Focus for the New Year 2013

I have been wanting to write this post for awhile.  I don't know if anyone believes I'm that good at writing down my thoughts but in this case, I struggle to get out the thoughts that are in my head.  As I'm still working through what I think, I am going to give it my best shot.  It seems fitting today because my 7 year old Ivy prayed a prayer to accept Christ this morning.  She has asked me a couple of times, telling me she is ready and I have quizzed her until her little heart has been frustrated.  Is my little girl who I have prayed for since before she was born truly making a decision to trust Christ with her whole life?  Time will tell but I can tell that God has softened her heart and she is sensitive to Him.  

Last year, my focus was or new year's resolution( whatever you want to call it) was to get into the Word and really know my bible.  It was a sweet time and I learned a lot but I felt halfway through the year, the Lord was starting to show me a different area in my life that I needed to address.

It is no secret how I love my new church.  I love the teaching of my pastor, the music, the people, but one of my favorites has been my Tuesday morning bible study group.  As we have talked , the Lord has renewed in my heart a new love for the gospel.  That is why I wrote that post a while back about being the way that I am.  You see,  I, like so many of my friends have been a Christian for a LONG time.  I feel like the longer I was a Christian, the more I read and knew God's word, the more I thought,"All you need to do is believe and you will also DO......"  I was adding all of these extra things.  I really began to struggle with the thought of just accepting Him for what HE did for ME.  I thought, "OK He died for me and I need to do...."  But I was taking away the gift of what Christ did.  I was believing that Christ died for me but I still was giving myself this list of to do's.  Now here is the part you might struggle with as a Christian. Once you become saved, God calls you to a godly life.  But you are going to fail at that life, we are all still sinners, Christ paid the debt for that on the cross and I need to be FREE in that.  I feel like the older we are in the faith, we let other "things" creep in as SO important.  We give it them the same importance as what Christ did for us.  We DO because we love Him and what He has DONE for us.  I focused more on what I was doing, what others weren't doing, instead of  focusing on what was done for me.

When we truly know what Christ has done for us, we want to live a godly life because He didn't deserve to die on the cross for our sins but He did it in our place and we are grateful.  Repenting of your sins is a response to what He did on the cross.

I will never forget one Sunday before we had communion.  We were sitting there and my pastor said, "If you are a Christian and you have doubted your salvation because you look at your life and see failure.  It's because you are looking at the wrong person.  You are looking at yourself and seeing failure instead of looking at Christ and that He took all of that and died for you."  I wanted to cry, the gracious Lord showing me yet again, how selfish I am to always be looking at me and not at what He did for me.  It's all about Him and what He has done!

Honestly, I don't even know if I'm making sense.  That is why this is the focus of my year.  I don't want a list of to do's.  I want to get back to the gospel.  I want to fall in love with Jesus and sit in the sweet spot of gratitude for what He has done for me.  It's not about me, it's all about Him.  I want to release the pressure, fall in love with Him more and just serve Him out of love.  I'm praying that my Ivy does the same.

Just Do....Today

I saw this quote today and I thought it was perfect to start the year with, especially after a day like yesterday.  You know one of those days where you are tired, lose your temper with your kids, etc.  Yes, well yesterday was worse than that.  I was tired and hormonal.  Can I just say that I feel more hormonal now than ever?  My mom might say my early teens were worse and maybe they were but I needed a good grounding spanking yesterday.  As a matter of fact, Matt got home and an hour into it, he sent me to my room.  Yep, he did.  And I went.  After the girls went to bed I went out to ask for his forgiveness (the girls too) and I started to cry.  He just stared at me.  He said nothing and just stared.  Ha ha.  I know that sometimes 3 girls are a lot and I am the biggest girl he has to deal with. I went to bed at 8pm and slept until almost 7am.  A NEW WOMAN.   (By the way,  I started my day today with a text to him telling him how much I love him and he WILL come home to a happy and peaceful home tonight.)

I started a new eating plan yesterday ( just eating as clean as I can and omitting all the sugar I can) and I did really good.  I had yummy meals, didn't count calories but defiantly ate less than usual.  When I get nervous about it I think "Just do today".  And today has been pretty good.

Matthew 6:34 " Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself."

Happiness Highlights (closing out 2012) Top 12.

I was reading old blog posts this morning and I ran across one that had some Happiness Highlights on it.  I thought to close out 2012 I would post some that I have been thinking of.

1.  My hard working husband.  He has been working so hard but has been doing it with such joy, being so thankful to have a job.  I am so proud to be his.

2.  Waffle House.  Some people love it, some people don't.  Let's just say it's not the healthiest place to eat but I have been thankful for Waffle House employing my husband and the fact that the girls love to go and watch their daddy cook.  I'm not gonna lie,  I do get a craving for the cheeseburger now and again.  They are slated to build a new one in our town and I'm sure my family will be regulars.

3.  My girls.  As I'm typing this post, one is running around me begging to save her from the monster (her other sister).  They have been through a lot this past year, living in 3 different states, but the four of us stuck together, loved each other.  These girls brought be a lot of comfort, even on the days that I should have been giving more to them.

4.  Tennessee.  Are you tired of my love for my new state yet?  (smile). yes....I still love it.

5.  My new church. Community Bible Church.  This church has been a joy and I am excited to make more friends, be used more, and develop deeper relationships with the people of this church in the coming year.

6.  My aerolatte frother to make cappuccinos.  I. am. obsessed.  still.  Thank you Terry for my birthday present.  I have now hooked my sister and she bought one too.  It has cut my trips to Starbucks down considerably! Not to mention that I make them healthier!  I love them!

7.  Having my friend Kelli close.  She has been such a blessing to me.  I never thought the Kelli's would be together again but here we are, Southern Ladies!  Now if we can get the rest of our girlfriends down here!  Just kidding.  Not kidding.

8.  Instagram.  I love looking at people's pictures!  It's like a facebook status with pictures.  Even though my friends tease me that I post too many food pictures, I am hooked!

9.  The gospel.  I will write more about this later but being at my new church has given me a renewed love of the gospel and what Christ has done for me, and what He has done for you!

10.  Being closer to my family.  Hollie lives in Virginia (she's visiting right now!) and my parents are in Iowa, but I am now a day's drive away to either place....even though I have not been to either place yet since we have moved, I will!

11.  Hollie being married to Hugh.  I LOVE watching her as a married wife.  She is a happy wife!  She calls him "husband" and I love it, even though I have been rolling my eyes at the mush.  I love how Hugh loves my girls!  He is going to need a vacation after he leaves here.  He has been to Chuck E Cheese, played Strawberry shortcake memory, colored, carried Lucy EVERYWHERE ( I think she forgot how to walk or get out of the car as she waits for him to carry her out).  We are definitely going to have withdrawals when they leave tomorrow.

12.   Sewing.  My new hobby that I am learning.  I'm excited to get better this year!

DIY Burlap Fabric Banner

 I have been wanting to try my hand at a burlap banner for some time.  I thought that I would use the materials that I already had for my first one (sewing can be an expensive hobby!)  I cut out what I wanted my banner to look like using parchment paper plus I added one inch at the top so I could fold it over my ribbon to sew it together.

 I painted the letters MILK on them.  I wanted to have it say something that would go in the kitchen area but also have something to do with the family so MILK was perfect. (Matt, Ivy,Lucy, Kelli...MILK)

 I took ribbon I already had.  It was too wide so I cut it in half and then sewed the 2 pieces together.

 I sewed a zig zag stitch around the burlap to keep it from fraying. I then ironed it folded over the ribbon and sewed.  There you have it!  A DIY burlap banner!

                                          I put it over our big mirror in our dining room area.

DIY Sign

I have been wanting to make a sign that was "southern looking" but also had our name on it.  I saw this tutorial and decided to give it a try.  I wanted something to do with our home and Matt came up with "homestead".  I bought a sample of Behr wood stain in "coffee".

 I put on 3 coats, pubbed some off and then repeated.

 I measured in inch on both top and bottom of my 4ft. piece of wood and then used chalk to write on the wood.  I decided on a simple font because I am not a good painter.

 As I painted I didn't mind if the letters were not all filled in because I was going to sand it a little anyway.

 Here is the finished product, waiting to be hung!

.49 DIY Christmas Gift

We have been drinking a lot of hot chocolate this season and I wanted to get the girls their own mugs for Christmas. I was thinking some cute initial mugs from Anthropology and then I remembered something I pinned on Pinterest.  I waited until Goodwill had their 50% off sale (the first Saturday of the month) and I found 2 white mugs for half off.  I looked up some cute fonts and then practiced them on a piece of paper.

                               I took a Sharpie pen and wrote their names and initials on their mugs.

 There are so many things you could do with them.  I am not an artist so I decided on their names.  I was not as happy with Ivy's but there was no going back once I started.  I can always do it over if I have a better idea.

                                     Bake them for 3o minutes at 350 degrees.  Cool Completely.

Elliott Christmas Card 2012

                                           Here is our Christmas newsletter for the year 2012.

"Morning by Morning new mercies I see.  All I have needed Thy hand hath provided, Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto Me."

     Our family has thought about those words a lot over the last two years.  From where we started to where we ended up has been quite the wild adventure.  Watching God work, giving us all we have needed daily has been such a blessing.  For those of you who don't know all of the crazy details, here it is.
     Two years ago God began to stir in both of our hearts to leave California.  We began to pray about it and we were really being drawn to Tennessee.  We would look into it but not too much.  In April 2011,  Matt lost his job as a Purchasing Manager and while he applied for jobs everywhere he could, he applied a lot in Tennessee.  I still had my part time job at Legacy and the Lord faithfully provided for our needs.  We had decided to sell our home, someone bought it and we moved the week of Thanksgiving and lived with my sister Hollie for a month.  It was time to make some tough decisions.  As hard as it was, we decided to move to Washington the week of Christmas.  Both of our parents graciously wanted us (and of course their grandchildren!) but we felt like Matt would have a better chance getting a job closer to big cities such as Portland and Seattle.
     Matt continued looking for jobs immediately.  We were settling into nicely as part of the "big Elliott family".  At the beginning of January, Matt fell on a slippery ramp and broke his wrist.  With no health insurance, the Lord brought this extra trial into our lives.  Matt ended up having to have surgery to repair his wrist.  What do you do when you've lost your job, your home, your life as you knew it and you now need surgery?  You depend on Jesus all the more!  "All I have needed Thy hand hath provided." As of today, we have one more outstanding bill that has to be resolved and the rest is paid in full! " Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me."
     As summer was approaching, Matt and I were having heavy hearts.  Can I give a shout out to my wonderful husband?  He was faithful for 15 months to go after any job he could.  It made me love him even more.  We were getting ready to return to California for Hollie's wedding with no job in sight.  To say we were discouraged was an understatement.  We talked together of Tennessee and how we probably had to get used to the idea that we weren't ever going.
     Then the next day my friend Kelli told me of a job in Tennessee.  Matt applied, had a skype interview, flew to Nashville, GOT THE JOB and flew back in time to leave for Hollie's wedding.  We went back to Washington and five days later we were driving across the country to Spring Hill,Tennessee (about 25 miles south of Nashville). "Morning by morning new mercies I see."
     So what is Matt doing?  He is a manager for Waffle House restaurants.  In the south they are as common as Starbucks.  He works long hours but loves it!  He has never done anything like this before. All the locals love him (of course!).  The girls love going to visit, eat a waffle and tell everyone that their dad is behind the counter.
     What am I up to?  I am a stay at home mom loving and serving my family.  I meet women for lunch (I'm a Southern Lady who lunches!), I kiss Lucy all day, I am involved in a Women's bible study at church (cbcnashville.org), I help lead a group in a mentoring program for young adult women at church and I just started singing on the worship team.
     Ivy (6) is getting adjusted.  She started off 1st grade a little behind in some areas but she is finding her stride and is now where she needs to be.  After much persuasion (on her part) we let her ride the bus to and from school, which she loves.  She is making friends and loves church.
     Lucy (3) has quite the social life!  She goes with me to bible study and has her own class and then goes to preschool at our church on Thursdays.  She has a precious friend, Alli Peterson and I can't help but crack up hearing them talk like big kids.  She was a whiz at potty training, taking less than a week.  It was great having my assistant Ivy help me with that.
     Over the years, through many trials, I have thought about the Lord's faithfulness and love for my family.  Over the last few months here in Tennessee, I can't help but thank the Lord for His kindness.  We would have loved and served Him in California, Washington or Iowa, but oh how kind He was to give us Tennessee.  I still often cry out of just pure happiness.  Matt and I lay in bed and still say," I can't believe we live in Tennessee."
     Happy Birthday to the One who proves yet again to be faithful and true.

Love:  Matt, Kelli, Ivy and Lucy Elliott