DIY: a chalkboard with a purpose

Last week, I started on a chalkboard that I had been making for sometime, got too busy too finish, and then didn't finish.  I'm still not finished, but I wanted to share the progress made thus far. This has been such a failure that I almost didn't want to share it, but I want to be real with my readers. And being real means that you need to know that I don't always have projects that work well.

I'm definitely leaning more toward the "Pin-fail" category with this Pinterest inspired project. The ends are not yet trimmed, and it isn't quite finished, but my stenciled letters are not what I wanted them to be. I'm thinking of getting a friend with a Cricut to cut out "verse of the week" in vinyl for me, seal it and call it a day.I'm thinking of cutting this part off and just making a shorter chalkboard. I feel like it might be too big anyway. Maybe I'll like it better when it's trimmed out, but as of right now, I'm just not feeling it.  The wood-plank to chalkboard thing means that even if you sand your board, the surface is still rough and it makes it hard to write on it with anything other than chalk. I bought some chalk markers and couldn't use them. Boo.

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Another thing that changed: the chalkboard was originally intended for the playroom, but I thought I would rather put it in the kitchen for all of us to enjoy. Since it's in a public part of the house, it's going to have to look "public worthy."

I'm thinking of cutting it down, using vinyl to spell out the phrase, trimming it out, and I think that will much improve things. 

DIY Friday: Verse of the Week board

I love chalkboards. I think they are so much fun and I wanted one in the house so bad.

I got the idea to make a "verse of the week" board for the girls' playroom when I saw this picture:

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And then I found this picture: 

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I went to Lowe's, bought a seven dollar poplar plank, a can of chalkboard paint, a brush, and created a stencil. I am almost finished cutting out the stencil, and I cannot wait to show it to you! Tune in Monday so you can see the finished product! 

Linking to Stonegable, Worthing Court, Cedar Hill Farmhouse, Confessions of a Plate Addict, and French Country Cottage!

Sunday musings: Romans 8:28

This past Friday, a good friend at work approached me in the hallway and said, "It's 8-28. I LOVE 8-28." At first, I thought she was literally talking about August 28, so I wracked my brain trying to figure out what was special about that day- a birthday? an anniversary? Then I realized what she was talking about. Romans 8:28.

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THAT 8:28. I love this verse, too; in fact, it has a lot of meaning to me. 

We went to a large Baptist church in my hometown when I was a teenager. While we were members there, the church conducted a large remodeling project. Around that time, a close family member was fighting cancer. When the church members were invited to write their names and favorite Bible verse on the subflooring, that family member and her immediate family chose to write Romans 8:28. Not too long afterward, that family member left us to join Heaven's ranks, but many people were touched as a result of her life and death. Romans 8:28. 

Fast forward a few years and my husband and I were struggling with infertility. We were told by a doctor that without fertility treatments, we would likely not conceive a child. It was painful to hear, but we decided to just go home and trust God. Three months later, we were pregnant. Romans 8:28

Fast forward three years later and my dad went to the doctor for a routine colonoscopy he'd been putting off for a year. Several blockages were found, and one was found to be cancer. From there, he had several surgeries, radiation, and chemo. He even underwent a hospital stay from septic shock from which he could have died. His illness has led to renewed and strengthened faith for all of us. Romans 8:28. 

Nine months to the date of my dad's cancer illness, my husband and I experienced a devastating miscarriage. One which left me extremely depressed and probably in a darker place than I have ever been. It took many months for me to emerge from the pain and depression, and while my walk with God suffered during that time, I realized he had  never left my side. Once I began to seek him again, I could see how he used this experience to bring me closer to him. Romans 8:28. 

Three months later, we learned my dad's cancer had spread from his colon to his liver. He would have to have yet another major surgery, one that our hometown hospital couldn't handle. We were able to schedule his surgery at a major hospital an hour from our home with a new, state of the art cancer center. A nationally renowned surgeon would perform the surgery. Once again, we decided to let our faith be bigger than our fears, and following the surgery, we realized how God had been with us throughout the entire event. Romans 8:28. 

Two months after my dad's liver surgery, we were excited and nervous to learn we were expecting again. Though I have been on pins and needles through all of this pregnancy, I've tried to pray rather than worrying. There has been plenty of worrying as well, to be honest. Every check up has revealed a strong, healthy baby, and each day, I'm reminded of how the Lord wants us to trust in him and his timing. He knows what he's doing, and even though we go through heartbreaking events in our lives, he uses each one of them for the Good. Because he loves us. Because we have been called according to his purpose. 

If you're going through a hard time, understand that even though you can't see the outcome yet, He can. He has a plan. He's going to use your hardship for his glory. He's going to use it to grow you.

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Linking to Stonegable, Worthing Court, Cedar Hill Farmhouse, Confessions of a Plate Addict, and French Country Cottage!

Wordless Wednesday

"For this child I have prayed and the Lord has given me what I have asked of him." 1 Samuel 1:27

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Linking to Stonegable, Worthing Court, Cedar Hill Farmhouse, Confessions of a Plate Addict, and French Country Cottage!

Sunday Musings: Come to me and I will give you rest.

Lately, I've been praying a lot about finding a way to use my writing talents to honor God. I knew I wanted to do this, but I wasn't sure how. Then, one day, the Lord reminded me that I have this blog and I should certainly include Him in something that is such a big part of my life. After all, didn't He give me this house? Didn't he give me my family? 

Today I'm going to talk a bit about the verses Matthew 11:28-30. 

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I started off my week this week with these verses. They appeared in a devotional I read Monday morning about feeling overwhelmed as a mother. I don't know about you guys, but I often feel anxious and overwhelmed, even when the things I'm worried about aren't big things. 

Some of the things worrying me lately are money (isn't it always?), going back to school, where to send my child to school next fall, whether everything is OK with our baby...and the list goes on and on. Worry is certainly an area where I struggle, and I've been praying about it a lot. I know that it goes without saying that I should just trust in God and know he'll take care of all mine and my family's needs. We won't have everything we want, and that's OK. We will have what we need. 

Christians go through struggles- God never said just because you're a Christian, life will be easy and the trials will be fewer. He did say this: 

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Just because you're a Christian doesn't mean you won't face hardships, but it does mean you won't go through them alone. The Lord is walking with you and he will never leave your side. I don't know what tomorrow holds for me, but I know God and he knows. He also knows what's best for me even though I sometimes question His plan. 

I've been through many trials and while a lot of them hurt and a lot of them I didn't understand, I can safely say there has been a lesson in each of them. In almost every case, I've been able to see the good that came out of them and know that God knew all along what he was doing. 

Yes, Christian, sometimes our road is rocky. This is when we have to remember that God knows what he is doing- he didn't put those rocks in our path so we'd stumble, he put them in our path so he could help us across them. 

Later this week, I'll be sharing my testimony. This has been a difficult thing for me to do- not because I am embarrassed or ashamed, but because it is hard to be that transparent. It is my hope that someone who is enduring similar circumstances will read it and know that they too will emerge from the trial with the Lord's help. 

Thanks for reading :) Happy Sunday. I hope you enjoy your week.

Linking to Stonegable, Worthing Court, Cedar Hill Farmhouse, Confessions of a Plate Addict, and French Country Cottage!