Clings

So, I told myself that I would not stress myself with selling anything at this year's Tinsel and Treasure Craft Show at my church, Northview Community Church. But, as you can see I changed my mind. 

These are glass clings. They are a thick vinyl that I hand paint to look like stained glass. I made one about 4 years ago to hang on my front window, it is a nativity.(which I will be making some nativities to sell as well) I love mine, because it is so simple to hang up, and it makes such an impact. During the day when the light is shining INTO the house, I get to see a cool looking stained glass window. And at night we keep the light on in the room that the window is in, and it shines out a beautiful nativity for those that happen to be driving by. 

I made a few simple designs: a peppermint, a start, and a snow flake to start out with and see how long they took me to do. They are all about 1.5 ft wide and 2.5 feet tall. I am proud of these and think they turned out great. They are officially on sale for $35.00 each if you are interested. I will also be selling them at the craft show. (I get to share a booth with one of my good friends, Bethany Henry, I am really excited about that) I also plan to take custom orders, so we will see how that goes. 

This is the view from inside the house, from the outside during the day it looks real opaque, and from the inside you can really see the stained glass effect, and then it reverses at night! Pretty fun. 

This blog seemed a lot like a commercial. I guess because it kinda was one. Just being honest. :)

WANTED: Stress!

I am dreamer. I know this about my personality. But, I am also married to a very real "realist". So, I dream, I just dream in a grounded way. I have been dreaming a dream of "change" a lot in the last few years. (I mentioned something about this a few posts ago) I want for my husband to have the job of his dreams! But, it seems to become more and more clear to me that the people in our world that get to make money at doing something they love, those people are very rare, seemingly. But, I still dream for him. I think he would make an amazing principal/coach/math teacher at a Christian high school. And I could teach art, and music!  He loves numbers and all things sport related. He could do stats for a sports team and I think he would absolutely LOVE that. So many things that I think he could do and love. But, that would mean that he would have to leave his current stable job. (he does not work in a stable, I just mean stable, like it is a stable income :) ) We have three kiddos, and a home, and we like to eat food. An income is necessary. The hardest thing is thinking about what a transition to unknown job territory would look like, feel like, stress like. But, even still, I want it for him so bad. Am I right ladies? One of the things we want MOST for our men is for them to love the Lord, follow His will, and do what he LOVES. I will continue to pray, and to trust that if the Lord wants him elsewhere, the opportunity will come. And if not, that the Lord will give him peace, that he is EXACTLY where he is needed.

Music Review Mondays: Gungor

So, I am so obsessed with music. If you know me, you know this. It is just a part of who I am. I named my third kid, Lyric, point in case. I would love to be a music reviewer. Well guess what? I got me this nice little blog page, so now I AM a music reviewer. Dreams are coming true every day people. So, every Monday I will try to review a new album or band, because Monday and Music both start with the letter "M". ( I am a homeschool mom, forgive me.) This week, I wanna talk about a band that I had the absolute pleasure of listening to their album this last week. They are called: Gungor. I am not gonna tell you about the band, because if you are interested enough you will go look that info up on your own. I am just gonna talk about what I love or not love about their music. :) 

So, this band has a very "different" sound to their stuff. Sometimes your ear tells your brain that, "these sounds should NOT go together." But, they do, and I love that. It is unique, and innovative, and the lyric's are scripturally based, and very strong. My kind of music. The first song on the album kind of hits you over the head, and says, "This is the crazy kind of stuff that you are about to listen to." But, then it almost mellows out on the innovative (or you just get used to it) and the lyric's strong Biblical content starts to shine through and take your attention. The second song on the album is to be turned up to at least 20, if you are a Dodge minivan driver. It is the funnest song I have heard in awhile, and when you tell your kids to dance to it, you will see some of the funniest moves you have seen in a long time. I love an album that I can put on to be in total "chill" mode, and this one does that for me for sure. I hope you check it out, haha, I don't even know if it is on itunes or in stores yet. I got mine from a music buyer. I am spoiled, I know this. So, that was fun huh? I just was a music reviewer for ten minutes. 

I kinda liked that. 

LEGO week

So, like most things in my life right now, Pinterest.com has influenced my homeschooling methods. I have found SO many cool ideas for school on there, but was having a hard time knowing how I was ever going to implement them in my daily school time. So I decided to take my school calendar and with Pinterest on hand, I gave each week of our school a theme! This week was the first, LEGO week. 

Monday we did LEGO math. Kellen added as seen in the photo, and I made Abbi subtract the dots on the Legos.

 Tuesday, we did LEGO sentences. I put a bunch of random words on our big Legos and had the kids put them together to make sentences. (ALL these ideas were on Pinterest.com by the way, I do not come up with this stuff people)

  Wednesday, we talked about how they are made from plastic. Thursday, we were doing good to just get our worksheets done, I think Legos were in the room when they did them. Today, Friday, we watched how Legos are made, found Denmark on the globe, because that is where their big factory is, and then we took a trip to the LEGO store at the mall. We bought nothing, because I am cheap, I mean frugal. I am frugal. I would deem LEGO week a success. Next weeks theme? Starbucks. I wish. 

what if...

I have been praying pretty bold prayers lately. I have felt for two or three years now that a new and excited change was coming to me and my family. Maybe moving to Africa or something, I don't know. Just something BIG! My biggest fear in life is that the Lord's dreams for me and my family will not come true. And my biggest hope in life right now is that they will! ( second biggest hope is to loose twenty pounds, just being real.) So, today something got me thinking about these dreams that the Lord may have for us. What if I want Him to move us to a new city, state, or country and use us in unimaginable ways, but all He wants to use me here. Right now, here, in the life that I am currently living out. When I pray for Him to use me right now, it feels more or less like a demand. I want it SO bad. So, on my way to the doctor this morning, I said one of my pretty demanding prayers about asking His dreams for me to come true. When I got to the doctor's office, and opportunity presented itself for me to be somewhat of an encourager and comforter to someone who was going through a similar hard time that I had recently gone through. After the visit was all said and done, it just made me wonder if all of that was a direct result of that prayer that I had just prayed. Gosh, we see things SOOOO differently than the Lord. I know in my heart that I can be used here, where I am now. I am fully aware that God can do pretty much whatever He wants with me when I am a willing vessel, and I welcome that with open arms. I just have always thought that His BIG dreams for me would be some sort of clear cut BIG change for me and my family. I just don't think of the everyday little things that I do as being BIG dreams that the Lord has for me. But, what if they are? What if. 

homeschool days...

So, I homeschool my kids. I will probably be posting quite a bit about the subject, so I thought I would do an introductory one.  My two oldest. I figure my oldest girl, can just teach my youngest when it is time. She will know enough by then. ;) I started last year, and it was kinda a hot mess. (I know this term, because "Project Runway" is awesome.) This year, I got organized, put it all in one room, planned out my whole year, and man are we pluggin' away! We are on week 9! Which means that we are half way through the first semester! It is hard for me to admit because I was such a sceptic at first (even though my husband, and all his family were home schooled) but I think this is working for us! At least for now, I am taking it one year at a time. Maybe it is working because I got to decorate my school room with owls. Yea, it is probably the owls. Owls make me happy. 

So, I will end this post with a story about my 4 year old boy. He says to me, "Mom, why do you keep giving me these easy worksheets?" (he is technically in Pre-K, and I give him all Kindergarten level stuff) I said, "Oh, I am sorry. When you are done with that one I will print you off another one." (I guess I will go for the 1st grade level this time) He said, "Thank you."

So, I kinda love this place. It is in Norman, OK. It has the best pressed coffee I have ever had, and when you go on a rainy day,(and with no children) there is not much more relaxing. Unless you are studying for the exam of your life like the dude at the table in front of me was, then maybe not so much. 

i want to blog.

I want to be a blogger. I want to be paid to be a blogger so that Dylan can quit his job and be home with us all the day long. But, that is a dream. Probably too big of a dream. Maybe blog plus photography business could be good enough... daydreaming...
OK, I am still here. I just feel the need to write stuff down, and if I am going to take the time to write stuff down, I might as well hope that someone else can read it and maybe get a little chuckle, or encouragement or something. (probably another big dream)
I secretly just want a life like the pioneer woman. That is the real dream here people. So, I will try to share some fun things in the next few weeks and see if I can keep this up!