. It is beautiful and intriguing!

and, as always, I love giveaways!  Head on over to Nicole's blog Bloom

to enter a giveaway to win one of my necklaces!

Happy Wednesday friends! Know that in all of your weaknesses and struggles today, He can be glorified. His power is bigger.

92

i woke up this morning with a headache.
and knowing that I had to spend the day with my not so great coworker.
and then, at lunch, I forgot to pack my applesauce.
i was ready to cry over applesauce.
really? did I just say that?
it's applesauce.
whatevs. I had been looking forward to it all morning.

and so I was sitting in my office, ready to cry.
over applesauce.

but the real issue was my heart had grown far from thanksgiving.
i was so mad about all the things going "wrong"
when what I want is to teach my heart to have open hands and recieve
all that God gives. in the easy and the hard.

I have counted to 92. 92 gifts. 
I want to keep seeing the gifts, even in the hard days.
empty of myself, full of His gifts
i want the language I speak to be thankgiving.

insurance money for stolen things

new machine and successful experiments at work

a husband who helps clean the house

felt flower tutorial

Last fall I made my first yarn and felt flower wreath.
I loved it so much that I made 5, and we use them above the TV in the living room.

(I had already taken down one)  oops. just pretend you see the last one in that hole.

when I made them, I was still new to crafting, and was not very good.

the flowers sucked.  they were weird cone looking things.  

i sewed floral wire to the bottom of them and then pushed them into the styrofoam wreath.

hot glue now solves all of my problems.

but it was my early crafting days.  i was thrilled.

about a month ago, I sat looking at the flowers and really hated them.

so, I started re-making all of the flowers.  

here's how to do it.

First, cut circles out of the color felt you want.  

cut as many circles as you want, in any size.

don't worry if they aren't perfect circles. mine are far from real circles.

then, cut a spiral in your circle.  

you want to have pretty thick "strips" in  your spiral.

once you have your strips cut, you have to "scallop" your felt.

to scallop, first lay out your felt in a circle (like it was before you cut it).  

this makes it easier to find the outside edge.

start at the outside edge, and start cutting scallops along the felt.

you want to make pretty high mountain tops, and pretty low valleys.

scallop the whole circle of felt.

once you have finished scalloping, you need to roll your flower.  Start at the center of the circle, and fold and roll.  Use a dot of hot glue every few turns to secure.

horray! much prettier felt flowers.

now...it looks so much better and so much more ready for fall in my house!

oh, Houston

Because I have been in Houston more than a year (and the cool weather this morning had me all sorts of weepy eyed rememering a year ago), I thought I would share a few of the things I have loved/or not loved about this new city.  I never thought I would find myself living in Houston, but for now, it's perfect!

1. During the time we were engaged and I lived alone in Houston, I would go every Friday night to target to pick out dinner.  I would spend all day looking forward to and planning this momentous event.  all I bought was dinner, yes.  I couldn't afford anything else.  well, maybe I would buy a 1.19 nail polish. maybe. 

2. When I got to Houston, I was bound and determined to learn my way around quickly.  I had the GPS, but I'm pretty sure that thing makes me dumb.  So I used it for a week, and then only took it out in emergencies.  I have a desire to know maps like my dad.  not there  yet.  Houston's a little bigger than Fort Worth.  I still only use GPS in emergencies.

3. I used to be real terrified of my boss.  Like, almost pee your pants scared.  Now, we joke and laugh and argue and bicker and the new employee asks "why are you guys always mad at each other?" to which we laugh.  not mad.  samuel and I went to his house and had dinner with him and his wife Sunday night. we stayed till 2 am.  my boss rocks the socks off your boss.

ummmm....that's enough about Houston. Here are other random thoughts on a Friday.

4. I want bangs.  I want a haircut. but the long hair is staying. I love my long hair, especially more now that pinterest shows me all the fun things I can do with it. like get bangs. 

tell me that's not sexy?

5. Going home this weekend to celebrate.  what? oh you know, Mom and Dad's anniversary, mom's birthday, gran's birthday, papa's 70th birthday.  lots of cake to be eaten.  going to a women's lunchon with mom and gran.  darn my overactive tear ducts, there will by crying.

6. the fall weather and less than 100 degree temps has me all rejuvinated feeling.  so fresh.  so easy to breathe.  so blessed that this change happened. 
7. in my class, the girl that sits next to me is named thaDutchess.  yep.  this is her. I was a real creeper and stood in the back corner of class during break and took a picture.  her hair reminds me of cruella de ville.

happy weekend! I promise to be a better blogger next week.

Bad Blogger

Friends.
I have lost my blogging groove.
Long gone are the days of scheduled posts,
reply's to comments, and link parites.
heck, I didn't even post yesterday

now I stare at the pile of ironing
the chapters of reading
and the lunches that need making

and wonder how it is all going to get done.
do you have weeks like this?
seasons of life like this?

where it seems that it's one thing after another?

 the hubs and I had a spur of the moment date because of a broken water main on Friday. blessing in disguise?

 wore flip flops to work on monday.  working in a lab means closed toed shoes all the time. heck, working anywhere means closed toed shoes.  thankfully, a friend lent me her shoes (3 sizes too big). 

 I made peach raw dessert. perfect "it's all going wrong" food.

and in the midst of this, I finally went where I should have gone all along.  
and James chapter 1" Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,^[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴ Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

I am looking at these things differently.  Not because of a positive outlook, or because I'm on optimist (because I am not always), but because they are to be counted as joy. 
I'm counting blessings.  Knowing that God is good, knowing that He gives good gifts.  
because He is in the midst of this.  

running, and long runs that cleanse

three day weekends

new recipes to try  

first day of school

time to get things dons  

pinterest food

I hope your labor day weekend was wonderful and relaxing.

These are the thoughts that sum up our weekend:

• Friday night, the water main to our apartment broke.  Thus, we had a much needed break.
• I went on a long run.
• too much studying
• dinner at my bosses house---best thing of the weekend. 
• we watched a lot of football. UT won.

and I made a lot of food.  A LOT.  Sort of because I now leave Sam alone two nights a week and want to make sure that he has adequate leftovers to eat.   I try.

Pinterest got me all excited to try new recipies.  Here are pics of the things I made (not all in one day...but still too much food).  I'll give you the recipies you should try and tell you what not to waste your time on later.  Just enjoy.

um see. I told you.  and I didn't cook Sunday night.

Friday Football

(skip to the bottom for a coupon if you want)
As a good wife, it's my duty to know when college football season begins.
it began last night.
when I returned from class at 845, a game was on, and the hubs had a smile on his face.
it was good to see a smile on his face.  it was a little bit of normal.

UT has their first football game of the season on Saturday.
and you can bet we will be watching.

happy football season, friends.

to celebrate the long weekend

use the coupon LABORDAY

for 30% off your order in my shop. 

happy three day weekend.

He still is.

yesterday was a heck of a day.

our aparment got broken into.

I got a call from our apartment manager at 11:52 am.

I didn't know the number, so I let it go to voicemail.

when I saw that the number left a voicemessage, I listened.

and returned the call.

I went home immediately,

nightmares flashing in my eyes.

crying Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.

my flesh was failing.

tears were streaming.

Jesus was all there was.

When I got home, it wasn't as bad as the nightmares I pictured.

I called a friend, and through tear mumbled words she understood and came.

Let me tell you right now, sweet ladies of the Lord are so priceless.

she kept telling me she was sorry that she looked a mess. she said she hadn't showered.

to me, she couldn't have been more beautiful

loving and supporting me like Christ.

and after a while, we put it all back together.

the house looks normal.

some things are gone.

but our souls and salvation remain.

we made a trip to home depot and bought every reinforcement they sold.

It was a heck of a day.

but there are a few things I know that were shown to me.

in those nightmarish moments when I had no strength and knew completlely and totally that Jesus was all there was, i knew.
Jesus is all that there is.
and He still is.