Just Roll With It

They were young... 22 years old. He was her high school sweetheart, they married shortly after she graduated, and they had their whole lives ahead of them. He was just finishing up his service in the military, and they were ready to start a family and conquer the world together. In just an instant, though, their whole life was changed. A severe car wreck left her injured and him near death. He pulled through, but days turned into weeks of recovery. Weeks turned into months, and now months have turned into a year and a half. This horrific accident left him with traumatic brain injury, among his long list of injuries, and his brain now functions like a child. Her hero, her protector, her big strong military man... and now she has to feed him, bathe him, dress him, and raise him.

As she is a dear friend of mine, I will not mention her name without first asking her permission. But this incredible young woman did not give in to the cards she had been dealt. She fought, and she continues to fight... HARD. She cheers on her husband for every advancement he makes, activities he performs that you and I take for granted. She stands by his side through it all, and she still has a love for him that can be seen from miles away. Her faith in God is strong, and her message is even stronger. She doesn't preach. She doesn't have to. This woman epitomizes Christian living, and she is the closest thing you will meet to the woman described in Proverbs 31. She is the perfect example of what we should all strive to be.

In this situation, many people would give up. Her attitude and outlook on her situation have pulled her through. She holds close Isaiah 41:10, "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

Think about today's motivational saying: "Although fate presents the circumstances, how you react depends on your character." What circumstances have you been presented recently? Or maybe there is something from your past that you are still struggling to conquer. Is there someone who is doing you wrong? Perhaps you are watching someone you love being mistreated. Or maybe you have been dealt circumstances similar to the girl in this post, and you're struggling with pulling yourself through. Life can be hard. We all have ups and downs. Facing life's difficulties with a positive attitude, strong character, and unwavering faith in God, though, will help you truly enjoy life... even with all it's pitfalls. And only then will you be able to CONQUER LIFE!!

Crafts (Organizing): Kitchen Storage Boxes

This is another project that I did using unfinished craft wood from Hobby Lobby, but if I did it again I would have my husband make the boxes. These were quick and easy creations, but they far beat the cardboard boxes that each of these items are packaged in at the store. I painted them to match my accent colors, added a little ribbon, and cut three layers of letters out of cardstock with my Cricut. Stacking three layers on top of each other gave them a more 3-D look.

Love and Marriage... Love and Marriage... They Go Together Like a Horse and Carriage

Ok... so the title is a little cheesy. That song popped in my head as I was logging in to blogger, though, so it became the title.

(NOTE: I wrote this about a year and a half ago. I decided to repost it today.)

This morning I was searching for a good devotional. I'm a tech girl. I don't know much about computers, but I use them for everything. I love having so much as my fingertips. I remembered a few years ago before my husband and I started dating when I was in a bad relationship and needed a good dose of God. I got online and began searching. I found a site with a devotional that hit me where it hurt. I've never forgotten that devotional. It was just what I needed at the time.

Fast forward to today, and I decided to attempt to find that same site. I googled "morning devotional," and it was the top choice on the results list.... www.crosswalk.com. I checked out the list of devotionals available, and the words "Girlfriends in God" caught my eye. Perfect! A devotional for women.

When I clicked on the link, today's devotional was titled "Can You Love Your Husband and Brad Pitt, Too?" Sounds good. Let's see.

They started off by mentioning Proverbs 4:23 that says, "Above all else guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." Hmmm.... Are they going to tell me to be stubborn in love, because I don't need any help with that. I can definitely be the stubborn one. I read on.

Matthew 5:27-28... "You have heard it said, Do not commit adultery. But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

I have probably read that verse a thousand times since I got married. I believe it with all my heart. I see these forwards that get passed around through e-mail with pictures of naked or nearly naked, gorgeous people. Typically it's women, and they get passed to men. My husband has one friend who has a tendency to send them to him frequently. One day he was in the shower and his phone went off. He asked me to check and see who it was. I opened it, and it was a slideshow of young, skinny, naked women in the most obscene positions. I couldn't understand why someone would send that to a married, Christian man. With my husband's permission I deleted it.

I feared I was being irrational, but I also knew that there was no way I would want to look at a man like that. My husband is the only man for me, and I would feel like I was committing adultery if I looked at pics of naked men spread eagle.

I continued to read, and it made me feel confident and strong. It IS wrong! It's not simply innocent looking. God tells us that, and this devotional was backing it up. Say what you may about how it's no big deal as long as you don't touch. Society says it's ok, so it must be ok, right? God puts it plain and simple in black and white. It is NOT ok. He goes on to tell us, "If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away." Matthew 5:29

I don't think he is literally saying to stick a fork in your eye and pull it out of the socket. (Ouch! That hurts me to even type!) But he is saying cut all ties that cause you to sin in this manner. If there is an old flame on facebook that you can't help but check out their page every once in a while to "see how they're doing," although you know deep down it's because you really want to feel a connection to them again or they still hold a place in your heart, don't look at their page anymore. If you can't control that, add them to your block list so you cannot view their page. If you still find ways around it, delete your facebook account. If there is a co-worker of the opposite sex who you look forward to seeing every day, get transferred to a different department or change jobs. If there is a person at the gym that you can't help but glance at every few minutes, go at a different time or find a new place to workout.

Nearly all affairs begin with what society would consider innocent, but God knows better. That's why he gives us these instructions. Work to keep your marriage happy, and you will find it makes all areas of your life better. Then you will be well on your way to conquering life!

If you would like to read the Girlfriends in God devotional, you can check it out here:
http://www.crosswalk.com/devotionals/girlfriends/

I don't think this is a direct link for the Feb. 1, 2012, entry, so you may need to find that date if you are looking at it after today. And, guys, just because it's called Girlfriends in God doesn't mean you can't read it. It applies to you just the same. Simply change the gender of each pronoun as you read, and it will fit you perfectly, too.

Blessings in Disguise

I was thinking this morning of someone close to me and an experience he had several years ago that he deemed horrible at the time. This horrible experience led him to a depression, and it took a few years to recover. This is what I concluded...

Sometimes things happen in life that we perceive as horrible. People say "Look at the bright side" or "It's not as bad as you think" or "Maybe it's just a blessing in disguise" to try to cheer us up. But in our mind there is no bright side. Sometimes it may even be so bad that people can only offer condolences because even they do not see a positive side to it. Later, and sometimes it's much later, God reveals a door to us that was opened as a result of this horrible experience. Then, and only then, do we realize this "horrible" experience wasn't so horrible after all. In fact, it was a blessing that led us to the wonderful life we now lead.

Look More at Yourself

"Let the refining and improving of your own life keep you so busy that you have little time to criticize others." ~H. Jackson Brown Jr.

You look at that person who did you wrong in the past, the one who is doing you wrong now, the one who continually causes problems in your life, and you criticize. You see someone who does something differently than you would, someone who has different beliefs than you do, someone who lives a different life with different priorities, and you criticize. How easy it is for us to criticize others. It occurs every day when that person on their cell phone swerves into your lane... you criticize their driving; when the single mother puts her own desires ahead of what's best for her child... you criticize her parenting; when the person from a different political party or religion speaks... you criticize their opinions; and even when the obese individual walks in the room... you criticize their weight. Next time you catch yourself criticizing another person, immediately turn that focus onto yourself... not for criticizing, but for improvement. Focus your attention on what you can do better, and you will find there is no time to point the finger at others.

Attitude

"It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than anything else, will affect it's successful outcome."

~ William James

Smile

Be So Happy...

Crafts: Repurposed Old Window ~ Turned ~ Necklace Holder

Thank you, Pinterest! I've seen several versions of this on Pinterest which inspired me to do my own. All of my jewelry has a nice home... except my necklaces. They have a drawer. Necklaces don't belong in a drawer. When you can actually find one to wear, it's so tangled with others that you end up going necklace-less.

My husband and I got permission to grab some old wood and stuff from a property that has an old house, barn, milk barn, and shed on it. They are all falling down. The house basically has no floor anymore, and it is dangerous to go in. We did, however, find some broken windows sitting on what is left of the floor. I grabbed them and took them home.

This is what the window looked like when I got it home:

Gross, right? It had nests all over it, chipped paint, one in tact window, one broken window, and one completely missing window, springs sticking out the sides, and filth galore. I strapped on the face mask and gloves, cleaned it up, scrubbed it down, sanded the loose paint, and took out the glass.

Then I painted it brown, nailed a bunch of nails an inch apart from each other, put a couple of picture hangers on the back, hung it on my wall, and draped my necklaces from it.

And there you have it! I spent absolutely no money on this necklace hanger! I used paint I had in my arsenal, nails I found in my old toolbox from about 5 or 6 years ago, and picture hangers I had in the same toolbox.

The Smile on My Face

Follow Your Heart

When Bad Things Happen

I Get Knocked Down...

"It's not whether you get knocked down. It's whether you get up again."

~ Vince Lombardi

Trouble

"If I were asked to give what I consider the single most useful bit of advice for all humanity, it would be this: Expect trouble as an inevitable part of life, and when it comes, hold your head high. Look it squarely in the eye, and say, 'I will be bigger than you. You cannot defeat me.'"

~ Ann Landers

Crafts: Barn Wood Buffett

My husband and I have been inspired by Pinterest. We see projects made from trash, and our imagination runs wild. I have always been a trash-to-treasure kind of person, but I never got into big things. All of mine were small hand crafts. Now that I got my husband (the one of us who owns a gazillion tools) hooked on Pinterest, we've been brainstorming together. We're trying to get our rustic-style house fixed up to put on the market so we can move closer to his son's school, and we've been doing many odd jobs ourselves. If you don't have a neatly laid out furniture arrangement, though, the house is just not going to show as good. So... we decided to take that matter into our own hands, too. Since we can't afford to go out and buy all new furniture, we're making it. We located a barn that was falling down. We searched until we figured out who owned it, contacted the owners, and got permission to take some of the wood.

We got the wood (and one sheet of rusted tin) to our house and stared at it for a long time trying to figure out what to make.

We came up with the idea, my husband drew it out and figured the measurements, and we began building.

Clearly, he's so good to patiently teach me what to do, and he not only allows but encourages me to use his tools.

We used new wood to supplement the old barn wood. We wanted the inside to be solid and sturdy with the new wood, and we wanted to save the old wood for the part that would be seen.

After getting the face and frame built, we cut old boards for the sides.

We took it down off the sawhorses to put the top on it. The boards we used for the top had other boards nailed into it that we had to remove so it would fit. We wanted to keep the look of the old rusty nails, though, so we cut each of them off on the other side.

We used a pocket jig to attach the frame of the doors together. Before attaching the boards, though, we used a router to cut a slot to hold the tin.

I used tin snips to cut out the tin, brushed it down with a wire brush, and sealed in the rust with spray polyurethane. Tim then attached the doors to the unit.

Drawers and I don't get along, so he built all the drawers and installed them.

I cut the tin for them, routed the area of the tin, attached the tin to the drawer fronts, and installed the pulls that I got 50% off at Hobby Lobby. He then put the fronts on the drawers.

And.... Voila!

We got it moved inside and put a few items on it. You can see some of the fresh cut edges. We'll have to weather them to make them match the rest of the wood, but we were so eager to get it inside that we decided we could do that once it was in.

You may recognize those shelves above it from a previous post. We placed it in our breakfast/dining area under those shelves, added a shelf inside each side of cabinet of the buffet, and filled it with all our small appliances that were cluttering up the kitchen. It's amazing what a difference it makes in our kitchen/dining area. 

All toll, we spend about $35-$40 dollars on this piece. It could easily sell for $800 or more. It took a lot of time to build, but we definitely had quite a bonding experience through it. We will without a doubt be building more barn wood furniture together!

Stay tuned for our new/old barn door dining table that we are in the process of building.....

Think Big

"If you're going to be thinking, you may as well think big."

~ Donald Trump

Dream It

"If you can DREAM it, you can DO it!"

~ Walt Disney

Difficulty

"Difficulty is the excuse history never accepts."

~ Edward R. Murrow

Your Life

"You are responsible for your life."

~ Oprah Winfrey