Showing Our True Colors

As you know, I'm reading Choose Joy by Kay Warren. I am taking it slow, reading some, and really trying to apply it and process it. The neatest thing is that everything that I read hits very close to home. Y'all it is so good, exactly what I need right now. These notes are for me to remember:

Here is a definition of joy to remind myself of the powerful truths when I'm feeling shaky. Joy is the settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life, the quiet confidence that ultimately everything is going to be all right, and the determined choice to praise God in all things.

I love this...but to me it is the hardest part of the defintion to apply. "Believing that ultimately everything is going to be all right takes into account car accidents, cancer, bankruptcy, miscarriage, depression, and every other grief we face. Choosing to believe that God is always working, knitting together the fragments of our lives, always in control of it all, means that life will work together for our good and his glory...God doesn't promise answers or explanations on demand. He promises Joy."

"James says that in tough times our "faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors." "No matter what you say you believe, or what others think you believe, there's no hiding or pretending when the bottom falls out. The faith life I claim is revealed in those moments-not to God, because he already knows the true state of my heart, but to me. My true colors can no longer be hidden beneath the Sunday smiles or polite exchanges with a neighbor at the mailbox. What matters most in those times is what I do."

"When the sky falls in and we are thrown into chaos, our faith-life is suddently on display for everyone-neighbors, friends, unbelieving family, and co-workers-to see. And the Bible says that our faith life should provide a stark contrast to the life of unbelievers...you can't help but notice the difference."

This is very thought provoking. "If being a Christian makes no difference in the way we repsond to problems, what good is our faith?" What have I gained by going to church every weeekend, attending Bible studies, memorizing Scripture if, when trouble comes, I'm just like everyone else? When trials expose my faith life, will others see me embracing both the joy and the pain of my life???????

"The only way to grow spiritually is to go through the fire of testing, trials, and troubles. An untested faith is an unreliable faith. We hate the refining process that makes us like Jesus Christ in our character because it involves pain and sorrow and stress and upheaval."

"God is keenly aware of the brutal pain that has ripped you into pieces; his heart aches with yours as you struggle to accept the process that makes you mature. He knows what know one else will ever know." This is the truth.

Yahweh your God is there with you, the warrior-Saviour. He will rejoice over you with happy song, he will renew you by his love, he will dance with shouts of joy for you. Zeph. 3:17 (NJB)

Everything old is NEW AGAIN!

At least it seems that way in fashion.

I found my nautical purse that I'd stored in my "I just can't get rid of it yet" box and it looks so much like the new one that I saw in that cute boutique. See...it does pay to hold on to things. :)



I've also been trying to keep myself from buying a plastic tortoise luxe link necklace from my favorite...bridier baubles.


I decided to check in my closet jewelry box and look what I found. *I am not good at taking pictures in the mirror. :) Two link necklaces and one is actually tortoise!


And on a more serious note...the title of this post also makes me think of this verse.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NLT)
This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

I am a collector

of hair products, nail polish, and all things girly.



It is a sickness really I think.



I guess I like dark colors/metallics...especially in the Fall/Winter.



I finished the bathrooms, dining room, breakfast room, and living room drawers. Tomorrow I will tackle the laundry room and kitchen cabinets (which thankfully just need straightened up). I'm saving our garage and guest closet for later...they will not be fun.



My jewelry needs to be put up too. I travel with my jewelry in plastic bags....and I have traveled a good bit lately. Therefore...a whole lotta mess! What can I say, I just love having options. I have never been the girl that knows exactly what I'm going to wear with each outfit before I get ready. :)


Here's to lots of organizing and deep cleaning this summer! I feel like one of Erin Condren's new life planners may be in my future for August. But can I say goodbye to my beloved Lilly???

Want to hear something uplifting?

When I have a lot to accomplish or just need to get moving, these are my go to songs right now! The videos are great too!!

(Matt's favorite as well!)






(I literally blast this song when I first get in my car everyday and while I wash dishes...on repeat!!!)

Summer SMASH and Flooding

We've been catching up on all the episodes of SMASH, since Revenge and Parenthood are over. It is pretty good! Whenever we watch shows like this....we start at the beginning and basically have a marathon night after night...I find myself basically feeling like the show is my life...haha! We did this for Friday Night Lights and LOST too. So, I've been in a NYC musical haze the past few days. :)



Y'all we had some awful rain and flooding in our little town a few days ago. It started out as a bad storm and then just poured down for about an hour and a half. I seriously thought that our backyard was going to flood and we were going to have water in our house. It was rising up our back porch steps. Matt was driving in from out of town and had a hard time getting home. Lots of the roads surrounding our house were closed because of flooding. The saddest thing is that some of our friends live on a street that flooded really bad. They had about 3 feet of water in their houses and no flood insurance. It is awful, but thankfully our community is stepping in to help out.








I completed a little Pinterest project. It took 3 seconds. I just had the frame laying around, so decided to take advantage of it. I love this verse right now. Evertime I read it, I immediately hear the lyrics to one of my favorite Christy Nockels' songs.

Have you ever told your soul to rejoice that His arms are open wide....And it’s in our resting that we rise up singing. Rejoice! Again, I say Rejoice! Rejoice! Again, I say Rejoice! You are loved. Be loved. He loves you.

On your mark, get set, Summer!

I feel like my summer vacation truly started today. I started to feel a dreaded feeling in my soul...a little bit of boredom that I get when I finally have a chance to slow down and do nothing. :) So, I decided to fix that immediately. I exercised, went to the library to renew my library card and even checked out 3 books (if you know me, you know I've basically read every good book at our library, so I prefer to place holds on any book that I desire). Then I went to Publix. I also made a whole bunch of lists. I made organization lists and project lists. You name it, I now have a list for it. Ha!

I was happy to have a little bit of sweet summertime reading in my house.



I was also happy to see this little box arrive in the mail.



The thing that made me happiest of all was fixing dinner for some friends in our Sunday School class that just had a baby. I was listening to Passion White Flag and was inspired to pray for the sweet family and their new baby boy as I prepared their meal. I decided that anytime I bring someone a meal I will pray for them the entire time I'm fixing it.







Now, we're just enjoying this rainy night. Matt and Blakely are napping and I'm going to tackle my first project on my "things to organize list", our bathroom drawers. Our cabinets are neat, but our drawers are another story. Anybody else so excited about Dance Moms coming on tonight?

And just because this is a very random post. I took this picture of Matt a few weeks ago as he was drawing lines for my class field day. He said it made him feel like a coach. It made me miss Friday Night Lights. I may just have to re-watch the entire series this summer.





Psalm 37:34
Put your hope in the Lord. Travel steadily along his path.

No place like HOME!

We are back home, after a beautiful wedding weekend in Jacksonvillle. I had the best time celebrating my sweet friend and "Spring season", B! I will say that big cities are super fun, but our small plantation town is where we are meant to be! I have so many great picturs from the weekend, but I'm just going to share a few from each event.

Thursday night we arrived in Jax and immediately headed out to visit with most of the wedding party at Whiskey River in St. John's Town Center. Afterwards, Matt, Jeremey, CB, Jenn, and I hung out at the hotel. We stayed up way too late. But thanks to Green Giant and steudels...there is never a dull moment.

Friday morning we ate our free breakfast family style downstairs...haha! Then enjoyed B's bridemaids luncheon at Chip's Aunt Reinas house near Neptune Beach. It was a beautifully decorated house with an amazing screen porch. The food was amazing, and we all fell in love with Aunt Reina. She had the sweetest spirit and had a way with words. She reminded Bridgett of how we would be the ones in her life that would be there when she really "does" life. In the good times and bad. She said that we would be the ones that would pray so hard for her and Chip. We had the sweetest time of prayer for B and the best peach tea ever. There wasn't a dry eye left after the prayer time. LOVED IT!

We all got manicures and pedicures afterwards! Oh it was much needed and delightful!

We barely had time at all to change clothes and head to the church downtown for the rehearsal, but surprisingly we made it on time.

The rehearsal dinner was at Friday Musicale in downtwon Jax, and was catered by Carrabas. YUMMY! We definitely stopped for frozen yogurt afterwards at Mochi too.

Saturday was a full day of getting our hair done, pictures, and fun! We ate lunch and got ready at the church.

The reception was at The Garden Club right on the Jacksonville Bay. It was a fun night of dancing and laughter! It flew by!

I was honored to stand by B on her wedding day. I am so thankful that the Lord brought us together on that very first day of grad school back in 2007. She is a wonderful friend and I'm so thankful for her!