One Project Down...365 left to go!

That sounds a bit ridiculous but really I do tend to have a lot of projects going at once. I start on one and move on to another before I finish the next.

With that said I am determined to get through my 'crafty' projects before I continue new ones.
Current projects...
1. Adley's newborn pics ready and up (these are finally done!)
2. My jean quilt (that I started in highschool). The fun of this one is that since I've waited to make it, it will work for our bed and I've incorporated some of Jason's old jeans too. (Pics to come on this one)
3. The ongoing scrapbook. I finally got enough free prints from Shutterfly (have I mentioned I love their service???)  to get more pics for Adley's scrapbook and finish the pregnancy pages I started. This was a newfound hobby (around our engagement) and I love it. I love creating memories and then having a cute way to display them. I don't want to go crazy or spend tons of money so I do little scrapbooks.

Future Projects
1. Family portraits...I have one picture already developed and I a few I want to add...I'm working on slowly decorating my home the way I want it. I want to have a wall dedicated to family photos (just like old people...I love it).
2. Paintings...I'm horrible at this...so I may have to ask a friend to have pity on me...but I want to get some scripture and meaningful quotes up on my walls!
3. Don't worry I won't continue to bore you...but I do have more ideas.

Onward to Adley's finished picture project! Did I mention I only spent $16 on the frames, paint, and brushes!
(I know at least the grandma's will be interested)
*Note: Artist friends I recognize I am not talented in this area...just cheap...thank you*

 The above is the collection that will be above Adley's little crib! I was going for the distressed/antiqued look.

 The big one...The frame was 1.50 at Goodwill (thanks to Hannah for the tip!). (I painted it to have an old wood look.)

 I framed Adley's birth announcement. This frame was .99 at Goodwill. I painted it to have a distressed/antique look.

I finished these three little guys.

So excited for my husband to hang them tomorrow!

Lastly...
Maybe I'm crazy...but if you read this...I have a question.
Have you ever felt like Satan was specifically tempting you in a specific area?
Let me clarify...
Have you ever felt like you have felt his presence during a hard time?
The reason I'm asking is that my husband looks at me like I'm crazy when I mention that I can tell Satan is trying to get to me. Sometimes I feel him or one of his demons bearing down on me, finding that one weakness and digging in.
Am I crazy?
I am so grateful to my parents for such a wonderful spiritual upbringing because even when Satan is trying his best to lead me astray I know that it is him and I know that letting him win is sin and not eternal life.
He may sway my heart for a minute, but the steady faith of a 20 something lifetime allows me to fall back on my first love, God.

Have a wonderful night!

Echo...echo...echo

Lame title I know, but I couldn't resist.

Found this super neat little website today...

http://www.echoprayer.com/front/welcome.php

they will send you email reminders and text messages so that you remember to pray! You can also journal about answered prayers. How awesome is that?!? I love it. I am horrible at remembering to pray at certain times and this totally helps!

This evening I set a reminder for a prayer to come to my phone at 10pm. At 10pm they sent a random prayer from my prayer list to my phone...and I therefore stopped for a moment and prayed (for my parents house to sell quickly!).
SO TOTALLY AWESOME.
You can set reminders for specific prayers or let them come randomly. They can come to your email address or in a text to your phone. I am super excited to expand my prayer life using modern technology.
Thanks goes to Cornerstone Community church for posting this website on their website! I was listening to Francis Chan sermons and ran across this! I would love to hear if any of you try it out!

(Little plug for Francis Chan...although I'm sure he doesn't want the glory...if you want some motivating sermons...look him up on the Cornerstone Community Church website or on youtube. He has some good things to say...from a really good book, the Bible.)

Lastly...only four months after Adley was born I am finally working on getting her professional newborn pictures up on the wall. Thanks to a tip from a fellow blogger (Hannah) I bought all of my frames used at GoodWill and I am spending WAY less to make everything myself. Way less as in I only spent $16 on everything to frame my pics! Getting it done otherwise would have cost over $50! (Only issue here is...I'm not that creative...so bear with my 'designs'.)

 Some lyrics from JJ Heller's song 'When I'm With You'. I sing this song to Adley! I'm not the best artist, but I figure she will just need to learn to appreciate the thought behind the horrible paint job! :)
'i could never count all the ways you change me baby everyday the sky is a deeper shade of blue....when i'm with you.'

 The collection of frames, paint, photos and brushes!

 One frame finished!

 Adley is not impressed.

Other words to JJ Heller's song...it is super cute! (The words to the song I mean...not my painting job.)
'when i see you and you're smilin', how my heart aches so full it is about to break, you make me believe in love...'

btw mother...those yukon gold new potatoes are amazing. thank you for buying them and leaving them at my house. you are welcome to do that anytime. ;)

Fire and Balance Beam (Because it couldn't wait!)

Fire...

Two things about fire...

One.
Fire has been on my mind because recently a family from church lost their house to an electrical fire. The wife was going through the few family photos they have left. This left me to a lot of thinking about what would happen if we had a fire.
Okay. I know the obvious. We would move on and be grateful we were all alive. God is God. But my feeble mind goes back to my earthly possessions. And it is no wonder with the amount our photographer charged us for Adley's newborn pics. Anyways...I was thinking how sad it would be to lose years of memories via pictures and clothing and such. How horrible of me!
Fire can be a cleansing. A chance to start anew, and not to mention that our earthly possessions mean absolutely nothing. While the fire was unfortunate it allowed me to reach out to people at church and grow closer to God.
Here's my challenge for you...find all the verses you can about fire...read their context...how can you apply it? I did look up some fire verses and it was a great time of prayer and bible reading.

Two.
They keep you warm.

(Don't worry there are pictures to follow...) But I had to get you this link first!

Francis Chan's example of the balance beam. If you are behind the times like me and haven't seen this...it is totally worth the watch. Let it challenge your life and make you stop and think about how you could be making your life more risky for God.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LA_uwWPE6lQ

Here are some recent pics...(soon to come are some pics of my newest artsy project!)

 Aunt Annalisa came to visit! She is leaving for Japan in April for one year to teach English. She came and played with Adley and helped put her to bed! We are praying over her departure and year in Japan!

Adley's first snow! She was not happy getting dressed warm, but she loves the cold.