How are you?

Busy.

At least, that's what I always seem to say. No really, I'm not that busy, not as busy as her, or her, or them. But that's what I say: busy.

Or "good".
Apparently I cannot answer the "How are you doing?" question fully... ever. My standard response is always the short, blunt and no-strings-attached one word. Why is this? Honestly I think its because I haven't given it much thought lately and these are the only two words floating around my head.

But is that what my life is to be about? Being busy?

I once read that being busy does not translate into being faithful. Ouch. Did you feel that? So often I am "busy" but failing at being faithful. Faithful to serve and honor my husband. Faithful to love and teach Josiah during our day. Faithful to take care of responsibilities and commitments I've made. Faithful to love the Lord my God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength.

So how am I doing, you might ask? Come ask me......

Camping and Cold weather

So 70 degrees may not be "cold weather", but here in Texas, we'll take it!

About 2 weeks ago, we had our first "cold" snap (where the temperature dipped into the lower 50's!) so Matt and I started a fire in our fire pit and had hot chocolate!

Last weekend we took a couple of boys we have befriended and went camping with another family from our church. It had been a while since I had been camping---but oh so enjoyable. We went to Lake Somerville and camped by the Lake. Sorry I forgot to take pictures, but we all had a great time. We especially enjoyed going with our friends and spending time with them.

The Build-Out (part one)

We are embarking on building out our carport into 400 more square feet of usable house space! Hooray!

Matt and I brought our budget friendly home with plans to build out and maximize the potential of the home. As it stands it is 950 feet which is great for just the 3 of us, but we'd like more room for larger groups of people and for some plans that the Lord is leading us in.

This is what it looked like 6 months ago. eeeek!

Horrible wasn't it. The bad part is that is isn't much better now...

This past week we purchased our backdoor and tile for the new room.

We are finalizing our plans for the room and then construction begins. 

Stay tuned for more updates!

Free-time Crafts

I love creating things and making things new. The Lord has given me much joy in sewing and crafting, especially when I can take ordinary things(even trash!) and make them special. 
The Bible speaks about how the Lord has done this with his people. Ezekiel 16 is a clear picture of how on our own, we are dead in sin, covered in filth. But it goes on to tell how the Lord takes a person, cleans them and clothes them in wonderful fabric, jewels and perfumes. 

In these recent projects, may these be honoring to the Lord as I remember how He has taken me and made me into something useful for Himself!

Here are some recent projects that I have been working on:

Matt gave me a Kindle for Mothers day and I wanted to make my own cover for it

It used to have a string that looped around the button to keep it closed. I used some leftover chipboard from an old 3-ring binder and sewed the boards into the orange fabric. It can even stand up by itself!

 I have stainless steel pans with handles that heat up along with the pan itself. Very frustrating to use potholders every time I want to move the pan while it's still hot. Not very practical for young kids in the house either. So I made a small potholder with some scrap fabric and then sewed it in a cylinder. It has been very helpful the past couple of weeks. 

This is one of the new pillows I have made for our living room, with many more to come. I'm hoping to also find some fabric for drapes and other projects.

I've also made a few reusable covers for my swiffer mop, made from old dishtowels. (not pictured)

Many more sewing and craft projects to come!

8 months and balloons!

Josiah turned 8 months old last week.

Highlights: He has 4 teeth now and can crawl and pull up onto things!

I blew up some balloons for Matt's birthday (really so Josiah could play with them)

The Backroads of Akansas

Arky-Arky Arkansas!
Our family loved our vacation to the state of Arkansas. Here are some snapshots of our vacation.

As we drove through AR, there were many place that were photo worthy. Here's a family photo!

We were able to have family devotion time every morning on our trip---something we only get on the weekends at home. So refreshing to spend extended time every morning as a couple reading God's word and soaking in the truth of who He is. This picture is Matt checking out a spot along our walk one morning in Hot Springs.

Matt on top of some random steps on the outskirts of the city. Kinda like old ruins!

We drove into Little Rock one day and at at a cool restaurant downtown.

Josiah handled all the driving well.....He slept better in the car than he did at night. He's been such a great sleeper since month 1, but the trip was a bumpy time. 

Matt see's a "DANGER---HIGH CLIFF" sign. So what does he do? He walks down the path....

Matt and I made it up to Mount Magazine (the tallest point in AR). We didn't actually make it to the literal highest point, but we enjoyed the view at this great spot.

We stayed at this great B&B the last half of our time in AR. The keepers were believers and it was great to talk with them in the mornings. The accommodations weren't fancy, but it was a place I would want to return to each year if we were closer!

This was one of the prettiest places we visited (Lake Fort Smith)

Best story of the week:
On our way to AR the first day, we stopped at a gas station to get something to drink, found out they had Baskin-Robbins! I get a scoop of Rainbow sherbet (one of my favorites ever), and picture me eating an ice cream cone, all the while holding a wide-eyed 8 month old. So being a "nubie" mom, I thought giving Josiah a taste would be harmless. Wrong. A tiny bit smudged into his mouth, but it created a monster. I could barely contain his efforts to get at the ice cream cone after that, until Matt took him(now picture Josiah going after his daddy's coffee ice cream). I had to hide my ice cream until I was done, even then Josiah was very upset that he couldn't have any more. Now we know....don't let Josiah even hear the word ice-cream, or his Mr. Hyde personality will come out.

Starting This New Semester

Matt, Josiah and I got back from our vacation and it has taken me a few days to get back into the swing of things.

More to come on our vacation later....but we loved Arkansas. It was a time of refreshment as we went to see the beautiful mountains, lakes and trees that the Lord created. Our first family vacation was filled with mornings full of family devotions, cooking meals, and yes, even getting lost in the back roads of Arkansas. But I'll be writing more about that in the next post.

Matt and I are gearing up for this fall. You know how they say that busy people will always be busy people? Well, that's us. Matt and I, along with another woman from church are teaching the children's discipleship class at our church and we have been busy (and so excited!) getting the curriculum written out and supplies together. We desire children to hear good bible doctrine and are excited to aid parents and our church in this.  Not many think that doctrine or theology are fun to learn, but we are hoping to make it that way to the elementary students at our church. We'll see how it goes!