A Soon to be Breakfast Nook

Our front foyer is bare and has been for far too long.  I have big dreams of a reading corner/wine consol but for the other corner my dreams have almost come true.  Soon it will be a breakfast nook and I cannot wait.  Last year I found Ballard Design online and I have fell in love.  I find myself cornering each page for something I have fell in love with.  To my amusement they have a store in Tampa and when I was home last went to see my finds in person.  Here are the things that will soon grace our (my) dream breakfast nook!

I want to do two of each chair.  I thinking going with a fabric chair it will really soften the room, because there is so much space to be filled.  The thing I love about the chairs is they are slip covers instead of upholstered, so they can be drycleaned when dirty and changed out if our (my) taste ever does.  The green sage check matches the paint in the kitchen perfectly and I thin it will pull the two rooms together beautifully.  This is definitely not as an extensive renovation as the office but I do want to re paint the area prior to getting the furniture.  Adam is already cringing but I do think I could do the painting myself.  I might need to stop saying I can do this and this over spring break, because I do believe I will be painting...haha!  Once all is done I will for sure post.  Here are a few other things I love that will help complete the welcoming feel.  Maybe not from this store but thery did help add to my vision.  What do you think?

 

*LRW*

Wordless Wendesday with the Hubster

A Pondering Heart

This Tuesday will mark the second week of a bible study I joined.  My s-i-l, Annie has felt led to lead a women's bible study at our church for a while and I am so thrilled she decided to get it started.  The study we are doing is Beth Moore's Esther: It's Tough Being a Women.  This past summer I did my first women's bible study by Jennifer Rothschild and I loved it.  It helped me really think about my life, thoughts, and actions and how present God was in them all.  The study helped my life personally in many ways, so I was excited to get started with Esther and man has it been an amazing journey so far.  There are so many things that you know but when you see them penned on paper they leave a different, stronger impression.  Here are things that I jotted down to refer to in my prayer time. 

-There is no place God cannot go
-Faith is putting God in every fill in the blank
- You seek Him and He will find you
-No life is free of troubles
-When we are insecure let God in so that you can experience His security
- God has a destiny for us, even when we feel He is not in our presence.
-At our best we are never perfect
-No women or person should be our goal but God
- Jesus Christ is our ultimate example
-Our Lord is always here with us

Thank you Beth Moore for helping me feel more normal.  I was just talking to my mother the other day and I said how so many days I feel like I am the biggest sinner.   Know that even when we are trying to be the best Christians we can not be perfect.  I have been pondering that this week because without that thought everyday would feel like failure.


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Love

What a word love is!  I have always felt loved, but when I embarked on my personal journey of reading God's word on January 18th I opened a whole new understanding of what love is.   I am now in my fourth book of the bible, and there are days when I think, "Wow! What love He has for us to save his people or offer them forgiveness from all types of sin."  In this journey I was praying that God would help me be able to determine what I should do with my time, because I was overwhelmed with what was most important in my life, and he has shown me.  He is my center and when I am in conversation and prayer with him I feel most whole.  I have a strong desire to be in constant contact with my Lord and his word.  His word has brought comfort to my troubled heart.  He knows what I need to become a better person and a stronger Christian.  These scriptures have been applicable to my life, they may help you in your walk of faith...

"Do not nurse hatred in your heart for any of your relatives.  Confront people directly so you will not be held guilty for their sin" - Leviticus 19: 17

I have been praying this priestly blessing, "May the Lord bless you and protect you.  May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you.  May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace."          - Numbers 6:24-26

My Valentine and I at the Herlong Mansion (another possible post)

On this special day of love it is an amazing feeling to know that you are loved and feel loved.  Waking up this morning to a hubby who brought me coffee and a warm peice of Publix's pecan ring (my favorite) in bed I felt loved.   Opening my Valentine's gift to find DOVE milk chocolate and Nicholas Spark's newest novel I knew I was loved.  Spending the morning in prayer with the Lord I felt God's amazing love.  All day I got to share my love with Adam and our families!  Adam and I also got to share our love on the Saturday night with everyone who was cheering on the UF basketball team, when we were on their kiss cam...haha!! It was a first and possibly the last, but it was something I will always remember.  I got to smooch my valentine :) and now every Gator knows that he is mine..ha!  I hope each and everyone's day was filled with love!


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A Day to Celebrate My Man

Today 26 years ago, God brought the most amazing man (boy) into this world.  I praise Him everyday for making him for me.  I cooked him a big birthday dinner on Monday, because today he has his monthly get together with the men of our church.  Here is the spread that he asked for...

BBQ Meatloaf, The Lady and Son's Mac and Cheese, and Mashed Potatoes

Yummy in our tummies and no we did not eat it all ourselves.  DW, Annie and Annabelle helped us scarf it down and came to help celebrate my amazing man!  Adam's weakness is banana's and peanut butter, so for dessert I tried out a new recipe, Banana Bread Cobbler (found in the most recent Southern Living magazine).  He had 8 candles on his cobbler because 2+6= 8, and he made his birthday wish.  Now Annabelle is not a fan of the burning candles so we made that part of the night go as quickly as possible.

Happy Birthday!

He was telling me last night as we watched American idol, "Man 26, not much else to look forward to other than growing old with you."  How sweet is he, but there is so much to look forward to and I am so glad Adam is the one I will make my life story with.  Adam I love you and I am thrilled to spend this day celebrating you!

*LRW*

What a School Week

I am sure you all have those weeks that go buy slow, but seems to fly by. I started the week off with little sleep so I gravitated to the coffee pot each morning thanking the Lord for such an amazing creation. My students on the other hand seem as though they ate a butt load of candy before they showed up each morning. We had lots to celebrate this week and maybe that is why they were a little wound up! On Tuesday we celebrated Ground Hog Day, which they loved. We read stories about Ground Hogs that were scared to see their shadow and why it is an important day for farmers. We made prediction about whether Phil would see his shadow, and they were so excited when we found out he did see his shadow! I had one student raise their hands and say, "Mrs. Whitehurst we will be putting many tally marks next to our snowflake on our weather graph because of Phil the Ground Hog." On Wednesday we reached our 100th day of school, but Mrs. Whitehurst couldn't fathom celebrating such a monument us event in the middle of the week. So we did our calendar BIG! We reached 100 cents, so we got the big "fake" one dollar's out! You would have thought we were MILLIONARES...ha....don't we all wish! We finally have something in our hundreds place value chart and we are thrilled. So on Friday morning was the day of 100. The students filled in 100's charts, wrote 100 words we have learned, we made 100th day crowns, and put together trail mix with 100 things. It made me shake my head because I can't believe we only have 77 DAYS left of school. These little guys have learned so much during these 100 day and they have each made a difference in my life thus far! This week at school we are gearing up for Valentine's Day while at home I am gear up for a lot of celebration this week for Adam and many other new adventures!



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Wordless Wednesday...Attack Dog Edition

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Prayers

Over the weekend my Uncle Jeff, who has been battling lukemia was taken to be with our Lord and Savior.  I know being an amazing Christian man he is with our Lord, but the pain and grief his family are in must be unbearable.  Pray for them that Lord will be with them in this time. 

*LRW*