Just passing through...And letting the joy in!

I have had a lot of accomplished tasks these past couple of weeks and now I want to share them. I just want to warn you that this will be a long post.
I was reading the bible gateway verse of the day Ephesians 1:9-10

“he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.”

Life is often a mystery, politics a definite mystery, Hollywood HUGE mystery, what we will look like when we get older, a mystery I am not sure I am ready to handle, and  so much more in our everyday life is mystery but the only thing that isn't a mystery is Our Savior Jesus Christ, the salvation he gave to us sinners and the assurance of a wonderful place called heaven! Romans 10:9 If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. Romans 10:13 Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

With all that this year has brought into my life I often wonder when the day of unity will come. But I have also begun to learn that while I am here I must make the most of my time to fill it with as much joy as I can. I am learning to find it again. I had written in one of my first posts of things I wanted to do. Things that would bring me joy again, to feel 'normal' in lamens terms but maybe not human terms!!

Last night I got to spend a special night with one of my closest and hands down a fabulous friend, mother, Christian, and wife, Britney. We were able to attend the annual Women's Radiance dinner that kicks off the Christmas season or actually, a season of giving and thankfullness. The program this year was called "The Heart of Heaven." It was spectacular, the food was awesome and our guest speaker, Donna Otto was full of humor with a very special story of her life. I feel very priveledged to have been among such amazing women. Today I am utterly thankful for having my wonderful friend of 13 years in my life. We went to high school together, college, and are now in the role of motherhood together. I wanted to let you know what a blessing she has been in my spiritual walk with Christ. She is the reason that I wanted to seek him and know him more. I saw her relationship and faith in him and I wanted it to. So thank you Brit for being you.

I can't say too much more about today's verse because if you are a believer you will long for this day, you will study this day, and you will know of it's importance to the Christian faith. And not only to faith but to God's plan and how it started to take shape this season, with the birth of Jesus! Thanking God for what he has done and will do for us is a gratitude of unimagineable proportions, we cannot even come close to thanking him enough, praising him for his plans, and for all things that this world will never provide. He is our sole provider, it is only with him and through him that our plans occur and the life he has chosen for us to live is all because of a bigger, more divine plan that we cannot see. It is often times frustrating when we do not see the reasons for things that happen in our life, especially the bad things but with faith we know that we will soon pass through our temporary life and onto a greater eternity.

These things below are some that I am thankful to be bringing the joy back into my life, lifting the fog a little and seeing the light in the dark.

I got the idea for the button tree artwork from Inspiring Creations http://lindseyscraftlist.blogspot.com/2010/10/button-tree-artwork.html. I changed a few of her things I bought the frames for $4.99 at Michael's and they are super cute, I used cardstock instead of painting and I added the girls names to each. I think they turned out pretty darn cute!

The paper flowers on the wall I got from a template off of billiemonster printables at http://www.billiemonster.com/blog/article/monster-printables-paper-wallflowers-make-me-happy but I added some butterfly's I printed offline too. These were a little time consuming in tracing and cutting but the finished product was worth it. And instead of gluing thumbtacks to the back, I found some really cute (well my husband did, so I will give him the credit) one's and put them through the front of them into the wall. It added another little decorative touch!

I also finally finished Ava's circle skirt. Tutorial from http://www.dana-made-it.com/2008/07/tutorial-circle-skirt.html  Took me a while since I am new at sewing and have to fit it into small time frames but I was proud of finishing it. And Ava loves it, as you can see her modeling it for us above! What a mess she is but her little booty makes me laugh!

Here are some Halloween pics that I haven't posted either! Hope you enjoyed the little things that have brought joy in my life and a sense of accomplishment.

 My beautiful Butterfly Ava!!

 Yep, she's a mess, a total mess!! My little Cowgirl Zoe!

My girls are where my joy truly comes from. The gift God gave me in raising them up, I will forever be grateful for that spectacular blessing that only God could supply!  

With Love,