Serenity Sundays

SEEK YOUR FATHER FIRST

My Child,

Where can you run, except to Me? You go here and there, to this one and that one. You seek answers. You try solutions, and in the end, you come to Me. When will you learn to begin with Me?

When you face a mountain, don't exhaust all human solutions and then finally turn to Me. Come to Me first! How I wish you'd give Me first consideration in all that you do! How I wish you'd consult Me first instead of last!

I am your God, your Father. I care for you, and I am ready to help you in every life situation you encounter.

Are your burdens too heavy? Are your cares too numerous? Then cast them on Me. I will carry them for you.

Are you in a state of confusion as to what to do, when to do it, and how to do it? Then come to Me. Ask Me, and I will give you peace. Ask Me, and I will give you wisdom.

Are things causing you problems? Is your car not working? I can help you. I can lead you to people who know how to fix cars, boats, houses, etc.

Are people causing you concern? I can give you favor with people.

Are you your own problem? Are you talking too much about your circumstances and not looking to Me? Are you wavering to and fro? Are you accepting defect by not even considering victory? Are you simply doing nothing and letting the winds of life toss you to and fro?

If you are under the circumstances instead of on top of them, if you're defeated instead of victorious, if you are depressed by your life, then you need to run back to the Source of light and life. You need to run to Me and not from Me.

Why do you insist on doing things on your own? Why do you let Satan tell you that you are now mature enough to solve your own problems?

Why do you feel inadequate because you have to depend on Me? Do you think you will ever outgrow your need of Me? Do you think you'll ever get to the place where you can e self-sufficient? Believe me, you never will, for I am the Source of everything you need.

Just as you cannot possibly store a lifetime of food and provisions, you can never come to Me just once and never need to come back again.

You can never store enough provisions from Me to last forever! You must keep coming to Me for fresh spiritual food, fresh joy, and fresh daily strength, for that is how I created you.

Love, God

written by Bonnie G. Schluter
Love Letters from GOD
Affirmations for Your Soul

30 Day Photography Challenge: Day 3

Day 3: Clouds

Friday Favorites

Welcome to another edition of my Friday Favorites! Well, really it's only my second edition (you can read the first edition here). But whatever.

Let's proceed shall we?

1. Bar Keepers Friend

This stuff works wonders on stainless steel pots and pans. Do you ever get that brownish film left over from Pam spray even after washing? Well, this stuff takes it off really easily. It's amazing! Plus it just polishes up your pots and pans making them look like new.r

2. Dove Beauty Bars

I love these bars. They are really moisturizing and they don't dry out your skin like regular soap. Plus they are pretty inexpensive. I always get the ones for sensitive skin.

3. Uggs

Yea, yea, yea...I know a lot of people despise these boots but I just don't care. They are the softest and most comfortable boots out there. They may not be the most attractive boots but I think they can look adorable with a pair of skinny jeans and an over-sized sweater or tunic. Or with a pair of pajamas as you get your mail in the middle of the afternoon. No, I've never done that before...

4. Nikon D90

I love my camera. I'm still learning a lot about it. There are so many setting it's going to take me forever to fully understand and use all of it's capabilities. I highly recommend this camera to anyone looking on the market. It's worth the price.

5. Pixiwoo.com

A friend of mine got me hooked on these YouTube makeup tutorials by two British sisters. They are expert makeup artists and they show you step-by-step how to create some really cool looks. Some are not wearable everyday and some are just for fun. Check them out here.

6. Homemade Baby Wipes

These are so much cheaper than purchasing them from a store. Plus, they clean better and are more delicate for baby's sensitive skin. You can find many recipes online but they are pretty close to this one above.

7. Hobby Lobby

I am obsessed with this store (Michaels Arts and Crafts too). I always find tons of stuff for the house and get lots of ideas for craft projects here. It's not good for my pocketbook but awesome for my creativity.

8. L'Oreal Voluminous Original Mascara

I can't say enough about this mascara. It's just the best! I've tried so many kinds and I always seem to keep going back to this one. It lengthens, thickens, darkens really well and it's so affordable. You can't beat it.

9. Electric toothbrushes

Dude, I don't care what kind of electric toothbrush I use, I'll just never go back to a manual one again. I've tried when I've traveled and forgotten to bring mine so I purchased a cheap manual toothbrush at a drug store...ugh. It's just not the same. The one above is what I use (Oral-B CrossAction).

10. WeatherTech FloorLiners

And a course one for the guys. I love these floor mats! They aren't cheap but they will last a lifetime, or for at least the lifetime of your car. I have them in my Yukon XL and they are great on rainy, snowy, or muddy days. I just take them out of the car and hose them down. They make my old car look like new again!

30 Day Photography Challenge: Day 2

Day 2: What you wore today

30 Day Photography Challenge: Day 1

Day 1: Self-portrait

These are some silly poses but I'm trying to be creative and not just stand up against a wall and smile. Plus I hate my photo taken. I'm working on it.

Here are my three favorites:

The first two and a bit grainy and blurry. I'm working on shooting in manual mode. Let me know if you have a favorite.

Day one, complete!

Thursday's Project of the Week

Each Thursday I plan to blog about a project I'm working on. This week's project is our backyard deck.

Here are two before photos of what the deck looked like before we purchased the house:

It's pretty bad. Since we don't have the money to replace all the wood we are painting the wood with some special paint that gives the wood a rubbery texture. It protects the wood from getting any worse plus you would never know it looked this bad. Ha! We are going to replace the two steps because it's pretty rotten and unsafe.

Tommy and I started painting the desk a week or two ago (before all the rain). We used a paint sprayer to paint the railings white. Then we used a roller to paint the floor boards a brown color. We purchased two gallons for the floor boards...and it wasn't even close to covering the whole deck like we thought it would. We'll need at least another 4-5 gallons. It's not cheap stuff so we are waiting until payday to purchase more paint so we can finish the deck.

Here is a few photos of the deck today:

We may need more than 4-5 gallons. I think it needs a second coat. Stay tuned in the coming weeks to see how it turns out.

30 Day Photography Challenge

I saw this on Pinterest. I plan to start this AWESOME challenge today. I absolutely LOVE taking photos but have been less than inspired over the last couple months. I hope this will get me inspired again.

Stay tuned for day 1's photo. I'll post each day's photo challenge every day.

Wordless Wednesday

Funny "Short" Story of the Day

Hudson and I were watching cartoons in the playroom (Brayden was still napping...of course). Hudson ran over to the changing table, climbed up on it (it's three shelves tall), laid down on his back, and started to take off his shorts. Then he yelled "diaper" at me. So of course I went over to him and changed his diaper.

Like I've said before, he's always one step ahead of me.

Monday's House Update: The Family Room

Lo and behold...finally a house update!

OK, so the last time I gave you all an update on the house (really the flooring) was two months ago (just scroll down two posts and you'll see it). It was about the flooring being almost done. Well, we finished the flooring on the same day I posted that update. So it's been done for 2 months and I'm just now letting you know. Ha! I've been busy.

Anyways, so with the flooring done we finally started to put furniture back into the correct rooms and started doing a bit of decorating. I have so many plans and ideas for each room...but little money to make them happen. So we are taking each idea I have and making it happen slowly (as money allows). 

I hope to give you all an update on each room of the house on each Monday (yea...let's see if that really happens. Ha! I promise I'll try). So lets start with the family room!

Here are two before photos showing what the room looked like before we purchased the house:

Drum roll please....now here are pictures of the room as it looks today (I still have more decorating to do, as you will see)...

The furniture is from our last house. The curtains and pillows are all new. I'm still looking for a large rug (8X10 at least) for the center of the room. Apparently I'm really picky cause I've been looking for months and can't find the one I want.

I still need to put photos in the picture frames put I'm waiting until I have all the pictures frames hanging throughout the house before I determine which photos I want in each frame (again...I'm picky).

I need to find a painting for above the couch, although I may paint one myself if I don't find what I'm looking for. Which will be hard since I don't know what I'm looking for...

We want to get a big flat-screen TV to hang above the fireplace (hence all the power and stereo plugs Tommy installed above the fireplace). Not sure when we're going to get one though. We'll have to win the lottery first. And I don't see that happening since we don't play the lottery.

And of course I still need to hang something I haven't decided on each side of the fireplace as well as decorate the coffee and side table. However with two toddlers, I think I'll leave the coffee and side tables empty until they get past the stage of breaking stuff.

*editor's note: there usually isn't even pillows on the couch and chairs. The boys keep throwing them onto the floor and I'm tired of Titus laying on them. And toys cover the floor. The above photos were totally staged.

So in conclusion, I still have lots to do to this room. It's a good start though. I'm just thrilled the floors are done and the boys can play in the room.

Next Monday I'll give an update on the dinning room. But I hope to blog a couple more times before then (on other topics of course). Have a great day!