Beaches, Crafts, and Babies.....could life be better?

This week my life involved all three! Sunday afternoons we all (our group of church friends which usually ends up being a table for 20!) go to eat a big sunday lunch. After that all the guys usually think of some activity to keep themselves busy with for the next few hours....golf, fishing, tennis, etc. All us wives will usually go our separate ways and spend the day cleaning house or running errands but not this Sunday.......and hopefully not many more sundays after this. We decided on a whim to head to the BEACH since the weather is just now warm enough to enjoy it. It was much needed, for relaxation and as Jen gently put it "I was looking pasty and desperately needed some sun =)"

Susie and Jen
Laura and Brooke
Me, Laura and Brooke

Also, here are some pictures of my newest crafting obsession: Canvas art! I buy blank canvas's and paint them all cute and then add a bible verse and a ribbon. I have them all over my house now.
This one is in my guest bathroom. It's pink with black polka dots and says, "but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord" in silver writing. I love the little black poka dot bow on it too This one looks a little jumbled in the picture but is actually one of the cutest ones I've made. I have fancy towels with this same brocade print and I free-handed it onto the canvas to match. Then in red (which you totally cannot read in this picture) it says, "The king is enthralled by your beauty, honor him for he is your Lord." I have this one in my master bathroom to remind me that God thinks I am beautiful on my not so good days =)

I recently made an adorable green striped one for a friend of mine to put in her nursery. It said, "before I formed you in the womb, I knew you."

Oh and now, for the last topic of this blog......BABIES! Justin and I found out this week we are expecting again. I know most people try to be responsible and wait until a certain time in their pregnancy to let everyone know the good news but........I'm not most people. And I absolutely CANNOT contain my excitement. I am so thankful, so so thankful. My God has heard my cries and answered my prayers. I am still very fearful. It is still so very early and the miscarriage still haunts me. But, Jesus has put a new peace in my heart. I think this one just might go swimmingly! Please pray for us, please please pray. We need you all so desperately right now. Yay! My newest song obsession is Cinderella by Steven Curtis Chapman........I pray for Justin to have a Cinderella. Even if this one is a little boy, I hope one day he can have that and who knows, Cinderella might just be in my belly right now!

Crafty McCrafterson

So, some of you might know that I am a crafter.....but many of you don't have the full extreme of my obsession, it has grown and is taking over the WORLD! Ever since I got my monogramming machine I just LOVE making personalized things. Some of the teachers at school have seen my crafting talents due to baby shower, wedding, birthday and basically any time of year gifts I have given and have hired me out to put their children's names on everything =) I'm loving it. And making just a tiny bit of money on the side. Justin keeps telling me that I should sell my stuff online. The only problem is I forget to take pictures of all the stuff I make, and the ones I have taken pictures of are with a crappy camera or my phone. But I thought I would at least put some of my crafts on my blog so you could share in my excitment! The colors may look a bit off due to the crappy camera.

Here is a Koozie I made for my sister. It's really more of an electric blue with Leopard print and blue fur to match, just tacky enough to actually be cute:

Another Koozie that I made for a friend. This one is lime green with colorful stripes and blue fur. I also do ribbon on the bottom of these, or sometimes just leave them plain but I don't have any pictures of those:

A Koozie that I made for a teacher friend of mine. It's Hot pink with black and white paisley. It was sooo adorable:

This was the first keychain I every made. I've gotten even better and more creative with these. This one is hot pink with white polka dots and lime green writing:

A diaper cake I made for my friend who just had a little girl. Yes is is a cake made completely out of diapers...you don't eat it. This one was made before I discovered shrink wrap...what a grand invention. It is hot pink and zebra stripes with a little stuffed zebra hand puppet at the top: One of the first diaper cakes I ever made. Teal and light blue with brown striped ribbon:

Another diaper cake. I've recently started making them more interesting and adding more stuff to them. This one green and brown. It has an adorable plush froggie at the top. A bottle with a homemade bottle wrap in which I monogrammed the baby's initials. A "baby's first bible". And a personalized burp clothe with the frog theme and brown ribbon. And lastly, I printed and laminated matching little tags to put on each item that contained a bible verse for the baby (each verse talked about that particular item...you know, bottle = spiritual milk, etc.):

A cute burp clothe I made to match the zebra and hot pink diaper cake: Another burp clothe. Light blue and brown: Burp clothe I made to match the blue and brown diaper cake above:For a recent baby shower I made a little backpack full of goodies. I started by monogramming the baby's name on the bag itself (good thing for the church nursery later on). I added a stuffed little lamb, a monogrammed blanket, a bottle and monogrammed bottle wrapper, personalized burpclothe which is done in hot pink with white polka dots and lime green. I couldn't resist and did my laminated tag bible verses again on this one...it's starting to become a signature:

Here is a bottle wrap I made for my nephew. It is mainly for decoration but my sister says it is the only bottle he will hold by himself.....aww. it is blue and brown:

A bib I made for my friend Cheryl. I threw her baby shower and we went with the theme "A Pea In the Pod" so my gift DEFINITELY had to go along with the theme. This bib was added into the many items that her diaper cake contained:

I am quite physco and I embroidered Justin and Christi on our pillow cases...oh yeah, and Tyner on our sheets:

Blogger won't let me upload any more photos right now so I will have to make another post later...so many more crafts to show =)

Rule #1: God MEANS for you to be where you are.
Rule #2: Be more concerned for God's glory than for your own relief.
Rule #3: Acknowledge your enemy, but keep your eyes on the Lord.
Rule #4: Pray! (specifically - Colossians 3:23-24)
Rule #5: Give God time to work. (When God controls things they are left with his fingerprints all over them =)
Rule #6: When unsure what to do next, take the next logical step by faith.
Rule #7: Envision God's enveloping presence.
Rule #8: Trust God to deliver in his own unique way.
Rule #9: View your current crisis as a faith builder for the future. (God doesn't waste our pain)
Rule #10: Realize the following
-there are things you can't control
-God's in control whether he saves you from it or makes you go through it.
-the purpose is so that you come out the other side looking different.