he's got the whole world in his hands

"Praise the Lord. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise Him. The Lord builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the exiles of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars and calls them each  by name. Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit. The Lord sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground. Sing to the Lord with grateful praise; make music to our God on the harp. He covers the sky with clouds; he supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills. He provides food for the cattle and for the young ravens when they call. His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the power of human legs; the Lord delights in those who fear Him, who put their hope in His unfailing love"

psalm 147:1-11

facelift

we've been in our humble abode for approximately four years and i'm just realizing how many walls were tan, brown, beige, BORING. i guess four years ago that was a safe color for me. i often found myself saying "tan goes with anything and it's neutral so you can change decorations without having to paint" hah, i laugh in the face of that. i think i've morphed into a color person suddenly and i'm running with the idea. i am on a mission people, a real mission. i'm de-browning our entire house. no more blah. no more boring. time to do the colors i love and appreciate because you only live once and you might as well make your house a haven. who cares if others don't particularly like the colors you choose. after all, it's your home. do what you love. and btw matchy-matchy is so not in. and birds are.

project #1 complete. cover those previously stark white walls with whale gray. oh yes and spruce up the shelving decor. i am in the process of creating a framed chalk board to hang on the opposite wall as well. good thing my mother in law is good with a sewing machine because she's helping me make it extra cute with some fabric. doesn't it just look like spring flew in and kissed those shelves? i love it.

when words hurt

i'm as guilty as anyone when it comes to saying things about others that is less than nice. i'm ashamed to admit i've also been the guilty bystander that did just as much damage by not standing up for someone and simply remaining quiet while others bash. i think i had forgotten just how much weight ill spoken words carry. that was until i recently found myself on the opposite side of one of those conversations.

the ill spoken words were spoken about me. behind my back.

the pain was real.

real enough to bring me to tears.

the hurt was deep.

what exactly was said really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. what does matter is that i feel we as women need a wake up call regarding how we treat eachother. women.can.be.cruel. remember i'm speaking these words just as much to myself as i am to anyone who is kind enough to take the time to read this.

after my initial reaction of tears and feelings of betrayal came some anger. i wanted to defend myself. i wanted to tell those people exactly where to shove it. i wanted to point out there shortcomings, weaknesses, and how un-christian like they were acting. instead i found myself praying and thank God the holy spirit pushed through on my behalf and suddenly this verse was swimming around in my head.

do not repay evil for evil. be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. romans 12:17

suddenly i found my thoughts fastforwarding to that day that someone is mean to gavin. the day someone calls him stupid or he's picked last for the team. the day he comes home from school with a crushed spirit all because of something someone said or did to him. even typing and imagining that day brings real raw pain to my own heart. i know for a fact i will have to quiet the inner mamma bear that is raging through my veins because i'm going to want to let whoever hurt my precious son have it. plain and simple. repaying evil for evil never wins though. it's simply a defense mechanism that fails and only feeds the fire on the mean cycle. it's about as therapeutic as a bandaid is to stage 4 systemic cancer.

what if instead of reacting with anger we reacted with forgiveness? what if we really examined the plank in our own eye before pointing out the speck in anothers? how different would this world look? what if even when we are mad as hell at a specific person (even for a very legitimate reason) we took the time to remember that they (yes even that person) was created in God's very own image and to dishonor them is actually to dishonor the very God we serve?

all of that instead of anger.

i want to be the type of mother God intended me to be especially in the hard situations. i want to portray that forgiveness and patience will get you so much farther in life than repaying evil for evil. how i react and treat others despite how they've treated me will speak volumes. how can i expect gavin to know how to display forgiveness instead of anger if i myself fail to display those very qualities? believe it or not actions really do speak louder than words and your little kids sponges are listening and absorbing more than you think.  

have you ever complimented someone, i mean really complimented them and then watched their response? it is one of my favorite things to do. i love to look for the good in others and tell them what i've found. i love to encourage people as well, i feel it's one of my spiritual gifts. we as humans are so empowered by kind words. the best part about kind words is that they're highly contagious and they keep paying it forward again and again.

the flip side of that coin is how detrimental to a person's spirit mean words are. my heart still aches and i find myself having some doubts about "what if what they said really is true?"  my prayer for you (and myself) is that the next time we're in a mean conversation we have the courage to stand up and stop it right then and there. and remember if you find yourself on the other end of hurtful words you truly have a choice. you can choose between anger or forgivness.

i choose forgiveness.

because

nothing shouts easter quite like a seersucker bowtie and matching tennies...

we hope you have a tweet easter

alleluia He is Risen

{photos courtesy of the very talented aunt alissa}

grandpa wes

bye-bye

formula & bottles.

it's official. gavin is 100% weaned from his baa-baa and is on all whole milk at 13 months old.

the coversation yesterday went something like this

tina - i need to do this now while i'm feeling strong and not like i'm going to cry boxing up the ten dr brown bottles we've never been without for the past almost thirteen months

brady - seriously? just remember how much of a pain they were to hand wash and then be thankful

tina - good point. good bye pain-in-the-butt-to-wash-bottles. i wish i could say i won't miss you but i'd be lying.

now we are on to big boy sippy's and real milk. does this mean the little is no longer technically a baby? excuse me while i go hunt (harder than i ever have) for that elusive pause button. it has to be around here somewhere...

crafternoonday

i spent saturday the way saturday's should be spent, crafting handmade cards with two of my favorite people, my mom and sister. the day was (happily) not filled with cleaning, cooking, or laundry. it was a spur of the moment invitation to "come on over to my house and bring all your card making stuff" we spent a solid 7 hrs crafting. once we got our assembly line going, we were unstoppable. we designed, cut, punched, stamped, tied, and completed around 30 cards.

did i mention the above was done while taking care of two one year olds? we also fit a park-dinner play-date in the mix as well. can i just say that we as all women are incredible when it comes to multitasking?

workstation headquarters

{have you ever seen a bigger mess?}

can i add that it was a big, fat, beautiful, organized, welcome mess.

the fruits of our labor

(or just the favorites)

we're planning on making this an every month occurence because you have to cherish the heck out of the people you love which means making time for them because they are important, beautiful, and worth loving. and because we share a common interest to craft cards :)