Looking Back ...

Happy New Year friends ... I pray that 2013 brings you many many blessings!

 A sweet friend of mine and a blog follower reminded me that I hadn't blogged in awhile and I'm sorry it's been so long. One of my goals this year is to be more intentional with my time, so I will try to be better about keeping up with the blog! :)

As we begin a new year there is so much to look forward to, but I also like to look back ... on all that the past year has brought us. 2012 was definitely a learning year for me. There were many "big moments" in my life this past year, and  in the life of my family. I have learned so much - about being a mom, about loss and grief, about my faith ... Big moments and big learning.

Looking back on 2012, I see how much I've grown. I've taken on the new role of Mom, which requires you to do alot of growing, very quickly. Realizing that you are responsible for another human being, especially a tiny helpless one, makes your priorities change. It is instant love and instant gratitude - that the Lord loves you so much that He entrusts that tiny human to you. Every decision I have made this past year, I have first considered my precious child. I have first asked the Lord's guidance. I have relied on Him more this past year than ever before, as my baby relies on me. Thank you Lord for never leaving me and for showing me how much I need you. Proverbs 22:6 says, "Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it". This verse spoke to me so much this past year, not only as my husband and I are training our child, but as my parents and grandparents have trained their children.

I lost my sweet Nana (my mom's mom) in September 2011 and my precious Paw (my mom's dad) last January. They died only 4 months apart and we are all still grieving their loss. But as I look back on their lives, I realize the truth to Proverbs 22:6. My grandparents were shining examples of living each and every day for the Lord and the legacy they left behind (in 4 children, 4 children through marriage, 3 grandchildren, 1 grandchild through marriage, and 1 great-grandchild) is proof of that. My Nana and Paw loved unconditionally ... each other and all of us ... and led by wonderful example. I have faith in my abilities to train my child in the right direction because my grandparents trained my parents and my parents trained me. Praise God for such wonderful examples of marriage and parenting I have to follow. I pray that (Lord willing) my future grandchildren will love and cherish me, the way that I continue to love and cherish my sweet sweet Nana and Paw.

So in looking back over the past year, I'd like to share some big moments with you ...

Eliza's Dedication at our wonderful church, Shandon Baptist ... so very thankful for such an amazing church family

 

Grandma Sue Sue's wedding ... we were all so blessed to be a part of such a beautiful day!

 

Our first family beach trip ... E loved the sand! :)

 

 

And our little one turning ONE ... just can't believe it!

 

 

 

Thanks for reading friends ... May Your Cup Runneth Over in 2013!

 

 

Traditions

I cannot believe it is almost Christmas ... I mean every year it sneaks up on me, but this year it's like the time has just flown by. I always hope that I can sit back and enjoy the holiness of the holiday - to really take in the majestic gift of Jesus' birth and hence the celebration of Christmas, but the business of life takes over and as always I now feel rushed. Don't get me wrong, I am definitely enjoying every second of the preparations but just once I would like for the time to pass slowly and allow me ample time to absorb it all.


Speaking of preparations, I thought I'd share a few of ours with you. I have been looking for an advent calendar that I can make (but might just end up buying one on sale after Christmas :) to help focus our preparations during the Christmas season. Like I said, the time has flown by and I didn't get one made in time for this Christmas, but I'll let you know what I end up making/buying for next Christmas. We do, however, have our own little Christmas countdown. I made this "chalkboard" with a scrap piece of wood from our garage and a can of clearance chalkboard spray paint. I've told you that I'm all about re purposing and reusing and I actually made this for Eliza's first birthday party. To go along with the countdown, I wrapped Christmas books (in tissue paper because E loves tissue paper :) and we have opened one each night and read it together as a family before bedtime. I taught second and third grade, before staying home with my sweet girl, so I already had a good selection of Christmas books. I found some additional inexpensive books to add to the stack and I have loved sharing these wonderful stories with my baby. I am planning on wrapping these same books up again next year, so that we can continue the tradition, maybe adding a new book in the mix each year. This is a new tradition for us but on Christmas Eve, I will wrap up a Bible, and we will unwrap the Christmas story and read about Jesus' birth - which is an old tradition in my family.

 

 

Our little family started another new tradition this week. We wanted to drive around to look at Christmas lights, so we put our PJs on early (all 3 of us :), ate breakfast for dinner, and loaded up the car, hot chocolate in tow, Christmas music playing, and drove around to check out all of the beautiful lights around town. We all truly enjoyed it and will be sure to do it again next year.

Playing with her bell - after reading tonight's book: The Polar Express

In PJs with Mama, ready to look at lights!

 

 

Now this last one is a tradition that we started last year, with my sweet Daddy or Pops. E was about 10 weeks old this time last year, and recovering from RSV, so we didn't love the idea of taking her to see Santa. Pops had access to a Santa suit, so he volunteered to be E's personal Santa for a photo op. She did great and we have a precious picture on the mantle of her first visit with Santa. Well, we decided to do the same this year, and make it a tradition of taking pictures with "Santa Pops". Below is last year's picture compared to this year's ... I guess every parent needs a screaming Santa picture! It didn't matter one bit that Pops (whom E LOVES) was under the suit, she was not amused!

 

 

Tradition is tradition, so we'll try again next year! :)

 

 

I can't think about traditions, or Christmas, or anything really, without thinking about the parents of the precious children that were lost in CT this week. I honestly have no words, and can't even imagine trying to write about how broken my heart is for everyone involved in this tragedy. But as I think about our family traditions, I am devastated that none of those families will ever be able to carry out their past traditions ... but I pray that one day they can make new traditions. I pray that they can find some comfort in the midst of their suffering. I pray ... and I realize that the Lord knows their heartache ... that God has been there ... he lost his one and only son. He GAVE UP his only child for me ... and you. I can't imagine the pain the parents of those babies from CT are feeling, but God knows, because his child died so that we can live - eternally with him. Oh praise Him!!! Let us never forget how amazing the gift of Jesus is - what sacrifice the Lord made for each of us. So even though the countdowns, books, activities, and pictures are fun ways to celebrate the season, my family's most important tradition will be to always remember the ultimate gift that God has given us - in that perfect tiny baby.

 

Thanks so much for reading! I love that we already have 3 followers and I hope that eventually we will have more. I would love to hear about any of your family traditions, if you feel like sharing.

 

Merry Christmas friends - May Your Cup Runneth Over!!!





Blessings and Burlap

Praise God from whom all BLESSINGS flow ...

Let me tell you how the blessings have truly been flowing over the past week through this blog. I have only posted twice (I guess this makes 3) and I have truly been blessed through your comments - both online and on the phone or in person. Everyone has been so kind and encouraging about my posts ... so far :) ... and I'm so very grateful. I felt very vulnerable starting out, writing about what's on my heart, but I feel so much more comfortable now that I know you are enjoying it. Not only that you are enjoying it but that the Lord is speaking to you through it. Some of you have told me how the Lord is blessing you through it and I'm so thankful for that. That was my hope for this blog - that is exactly why I risked the vulnerability - but what I didn't expect, what I didn't hope, was that I would be blessed as well. I guess I was thinking more about the readers, and not as much about the writer, but you  - the readers - are truly blessing this writer. Praise God!

He is also blessing me - well teaching me and through the learning, I'm definitely being blessed. I just LOVE it when the Lord shows us his sense of humor and He was showing it off in my life this past week. If you read my last post, I talked about trying my best to place more focus on the nativity scene in my house and less on the Christmas tree. Well ... I had a very clear "Will you practice what you preach?" moment after writing the last post. To try to  make a long story short (but still explain it well) we now have a decorated tree at our house - after 2 attempts. I was so excited when my hubby told me about the online deal saver (through the state paper) for cutting down your own tree at Harmon's tree farm. I loved the idea of our little family venturing out to the farm to find the perfect tree and cut it down ourselves, especially because this is the same tree farm where my parents took my brother and me every Christmas when we were growing up. And Harmon's is closing after this year so it would be our last chance to experience such a fun (and nostalgic) family outing. We made it to Harmon's, after lots of looking, finally found a tree that seemed to fit our family, had fun cutting it down (sweet Hub might not describe the actual cutting down part as all that fun, it looked like really hard work :) and took it home to decorate. Well ... the poor tree wasn't exactly the right size for our stand and in the process of trying to make it work ... we lost what proved to be a very important piece of the bottom of the tree. We thought taking some out would help it to fit in the stand but apparently it only helped it to stand totally lopsided and still not sit correctly in the stand. Poor tree! We decided to give up on her and my precious servant of a husband went to Lowe's at 9 pm because he knew how much I had been looking forward to decorating it the next morning as a family. He picked out a beautiful tree and thankfully she sits perfectly in our living room (and perfectly in her stand)! So ... we still had a wonderful experience and we now have a wonderful tree. But I was once again reminded that the tree should not be my main focus ... that I need to continue to fix my eyes upon Jesus. Praise God!

I also told you in my last post that I love all things burlap these days and that I'm trying to incorporate burlap into my decorations this Christmas, so I thought I would share a couple of ideas with you.

Wanting to spice up our mantle (without breaking the bank) I created a burlap "garland". I had already purchased some wide burlap ribbon at Hobby Lobby (half price) so I layered the lights in the burlap and used it on the mantle. The great thing about burlap is that I could push the lights right through it to shape the garland.

I was trying to come up with a creative way to display my family's past years Christmas cards so I decided to carry on with the burlap theme. I placed another piece of burlap ribbon over the back of a door and used small clothes pins to display them. I actually used this piece of burlap in a fall wreath and made an "M" out of buttons, so I decided to reuse it and keep the "M".

Lastly, in hopes to not over due the burlap, I used a small piece of the ribbon around a large mason jar. In the jar is a little piece of our first tree attempt - I just couldn't let her go to waste.

So again ... Praise God ... for His many blessings ... and for helping me to finally finish my decorating!

Thanks for reading friends - May Your Cup Runneth Over!

His Grace, His Gift

Have you ever had one of those days where you wish you could just start over? Well, that's how my morning was going today. They were just little things, but the little things added up, and when my sweet girl went down for her nap I seriously contemplated napping too, in hopes to wake up and start over.

My cup literally runneth over ... pun intended! I spilled coffee everywhere ... my dogs tracked dirt through the house ... I tried to do laundry without realizing we are out of detergent (and when I do laundry, I start the water, throw everything in, and then pour in detergent - so needless to say everything was soaked before I realized we were out). Little things, I know, but to top it off our plans to get our Christmas tree this morning were halted by the rain. Which really meant that the dirt the dogs tracked in was mud! We had a great time visiting family in VA for Thanksgiving, so this was the first chance to get our tree and I was really looking forward to it. I just LOVE decorating for Christmas and we usually start with the tree so I was really disappointed when our plans to get it today fell through.

I decided to not take that nap but to go to God's word in hopes to improve my attitude and my spirits. I spent some time reading and praying (specific prayers for some of you) and came across this verse. "For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace" (John 1:26). It made me realize that we have many opportunities to start over with the Lord ... that He gives us grace upon grace, he lets us start over and over and over again. He forgives our spills, when we track mud all over His house, and he cleans us time after time. I then realized that my focus was on the wrong Christmas decorations. We have this amazing grace because of the birth of God's son, because of the gift of Jesus. So, the tree can wait. I decided to pull out my favorite decoration - my Willow Tree nativity - and I thanked God for His son. I'm thankful for this morning, for all of the little things that happened, because without it my focus would be in the wrong place. I've decided that from now on, this nativity will always be the first decoration we put out at our house. Because it's really not a decoration at all - it's the "reason for the season". Of course I will still love every second of picking out and decorating our tree with my family, but  I'm going to do my best to keep the nativity as the focal point in our house, instead of the tree, so that our focus will stay on Jesus.

Here is a pic ... I'm obsessed with burlap these days (and mason jars) so I'm going to try to incorporate them into my decorating. We are doing Christmas on a tight budget this year, so instead of buying any new decorations  I'm attempting to re-purpose and reuse all that we already have.

And for the little one ... we have the "Fisher Price Little People Nativity". It sure does warm my heart to see my precious baby playing with His baby!

Thanks for reading friends ... May Your Cup Runneth Over! (And I don't mean your coffee cup :)

Starting a blog!

Hello family and friends!

After thinking and praying about starting a blog - I have decided to just do it! I love reading other blogs (probably because I'm nosey :) and hope that maybe some of you will love reading this one too. I can't promise that it will always be funny or insightful but I can promise to do my best to share life with you as openly and honestly as possible, to encourage you through the wonderful messiness of life. I have always loved to journal and will probably still keep up with one because I love putting a pen to paper but decided to embrace technology and take a stab at blogging too.

Part of the purpose behind this blog is selfish because I love the idea of keeping track of life - and life with a 1 year old is always exciting! But part of the purpose is also to share - share that exciting life with you but also to share my love and faith in Jesus with you. My pastor has recently been preaching about using all of the technology at our fingertips to impact the world in a positive way. So I'm going to do my best! Celebrating Thanksgiving this week, I was reminded again how very blessed I am and how the good Lord has given me more than enough. I chose "May Your Cup Runneth Over" for the title of the blog because of Psalm 23:

"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
² He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
³ He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
⁴ Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
⁵ Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
⁶ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. (King James Version)

I pray that your cup will runneth over as well ... that the Lord will provide you with more than enough than you will ever need. I find myself saying "My Cup Runneth Over" to myself when I feel full, when I feel so very grateful that tears fill my eyes. I pray that for you as well!

Had to share with you just one of the reasons why my life feels SO full ...

I hope that you have enjoyed reading - my hope was that this first post would make an impact, would encourage or lift someone up. I plan on posting about anything and everything. Life as a stay at home mom and wife, struggles and successes as I learn to sew and embroider, photography attempts, DIY projects, faith and failure, everything in between ... hope you come back. Happy Reading!