My Organizing Efforts

I mentioned to you all a couple of times about how I made New Years Resolutions. One of the resolutions I made was to get my stuff more organized. I'll be honest, by that I really just meant going through my things and getting rid of the things I didn't need any more. It seems like "stuff" just accumulates over time, doesn't it?

But then a few of my friends posted about their organizing endeavors, and shared some links to some great organizing blogs. I was hooked almost instantly.

I was sitting on my bed, reading one of these blogs, and suddenly I looked up and realized just how messy my room was. It wasn't dirty, just so cluttered.

All of a sudden my resolution to get my stuff organized took on way more meaning. Since then I have worked on yes, getting rid of stuff, but also organizing what I keep and making my very small bedroom more functional for me!

So I decided to share with you one area that I organized. Here is the before picture:

This is my windowsill, which is right beside my bed. From left to right, you see a ring of verse cards, a pad of sticky notes, a bookmark, a shell to catch my watch and rings, my alarm clock, a day planner, and my Bible. All things that I use while on my bed, hence the need to have them on the windowsill. (My room is too small for me to have a nightstand beside my bed. Besides, that would block the window.)

One day I was at Walmart and saw the solution to my poor, disorganized nightstand. It was love at first sight! Are you ready? Here it is...
Ok, humor me. Tell me you think my brown mesh basket is cute. Please?

In all seriousness, this was a big help. Some day when I redecorate my room, I want to decorate in purples and browns, and I like the look of mesh baskets. So when I saw that Walmart had a little basket in brown, I knew it would be a big help. And then someday when I do that redecorating, it will match! Win win!

So here is how the area looks now:

I still need to figure out the best place for my Bible. I would like to get a shelf to go over my headboard, and keep all my Bible Study materials there. We'll see what happens!

Anyone else doing any organizing?

Top Ten Tuesday - Gray Areas

A couple of years ago, Brother Mike Westmoreland preached a message about “Gray Areas” at the camp I was working at. He gave this checklist for the gray areas of separation. It made a profound impact on me at the time, so for today’s Top Ten I thought I would share it with you. Wasn’t that nice of him to make it a list of Ten for me??

If there is an area of separation that you are unsure about, ask yourself these questions: (Not all 10 questions will necessarily apply to every situation)

1. Have I committed every area of my life to God?

2. Am I willing to sacrifice my desires for God’s will?

3. Have I prayed for God’s guidance?

4. Will this glorify God?

5. Can I thank God for it?

6. Will this build me up spiritually?

7. Will it cause a weaker brother to stumble?

8. Am I in doubt as to whether or not it is right?

9. Will it hurt my witness to the lost?

10. Would I want to be doing this when Jesus comes?

Dipping Candles

If you have been reading my blog the last few weeks, you may have realized my lack of posting anything about Valentines day. Hmmm, you say as you look over past posts, she's right, not a thing. Why? you may ask. Well, for one, there wasn't too much to write about. We don't do too much for Valentines Day. I suppose I could have posted pictures of the chocolate heart my Grammie sent me. Woohoo. Don't get me wrong, I heart chocolate hearts (??) and I heart my Grammie. But you get my point about not doing too much for Valentines.

The other reason is because I really don't care for Valentines day. Personally, the weeks leading up to February 14 are the armpit of the calendar. So why post about something that doesn't thrill me?

All that being said, we did have a Valentines Supper at church on Saturday, and I was in charge of decorating for it. And you know what? It was fun.

For the centerpieces on the tables, I decided to do a little crafting. I had some leftover red wax from an old candle that I was just dying to use. And the church had a bunch of plain old white pillar candles that were just dying for a little color. :)

Here is what I did:

I took said plain white candles and dipped them in said old red wax. I tried a couple ways of melting the wax, but this "double boiler" type method worked the best, because it kept the wax very hot. I just boiled water in the pot on the bottom and put my wax in the stainless steel bowl on top.
I just kept dipping until I got the look I wanted.

Then, I used a hot glue gun and put on some ribbon that I got at the dollar store:
And for the final touch I added this "straw." Ok, its not straw, but I don't know what its called and it looks just like straw.
I personally think they came out pretty good! Here they are on the tables:

What did you do for Valentines Day?

Teen Retreat

A couple weeks ago I had the privilege to help out at Forest Glen Bible Camp for a winter retreat. Two of my siblings went as campers, and my parents and I all helped out as counselors. Here are some pictures of that weekend.

We had a blessing at the retreat, because we know practically no one in Nova Scotia yet, and weren't anticipating knowing other teens at the retreat. But there ended up being 3 teens from a family in Maine that we had met a few times! My siblings and those teens were too young when we lived in Maine to really remember each other, but they became friends quickly and spent the whole time together. So a lot of these pictures are of my siblings with them.

Three girls from my cabin. The one closest was Saundra from Maine. Sweet girl!

Here is my brother Justin with Gary and David from Maine. The three of them were seriously attached at the hip!

In the cabin....oh my.

They had a snow-sculpting contest, and my siblings and the "Maine group" were put together to work on a sculpture...how convenient. They decided to build a Chevy truck...smart kids!

Here are some of the other sculptures. This is a shoe, and they ended up winning.

There were 3 turtles, but this was the best one. Its hard to see because of the glare. Don't you just love my shadow?? :) And no, I have no idea why turtles were so popular.

A big arrow.

Aaaand...the finished truck! I think the windshield wipers added the perfect look to this thing!

We also got the opportunity to go sledding. This was right after I went down on that little saucer, and totally wiped out. It was so much fun!

Justin, David and Gary decided to all go down on one sled. Um, Gary...the idea was to be on the sled...

...but he didn't quite make it. :)

It was a fun weekend!

Top Ten Tuesday - Places I've Been

Exciting places I’ve been: (In no particular order)

1. NYC

2. Washington DC.

3. Chicago

4. Niagara Falls

5. In the Pacific Ocean (don’t ask!)

6. Disneyland

7. Pikes Peak

8. Campebello Island

9. Chile

10. Argentina

Have you been to any of these places? Or how about somewhere else exciting??

Top Ten Tuesday - Blogs

My friend Becky has been blogging about blogs lately. Very fun to read, she has shared some great ones! I enjoy discovering new and wonderful blogs. This week, she blogged about my piano blog, Nickel Notes! That was so kind of her! So I thought for Top Ten Tuesday today, I would return the favor and share ten of my favorite blogs.

I hope to post soon on my “criteria” for blog following, but for now I’ll just inform you that many blogs that I read are friends of mine, or missionaries, etc. However, I could only pick 10, because this is a Top Ten Tuesday post, so if I left your blog out, please accept my condolences. I mean apologies. (Condolences...good grief! What did I have to drink at that superbowl party?)

10. I’ll start, of course with Beckys blog, Life In The Big City. She is a comparitively new blogger, simply blogging about life. Personally when people blog about “just life” it is some of the most interesting reads! I especially love keeping up with how Becky’s wedding plans are coming along.

9. Another friend that has some great reads is Andrea at Random Issues. Andrea was my RA my first year of college. She is now married and living in NYC. She has a one-year-old daughter that will keep you in stitches with her antics. You must read this post about when she dumped out Andrea’s olive oil. While wasting precious oil was not funny at the time, the pictures and the way Andrea retells this story are priceless.

8. The Lockharts from Lockhart Life in Brazil are from my church in North Carolina. They are missionaries to Brazil (no duh) and have 3 small children. I think it is so neat to see how their kids are adapting to life in another country! They too, will keep you laughing. Their blog is overflowing with blessings and praise to the Lord that is sure to be an encouragment.

7. My friend Leah posts at Drops from my Cup. I have only known Leah for just over a year (wow!) but she and her blog have been a blessing to me. She often posts meditations on passages of scripture she has been pondering, which is thought provoking for me. She just began posting Musical Mondays, which I am very excited about and have already learned from.

6. Tammy at Busy Blessings has been a friend of my parents for years...ever since she married our pastor's son. She now has 8 boys and reading about their lives is so much fun! She often blogs about sewing, crafts, and cooking, which are fun to read and try the things she blogs about. She has a gift for making anything an interesting blog post...even sweeping her floors.

5. I enjoy reading a couple blogs that will grow my spiritual life, and more specifically, encourage me to be a lady for the Lord. Girl Talk Blog is one of those.

4. Girls Gone Wise is another one. I enjoy the practical help for things I am going through in every stage of life.

3. Catalog Living is a just-for-a-good-laugh blog. The people behind this one take pictures from magazines and turn them into a funny story. I love reading these when I need something on the lighter side.

2. I also enjoy reading a couple of blogs that give me wisdom for my future, things I can tuck away for when I am a wife and mother. Passionate Homemaking is one of those that talks about how to do everything with God as your focus, while becoming a Godly homemaker. I appreciate the Godly advice from this site!

1. Heavenly Homemakers is probably about my favorite ever. Laura blogs about so many different aspects of making your home heavenly. I appreciate her stand on things that are Biblical. This is a great blog for anyone, regardless of whether you have a home to manage or not. I print and file many things from here!

While I love and would heartily recommend each of these blogs (obviously, because I just did) that is not to say that I endorse or agree with absolutely everything on them. There may be something you don't agree with as well. But I think that overall these are blogs that point us to Christ and how to live our lives as sacrifices to Him. If you find something you don't like and want to talk to me about it, feel free to leave a comment or contact me.

I hope you will take time to browse through some of these blogs and enjoy some good reads and some challenges to become more like Christ. Happy blogging!

Missions Monday - LAST OPPORTUNITY!!!!

I promise that this is the last time I will repeat myself about Mandy's picture, because THERE ARE ONLY TWO DAYS LEFT TO VOTE!! The voting ends on the 9th. Hurry, Hurry, get over to Mandy's blog and vote for her picture!

In case you haven't heard about this voting thing previously, Mandy is in pre-med classes to become a medical missionary. If her picture gets the most votes, she will get a scholarship towards that schooling. And as we already discussed, what a worthy cause, and what a need there is for more Mandys out there! We can have a part in this great work...simply by voting for her picture. You can vote every 12 hours.

So HURRY! Time is running out, and we can make a difference.

And thanks a ton!

Quick Quotes: God's Lovingkindness

Oh! That I had a Seraph’s tongue to tell, or a pen dipped in the praises of heaven to write, what His lovingkindness and tender mercy have been to me!”

Susannah Spurgeon, “Free Grace and Dying Love”

Isaiah 54:10

For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee.

Lamentations 3:22-23

It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not,

They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

Top Ten Tuesday - Comfort Foods

We all have those foods that are just go-to, favorite, what-I-want-when-I'm-not-feeling-well foods. Here are ten of mine in no particular order:

10. Hot Chocolate

9. Coffee

8. Tea

7. Ok, any hot drink. Because I like all things hot. No comments.

6. Ramen noodles...weird I know, but I just love 'em.

5. Hamburgers

4. Salad

3. Ice cream

2. Spaghetti or American Chop Suey

1. Toasted Cheese Sandwich - especially if its made by my Grammie!

Ok, there they are. Glamorous, isn't it? Now you know what to feed me when I come visit. :)

What are your comfort foods??