What a heavy post!

"Seeing death as the end of life is like seeing the horizon as the end of the ocean." - David Searls

I love this quote so much - the image is from the very talented photographer, Bonnie Tsang.

I have to say, when I saw this quote, I wondered who David Searls is...is he a Christian? To make the analogy he did, I would have to think he is...all I found from an unsuccessful Google search is that he's an author.

With this quote, I would like to offer my personal opinion on life and the popular question "Why do bad things happen to good people?"

I completely agree with David Searls - to think that death = end of life, makes the world (good and bad) seem pretty pointless and useless. I am a Christian, I believe whole-heartedly in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I also believe that terrible things happen to Christian and beautiful things happen to non-believers.

How you choose to see and interpret life can great impact your opinion whether or not there is a God. I have chosen to understand loss in my life as a way of the world - a by-product of evil.

Some people believe that everything happens for a reason - I'm not saying that's false - It's hard me to understand that having gone through pain that makes absolutely sense.

I believe that bad things happen. Period. Bad things to Christians, Bad things happen to Muslims, Bad things happen to Atheists, Bad things happen to rich, poor, young, old. BUT - this is where the beautiful power of Christ comes in - Regardless of those inevitable bad things EVERYONE goes through, we have the gift of Heaven and Grace.

The horizon is not the end of ocean. The end of this life (which is unfortunately peppered with pain) is not the end. I love that this quote and photograph capture that so beautifully.

Can't wait to do this...

I found the coolest idea that I can't wait to do. I was so excited about this find I had to post it...


It's the "Family Rules" Canvas:





How cute is that?! I can't wait to get started on this (I should probably establish my rules first!).

Here's what this one says for some ideas...I think these are pretty perfect




ALWAYS TELL THE TRUTH
HAVE FUN, BE KIND, ASK FIRST, NO FUSSING, NO WHINING
BE CREATIVE AT ALL TIMES
ENCOURAGE YOUR SIBLINGS...SHARE IN THEIR JOY
HUSBAND-HUG YOUR WIFE DAILY & WIFE- ALWAYS BE ON HIS SIDE
OBEY YOUR PARENTS
NEVER LEAVE ANGRY
SING SILLY, DANCE CRAZY, HUG OFTEN, SNUGGLE OFTEN, SAY I LOVE YOU
KEEP YOUR PROMISES
USE YOUR MANNERS- YES, PLEASE...NO, THANK YOU
ALWAYS GIVE TO OTHERS FIRST
TOO MUCH TV IS BAD...TOO MUCH READING IS GOOD
USE NICE WORDS...IGNORE DIRTY WORDS
BLESS YOUR FOOD, BE GRATEFUL, EAT TOGETHER, CLEAN UP AFTER YOURSELF
SHARE EVERYTHING EXCEPT BAD IDEAS
SAY YOUR PRAYERS...THANK GOD FOR THIS FAMILY

I think this could also be SO CUTE customized for Christmas with your family traditions or the 12 Days of Christmas...or for a new mom with advice/encouragement?! I've also decided to customize one for Ellie with my prayers/desires for her and her life...

As much as I love this, I can't take credit for it.

Lindsey at The Pleated Poppy is the creative genius with this idea. She has a super cute blog too!



I'll be sure to post my canvases!

Weekend...

Jon and I had a FULL weekend and I really needed Monday off to just rest from it all!

Friday night we got to go to Six Flags - just the two of us. Every year, Frito Lay rents the entire park from 5pm-midnight, gives $30 in Daffy Dollars ;) and has huge tubs of Pepsi drinks, bottled water and chips throughout the park for FREE. It's always so much fun to go because not only is it completely free, but the lines are always SUPER short. Jon's dad works for Frito Lay so he always give us their tickets - thanks, Big Jon!

Saturday started early with a baby shower for my friend, Faith. I left my camera at home so no pics but it was cute and she gots lots of cute things.

Saturday evening we went to the Plano Balloon Festival. Ellie LOVES hot air balloons and gets so excited when she sees them...Although we didn't get as close as we wanted, it was still cute to watch her excitement :)

EWMIGAH!!!!!

BEFORE YOU READ THIS POST: I have to establish two things -
1. I am not yet pregnant
2. I am a natural-born organizer and planner

With that said:
I have searching far and wide, high and low for the PERFECT fabrics for Ellie's Big Girl room. I have decided that on her 2nd birthday (in February), we're updating her into her big girl room.

Most people keep their 1st child in the nursery and their 2nd child in the next bedroom. Again with my planning, WHEN we get pregnant again, we want the baby in the current nursery and Ellie to move to the other bedroom. Here's the reasons for keeping the nursery as-is for baby #2:

1. The furniture is already in place
2. The fence of the backyard encompasses the nursery window (where the other bedroom faces the street)
3. The windows in the other bedroom are HUUUGE and it gets extremely bright in there.

So - I figure, we haven't decorated the other bedroom so we may as well decorate for Ellie's big girl room. I also figure, if we have a second girl, there is zero work to do in the nursery. If we have a boy, we'd have to re-do it anyway.

OK - now that the explanations are out of the way - I want Ellie's "big girl room" to be fun, bright, not too kid-dy but not too sophisticated. I love turquoise, light pear green, yellow and corral-y pink together. LOOK AT WHAT I FOUND TODAY -----


Obviously seeing the entire line is a little overwhelming - there are only a couple of prints that I can't wait to get when it comes out in October. I will be sure to post the progress!!!!

P.S. I'm a little torn between this line too - it's a very close second:


If nothing else, I've found some amazing fabrics for some super cute clothes for Ellie!! :)

Really Bad News...But Some Good News Too!!!

So the bad news: ALL OF MY PICTURES ON MY MEMORY CARD WERE DELETED!!!! Yes, all 574 of them - including the SWEETEST video of Ellie making her animal noises :( While I was at the lake with my dad, his wife and her family, they wanted to transfer the photos we had taken onto their computer. Somehow, during the transfer, all the pictures were erased!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so sad about it that I started crying.
I will post some pictures of Ellie from the weekend because she was so darn cute. She was such a champ in her life jacket (which she hates) and she even took a ride behind the boat in the tube.

On to the good news!! Jon surprised me this weekend with a new vacuum cleaner! I know that seems so corny to be so excited over a vacuum cleaner but here's the mathematical facts: Carpet + 2 Dogs (1 of which is lab that sheds like crazy) + 1 cleaning-obsessed mama = love for all things clean.

So when Jon brought this puppy home, I was ECSTATIC!!!
I was originally in the market for a Dyson but could not get over all the mixed reviews on Consumer Digest and Target! I was not about to plunk down $500 bucks for something that may just be 'eh. So I found this one - half the price and I'm not gonna lie, it's heavy to push but ewmigah does it get my carpets clean.
So - if you want the Dyson but not the price - may I highly highly highly recommend the Bissell Healthy Home. Plus, you'll get lovely, toned arms :)

Ok - I hope to have a real post with pics from the weekend soon!!!!

Distraaaaaacted!!

I am so distracted this week! Work is SUPER quiet and I am taking an entire week off next week. So...it feels like the last week of school...just plugging away until Friday. What am I doing next week? Something that I am so stinkin' excited about: having a staycation with just me. Yes, I'm sending Ellie to grandma's and spending a couple of days doing things I rarely get to do.

Here's how the week's gonna play out:
Monday: Coming back from my dad's lake house in Arkansas
Tuesday: Spa Day - Hair cut, pedicure, manicure
Shopping - Charming Charlie's, IKEA, Home Depot (These places are a nightmare to go into with Ellie)
Wednesday: Sleep-In, lay around the house, get in a good fall cleaning, sew through some of my fabric!
Thursday: Be a true stay-at-home-mom with Ellie. Go to a couple of parks, go to Kelly's for coffee and play date.
Friday: Dallas Zoo, here we come! Since Sunday's are considered a work day at church for Jon, he always has Friday's off. Now that school is back in, we figured this would be a perfect time to go to the zoo!

I'M SO EXCITED - I will try to take some pics and post during the week but since it's vaca, it'll be slim pickins.