Making A Happy Home Monday

I participate in a carnival on Mondays hosted by my friend LL. Here's how she describes it....

This is a blog carnival that I host in which I wish to be held accountable....I need to be held accountable in getting some housework done.I hope to inspire and encourage others to accomplish things around the house. That being said, I would love for you to join me and post about some of your projects.Pick a project...ANY project. Make it big or small. Make it clean, more organized or prettier. Whatever you do, make it happier.....the happiness can filter down into your home.

You can check out what other ladies are doing in there homes by clicking here http://as-for-me-and-my-house.blogspot.com.

I'm in the middle of a series on MHHM where I pick 5 projects each week that I don't do that often. This carnival keeps me so accountable!

Here are my picks for this past week:

1. Organize ribbon tote. This is quite the undertaking! I make hairbows and have 142 bolts of ribbon and 2 boxes of scrap ribbon, glue gun, glue sticks, wire, clippies, hair bands, etc. It took 4 hours to do this; I'm so ashamed!!!

2. Wipe down walls and baseboards in kids restroom. GROSS!

3. Go through "sock basket" sort out everyones socks and throw out or find another use for the non-matching ones.

4. Clean out from under my kitchen sink. UGH! Why do I accumulate stuff under there? I emptied all of the contents and wiped out the cabinets, then I threw out empty or almost empty containers and refilled the cabinets. It looks so much nicer under there now!

5. I had Walter test all of our smoke detectors and make sure that they are all still connected to each other. The man who built our house was an electrician and he installed a cool network of smoke detectors so that if one goes off they all do. We had to replace 3 batteries.

This next list is long and hard! Come back next week and see what's in store:)!

Off to make my home happy,

erica

A Little Something New

Ok. I've talked about opening myself up and being vulnerable again... Here we go! I know that God has been asking me to branch out, make new friends, pour into others, be accountable to others, etc. Because of hurt and pride, I haven't. I've made the excuse that I just didn't feel peace about it yet....Actually, I've felt like Hannah up there in the blue bonnets!:)

I've been going to the Wednesday night services at church (now that the weather is better; I don't get out at night in the cold:)) and our guest speaker has been encouraging us to make relationships with people who aren't saved in order to show them the hope that we have in Christ.. I really don't know too many people that aren't saved....

Over the past couple of weeks, my friend from high school has been inviting me to join her play group. I have been resistant to say the least!

God has been giving me every opportunity to fulfill my calling, needs, the needs of my little girls, and a unique venue for meeting new people over and over again; He's even convicted me about it EVERY Wednesday night! I just didn't feel good about it...

Until yesterday! Our pastor was preaching about training your flesh to do what the spirit desires and sometimes you just have to get up and make the first step. He not so gently reminded us that you won't feel good about everything that God asks you to do and if you wish to grow or go beyond where you've been.... you have to get up and get out!

Last night, we joined our new Growth Group and LOVED IT!!! Walt and I never love the same groups and we did last night.... God is so faithful! Even when we were so anxious, He made our sacrifice of time and self pay off in a HUGE way! We were both ministered to and we got to bless others. THANK YOU LORD! ALL THE GLORY IS YOURS!

I also came home and joined my friend Tiffany's play group. I am so excited! Some of the ladies even have twins, so I'm going to drag my sister too:)! They have lots of fun activities and I'm positive that Nadiah and Hannah are going to love it! I know I will too.

I'll have some new fun things to blog about now. yea!

branching out and maybe even liking it,

erica

Wordless Wednesday- Hannah's Dedication

Making a Happy Home Monday

I'm so excited; I figured out how to insert the picture for this post! WOOHOO!

I participate in a weekly blog carnival hosted by my good friend LL. Here's the link to her blog so that you can join us... http://as-for-me-and-my-house.blogspot.com/

This is her description of what it's all about....
Hello, y'all. It is time for another "Making a Happy Home Monday." This is a blog carnival that I started a few months back, in most part to keep me accountable to my own job.By posting pictures and doing this every week, I hope to encourage and inspire others to do the same....or something similar. You see, if your home is in chaos (or C.H.A.O.S.), then I just don't see how you can be happy. I know I can't. BUT, it is hard to make myself do stuff sometimes. So, I have decided to focus on one thing at a time. I might only do 1 thing per week...I might do 1 thing per day, but the point is, I'm doing SOMETHING. I try to make certain areas prettier, neater, or more functional.That being said, I would love for you to join me in this. Post some before and after pictures if you can. Describe things you are doing. Give me some ideas of areas I have forgotten about.

Over the next 5 weeks, I'm going to do deep spring cleaning. This will consist of daily projects that I don't do too often but are necessary. So in 5 weeks many projects will be done and my house will again shine. These are the past weeks jobs:

• Monday: Wipe down all walls in living room and hallway.


• Tuesday: Wipe all light switches and electrical face plates in house


• Wednesday: Re-Arrange my room (clean out from under the bed and behind all furniture)


• Thursday: Clean out file cabinet (my least favorite chore ever!)


• Friday: Dust all surfaces in house. This means picture frames hanging in hallways, knick knacks, furniture, blinds, light fixtures, shelves, I mean everything.

I really do feel so accomplished after this week. Come back next week for another installment of Making a Happy Home Monday!

happy monday,
erica

Thanks Kari Jobe

for reminding me that I and my life sing for Him and no one else! I want to constantly remember who God is in my life and the power to love, heal and forgive that he possesses. I hate that I forget sometimes.......I also want to live everyday to please him and bring him many smiles.

If you don't know who Kari Jobe is... you haven't really worshiped:)! She is AMAZING! You can check her out here on facebook. http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Kari-Jobe/92640840250?ref=ts

The song that I love so much right now is "I'm Singing", all of her songs are beautiful!!!

worshiping in song and with my life,
erica

Wordless Wednesday~ Twins and Grace

Get Over It Already

Let me first start by saying that this is a pretty hard post for me... and my husband is and has been amazing through everything. This post is not going to slam anyone or any organization or even shed light to anyone that doesn't already know about the circumstances. This is just me needing a place to verbalize and for me to feel like somebody else out there might feel the same way in my shoes.

Last summer, I went through one of the most painful experiences of my life. I was personally and professionally attacked by some that were my closest friends and others that were in places of leadership and should have protected me instead of harming me. The situation devastated my family. No details are necessary... it was ugly and extremely painful.

During the past 9 months, I have had to face the very ones that betrayed me weekly (sometimes several times a week). Throughout the process people constantly tell me that we're so brave and that it says so much about our character to stay around and how much staying and being gracious says about us and my innocence... While all of that is extremely flattering and uplifting, we didn't stay around and go through intense personal pain for those reasons. We did it because God told us to. I don't often Hate what he tells us to do.... not ever really. This I have HATED.

Since Christmas things have gotten easier. I truly thought that I was over it all and that closure would be achieved soon. Until this morning. I was chatting with a great friend that moved about 4 hours away a few months ago and I began sobbing. Not crying, but sobbing... like I'm doing now. We were just talking about a worship song that I wrote. Nothing serious, nothing too deep, but it hit me; I'm still not over all of the hurt. I've helped my husband to come closer to healing, told good friends not to hold it against those at fault, and made everything alright for my kids. Why am I not over it?!?!!?!?

Why not? I'm a strong woman, well educated and independent, but I can't get over the pain caused by people who don't really spend any time thinking about or dwelling on me.

I don't want to be brave or to teach them all a lesson... the Lord has shown me that he will fight the battle for me. I believe this in my head and my heart! I want people to know that I didn't do what I was accused of and I want to feel accepted again. I want the stares to stop and the whispers to be silent. I want to have friends again even if they're not my true friends... I just miss hangin' out with people other than my sis and husband. It's not my friends fault; I've been the one to seal myself off from the world trying to protect my heart, but it's not working anyway, so I guess it's time to be vulnerable again... Maybe.

My dear friend gave me advice that she'd heard me give to someone else not too long ago (don't you hate when your own advice is given back to you?). She said, " the kind of hurt that you've experienced is one of the worst. It's actually good for you to really feel the pain and to take plenty of time to heal." Ugh. She's right.

Sorry that this has been a depressing post... happier words to come soon.

drying my tears because I hate to cry :),

erica

Making a Happy Home Monday

For this installment of Making a Happy Home Monday I copied LL from a couple of weeks ago; I cleaned out the cabinets in both bathrooms. I can't believe that we had that much junk in my cabinets! UGH! I do love how they look now! I emptied them out completely, wiped them out and filled them with about a third of the contents.

Off to make my home happy,

erica

Spring Break Finale

I just found this in my posts to edit... didn't know that it hadn't posted... boo!

On Friday morning, we headed to Waco to visit their zoo. We went with our friends LL and her boys. I must admit..... we were impressed! They had many animals that aren't at the Dallas or Ft. Worth zoos and most if not all were visible. It was clean and so beautiful! I had a great time.

Saturday was our stay home and clean the backyard day... woohoo! Ha! Walt and the kids called me a nazi. Whatev

On Sunday, we woke up went to church and headed to Six Flags. We had a blast! There were no lines and the weather was perfect! Couldn't have been better.

So Sad to see Spring Break end..... in the words of another WB character..... That's All Folks....

Lenny

This week has been crazy! Lots of family drama last weekend.... mom, uncle, aunt, cousin, other uncle all acting like jr. highers... so irritating!

My sister and her sweetie pies came over to hang out on Monday and the real drama began while Nadiah and Grace were playing in the backyard. They came in at about 10:30 saying that they saw a bunny in the yard, we smiled/said yea and sent them back out. Then they came in saying socks is chewing on something red.... again I sent them out thinking it was a piece of her collar that she had torn up while we were out of town on spring break. The next time they came in proclaiming that socks was eating a rat. They DEFINITELY had our attention at this point! Andrea (the much stronger stomached between the two of us) went out to check it out and began to call for me loudly.... very loudly! I reluctantly went out and she begged me to get the girls in the house and come back out to help her. I am terrified at this point, thinking that socks is hurt or something. While I got the girls settled in the playroom, she put socks in the side yard and began sobbing.... now I'm freaking out because my sis doesn't cry. I go out and see what the commotion is all about; Socks found a nest of baby bunnies. There were 6 little newborn bunnies lying on the ground with punctures in them. We thought they were all dead and began to pick them up and dispose of them before our girls discovered what the mutt had done (this is her new name, no longer Socks the Wonder Dog) when I saw that one was farther away from the others and appeared to be breathing. It was alive! We were pitiful! We made him a new nest in an old shoe box, put material from the original nest in it and put him on top of the dryer so that he could stay warm.

I then called our vet to see what to do and was shocked when I learned that no vets around here see bunnies. Really, well what the crumb am I supposed to do with it. I am a dog only kind of girl. Seriously! I like other animals, but I don't like things that smell badly... at all! Anyway, I finally got the number to this vet that was supposed to know all that I needed to do... their advice was... put the bunny back in its nest. I explained that the mutt would just get it again and kill it. She then suggested that I get a medicine dropper and give it a few drops of kitten milk or baby formula and try to nurse it and let it go when it's up and hopping around. OMGOSH!!! My sis and I were both so anxious about raising a bunny... I was gonna leave it on the vet's front porch:)! After I gave the bunny so much milk so fast that it shot out its little nose, we decided to call our Amma (the best Grandmother in the world). She proceeded to tell me of this friend that she has that rescues and nurses bunnies.... I couldn't have been happier!!! We made plans to drop off the bunny at around 6pm.

While I was gone to pick up the big kids from school, Andrea noticed that he wasn't getting warm enough. So she put some blankets in the dryer, stuck the bunny under her shirt (we're moms, skin to skin contact is the best) and covered the bunny up with the warm towel. When I got back it was my turn.... this part was so fun! I took Lenny and put him under my shirt right under my breast bone and covered him up and began to lightly storke him. He began to move and kind of perk up and ate a bit more. My sis and I felt so accomplished! The kids got to love on it and take pics of the sweet little thing. I'm not going to be a vet or anything or even own any new types of pets, but I did have fun caring for our sweet baby. We named him Lenny after the character from Of Mice and Men. The latest word is that he's doing just fine and doing what all bunnies should do! Woo hoo! We did it:).




PS: We're still not talking to Socks:)