Thinking on the New Year

I love the New Year! Typically, my sweet mother keeps the kiddos so that Don and I can have the evening together. We usually go out to dinner and talk about the up-coming year, look over our family plan and just talk about things we want to do differently. And I think this year we might go see Don's friend's band play at the P&H, but it doesn't start until 10 and that is so crazy late to me! Anyway, I wanted to share some of the questions that Don and I do together. We have been doing them for a few years and I not sure where Don got them, but they have been really helpful in looking at my spiritual life.

1. What's one thing you could do this year to increase your enjoyment of God
2. What's the most humanly impossible thing you will ask God to do this year
3. What's the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your family life
4. In which spiritual discipline do you most want to make progress and what will you so about it
5. What is the single biggest time-waster and what will you do about it
6. For whose salvation will you pray most fervently for
7. What's the most important way you will by God's grace, try to make this year different from last
8. What's the most important need you feel burdened to meet
9. What habit would you most like to establish this year
10. Who is the person you most want to encourage
11. What's one way you could be a blessing to your pastor
12. What single blessing from God do you want to seek most earnestly
13. What skill do you most want to learn
14. What one biblical doctrine do you most want to understand better
15. What area do you most need change

Do you have any questions you ask yourself about the new year? Happy New Year!!

Food!!!

This has been a great weekend! My mom came to my rescue and kept my sweet babies friday night and most of Saturday. And I got TONS of stuff done because I was starting to feel overwhelmed with my Christmas list. I finished the super hero capes for my niece and nephews, cooked, did some good cleaning and wrapped presents. I feel so much better! And tonight we just got back from a fun time with our sweet friends the Nelsons. Finally, got to hold their sweet new baby Jonathan, so handsome :) All that to say, my hubby and I went on a date Friday night to Le Chardonnay. And I wanted to share a quick review on it. Those that know my husband and I know that we enjoy food. We love to cook, we love to eat unique and interesting foods and we greatly enjoy the dining out experience. I have heard some people say that food is "just fuel" and I disagree. Food is an experience. Granted every now and then it is just fuel, but more often it should be an enjoyable memorable experience. Even everyday family meals.
We decided on Le Chardonnay because it was one of the places that we had a Groupon for and we had eaten there once before, but only for dessert. At that time it was at a different location and it had a very romantic feel. The new location doesn't have that same feel. While it is still dimly lit and there are candles on the table the T.Vs, open kitchen and the smoking countered the whole romantic atmosphere I remembered. And yes SMOKING! I didn't think you could smoke in restaurants anymore. I would have left if we hadn't already ordered. And typically, I do not mind if the kitchen is open and you can see the chefs cooking, but they were talking loudly and one guy was on break and just leaning on the counter smoking and swearing. It was annoying.
On to the food. It was nothing great. I ordered the grilled mahi mahi sandwich. The piece of fish was very flat and not impressive. However, the remoulade was very tasty, but the sandwich was on a huge sesame bun that completely overwhelmed the fish. I felt like I was eating more bread than anything. But the fries were nice and crispy. We will not be eating there again. My husband wrote a review of the restaurant here if you want to hear his comments.

Here are just a few of our favorite restaurants in Memphis
1. Sweet Grass (we would say it is the best restaurant in Memphis)
2. Elegant Farmer
3. Boscos
4. Trolley Stop
5. 3 Angels Diner
6. It isn't Don fav, but I love Bombay House. He prefers Mayuri
7. Majestic

We both really want to try
1. Andrew Michael
2. Iris
3. Felicia Suzanne's
So, if you have ever eaten at any of those places please let me know what you thought about it.
Goodnight.

My 3 year old and modesty

I didn't think a modesty talk would come so soon between Eden and I. (she is only 3 1/2) I thought that talk would come later on in her little life. Well, it happened when she came in the room with one of her dress up dresses falling off her shoulders. She is a small girl so I just pulled them up like I usually do until she protested and told me no that it was her "Belle dress" and it was suppose to be like that. She then pulls them back off her shoulders and pulls the front down making it lower. It took me off guard for a moment and then I put it together and could see Belle from Beauty and Beast in her flowing, yellow, off-the-shoulder, low-cut dress dancing with the Beast. I didn't know what to say at first. I sat down with her and talked about what is right for girls to wear and how we are to dress modestly. (and attempted to define that word for her) I reminded her that mommy doesn't wear her clothes like that and how some parts of our bodies are not meant for other people to see. Hopefully, it doesn't sound like I am making a bigger deal about this than I should, but I just saw it as a great teaching time for my little girl and myself. I learned a few things from it. 1. For more than just this reason, but it's a big one, I need to watch and be so careful about the clothes that I wear. How much time I spend in the mirror doing my hair and make-up because I have 2 sweet little eyes that are watching me ALL the time. 2. Don't be too busy to stop for teaching moments. 3. What she watches and reads effects her thinking and world-view. Don and I talked briefly if we should continue to let her watch that movie and we concluded that we thought it was still fine for her to watch, but that we needed to be more aware of those type of messages and images in movies. We don't believe in hiding everything from our children, but at the same time we are called to guard them and teach them along the way. Thankfully, after that talk she hasn't tried to make her dresses into "Belle dresses" anymore. That is another post if she does. Oh the joys of raising a little girl!

She loves her accessories!

Not a Christmas entry

So this not going to be anything about Christmas, although I love reading all the Christmas posts lately. My Christmas entry will come later. Today is a sick day for this mommy. I've actually been sick for going on 2 days now. It's nothing horrible just a faucet for a nose, headache, tired, little bit of body aches. I've heard this saying a million times and it's so true about how mom's don't get sick days. Whenever that goes through my head when I am sick I tend to fell sorry for myself. But the hardest thing for me when I am sick is how quickly I get frustrated at my children. I tend to be irritated easily and lose my patience oh so fast! On days like today I try to just take it easy and not be as concerned about housework. I am not as strict about movie time, but at the same time try to have them doing fun things since they are in the house all day. Like today we baked Christmas ornaments and then painted them and I finished my "winter" wreath. (pics will come soon!). (I have no idea how I had the energy to those things.) The biggest thing that struck me today is that even in my sickness I am still called to love and care for my family well. Thankfully there is grace for those frustrating moments, but I am want to try in those moments to not let my sickness and mood cause me to sin against my children. Hopefully, in the morning I will be a millions times better :)

I'm thankful for...

We are mostly packed and ready to head to Martin tomorrow morning for what I know will be a wonderful Thanksgiving. We are SO thankful that Paula (my wonderful mother-in-law) finished up her last round of radiation today and is moving back home! I wanted to reflect and list some of the things I am thankful for during this season. (this list is not necessarily in order)

1. My salvation. That Christ died on the cross and bore the wrath that I deserved.
2. My husband. That he loves me, that he provides for our family, that he leads our family, that he can cook, that we laugh together and that he is my best friend
3. Eden. that she such a delight that loves to read, that she is caring and loves helping mommy.
4. Owen. That he is loving and loves to cuddle. That he smiles all the time and laughs.
5. As I just mentioned that Paula has finished up her treatment and can move back home!
6. For my loving mother and father
7. For my sweet sister and her family
8. For my interesting and super smart brother
9. For my wonderful sister-in-law
10. The rest of my aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents. So blessed by family!
11. Sweet friends that keep me accountable
12. For our home.
13. Centerpoint church family. Thankful for their support in our transition
14. New church family at Audubon Park
15. How the Lord is shaping my parenting and character
16. Our call and desire for missions
17. That I get to stay home everyday with my sweet children
18. For my husband's job that allows me to stay home
19. For the neighbor that the Lord has placed us in
20. Sweet surprises that my husband does for me
21. Friendships that my children have
22. That we are all healthy
23. That I have more than I could ever dream about. I should never complain
24. Our books
25. That my children sleep well and Don and I get full night's rest (typically)
26. Heat (you have no idea how cold natured I am)
27. freedom from religious persecution
28. my loving father-in-law
29. 3 meals and 2 snacks everyday
30. My children laughing

I could go on and on. Here are a few pictures

The amazing family the Lord has blessed me with


Going to Turkey with my sweetie (even though my eyes are closed)

brother and momma

Grandma last Christmas

Aunt Sara and Grandpa

sweet friends for my children

little buddies

It was one of those days...

Last Thursday I had a pretty rotten day. It was one of those days that I was counting down the minutes until Don walked through the door. It was a day (mainly an afternoon) full of crying, fits and extremely whiny attitudes. And no matter how hard Mommy tried I could not make my little children happy. I informed my sweet husband how the day had been so he could be ready when he arrived home. Didn't want him to think he was going to walk into a calm household. When he got home I just vented and told him all about the day, how I had gotten angry with our children and how I hadn't instructed and disciplined them in the way of the Lord. I felt like I had blown it. Ever have days like that? At the end of all that I became more grateful for the Lord's grace and my husband's love. Grace that the Lord wasn't going to hold my sins over my head and remind me of them over and over. Grace for a new day and fresh start with my children. I was thankful that my husband didn't just tell me the way I should have handled things (although we did talk through them) but he listened, bought me a cupcake from Muddy's, took time with the kids so that I could sew and then watched a movie with me (which is rare in our house). I wanted to share that experience because I know we all have bad days and days when we feel like we have blown it. It could be at work, at school, with friends or our children. A beautiful part about walking with the Lord is that there is grace for those days those moments and that He wants us to rest in those and to give him our burdens and the heavy things of our heart. I am more grateful now than I was last Thursday morning for the grace of the Lord in my life.

Painted Mason Jars

A quick little DIY I did a few days ago. It was so simple! I just painted different jars and vase I had on hand and they turned out great! I painted the inside of them a mixture of white and two different shades of gray. As I was doing it and looking inside the jars I thought this is a disaster, but the glass (obviously) changes the look of the paint! The idea came from here

The beauty of the Lord's kindness

I have been reminded this week of the kindness of the Lord. How He so cares about the small things in our lives. That He is a God that cares deeply about His children. Owen was running a fever on Sunday and was pretty pitiful all day I thought we were going to have to go to the doctor on Monday, but on Monday little guy woke up fever gone and ready to play. I can only attribute that to the Lord and His kindness to Owen and myself. Another thing from this week, is that we have had mice. Yes, mice!!! It has been horrible and highly stressful on Don and myself. Seriously, you don't even know how this has impacted the Gale household. Thankfully, Don has attacked those mice with everything he has. He has put grates up, plugged holes, put traps down and even ordered a "rat zapper". And last night we didn't hear them and there were no droppings in the house when we got up. Some may say that it is because of Don's hard work and yes that is part of it, but I know that the Lord is sovereign and even in something like mice in the house He cares. We prayed every night that the Lord would take them away and we have seen His hand move. I know some of this could sound "over spiritual" (whatever that means) but I believe that God is not detached from our the everyday part of our lives that He is working and gives favor and mercy where He desires and wills. I can confidently say that I am blessed by the kindness of the Lord.

Rise and Shine!

Alright, this is going to be a hard one to talk about...
Getting up early in the morning is a valuable thing. (But why is it so hard!) I am right there with the person that just wants to go back to sleep or that thinks they are going to sleep for just another 10 minutes, but wakes up 45 minutes later and has to rush in the shower or doesn't get a shower at all. I love my bed! And I love to sleep. It is a great comfort. When I was in high school probably like most high schoolers my Saturday mornings meant I got to sleep until 12 or 1 in the morning... i mean afternoon. That's a lot of sleep! I wanted to share what the Bible says about rising early and importance of it.

"And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed." Mark 1:35
Jesus got up early. So many times in the Gospels it talks about him getting up early to teach the crowds and here to meet with the Lord. He knew and made an example of getting up while it was still calm and the craziness of the day hadn't set in. This is the time it seemed that He knew He could just be with His Father.

"O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch." Psalm 5:3
David and the other psalmist made it a priority as well to get up early and be with the Lord. They started their day with prayer and pouring their heart out to the Lord. The Psalms are full of request being made early in the morning. Ex. "But I, O LORD, cry to you; in the morning my prayer comes before you." Psalm 88:13

"She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens." Proverbs 31:15
I am so encouraged by the example of the Proverbs 31 woman. I want to be more like her. I can picture her getting up lighting her candles getting things ready for her household. Preparing their food, getting herself ready for a full day of work.

These are just a few examples of the importance of rising early. Personally, while it is hard and the moment I hear that alarm go off I dread putting my feet on the cold hardwood once I am up and going I am so thankful that I did it. I see 2 reasons why it is important. 1. it makes sure that you have time with the Lord and 2. it helps to get your day going without interruptions.

My rising time changes with different season of my life. Right now my alarm is set for 5:50. I take my shower, I spend time with the Lord, I finish getting ready, I eat my breakfast, check my email, and then start on house chores and having the kid's breakfast ready. When this happens it is a smooth morning even if Eden and Owen both wake up in terrible moods, which does happen. I can then take the time i need to console and help them instead of rushing around to get the morning started and grumpy because I know that I didn't get a shower and probably won't get one for the rest of the day!

I am not perfect at this. By no means. I already said how much I love to sleep, but I know I have to get up. There are mornings when it just doesn't happen. But there is grace for that and thankfully I serve a gracious God who helps me through the day and provides me with strength for those crazy mornings.

Quick disclaimer: I do believe that if you are sick or just had a hard time sleeping or a late night then the extra sleep is needed. We need our bodies to be well rested. That is also why you have to get in the bed at a good hour. On a typical night my bedtime is 10:00pm at the latest. Also, when you have a baby your sleep schedule is most of the time their sleep schedule. So rising early is not always possible maybe getting up 20 minutes before your baby typically gets up is a better goal.

Basically, you make it fit with your schedule for work, when your children rise, but the valuable thing is getting up to spend time with the Lord and to get your morning going. Trust me I understand the difficulty, but it is so worth it!

Completed Fabric Wall

Finally a post! I’ve had this project completed for about a week now, but no time to write about it. Life is so busy! Making things and being creative is so life giving. Sometimes it is relaxing and sometimes I can get frustrated. When I start to get frustrated I just have to walk away from it and come back to it. That is what happened when I started on the art piece for my dining room. I knew I wanted to do fabric -covered canvases. I liked the eclectic feel of it and how simple it seemed. Well, when I started buying my supplies I really hated to buy canvases just to cover them up and not paint on them, so I decided to go with foam board. I had no idea how hard it would be for me to cut and get the foam board straight! If it hadn't been for my sweet hubs the project would have been all kinds of crooked. Plus with the foam board I had to attach something to hang it, which I just used twine. So, if you want to do this and save money then use foam board, but it might be more of a headache. When I started putting the fabric pieces on I hated how it looked. So I just had to walk away. After about a day ideas started coming and I knew each piece needed some kind of "accessory" on it. Here are some pics and description of the added accessories:

the finish product

the accessories on these two are from a stained tablecloth. I just very carefully cut out the lace. So glad I was able to reuse this tablecloth. i loved it so


this flower I made using this tutorial.

the little cluster of flowers are the same style I did for my fall wreath, so that was an easy one.

the top piece I just made some circle looking things with some coordinating felt in the middle. Nothing brilliant.

It took me some rearranging to finally love how it looked, but I am pleased with it now. It is much better than the bare wall I've had for over 2 months now. I've got more to share soon!

Off to Nan's house they go!

The kiddos are spending the night and most of Saturday with Nan, so that means Don and I are going out! Woohoo! Our dates always revolve around where we are going to eat. My husband and I LOVE good local food. Don is amazing at finding awesome restaurants. If you ever need a new place to eat ask him. He knows. And he will never point you to a chain. I think he hates them. We had planned on eating at Andrew Michael, but they were basically booked. The earliest we could get a table was like 8:30 and that is way too late for me and dinner. So we will have to try again. Our next choice was Acre we have heard great things about it and cannot wait to try it out. Then tomorrow we are going to do the Victorian Village tour personally I am way excited about this. I love old houses and history. Plus it is going to be beautiful day tomorrow. Of course we will miss Eden and Owen, but they will have a blast at Nan's and it will be a good refreshing time for us. Any yummy restaurant suggestions for us? Hope you have a wonderful weekend!!

Creating a "Family Plan"

I am about to reveal just how "type A" I am... because this is all about planning and writing things down. However, I have to give the family plan planning and initiating all to my husband it was his idea for our family. I love how he leads us :)

Almost a year ago Don came to me after he had listened to this sermon on managing your family and wanted us to create a family plan. Of course I was excited because I love lists and planning! I get all excited about calendars and writing things on them... i know that is rather dorky. Basically what it is is creating a mission statement for your family, making goals divided into different categories, and then planning on how to do them each day, week, month and year. This is our first year doing it so we have had some months were the family plan did not happen. Plus unexpected things happen and you just have to be flexible with life, but this is a great tool to help your family stay on track and focused. I am not going to share our whole family plan because it is 3 pages long, but just the basics of it:

Categories: Finances, Marriage, Family/Parenting, Outreach, Church Life
Then under each of those categories we wrote down the things that were important to us. Goals we had for each sections. Here are a few examples from each category
Finances: Maintain a monthly budget. Evaluate it as a couple. Live and give generously.
Marriage: Date night once or twice a month, Yearly getaway alone, Pray nightly together, Read 3 books a year together,
Family/Parenting: Daily family worship, Keep a family journal,
Outreach: Plan a monthly thing to do as a family to reach out to our neighbors and city
Church Life: Have someone over for dinner twice a month

The last Sunday of each month Don and I sit down and look at the upcoming month and we decide on who we want to invite over for dinner, when date nights are going to be, when family nights are going to be, what outreach we want to do. It is a great way to keep it all going. Like I mentioned before we are so not perfect at this. There are things on the family plan that we have never even done before, but it really helps.

Here is the audio and here is the blog to get the whole picture. Happy planning :)

The Fall Wreath is Finished!

For a few days I thought this wreath was going to have to be a Christmas wreath because it seemed to take forever! All those little flowers were a bit time consuming, but I am so happy with the results. This is my first Fall wreath to make, so I am sure they will get better over the years. I got the idea from here Check her blog out she has some super cute ideas. Anyone else finished up some wreaths for their front door if not you should make one. They are fun and of course they make your front door look cute :)

a close up of all those flowers

Little Ones and Phases

Well, so much for blogging 3 times a week. Life has been full lately, so obviously family comes before my little blog. I have been thinking on the phases that little ones go through. Moms all know what I am talking about... during the time that they are going through them it seems like the end of the world or the most frustrating experience EVER! For instance, teething or not eating, changing their sleep patterns, being clingy. Currently, some of our little phases (most of them are towards Owen) are Owen's new wake up time. The past two mornings he has been rising at the lovely hour of 6:30! That is too early in our house. I have things to do before they get up. I "plan" for them to get up at 7:30, which is usually the case, but not the past two mornings. Naturally, this can be frustrating because it does take away from some of the mornings things i do before they get up, but I have to remember that it is just a phase and he has done this before and he will go back to sleeping later. And if for whatever reason he doesn't I will just adjust my schedule. And then the ever changing eating habits. Owen will have wonderful days of eating and then weeks of only wanting bread, oatmeal, fruit, yogurt and of course anything that has sugar in it! These are the frustrating days for me. I so value a good healthy diet for my family, so for him not to get those wonderful greens that I cook or good fiber and protein from a yummy lentil burger my mind can go crazy! (i could insert here various tips i have found on eating and toddlers, but that is another post) And then let us not forget the "clingy" phase. Owen still cries and cries in the nursery at church or if we are at an unfamiliar place and I leave the room... flips out! With all these things that Owen is going through my main encouragement is that my Lord is to be trusted in all of them. He cares greatly about these things and He comforts me through them... the small and the big. Also, that these are things they just have to grow out of... I am doing things to help Owen eat better, I am helping him to stay in the nursery. For me it also shows that he still greatly needs me and needs to be near to me. One disclaimer, I do think you have to be careful in claiming a behavior as just a phase. Disrespect, tantrums or any other unacceptable behavior should not be simply written off as a phases. While it may be a phase it still needs to be handled and administered with the proper disciple to help the child grow and learn that that behavior is not acceptable at anytime.
I cannot leave out my little Eden bug, currently her little phase is dressing herself. And let me tell you she is a fashion forward little girl. She will come up with some of the craziest little outfits that I just cannot let her walk out in public in. At the same time I do help her in picking out her clothes and I am really trying to give her the independence she wants in deciding what she is going to wear. But it is SO hard for me. I love love picking out her cute little dresses and hairbows!!

Do you have currently have any little phases you are going through with your kiddos? Let this time be a learning time and not a frustrating time. I understand I am right in the middle of many :)

Eden in one of her many crazy outfits, don't you just love the white leg warmers and Christmas socks!

Owen only eating cornbread at dinner last night, but he sure did love that cornbread

I don't want to be poor...

I have always thought that The Beatitudes were a beautiful and very encouraging part of Scripture. A few days ago, they came up in my time with the Lord and I was struck so differently by them. I found myself saying no, I don't want these things. Here is the text for reminding....
"And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said:

'Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.'"- Luke 6:20-23

I don't want to be poor. I don't want to be hungry. I don't want to weep and I surly don't want people to hate and exclude me. All day long my flesh and the world tells me that I should live a happy, fully satisfied life with love from everyone. Don't get me wrong the Lord does want wonderful things for His children, more than we can ever imagine, but more than that He wants to give us things of lasting value. He wants us to gain and long for Kingdom treasure. I still view the Beatitudes as a beautiful part of Scripture, but I see it now as much more challenging. I am challenged to strive more for the things that will last and things that the Lord finds valuable. Oh Lord, flood my mind and spirit with things that please You!

Hospitality part 2

So, I have realized if I am going to do this whole blog thing I have to do it early in the morning. Otherwise, I am just rushed and cannot get my thoughts together. I think being a mother forces you to be a morning person... well, at least for me. I love the quietness of the house. Anyway, I wanted to add a few things about hospitality.

First, hospitality is not having a perfectly cooked meal, a spotless house, a beautifully set table and children that don't make a sound. If that is it then I have failed. Hospitality is welcoming people in your home, your life and making them feel at ease and loved. It is also engaging with them and letting them know that you care about what is going on in their lives and you want to share a meal together to grow in community. As I mentioned earlier Romans 12:13 reminds us the importance of hospitality, "Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality." When we show hospitality we should be aiming to meet the needs of those around us and show them the love of Christ. Seek to show hospitality it is an active thing. Typically, something you typically have to plan to do. Here are just a few tips:

Practical tips:

• My husband and I plan each month together. At the end of one month we will look to the next and see what we want that month to look like. It includes a lot of different things, from family nights, to date nights, but one part of it is deciding who we want to have over that month. We try to have at least two families over per month. Sometimes it's just one, but we aim for two. We have found if we do not plan then it doesn't happen. The week gets busy and schedules get full.
  
• Then I usually set up the time with the other wife if we are having a couple over. Sometimes my husband will, but normally it is me.
  
• Like I mentioned before Don and I love to cook, so a lot of times we will plan the menu together, but sometimes I just do it.
• If cooking is not your "thing" do not let that stop you from having guests. Do something simple like a sandwich bar followed by an ice cream bar. You can be so creative and cute with those simple and no cooking needed menu items.
  
• Again, the point of hospitality is not the food, but loving and welcoming people into your home.
  
• If I do not know the people super well Don and I will briefly discuss what we should talk about. I probably think on it more than my husband. I just enjoy it when conversation flows.
• Let your children be involved. Of course this depends on their age. And to be honest this is something I want to grow in. Let them set the table. Help stir. Anything to involve them. If other children are coming over we talk to Eden about playing with them and inviting them to come see her room.
  
• Don't worry too much about your house looking perfect. People really don't notice if you have scrubbed your floors or not. Or if you have dusted the top of the bookshelf. I do believe your house should be in order and not a mess, but don't think you have to have it spotless. That is too stressful.
  

I recently read an awesome book about hospitality that is full of so much wisdom and very practical advice. I highly recommend it. It's called Practicing Hospitality: The Joy of Serving Others by Pat Ennis and Lisa Tatlock.

So, I encourage you to invite someone over. Enjoy fellowship. Show the love of Christ to others.

Hospitality part 1

Hospitality has always been something my husband and I have loved to practice together. We feel that it is a very important part of our marriage and ministry. And we enjoy doing it! Last night we had a little "dinner party". We invited over some new friends Rich and Kristy and some of our oldest friends Jared and Stephanie. And it was such a good time! Don and I really enjoyed preparing the food and getting everything together. I am so blessed to have a husband that loves to cook, that is creative with food and just knows how to make things taste good! Here is what we served: a simple salad with Cilantro-Lime Vinaigrette, Chorizo Stuffed Jalapenos, Enchiladas Suizas and a for dessert Nutella- Filled Shortbread cookies and Chocolate Chip Cookies. The Nutella cookies did not turn out as good as they sounded. The nutella that was in the middle hardened more than it should have and it just wasn't chocolaty enough. We will not be making them again. That's why we fixed the chocolate cookies as well. Since we have a small dining room table we did it buffet style and had the kids at the kids table. It worked really well. We just had the basics on the table, dressings, sauces and few trimmings for the salad and a bottle with water in it. I saved a wine bottle that we had and I now use it for a water bottle. It looks cute and it is small so it doesn't take up a lot of table space. (got the idea from a restaurant we were recently at). I made little place cards since we were doing a buffet and so that everyone would easily know were to sit. Probably not necessary, but i liked doing it :) And we like to do cloth napkins. I am reminded of the value of showing hospitality in Romans 12:13, "Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality." I still have lots of room to grow and things to learn in this area, but it is a huge joy. Tomorrow I am going to share a few practical tips on hospitality.

Eden waiting for our guests to arrive :)

Toilet Paper Rolls... Who knew?

So I just finished a quick piece of artwork. It was super easy and relatively quick. I do have 2 little ones so everything takes a bit more time than planned. All you need is a canvas (which Hobby Lobby has them for 40% off right now!), toilet paper rolls, paint and a hot glue gun. Everyone should have a hot glue gun. They are amazing!! I have had my mom's now for about 5 years...She hasn't mentioned it, so I guess she isn't missing it. Then all you do is paint your canvas, paint the toilet paper rolls, design and glue away! I made the mistake of cutting the rolls before I painted them, so it took more time to paint all those tiny strips. So, paint the rolls first! Originally, I only had the orange flowers and I knew it needed something else and my creative husband suggested the smaller blues ones, which I think look great. This would also look cute in a little girl's room, just a thought :)

The idea came from apartment therapy... i don't have their original post. But check out their website it's great!

The pictures aren't that great they are a little crooked... I am growing in my photography skill

and an up close one, which changes the colors a bit

Why the unlikely housewife?

Because that is what I am. By calling myself the unlikely housewife I remind myself that what I am is only by the grace and blessing of the Lord. I never in a million years thought I would be here: a wife, mother of two small children, a college education and staying home. You see my mind was aimed on career and making much of myself. It was only by the Lord’s grace and mercy that He called me to be a wife and mother. I love being those things. I love being with my children all day and having the house ready for my husband when he comes home. At one point in my life that sounded like prison. How blind I was to the beauty of the Lord’s plan. Don’t get me wrong we have tough tough days and I am a sinful mother and wife with many shortcomings, but only by the Lord's mercy do I grow from those shortcomings.

I want this blog to be an account of my joys, celebrations, frustrations and shortcomings as a wife and mother. But most of all about the things the Lord is teaching me about my role as a wife first and then a mother. I hope to also share projects I am working on around our house, recipes, things I am learning and just "stuff" we do as a family. So here's to blogging... hopefully this won't be the only entry :)