So Kelly over at Kelly's Korner is having her weekly tour of homes and this week it is children's rooms and nurseries. No, I don't have children YET, but that doesn't mean that I don't have room ideas!!!
Luckily for me, Sister handed down Kate's custom bedding to me. It is gorgeous!!! So I can't wait to have a baby girl and decorate her room with the bedding. It has a gorgeous blend of yellows, greens, pink, red and white. I wish I had a picture, but I don't.
And yes, I have my baby boy room ideas too. I can't wait to decorate a little nautical themed room for our son. And yes, I have already shopped for beddings...is that bad????
This is the bedding I would choose if I had a little boy right now.
And I want to create a fabulous room...just like this one!
Well I was originally going to do yard work today, but Brant and I ran into some issues. So, I instead spent the day cleaning house, doing laundry and DIGITAL SCRAPBOOKING! The more and more I work on digital scrapping, the more I love it! So I thought I would share the few pages the I completed.
A fried at work shared this story with me today, and I had to share it.
This is from the Boston Times:
It was the kind of tragedy no school should have to endure. Students - young children, really - wept in the hallways Thursday as word swept through the Warren-Prescott School in Charlestown that an eighth-grader, Soheil Turner, was dead, shot that morning as he waited for his bus.
So it felt strange and not quite right the next morning as members of the school choir boarded a bus for a statewide singing contest and a trip to an amusement park. Some of the students looked sad and uncertain.
Their music teacher, Olivia Thompson, felt unsettled, too. But she offered words of reassurance: It's OK to be sad, but it's also OK to have fun.
"The music you're making is part of what's good in the world, and it's important to keep doing that," Thompson told them.
What happened later that day stunned the students, their teacher, and the school. The fledgling choir from Charlestown, the only elementary school singing group in the competition, earned the highest point total, beating a roster of larger, better-established choruses from middle and high schools. They did it with a heartfelt rendition of "What a Wonderful World," on a day that, as sixth-grader Mary Evers later said, didn't feel wonderful at all.
Judges were left in awe, audience members in tears.
The choir's unexpected triumph brought needed emotional uplift to a small, close-knit school hit hard by a violent act. It also vividly illustrated the resiliency required to be a student in many urban schools and the sheer challenge that students and teachers often face simply to achieve a sense of normalcy.
"You can feel empathy and sympathy, but you also have to do what you've been trained to do," said principal Dominic Amara, sitting in his office yesterday. "You can put a plaque on the wall or a tree in the ground, and those are nice things, but the best way to honor Soheil is to be a good kid."
Turner, 15, was shot in Roxbury. The man who killed him has not been identified. The boy had attended Warren-Prescott since first grade, and many of the 437 students knew him well.
The school - a low, brick complex sandwiched into a dense neighborhood a few blocks from the Bunker Hill Monument - offered kindergarten through sixth grade until three years ago, when it added grades seven and eight. "We get to know the kids and want to keep them," said Amara. Pots of pansies sit by the front door; students in all grades wear uniforms, matching navy-blue polo shirts. The school motto is "Persist and Prevail."
The choir members range from kindergartners to teenagers. When the group began four years ago, anyone could join; now, students must audition. Practices are held after school on Mondays, when the 39 students cram onto risers in a small room off the auditorium.
They worked for months on two songs for the Music in the Parks competition, held at the Six Flags New England theme park in Agawam. They were especially proud of "What a Wonderful World," their finale, with two student accompanists, on piano and trumpet, and a voice solo by a third-grader.
Then, the day before the trip, came news of Turner's death. Students who knew him were devastated; younger children were scared and confused.
"I didn't feel like singing," said Evers, the 12-year-old. "I said to my friend it's not such a wonderful world."
Elizabeth Pardy, another sixth-grader, sought a way to take solace in the music.
"Watching my friends lose someone was very upsetting," she said. "But then I thought, 'I'll sing for Soheil,' and that made me feel better."
The same thought came to Brandy Giles, 13.
"It was hard to see everyone crying," she said. "But I thought we shouldn't stop, that he would want us to keep going. People were expecting to hear this beautiful sound. If we didn't put our whole heart into it, it wouldn't be as joyful."
Standing onstage that morning, they said, they felt nervous, worried by the competition, which included middle school choirs from Georgetown and Tewksbury, but ready to do Soheil proud.
Watching from the audience, parent John Strachan felt swept by emotion.
"Just to think about what they were going through and to see them walk out onstage was this amazing dichotomy," he said.
The judges recorded their critique of each choir. On the tape sent home with Warren-Prescott, one judge pauses to listen, then remarks, "This is what music should be," according to Thompson.
The Charlestown choir "demonstrated a wonderful sense of discipline, as well as a true love of music-making," the judge, Frank Ward Jr., wrote in an e-mail. "It was a very satisfying and enjoyable performance from such a young group of students."
The choir took home two trophies, for best elementary and best middle school choir, and two of its soloists, Chloe Shea and Emily Ringrose, won individual prizes. When the winners were announced, "all the girls were screaming so much it hurt my ears," said choir member Declan Coleman, 9.
Yesterday, the buzz about the choir was still spreading through the school. Students passing the main office between classes bent low to brush the shiny trophies with their fingers, peering closely at a photo of the beaming choir members.
Parents plan to pitch in to fix up the school's display case for the new prizes.
"It's phenomenal what they did, and it's something special about kids," Amara said. "If you had adults in this kind of trauma, I doubt they could perform as well."
I'm terribly sorry it has taken me so long to post. Brant and I have been staying with my MeMe this week and she doesn't have Internet or I would have posted much sooner.
First all, thank you for the several of you who emailed and asked about Brant''s grandfather. We have felt you prayers, and although it has been a difficult week, the Lord has been very near and present every step of the way.
However, on Tuesday morning, Grandaddy began his "party with Jesus", as Brant called it. An MRI on Monday showed that he had broken his neck and spinal cord, as well as crushed the C3, 4, and 5 discs on the spine. These are the discs that control your diaphram, and it told us that he would never be able to breath on his own again. We also found out that Grandaddy was paralyzed.
Grandaddy had a very strong desire to not have any heroic measures to keep him living. Ever since the day I met him, I have known about his desire to be in heaven with the love of his life, Irene and his Father. Every person at his bedside knew that he would never want to continue on living in a vegetative and paralytic state. After a very rough night on Monday, his heart rate and blood pressure could not be maintained and were dipping very low. So the decision was made to let him go be with the two people he loved most: his savior and his beautiful bride.
We gathered by his bedside, prayed and sang of him as we watched him leave this earth. It was heartbreaking and one of the hardest things I have ever done in all my life. But as sad as the day was, I can tell you that there was joy and an incredible peace in his hospital room. We knew that he was dancing with his wife and singing praises to his Lord.
Tomorrow, we will lay Tommie Bonner Stretch to rest. I can honestly say that I have never heard so many people describe someone as "a very special, Godly man." I have heard stories about a man that I wish I could have known longer. For the past 4 years he has treated me as one of his own grandchildren and I have loved him dearly. Pray for Brant's family tomorrow as they say one last "good-bye" to a father, a grandfather, a friend, and a mentor. This has been such a difficult journey, and we know that it is not over. There will be many more tears and days of sorrow, but we know that we will see him again.
Brant just received a phone call that his Grandaddy was just in a very serious car accident. Kristi, Brant's sister, said that all we know right now is that his car flipped over on the way home from church and that he has severe head and neck injuries. They are CareFlight'ing him to LSU Medical Center (he lives in a small town called Mendon, LA).
Grandaddy has been an incredible mentor and role model from Brant. Of all people my husband knows, no person has changed his life like his grandfather. The picture above, if you couldn't tell, is Brant, his mother and Grandaddy on the day of our wedding.
Please pray for that the Lord's will is done. Although we want Grandaddy to make a full recovery and life many more years, we also know that the situation if very serious. Pray for our family and that decisions can be make with the love and understanding.
Brant is currently writing one of his last papers in the exhausting adventure to receiving a Master's Degree. Trust me, we will be having quite the shindig in August to celebrate, but as for now, we are writing. And yes, I say "we" because any wife that has had a husband getting a Master's degree knows that the degree is truly half hers!
But yes, I have been helping Brant research his paper and helping me find the ten million sources he needs. Now I have never been a C.S. Lewis fan, but I have to say that I am becoming one. Today in helping Brant gather some material for his paper, I was reading Mere Christianity, Chapter 4: Good Infection.
And I read a very profound, and interesting statement that has me in quite a bit of thought.
I said...that God is a being which contains three Persons while remaining one Being...But as soon as I begin trying to explain how these Persons are connected I hate to use words which make it sound as if one of them was there before the other. The First Person is called Father and the Second is the Son. We say that the First begets or produces the second; we call it "begetting" no "making", because what He produces is of the same kind as Himself. In that way the word Father is theonly word to use. But unfortunately it suggests that He is there first - just as a human father exists before his son. But that is not so. There is no before and after about it. And that is why I think it important to make clear how one thing can be the source, or cause, or origin, of another without being there before it.
Now for me, here was the kicker...
The Son exists because the Father exists; but there never was a time before the Father produced the Son.
Ok - so maybe you think this pointless, or complete nonsense, but to me, this is profound. I have always believed in the Trinity....God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit...all in one Being, but to think that there has NEVER been a time when there was one without the other. Yes, one exists because of the other, but one never created the other - they just ARE.
For me, this profound thought simply resonates this:
I SERVE AN AMAZING GOD!
Yes, there are plenty of things about God that I do not understand, but I do know this...He is Almighty...one that non can fully comprehend.
Right now, anyone who lives in Texas has been hearing major concerns over th Swine Flu. Although it is a rare, and completely freaky thing going on, I received this email from a friend today and wanted to share.
In a nutshell, to help protect yourself from the Swine Flu,
Wash your hands with soap and water
Don't touch your mouth
Go to the doctor if you have any symptoms of the flu
When Brant and I started working out, he told me that he wanted a heart rate monitor. Well I thought that was ridiculous because they have those on the machines. But nonetheless, the convinced me that we needed to get them...so we did.
So without further ado, I now apologize to my hubs because I LOVE MY POLAR HEART MONITOR!!!!
This thing is AWESOME! It's even pink!!! There is a band that you wear across your chest (its very small and I don't really notice that its even there), then you have the watch. I have the Polar F6 and it acts as a stop watch, as a time tracker, a heart rate monitor, a calorie calculator...just about everything I could possibly want to help me succeed in my weight loss.
After each work out, it tell you the length, calories burned, your resting heart rate, maximum heart rate and average heart rate. If you get real technical, it will even tell you how long you were in the different heart zones!
So after today's workout, here are my stats:
60 Minute workout 15 minutes in dry sauna Calories burned: 673 Max heart rate: 179 Aver. heart rate: 137
Many of you know that Brant works for Dallas Baptist University as the Athletic Facilities Manager. Now Brant loves his job, and this is his pride and joy...
...but, since it is also his main responsibility, he is required to attend all events at this field. So, yes, during baseball season, I become widowed...to the game! Brant is typically gone 2-3 nights of the week, then most Saturdays as well. I have gotten used to only spending time with him on Saturday night and Sundays.
But this past weekend, there were NO GAMES!!! WHOOOHOOOO!!!! Brant and I spent the entire weekend together (except while he was napping Sunday afternoon I made a quick appearance at a wedding shower) and it was fantastic!
Friday, Brant grilled some steaks and we enjoyed a delicious dinner and watch a movie at home. Then got up Saturday, cleaned the house, then went to the gym for a great workout. Saturday night, I surprised him and took him on a date to RaFain in Dallas. It is a Brazilian steakhouse like Texas De Brazil, but the food is absolutely divine! We had such a great experience and will definitely be going back.
Sunday, we went to church, I had the wedding shower, then we took Dax out to Pets Mart - that's a fun place for him. We had dinner, watched Amazing Race, then just relaxed the rest of the evening. It was so wonderful, mainly because I don't typically get to spend alot of my time on the weekends with him.
I know my hubs loves baseball, but sometimes, I look forward to the season coming to a close!
...that's how I feel today. I have felt this way for some time today, but was never able to put a word to the feeling until a few minutes ago.
It was five minutes ago that I had to stop working, put my head down, clothes my eyes, and whisper "Lord, why do I feel so ..... defeated today?" But you want to know the great thing about our God...he quietly whispered back... and I am not defeated because HE IS ALIVE!
Yes, Easter has already come and gone, but my God is ALIVE...He ALWAYS has been and He FOREVER will be! Therefore, I am never defeated and never alone.
But there are those days, like today, where I just feel sad, mellow, indifferent...defeated.
The day seemed to start off fine...I got up at 5:30, had a great workout and headed to work. This morning work was even fine...I have plenty to do and got busy as soon as I walked in the door. But late in the morning, some of my co-workers came around to tease me. Now, I don't mine a little teasing, and it actually all started on Monday. "A" said a word that I hate and I made an ugly face at him - teasing him that is. Then he asked me why I made that face and I told him that I hated that word. So then everyone else started to say that word just because I said that I hated it - to get my goat (as we say down here in Texas). Now all of this was fine with me because it lasted a few minutes, then it was dropped.
But today, the teasing was them trying to get me to say this word...a word that I hate with all of my being...a word that I cringe at when I hear...a word that literally hurts my ears. My co-workers literally had me red in the face because they were doing anything they could to make me say this word.
Now if you are wondering...No, I never said this word, and I actually voiced my thoughts on the word and told them why I hate the word; but nevertheless, the teasing went on.
Although this may not sound like a big deal to you, I simply cannot describe to you in words how I felt after this. I felt like screaming at each one of them because they claim to Christians but talk about sleeping around (only one of them is married), and they cuss like sailors; drink until they can't remember what they were doing; yet sing in the church choir on Sunday morning.
So I defeated because I am a minority in the workplace. I am one who *tries* not to let the secular world get to me, and *tries* not to be a party to it. Yet, I wonder if I am being a hypocrite because yes, I have been in their shoes before.
Satan has attacked me today. He has pushed every button he knows of, and I feel like it is beginning to work...I am feeling defeated.
Defeated because we desperately want to start our family.
Defeated because life just isn't what I want it to be right now.
But I stand the Word that says my God is ALIVE and I will never be defeated because
"He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. "
So in this post I told you all about SparkPeople! Well today I read a great article on making tasty, healthy foods, but keeping within your budget! So, I thought I would share!
You can save money and still have quality. If you’ve been using cost as an excuse to eat junk, you can kiss that excuse goodbye! With a little organization and creativity, you can have the proverbial champagne when cooking on a beer budget. To start, here’s a quick review of basic tips of healthy eating:
Limit your intake of junk food and alcohol
Drink lots of water (at least 8 cups a day)
Limit salty and sugary foods
Avoid eating many foods that are high in saturated fats
Make “variety” the watchword of your eating
Next, set aside regular blocks of time for planning meals, making your grocery list, and shopping—tasks that are most often shortchanged in food prep. Include healthy snack ideas, as well as main menu items.
Don’t be afraid to surf the internet for recipes that use specific ingredients (plug the ingredient in as a keyword of your search), since you can often get good buys on breads, meats, and other items marked for quick sale before they go bad.
Stock your fridge and cupboards with items that are quick and easy to cook (yet kind to your wallet):
Beans and lentils, whether canned or dried, make nutritious, hearty soups, and can be a main course with the addition of fresh vegetables or rice.
Brown Rice is a great addition to leftover meat and veggies. Although brown rice is slightly more expensive than white, the nutritional payoff is well worth it. Another inexpensive, easy-to-fix grain, millet, is best when bought fresh. Simply rinse and toast before using it in recipes.
Pasta, likewise, is quick and easy to prepare, and can be paired with veggies, meat, or a fresh salad. Have fun adding your own embellishments (mushrooms, spices, and herbs.) Choose whole-wheat pasta whenever available.
Soups can’t be beat for nutrition and convenience, especially since you can use canned or packet soups as your base, then add your own veggies and leftover meat. Again, try to experiment, adding your own herbs and spices.
Fresh vegetables and fruit should be bought at least once or twice each week, preferably in season, to ensure optimal taste and nutrition. You can also rely on canned/frozen varieties as handy additions to last-minute meals. Veggies make great stir-fries and vegetable patties, while fruit is good for a quick nutritious snack.
Meat and fish can be kept on hand also for last-minute meals— try the newer tuna and salmon pouches, and shop for inexpensive cuts of meat that work well in stews and casseroles.
Condiments add flavor and interest to your dishes. Keep a selection of dried herbs, spices, curry powder, marinades, vinegars, tomato and soy sauces, along with stock cubes, in your cupboard. Experiment with the new, such as Japanese miso, an aged salty condiment made from soybeans and various other ingredients (found in the natural foods section, usually refrigerated).
Finally, a few more hints that can help you save a little green:
When cooking a big meal, make extra to freeze, or use later in the week for lunches or quick suppers. Double recipes, then freeze half.
Save your vegetable trimmings to make your own vegetable stock. Not only do you save money, but vegetable stock also makes a nutritious base for casseroles, soups, and Crockpot cooking.
Buying in bulk is almost always cheaper; you can freeze perishable items (such as meat, milk, and even bread) in smaller portions to use as needed. It’s always a good idea to buy non-perishable items in bulk (canned foods, dried beans and grains, etc.).
Use less expensive cuts of meat for casseroles that you slow cook; add extra vegetables and beans to make the meal go further.
Capitalize on one-pot dishes, which generally save prep time, money, and dishwashing, and often make great leftovers.
Look high and low (literally) to find the less expensive generic or store brands on grocery shelves, often very similar to higher-priced brand names though packaged under different labels. Stores deliberately place the highest-priced brand-name items at eye level, but if you compare the cost per unit, you’ll be able to figure out the most cost-effective purchase. You can even try your own taste tests— blind, of course— to see where you can save money without sacrificing flavor.
Take advantage of specials on staples—broth, soups, pasta, rice, canned veggies, even bread and meat. Many of these items have a long shelf life or can be frozen for short periods of time.
Limit your dining out, especially when it comes to fast food, since you’ll find yourself spending unnecessarily on items that are high in fat, salt, and calories, which short-change you in the nutrition department.
There’s no magic formula to cooking on a budget. Like anything else worthwhile in life, it takes a little planning, creativity, and work. But if you think of the rewards—better health and more money—you’ll find it’s worth the effort. No doubt you’ll still have days when you fall back on that quick-fix packaged food or the local burger drive-thru. But if you look at cooking as an adventure, you’ll also have days when you find yourself pleased at what you’ve accomplished—as you serve dinner to rave reviews from family and friends!
Yes, it is Good Friday, but it is also the last day of the work week, therefore, Finally Friday! The best part for Fridays is that it is my weigh in day and I yes, I look forward to seeing the progress. Today's weight in shows............
DRUM ROLL PLEASE...................
"T" MINUS 4.8 LBS!!!!!!!!! Meaning, I lost 1.6 this week!
I was pumped! In two weeks, I have managed to lose ALMOST 5 pounds! YEA!!!!!
On another topic, its Good Friday. I had a thought this morning - I remember this exact day last year when I was randomly reading people's blogs. I somehow ran across a lady's (whose blog I had never read before) post and the first line said something like this...
"Today is Good Friday and I'm not really sure what is so good about today...I think it has something to do with Jesus or something....but its great for me because it gave me the day off."
The moment I read that, my heart sank for this woman. Her picture made her look like she was in her late 20's, early 30's, and she looked like someone I could have been friends with...a nice smile, friendly eyes, and a precious baby girl on her hip. But then I thought to myself that if I had been friends with her, then she would definitely know what Good Friday meant because I would have told her...but then I stopped...how would I have known that she didn't know unless I had asked her????
At that very moment, I began making a mental list of how many people that I KNEW understood the meaning of Good Friday, and of my friends, the list was small (at least compared to the amount of friends I have...not saying that I have a ton of friends, but just saying that they weren't all on the list) and it broke my heart.
How many friends do I have that I have never shared the Gospel with, or that I have just assumed they knew the Truth?
As someone who is passionate about her friendships, it makes me sad that I might have never shared with them the great Trust of our salvation.
Last year on that day, I left that lady a comment, though I never heard back from. I told her the meaning of Good Friday and tried my hardest (in a Blogger Comment space) to explain the Love of our Heavenly Father and that on that day, our Lord allowed His one and only Son to die for her...for all of us...to save us.
My good friend of mine sent me an email the other day and was telling me about how the Lord was dealing with her about her friendships and trying to mold her into a better friend to people...she was trying to truly be passionate about her friendships and be a light to the people she loved. It was funny that she sent this email only because I have felt the same may for much of the past year largely because of this lady, whose blog I randomly found.
So today, I remember the sacrifice my Jesus made for me, and I pray that I may have the courage to share it with everyone I know so that I KNOW my friends KNOW!
So Kelly over at Kelly's Korner is having her weekly tour of homes and this week it is children's rooms and nurseries. No, I don't have children YET, but that doesn't mean that I don't have room ideas!!!
