When Love Sees You

 

John 3:17

¹⁷For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

So many times, we feel the nudging of Jesus to surrender to His call.  Yet most of those times, we find tons of excuses as to why we will not or cannot surrender.  One of the most used excuses is “I’m not good enough.”  “I’ve done all of these things in my life, and there is no way He can love me.”

I love the verse at the top of this blog post.  It is so black and white that Jesus did not come here to CONDEMN, but to SAVE.  We like to get that confused, especially when we are feeling convicted of something.

I heard this song on the Joy FM this morning, and I fell in love with it.  It is a picture of the difference of what we see in ourselves, and what love (Jesus) sees in us. 

I pray that each one of you will come to know the love of Jesus.

A Long Awaited Finish

15 months!  That is the time it has taken to cross the finish line in the construction of  the Hun-Tin House.  We were able to finally sleep there this weekend, and it was so nice to have our own space.  Although, I would be willing to bet we will miss those days of piling up two and three deep on air mattresses.

Please forgive the quality of the pictures as they were taken in a hurry on my phone.  Also, my mother is none too happy that I didn’t wait until everything was cleaned up before snapping these photos.  So please excuse the mess!

This is a view  from the very back of the house looking into the kitchen/dining area.

 

One of my favorite pieces of furniture:

 

The highlight of the house- a 1936 Magic Chef.

This is the view coming to the back of the house.  The kitchen is on your right and the dining table is on the left.  I LOVE that antique grocery counter. 

 

The dining table that seats a whopping 18 people.  Heck, by Thanksgiving we will have two more additions.  I love the chandeliers. 

All of the beds were made by a man in Starke, FL.  Each one is unique, and our new saying is that everything “has character.”

This is mine and Rob’s bed.

And our dresser.  My favorite characteristic of this dresser is the bb hole in the mirror.  Like we said, “It just adds character.”

 

Next to us is the kids room.  I tried to figure out how we were the lucky ones to stay next to the kids.  But then I was told that we have the most children, so I guess it’s only fair:)

Then next is Kiss and Jacob’s room.

And this is their dresser.

Then rounding out this wing of the house is Beas and Jah’s room.

 

And their dresser.

On the other wing is 3 bedrooms.  The first guest room:

The second guest room:

     

Then Mom and Dad’s room on the end.  This is one picture Mom was mad about.  We were trying to get the beds made, so please excuse the unmade bed.

Each bedroom has its own bathroom with a toilet, vanity and shower/bath combination.  No more waiting in line to use the pot!  Hallelujah!!!  I didn’t take any pics of the bathrooms except Mom and Dad’s.  Theirs is the coolest!

Walking into the bathroom.  The garden tub is on the right, the vanity area on the left.

 

The view as you walk in the front door: Even ole Rob used his decorating skills and put the lantern in the middle.  Genius, I tell you!

  

The card table sits in the front left corner:

 

Seating areas:

   

The Laundry room: You know this bunch puts out a ton of laundry.  I can’t imagine how the Duggar’s get it done everyday!

 

There are still a few unfinished areas, so we hope to have them finished in the next couple of weekends. 

We are so thankful to God for His bountiful blessing of allowing us to have a place our family can spend time together making memories.  There is no amount of money that can replace the memories our children will have of quality time spent at the Hun-Tin House!

he divides and conquers

1 Peter 5:8

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

This verse is one of my favorites.  But lately I’ve had to read it a few times.  It always seems that when you are doing all you can to be in the will of God, Satan starts swarming like a group of buzzards just waiting for you to die spiritually.

Just as soon as the Lord starts to do a mighty work, Satan begins his work to divide and conquer.  How does he do this?  He preys on those of us who drown in our hurt, who isolate ourselves from our friends and family, then he uses us to divide the very thing that the Lord is putting together.

I want to encourage you to “be sober, be vigilant.”  Do not let Satan devour you, or use you to divide and conquer the Lord’s handiwork.  Ask the Holy Spirit to give you the strength and the discernment to see your hurts for what they really are-Satan’s way of isolating you from what God wants you to do.  When you give in to the devil’s lies, it is then you become like the lonely antelope that the lion stumbles upon, just waiting to gobble you up.

Bahama Momma (and a special souvenir)

We are back from vacation and well refreshed.  We had the best time with Bryan and Christina, and the end came way too fast.  We packed our days full of excitement, and ate our weight in food.

Here are a “few” pictures from our trip!

Finally on the ship!

We took some salsa lessons.  Boy was that a sight!

Ocean view every night at dinner was so nice.

 

Out near the pool area with Cade’s new piggy bank – a coconut monkey.

Friday morning, we got off the ship and went to the straw market.  We were looking for a specific brand of purse they sell over there, and we met this sweet girl, Tatiana.

When we told her what we were looking for, she took us this hole in the wall to make a deal.  Now, it pays to know somebody because I would have never been brave enough to step foot in this joint!

 

After the straw market, it was time to go snorkeling.  This was the best time ever! 

Rob and I on the boat.

 

Our crew in our snorkel gear!

 

Friday night was formal night.  Here we are at dinner.

 

After dinner, we changed our clothes and decided to take a trip to the Atlantis.  We got off of the ship again and met this man, “Big Bruh.”  Big Bruh is a music minister at a local church, and even has a praise and worship cd that he wrote and sings.  We had the best time talking and sharing with him.  I think he and Bryan are going to plan us a mission trip back to Nassau to do a revival!

 

At the Atlantis.

 

This trip was really fun because Christina and me got pampered every day at the spa.  Here we are after our second day of treatments.  It was that good!

 

This girl is the BEST.MASSAGE.THERAPIST.EVER!  She gave me a massage in October and I was lucky enough to get her again. 

 

Just seconds after the girls scored the perfect chairs at the back of the boat, the boys decided we should go play putt putt golf.  Since they had just paid for us a massage, we couldn’t tell them no.  So away we went!

 

Saturday night at dinner.

We had so much fun, and we were so sad to see it end:(

We made memories to last a lifetime, and are so thankful for the time we got to spend with good friends.

I didn’t take a picture of all of our loot, but I did manage to take a picture of a special souvenir.

 

We brought this back to give to my parents.  Rob and I found out on Wednesday that we are expecting another baby.  We are so grateful to God for His endless blessings upon our lives.  He gives and He takes away! 

While we are very early in our pregnancy, we have learned over the past year that life, no matter how short it may be, is worth celebrating.  We also know that each of you have walked with us through a very tough time in our lives, and we are asking you to please lift our family up in prayer.  We are so excited, but a little nervous.  We know that God saw fit to give us another child, and whatever He chooses to do with this child, He has it under control!

Too Many Bags!

Saturday, I was so honored to be able to share Baby Faith with the ladies of Sardis Baptist Church.  I really spent a lot of time in prayer and in the Bible, seeking what the Lord would have me say.  He really spoke to my heart about something I struggle with daily.  I have written before about my people-pleasing tendencies, so I spoke about those.

As ladies, we struggle with living up to many different pressures that the world piles on us daily.  We want to be the best mother, the best friend, the best church member, the best wife, and the list goes on and on.  My problem is that I don’t want to let anyone down.  I lose sleep over these things!

Because we will never measure up to the world’s standards, we constantly feel like a failure.  We feel like we’re not beautiful, we’re overweight, we are terrible mothers, and so forth.  Every time we fail, it’s as if we pick up a bag.  Pretty soon, we are carrying so many bags that they completely weigh us down.  They take us over and control every aspect of our lives. 

But what happens when God comes to us and asks us to do something for Him.  Time and time again, we have to tell Him “NO” because we are toting all of this baggage and have no energy or desire to anything else.

Ephesians 2:10 says, ¹⁰For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. 

This means that we are His masterpiece, created to do the work that He has set before us.  How many of us actually see a masterpiece when we look in the mirror? Because we are trying to live up to the world’s standards, we see nothing but failure.  But the standard we should strive toward is “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

What is He asking of you?  He wants  you to lay all of that baggage at the foot of the cross.  Jesus carried it all for us when He carried the cross up the hill to Golgotha.  He died and rose again to free us from our baggage. 

Baby Faith did not measure up to the world’s standards.  In many eyes, she didn’t even deserve a chance.  But she was His masterpiece created to do the work He set before her.  I know that when she saw the face of our Savior, she heard the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” 

If you were to stand before Him today, what would you hear?

Epic Pinterest Victory

Remember last week when I posted this picture?

Well, I am proud to say I have conquered a pinterest project with a victory!

This weekend, our church hosted a Ladies Tea.  We hosted a table with a “Mad Hatter” theme.  So, without further ado, here is our project…

It all started with a cup.  This one from Dollar General was a whopping $2.00.

 

 

The matching saucers were just $1.00 each.

 

Then I learned that I am not a competent spray painter. 

After this incident, I enlisted the help of an unnamed employee (to protect his employment) to finish the painting.  My superhero of a husband completed what painting didn’t get done.

Then it was time to assemble the cups.  Rick drilled holes, then doweled and screwed the cups and saucers together.

  After a few trips to Michael’s, T J Maxx, and the rental place, we had a finished centerpiece.

The other side:

Our place settings were mismatched chargers and my Nanny’s china.  I folded the napkins like bowties (another pinterest idea), then placed the silverware in the bowtie.  The glasses were given as favors to our guests.

The completed table.

  

We had to make our own desserts, so we made these top hat cupcakes.

The tea was a lot of fun.  Even more fun was winning the “Most Unique” table of the day!  I was so honored to be able to share with the ladies there.  I will write more about that tomorrow. 

Until then, I think I am going to start planning SaraGrace a tea party for her birthday!