Busy Busy!

Is it really almost February?  I swear I think time this year is in fast forward! 

This year right after we got home from D.C. (like...yesterday?), I took all the Christmas decorations down.  I was glad to have my house and some space back, but it felt really sad and boring.  All the lights, color and greenery went to nothing but plain walls and an empty mantle.  So, I decided to bask in all the loveliness I could take and began decorating for Valentines Day.  Nothing like pink hearts to happy-up your house!  I am using two little crafts I've spent some time on lately as the basis. 

I'm really into wreaths right now.  And I LOVE the thought of using them for things other than Christmas!  So I decided to try to make a few that can work for Valentines.  My first attempt was a coffee filter wreath I saw on a blog I follow (Nesting Place).  LOVE IT.

Start with a cheapo straw wreath and some (note: A LOT) standard coffee filters.

Get your glue gun and get ready to not be able to feel with your finger tips for a few days.  Fold filters into fourths or eighths and start gluing.  (if you have kids this will be a 3 day project.  If you don't, probably a couple hours).

This is where you get tired and want to give up...don't.  Its totally worth it.  Pick up that phone and tweet about it or send a picture to some friends...accountability for what it looks like in the end, ya know?

 And after all your work....viola!  A beautiful, puffy, shabby chic wreath that you can use for just about any occasion.  I had this one tied with a Christmasy ribbon on my back door for Jesus' birthday.  Now it is simply hanging with a ribbon taped (yes, taped) behind it and a cardboard glitter heart sitting inside.

Add some milk glass (weakness) and a few twigs and you've got yourself a whimsical winter mantle.

And now...for the other.  Start with another wreath form.  I used a straw one but I'd recommend a foam one since it is more uniform.  Then I found some yarn left over from some crocheting projects.  

Now start wrapping!  

Here is a picture of my almost finished wreath.  It would have been done by now but my yarn keeps getting tangled up from someone using it as a jump rope.....

Happy Valentines Day!!

Tis the season!

Wondering where we've been?  The answer is a little bit of everywhere.  Apologies to all those who have been anticipating an update on life (ie: pictures of the babies)!  I have been trying to find time to send a little update but life just hasn't slowed down.  I caved when I got a text from a friend pleading for an update.  Oops!

So lets see....we left off at Eden's Mickey Mouse birthday....

We spent Thanksgiving with my extended fam in Belle.  Love that place.  Life just seems slower and more restful there.

  I cant hardly handle this.  My Papa and Eden looking at fish

 Lil family photo complements of my skilled step dad

And then we decorated.  I LOVE THIS HOUSE.

 It was a family affair

 We celebrated a sleeper!  Praise the Lord!!

 We got a little snow on the most perfect weekend

 We ate doughnuts. We. Love. Dunkin.

 We got Miss E a little something to bless us with :)

 Made some new friends while enjoying Shelby for Christmas:)

 We bombarded this little stud with pictures.  How cute is that dimple?

 Got more snow!  Wooo White Christmas!

 Went to DC to be a part of the Al!ve conference.  It was amazing!

Prayed for the nation.  How breathtaking is this pic?  Hundreds of college students praying for our country and its leaders!  Lord hear our cry!!

And got the flu...or something equally as icky.  Sorry....no pics for that. 

Meeska, Mooska, Mickey Mouse!

 Our little girl is totally obsessed with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  Hence the above Mickey shaped food.  (I'm just thankful shes obsessed with something easy to shape food into!)   

Balloons...could have been the only gift she got and she would have been totally content

I cant believe this little girl is 2 already!  And now....

 

We're a family of 4!!  Wow how time flies!

Happy Birthday to our dear sweet Eden!  You are a good and perfect gift to us!!

Things We Love

We love the fall....I think we've mentioned that before.   We joke that we do everything in the fall.  We met in the fall and started dating the next fall.  Clint's birthday is in the fall.  We got married in the fall.  And now BOTH babies birthday's are in the fall.  It is our favorite time of year!  The cool air and presence of football make us nostalgic every October.

One of our favorite things to do to celebrate is to enjoy these amazing (and healthy!) muffins with a cup of hot coffee.  ENJOY!!

Pumpkin Muffins

1 Cup pumpkin

1/2 cup  ground flax seed

1 egg

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup applesauce

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon (or pumpkin pie spice)

Mix all ingredients together (batter will be very thick!)

Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.  

Makes 12 large muffins

Yum!

I Love This Man!

Today is an all day celebration of the greatest man I know!  My hubby!  So here are the top 20 reasons I love Clint Darst.

1) He loves Jesus more than anything in the world, including me.
2) He is committed to bringing truth to whatever situation he is in.
3) He is hardly ever in a bad mood.  And if he is, its often very short lived
4) He is cheezy...and insists that I laugh at his antics (such as his ever present impersonation of a high school baseball coach)
5) He makes me have A LOT more fun than I would allow myself to have
6) He plays little games he makes up with our little girl
7) He humors me and pretends to care about crafts and cooking
8) He can still tear up a football field. 
9) He is SO charming...and still tries to win me with it
10) He frequently reminds me of how we met and how crazy about him I was (true)
11) He refuses to discipline our babies out of anger
12) He leads people in a way that engages their hearts.  He has extremely high character
13) He is SUPER good looking :)
14) Hes not afraid to look silly in front of anyone.
15) He can and will make friends with anyone he wishes (celebrities included)
16) He is an evangelist...about everything he loves.
17) He is one of the most faithful people I have ever met (proof is in the 4 years he waited for me to realize I was in love with him)
18) He makes anyone around him feel loved and enjoyed
19) He loves deeply, no matter what the response
20) And finally...He is SUPER good looking :)

Happy Birthday Clint!!  Love you forever!

Ananias of Damascus (Acts 9:10-17, 22:6-16):

9.  Ananias most likely died as a Martyr.

According to tradition, he evangelized in Damascus and then died for his faith in Eleutheropolis. Over the last year the that God has placed on my heart is “Dyin’ to Live.” It represents the longing for authentic satisfying life that I find in my heart and in the culture around me, but it also represents the paradox of the Christian faith. Christ calls His followers to, “deny themselves take up their cross and follow Him.” Paul says in Romans 8:13, “if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live.” Then in 2 Corinthians 4:10-12, “always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.”

Nias,

I pray that you would take the life of Jesus to those who do not have it. Be it here or abroad, take the Light to those in darkness. I pray you value Christ and the lost world more than you value your own life.

Ananias of Damascus (Acts 9:10-17, 22:6-16):

Nine Meditations on the Man we Named our First Born Son After

8. Ananias was a man of good reputation

Growing up I had a very close relationship with my mother and father. From time to time when dad needed to teach me something we would have what he called a “daddy talk.” One of the life lessons he taught me in those ‘daddy talks’ was how to be a man of good reputation. He told me over and over, “Clint your reputation walks way out in front of you.” Apparently that was true of Ananias as well. When Paul is sharing his testimony he says that Ananias was “a devout man according to the law, well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there…”  This reminds me of Peter’s exhortation to “keep your conduct among the gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.” (2 Peter 2:12)

Nias,

I pray that you would be a man that has a reputation of loving God and loving others ‘walking way out in front of you’, for the Glory of the one who walked in your place, died your death and rose for your life.