My Christmas Happys

So I know I said that fall was my husband's jams, but in reality Christmas is the jams of those jams for my man. When it comes to decorating and gift giving and merriment, he is all in. The Christmas carols and Michel Buble Christmas cd get whipped out early in this household! Weeks before Thanksgiving he was already shower singing (term I made up while one sings in the shower without knowing someone else is listening) "Let it snow."

But I am so thankful for his excitement, because it excites me and our kids about the joy of this season. The joy the angels felt when they proclaimed the good news of our Savior's birth to the shepherds on that hill. The joy Mary felt when this little babe she had grown and loved since speaking to Gabriel had made His way into her arms. The joy earth felt when at last, her King had come! 

This joy has been welcomed into our home as the crafting and decorating for this season has gotten into full swing!

 Our Christmas tree stands tall and proud high above the reaches of grabby little two year old hands!

 Baby trees and a bird! If you have never seen the clip of the show Portlandia's "Put a Bird on It," you are missing out. One of my best friends gave me a couple fake birds to decorate with because she knows that cracks me up!

This little banner I made out of a yard of burlap, some twine and a sharpie marker. Unfortunately due to the stockings you can only see the "Silent" part of "Silent Night." I promise I didn't make a banner that said "silent" to get my kids to be quiet now and then, but hey everybody needs visual reminders sometimes!

 My husband came up with the idea to make this little stocking holder guy. He used a random piece of wood we had laying in the basement, does anybody else have random wood in your house? Anyway he grabbed some old drawer handles and chalkboard paint and made this cutie!

 My happy little tree family! My daughter came up with the idea of making a unique tree for each member of our family. She gets most of her creativity from her mama, dad helped.

 Ah the entryway table, one of my favorite little nooks in our home.

 A great and wonderfully talented friend of mine drew this on our chalkboard, she whipped this guy out in less than twenty minutes! I am so glad she could do this for me because it would have taken me til Christmas to get it done and not look this good!

 This tiny yet serene nativity has been in my family a long time, and it makes me tear up and smile all at the same time.

And shout out to the greatest candle ever made!!!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope ya'll enjoy your Christmas happys and sharing in the joy of Christ's birth!

Ten Things About Me

1. I love black and white photos, seriously, it can be a pic of a garbage can and if its black and white I am just kinda drawn to it.
2. I have relearned to play guitar like three times now, each time I start practicing again I get pregnant and my belly gets in the way and then I cant reach the strings and forget everything....oh man I just started practicing again.
3. I love old stuff. Old quilts, old tables, old chests, just the character in each piece makes it so enjoyable.
4. I think bohemian is about the cutest kind of style there is out there, and I like to dress like a hippie occasionally (the kind that keep their clothes on obviously!)
5. I am really considering taking the plunge and getting my nose pierced, but am held back by fears of what people may say or think of me, which as I am typing this out sounds silly.
6. I committed my life to Christ after watching an intense YouTube video about Heaven and Hell, went to church all my life and never heard the gospel like I did that day almost two years ago. Praise God for using different tools to open people's eyes.
7. My hubs and I are planning to move our little family to Vermont to help disciple and do life with the people of Rivertown church. (You can read more about their vision and calling at www.thewhittinghills.blogspot.com) And I will be posting a lot about the Lord's work and preparation for my family on here.
8. I cant ski, and I am moving to Vermont. One time on my first and only ski trip, I went down a bunny slope on my booty while three year olds ski'd right on past me like mini Olympic champions. They turned their little perfectly balanced skiing selves around and laughed at me.
9. I have two tattoos. One on my wrist that says Faith, and another on my foot that we lovingly call "a bad idea." It was supposed to be a butterfly but to this day its been called everything but a butterfly, snail, turtle, side butt etc.
10. My favorite kind of worship music doesnt involve a big band, just a guitar and good singing. Praise Jesus for making music in our hearts for Him.

So there's ten things about me! Hope yall are having a great Monday!

Six months!!

This is my sweet Asher Man, my sweet chubba lub/chumba/rubba dub chubs/. And this little angel turned 6 months old on Friday!! I still tear up thinking about how fast this has gone by. I mean, he is my third and I know it goes by fast, but still catches me off guard each and every time. This angel is a pure joy! Truly lives up to his name Asher, "happy am I!"

Lord my plea, more of You and less of me

Humility. How The Lord uses it to bring about such a sanctifying and sweet surrendering process to His children. Lately, He's been speaking this word to me. Teaching me, and through Jesus's example, showing me. But I fail so often, I'm discovering most of my arguments, my disagreements with people, they're brought on when I allow myself to get consumed with myself. I think that makes sense, I hope it does, it's one of those things that sounds good in your head and I'm starting to trail off here. Let's just say when I'm more concerned about the affairs of steph, I become defensive and unpleasant to be around. Yeah basically I can be a brat.
But grace, grace comes in in and works on our hearts, molding the me me me, into the You You You. The Lord has begun a time of preparation for my little family, a season of preparation for an upcoming mission The Lord has asked us to be a part of. Already He has been more than faithful to reveal our weak areas, and show His strength to sustain us. Humility can be an unpleasant word, it doesn't fit in with this fallen world. But so often in scripture we are told how blessed are the humble in spirit, that The Lord sustains them, forgives them, and delights in them. Let us all be strong enough to kneel and bow before the most humble of Kings.

(On a side note I wrote this post on my phone, so if my phone has once again decided to copy and paste a text to this post I apologize, my iPhone has no humility)

My phone misbehaved

I should not blog on my phone. Why? Because my phone will randomly copy and paste a text about my son's atrocious bug bite right in the middle of my post! Sorry bout that y'all! Thankfully we got that all taken care of!

A Rock and Instagram

So I've been off Instagram now for over a month, over a month people!  Let's say The Lord had to do a lot of convicting and working in my heart to cast out and "amputate" if you will  some things (social media) I'd let get  too strong of a hold on my heart. But  in the past month the Lord's taught me to rely and trust in His genuine design for my life. That people can say and be and do anything they can imagine on social media, and it can not be true in real life. So I shouldn't get sooo entangled in that. There are many honest and inspiring. People out there, each unique, each created in His image. I've  missed seeing little snippets of that. The Lord has said "you're ready" I'd just like as much faith in  that as He has. No more comparing, no more anxiety over how many likes I have on a picture or whaDoc said most likely a bug bite or zit that got infected so giving him an antibiotic. Says could be chicken pox but highly unlikely t that person thinks of me . Time to  put my big girl pants on and grow. No more being stuck between a rock and Instagram, time to treacherous out, time to trust. 

Inspire Us

Fall is here!

Even though it is still a little warm (it is Georgia after all) it is October which means it is fall time! I love this season for so many reasons. A main reason is because this season is my husband's jams right here. He always gets in a real holidayish festivey mood ( I just created some new words voila!) and if it was socially acceptable I think he would run out in the backyard each morning and dance in the fallen leaves. Seriously.

Honestly I wish I was more computer and camera savvy so I could upload some pretty adorable pics of my posse at the pumpkin patch, but alas I am still learning how to use our new laptop so as soon as my brain starts working again I will upload some! Plus I also have a beautiful photographer friend who will be taking some family pics next month and she always makes us look good, seriously there are never any pictures she takes which I dont like, she is that good! So I will upload some of them as well!

I have got a lot of things planned for this little space of mine! Hopefully a personally designed space and many diy projects coming soon!

I have been so inspired lately of the uniqueness of each individual. The Lord really is the ultimate designer, He created each of us with a different set of skills, likes and dislikes, and style. And I have been so inspired by all of this lately and embracing my own style and appreciating my Maker. So like I said, pics, tutorials, and more coming your way! Now I am off to down my second cup o joe! Adios!