These Boots

Okay, so my mom went to Oklahoma a few weeks ago and brought Eden back some hot pink real, live cowboy boots. Check out the pics...

What a fun age! What a terrible age! Do you get what I'm saying? She can be so precious one moment and so disobedient and selfish the next. I get so frustrated, thinking, what am I doing wrong? People say, "She's just 2, that's part of it." I know that is true is some sense, but at the same time, it still grieves my heart when I see her selfishness rear it's ugly head. I want to scream, "Don't you know how precious you are? Quit acting like that!!!"

It's in these moments of frustration that God usually quietly reminds my heart that I often am that selfish 2-year-old, too. One minute, I'm obedient. The next, I'm screaming, "MINE! NO!" Oh how it must grieve His heart. How He must want to scream, "Don't you know how precious you are? Quit acting like that!!!" He is so faithful to discipline me with a firm but loving hand when I need it (quite often I must admit). Thankfully, He makes no excuses for me. He loves me too much for that.

So, even though she's "only 2," and she looks precious in her cowboy boots, I know I have to choose to do the hard thing and make no excuses for her sinful nature. I must discipline her with a loving and firm hand (or spoon:0). It's just so hard when she looks so cute!!! I think it's even harder for Gene...she knows how to "work" her daddy. Last night he took her to Chick-Fil-A while I had Bible study and as they were leaving I pulled her aside and said, "Eden, please obey your daddy." Sometimes it's funny to watch her work her magic on him. He just can't resist her cuteness. But, after spending a few hours alone with her sometimes I'll notice him becoming more firm with her. I'll think, "Yeah, it's not so cute now, is it?" He'll look so harried and exhausted and I just chuckle. He's such a good daddy.

Well, that's all for now. Hope all of you are doing well. Oh, and I'm happy to report that Eden has slept through the night several times in the last week. What an answer to prayer!

Design on a Dime

I know, don't have a heart attack...I'm actually posting TWO days in a ROW!!! If you haven't checked in on us in a while, there's a recent post from yesterday. Okay, I am quickly becoming addicted to HGTV. I love the show "Design on a Dime." While I am nowhere NEAR their expertise (and my definition of "dime" greatly differs from theirs right now), I have been having some fun getting creative with some little projects around the house. I have had little time for decorating since Eden came home, but thanks to Mother's Day Out, I've been able to do a couple of projects the past few weeks.

I wanted to do some family pictures in Eden's room, but don't have a lot of table top space in there. And, I wanted to utilize one of the Asian silk dresses we bought her in China. So, I set out to Michael's craft store to see if I could muster up some creativity. I am NOT artistic at all (my sister got that gene from my mom) so I needed it to be fairly simple and impossible to mess up. Here's what I came up with:

I was able to find a wall shelf that would hold frames that also had pegs so I could hang the dress. The frames and "E" letter were $1 each and the shelf was $10 or so. They were unfinished wood and I painted them with acrylic paint. So this whole project with paint (I had the spray sealer and brushes already) was about $20. Not bad!

Here is a close-up of the shelf and frames. The flower appliques for the frames were already painted and I just glued them on.

I also needed something with a few hooks for purses/bags. This also came unfinished and I painted it pink and glued the froggy on it.

Also, I love family pictures!!! The walls in my newly painted craft room were bare. So I picked out several pictures that I love of our family and changed them to black and white in i photo. Then I sent them to Wal-Mart digitally to be printed in a variety of sizes. I spray mounted them on black foam board and attached some chocolate brown ribbon that I had left over from a wedding to them for hangers. Here's how it turned out. I love it!!! I'll just go in there a stare at the walls, and these will be easy to update and add to as our family grows and changes.



That's about all we've been up to this week. Stay tuned for a post tomorrow or over the weekend titled "Real Pink Cowboy Boots." You can imagine the sassiness of that one!! Love you all!