Spring is almost here! Fun baby tunic upcycle

It's about a month away from Spring! I have been organizing more than usual this week. E and I watched the beautiful weather turn to thunder storm and loved it yesterday, which was followed by the birds tweeting. It's so sweet to see her experience another 'new' sound of nature (other than the neighbor dogs!).

In light of the coming warm weather (it got up to high 70s yesterday!), I had the itch to work on an upcycle I have been thinking about for awhile. I am pretty sure this is my first baby DIY I have done on here.... i think? I think it turned out cute, E is wearing it today :)

I cut off the bottom of this shirt and made that tube an infinity scarf for E. 

Cut off the  gathered neck hem of shirt, it's ok if it's fraying

It should look like this on both sides when you're done 

 fold neck hem in half, so it's even on both sides, turn inside out, and sew back seam

 it should look like this

I put a pleat in the shirt on the back side, so as to gather a more flowy look. After, I turned inside out, and sewed to the neck hem.

this is finished part

I cut off sides of shirt, to fit E's size, actually a bit big, because I want her to wear all spring/summer. I also added symmetrical armholes (fold shirt in half, and cut*) 

Turn inside out, and stitch sides

the length of back and front lent itself to a tunic look, so i curved the back of shirt to shirt-tail look. (fold shirt in half, and cut for symmetry)

The finished product looks like this, but I wanted to add some cute gathered sleeves. 

In between that, I cut off elastic arms of old shirt, and made into a headband*

cut sleeves from excess shirt material 

Snack break!

funny face!

I wanted to tie this to give it extra life w/ E. she's growing everyday! it's cute as a tie back!

warm sunny weather!

Here's what the sleeves looked like, I made a simple gather, turned them inside out to the garment and stitched to arm hole

Since this shirt was not a jersey knit, I needed to hem, you can do this by serger  or just hem zigzag  and roll hem for a quick clean look.

This shirt was pretty easy, it's cute, and i know E will get plenty of use out of it over the next 2 seasons to come! Here we come spring!

5 minute Friday: SMALL

While I am waiting for my DIY pics to load, I figured I would write my 5 minute challenge. You can do this writing challenge by visiting LisaJoBaker's blog for 5 minute Friday.

Today the word is Small.

GO:

I am small, in light of this world. In light of God. Back in college, I believe the count of people on this planet was over 7* billion? So, I'm a 'small' amount of that.

The other day, I was talking with Jeremy about some recent events of tragedies all over the world. I told him, although I wasn't positive, that I thought that God looked down at his creation and thought that we were just as wicked as the time that He decided to destroy the earth. The only thing keeping us from that fate was His convenant.  I know this is incredibly negative thought, but there is just so much hurt happening all over. And I am small. And we: are a remnant.

Although just a remnant, a small amount, God looks down from heaven, and He puts Himself in us. THAT'S BIG. He wants to change this world through His people, for His purpose, His kingdom, His glory. Each one of His children has a mission. And even though that mission is finite for us, it has lasting implication because of what He can do with it.

The other day, I was listening to the radio, and it was a christian radio station so it was a testimony that came on (of course, right?). The story was of a man who preached the word, over and over again, to every city he came to in the South. One of those cities actually did not want him to preach in their town. So, he went outside the city, and he preached there, in a tent. On one of those nights, a young man came into the tent, and he accepted the Word planted that day, walking up at the altar call. He prayed and was saved. That young man was Billy Graham. As many people know, he would go on to faithfully preach himself, the Gospel, over and over, and through his ministry, MILLIONS would come to know their Savior.

Does anyone ever talk about the man who preached to Billy Graham? I don't even know his name, although I'm referencing his ministry. He was small. In this story, and really, in history. But, it's plain to see that God did something pretty amazing through him, which he got to take part in. In him being faithful to what God called him to, the weight of that Work that Christ did through him, is eternal.

DONE

Thanks for reading. Love yal!

Valentines Day 2014 marks one year of being a mom!

My valentine's day was precious-filled with memories of the past year as I spent time getting ready for E's birthday. Decorating was so much fun, and colorful, and i reflected on how i have grown and learned from being a mommy.

Strange how 7 years ago, Jeremy and I met for the first time, and now we have a family. The past year has grown us so much closer, although at first we would have said it was like being newly-wed all over again-the hard part of being a newly-wed, that is. In a way, I have seen through being a mommy, just another depth of how much I need a Savior, and that I can't be 'good' at this on my own. Honestly, i felt like screaming a lot the first 9 months since E was born... screaming at Jeremy, at E, at God.

Somehow, I didn't though. I broke a little, but in a good way. I saw that I wasn't in control of E, her sleep, her eating, her health! soo many things!! When things didn't go my way, i would become angry or depressed.

However, I'm learning in this new season: God is in control- i HAVE to trust Him that He's got what is best for my family and me. Trust that He has written the days for me and my family. Trust that He knows how frail my nerves are after a sleepless night. Trust that He loves E soooo much more than I could ever imagine or I would know how to! AND IN THAT, He's given me strength to be His loving hands for whatever is needed. of course this is all in a nutshell because I am daily learning all this more.

In letting go, I have gained peace, and it's reflected in my marriage. Jeremy and I get along so much more now- romance still exists after baby yal!- and we are so excited where God is taking our family on mission...I'm so thankful that God's got this :) Am I perfect at this? heck no. EVERYDAY, i have to pray for humility to love and serve my family well. BUT here's a sure thing:

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6, ESV)

a good work! something GOOD is going on here, not bad, and it's not from me, but God. So, I am so excited and confident that in letting go, I'm letting God do something awesome in me and through me, and I know that will show love to my family. ...

OK that's it for today, i just wanted to share these cute pictures from E's party, and her big girl hair. We had 2 of her best girl friends over! and Grandma was there too :)

Five Minute Friday- 'write'

I think this is hilarious, of all things that I would NEVER do, it's make an effort to robustly display my thoughts via the web. However, my friend Claygirlsings, encouraged me to take the five minute friday challenge to stop being so worried about what others think of my writing. What do you know, the first prompt is 'WRITE'.

If you are interested in taking this challenge or find out more, go here. (Lisa-Jo Baker's blog)

So, 'write':

5 minutes, go...I think that it's pretty funny that my first prompt is just 'write' seeing as it's the very thing I have a hard time being confident in. I don't even want to link up this post to the actual website... we'll see if i will. In talking, I don't speak in linear thought, it makes it very hard to communicate to friends and family. In fact, as a result, I sometimes have shied away from doing so because I believe it might be too much work for others ;)

However, writing is a bit more different. It gives me a chance to re think, rewrite, and come up with what I want to say. This process takes way longer, and often times, these days, i dont have time for that. Something else stops me, it's the fact that once I hit 'publish' I have put my thoughts and heart out for everyone to see, at least the ones who stop by on this page. And, THAT, is what I am afraid of. Being known through my words, written. Because, when I do actually take the time to write, it's what i have thought through, and put out.. no excuses on grammar or punctuation-it's my thoughts. What if someone reads it and thinks I'm stupid, naive, ignorant, arrogant, rude, etc...

OK, 5 minutes somehow turned into 7. and that's what I had time to put out there. Wow, that was exhilarating- I do this because I know that I shouldn't fear anything, but God! I need to get over whatever it is that keeps me from living real w/ people.

Next time, i hope to write more and hopefully, in my honesty, you are encouraged to take on this challenge. I'm sure you will do fabulous. don't forget to link up your blog to the host, Lisa-jo Baker's blog!

Thanks, Claygirlsings for the challenge! Now back to laundry... :)

Snow Day

Yesterday we had a real snow 'storm' come through, it was beautiful to wake up to, and beautiful to watch all day long. My husband, Jeremy, came home early from work to beat the bad roads. During his day here, we got to play with Evee together, do P90X Yoga, enjoy our lunch and tea together, and get 3 extra episodes of Once Upon a Time in-we are obsessed!

It's so good when we get those respites from the normal daily grind. I got to take a shower-as long as I wanted, and shave my legs*- I got extra time to write my daily verses in my journal. Jeremy got to see his daughter experience snow while it was coming down, and see her miss him when she would go down for naps. Everything sort of stops when you have a snow day because there are no reasons to be anywhere but at home. It's even different from the weekend.

God is so good to give us those restful times. I found this verse that Jesus says to his disciples about His Holy Spirit separating us from everyone else, how we live and know Him.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. (John 14:27, ESV)

I can rest in Jesus, and find joy in all sorts of days, but am thankful for the fun and restful ones too! oh, looks like baby just woke up... bye for now!