Pinterest: Epic Fail (except for maybe two projects)

I have been on pinterest for a couple of months now.  I have to admit, at first, I thought that maybe I wasn’t catching on.  It wasn’t all that much fun to me.  But then….something clicked.  I figured it out and have had a blast. 

One thing I am learning, is that it’s one thing to sit here and “pin” all day.  But it’s a completely different story finding the time, the money or the patience to actually complete them. 

My very first project was the strawberry cream cheese crescent wraps.  Aren’t these beautiful?

 

These may be beautiful, but the recipe I made looked nothing like this.  They tasted  good, but I would have been embarrassed to take them to the Sunday School breakfast that I made them for.  Good thing I overslept that Sunday:)

The next project were the kids valentines. I had something picked out for both Cade and SaraGrace.  We only attempted SG’s, because Cade didn’t want to help do his.  These are the valentines we tried.

 

I knew we had a stash of crayons somewhere, but we had hidden them from our aspiring artist.  It seems like she is quite fond of using walls and furniture for her masterpieces.  So, I went to Michael’s to buy the pan ($8.00, and they were out of hearts, so I got squares.)  Then I went to the Dollar Tree to get the crayons.  This project was one that you have to appreciate the time you are spending with your sweet little princess, not the outcome of the project.  She was lots of help.  But they did not turn out as cute as I would have expected, and cost way more than the boxed kind at CVS.

I love finding hairstyle ideas from pinterest.  I have tried both of these with EPIC FAILS!

The Sock Bun:

Mine was curly, but extremely frizzy.  Maybe I didn’t have the right product.  Who knows.

This is one is beautiful: The Side Pony. 

I tried this yesterday, but I was running late for church, and didn’t have a ton of time to work on it.  I bet I could master it with a little more practice. 

But I did master this one: The Pony Tail

  If you are looking for new hairstyles, try the Small Things blog.  This girl is AMAZING!  She has youtube tutorials for each and every hairstyle. She is really helpful.

The BEST project I have completed on pinterest, were the decorations for the FCA banquet.  We wanted a rustic, elegant theme so we paired these with burlap:

I wish I had a picture.  It turned out beautifully!!!

Have any of you had any success with pinterest projects?  Maybe my project expectations are just too high, and my budget too tight:)

Adjustment

This week has been one of adjustment for me.  I have finally been offered a 40 hour work week again.  While it came with mixed emotions, Rob and I really prayed about it and felt it was best I took the opportunity…for now.

So I’m sorry if I have committed blog abandonment this week.  I am still getting into the swing of things.  We are going to the Hun-Tin House this weekend, where I plan on writing ALL DAY SATURDAY.  Hopefully, I’ll be back on Monday, refreshed, encouraged and ready to face the week.

I hope you all have a great weekend!!!

My Favorite Things {Smoothies}

I posted a while back about my favorite things.  I have since found a new favorite.  Let me preface this by saying that I am not a fruit person.  I have NEVER liked smoothies, nor the thought of them. 

Last week, my Uncle Ron brought in his swanky Vita-Mix to make some sorbet.  He told me how healthy it was, and since  I was extremely hungry, I tried it.  I. LOVED. IT!  So, I wanted to share it with you.

I don’t have a swanky blender.  In fact, I don’t even own a blender.  But I do have this:

It’s a cheap-o from Wal-Mart and makes single serving shakes or smoothies.

I add approximately 1 1/2 cups of frozen fruit.  I use this:

It’s $9.78, and it’s HUGE at Sams Club.

Then I add 1 1/2 scoops of vanilla protein powder.

Then I add a squirt of Agave Sweetener.

This stuff is all natural.  Your body can break it down very easily.  Most grocery stores sell it.  I even found it at good ol’ Hitchcocks.

I top it off with a little bit of milk.  You can add more milk if you like a thinner consistency.  I like to eat mine with a spoon.  Then I blend it up.  It is AMAZING!

I have been substituting this for breakfast every morning.  If I have eaten badly for lunch, I will use it for dinner as well.  In one week, I am down 4 pounds.  Now, I have also only been drinking water, so I know that helps.

If you have any other smoothie recipes, please share.  I hope you enjoy!!!

Coach and Kicken

Rob is back from Honduras!  Can I get a Hallelujah?  I’m so happy to have him back, and I think he’s glad to be back too.  I have some fun pictures to post, but I’m waiting on the CD.  I’ll try to do that tomorrow.  But a fun one for today:

On Thursday night, we had the annual Fellowship of Christian Athletes banquet.  This year, the guest speaker was Coach Bobby Bowden.  Since I wasn’t going to have a date, I invited my dear friend, Kristen (Kicken, as lovingly named by SG).  She is an avid Seminole and even was a member of the Marching Chiefs.  I was able to score her a position as his assistant with the book signing.

She was so happy!!! 

Even though I am not a Seminole, I have to say that Bobby’s got it going on.  He gave a heck of a message.  My favorite part was that parents need to MAKE their children go to church.  He said that his momma had to make him go to school because he hated to go.  So we, as parents, should make our kids go to church, even if they don’t want to go.  He was very open about his salvation, and really was an inspiration.

After he was done speaking, Kicken and I were able to fly on Papa Gator Air back to Tallahassee with him.  Coach slept, we talked.  It was such a fun night!!

The Papa Gator himself.  

I’m so thankful for the memories we made that night.  It was so much fun to get to meet and greet with Coach Bowden, but even more special to experience it with a great friend!!!

My Valentine & Unfailing Love

This Valentine’s Day is a little different.  Rob is far away in a foreign country on a mission trip, and I’m missing him terribly.

But my romantic, loving husband didn’t forget about me on Valentine’s Day.  He sent these to the office on Friday:

 

They even had my favorite flowers –Gerbera Daisies. 

But he stole my heart with the sweet card:

I miss him so much.  I was asked to share our story Saturday night at a church.  It was hard because it was the first time I had shared about Faith without Rob there.  But, my Mom is the best in the world.  She went with me instead.

While I was praying and asking God what he would have me speak on, He laid the message of unfailing love on my heart.

Our journey with Faith was written with the love of many, but most importantly our Savior.

In life, we find that we love many people in many different ways.  As parents, we love our children more than words can explain.  We loved Faith with all of our heart, but our love wasn’t enough to keep her here.  Jesus loved her more than we ever could, and He knew what was best for her. 

We have a love for our friends.  I am blessed beyond measure to have a couple of very dear friends who’s love is unfailing.  But there have been friends who have let me down.  And I have let others down as well.  We are human, and we mess up.  This kind of love fails at one time or another.

We love our spouses.  That is a love that comes from the depths of our souls.  When we were on the other side of our journey, we believed that NOTHING would tear us apart.  There was no way our love for one another could fail.  But it did, momentarily.  Satan couldn’t stand that God got the glory for the life of our daughter, so he went after our marriage.  He succeeded for a time, but because of Jesus Christ, we were able to realize that His plan was not for our marriage to end.  Through His strength, we were able to pick up the pieces and love one another with a stronger-than-ever kind of love. 

1 Corinthians 13:4-13

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. ¹² For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

That is a tall order for a love to fulfill.  As Christians, we are instructed to love in this way.  But there is only ONE who loves in this way at all times.  The only unfailing love is Jesus Christ.  He loved us so much that He paid the price on the cross for our sins. 

Losing my daughter was one of the hardest things I’ve ever gone through.  But I can say that if given the choice, there is NO ONE that I love so much as to sacrifice my child.  We can’t fully grasp the kind of love that Jesus gives, because we cannot offer it.  We do not deserve it, but He has given to us freely.

I am so thankful for all of the love I have in my life.  My friends, my family, my children, my church.  I am truly blessed.  But the greatest blessing of all is the love of Jesus. 

Fall in love with Jesus.  He will never let you down. 

50 Things {A Valentine for your Husband (or wife)}

When Rob and I found ourselves and our marriage broken into a million pieces, I couldn’t begin to imagine how we would put it all back together again.  We started seeing our pastor once a week for some counseling. 

On our very first visit, he gave us some homework for the next week.  This challenge was one of the best pieces of advice we received.  He told us to WRITE down 50 things that we love, or are thankful for in our partner, and then pray every day, thanking God for those qualities in our mate.

The purpose was to refocus our attention from the few traits that drove us crazy, and to turn our attention to the 50 traits that made us crazy for one another.  We both completed the assignment.  This was in September.  We were still hurting, a little mad, a little scared, but working it out.

For Christmas, I wanted to do something very special for Rob.  I decided to really think about those 50 things I had written down.  My love for him has grown so much over the last several months, and I’m so thankful for our trials because they have made our marriage better than ever.  I rewrote the 50 things.  I made a collage out of them in photoshop (you can do it in Microsoft Word too), printed it and framed it for a total of $7.00.

When he opened it, his eyes filled with tears, and he told me it was the BEST GIFT EVER!  He immediately hung it over the night stand on his side of the bed. 

Even if you don’t print it or frame it, I would encourage each of you who has a spouse (or special person in their life) to take the time to write down 50 things about them that you love or are thankful for.  Don’t forget to pray and thank the Lord for those traits.  I promise, it will be a gift they will remember forever.

Trophy of Grace

Sunday night, we were invited to a Super Bowl party with some friends.  I was excited to see all of them because I hadn’t seen them in so long.  But I wasn’t excited about getting  dressed because I am so embarrassed by the way I look right now.  Over the past several months, I have been extremely lax with my diet.

As I started looking for something to wear, I tried to convince myself to just stay home.  That way, I wouldn’t have to worry about what I looked like, or feel bad because I felt terrible about myself.  I found it rather sad that because I was worried what everyone would think, or that I wasn’t okay with how I looked, I almost missed out on some sweet moments with sweet friends.

Don’t you think that sometimes we treat going to our Heavenly Father the same way?  We feel like we aren’t good enough, or we haven’t done enough, or we have failed, so we just push Him further and further away.  I know for me, there are times I feel bad even going to Him in prayer, because I haven’t been keeping up with my prayer life.  So I miss out on time with Him on the account of my own failures.

The good news is that WE WILL NEVER BE GOOD ENOUGH!  Even if we have the perfect prayer life, or what we perceive to be the perfect relationship with Jesus, it isn’t good enough.  But that’s the beauty of grace.  He loved us so much that he knew we would never be good enough.  But the payment for our sins is enough.  He wants us to come just as we are, right now.  He loves you in this very moment, despite your fears and failures.  While we will never may never be “good enough” we are His trophies of grace.  When people look at us, and know that we are Christians, we are a shining example that He loves us for all of our stinking faults.

My friends were so glad to see me, as I was them.  They didn’t care what I looked like, and once I got there, I was over worrying about it.  Jesus doesn’t care what we look like.  He can fix that.  He wants us to love Him, accept Him and be His trophy of grace!

Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!

The Lord is so faithful to provide!  As of today, we have raised EVERY CENT of Rob’s trip to Honduras.  You all have been so generous and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

We are so blessed beyond measure, and Rob is looking forward to this trip with great excitement.  It was obviously meant for him to go.  It was a whirlwind as he was signing up, because he really didn’t think about it.  He just said, “okay.”  But then came the reality that we didn’t have the funds for him to go.  We decided to leave it up to the Lord, and knew that if it was meant to be, the doors would open.

Well, the doors didn’t just open, they FLUNG open!

There are no words to express our deepest gratitude for everyone who has contributed, both financially and prayerfully.  Please continue to pray for their team.  It has been brought to their attention that the area they are flying into may not be the safest place.  We still have a couple of weeks before he leaves, so we will continue to update.

Much love to you all!!!