breaking winter boredom

I am going to start by being honest. While I am posting about how fun my toddler is, today is actually more like this:

Ha!

Dane is nearly 19 months and has quickly learned that he has an opinion. And that it can differ from mommy's. Which is awesome. So there have been a lot of "are you kidding me's" and "If you do that ONE MORE TIME!'s" today. 

BUT we really do have a lot of fun around here! :) This week we introduced shaving cream paint to the tub. He thought this was pretty much the greatest thing ever and kept asking for "moh" (more). :)

We've also experimented with homemade paint (water, cornstarch, and food coloring). Better suited for outside on the sidewalk. It was messy and flaked everywhere after it dried. 

This baby also loooves to cook and "wash dishes". Future wife, know that not only do I pray for you already, I'm teaching him a thing or two in the kitchen. You're welcome.

Winter in our neck of the woods is unpredictable. After a few days of rainy/icy, cold weather, we decided we could bring the outdoor fun inside! For the record, I did once say that my living room wouldn't be full of gaudy, plastic ugliness. In my defense, this does not count! This was an outside toy brought inside to break the winter monotony. It is back outside...and my living is so full of wooden kitchen pieces and food and library books that we have no room for plastic junk. ;)

When the weather is nice though, this boy begs to be "ou-si". In true Kentucky fashion, this child is horse lover. Really an animal lover just like momma. :) He will pet any "puuuupppy", "tit tat" (kitty cat) or other furry creature. But he really, really loves "hoh-ses". Like really, really. Tevie's family has a horse and mule farm so on visit's to the Goodens' he gets in plenty of kisses and snuggles with his faves. But in the meantime, the horses in the pasture that sits directly in front of us help him get his fix. 

We were told spring was on it's way! Let's hope so because we're ready to enjoy the pool, sandbox and running barefoot in the grass!

chalk it up

If you've spent any time on Pinterest, you've seen the wonder that is chalk paint. Not CHALKBOARD paint you write on, I am talking about this beautiful, magic medium that can transform just about anything. 

Some of use are lucky enough to have some creative talent. I am not one, BUT I am blessed with a family full of creative, entrepreneurial geniuses. One of those is my aunt Lori, owner of 101 North Vintage. Check. her. out! Amazingly cute stuff! 

Our Thanksgiving break was spent at my parents' home surrounded by 17 family members for a whole week! That week, of course, including a crash course in chalk painting and shopping for the perfect vintage pieces. One of which was a hidden-leaf Duncan Fife dining table that I am STILL mad at myself for not snagging!! :( 

I sat around this dining room table as a little girl. Playing playdoh, eating supper, celebrating birthdays. My parents gifted it to me when I got married in all it's pine glory. 

 My tutorial with Lori was done using a charcoaly/blue paint. We redid some chairs for mom and the blue tone was so perfect for her basement. After seeing it on my table for a few weeks though I just decided it didn't work. So, I took that puppy to the back deck, gave her a gently sanding-- the best part about chalk paint is that is rubs off pretty easily with some sandpaper, making it very easy to distress, or completely start over! Paint, sand, and then finish with finishing wax which is buffed with fine steel wool. How easy is that?

I chose not to completely remove the blue, instead it looks great peeking through the white in places. 

For a detailed tutorial or more information you can check out Inspired, Wired & Fired or 101 North Vintage.

the Lord did it

“So the Lord did it.” Exodus 8:24 NIRV

Just like that. He sent a plague across the land of Egypt. He didn’t have to work hard or be convinced to do it. He just did it. As I sit here absolutely stressing about how He is going to move next, I read that He just did it. He’s not going to give me any fair warning. He’s not going to send a flashing neon sign. When God moves, He moves. It’s fast. It’s usually pretty huge. And it’s always undeniably Him at work. And He doesn’t need my help to do it. 

So, is going back to work full-time my way of helping Him? Is He putting all these current struggles in front of us to make it very clear that I need to be back at work? After all, if I was working we wouldn’t be concerned with how much all of this is going to cost. Or, instead, is He trying to teach me a lesson in reliance, in patience, in His faithfulness? Is He preparing  to shower us with a blessing we can’t imagine—one so big that satan knows we will give only God glory for it, so he is doing everything in his power to make me rely on me, to turn from God and “take care of myself”. Something tells me it’s that one.

I feel sort of like the Israelites. I prayed my sun stand still prayer that God would provide a way for me to be home with Dane. And here I sit a stay-at-home mom. The Israelites begged the Lord to deliver them from Egypt. And he did. He did exactly what they asked. But what they meant was they wanted to be delivered straight to the land flowing with milk and honey. They didn’t want the 40 year detour through the desert. They didn’t want manna and quail, they wanted steak and all the fixin’s.

I feel so amazingly blessed to be home with Dane. The Lord “delivered” me, so to speak, from work. But now that I’m here, with just enough to survive—just enough manna for each day (Ex16:4)—I am complaining. I am unhappy. I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom who could afford to be a stay-at-home mom. I want my steak… I’m kinda tired of the manna.

As we pray for more manna, I cry to my husband like the Israelites cried out to God. I tell him I should go back to work. We could make more money do this or that. We put our car and our house up for sale. But there still is just enough for each day. No breadcrumb trail to ensure me that as long as I keep walking there will be more manna. No picture of the heaping pile of manna in the distance. Nope. We just open the door each morning and find exactly enough manna for that day. And do you know what the Bible says about my complaining? When I cry out to my husband it’s not to him, instead Moses told the Israelites, “You aren’t speaking against us. You are speaking against the Lord.” Ouch.

I am grateful my sweet husband works hard for us. He bears a heavy burden as the spiritual leader and breadwinner for our home. It’s a burden I am grateful he bears because it would be too heavy for me. It is not because he doesn’t make enough, it’s because we are over committed to things we cannot do anything about yet. A house that won’t sell. A car that’s worth less than we owe on it. Two words: student loans. This week one car needed the transmission fixed, we thought the battery had died in the other, the dishwasher died, and I fell through the ceiling while walking in the attic. Our manna for today is that 1) the battery only needed to be charged and 2) fixing the transmission isn’t going to cost what we thought.  

While Tevie was home for lunch I went to work out. Thanks to Jesus Culture radio on Pandora, I had a full-on worship jam session on the treadmill and was trying to keep from weeping and raising my hands in praise in fear the college students on either side of me might think I was some fat, old lady about to pass out. J When the Lord wants to get my attention He strategically plants “Revelation Song” somewhere for me to hear. I am then reminded that He is Holy. He is my breath and Living Water and all I need. And, even if for a moment, satan’s voice is silenced, I stepped onto less shaky ground and regain confidence that He is all I will ever need.

In the Big Picture, this earthly life is so very, very short. In this illustration, Francis Chan talks about just how short this life is compared to eternity. It seems kind of silly to spend so much time worrying about such a short period of time.

Through all the conviction I have felt recently while reading Exodus (I’m doing the Canonical reading plan on the YouVersion Bible app—try it!), there has been one phrase that brings comfort instead:

“The Lord will fight for you. Just be still.” Exodus 14:14 NIRV