Stolen!

Remember the game in Highlights Magazine where you had to find the six differences between the same pictures?

You only need to find one....

Yep. 

Stolen.

Boo.

Always being renewed,

Please see the link party page to see where I link arms with those blissfully beautiful bloggers that host every week. So gracious they are along with these other sweet ladies!      

 

 

Why Do I care?

Welcome to No Fear Friday. I day when you can get a dose of grace from the Lord and reality from me and my flaws. I hope that by being transparent, it will help you face fears long held inside and allow you to live a life of Freedom from Fear through Christ's saving grace.

It took me a little while to get this post started. I was wrestling with a huge issue that came up this week with my Mother-in-law. Frustration came to a head on Wednesday and I blew up at her. I was right (not sure why I had to write that.....) but the whole time I was thinking about it and talking to my husband about it, I had this voice in the back of my mind saying, "but what does she think? She thinks I am wrong and she thinks I am a bad mom" and worse I kept thinking "what is she going to tell others about me and this fight?"

My husband is a very wise man. He has asked me on many occasions "Why do you care?"  I shouldn't care but I do. I want everyone to think I am a great mom and the best wife and a wise parent. I think we all do. Do you? Do you then wonder if this is what others say about you?

The problem with this kind of thinking is it then makes you second guess your decisions because you are worried about what someone else thinks about it. This will eventually lead you to make some very poor decisions because they were based on fear instead of confidence. After I slept on it, I think maybe I needed this crisis to finally say the same thing my husband has been saying for years..... "Why do I care!" I have decided that that kind of fear will not help us to raise the kind of kids I know the Lord wants us to raise. So I am saying, I don't care what others think about my decisions. I will continue to do what the Lord wants and has put in our hearts. (This by no means means that I shouldn't make sure I am not hurting anyone with my attitude or being hurtful in the process).

I also need to give myself a measure of grace to fail at times and not beat myself up so much or care what others think about my rules, etc. The Lord is the one I have based my rules on so it really shouldn't come as a surprise when the world may not agree with them.

 These small trials all work me like clay and get the hard parts kneaded out of me. If I let Him work me like clay, I will eventually be fired into gold.

I only have one person to answer to at the end of the day and that is the Lord. He is the one I should be saying the 'What does He think about how I did today?"


Always being renewed,

Please see the link party page to see where I link arms with those blissfully beautiful bloggers that host every week. So gracious they are along with these other sweet ladies!      

 

 

5 minute Makeover..Again!

What you are about to see will revolutionize your life!

I wish it were so but really I just changed up a mirror I found at the thrift store for $9.95.  I know, that was so mean..... but when you see it you think otherwise. It is another 5 minute makeover however. This is where I find something and transform it in about 5 minutes. This took 10 minutes to transform and then three days to wait to use but I'll take it...it was still quick.

 I wanted to change out my spring silver platter wreath that has been hanging on my door since, well spring, but didn't want to do typical fall decor either. When I saw the mirror and matching shelf set at the thrift, I grabbed it and was amazed at how light it was. It's Styrofoam! Perfect because I originally thought  it was stone and it would break my window in the door as soon as someone opened it. So, what did I do with the mirror. I removed the mirror, added a luan oval in it's place and painted the wood with chalkboard paint.

Yeah, I am not breakin' new ground here ladies!! But I still think it looks nifty changed up and it will get a lot more use as a chalkboard on my front door than a mirror.

I used the mirror to make the luan the correct size and shape and then cut it out using my jigsaw (yeah power tools!). I painted it with three coats of chalkboard paint and let cure for three days. This is important or you will not get a good surface to chalk on. Once all dry, I then added a ribbon on the back to hang.

Before chalking your lovely words and pictures, you need to condition the board. How do you do that?      The picture above says it all.....just scribble all over it and then wipe it off. Now create Picasso. Wait till you see what i came up with for my drawing. 

Knocks you socks off right? Tess does that all by herself, the little imp.

If you are in the neighborhood, I'll be leaving some chalk on the ledge so you can leave me a message. Please try to be a might more creative than I was....

Always being renewed,

Please see the link party page to see where I link arms with those blissfully beautiful bloggers that host every week. So gracious they are along with these other sweet ladies!