Wordless Wednesday [growing up Clemson]

(sorry for the picture overload...but Clemson's kind of important...)

trunk or treat [simple] craft ideas

trunk or treat is saturday night...i obviously think it would be super cool to have the cutest little crafty area. however i'm also a realist and considering it's outside and i can't control the weather, not to mention whether to plan for 20 or 200 kids, i really need to keep it super simple. but super simple with the crafting i am not. i'm 99.9% sure it's just going to be a coloring table (unless it's really windy and then maybe just no craft area at all)

but here are a few simple halloween ideas that if you were doing crafts for a smaller group of kids could be really fun

(found here)

i think that instead of making it into a yard stake, i would just leave the pumpkin as is. or you could always just glue the sticks to a piece of paper...and have the sticks painted orange already if you were in a time crunch

(found here)

again this is pretty easy but really cute...and the circles could definitely be made ahead of time in order to hurry this project along

(found here)

this could take a little longer than the first two but i think that a wider age range of kids would enjoy this

(found here)

i think this is adorable and it would be so cute to make a couple of these and line them up somewhere...or fill a vase up with them

(found here)

faux stained glass candy corn...really cute and the tissue paper and pattern could be cut out before hand

(found here)

again you could have the tissue paper ready ahead of time and it would still be fun and pretty simple

i'm still looking for a cute halloween printable to use Saturday night. if all else fails, i think an orange circle with a green stem (both construction paper) would be pretty obvious as a blank pumpkin to create however each kid desires

i'll be sure to let you know what i end up doing!

lady of reckless abandonment

"A woman is not born a woman. Nor does she become one when she marries a man, bears a child and does their dirty linen, not even when she joins a woman's liberation movement. A woman becomes a woman when she becomes what God wants her to be."

(page 13)

Ruth is frequently mentioned throughout the book and in this chapter three areas of her life are examined. these areas were affected when she recklessly abandoned her life to God. 

new friends: "you mirror those who influence you" (page 17) find people who will encourage your want to be a dedicated single woman, not those who undermine or criticize your drive. mediocre or non-christians might not understand your desire for a deep commitment but remember that who you spend your time with can (and will) affect your relationship with Jesus. 

new surroundings: "part of reckless abandonment is realizing how much our culture has affected our behavior patterns you want to be Christlike, but your lifestyle is a reflections of Vogue magazine or Cosmopolitan rather than a new creation in Christ. A.W. Tozer said, "a whole new generation of Christians has come up believing that it is possible to 'accept' Christ without forsaking the world." Ruth had to forsake the familiar and comfortable in order to receive God's best for her life." (page 18)

new faith: develop a deep relationship with Jesus, not just meaningless rituals, create a vital love relationship with Jesus

[the missing puzzle piece]

hint: it's not Mr. Right...and it's not a dream career or even motherhood

you can never be fully satisfied until you truly understand that you are complete in God

important note: the incompleteness and feeling of being unsatisfied is not due to being single but instead not being full of Jesus---so if two incomplete singles are married, they are not suddenly both complete. and a woman who is not complete in Jesus and gets married will then be a drain on her husband. a woman cannot expect her husband to fill the space that only Jesus can.

and for a closing thought, a good goal for every day really...

"Choose right now to put mediocrity behind you; courageously determine to pursue Jesus with your whole heart, soul, and mind. As a single woman, this is the perfect moment to establish a radical relationship with Jesus and remove any tokenism from your Christian walk."

(page 22)

Lady in Waiting (take one)

[i'm trying to find blog-worthy events but that seems to be a slightly daunting task. in the mean time i'll be writing about some of my favorite books/bible studies. today will be part one (of many, i'm sure) from Lady in Waiting by Jackie Kendall & Debby Jones)


i started reading lady in waiting during my senior year of college, so about two years ago. i can honestly say that it is one of my favorite books (like we are talking top 5 books and favorite bible study). okay so i've only used lady in waiting as an individual study. i think it would be a fantastic small group study book but i'd also have some reservations. i'm sure i'll talk more about this throughout this walk with lady in waiting but basically this book is very real and honest. i'd have to be in just the right small group for it to be an effective study for me (i think). 


anyways, i thought i would start out with an overview of the book. the full title is lady in waiting, becoming God's best while waiting for Mr. Right. each chapter is about a different lady, for example a lady of diligence, a lady of virtue and a lady of security. while i have read the entire book multiple times, there are definite chapters that i have read very frequently, depending on my current mood. i'm thinking that i might talk about each chapter individually. so this might get to be a little tedious but we'll see how it goes. 


the preface begins by stating that this isn't just another book for singles because it focuses on the state of a woman's heart, not her status. one of the hardest (but also greatest and truest) points made in the book is that the ache in your heart isn't really for a man, that getting married and having kids (following the "script") won't make everything okay. the longing can only be satisfied by Jesus, the ultimate bridegroom. 


i mean i know i've heard that idea/concept many times before. but i don't think it ever really clicked for me until reading this book. i can't explain why that is, but i'm glad that it finally did click. i think that's one reason i can reread this book and still enjoy it so. i NEED to be reminded that meeting someone and getting married isn't going to just make everything okay (not that everything isn't okay right now). so that's my message for today. and i think it could be my message everyday

gameday in death valley

yay for being back home again!!! Go Tigers!!

Wordless Wednesday [siblings]

life reminder {4}

(via)

(via)

odds of your name appearing in a commercial for McDonald's...

it's gameday

1-2-3-4 1-2-3-4 C-L-E-M-S-O-N T-I-G-E-R-S Fight Tigers Fight Tigers, Fight Fight Fight!

six months

I feel like it's somewhat fitting for me to do a 6 month retrospective post today. These past 6 months have just flown by and things have changed for me. There are also a lot of things that have turned out quite differently than I might have imagined just 6 months ago. 

I've mentioned my favorite twins before but today they are six months old. But they have not really contributed to the craziness...just to the cuteness. And if I wasn't already obsessed with looking at the baby section every time I shopped, well now I certainly am. I mean I totally have a reason to buy things now. So April 13 was pretty cool because Jackson and Riggs arrived.

April 13 was also pretty important because it was the day that I sat for the first part of the CPA exam (Financial). I would later find out that I PASSED this section. I was (and still am actually) pretty proud of this. Financial was the section that I was terrified of the most and then add on that it was the first part we take, it was crazy stressful. But seeing the passing score made it all worth it. But now I have 18 months from April 13 to pass all 4 sections (I have one left currently...yay!). So it's a semi-convenient date because I have until Jackson and Riggs are exactly 18 months old to pass everything.

Back in April I was certainly expecting to have a job by now. And I don't. I feel oddly at peace with this. Maybe because I know (hope) that something is just around the corner. And that this will be the perfect job for me. Plus I've got to spend the last month with the twins, which was definitely better than any accounting job. I also would have never thought that I was going to almost not graduate. I seriously can't imagine how things would be currently if I had not made that A. But I'm so thankful that I did and graduation happened as planned.

It's so weird to no longer be in Clemson. Even when I'm hanging out in the upstate, it's odd not to be heading to campus for class all the time. But that's just life and I think 5 years was as much college as I was going to get out of my dad. That's totally okay too, it's kind of fun to not be in school.

When I think back to taking Financial, I really think that it was a blessing (for me at least, Cindy would disagree) that she ended up in the hospital the day before. I know I would have been having major panic attacks about Financial but somehow that wasn't important at all because the babies might be coming. And I was pretty excited to meet them. It's just so funny to look back and see how everything worked out. I would have never guessed when I scheduled the exam in February what all would be happening on that day. But now I'll never forget their birthday...or the day I passed Financial and really started this whole crazy CPA business. 

Happy 6 month birthday Jackson and Riggs. Auntie Staci is pretty excited to finish up studying and head back to see you again. Plus, at 6 months, it's definitely time to start learning letters...and maybe colors & numbers too!