New Day, New Year...

...will there be a new me?  I sure hope so!  I definitely need to make some major changes in my life starting with getting healthy.  However, like so many others, I say this every year and never seem to follow through.  I really hope I do better this time!

Christmas was wonderful!  I hope everyone else had an enjoyable Christmas too!  I made Christmas cookies this year and they turned out wonderful!

I painted a few new paintings too!

This one was for my niece.  It is actually from a photo taken of her praying at church camp :)

This one was for another niece.  Her dog that she has had since she was a baby had to be put to sleep so I painted her for her.  Her name was Priscilla Rose :)

I did this one for my sister.  Same dog :)

This one was an order from a church member/friend.  He studies Jewish history and traditions and sent me a pic of Jewish men praying at the Western wall (also known as the Wailing Wall) and asked if I could paint it for him.

I just did these for fun :)

I haven't painted much since Christmas.  I plan on doing a few more in the next week or so.  I love painting!

Well,  I hope everyone has been having a good year so far!  I certainly have :)

Talk to everyone later!

Scriptures, Quotes, and Blessings Journal

     I recently read a blog where the blogger posted about her Journaling Bible.  I love it and I want one now!  It is definitely on my list of must-haves.  I had never even heard of a Journaling Bible before but I really love the thought of it.

     One thing that I have been doing for quite a while now is writing some of my favorite scriptures, quotes, and blessings (things that happen in my life that make me happy, special memories, and blessings that God has given to me) in a journal.  I love that whenever I am having a "down day" I can open up my journal and be remind of God's many blessings and just how awesome He is!

It isn't anything fancy but it works out well for me and it makes me happy. 

     

     Back in July, I bought one of my nieces a journal and some cute, fancy pens for her birthday.  I picked some of my favorite scriptures and quotes and started one for her.  The best part is that she had already been posting several of her favorite scriptures on Facebook so I was able to put them in her journal.

      I still plan on getting a Journaling Bible some day but I plan on keeping up with my Blessings Journal too.

So Many Books, So Little Time

Every year starting around Thanksgiving, I like to read several Christmas books.  I usually read at least half a dozen or so by Christmas day.  Well, here it is December 11th and I still haven't read any!  I have let myself get too busy and/or distracted with other things and I'm letting this Christmas season get away from me!  I seriously have bought 3 books (one of which is actually 3 books in one, so I guess I have 6 books) and several Christmas books downloaded to ibooks.  I'm running out of time!  I'm going to have to just make myself sit down and read or I'm going to be so frustrated with myself after Christmas.

On another note,  I gave my kids one of their presents early last Wednesday night! Lol!  They didn't exactly know that it was supposed to be a Christmas gift though.  Every year I buy both of my kids a new board game each.  It has kind of become a tradition.  Well, I was just really in the mood to play a board game with them Wednesday night so I grabbed one and went to them and asked if they'd like to play! I just told them that I had bought it earlier that day but didn't mention that it was supposed to be for Christmas.  I now have to buy a replacement game for Chloe but it was worth it :)  We had a fun time playing it!

Well, I think I'm going to get going and read a little bit!  Wish me luck!  I'm so sleepy right now and reading sometimes makes me fall asleep!  Talk to you later!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas!

     It's almost Christmas!  Such an exciting time of the year!  It can also be a very stressful time of year.   All of the decorating, shopping, preparing for visitors, and so much more.  I'm doing my best to stay relaxed and not let the stresses get to me this year.

     I took my Christmas tree out last Monday night and got it all set up and plugged it in to find that the entire middle and part of the top no longer work.  I tried everything I could think of and it still wouldn't work so I went out the next morning and bought a new one!  It is now all set up and my house is slowly starting to look like Christmas!  I have been working on a few Christmas crafts/decorations to put around the house too!  It's kind of a stress reliever for me.  I love getting crafty!

Here's my Living Room Tree 

My Family Room decorations

One of my Christmas crafts

Another Christmas Craft

     I was hoping to get some more painting in this week but Chloe ended up having some major issues at school and then the poor thing ended up with a horrible stomach virus!  I'll have to write a whole separate blog post about the school drama some other time!  But anyways,  she is starting to feel better today so maybe I'll get to paint a little tonight.  If not, no biggie! I'll get to it next week!

     I did some online Christmas shopping yesterday!  I love checking things off of my list!  However, I still have so much to do!  There are so many people to buy for but I know it will come together.  It always does.  It does seem to get a little harder every year though.  Things get more and more expensive with each year and people seem to be harder to buy for too!  I love thoughtful, unique gifts but not everyone on my list of people to buy for feels the same.  People tend to ask for gift cards or money nowadays but I prefer giving actual gifts.  It's different if you won't actually get to see the person so you have to send something (Cards are cheaper to send than a big box), but if you are actually getting together and exchanging gifts, I like giving real presents.  There are some neat boutiques here in town that have unique things so I'm hoping to find some good gifts at those places.  

     Well, I hope everyone gets to enjoy this wonderful time of the year!  Get your decorating, shopping, and preparing done and make sure you don't forget the real reason for this awesome season!

What a Difference Two Years Makes!

Yes, it's been two LONG years since I have written anything here.  I know, I know... I promised! I won't make any excuses.  I'll just say that life happens.  Anyways, let's do another catch up blog!

The biggest thing that has happened in our lives is that we moved again!  We are now in Tennessee!  Mark is now the pastor of a wonderful church here so that makes me the.... *drum roll here* Pastor's wife!  It's a new adventure for me and I'm praying that I am able to be what the church needs me to be.

Along with my new role as Pastor's wife, I have also taken on the role of Sunday School coordinator and one of the teachers.  When we took the church they were not having Sunday school so we started it back up the first Sunday of November.  It's been going great!  I'm ready for more kids to start coming!  We'll need more teachers too but I know they're on their way!

Now let's talk about my kids!  Noah is 15 now....I'm getting so old!  He is in 10th grade and he has his driver's permit.  He is such an amazing kid!  So sweet and helpful.  He's honestly not your typical teenage boy.  He's very thoughtful and loving, so smart and so talented!  My boy is an awesome drummer and he's learning the bass and guitar too!  I just love this boy like crazy!

Chloe just turned 12 and is in the 6th grade!  She's beautiful, sweet, smart, and talented!  She is loving and kind and boy can she sing!  This girl of mine has a YouTube channel and has over 700 subscribers and some of her videos have over 50,000 views!  She does all of her own editing and is amazing at it.  She does things on that program that I have no clue how to do!  I absolutely love my baby girl!

I've done a few quilts and other sewing projects since my last blog.  Here are a few of them.

Lately I've been more into painting.  I absolutely love painting!  It's my new favorite thing :)  Here are a few of my newest paintings.

I was also recently hired to paint the windows at a local Christian book store for Christmas.  It was such a blast!

Well, it's been fun but it's getting late.  I'll do my best to post more often.  I'm not making any promises this time because, well, that hasn't worked in my favor so far!  However, I really will try to post more often :)

Catching Up...again

      Another catch up post.  We moved into the house at the end of July and it's been a good move so far :)  Shortly after we moved I started having a few health problems and that really stinks but that's just life I guess!  I have been diagnosed with gastroparesis (meaning my stomach is paralyzed and causes lots of pain and yuckiness) and just yesterday I found out I have to have a procedure done Monday to remove a kidney stone that won't budge and is causing problems.  Fun fun fun.

      A few weeks before I started getting sick a friend of mine talked me into going running with her.  I didn't do great but I didn't do as bad as I thought I would!  We went a few times but then my health got in the way.  I am determined to jump back in as soon as I get better though!  I am excited!

      Here it is late October already and I feel like Christmas is sneaking up on me way to fast!  I love Christmas so much but I just don't feel ready yet.  I have so much to do!

      I have been making a ton of quilts since the last time I blogged too!  I made this one for a friend.

      This one I made for Noah :)  It's the first full size one I made.  I made it out of his old jeans!  I broke a few needles on it too Lol!

I made this one for Chloe.  It is from old jeans and jean skirts and cute flannel fabric I found.  It fits her twin bed.

I made this one for myself :)  Starr bought the fabric for me and I love it! It's about a full size too I think.

I made this one for my family room.  It's a good size for a throw blanket but I decided to hang it on a quilt rack in the room instead.

I made this one for Chloe's bed because we had decided to get her a full size bed.  Well, I made it nice and big and we changed our mind about getting her a full size bed!  Oh well, it hangs a little big but it still looks good!

I made this one for a cousin's first baby!

And this I made for a different cousin's first baby!

I made this one to sell :)

This one is for sale too :)

I made this one to sell and it sold!

      I am almost done with my last Algebra class!  I am singing and dancing on this one!  I hate algebra and it hates me!  One more week to go and I am done!  Then I have five psychology classes to do (two at a time, each lasting 9 weeks) and I am finished!  I really can't wait to be all done!

      I'm  trying to think if I have more things to catch up with but I can't think of anything right now.  Hopefully (and I know I say this every time) I will get back in the routine of blogging!  I do miss it!  Right now I'm gonna go catch up on reading some blogs!  Until next time.....

Catching Up

On June 23rd, a Saturday, Mark had to go to Mexico for work and stay until July 5th.  On Monday the 25th the kids and I packed up and drove to Kentucky to see my sister and her family.  We had such a good time and it was much needed!  We left on Friday, June 29th, to go back home.  Saturday was nothing but the most wonderful, lazy day!  Church on Sunday and then back to the normal routine on Monday.  Well, other than major cleaning for the rest of the week Lol!

On Wednesday, July 4th, we had a church cookout and then a bunch of us went to the fireworks together.  It was pretty fun but it was the first Fourth of July without Mark since we got married so it felt weird.

On Thursday night Starr, Allen, and the girls came to visit for the weekend!  Mark got home at around 2:30 am Friday morning so we all stayed up and waited for him.

Friday, July 6th, was Noah's 13th birthday!!! I still can't believe I am the mother of a teenager!  Mom and dad arrived at around 3:00 and then we had a party for Noah at 6:00.  It turned out really good!  Mom and dad stayed at a hotel this time since Starr's family was staying here so they went to their room at around 10:00.  Some of our amazingly fun, crazy friends stayed until 3:00 am!  We had a blast though!

Saturday was just a nice day hanging out with all of the family.  All of the kids except for Chloe and Kenzie went out with the church youth for a while in the evening and then brought those crazy friends back with them!  Another loud, crazy, fun night!

Church was on Sunday and then all of my family left on Monday morning :(

I slept off and on all day Monday Lol!  I think I stayed up super late too many nights in a row!

Today we found out that the house will probably close next week and we have to be out of this house by the end of the month.  We are cutting it close and I am panicking a little!  *Breathe in, Breathe out....

So now that we won't be having company for a while I am trying to pack up as much as I can.  I am so ready for this to be over!

School is going pretty good so I am relieved about that.  Not too much more to go!

Oh!  An update on my friend who had the diving accident and broke his neck.  He is doing so much better than the doctors expected!  Everyone is so amazed!  This man who broke his neck and was told that he would most likely never walk again and probably even be completely paralyzed from the neck down got his halo off Monday and took 37 steps with assistance today!!!  That is nothing but a miracle!  So extremely exciting!

Ok, I think I have you all caught up.  If I think of anything else I'll post again :)