I'm done for the week. THANK GOODNESS!
Stuff doesn't look all that great, I don't know if it will all still be up on Sunday, and I still have about 143 things left to do, but I did my best and everything else can just wait until next week.
Not sure if I feel thankful today or not...a little numb from the busy-ness of it all to feel much of anything! All I know is that I might have enough time to do all the things I need to do before Sunday...it's just too bad that I'm supposed to be done working until Tuesday already!
However, I still have time to be thankful for:
1. Friends. Jeni invited me over for lunch today and Mandi and Leah were there with all the kiddos! I don't think I was the best company because I was so tired but it was still wonderful! Plus Kaitlin came and helped me out a ton yesterday at work! I have the best friends in the world!
2. Planning ahead, even if I didn't mean to. I worked Monday so I could have Friday off this week. Good thing because if I didn't have tomorrow and Saturday to finish everything up I would be so much worse off than I am!
3. My husband. He came and helped today and offered to help out tomorrow. YAY!
4. Sleeping in. Yes I'm going to sleep in tomorrow morning. I don't care if I have to work late to finish up.
5. The end is near. Uh. Maybe.
Great is Your faithfulness oh God
You wrestle with the sinner's heart
You lead us by still waters in to mercy
And nothing can keep us apart
So remember Your people
Remember Your children
Remember Your promise
Oh God
Your grace is enough
Your grace is enough
Your grace is enough for me
Great is Your love and justice God
You use the weak to lead the strong
You lead us in the song of Your salvation
And all Your people sing along
So remember Your people
Remember Your children
Remember Your promise
Oh God
Your grace is enough
Your grace is enough
Your grace is enough for me [x2]
So remember Your people
Remember Your children
Remember Your promise
Oh God
Your grace is enough
Your grace is enough
Your grace is enough for me
Your grace is enough
Heaven reaching down to us
Your grace is enough for me
God I see your grace is enough
I'm covered in your love
Your grace is enough for me
For me
This song really hit me on Sunday when we sang it. I was standing there singing "Your grace is enough..." and thinking to myself "is it really?"
I don't handle stress well. I've been easily upset and not the best wife for the past few weeks. There are things I want but I don't have. Am I living as if God's grace is enough for me?
I'm 28 years old, my husband is 35. We don't own a house. We don't have children (I've been off birth control for 2 years and we really haven't used any sort of anything for a year and a half...you would think something would have happened by now. My doctor things it's strange too and we're going to start testing soon, ugh). My husband is just starting college again next week.
What if we can't have kids? Is God's grace enough for me?
What if we never own a house? Will God's grace still be enough?
What if the economy is still bad when Ian gets out of school and he still can't find a job? Will I still be able to rest knowing that God's grace is sufficient?
I know it is in my heart, but my head doesn't always think so. I worry. I get discouraged. I am working on it though. I'm trying to give all these things to God and to know if things on earth don't work out like I want them to that I will hold onto the joy of knowing that God and His love, His grace and His blessings are enough.
Maybe someday I'll be able to wrap my head around that.
Shnikies it's Thursday! I've never spelled Shnikies before, so if I spelled it wrong please forgive me! It took me 2 or 3 attempts before I found a spelling I liked.
Anyways, weeks are FLYING by! VBS is almost here, the Nehemiah Project at church is already started and the...you know the thing like a Ministry Fair but it can't be one of those because we promised never to have one again...yeah that thing (Jamie called it the M-F word, and I requested he not use that to describe it anymore and if you don't get it, don't ask I won't explain it to you)...is not this Sunday but the one after. I had one baby shower done last Sunday and another one coming up October 3rd, plus a trip to Seattle for a Mariners game....and OH MY GOODNESS! There is just so much going on!
Oh and MOPS is starting up this week.
And there's a big red bar right under my title that says ERROR. What's up with that?
You know what's good though?
1. Coffee. I know I say this a lot, but Kaitlin bought me one yesterday because Jamie told her I was stressed out (which I am) and then Ian bought me one too, so I drank way too much of it and was jittery for the rest of the day. Whee! I'm still thankful for it.
2. Successful baby showers. I guess the success isn't really mine since I'm not having the baby...I mean that's the POINT of the shower and I had nothing to do with it, but the party went well and check a previous post for pictures!
3. Projects. I'm excited to get to work on my end table. I just have to figure out what color I want it to be. Yes it's getting PAINTED!
4. Cookies. I made some. They are good.
5. Blogs to vent out my frustrations. I might have exploded today if I didn't have this outlet! You all are wonderful!
6. Ian's car is fixed. Ok not fixed. The mechanic couldn't figure out what was causing the problems with it, but it stopped doing the bad things it was doing. My theory: God healed Ian's car.
7. Jill not having cancer. It was scary to think about it, so I'm glad for early detection and the fact that she's going to be ok!
8. Hope. Things might not calm down next week. They might not calm down the week after that. They might not calm down for the rest of my life. Heaven will be nice.
9. A flexible schedule. When I come home at 10 after being at work 14 hours too wound up to sleep and then crash at 12:30 a.m. it's nice to be able to sleep in an extra 1/2 hour in the morning before I go to work. No one minds too much if I show up late.
10. Lunch meetings. I don't have to pay. :)
Edit: I believe now that it is spelled "Schnike"....fun fact of the day.
We've been needing an end table in our living room and we wanted one with some storage to hide some of our junk (maybe shoes....we haven't decided yet. So when I found this little night stand at Rich's Junk Shop (I don't know the actual name, but it's a junk shop and the guy's name is Rich) I picked it up. Yes it's damaged and old looking now, but just you wait until I'm done with this little beauty!
What am I going to do with this part? I haven't decided yet, but I'm sure it will be cute when it's done!!
And it was only $12.50.
I might get new hardware for it too....but that decision will come later!
Kitty approves.
Susan's baby shower went great! We had about 34 ladies come and Susan went home with an overflowing car load of stuff (as is normal for baby showers at southside!). I took some pictures before everyone arrived of the cupcake table.
The baby's name is Tymon (sounds like Simon).
Little birds nest cupcakes!
Mmmm... M&Ms Premiums! They were perfect little "eggs" for my nests!
The cupcakes turned out wonderful...I might have to make some of those again soon! I got the idea from Martha Stewart, but I didn't like her little frosting birds, so I used M&Ms (Jordan Almonds would work too!).
One baby shower down, one to go!
The CT scan results came back and the cancer had not spread anywhere else! Yay for early detection!!!
The Lord is no less wonderful regardless of the results of the scan, but we are VERY thankful that He answered our prayers this way!
I'd better hurry if I'm going to get this done on Thursday...and the cat is trying to lick my ear while I'm typing! Shoo!
Ok that's better.
I didn't post a Thanks Tank last week because I was in Seattle (again). We had a lovely trip and I really need to post pictures on here and our hotel was fantastic!
So I suppose that is Thanks #1
1. A wonderful trip with my hubby to Seattle. The Seahawks won. Raiders lost. All is good (too bad hubby is a Raiders fan!).
2. H.O.M.E. Groups starting up again. I missed getting together with everyone. It's kinda hard to get myself out of the house sometimes in the evenings, but it is always fun once we get there! We had a good discussion about the sermon this week and how we all tend to have a little Jonah in us.
3. Completing projects. It seems like when I finish one project I get 3 more things I need to get done, but I really need to keep in mind that I am completing things. I can't let myself get overwhelmed with "need to do" but focus on "done!"
4. Jill's surgery going well. We don't know if there is any cancer anywhere else, but for now we are holding onto the good news that they were able to clear out the area where they found the spot.
5. Ian wanted me to add that he's thankful that he got to see a Raiders game for the first time ever!
6. Coffee. I need some.
I got a new update on my cousin from Aunt Connie:
"Jill went back to the surgeon after it was determined that there were still cancer cells in the tissue surrounding the area where the mole was removed. The Doctor made an incision about 3 inches long and he dug deep, deep, deep. They are sure they got it all.
Next, Jill will contact the oncologist and set up an appt. for a CT scan to make sure there is no more cancer in her body.
Thank you for keeping her in prayer....I will send an e-mail when there is anything new to report. Good night, sweet dreams.
Love, Connie"
We would still appreciate prayers for Jill and the family, and as soon as I hear anything about the CT scan I'll post that too.
P.S. 09/09/09? Yeah that's pretty cool.
I received this cute little plaque from my brother a while ago, and while I love it (because prayer DOES change things!!!!), I hated the placement. Ian thought he would hang it from some screws sticking out of a crack in the wall (I really don't know why they're there or why hanging something from it would make it less noticeable).
Ignore my messy counter (mmmm taco bell) and robed hubby in the picture :) It's just too small for that part of the wall! It makes it look so small and sad, and I'm not ok with that!
So the first thing I did was find a new home for the "Prayer Changes Things" plaque. Right above our family photos does just fine for me! I need 2 more little pictures for the last 2 squares.
Oh we have this cute little bird candle holder and a little vase thing that Ian made when he was a kid. I'm always looking for thumb tacks so I moved the tacks into the vase. Do you think I'll remember where I put them when I need a tack again?
Yep, right there. Some finishing nails too. Never know when you need one of those. Yes it's dusty. I'll take care of that. Someday.
Doesn't this little bird have the cutest little face? I think my mom gave it to me, and I love it! He's great with fall decor because of his color, but he's so cute I keep him out almost all year long!
I took some shells and threw them in a bowl that my mother in law gave me. There's a pack of shells at Walmart for $10 that I'm going to grab to fill this one up the rest of the way and the other bowl on the other side of my piano.
I bought a bunch of these little birdies..I want to paint them white, but the glass candle holder is STUCK in with strong glue. I'll need to figure out how to unstick them before I can paint the little birdies. If anyone knows how to get glue off a glass candle holder when you can't really reach it because it's inside a ceramic (?) bird....let me know!
So I moved the frames off our mantel and put up some dishes that match the bowls of shells on the piano. I want to get some starfish or big clam shells and stick them on the plates. And I want to add some barn stars painted white or green there too! Eventually I'll have some more things to add some height and make it less symmetrical and more interesting!
So I took the white framed pictures from our mantel (plus one) and painted them green (almost the color of that couch I liked) so they would stand out from the wall a bit more, and had my hubby hang them on the wall above the opening to our kitchen. They're not aligned in the middle of the hole, but that's ok, we're a little off-kilter anyway! Yes I was cooking dirty rice for dinner, yes the drill is posing for the picture and yes that's a big box of ramen.
Completely unrelated to anything, I put this plastic container of water out for our cat when it was super hot. He wasn't able to walk very far because he just melted after about 2 steps. Now this is his favorite place to drink. I want to take it away, but I feel bad because I like him drinking water, especially when it's so hot!
