Give me the heart of a servant...

WORDS:  Michael Puryear (w. 1992)

Having our hearts in the right place is the key to servitude.  If our heart is focused on serving anyone other than our Lord and Savior, then we cannot be the tender, faithful and true servant He requires us to be.  Setting our hearts on Christ will enable us to be compassionate and loving, like our Master.  This is not an easy thing to do.  In order for Him to be able to fill us with love, we must empty ourselves of all the selfish thoughts and desires we have as human beings.  Christ gave these requirements, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me." (Luke 9:23)  We also must be willing to let go of our agendas and plans for our future and let God, through His Word, do the directing, (Proverbs 3:6) allowing Him to use us in such a way that the world will see Christ living in us through our speech and conduct.

Where is your heart?  Does your heart wholly seek to do the will of your Heavenly Father?

May we all empty ourselves and allow God to fill us with love so that through our life the world may come to know Him.

DIY Chevron Marble Magnets

Again, this is a project I have been "planning" to do for several months that I'm finally making the time for!  Now that I'm through the first trimester, I'm realizing that time is going by much faster than I anticipated, so I'm trying to get as much done as I can before baby arrives.  I know, I sill have several months, but you haven't seen the nursery yet!  EEKS!

I had seen several pins on Pinterest for these cute and easy DIY magnets.  I recently found a tutorial at Tripping Over Joy that was simple and easy to follow here.  So...I gathered my materials and began working on the design for my magnets.

 Materials:

• glass marbles - ones that have a flat side - I bought these Jumbo Clear Luster Gems at the Dollar Store
• craft glue - that dries clear (I used rubber cement because that is what I had on hand.  It didn't work the best, so I would recommend using a different glue that is stronger.)
• image to you want to decorate marbles with
• magnetic buttons

I am making these for our kitchen, so I decided to make them match the chevron theme I already had going on with these pieces. I chose to keep the design fairly simple, just using words and a chevron background.  (I used the grey chevron printable paper I found here at Mel Stampz for the background.  She has LOTS of wonderful available to match any decor!)  I chose words that have to do with faith, family and living for God.  I thought this would be a nice gentle reminder for my family of how we are to conduct ourselves.  Here is what I came up with:

I measured my gems and made my circles to fit the gems.  Most of my gems were at least 1" diameter, so that's the size I made my circles.  Then I made the font boxes for the words and fit them into the circles.  I don't have a fancy circle punch, so these babies were cut out by hand!

Then I glued them face down to the flat side of the marbles.  The magnets I bought were self-adhesive, so attaching them to the backs of the marbles was a sinch!

My finished product!

Hint:  If you are using rubber cement, make sure you let the glue dry completely (20-30 minutes) before placing on your magnetic surface.  I didn't wait, and when I went to re-arrange the magnets the paper came off the marble gems and I had to re-glue several.

My husband and I love these!  They are cute, one-of-a-kind, functional, encouraging and uplifting!  How could magnets get any better?

Linking @:
The Sunday Showcase Party @ Under the Table and Dreaming 
Tutorials & Tips Link Party  @ Home Stories A to Z
Craft and Tell @ Cherished Bliss

Take-A-Look Tuesday @ Sugar Bee Crafs
Tip Me Tuesday @ Tip Junkie

Home Decor and Organizing Link Party @ Organize and Decorate Everything
Lil' Luna Link Party @ Lil' Luna 
Whatever Goes Wednesday @ Someday Crafts 
Delightfully Inspiring Thursday Party @ Delightful Order
The 36th Avenue Party Time @ The 36th Avenue
Frugal Friday @ The Shabby Nest 
Weekend Wrap Up Party @ Tatertots&Jello
The Creative Spark @ Clean $ Scentsible 

Sleepless Pregnancy

For the past week or so sleep has been keeping itself at quite a distance.  Either I have a horrible time falling asleep (toss, turn, wriggle around, toss, turn, move the pillow, toss turn...you get the picture), fall asleep quickly and then wake up every 20-30 minutes, or sleep for a solid 4-5 hours and then wake up and do the toss, turn and repeat routine until I finally give up and get out of bed and go downstairs, trying to at least be productive if I can't sleep.  Tonight it's been one of those where I have a horrible time falling asleep (hence the reason I'm blogging at 1:30 in the morning).

Many of my friends who are mothers have informed me that this is my body's way of preparing me for the first few-several months of my baby's life.  They have also been kind enough to give me tips on how to get more sleep.  Some suggested napping (something I haven't done since I was 3, with the exception of the half-a-dozen times I took a power-nap during college after pulling an all-nighter), while others suggested taking Benadryl, Tylenol PM, or something of the like (that's safe to take during pregnancy).  I have a prescription for an antihistamine that I take at bedtime 2-3 times a week to keep my horrible almost-every-day headaches at bay, but even taking half of a pill seems to knock me out so hard that I'm groggy and almost worthless the following day.  I've considered trying to cut my pill into fourths, only taking one-fourth at a time in hopes that the grogginess won't be so severe. 
On the nights I do take my antihistamine I sleep quite soundly for a solid 8-10 hours.  I just need to figure out something to help me sleep the rest of the nights.  Any thoughts/suggestions on what I should do to try to get more sleep?

Living for Jesus a life that is true...

I think this hymn speaks pretty much for itself.  If we make the choice to follow Christ and serve Him, we cannot have ANY other Master.

We MUST live for Christ alone.

WORDS:  T. O. Chisholm (w. 1917)  - Used Verses 1, 2, and chorus. 

Baby Update - 2nd OB Appointment

Well, we made it!  The first trimester is complete!  We heard a good, strong heartbeat yesterday at my OB appointment, so all seems to be going well!  We met my doctor at this appointment and she seemed very nice and pleasant to work with.  The only thing she seemed a little concerned about is my slow weight gain.  She said they might have me start eating high-calorie snacks like peanut butter and cheese.  So, we'll see.  I just need to remember to eat!

Pierce My Ear, O Lord, My God...

The scripture that inspired this hymn is found in Exodus 21 where Moses is giving the children of Israel God’s law for them concerning slaves.  Verses 5 and 6 read thus:  “But if the servant plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children, I will not go out free,’ then his master shall bring him to the judges.  He shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever.”

There are many ways in which we can relate our relationship with God to the relationship here between servant and master. 

1.  CHOICE:  Just as the servant had the choice to go “free” or to “serve [his master] forever” we can choose to refuse God’s law and live a “free” life leading to death, or we can choose to “serve…forever” our most gracious and wonderful Creator.

2.  MASTER FIRST:  In the servant’s case, he is choosing to dedicate himself to doing his masters will.  When we obey Christ in baptism, we are making the choice to put Him first in our lives.  This means we will seek His will above our own, strive to please Him rather than men, and look to His word for strength and truth rather than our own wisdom or the wisdom of men.  We cannot serve Christ with our whole heart and still place others (or ourselves) above our Lord (Matthew 10:37-39).  We must be willing to give up all to serve Christ.

3.  PROVISIONS:  As a master provides for his servants, so our Father provide for those who choose to serve Him and be His children.  However, our Heavenly Father blesses us above and beyond what any master here on earth could possibly bestow upon his most favored servant.  Our Master has bountifully blessed us with the necessities of life along with many other comforts.  He will always provide these this to those who serve Him with their whole heart (Matthew 6:25-34).  He, unlike masters here on earth, provided for our spiritual needs by giving us His Word (2 Peter 1:2-4), the avenue of prayer (James 5:16) and brethren to help us along (Romans 12:9-16).  God also gave a gift no other being could ever bestow when sent His only Son to die on the cross to provide us forgiveness of sins and a way into Heaven (John 3:16).  We must not fail to put our faith in God and Christ, our wonderful Provider, Father, and Savior.

Have you made the choice to give your life wholly unto the service of the Almighty Lord and King?  If so, are you actually serving Him with deepest sincerity and reverence?  If not I challenge you to consider your life and your service to Him and determine to be a more willing and loving servant tomorrow than you have been today.

"What a difference a day makes" Print

During the ridiculous amount of time I have spent on Pinterest, I stumbled upon these two links:

The Memory Gallery Etsy Item - $24

CoCo Stine Designs Etsy Item - $18

There are some other versions out there, but these are the ones that caught my attention.  Not wanting to spent $20-$30+ (including taxes and shipping), I opened up MSPowerPoint and got to work!  I spent quite a while browsing dafont.com for a font to use for the dates.  I finally settled on Handwriting Draft.  I used fonts I already had for the rest:  Odstemplik for the descriptions and American Typewriter for the saying across the bottom.

Here's the two versions I came up with.  I can't decide if the lines next to the descriptions is too much, or if it works.  (And yes, those dates are accurate! When we knew, we knew!)

Option 1: Lines

Option 2:  Hyphens instead of lines.

I still need to purchase a frame and mat, so I have a day or so to decide.  Or maybe I won't decide, and will hang one up for a while, then switch it out with the other one just to mix things up. : P

Linking @:

Meet Me Monday Link Party @ You're Talking Too Much  
Craft and Tell @ Cherished Bliss

Tip Me Tuesday @ Tip Junkie

Lil' Luna Link Party @ Lil' LunaWhatever Goes Wednesday @ Someday Crafts  

Lord, Make Me a Servant....

A major part of Christ's purpose while here on earth was to serve, "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." (Mark 10:45)  

If we make the decision to become a Christian, we must pattern our lives after Him whose name we bear.  Our society tends to look down on those who serve us and always feels we ought to be served.  However, this mindset is completely opposite that of our Savior.  He humbled Himself and became a slave.  "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.  And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross" (Philippians 2:5-8

May we humble ourselves and seek to serve, rather than be served, following the example of our Lord and King.
  
WORDS:  Traditional

Master Bath Cabinet Facelift

Last month I decided to FINALLY give the inside of the cabinet in our master bathroom a facelift.  I had planned this project a while back, but with the exhaustion of early pregnancy taking over my life, I hadn't worked up the motivation to actually DO the project.  Around the middle of June (9-10 weeks into my pregnancy) I was starting to have energy again, YES!

Plain white interior...not so pretty.

Here's my step-be-step process for beautifying the interior of our bathroom cabinet.

1. Gather materials:

• Self-adhesive wrapping paper of choice, make sure you have enough to cover the entire surface you plan to cover, I just barely had enough!  I used a wedding themed paper from Hallmark.
• Spray adhesive - I used Scotch
• Craft glue
• Ribbon - approximately same width as shelf fronts
• Utility knife
• Scissors
• Screw driver
• Cleaner of choice - I used a 1 part water, 1 part vinegar solution

2.  Empty the cabinet, remove the doors and take out the shelves.

3.  Place the paper on the back side of the cabinet.  Make sure it covers the entire back and try to get it as smooth as possible.
4.  Use the utility knife to trim the excess paper.  For a nice, clean cut make sure you are using a sharp blade.  If the blade is dull, it will cause the paper to rip.  Not what you want.
5.  Leaving the paper in, peel back one side and spray the adhesive on the back of the cabinet.  I would recommend covering your vanity to protect it from over-spray.  I worked from left to right.  Once I had the far left side glued down, I peeled the paper back towards the left and began gluing from there.  Be sure to smooth out your paper as you work, otherwise you will have bubbles and wrinkles.

Nice, smooth, pretty papered back.

Next we move onto the shelves!
6.  Cut to pieces of ribbon to match the length of your shelves.  I chose to cut mine a little long and trimmed closer after it was glued down.
7.  Apply craft glue to the edge of the shelf that will be facing out.  I chose to apply it in a zig-zag pattern and then smoothed it with my finger to have an even, thin coat.

8.  Carefully place the ribbon on the shelf edge with glue.  Again, I worked from left to right.  My ribbon was just a hair or two wider than my shelf edge, so I had to make sure it was even across the top, and only hung over on the bottom.
9.   Repeat steps 7 and 8 with second shelf.

10.  Place shelves in cabinet and then hang the doors.

11.  Fill with health and beauty products as desired.

What a pretty cabinet!