No labor on Labor Day

How Great Thou Art

A simple song I have sung in church for as long as I can remember, is quickly becoming one of my new favorites.

The lyrics are so powerful.

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,

How great Thou art, How great Thou art.

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,

How great Thou art, How great Thou art!

My God is truly a great God!

Peaches, peaches, and more peaches

3 boxes of peaches + 2 peachy days =

19 quart bags of peaches

18 jars of peach freezer jam

12 individual cups of peaches for smoothies

21 quart jars of canned peaches

Peaches, peaches, and (you guessed it!) PEACHES!!

I'm finding peaches under my fingernails

Peach particles stuck on my arm

The worst part is, I look like I've been hit with a box of peaches

It's going to be a peachy year.



DIY: T-shirt headband

I've seen these over and over again on Pinterest and decided to give it a shot. They have lots of cute braided headbands and this one in particular I really liked!  

Let's get started!

{Some of the picture quality is horrible, so please excuse! It was nighttime and I was too lazy to grab my actual camera.}

~Cut two 1 in strips from a old t-shirt

~Pull them to create the curly edges

~ Loop de loop one of the strips

~ Use the other one to form an arc over the first

~ One leg over the 2nd

~ The other side of the strip goes under the loop de loop

~ Here is the part I didn't do correctly the first time. You slip the far right strip in the loop de loop, underneath and through the strip you put behind it (in the previous step). I hope that makes sense, if all else fails compare the two pictures to try and make out the difference.

This step reminds me of when I first was introduced to crocheting. This is what patterns actually say...

Round 1 (Right Side): Work 5 sc in 2nd ch from hook; do not join, work in continuous rounds—5 sc. Place marker in last stitch to indicate end of round. Move marker up as each round is completed.

Round 2: Work 2 sc in each sc around—10 sc.

Round 3: [Sc in next sc, 2 sc in next sc] 5 times—15 sc.

How I read it.....

Round 1-- Work with your leg crossed and your hands in the air. Start your chain with your hands circling in the air and mark where you started.

Round 2-- Keep working on your stitch while circling your hands above your head

Round 3-- Try and work in a double hand stand, do the above with your feet.

It just sounds THAT difficult.

Moving on......

~Pull all the four strips to create the small braid

~Cut a square of fabric from the same t-shirt and place the strip ends in the square

~ Close it together, then sew it all around the edges and middle. Make sure you measure it around your head before you sew it, to ensure it's the right tightness around your nogin.

{Please ignore the cheesy pictures, just wanted to give you a view of what it looks like when it's on.}

It's THAT easy! A cute alternative to a typical Wal*Mart headband. Plus, you get the delight of knowing you made it!

Ooey Gooey Deliciousness

Raise your hand if you love ooey gooey desserts....

Awesome!

Then you are gonna adore this recipe.

I made this today and it's a perfect blend of chocolate, oatmeal, and coconut. It's kinda like my oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, but the lazy easy version because it's in a bar form :)

I added coconut and reduced the sugar a bit, because I'm weird like that.

I will definitely be one of those moms who sneak things like zucchini into their kids brownies.

Mmmkay, here we go.

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Bars--adapted from Tasty Kitchen

2 sticks butter, melted

1 t vanilla

2 eggs

1 c sugar

1 c brown sugar

2 c flour

1/2 t baking soda

1/2 t baking powder

2 c quick cooking oats

2 c chocolate chips

1 c coconut

Preheat the oven to 350. Mix together butter, vanilla, eggs, and sugars. Then, add the flour, baking soda, and baking powder. After that is all mixed together well, add the oats, chocolate chips, and coconut. Grease a 9x13 baking dish and spread evenly in pan. Cook for 30 minutes. Enjoy!

If you can stand it, try to let them cool before you cut into them. If you don't, they will be really gooey.

Story Time: While I was typing the 'x' for the 9x13 pan, I was reminded of something many years ago. So, there was this forward email that was sent to me at my inbox (back when forwarding was the new thing). It was one of those, "Mark all these statements with an 'x' if you have done them before. Then forward this to 3,581 people. If you don't, you don't love Jesus." Or another good one was, "If you don't forward this to x amount of people your crush will not look at you this week."

Oh brother

Anyways, so I was filling out the forward and was like, "Wait, I don't have an X button!!" True. Story. I was searching that keyboard for the 'x' button and couldn't find it for a bit. You can imagine the shame I felt when I found it.

Yes, I am blonde

No, I am not stupid

The End.

Looking unto Jesus

Is it just me, or do you feel like you can never 'get it right' and respond to those things the way Christ would?

I can get so distracted. I look inwardly at myself and the world around me, and I forget that I need to keep my eyes on Jesus.

Sometimes, I let Satan tell me those little lies and I believe them.

Sheesh

I let my contentment turn into complaining

My faith into fear

My joy into misery

My confidence into feelings of worthlessness

I look back onto the things of the past, when I need to be looking forward.

I put priority over how others think of me, instead of looking at what Christ thinks of me.

The awesome thing about Christ is that He shows me exactly what lies I am choosing to believe. He counteracts those lies with the Truth, and uses other Christians to encourage me in the Lord.

He reminds me I need to be looking to Him and not looking at myself.

I am never going to be perfect, I understand that. Yet, there is never a point in my Christian life where I should be content and not letting Christ show me areas I need to change in my life.

Even though I mess up and take my eyes off of Jesus, He is there to show me where I have gone wrong.

He has a plan for my life far better than I can even understand. I have to trust in Him and keep looking unto Jesus.

"Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith......" ~Hebrews 12:2a~



Josh & Liz

It's officially, official

As of August 3, 2012, I have a married brother and an amazing-perfect-for-him sister-in-law!

This was without a doubt the most beautiful wedding I have ever been to. From the decorations, God-centered atmosphere, sweet spirit from everyone involved, lovely bride and groom....everything was absolutely wonderful. It was the most amazingly perfect day for God to unite two people in marriage.

{Instead of overwhelming you all with tons and tons of pictures from the entire week, I will just include pictures from the wedding day.}

You fill up my senses

Like a night in a forest

Like the mountains in springtime

Like a walk in the rain

Like a storm in the desert

Like a sleepy blue ocean

You fill up my senses

Come fill me again

Come let me love you

Let me give my life to you

Let me drown in your laughter

Let me die in your arms

Let me lay down beside you

Let me always be with you

Come let me love you

Come love me again

You fill up my senses

Like a night in a forest

Like the mountains in springtime

Like a walk in the rain

Like a storm in the desert

Like a sleepy blue ocean

You fill up my senses

Come fill me again