Made From Scraps

This skort was quite literally made from scraps.

The denim part was originally the bottom of a pair of jeans that I hemmed for a friend.  The front is one leg, the back is the other leg.

The ruffles are strips of fabric that I cut from left over scraps from various things.

The waistband and underskirt were made from the bottom half of an old T-shirt.

I already had the thread and the elastic lying around.  And the button I grabbed out of the kids' craft box.

So this skort honestly cost me a grand total of .... $0.

Of course, I don't think that anything I make is perfect.  My technique wasn't the best, so I ended up doing things the hard way (hence why I don't have instructions - you wouldn't want to follow them...)

But amazingly enough, it still turned out alright.

And most importantly, Bella loves it.  She kept asking when her "pretty skirt" was going to be finished so that she could wear it. :)

Oh, the little things...

Isaiah got his first serving of Ranch Style Beans this week.  

Needless to say, He liked them, just like the other two.

Neil was happy (no kids asking why Daddy isn't eating his beans, if they like them, right?) 

...until I told him that meant he was outnumbered 4 to 1.

Isaiah wasn't settling down for one of his naps (not like him), so I go into his room and this is what I find:

I'm not really sure how he got his arm out all by himself...

There are definitely days that a video baby monitor would come in handy - It would be a new form of entertainment for me, I'm sure, but without the shock value of walking in on something as cute as this :)

Writing Practice

This week Balian all of a sudden decided that he wanted to practice writing his letters.  I have these dry-erase practice sheets that are amazing.  In the past, while Bella was working on her handwriting skills, Balian would scribble all over these things.  Well, this week, he decided that he actually wanted to try to trace the letters, and he really surprised me.

No, his grip on his marker isn't perfect, and we still have scribbles all over the rest of the page...

But he's only 2.5!  I wasn't planning on even introducing this for another 6 months!!  And he WANTS to do it!  So fun :)

He probably wants to do it, because Bella has been practicing her letters so much.  Bella has started asking "Mommy, how do you spell ________?"  Then I would tell her, and she would write it.

Here's some of her handiwork:

Now, mind you, I'm not waiting for her to write one letter before giving her the next.  When she asks how to write PopPop, I say "p-o-p...p-o-p" and leave it at that.  So, sometimes she misses a letter or two, but that's ok.  I'm amazed that she is able to remember 99% of the letters that I dictate.

Here's more writing practice on some of her artwork:

An update almost 2 years later...

I think I can finally update you on some stuff that I gave a teaser on almost 2 years ago, in my post "oh, the possibilities..."

At our church, we have an amazing worship pastor.  Amazing talent, to say the least.  Plays guitar, bass guitar, keys, and I'm sure a ton more... but not just an instrumentalist...and a vocalist...and a songwriter...and has worked in the music industry forever...but he's also a producer.  Oh, yeah...and he's a big black man that's filled with the Holy Spirit.  So, he not only has amazing talent...but also an amazing heart for God.
Our church is extremely Blessed to have Shake Anderson.  Only God could have lead him to where he is.
(If you haven't heard  this CD, written almost entirely by Shake, you should check it out.  The Song "Medicine for Someone Else", sung by Ruben Studdard, has been nominated for a Dove Award.)

This year, starting our third year with Shake, after teaching us and challenging us, and really working hard with us, making us better singers, songwriters, and musicians than we ever thought we could be...
GenPraise (Generations Church Praise Team) is in the process of recording an album.

What's even more amazing to me is that some of the songs that we are using for this project are songs that God gave me.  When I first played some of my songs for Shake, and he said that he liked them, I was speechless.  I think I had to pick my jaw up off the floor.  And that was over a year ago.  Just in the past year, God has opened wide the door in my songwriting.  I've been gleaning so much from His Word, and He's turning what I'm learning into songs to share with others.
Songwriting isn't new to me - but God is stretching me in new, amazing ways.  Ways that I never thought possible.

This week we've been working on recording my newest song, "You've Already Brought the Victory."  It's all God, hands down.  If you never thought a white girl could write a gospel song, think again.  With Christ, all things are possible. ha. :)
I'm excited, and I'm extremely humbled.  The entire process for this song thus far - has been God proving Himself to me over and over and over again - and leaving absolutely NO chance to give glory anywhere but where it belongs - to God himself.  He started giving me this song in the middle of worship last Sunday morning.  That's never happened before.  So I'd write a little - then sing when I was supposed to (yes, I was up on the platform - I was just hoping I wasn't distracting anybody, but the Holy Spirit was moving and I couldn't disobey that!)  Then Monday, I was supposed to meet with Shake and it just kept not working out...Tuesday morning, I open up my Bible, read the passage of Scripture that had stirred up my heart, then read the words that God had given me on Sunday.  I'm praying over these words and meditating on them,  and BAM! All of a sudden, I had the entire tune of the song in my head.  Everything stopped.  The kids were playing by themselves, amazingly enough - without interruption - and the words kept coming, the melody kept coming, and everything just came together so beautifully.  I didn't have time to figure out the entire chord progression - I just had the key it was in, and the tune in my head, and the words on my paper.  I took that with me to my meeting with Shake that afternoon. I told him what I had, and he seemed a bit worried, but told me to go ahead and sing it to him without music.   So, I did.  And his response - "Well, I know what we'll be recording tonight."  Talk about a slap in the face! He apparently got the same vision with it that I did.  It was 5pm, and the team would be back up there at 6:30 for recording.  In that time, Shake took care of figuring out the chord progression, and went ahead and laid down the tracks for electric guitar, keys, and bass so that we could record that night - as well as figuring out an arrangement with all the harmony parts, etc.  seriously.  amazing.
And everything so far is sounding really, really good.
The vision in that man's head is nothing less than the power of the Holy Spirit.
I can't wait for you to hear it all someday soon.

In the meantime, if you could pray for the project - for the CD - that would be great.  We're recording, and Shake is producing - all within our church walls - but we're not really sure what's going to happen after all is said and done - only God does.
There is so much that God is doing in our church right now - it's like this CD is just an overflow of what's going on.  God has so much in store.  He's moving.  The Holy Spirit is at work.  We are just trying to grab hold of everything that He's doing.

oh, and for those of you from Kentucky - We're going to be at Icthus this year :)
and that's another prayer request - figuring out how I can go - and having someone to take care of the kids for about a week...Right now it's looking like Neil will be taking off work to be home with the little ones while I'm gone for a week.  If that's what needs to happen, then wonderful - but I need to feel better and less guilty about it, if that's the case.  Just praying for God's peace.  It's a tough balance to be a stay-at-home mom, and be entirely content in that - and yet going where the Holy Spirit leads, without putting my ministry to my children (or submission to my husband) to the wayside.  Asking my husband to do my job for a week, while taking off of his is a hard pill to swallow, even when Neil is supporting and encouraging me.  It's just a difficult balance that I've only had to deal with on a very small scale up to this point (rehearsals, recording, etc.).  Going from being with my kids every day to being gone for an entire week is a pretty big deal.

I'll keep you posted on everything as there are updates to give.

From Old to New

 Meet my newest project:

This dresser has been at Mom and Dad's house for a long time. 

I needed a dresser for our School Room to store school supplies, art, etc.

A free dresser...that just needed a bit of work...

So I sanded it, re-stained it a pretty Red Oak color, filled in the old hardware holes, made new ones, added new hardware, and stained and added new feet.

And this is what we ended up with:

Isn't it pretty?

Here's a side shot, so you can see the pretty sheen...

Makes me smile...and feel very productive.

Oh, and our School room is SO much more organized now...

which makes me smile even more :)

Definitely ended up not being free...but it was still a heck of a lot less than I would have paid for the same thing...and anything I bought probably wouldn't have been solid wood like this one.  That's why older is better...sometimes it just needs a bit of a "pick-me-up".

Word for Word

(As we are driving by our church)
"Mommy, why are there 2 cars at church?"
"Well, people work at church.  Pastor Allan, Pastor Shake, Mrs. Laura, and Mrs. Laurie..."
"They work there?"
"Yes, Bella.  Just like Daddy goes to work...they go to work at the church."
"But they aren't all boys."
"No, they aren't.  Mrs. Laura and Mrs. Laurie are girls."
(eyes get really wide)
"Girls go to work too?"

Headin' Out

Watch out, world!  Here he comes!

(And we are so happy to have some warmer weather!  Love it!)