This week’s learned, links, and thankfulness…

Made this lasagna and it came out amazing. I made some tweaks to it (whole grain, fat free ricotta, left out the pesto), but the recipe was a good base.

Ramen is now on my mind. Anyone have a good recipe to share?

I tried making a new pizza with anchovies, but the ones I got from TJ’s were way too salty for it. The pizza was topped with red onions and argula, but I need to find a low sodium anchovy and maybe that will pair better.

Love this pair of vintage wood ball drop earrings.

I love all the new goods at Everlane. The breton cotton dress is so classic.

Not many sofas would make me rethink my vintage leather chesterfield, but this one (in pink!) definitely does (good thing the amount of pennies I’d need are way out of my reach).

The girls love reading choose your adventure books.

Praise God I’ve been doing well cutting out one bad habit a week. For next week, I’m going to cut my reading of news outlets to just one time a day.

Oh! Another blessing… I finished reading the entire Bible this week. It took me 3 years and month, but I’m thankful for grace that my salvation isn’t dependent on what I do or don’t do, but Jesus is my righteousness. Learning and growing in the Word, increases my joy in Christ. Here’s to starting another year of Bible reading and praying I actually finish in one year. I use the YouVersion app and choose the One Year Bible reading plan.

Before being an American, I am a follower of Jesus first, and trusting in Christ isn’t about my own self-preservation, but rather about dying to self. I’m called to love others as I love myself. I haven’t read all the articles or the actual new legislature about the order (so I didn’t want to post something without doing research), but what I do know is that we are called to love others in the same way we love ourselves. Matthew 22:37-39 “He said to him, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.'” I may not be loud about it on social media, but we ought to all be restless with what’s going on (no matter who you voted for). I do want to encourage everyone to do something to love others, especially those in fear right now. While some may oppose “love trumps hate” and instead say “action trumps hate,” I do believe love does trump hate because love is an action. My Savior going to the cross to die for me, someone who deserves eternal death and is undeserving of such grace, is an action. Jesus on the cross is the greatest form of love in action. While your action will look different based on your conviction, I think we can all agree, that just sitting idle and doing nothing is definitely not the best way to love our neighbors, here in the US and all around the world. Call, write, speak, listen, protest, educate (others and yourself), donate… do whatever it is you need to do to show love to all people.

Peace friends.

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This week’s learned, links, and thankfulness…

Thankful we had a good homeschooling week and the girls were efficient with their time. When that happens, there’s a lot more room for other projects. Woot!

How fun would it be to embroider a denim jacket. I think this is one project the girls would love!

I’m looking for vintage army high waist pants. Hoping to find out at the thrift store one day (or maybe a flea market!).

Love the way this couch curves… vavavoom!

If you’re looking for a vintage, denim jacket, get this.

Encouraged by my friend’s “When I Don’t Want to be a Mom Today” post.

The girls got the pie in the face game for Christmas and it’s so fun to play!

Ben and our garden made an appearance in a local paper. You can read the article here, though it got the amount of yard we have kind of wrong. One portion is 20×20, but while we still don’t have much yard (this is suburbia in SoCal), we definitely have more than that.

I’m a few days from completing my one year Bible reading plan, which has turned into a 3+ years reading plan, but I’m almost done and so excited!

Wah! A couple girls started feeling sick this weekend, so we are hoping the cold doesn’t play hot potato.

Happy weekending folks!

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This week’s learned, links, and thankfulness…

True got the LEGO architecture set for Christmas from my parents and they have been creating the coolest things with it.

I’m thankful for trials. Well, I’m learning to be thankful (read my post about it here), but I’m glad for the Spirit that convicts and molds my heart.

Someone get this adorable basket.

One of the local Anthropologie stores closed this week and I was able to pick up a couple found items at such a steal.

This would be a great bag to DIY.

I love what the Advanced Style blog celebrates.

Love Alanis Morisette’s new take on “Ironic.”

True Leadership is Sacrifice, Not Privilege. A good article that reminded me what godly leadership looks like.

Though our current political landscape is a bit unsettling, it reminds me that this isn’t my home and the president is not my king. Christ is my King, and so while this passing world seems kind of crazy right now, my joy and hope is secure in what He did for me on the cross.

Hope you all had a restful weekend friends!

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This week’s learned, links, and thankfulness…

California is super thankful for the abundance of rain we received last week, but I’m also thankful that the sunny days are back (at least until Thursday when it’s supposed to rain again).

A local paper is coming to interview Ben and take pictures of our backyard orchard culture, so Saturday was spent cleaning everything up. With all the rain we’ve been having, weeds have taken over and leaves were all over the place. We all worked together to pull weeds, prune, sweep, pick up dead leaves, and make everything look pretty. #teamwork

We had our third Christmas celebration with my family this past Saturday and my mom made such a wonderful feast. That was round 3 of the girls getting lovingly spoiled, and we have one more round to go with Ben’s family here in California.

I need a basic black tee, so I’m waiting for Everlane to roll out their wide leg crop pants at the end of February (if you order two or more items, you get free shipping). I’m looking forward to some of their new items coming out, especially those pants I mentioned.

My ultimate favorite candle scent is the Volcano Blue Capri Candle. I’m running low on them, so I need to stock up soon.

I love this patio covering. I would love to see how we can get our own made for one portion of our yard.

Based on my WEAR board (and looking at my own closet), I’ve realized that I love denim dresses and wearing blue.

This vintage quilted crop jacket is cute, so is this vintage Armani denim dress.

With the rain, lighting hasn’t been great, so I haven’t wanted to photograph any new crafts to share. I’m hoping we get to share our first kid craft for the year later this week.

Ben and I were blessed by our church morning and evening gathering yesterday, and all the sharing of life that happened in between. I’m praying God use these times to imprint our children’s hearts with the sweetness of following Jesus and that they would see Christ is better than all.

Since today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, you get my huzzah post on a Monday. Enjoy your Monday friends!

This week’s learned, links, and thankfulness…

Everyone’s cranky the first week back from Christmas vacation. It was rough.

I love perusing all the after Christmas sales online. I haven’t bought anything, but it’s just fun to look around. There’s a couple pairs of shoes I’m eyeing on Zara for the girls (a buy a couple sizes larger and save it for when it’ll fit them).

I want to make a mini version of this dress for the girls.

We love goldenberries. It’s our first harvest from our goldenberry bush and it was quite a tasty treat.

Blush and indigo make a great combo.

My hands tend to get very dry, so I’m curious about this lanolin cream to see if it’ll help. I started using this lotion about a month ago and love it. Lavender scent is my fave.

This vintage rodeo bag is funky cool.

Admiring these abstract eather earrings.

All the holiday stuff is put away and 2017 is in full swing. It definitely was a rocky beginning with all the bad attitudes going on in our house (I’ve had a major one), but mercies are new and grace abounds, and Jesus lovingly leads us to repentance and changes our hearts, and that is good news.

This week’s learned, links, and thankfulness…

We are so thankful for an upcoming week of family time!

My phone has not been working properly, so I’m excited to finally have the iPhone 7 (and Ben found a  good deal too)! It’s been 3 years since I’ve upgraded, so I’m excited to learn all the new features. I ordered this case to protect it.

I love shaggy cardigans like this, and found this one on sale.

I cried watching Tim Duncan’s retirement ceremony. #gospursgo

Inspired to make a hand quilted indigo jacket like this.

I’ve been happily wearing my ES FUI ring.

We’ve had a week off from school, but it’s felt so stressful getting ready for Christmas and traveling. I think I’ll need to give us a couple of days to recover before we officially start school again. #ohthejoysofhomeschooling

God Came Down and I’m so glad He did. He came to rescue me from my sin. All my good is never enough, so I trust in the sinless Savior who covers me with His redeeming blood. The sinless man became sin in my place. I celebrate Christmas because this is the day my Savior was born.

I’m also very thankful for all of you who have followed along here. Some of you are new and some of you have been following for a long time, and I appreciate the support and encouragement you all give. It’s been so much fun sharing family stories to crafty things, and all the other things in between. When I look back on old posts, I see so much of how I’ve grown and changed, and how our family has as well. This is not a blog goodbye at all, but I simply wanted to let you know I appreciate all of you who check in here, and that I still have fun keeping up this space. Blogging is weird and bloggers are weirder, so I’m thankful that you all like being weird with me here.

I have had some light blog posting weeks in the past, but I’ve never officially taken a week off from this space. I think it’s time to do so because I want to chill and savor all my family time (and I hope you do too!). I’m sure I’ll still be posting on instagram (@cakiesblog), so you can still see tidbits of things there. I plan to be back here on January 3rd, so until then, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year friends!