Much accomplished

Yesterday was a great day! I got two major projects accomplished. While the kids were at preschool yesterday, I went running with a neighbor for a little while and then came back home to clean out the playroom. I even had time to take a shower before leaving to pick up the kids. Those of you with kids in preschool understand what I'm saying - I think the clock goes mysteriously faster when the kids are at school! I went through EVERYTHING and threw away a ton of stuff. Our neighborhood is having a garage sale this Saturday, so I'm trying to find stuff to sell. I reorganized the whole playroom and only kept toys that the kids actually play with. All the missing pieces, cheap happy meal toys and other toys considered by me to be "trash" was gone! It feels so good! Then, last night after dinner Chris and I cleaned out the garage. Although there wasn't much to throw away, we got everything back in it's place and made a pile for the garage sale. Hopefully after we get through with the sale and take what's left over to Goodwill, the garage will look even better. I love it when I actually get things accomplished!!

The last couple of weeks, I've been struggling to have a daily quiet time. I have decided to take this one day at a time because it just seems easier that way. I try to read my bible in the morning because when the day gets going I normally don't slow down until late at night. So, yesterday morning I read something that really struck me and I wanted to share it. Even though I don't always have a quiet time with God every single day, even though I know the importance of it, I love the Lord with all my heart. I think it's important for others to know that I don't have it all together and that I don't always do the right thing. I'm not a perfect Christian and I struggle just like every one else. But, I do know one thing. Jesus Christ is my Savior and I will live for him the best that I can. I often lack the words to express my feelings for my Savior, but I thought David did a good job of it in Psalm 62.

Psalm 62:1, 2, 7, 8

"For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken. On God rests my salvation and glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us."

My baby girl turns 4!

Ivey weighed in at 9 lbs!

On Saturday, Sept. 20th, we celebrate Ivey's 4th birthday. She's such an awesome little girl. She constantly makes Chris and I laugh and then shake our heads. She is the most mothering little girl I've ever known. She loves to take care of other people, especially kids. Sometimes she's a bit bossy (I have NO idea where she gets that...), but she loves to help take care of others. I'm excited to see her grow up and to see what God has in store for her life. Here are a few special pictures from the last four years...

This one I made for my new neice coming in November. It was made out of an old pillow case that belonged to my mother-in-law.

This is an autumn dress that I made for Ivey. It's really cute, but it was my first one so it has a few minor mistakes.

This one, I love!! The paisley is adorable and the colors are even prettier in person.

This one is made out of a light courderoy material, although you can't tell in this picture. I also need to get more fat white ribbon instead of using the skinnier ribbon. But, my friend, Kala, picked out the apple fabric and it really is very cute!

THIS... is what I've been up to! I've decided to start making pillow case dresses!! Although only one of these was actually made using a pillow case, I found some really pretty fabric to use for the other dresses. Kala and I went to Hancock Fabric yesterday and I bought some really cute holiday fabrics. I am going to make a bunch of them in varying sizes to sell at craft shows and to friends and, hopefully, make a little bit of extra money on the side. I was just thinking last week about how I could make a little bit of extra money without having to get a "real" job, so I think this is it. I've shown them to a lot of my friends and neighbors, so I hope they'll catch on soon... (hint, hint). :-)

Anyway, I'm excited about it and it's really fun to just get creative with embellishments and stuff. I bought a beautiful royal blue fabric that it a light courderoy and I'm going to monogram it with Ivey's initial, add some ribbon and some pom-pom fringe. Adorable!! I'm also going to try to sell some dresses on etsy or ebay. We'll see what happens. If you're interested in me making your girls some dresses, please let me know. You can pick out of what I've already made or you can buy your own fabric if you want something specific. I'm really looking forward to this because it's a way for me to be creative, to have fun and to make a little pocket money, too!

We're leaving for the beach tomorrow, so I probably need to get going with that. I'm super excited to be spending some time on vacation while Cherokee County is out of school next week. We're going with some friends from church, but I wish all of our friends good go!! We will be coming back on Thursday, so I better get goin'! Talk to you later!

It's been a while since I've updated my blog. I've managed to keep myself very busy the last couple of weeks. MOPS started last Friday, so last week was spent getting shirts made and sewing fabric to get ready for the first meeting. We are leaving on Saturday to spend a few days at the beach with a few of our close friends, so this week has been used to sort of get ready for that. Today, I've been working on a couple of projects that I will unveil in a few days. I want to be sure they are completely finished before showing them off! Tomorrow morning I plan to go to the gym and I don't know what I'll do on Thursday but I'm sure I'll find something! Anyway, please know that we are all doing fine and managing well.

My favorite bible verse for today:
Proverbs 11:12 "Whoever belittles his neighbor lacks sense, but a man of understanding remains silent." This verse speaks to me today because God has been teaching me lately about not jumping to conclusions. I find that my mind finds the worst-case scenario and then runs with it before I even have a chance to find out what really happened. God has shown me that I need to be more understanding of others and remain silent more often.