Ok -for all of our family and friends who live outside of Iowa. Here in our state, they do something called beggars night - its trick-or-treating, the night before the 31st. Im no sure why they do it but I like it!
Here are the pictures of Wonder Woman, and Raphael! We are super safe here tonight since they are sleeping upstairs! :)
In this last week I have seen the Faithfulness of God ever apparent in my life once again. I don't know how else to put it. Prayer simply changes things. Every night Josh and I have been praying together for a specific need in our life and every day I have watched God do something else to remind me that he is in control and he is my source. As I follow him and put him first, He is going to meet all our needs. Its Amazing really. I know that He sees the big picture and works all things out for our good, so I have to trust Him.
Oddly enough its very easy to go back to worry, even after I have seen his hand at work. I am praying that He will help me to completely trust him through every situation, Dear Lord - I have no reason NOT to trust you. Please help my humaness! Help me to understand that since you created me - you will take care of me, since you started a work in me - you will finish it!
woke up with pounding migraine
canceled baby sitter
didn't go to work
took a bunch of meds then went back to sleep
Colin was a good boy and patted me on the back sympathizing with me
even though im pretty sure he is ADHD or some strain of that he was quiet for me today
i still feel weird but no more headache
he went to school in his Tiger shirt! He was happy~
Im looking forward to life group tonight
need to sweep and mop still yet
making minestrone soup for supper - its on the stove
trying to eat more Daniel Diet(ish)
my knees feel weak as do my elbows - kinda wierd
getting readty to go to chiropractor
picking up the kids
then going to walmart to figure out what they are wearing for beggars night
im breaking all tim gunns rules for dressing right now -
he says to wear a sweat suit alternative.
sorry tim, my hoodie is just comfortable right now - and to top it off -
a ball cap to cover up this hair!
i promise to get it together before life group!
After watching those episodes of "17 and Counting" - I had dreams all night long that I was chasing Dugger kids all over the place and kept losing them. It was terrible. I woke up tired! Ana thinks living in house like that would be oodles of fun - she said tonight - You would NEVER be bored! She is motivated by fun in everything that she does, if there isn't going to be any fun in the job - she doesn't want to do it.
She wants to be Sara Palin for Halloween, and for Colin to be McCain. We were trying to get him to talk like him tonight - to say -'Im John McCain, and I approved this message!" He was laughing too hard to get it together. I don't know what they will end up being but it was funny.
Sunday Sunday SUNDAY - (as Colin would say!)
Left the house around 8:30 this morning and was finally home around 7ish. It was a long day, but a good one. We had a great service today, and an awesome message. It was very inspiring, and something that I have been feeling an urge to do. Josh preached about how we are serving those around us. Mathew 25 - naked and you clothed me, hungry and you fed me text.
We are gearing up for a Thanksgiving Day Meal giveaway. Its going to be great! There are tons of opportunities to serve with this project, and more families than what you might realize in Des Moines that could use it!
I had an open house today - that was slow. I am ready for my listing to sell.
Talked with my best friend from Texas and got caught up on how her Sunday went - she had to speak at her church this morning - she team taught with two of their other staff pastors, and had sent me her notes last night to critique. They were awesome. I miss her. She is such a gifted speaker.
Had some delicious Mexican food tonight, and vegged with the kids watching the Dugger family on TLC. That wore me out, so I had to watch something funny to clear the brain.
I filled my suburban up with Gas for the first time in (probably) a year tonight! And - it was affordable again! $2 a gallon - YEAH!!!
Called Karina and had a nice chat with my sista! Talked to Kim on Friday, and the babies are both doing great! I miss them too.
Frustrated with this cold weather, I heard that it was going to be another terrible winter according to the Farmers Almanac. YUCK - As I walked into Target tonight I chanted - "i love iowa, i love iowa, i love iowa!" and Yes Lord, Yes Lord - please help my blood to thicken once again. - I need to aclimate every year! Needless to say - alot of self talk going on right now.
Tons of people are getting this nasty conjestion cold stuff going around - Half of our team was sick today - so we got to cancel team meeting! A night off! Hooray! - hence the Dugger marathon!
Im so thankful that we started Car Pooling with some neighbors down the street, for school! I don't have to get out in the morning. I love that, however I need to go to the gym.
My eyes are burning, and its time for some shut-eye!
Thank you God for this day and for all your provisions. I love you and I love your work. Help me to follow hard after your plans for my life. As we sang today - "Heal my heart and make it clean - open up my eyes to the things unseen, Break my heart with what breaks yours - everything I have for Your Kingdoms cause - as I walk from earth into - Eternity!"
I have been enjoying the E-votional that Ed Young sends out - Here is an example of one. If you find this beneficial to your daily walk with the Lord - I suggest that you sign up!
May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.Psalm 141:2
When God gave Moses the instructions for building the tabernacle and for the various forms of worship, one of the things that he ordered was the burning of fragrant incense.
Each morning and evening the priest was to burn incense on an altar, so that "incense will burn regularly before the Lord for the generations to come" (Exodus 30:8).
The incense, which had a sweet-smelling fragrance, was representative of the prayers being lifted to God in worship.
Most of us, when we think of prayer, think that it's our way to communicate with God. And yes, that is part of it. But prayer is also a form of worship.
So as you turn to God through prayer, realize that you are offering that sweet-smelling incense to God. And as you lift your requests, joys, concerns and most of all praise to God prayer, see that holy time as a time of worship.
A Prayer for Today
Dear God, It's so easy for me to turn to you in prayer to ask you for what I need or tell you what I want. Help me realize that every time I turn to you through prayer, I am offering you something. I only pray that each prayer brings with it that sweet-smell of incense. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.
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Well I have been going on about my camera - I compromised and bought a cheaper one than what I should have. I was in the mood to spend money on the house at the time of my purchase - I was in a decorating mood, so now Im kicking myself for not laying down the cash. I know better! At the same time I don't regret my living room re-do. I just need to grin and bear it! Say CHEESE, and wait 30 bajillion seconds for my camera to focus and take your picture.
Daine whipped out his i-phone and said -hey Dara, look here! Jade sat with me and slept the whole time nearly! It was great! I miss them so much!
This week my highlight was meeting my niece for the first time in person! Here are some great pics of our time together! She is just as precious as we knew that she would be. She is a blessing to all of us! We love you sweetie!
We had a great time at the Marriage Conference this weekend. It was great to meet some new couples and hang out with old friends as well. I walked away refreshed and ready to be all that God has for me to be. It was great to just be away with Josh, going down town to this hotel was awesome. It was beautiful, and the staff was so accommodating. It was the Renaissance Savory Hotel which was just gorgeous! We enjoyed a night out with some great Mexican Food at Dos Rios, a gourmet Mexican joint. Good times!
Growing up my Mother sewed impeccably well. She made the neatest dresses. She had a dress form, and tons of idea books (Lady Diana Books) that she and Dad would design dresses based off of. It was fun to grow up in that environment, sewing feels like home to me. Mom always made me a new dress for the major holidays of Easter and Christmas. Then in the fall, before Convocation - which is like a campmeeting of sorts for our college she would make me new outfits for that as well.
So as my faithful readers know I enjoy the show Project Runway, it is so fun to watch what they are able to come up with - and all without a pattern. Tonight is the finale and Im looking forward to our After Life Group Party, several will stay and we will see who wins. That being said, this whole show has made me take a closer look at fabrics, and patterns. It has put us in the mood for sewing. Josh has even been looking for dress forms on Craigs list, and He says that He wants to "build" me a pencil skirt, He thinks it would be a fun challenge. While the average woman wouldn't even want to see what her husband may come up with, this is exciting to me.
It reminds me of my sweet Dad. One Christmas when my mom was MAJORLY sick, she was down for so long, a Christmas Dress wasn't going to happen for me before the Christmas Cantata that the choir would put on every year at the end of the Semester. I had picked out a faboulous dress that I had seen in the Victoria Magazine that we faithfully subscribed to, and He took the picture and made it for me. It was like the grandest dress I ever wore at 10 or 11 years of age. It was a navy blue dress that had puffed sleaves and a huge skirt with this phenominal lace peplin underneath. (think of the Anne of Green Gables blue dress that Matthew bought for Anne at Christmas and your almost there!) There was a gold piping design on the bodice, and in my mind still looking back - it was probably my favorite Christmas dress of all time. Probably due to the circumstances surrounding it all, but a lot of love went into the dress. Mom put the gold piping on because it was the hardest part. - Lots of detail work and lets be honest details in sewing were not my dad's strength, and mom and dad always fussed about that! But at any rate the dress was completed and it was a whole lot of fun to wear!
All of this thought has put me in the mode of wondering about shapes and design. I bought the Tim Gunn book on Amazon, called "a Guide to Quality, Taste, and Style" He talks about having a style mentor, which my mom had - (remember Lady Diana books) and he talks about finding a look that works for your body and then following that for a failure proof look all the time. He has several assignments in the book for you to do as well, that are simular to being on his show "Tim Gunn's Guide to Style" It has been a fun project to read his book and do the assignments. He had several different catagories of women to look up for possible style mentors. Here are some of them:
Les Francaises:
Carine Roitfeld
Charlotte Gainsbourg
Catherine Deneuve
The Sirens:
Angelina Jolie: (im not a fan)
Nigella Lawson
Julie Christie - now
Julie Christie - young
Masculin/Feminin:
Katherine Hepburn
Coco Chanel
Les Gamines:
Sofia Coppola
Natalie Portman:
The Risk Takers:
Kate Moss
Sarah Jessica Parker
Chloe Sevigny
The Rockers:
Patti Smith
Cat Power
The Bohemians:
Donna Karan
The other two bohemian looks were Edith Bouvier Beale, and Beatrice Wood - but I didn't find much on them.
Les Doyennes:
Deeda Blair
Pauline de Rothchild
Lee Radziwell
Italian and Complicated:
Power Brokers:
Martha Stewart
Vanessa Redgrave
Oprah Winfrey
Ive yet to find my style mentor in this list, but its been fun to look at all these different categories of style.
Yesterday was Josh's big 31. We ran errands, and ate at El Rodeo. Pretty uneventful. I wish he enjoyed parties like I do, because I would have thrown him one, but getting the guys to sing to him in Spanish with a huge Sombrero on his head is as far as I can get with him.
Just the same, Happy Birthday Josh. I love you! I hope that this year is your best one yet!
This one is my favorite pic of him. He is the most precious baby boy.
Here Jade is sporting a onesie that I made her!!!
Its the simple things in life really. Tonight we finally went and picked up a fridge that was given to us that was up in Ames. I am so happy to have it - it has to be from the late 70's probably and it looks awesome in the garage! I have wished many times that I had an extra fridge especially for church functions, all the different life groups we have done - I could have invested in this along time ago! But it comes at the perfect timing right before Rachel's shower, and Im so excited to have it. Its also going to be great for the Daniel Diet that Josh wants to do like a week out of every month now that he weighed in at the gym. I hate the scales at the gym. I boycott them, but hey thats another post entirely. Back to the fridge, with the produce you consume on that diet - it will be great to have this refrigerator.
On our way out of town (Ames) we were a smidge hungry, snacky if you will - so we stopped at Taco Time, which is one of my favorite Taco joints around. It isn't authentic its just good! I miss it. I miss many eating places in Ames, its such a great town. I loved my time there. But anyway... I go to bed tonight with a smile on my face! Thank you God for the little things!
Tonight Colin had Josh help him make a sweeping device, to sweep the sidewalks. He called it the Sweepinator 31 - it also removes snow according to Colin.
