Shifting seasons...shifting shadows?...

Today was an interesting day. It began to feel like fall. I love this time of year....I love wearing scarves, and coats, and gloves...the like. The one thing I don't necessarily enjoy about this time of year is that I begin to see shifting shadows of what I was previously in the past year.

I went to Africa the last week of July, and God truly rocked my world. It was so amazing to experience what we experienced there with my husband and our youth ministry. I vowed I would be changed from those weeks in Africa, but now come a month after our return, my old shadows are starting to creep on the walls again taunting me.

We saw incredible things there. We saw miracles and lives being changed. We both had courage to speak out about the love of Jesus, and his grace that so abounds in us. Yet one month later here I am, back in my routine of life, seeing the same people every day, yet without saying a word of what Jesus has done and what He could do in them. In Africa I had a realization, these children, these villages are no different from back home. They may look different, have different physical needs, but life is life, what is life without breath, nothing, what is life without hope, nothing. The same need is here as it was there.

I'm beginning to realize that I've once labeled life in order of importance, when I am not at liberty to label. Who am I that I should say they need Jesus, and they don't? I was in love with the children in Africa and knew we might be the only ones to be able to share God's love with them. But here, somehow my co-worker is different, someone else might come along. I thought these thoughts, and now the enemy is showing me shadows that I misinterpreted as a mirror. These shadows are only a mere distortion of my old self and how I used to be, but as it states in Ephesians 5:13 "Everything exposed by the light becomes visible", since I've been changed, God's light has now exposed my old self, I am now a new creation, I need new thoughts, new actions and new faith. The trouble is that the enemy will try to make us believe that the shadow is a mirror, a current representation of our present self. But we have to realize that we USED to be like that, that is the past, this is the present, who am I today who will I be tomorrow?

As the physical sun begins to fade and summer becomes a memory, let us not forget of the shadows we once were lest we forget where we came from and where we are now as the Son continues to shine in us. Africa, never leave me...

Friends, God's lil' somethin somethin...

My husband and I started our time together by resting. We took a 2.5 hour nap this afternoon, it was great, and we probably would have been able to go back to sleep! We were also able to go to our friend's house, Mike and Katie. We had a great evening with them and Shawn and Michelle. One thing that I've learned throughout the last several months is that friends really do make life more fun. We have been blessed very much with Godly friends, we'd call them our unfiltered friendships. It's neat when, with one look you can have a whole conversation, without having to say anything at all.

It makes me think about our place in life right now with out these solid relationships. We wouldn't be in this place without them. Steven and I both enjoy the fact that God has us in this place in life for a reason, and we need to embrace it as much as possible, rather than looking ahead to what else is in store for us, we can look at our TODAY and be happy with it's results.

As I call it a day, I will thank God for it, and be thankful for life in all it's abnormalities.

Strange pics of our room's process...

This is the rug I purchased at Ross, for 5.99, not bad! I love it!




Here's a shot of the bed with the new bed set. There's black sequins and embroidery along the edges. We're making a zebra print pillow and a couple turquoise pillows. Above the bed, on the blank black frames, I will be putting white rub ons that say "Mr. & Mrs." The "&" symbol will be on the wall in between them. I got the frames at Value Village for 99 cents each, it was natural wood, with an ugly painting of a flower on them, a little spray paint took care of that!

I forgot to write about this in my earlier blog. My sister and I made these "pom poms" out of tissue paper! They turned out great. Ignore the poor quality of the picture though! This picture makes our walls look yellow, rest assured, they are white!

Here are the frames with the "charms" in them. They add some class to the room. I think they look beautiful.

Here's the chair, again, the low quality picture doesn't do it justice! It also shows a good shot of the curtains. Picture black sheers in the middle.

Let the strangeness begin...

Should I start this blog off with a question? Today is the day my blogging begins. My husband is out golfing today, it ended up being an all day event. I thought it'd last for a few hours, not all day. But what can I say? I've also been occupied by re-decorating our bedroom. Well, decorating it would be better to say. We've been married for a little over 2 years, and our room has yet to have a theme. So you can imagine the excitement I had when I finally decided on a theme for it. I chose zebra print and a bright turquoise blue. You may be thinking, hmm, interesting combo. But it's turning out beautifully.

The inspiration? A 50's vintage blue chair I found this last spring at a yard sale for $7! I couldn't turn it down! But it didn't go with any of my main decor, so it was just pretty random, but adorable! So I've had this chair sitting in my living room (sticking out like a blue chair in a rust/orange themed living room) for the last couple of months. I decided to put it in my bedroom, until I could figure out what to do with it. Then it came to me, I love the blue color, it just needs something a little spunky to go with it...ZEBRA print with black and white accents through out. This chair would become a center piece for our bedroom. I wanted something retro, yet romantic for our room.

I immediately got to work. First thing was to fill our wall space. I went to a local thrift store and picked up about 6 picture frames, large, small, round, and square. I spray painted them all black, then I took out the glass (so it's just the wood) and hot glued black ribbon on the inside of the frame, then put a big clear crystal bead on the end of the ribbon with a couple of crystal sequins as well. I did the same thing to all 6 frames. I hung them up on our main wall in the bedroom. They turned out exactly as I wanted. And they only cost me about $10 for all of them.

The next thing I wanted was bold zebra print curtains, we found faux zebra fur at JoAnn's Fabric on clearance. It actually worked out really well, I wasn't quite sure about it, until we put them up. But they look great! I am also working on getting some black sheers to hang in between them, but for some reason those are hard to find! You wouldn't think so though! Oh well, I'll get them eventually.

I spray painted a big mirror I got at a thrift store black, and hung it next to the bed, along with a wedding picture and two candle sconces. I am also working on a project for right above the bed, I'll blog about that once it's complete. Basically it's another thrift store creation.

I bought a zebra print rug for really cheap at Ross, and also found a beautiful black bed set. It's all coming together. My mom and I are in the process of making turquoise and zebra print pillows for the bed as well. Next project will be to paint my dresser black. I'll be posting some pictures so you can see the process.

As I long for my husband's return from the green, I will be pondering what's next for my strange yet "happenin'" life as a wife!