This week’s learned, links, and thankfulness…

When I went to the Michaels Makers Summit a few months back, I ended up winning an HP Sprout and it finally came in the mail this week. Excited to learn how to use it, but man I’ve been stuck trying to figure out how to enlarge the touch keyboard and use the wireless keyboard. Oye! Anyone have any tips or tricks?

Completed two more weavings this week. One already went to a friend, and another needs to get mailed off. It’s so therapeutic and relaxing to weave at night in bed.

I want the girls to make some hand painted art like this. Maybe they can write a story about our family.

This unicorn birthday is darling. My girls would love that idea!

As my mom was preparing breakfast Thursday morning for my sister’s birthday, something exploded in their kitchen and she got hurt. She is okay, and it could have been worse, but she’s in a lot of pain (she has 18 stitches and her whole left forearm got burned). She has medication, but it makes her feel nauseous. Please pray for my mom’s healing.

This vintage little girl dress is perfect for fall! And I want to have another baby girl to get this dress; the pockets are just so adorable.

I love this simple rustic beach wind chime. It would look so pretty hanging on one of my walls.

This site Greaterskies is pretty cool because you can create personalized star chart based on a particular day. A print out of the constellations on the day you got married or the day your child was born would be sweet.

My daughters have been taking Spanish classes and I like how these simple animal memory cards are cute and colorful.

The girls and I want to tackle some of the Halloween crafting classes on CreativeBug.

Oh. Em. Gee. Did anyone watch this week’s Scandal?! I can’t wait to see what happens next. #teamjake

Happy weekending friends!

This week’s learned, links, and thankfulness…

The girls will flip out over these Princess Leia cupcakes. I think we have to make these soon!

Love the serenity in this bedroom.

Hallelujah! We finally have a king size bed. I’ll do another post about it soon.

Now, I’m looking for organic sheets. Oh golly gee is this bed thing getting costly!

Ben wrote an excellent article on “How to Get Our Picky Eaters to Try New Foods.”

This week was a tough one. It just felt so chaotic, and I’m trying to learn how to let things go. I hold on so tightly that it’s tough for me to just release. It’s so ironic because by trying to hold more tightly, I just feel more out of control. Whereas, if I just chilled out and not act like I’m the one keep this world spinning, I’d probably have more calm. I try to be god, and well, I suck at it.

True and Brave did a little assessment with the teacher that checks up on them once a month, and True can read 10th grade level words, and Brave can read 9th grade words! I was pretty proud of them! They love to read, so all the reading they do is paying off.

The girls are obsessed with Weird Al Yankovic’s songs “The Saga Begins” and “Yoda.”

Creamy Cauliflower Garlic Rice sounds delicious!

October is next week?! How is that possible?! Enjoy the weekend friends!

This week’s learned, links, and thankfulness…

I’m thankful for the open and honest community of broken people we are part of. What we have in common is that Jesus made all of us whole. Also, thankful for all the different difficult (and not so difficult) circumstances that has shaped me to give me deeper understanding of grace. #liveoutgospel #liveoutgrace

Happy I was able to have dinner with my family this week! Life gets busy and we don’t see each other as often as we all would like.

Bummed about my Madewell coveralls. They finally came in, but they are way too big. It’s supposed to be a small, but it is definitely more a large. I guess I will have my Madewell gift certificates to hoard again until something else comes along.

Scored some vintage made in the U.S.A. Levi’s 501s at the thrift store this week… yippee! A $3 pair of vintage Levi’s is a really good find.

This jumpsuit is too cute, but I don’t like the cut-outs.

I just remembered I have cauliflower in the refrigerator to make this, but it’s been so busy that I never got to it. Darn! I have a feeling my cauliflower is bad now.

Math went well this week… praise the Lord and hallelujah! That’s the only subject that stresses me out in homeschooling. Are you surprised I’m not a math person?!

Now that Glow’s birthday is done, it’s my two little sisters’ birthdays coming up in October, then mine in November. Woot!

Ben roasted some butternut squash this week, and it seriously tasted like he marinated it in butter for days. It’s so deceptively delicious!

Have a good weekend friends! We plan to do plenty of relaxing; we are in need of a little sabbath.

This week’s learned, links, and thankfulness…

Excited about the antique 8 foot farm table that’s coming to replace our current 6 foot farm table (see here). If anyone local is interested in the table, shoot me an email, I plan to list it on craigslist.

I found the cutest vintage sweater coat at the thrift store. It was a cut that I was thinking about making, but thought I no longer had too. Well, there was no label, and I thought it was an acrylic blend of sorts, so I threw it in the wash… yeah, now it fits True. I was so sad! I tried unshrinking it, and it did get slightly bigger. I can get it on now, but it’s not the boxy loose fit that it was originally (super fitted now). I’m thinking about trying Unshrink It, but not sure if it will really work. Anyone ever use it before?

I want to make quirky characters like these with the girls.

Is it kind? Is it true? Is it necessary? I really liked what this article had to say when speaking about others.

My creative space is clean again, so now it’s ready for more messes! I can’t wait to start making projects in their again. I didn’t really do much in there all summer because it was insanely messy.

I want to teach my children grace, even though I really struggle with it. I want to teach them to love the gospel, even though I often run from it. I want them to learn that in my brokenness that’s where Jesus meets me and loves me. So even though I suck at all those things, it’s never about what I do, but about grace and the gospel. Jesus on that cross in my place is what matters. I think they learn a lot of good from seeing mommy mess up from time to time because I get to talk about who took my mess and made it clean.

I love these old wire mattress springs up on a wall.

This long weekend is great because it gives us a chance to get a lot of things done and still have time to get some rest in too. Happy Labor Day to my stateside friends! And to everyone else… happy Monday!

This week I was all out of sorts. After a pretty good first week of school, this second week totally defeated me. My patience, my energy, and my heart just all kind of grew weary. It is such a vicious cycle to try and do life all on my own, thinking everything I do is good enough, and that I’m strong enough to conquer everything on my to-do list (plus more!). I am so foolish, so easily blinded. Totally weak. While I know grace runs deep and wide, it was really shallow in my heart this week. My heart was broken and calloused all at once. Frustrated with how quick I am to anger, slow in patience, and unwilling to give grace.

Then, there are those small glimpses of grace that happen throughout the day that remind me I need Jesus. Really though, it should be a full view of grace instead of small glimpses, but that shows how deprived my heart has been. After all my fails this week, and after I woke up from my self-consumed senses to see the beauty of grace, I could see why my heart was failing. My heart ran out of gas because I didn’t fill it. When summer vacation started, I also went on a vacation from filling my heart with His Word. Grace runs dry quickly if I’m not putting myself under the waterfall of grace. It’s futile thinking, I’ve got this all on my own. I don’t. Midweek, I made a few adjustments to my schedule to make sure I’m making time to get gas. I need to get under that waterfall, not because it’s my action that gains me favor or makes things go my way, but it’s in savoring the cross that my heart and lips will be overflowing with joy, even when those frustrating times come. While I am totally beat because of myself, I have victory because of the cross. I forget that.

This week’s learned, links, and thankfulness…

I’m thankful for conquering some new challenges!

I’ve got a preschooler, kindergartner, third and fourth grader now. We all survived the first week of school… whew!

I recently got this shirt from the Gap and I’ve worn it about 3 times this week. It’s a comfy tee!

We thought we almost settled on a bed frame, but we didn’t like it from person (it was from Restoration Hardware), and we aren’t wild about the West Elm ones anymore (afraid it’ll look too bulky in a king), so we are stuck and the search continues. We love this one, but not sure if that’s where we want to put all our pennies. I think this one will do, but Ben doesn’t like the legs. If anyone has any suggestions of where to find a simple modern bed frame, please do share.

These size 7 vintage sandals from Ms. Tips are so cute!

All the kids extra curricular activities start this week, so things are going to get extra busy around here.

This past month, I’ve watched Storm Surfers, DamNation, Tracks, and Antartica: A Year on Ice on Netflix and they were all so fascinating. It just pointed me back to the glorious God who created all of these things for our enjoyment. The earth is such a beautiful place!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend friends!