Sunny Chair Makeover

Spring is here. The sun is shining more days than not which means my kids are giggling in the back yard and squealing with delight as they find mounds of roly-polies.

But it also means.....it's time to get the spray paint out!

Spring brings new life to everything around us outside...

 

...so why not bring some new life inside too! Bring on the sunshine and I'll bring on the spray paint!

 Years ago, my mother in law scored these super cool vintage chairs for us at a yard sale. I loved them right away and restored them with some black spray paint on the seat and some chrome paint on the legs.
These chairs have gotten A LOT of use and have been moved around to various rooms in our house over the years.
This one has been on our front porch for a while now. I have wanted to move it in and when we changed up the porch recently, I decided to give this ole beauty a much needed makeover and a new home.

My husband painted this large sun piece when were dating. It has been hanging in our bedroom and I have wanted to incorporate more orange in our space in other places too.
The chair was the perfect opportunity!

 I really love how it turned out! It instantly makes me happy when I walk in our bedroom and see that sunny orange chair.

A friend of mine gave me this wooden magazine rack a while back. It has been sitting in my closet begging for a makeover ever since.
I knew I wanted it to have more of a distressed look but honestly, I was really excited about adding my little reading corner to our bedroom and I didn't want to wait!

So, I grabbed my white paint and a damp washcloth and went to town!
I used this same technique on a wall cabinet in our bathroom a few years back. It is easy, fast and I personally, love the look it gives.

New life for this old piece and a new home for all of my new and inspiring books!

What Spring makeovers do you have planned?
-Jenny

More To Learning Than Reading, Writing, & Arithmetic

So, I promise that we will get back to sharing fun DiY projects with you soon, but this season of life has been more about rest and learning (and stretching).  ;) While we are always learning, I feel like this season of needing more rest is finally nearing an end with a much busier, exciting season ahead.

I am very blessed to be able to stay home with my four children. We homeschool. Right now, I have two in school; in the fall, I will have three in school.
To say that it has it's challenges is on some days, a big understatement. However, even on the most challenging of days, there is still no where else I would rather be than here, in our home, teaching my children and learning with them.

One of the hardest parts of our school is honestly me. That fact is a really hard one to swallow and even harder to admit but it's true.

Some days, my patience is far less than it should be; some days, it is hard to find. Some days, I simply don't feel like doing it and am tired. And most days, I feel inadequate; questioning whether they are getting it or not; questioning whether I have done enough. I want learning to be fun for them. I often don't feel like it is fun for them.

I want them to be given every tool and opportunity to learn and be successful.

As much as I dislike this and I mean, REALLY dislike this, I sometimes find myself comparing what my kids know to others kids their age. That becomes one more thing to make me feel more pressure and a bit a doubt. It also makes me put more unnecessary pressure on them, whether I realize I am doing it or not.

Here's the deal. I think most every mother, whether stay at home mother, working mother, or homeschooling mother, questions her abilities often, if not daily sometimes.
As for me, I am tired of these questions.

I was talking with a sweet friend of mine on the phone recently. She also teaches her children at home. We were sharing various things about this and she said to me, "Ya know Jen, there is so much more to learning than reading, writing, and arithmetic."
I know this, but man oh man, did I need to be reminded!
And I thought, "YES! Yes, there is. You are so right!"

This simple statement reminded me of the many reasons why our hearts were for homeschooling in the first place.

We want our children to learn so much more than simply reading, writing, and arithmetic. These are wonderful things and they are so blessed to have the opportunity to learn these things.
However, our hearts are for them to learn so much more; to learn about the Lord Jesus Christ, to learn His word giving them a firm foundation in this life, to learn what it means and looks like to love people, to learn what it means to be apart of a family, to learn how to care for a family, how to care for a house.....all of the practical things that they need to know to live in this world.

I want my little girl to learn what it means to be a godly wife and a mother and how to practically carry out these things in caring for her husband and children one day. I want her to learn how to be a lady and not just a lady, but a lady after God's very heart.

I want my boys to have time to explore nature as little boys should. I want them to learn what it means to be a godly husband and father and how to do so in practically ways that glorify the Lord and provide for their families.

I want my children to be free to learn and not be subject to any labels that someone else may give them.
Each one of my children are very different from one another. They like different things. And they definitely learn in different ways. I get to be here and learn the best way to teach them individually!

I want them to be free to be children throughout their childhood and not pressured into growing up too fast.
They are only little for so long and it is such a short time that goes by all too fast. I want them to be given the gift of being a child.

These are just a few of our reasons for our family.

The reading, writing, and arithmetic will come. It will click with each child when that particular child is ready. One day, they will just get it. Until then, what's the hurry?

Why waste another second of life worrying about when they will get it or the "what if's"? Why not just teach them what they need to know, enjoy that precious time that you get to literally watch them learn and grow, and trust that God will do the rest?

Ah......it feels good to lay the "what-if's" down and trust.

It's almost as if that is the way it is supposed to be! ;)

Enjoy right now, today....there will never be another day just like this one.
-Jenny

Growing Pains-They Hurt So Good!

How's that for a title? Hang with me for few minutes.

Let's talk about life a little.
Being a parent is super challenging, and super emotional, and super exhausting at times. But it is also super AWESOME, super rewarding, and super humbling.

It is the hardest job I have ever been given the privilege of doing. To be honest, I never thought it would be this hard before I had children. I had a bit of an unrealistic picture of how things would be. But if reality matched what I had envisioned then I would be missing out on all sorts of lessons, growth, and blessings.

Being stretched is hard and when you need the stretching, it hurts. But just like when I sit on the floor and stretch my tired legs out in front of me, touching my fingers to my toes; the first thing I feel is a bit of pain but very soon, the more I stretch, that pain turns into relief. And after stretching my body this way daily for a while, the pain begins to fade and go away until I introduce new stretches. The result is a healthier and stronger body.

Growth does not happen without pain. Ask my oldest son whose legs hurt from time to time from what we all know and call "growing pains." But guess what? When he has these pains, we stretch his legs to relieve the pain.

Our heart and our spirit are stretched in the same way. Without this stretching, we do not grow. Without the presence of growth, there is no life.
The result of this growth: strength; deeper roots of faith and trust in the One who is stretching us; a heart and spirit that is strong enough to stand when life is shaky.

How are we stretched in this way? How can we grow?

Let me ask this question: Is it important to know the right ways to stretch your physical body? Do we need that knowledge first before gear up and begin stretching? Without the right knowledge, can we actually cause our bodies harm? So we need to ask someone who has knowledge of the physical body and stretching? We need to find a good source for this information.
YES!

In the same way, before our hearts and spirits are stretched, resulting in growth and life, we must know the source in which to learn and gain the right knowledge from. The source of ALL life. The One who knows ALL and created ALL.
See where I am going with this?

Without the stretching, we are left stiff, hard, and in pain.
With the stretching, we will experience some pain but the pain is temporary and is followed by relief, growth, and life. We are not left in that pain.

I have noticed that I have been in a season of being stretched. It hurts because often when I am stretched, it is through trials and through seeing the ugliness of my sin. But rather than this season being temporary, it has seemingly been quite lengthy. I have wondered why at times. I have asked why at times.

And yesterday, I got my answer. I realized that I have not been going to the source as often I as need. I have been running through life, regardless of the growing pains, because life keeps going so I must keep going...right?

Life does keep going, but if I keep running through it when my body and my spirit are screaming "STOP" then it will ultimately result in pain. And if I don't go to the One who can ease my pain, well then, my pain might last a bit longer.

We often think that we are too busy to stop and sit at His feet. But truthfully, if we are too busy for that, then we are in fact, too busy.
As I said earlier, where this is growth, there is life. I want life. And I want it abundantly. This is what God has offered for those who repent, believe, and follow Him. Abundant life.

"The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." John 10:10

You see, if we don't stop to sit at His feet, to nourish and replenish our souls, it is much like a runner that though he is tired, thirsty and hungry, he just keeps running. His lips are parched and his body aches from hunger and exhaustion, but he does not stop. How long do you think he will make it?
Not long.

Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst."  John 6:35

My heart has been weary which has resulted in my body being tired. I have tried to carry the weight of so much and so many under the umbrella of compassion and love. While we are to bear one anothers burdens, we are not meant to carry the weight of them. We are to lay them at the feet of the One who cares for His children, the One who has already taken the weight of these burdens and sins upon Himself, the One who rose victoriously.

"Cast your burden on the Lord and He will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved." Psalm 55:22

I have tried to carry the weight of breaking hearts around me.  I have tried to play "peace-maker" all the while knowing deep down that I, in and of myself, can bring no one peace. I have worried about sick family members, lost family members, hurting friends, and all of the incredible darkness in the world that is causing hurt pain around the world. I have worried that I will fail my children as a mother and a teacher; that my sins and short comings will cause them pain and trials; that my failure to be the best teacher will harm them academically. I have had fear in my heart over things that I simply cannot control and really and truly, things that I do not even really want control over. I find myself stressing over things like the laundry, the house, what to cook for dinner, how to help this person or the next....and so on and so on and....

And I do this without really even realizing that I am doing it. It seems like such a long list to be able to do it and not know it, but I keep running alongside life.
I keep trying to be the wife God has called me to be; to encourage my husband and care for him. I keep trying to be the mother God has called me to be; caring for my four precious children, making sure everyone is fed, has clean clothes to wear, is learning what they need to learn, and then stressing over whether each one of them has had enough quality time with me...do they really know how much they are loved?  I keep running. I keep trying to be the friend that God has called me to be. I keep trying to find ways to love the many who feel unloved.

Just typing this list is exhausting.

But it's true. And do you see the phrase that is repeated throughout that last paragraph?
It is "keep trying."
Oh my....I should know this by now! I should know that every time I try to make things happen on my own, in my own strength, and even with lots of love and good intention....it is going to fail at some point and everything will eventually fall apart.

"I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing..." John 15:4

I believe so many of us do this very thing, especially women. We do it out of heart that wants to do right and succeed but our efforts are actually sinful.

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God."  Philippians 4:6

"And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest?" Luke 12:25-26

 "Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad." Proverbs 12:25

I am so thankful for the good Word that I took in yesterday. I am thankful for the Lord's grace and mercy that He continues to shower upon me when I don't deserve it.

I am thankful that He came to give life and life abundantly.

I am thankful that He does not expect me to carry the weight of the world, or even of my little life and family.

I am thankful that Jesus carried it for me on the cross.

I am thankful that the Lord has invited me to lay these things at His feet and trust Him.

I am thankful that...
"...in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore." Psalm 16:11

and I am thankful for a precious friend that God gave me to share this last verse with me just yesterday, which also makes me thankful for the Lord's perfect timing. :)

So, today, I am still feeling some of the stretching but God has allowed me to see some growth too. It's the good kind of pain.
Blessings,
-Jenny

Clothes on the Floor - Confession

This morning I woke up to a text from a friend that I was going to get to spend some time with (one who has just recently had a new baby to round her family off at 6). We hadn't discussed the details the day before but she said she was coming my way because she wanted to get out of the house. So at 8:10 (Key was sleeping in and this momma didn't mind a few extra zzzs) she says she'd like to do breakfast...at 9:30! Ok, I'll jump in the shower and see you there. I did just that. Jumped in the shower got ready, got Keylee ready, and flew out the door. She had decided to leave all the kiddos at home with her hubby and take a few minutes to relax and have breakfast with me. We had a great time talking and laughing and doing things girls do. It wasn't a ton of time, a little over an hour we got to spend together but so full and a perfect start to this lovely day.

We parted ways and Key and I ran off to run a few errands that we needed to tend to. Once we got home and I got little bit settled down for a nap I made a potty stop. Why in the world am I telling you this? Because, as I looked around my bathroom I saw an unfamiliar site, some of my clothes in a pile on the floor. WHAT? Ok, so clothes on the floor happens at our house, but my husband and I are pretty tidy folks, so we do our best to scoop them up into the laundry basket as we exit the bathroom. But, this little pile of clothes meant a little more to me than one might think. To me it means growth. I know it sounds crazy but stick with me...

I maintain a pretty tidy house. Maybe not spotless or dust free but I try to keep junk put up and stuff in its rightful place. This, at times, has been something of an issue for me. I've never been able to just swing my door open to unexpected visitors very easily. If someone happens by and the house is a mess I tend to feel uncomfortable. As though a few pieces of clothing in the floor or an unmade bed might seal my fate as the worst housekeeper ever or give that person a bit too much insight into the possibility that I'm not always perfectly organized. Ironically, I've always wanted a home that people felt comfortable in, one that someone could just swing by unannounced and grab their own cup of sweet tea from the fridge.

Today, I feel like I am one step closer to opening myself up. That a few unorganized toys, clothes, or other misc around the house is just life and maybe we had too much fun today to clean up. That the next time someone stops in unannounced I might just smile, let them in, ignore the dirty dishes or the sticky floor; sit and chat and enjoy their visit. No, I don't intend to leave my dirty clothes lying in the floor as a tool toward growth, but I do intend to relinquish the thought that that my tidy little world is worth being closed off.

So, if you are around and would like to stop in, please do. Maybe you can help me grow a little more.

Daspri

An Artful Afternoon-Crystal Bridges Museum

We are having some amazing Spring weather here the past several days. I am loving it!
Our family got to completely enjoy some of this weather over the weekend. We took a little weekend trip to visit family and also visit the Crystal Bridges Museum. I have been wanting to go and take the kids but it is quite a drive for us so it worked out perfectly for this trip.

beautiful drive...beautiful reading material (A Homemade Year)....beautiful Starbucks treat :)

This place is amazing! The architecture is breathe-taking and the beautifully manicured grounds and hiking trails are equally so.

 We had such a great time. We got to see some amazing pieces in the art gallery and had some fun on the trails...until we got lost. Yeah, seriously, that happened. We plan to go back with more comfy shoes and a picnic lunch in tow for a day of hiking.
It was pretty cool to introduce the kids to an art gallery for the first time. They got see some life size portraits of George Washington which they thought was pretty cool since they have been learning all about him in school recently.

 And then there were cool pieces like these!

 Okay, so most people's responses to this piece seemed to be along the lines of "creepy". To be honest, it is a bit creepy, but only because it is so completely amazing! The detail and work put into this piece are astonishing. I couldn't quit looking at it and then coming back to look again...in complete awe.

If you haven't been, it is worth the trip.
Hope you are enjoying this beautiful weather too!
-Jenny

Be Strong- Vintage Poem Wall Art

Little by little, I have been making some changes in the decor around our house over the last couple of months. I plan on sharing a lot of these changes with you next month.
For now, I thought I would share a simple way to spruce up your walls using vintage book pages, markers/colored pencils, and a frame. 
One of the things that I was given when my grandpa passed away many years ago was an old book of poetry that he loved. He actually wrote little notes in pen throughout the pages of this book. I love it.
And so, one day, when I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do/change in our hall bathroom, I thought of this book.

I love art that is meaningful and has a story.
I love this book of poetry so much that I thought, why not have it hanging on our wall where I can see it everyday.
(and remember the vintage girl piece that I scored at a flea market....there she is!)

I simply picked out a poem that I really liked and that spoke to me and grabbed my fine tip sharpie markers and began drawing.
I chose a simple tree outline and then later decided to add a little bit of color with some green leaves and a heart with my grandpa's initials on the tree trunk. I also added a few brushes of a tea stained color stamp pad around the edges.
I really love the poem. It inspires me throughout the week. I seem to look at it and really pay attention to it on just the right days and at just the right time.

Be Strong!
We are not here to play, to dream, to drift;
We have hard work to do and loads to lift.
Shame not the struggle, face it! Tis God's gift.

Be strong!
Say not, "the days are evil. Who's to blame?"
And fold the hands and acquiescence- oh shame!
Stand up, speak out, and bravely, in God's name.

Be strong!
It matters not how deep intrenched the wrong,
how hard the battle goes, the day how long;
Faint not; fight on! Tomorrow comes the song.

I am pretty happy with the outcome. What do you think?
-Jenny

Cute & Easy DiY Notepad/Journal

I have quite a few projects that have been swirling around in my head for a while now and I am SUPER excited to finally be feeling well enough to begin working on them!

Last week, I worked on planting some flowers, cleaning up the yard, and planting our garden. Over the weekend, I worked on a few smaller projects; the kind that only take about 15 minutes or so and do not require much brain power but simply fun and a little creativity. I love these types of DiY projects for busy days when I don't have a lot of time to tackle the big stuff but still need to do something creative.

So, here ya go!

My Baby Girl and I got to go on a date over the weekend and do a little shopping. We were on the hunt for many things, but one of them was fun, crafty things for two of my nieces.
We found some fun things, purchased a few and then made these to add to their bags of creativity!

All you need is:
-white copy paper
-cardstock
-washi tape
-stapler
-scraps of fun paper
-glue dots, photo mount squares, glue, something to hold your cut out designs in place

I took my white paper and folded in half lengthwise, then used my paper cutter (because I cannot cut a straight line to save my life!) and cut down the middle. Now that I have the size of my notepad, I can cut my card stock accordingly. I cut my card stock to be just a tad bigger than the white paper.

Once everything is cut, then all you do is fold them in half, card stock serving as the outer cover. I took my stapler and stapled (while folded close) right along the top edge of the notepad, three times across in a row.

Next, I covered those staples with some fun washi tape. Then I added more washi tape on the bottom too. You can't go wrong with more washi tape.....ever! ;)

Lastly, play around with your papers and create your chosen design.

The options are endless! You can make the notepads bigger, smaller; use different colored or patterned card stock, etc.

I think I need one for myself now! As always, once I get started on something, then "the swirlings" in my head won't stop!





Have fun!
-Jenny