Thursday, April 27, 2017

Throw Back Thursday

For those of you have Facebook, you know that it will pop up things that you posted in previous years. Well, on Tuesday of this week, the following blog post popped up on my personal feed and I re-read it. Wow, it was definitely something I needed to read again.



Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Mother's Day Giveaway!


I want to encourage all mothers to make sure they don't sacrifice themselves for their families. Sometimes, you need to take care of yourself, too!

Because mothers need to take care of themselves, too, I'm giving away a few things that help me take care of myself. Staying hydrated is a must for mothers, so a fruit infuser bottle helps make that enjoyable. A good cup of tea helps to relax. Journaling your thoughts help you clear your mind. Coloring can bring peace. And the lip balm--because it is my favorite and I wanted to share something fun!

Enter via the rafflecopter below. Prize will only be shipped within the states.


Thursday, April 20, 2017

Throw Back Thursday

I've been studying in Deuteronomy lately and this old post caught my attention again.



Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Providing Clothing

Proverbs 31:13
She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands.

After going through the clothes for this spring/summer, three of my girls were still short on pajamas. I figured I would just make some. Just a few days later, we were given some bedding which happened to have some extra queen size pillow cases that didn't match other bedding. I use them to make pillow case dresses. I made two different styles as I used what I had on hand. I then took some material and made a "pillowcase" to make a third pillowcase dress. I added some lace to the bottom to make it a little longer.

Pillowcase dress made using bias tape and elastic.

"Pillowcase" dress using material, lace, bias tape, and elastic.

Pillowcase dress used by making a casing and using ribbon ties.

For all three of these it cost me nothing but my time which was maybe an hour combined to make all of them.


Friday, April 14, 2017

Live Differently

Matthew 5:43-48 KJV
43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. 44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? 47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? 48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

God calls us to live differently from the world. We must stand out from everyone else and since God is love (1 John 4:8), showing love when the world wouldn't, definitely causes us to be different. Evil can only be overcome by love. We can change others by the love we show even when the world says we have the "right" to withhold love. May we rise to the standard God sets for us and demonstrated to us through the life of Jesus Christ.


Thursday, April 13, 2017

Throw Back Thursday

We just finished studying contentment in our Bible class. Of course, discussing contentment also means discussing lusts of the flesh which took us to James 4:1-6. The scripture also came up in a discussion at church last week. I remembered writing a blog post about it so I thought I would refresh my memory on what I wrote and also re-share it with you. I have found that when God brings something into my life in multiple ways at different times, then I better pay attention because it must be important!



Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Resist Evil

Matthew 5:38-42 KJV
38 Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: 39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. 41 And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. 42 Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.

Our human nature (and the world) says that if someone hurts us, they deserve to be hurt the same way, but christ is all about love. We are not to seek revenge, but show love. We don't strike back, we give more than what they are asking, and we don't turn away someone in need.

Is it easy to live this way?

NO!

Our fleshly desire is to say that it is our right to be angry and to fight back, but as Christians, we are called to love. We can resist evil with love.


Monday, April 10, 2017

Trying to Save Some Money

A few weeks ago, two of my children decided it would be fun to hang from our shower curtain. Guess what?! It broke and they fell. They also tore the decorative shower curtain and broke the shower rod. I'm thankful the shower liner stayed intact as I just purchased that not too long ago.

However, I had forgotten how expensive shower curtains are! We don't like using the plastic shower curtains because the smell of them always give me headaches and I like being able to throw them in the washer every now and then. When I purchased the last shower curtain, it was when we had to remodel our bathroom due to some water damage and we chose the paint color of the bathroom based on the cheapest shower curtain I could find that I liked (it was on clearance and if I remember correctly less than $10).

The shower curtain rod was the rod that came with the house when we bought it almost 20 years ago so I didn't mind that it had to be replaced, but I didn't have the money to replace it with the kind I wanted, so I had to do with what I had.

We had an old tension rod that didn't hold the tension well, but I used the brackets from the old rod to stabilize it. I found some hooks at the thrift store for only $1. I then went about making a decorative shower curtain from some upholstery fabric that had been given to me a few years ago that matched our paint. I did have to spend $4 on some ribbon to cover the seam from sewing the material together to make it big enough, but I like how it turned out by giving it a little more decoration.

So, for only $5 and about an hour of my time, we have a new shower curtain. This way, I won't feel bad about making a new one when we are able to repaint the bathroom another color.


I'm not sure why I hadn't thought about sewing my own shower curtain before. I am thankful that a post on sewing a shower curtain popped up on Pinterest one day when I was searching for something else.