10 minutes

"Comfort, comfort my people, says your God." 

Isaiah 40 vs. 29-31

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary, 

and young men stumble and fall;

but those whose hope in the LORD

will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

they will run and not grow weary,

they will walk and not be faint.

I do not know about anyone else..but I bet I have people behind me when I say that this verse hits home with most of us at this time of the  year. Christmas is a season, where Jesus is the reason, but somehow the chaos of the worldly view of Christmas tends to overwhelm us all. I will admit I fall victim to the hectic, chaotic world and am suddenly overwhelmed and consumed by the busy and feel weary, ravaged, and disengaged from him, the true reason why Christmas is.

I hope that I can keep my focus on the true reason and find rest in my Lord, our Jesus. So challenging myself to just take time each day to just sit for 10 minutes focusing on him and only him. 

Just ten minutes  is not near enough, but being realistic, ten minutes is where I shall start. 

Who wants to join me and take a ten minute break to just focus solely on our savior, he deserves this and so much more!

Love ya'll

Oh, P.S. - on another note our home is coming along, here is a sneak peek of the kitchen progress.

Read More

A train ride to the big city

My Saturday consisted of my alarm buzzing at approximately 4:30 am, curling my hair, and running out the door to hit up Starbucks before catching the train to Chicago for some shopping with my in-laws. We really didn't do too much shopping, did pick up a few things like a pair of coffe pjs and some Burt's bees hand salve. As far as marking anything off my Christmas list....that's a negative. Back to springfield we go. I feel like Christmas just came so fast this year. I'm ready for thanksgiving but Christmas the shopping, I just could do without this year. I love Christmas, don't get me wrong, our Savior was born and that is magnificent, amazing glorious and wonderful all in itself! I love it! However I just am at an age an where I finally can say, I do like receiving gifts, but Christmas is not the time- it places a lot of stress on everyone and myself. I love giving gifts as well, I love seeing people smile. I hope to move towards the real true meaning of Christmas in the years to come- I want to instill the importance of that in my future children. To God be the glory forever and ever!!! Let's glorify Christ this Christ-mas. 

Here are some pics from outings in Chicago today. 

Read More

Read More

October is almost over, say whaaa?

Time flies your having fun, I can't believe it's almost November! Thanksgiving will be here soon and I am ready for the holidays, a little slow down in life just eating good food and being thankful for family, God's love and mercy and blessings in life he has given us to enjoy. Tonight and tomorrow AM, my momma, her friends, and my sisters and I all are going to Beth Moore's conference tonight! Yay!! I love her studies and this will be the first time in person getting to hear her. So excited! Enjoy the weekend:)

pic credit- pinterest finds

Read More

Remember me?

I'ts been such a looong time! 

Happy Fall! 

Read More

Fabulous Friday

So hello dear ones! I have been away for a loooong time. I apologize. I get caught up in other areas of my life and my creative, dreamer gets tucked away under a large heaping pile of reality. Stinks. I wish i could run away with my dreams and start making my dreams my reality. I get to read about people making that happen in their lives quite often in this blog land. Someday maybe i will be writing to you about the day it happens to me. Don't take me wrong and think i am ungrateful for the life I live now, God is amazing and always is blessing me, blessing us. I just have a desire to 1. be a mommy, the best mommy and 2. open my own business creating, designing, inspiring others. God willing those things will be my reality some day. For now lets just soak in what he lays before us in this day. Hubby and I are both off today. Sipping coffee talking about our future. We today are signing the paperwork for our property to finally be officially ours. Woohoo. Oh i suppose i ought to fill you in, since my last post in May, we have sold our home, and bought land. We are officially taking the leap, we will be building our next home just down the street. Hubby just informed me the dig was supposed to start Monday, but now its pushed back to Wednesday the 17th. We are over the moon excited about this adventure. I am too lazy to upload any pics and really have no new pictures to share with you so enjoy some of my latest pins from pinterest.

Read More

Happy Mother's Day

ssprintshop.com

Read More

Phone Dumparoo

Happy Thursday!

She reads truth- so glad I found this devotional for women, I enjoy it daily.
 Hosea 12:6

So you, by the help of your God, RETURN, hold fast to love and justice and wait continually for your God.

Read More

Warning: You may think I am a bit weird after reading

Went for my regular run today. my favorite part- the large cow pasture I get the pleasure to run by. I love, LOVE, love cows. They are adorable but my favorite is the way they smell. Yep. you did not read wrong. I love the way they smell. Manure, i dunno, but they please my senses. Told you, you may think I am weird now haha. When we sold our last house I was sad to leave the cow pasture that was right down the road from us, because I could smell the cows from my yard when the wind was just right.

but all is fine in the world because now I have the large cow pasture that I get to run by. I dont know why I love their smell, i just do.

Aunt Margie and Uncle Ice (thats his nickname. long story and you would have to know my hubby and his side of the fam to fully grasp why he is named Ice) but they got me a cow car freshener a few summer's ago and I was really hoping it would smell like them but it didn't. So if you all ever find any let me know.

Did you know though they actually can bottle the smell of cows. I researched and they do have their scent bottled. haha Freak I know!

Now that you all are thinking im ca-ca-crazy, here are my lovely cows that i have pinned since I can't really put real ones in my backyard. Live in a subdivision with neighbors too close for cows. Some day though we will find our way to the south and have a barn like this with some land big enough for papa cow, mama cow and a baby cow.

Pictures from my pinterest boards.

Read More

and so it rains and rains

Rain. rain go away, come again another day....or wait awhile. So the rains of April snuck in, snuck in so much that our 1 year old finished basement flooded. I must say it wasn't a terrible, terrible experience. God brought greatness from this event. Nothing was majorly ruined. Carpet went bye-bye, entertainment center went bye-bye. Insurance though has came thru for us, so we are choosing to go ahead and start the remodel process. Hubby misses his man cave. I wouldn't technically call it a man cave(he let me decorate down there, so it is pretty girly still). I am excited however to kind of get a second chance to change/rearrange a bit. We have our plans rolling through our minds now, all the pictures are from pinterest, they represent our ideas for the new design of the basement. I will, after we get moving and grooving on the basement post our actual pictures we take :) Let me know what ya'll think!

Have a good weekend ya'll :)

Read More

the simpler life

Good Morning! It's officially the first of May, I am going to challenge myself to write a post a day in May. Key word- challenge- meaning defeat will probably conquer me in this quest, but a girl can try riiiight??? I love the month of May, it brings Summer just that much closer and that always is a great thing. Summer holds  some of my best memories...my birthday, my mom's birthday, spending summer's with my grandpa Carter (now in heaven) and my granma Carter- swinging on their porch swing making mud pies and eat dilly bars :) Yes I said dilly bars, plural. I eat a lot of ice-cream, anyone who knows me truly, knows my ice-cream addiction. My Grandpa knew me all too well - he always ALWAYS  had his fridge stocked with ice-cream for me. Thanks Grandpa! ok where was I at...oh yea.. Summer memories- I met my husband in summer, June 22nd to be exact, we also got engaged in June 5 years later :) so my love for summer is legit ya'll, and the weather rocks my world as well.


What I am really here to do today is share my love for my granma Carter- my dad's mother. She is a simple, wonderful lady, she is beautiful inside and out. Her simplicity intrigues me, because I am not simple, wish I could be more simple like she is, but does this trait come as you grow older and wisen up a bit? I dunno  but i want it to happen to me. She finds beauty in birds, squirrels, her yard and especially the flowers that consume it. Her house is simple, but filled with love. she and my grandpa used to have a large garden, strawberry fields and much much more, as kids we would help with garden, picking corn, shucking it, searching for strawberries and eating them right there as we picked them. these memories will last a lifetime. I love the simplicity that she is, she makes life enjoyable and shows us whats important. anytime you go out to her house, you leave kinda like you leave church- or at least for me its that way. happy, uplifted, content.

My granma - she is beautiful and I love her dearly. i dont get out there to see her as often as I should, and she lets me know that. no worries. she has gotten feisty these days. in  a good way :)

Oh and one more thing.... she has 3 boys, one being my daddy, and she has 3 grandson's, two being my brothers, and two great-grandsons, my nephews' and so I am her only granddaughter. I always knew she had a soft spot in her heart for boys, she loves her boys and the grandson's- so me being a girl kinda threw her off haha, but she thinks the world of me still and I do the same of her (boys are her favorite tho) hehe 

with that being said my younger brother Austin, married a girl named Rae and this is her above with granma Carter, now my brother is the youngest grandson of hers. even softer spot for him in her heart. ahem. favorite. ahem. :) she goes on and on and on about him every time i see her which makes me love her more and him too. but my point is that Aud married Rae and she immediately stole my granma's heart. Aud chose well and granma knows it. 

the end. :)

 P.S. just noticed this is my 100th post!

Read More

April showers bring May flowers

Hi all, it has been raining everyday here as of lately. I snuck in a long run yesterday before it started which made me happy :) I am starting on some research for when to plant, how to plant, how to grow pretty flowers...without killing them or seeing them actually appear. I have never been garden savvy. Watering flowers has never been my strong point. With that being said though I do want to make our yard lovely, I want double take's of neighbors walking by. I have never had a double take worthy yard, so this is something that will be new to my hubby and I. I am looking at planting peonies (my favorite), ranunculas, and just because I love the name Baptisia.... which I looked at some pictures of them and they are pretty too! Of course they are their name is precious to me, baptise is what it sounds like and reminds me of and that is a wonderful event! Hubby and I are first going to finish building the shed in our backyard and then we will move on to some landscaping. I know hubby also wants to redo the deck...lots of outdoor work this spring/summer/fall. I will try to overcome my laziness and actually incorporate photos I have taken onto the blog instead of just using what I find on the web. I may be just to insecure (not the best photographer), I am trying to learn a little here and there, but I don't have any clue how to work the lovely camera hubby got me. So for today please enjoy the pictures from the web, they are far prettier than my own hehe.

*pictures from :sweetteasoutherndreams.tumblr

Read More

So this is Spring huh

Spring came last week...or so that's what they said! I can not believe as I got up on Sunday morning the snow was covering the ground, little by little it fell and fell and FELL. We got pounded with some snow ya'll. I mean it was the most I had ever seen. 18 inches I think to be exact. The most in my lifetime. But spring it's here and I can see the glimmers of hope that it really wants to be here, sunshine, slowly the snow is melting away.....I am so excited for warmth! Spring is bringing out the girly-girly side of me. I am loving all things pink, and yearning for a Mani/pedi date sometime in the near future. I chose to keep my tootsies all natural this winter, so as soon as the warm weather pops, i'll be popping into my favorite nail salon for a refresher. I told you I was loving all things girly and pink, here are my latest images I am swooning over to prove it!
Pictures gotten from tumblr.

Bows. Pearls. Pink. screams I am a girl!

Bravery..I need more of it

From the dress to the shoes- I wanna wear it all

Reminds me of my beffy and I- missing her :)

Read More