Home Made Lovely

 coffee's on, friends!  

 i am privileged to share our home at Heather's lovely place, Home Made Lovely, today.

God has done such amazing things within our family, especially in the past three years!

it never ceases to amaze me how He can bring something so beautiful, so honoring to Him, out of a seemingly horrible situation.

He truly is good all the time and with Him, there is ALWAYS hope.

hope to see you there!

xo, 

mary

10 on 10:::Sunday style

what an awesome day it was!

i'm SO thankful that i went back and grabbed my phone at the last second before church this morning.

i normally leave it home for church, but He knew i would need it.

i captured some super special pictures{to me} today.

9 a.m.ish

being silly with my girl.

i was running late and had no time for this picture!!!  ;)

10 a.m.ish

my darlings in sunday school snackin' it out.

11 a.m.ish

don't you wish you lived by me and my friends who make this amazing furniture 

out of rough sawn boards and antique lumber?  

this is a HUUUUGE blessing to me and my class.   no more tippy chairs.  yay!!!

12 p.m.ish

preacher.

my best friend got baptized today.   a picture of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection.

an outward symbol of obedience because of an inward heart change.

 1 p.m.ish

feeling so full of gratefulness for the events of the day.   

i cannot even imagine where my life would be today, were it not for the transforming power of Jesus in my life.

2 p.m.ish

home again, home again, jiggity jig!

3 p.m.ish

i have a serious sweet tooth and this is how i satisfy it without sugar. 

dates rolled in pecans and a chia/rice milk shooter. #recoveringsugaraddict

4 p.m.ish

best friends.

5 p.m.ish

 sundays are for simple suppers, hoarded avocados, and paper plates.

6 p.m.ish

sunday evening service.

here's to a beautiful, new, fresh week with no mistakes in it...yet! 

blessings to you all.   :)

not its, off to bed!  off to bed!  for this sleepy girl.

morning comes early, you know?

xo,

mary

to my darling readers:

contrary to what it may seem, i am not having a blogger header identity crisis{well, maybe?}.

i may have blogger ADD, which makes it hard for me to not change things and

play around in the amazing program which we know as picmonkey.

i love change, as long as i'm the one doing it{otherwise, forget it....LOL!}, and when i have free time{heehee}, i simply like to play around.   i consider it like free therapy or something like that.

i guess you can come to expect these things in the future. :)

ups and downs of the weekend

well, well, well!

another weekend has flown by again and there was certainly no lack of action happening around here. 

from breaking out the good 'ol sewing machine{she behaved}, to kid parties, an ER visit, church potluck and back to the pharmacy on sunday, we covered a lot of bases.

how about you? did you have a relaxing weekend?

mine was, ummm, not so relaxing, but blessed in so many ways.

friday was a free for all for us.  

we i worked around the house,  the kids did a little school work, and a LOT of watching myth busters.

i was able to go for a {very hot} run, but then i was rewarded by uninterrupted hammock time.

#FavoriteThingOfAllTime.

on friday night, elly and i plugged in our old faithful{actually my mama's} sewing machine and got to work!  

saturday was a double birthday party for my sweet nephews and i wanted to make them an adventure bag.

my awesome friend, sandi, gave me the idea from this book, and hers turned out so awesome, 

i wanted to give it a try.

i didn't have the pattern or the book, so i sort of made up my own.

they were definitely not perfect, especially for my first try, but i think they came out okay.

i just used a hodge podge of vintage fabrics, new fabrics, and recycled clothes that i had on hand.

budget was the issue here, and i really couldn't go spend money on fabric.

here's a peek at what was inside.

i forgot about the compass. :/

the total for one bag's contents was $5.00.

for Lucas

the backside with a pocket

 

for Ethan

honestly, i was a little nervous about the boys liking these, but it turns out they LOVED them!

i was so blessed by that, and a few of my other nieces and nephews requested one, too.
that just did my heart good!
i have some more sewing to do, i guess.  ;)

here's a few highlights of the super fun kid party.
it was held at my in-laws beautiful 14 acre, set off on a long driveway, country abode.

 
 

now for the 'down' part of the weekend.

my husband has been battling a bad tooth for a while now and it decided to act up this weekend.

on saturday, he made a late night trip to the ER for antibiotics and pain killers until we could find a dentist to take care of it.

he endured looooong nights of intense pain, no sleep, and lots of vicodin.

i totally cringe to think of what those meds do to you, but the Lord knew what He needed at that time.

i made a trip after church on sunday for more meds and he waited it out, 

pacing and literally holding his jaw in complete pain.

i prayed and prayed and prayed as i lay in bed alone{he had to sleep on the couch}

that the Lord would just heal him and take the pain away.

i asked him to provide a dentist in the morning that would take him in and have mercy upon his poor mouth.

guess what?

he wasn't down for long, because the Lord is plentiful in mercy and compassionate to His own.

nathan was able to go without an appointment this morning and they took care of him right then.

yay!  

God is so good! 

 i did a little happy dance and lots of giving praise to our awesome God today!

like i even need a reason to praise God.  #Guilty

i did not like seeing my man in pain so i was super relieved.

below is literal proof of my happy dance and my happy man when he showed up early from work to 

get some much needed rest...pain free.

 how was your weekend?
i am so excited to wrap up homeschooling for the year!
we have a few weeks left and then we are DONE with the bulk of it.
my motto:
#KeepMovingForwardPeeps
i cannot wait to assemble and plant our raised bed gardens and spend time outside with the kiddos swinging in the hammock and enjoying fresh garden goodness.

it's going to be a wonderful week!


xo,
mary




heading over to the sweet carissa's place today

we're sharing...

...and for once, i'm totally against it.

i'm usually all for sharing.

after all, refereeing children in the midst of battle is my forte, but not this time.

go ahead...

share the cat.

share your toys.

share the remote.

share your gum.

by all means share the love for goodness sake!

but please, please, please don't share your germs!

it all started on the tragic night that the broncos and tim tebow lost to the patriots.

that was a stinky game and i'm still not over it.   hrrrmmmph.

we sat dazed at my sisters house trying to ignore the fact that they were getting absolutely whooped.

i kept grabbing for more jalepeno poppers to ease the pain.

ok, not really.

but that's when it hit.

elly had a headache and wasn't feeling well.

since then, this 'thing' has made it's way through every. single. one. of the kids.

it starts off like this,

"mom, i have a really bad headache."

it's baaaaad, you guys.

then it's like this,

"mom{or dad}, my stomach hurts, can you get me a garbage can?"  *insert throwing up*

followed by,

"my neck and blood vessels in my head hurt really bad!  they won't stop pounding!"

for like, at least, two full days.  *insert mom panic*

with a side of,

majorly swollen glands making it sound like they have severe strep throat.

lethargic.

annnnnd drumroll please.......................

a massive head cold with lots o' draining snot.

you can hear me telling the boys to get their finger out of their noses{and get a tissue!}on a minute by minute basis.

no joke.

thank the Lord right now that you do not have this in your house!  really, do it.   :)

i have no idea where it came from, but it can go home right now.

while jack suffered  the most yesterday, he was still feeling the effects today.

he even thought it was necessary to take extra precautions.

he's always prepared.

isn't that precious?  this kid cracks. me. up.

he wasn't to keen on me photographing him, but i'm so glad i did so i'll have it to remember.

:)

this morning since everyone was still recovering{or just starting to get sick}, i did what every good mom would do.

i let the kids have the day off from school.  ahhh...the beauty of home school.  :).

elly, my oldest, is the only one fully recovered, so she spent the day crafting and sewing away.

she and maddie make pins, banners, cozies, pot holders, etc...and sell them in a local shop.

isn't that sweet?  the lady who owns the shop is such a blessing to us.

in this post, you can read about some of their creations.

maddie sold every single one of her flower pins, and made $45.00!!!

that's a lot of money for a 10 year old!

she has a whole new batch made, just waiting to be dropped off.

elly's bird coffee cozy.

i tried my hand at a camera on the cozy{with ric rac for the camera strap}...you see it?!?

henry{my most wonderful and youngest son}, told me it looked like a window with a little kids head in it, with no eye balls or face.

awesome...exactly what i was going for!

all in all, it was a wonderful day.

the kids got lots of rest.

we ate mini tacos and e.l. fudge chocolate filled buttery cookies for lunch{mother of the year, i know}.

we prayed for friends and those we know that need it.

we sang songs together.

we thanked the Lord for His goodness, even in sickness.

really, we did.
 :)

so...

...you must listen to this song!

i love it.  a. lot.

                                       

i am truly thankful to have my kids at home with me, and while the sickness isn't fun,

we still made lots of great memories.

how was your day?  

now i have one favor to ask...

please, please pray that my husband and i don't. get. sick.

thank you!

:)

xo,

mary