Reflection on 2012

I did a post like this at the beginning of last year and it was fun to look back on, so I decided I was going to do another! :) Here is a little recap of something that happened each month in 2012:

January- Blake finished up Practice Court 3 of law school and made an A! :)

February- Katie went on the first annual Girls Weekend with her mom, sister, grandma and aunt and first heard about the job opening at Gateway Church.

March- Katie found out she got the job at Gateway Church and we began the great search of a new apartment in DFW.

April- Katie wrapped up her job at GM Wholesale and Blake graduated from law school!!

May- We moved to North Richland Hills, TX and Katie began her new job.

June- We celebrated our 3rd anniversary and Blake began the great job of studying for the bar.

July- Blake finished the bar after several months of studying and 3 days of hard test taking.

August- Blake spent the entire month recovering from the bar. Enough said.

September- Blake and Katie drove with Travis and Jackie all the way to Destin, FL to vacation with the Penfield family on the beach!

October- Katie experienced her first big conference at Gateway, where her and her boss, Walker, pulled off an awesome worship booth for musicians and launched their new website and worship app.

November- Blake found out he passed the bar!

December- Spent Christmas morning at the Gager's and Christmas evening with the Penfield's. Had a wonderful full week relaxing and celebrating at home!

Quilt Block Fundraiser for Ellie

Purchase a quilt block by going to the DONATE button below!

Boxes, boxes, boxes...

Well we're in the middle of packing. In about a week and two days we will be moving away from our first apartment as a married couple into our new apartment in a different city to begin the second phase of our lives. Let me just say.... I cannot wait! :)

With each new item added to a cardboard box, I grow more and more excited. I traveled up to DFW last week to start my first official week of work. It was a bit of a hectic one because the team was gearing up for a live recording that was held on Friday night. I heard one girl describe the live recording as their "Super Bowl". It's their one big event that they have every 1 to 2 years and takes months and months of planning. I, fortunately, got to be there for the madness. :) I do have to say though, despite all of the madness, I couldn't be more happy than where God has placed me for the foreseeable future.

I think I said this before, but my new job is in many ways my "dream job". While many of you know, I am a photographer. And while being a photographer is one of my favorite things in the world to do, it just isn't consistent enough to provide for us financially right now, or keep my constant need for action fulfilled. :) Because of these two things, I found that I had to figure out what else it was that I loved doing and what else the Lord has given me a heart for doing. And this job is it. While I won't go into detail right now about that, just know it involves a lot of planning, organization, creativity and busyness. And if you know me, you know I adore all of those things! :)

But the packing continues. Blake and I have been so blessed that we've had this entire week free for just that very thing...packing. Because of this we've been taking it slow and steady. I am finding that because of this, I have more of an opportunity to be an organized and rational packer. This makes my heart happy! It's not....oh my gosh we have to hurry just throw those shoes in there with that pan!! It's more like ok, I have this size box and this many items, let's slowly put them in the box to create a perfect puzzle where everything fits nicely. I'm sure this time next week I'll be a little more like the first example with the last few things. But for now, I love it. :)

I think the cats are beginning to understand that something is up. They LOVE empty boxes and have made sure to jump in every. single. one. They also like empty shelves and spaces, which we have a lot of at the moment.

Anyways....that's all for now. I'll try to keep updating through the move! :)

For the month of May, A Beau Ideal (my headband business) will be giving 10% of it's profits to The Sparrow Fund. An organization that provides financial support for orphans around the world as well as the families adopting them. Check it out!

Moving to DFW

So you know that post that I posted almost a month ago now, about feeling like we were in limbo? Well the limbo continued for another week or so and then the fog began to clear! We just found out last week that we will be moving to the DFW area! I got a job with Gateway Church and couldn't be more excited! All I can say is that the Lord is so very good. Time and time again he blows my mind with how much he is in control of every little situation.

I mentioned in that post about how it was only 3 years ago, around this time, that I was anxiously waiting to get married and move to Waco. I knew at that time that we'd be moving here, but I did not have a job. I was very anxious because I was going to be the sole bread winner with Blake in school. As the moving day got closer and closer, I begin wondering how we'd even be able to pay our deposit. A week before our wedding I got a call about an interview. I drove to Waco a few days later and before I knew it, I had a job! Again....the Lord was in complete control.

This time around I kept in mind the sovereignty of the Lord the last time (and every time for that matter) and attempted to be less anxious and worried. Overall, I have to say, I did a pretty good job. I didn't think about it often and just trusted that the Lord would provide. But I have to admit as the month of May was getting closer, I was starting to get a little nervous. I felt like a little tiny person waving her arms at the sky saying, "God, remember me? Remember how I need to know what your plan for us is so we can move where ever that is??"

The last weekend of February I went to Abilene to have a "girls weekend" with my mom, aunt, sister and grandma. We had so much fun! On the last day before we all parted ways my aunt just happened to mention that my uncle had a position open at the church he worked at. I worked for this church back in 2008 and have always wanted to go back. I remember thinking, "gosh I wish I could apply for that position." I called Blake to see how he was doing and casually mentioned the position. He shocked me by saying, "why can't you apply for it?" I sat there dumbstruck wondering why I couldn't.

For so long, I had viewed our future as being dependent on where ever Blake got a job. I never once thought that I could be looking for a job in the area he was interested in that could support us till he found one. So I talked to my aunt, who then talked to my uncle. He was actually on sabbatical at the time and couldn't talk to anyone at the church until his sabbatical was over. Long story short and many complicated details later, I had to wait about a month and a half before I got any word on whether I got the job.

Blake and I traveled up to the area two weekends ago and were so blessed to find an apartment that we both loved and could afford. The Lord had his hand in it again. We'll be moving up there May 19 and I couldn't be any more excited. It's amazing the way the Lord works. I know there are still many details to be worked out, but I'm just in awe of his gracious kindness and the way he provides time and time again.

Embroidery and Sewing

I've done a few craft/sewing projects lately that I wanted to share! First of all I tried my hand at attempting a Dresden block. I got the pattern from here. It was soooo easy! I enjoyed doing it so much! I think I just might have to do a few more of these. Maybe even a full quilt of these!

There is a new fabric line out by Art Gallery Fabrics called Summerlove that I think would be beautiful in this pattern. The fabric line by Denyse Schmidt called Flea Market Fancy was just recently reprinted. I think I'd like to see that in this pattern too! Ha! Oh the possibilities!

Next I've been seeing all these super cute embroidery hoops on Pinterest, some with embroidery and some with just cute fabric. Believe it or not my little sister decided to try her hand at one of the ones with embroidery. If you know anything about her, you know she does not like doing craft projects of any kind. She did a great job though and I think she really enjoyed herself! Here are a few of mine:

I will be doing a craft fair the day before Easter and I'm kind of thinking of putting some of these guys in my booth to see if they sell. We'll see if I get the motivation to finish off a few more! :)

No Crease Hair Ties

I had to do a little promo today on the blog about the new No Crease Hair Ties that I carry in my online shop A Beau Ideal. They work great for both thick and thin hair! They also look super cute on your wrist when you don't want to wear them, but have a hair tie with you.

Come check them out by visiting my website or etsy page!

limbo

I feel like our life is stuck in a sort of limbo right now. I know I mentioned in one of my earlier posts that we'd be experiencing a lot of changes this year. And we will, but they are very sloooowwwwllly happening. At least for now. Nothing is worse than knowing change is coming, but there's nothing you can do to prepare for it yet.

Like I said in an older post, I'm a planner. I like to look at my future plans and begin working towards them. I know in May we will be moving away from Waco. While we have plans of where we could possibly be moving, there are also other opportunities that are arising. The Lord is really teaching me patience in many ways right now. I know that where ever we go and whatever we end up doing he will take care of us and provide no matter what.

It's funny because I know in about a month and a half life is going to get extremely hectic and busy we we're going to be packing, cleaning, moving and adjusting to a new life. But right now it feels like time is standing still and not moving. The type A, driven side of me wants May to hurry up and get here so I can begin doing something. Anything at all. But for now I must wait.

For now I will enjoy our life in our first apartment in our first city we've lived in together as a married couple. I'll enjoy all the unique areas and locations this small city offers us. It was only three years ago that I was going through these same feelings ready to get to this city and move into our new apartment. Crazy how time flies!

For now I will trust in the Lord and his plans for our future. I can only plan up until May 19 and after that, for now, I don't know where we'll be or what we'll be doing. But for now that will be enough. I will not worry, I will not grow anxious. Or at least, I'll try not too. :) I will choose to live in this moment and not miss the blessings that are all around me.

I will choose to not live as if in limbo, but as if this day is the most important day of my life.

Esther's Quilt

It is finished!!

I'm so happy with it too! Thank you so much to everyone who gave to this family to bring her home. They are actually in Uganda now in the process of bringing her home! Praise the Lord!

Year in a Glance

Well I 've been terrible about posting this year. I try every year to be better, but every year I fail. :) I thought I'd go back and just recount an important or memorable event that happened each month this year.

JANUARY

I bought myself a new computer. (Might not seem like a memorable event for most, but this was huge for me and Blake)

FEBRUARY

Found out that we were going to be an Aunt and Uncle!

MARCH

Went to Disney World with the Penfield family!

APRIL

Attended the first craft show for the year in Ennis, Texas with my mom and sister.

MAY

Saw my little sister graduate from high school!

JUNE

Celebrated our 2nd anniversary!

JULY

Had a bit of a scare when our niece, Cali Jayne, thought she was coming early, but she didn't. Thank God!

AUGUST

Blake started his last year of Law School! I wrecked my car, but was extremely blessed to be safe and have great insurance! :) Was able to get myself a new car!

SEPTEMBER

Celebrated on the first day of the month the birth of our first niece and goddaughter Cali Jayne!!

OCTOBER

Blake's brother married our new sister-in-love Jackie! Also, Blake finished Practice Court 1 and 2, which happens to be the absolute hardest part of law school.

NOVEMBER

Celebrated Thanksgiving with the Gager Family in Uvalde!

DECEMBER

Celebrated Christmas morning with the Penfield Family and then the evening with the Gager's.

It's been a great year. There were definitely times that I felt like Job. In all the blessings there was a multitude of trials. But the Lord stood by us and brought us through every trial into a new blessing. While there were moments where I couldn't see beyond the day or week ahead, it's awesome to look back and see how the Lord helped us through it all.

I know 2012 has a lot of changes ahead. Blake will be graduating and taking the BAR and we will probably be moving away from Waco. I'm a planner and like to know what the plan is for our future. At this moment I honestly can't see past about mid-May. But I know the Lord is in control and will be there every step of the way. I can't wait to see what he has in store!

Buy a Quilt Block for Esther

If you read my sister's blog you might have read her story about a little girl name Esther that she met in Uganda. She met her for the first time 2 years ago on her first trip to Uganda. She was a tiny little girl with a big beautiful smile. Back in June when Lexie returned to Uganda she was surprised to find Esther still at the orphanage. At first she wasn't the same cheerful little girl that she remembered. Years in the orphanage had changed sweet Esther's cheerful nature. After a while Lexie was finally able to see her smile and saw that glimmer of the Esther she knew.

When she returned home she was on a mission to find a family for sweet Esther. By God's amazing plan and provision she found them! So now it's our turn to step up and fight for Esther and help bring her home. Let's help the Stonebrook family raise the funds needed to adopt her.

Buy a quilt block for $10. All proceeds will go to the Stonebrook family adoption fund. I will then sew a quilt with all the blocks that I will send to sweet Esther and her family. To buy a block you can either send a check to me or click on the donate button the right column and pay by credit card or pay pal.

Thank you in advance for all donations. God has a great plan for Esther and her new family. Let's help bring her home!

Zig Zag Quilt

I am almost finished with a quilt top that I've been working on for the last few months. It's taken me so long because I keep stopping it and starting another project. But I told myself that I would not start another quilt or project until I had this quilt finished. I have a few strips to add to the sides and top and bottom, but I just had to share it!

My sweet husband agreed to hold it up for me while I took the picture. I love his feet sticking out at the bottom! :)

I got the pattern from here. It was super easy to use! I totally recommend you purchasing patterns from her! I used a mix of Heather Bailey lines for the fabric including Nicey Jane, Pop Garden and Bijoux.

Kitchen

Two posts in one day?! What's the world coming to? :) I just wanted to share with you guys a little "face lift" I did in our kitchen. I never loved the area over our kitchen sink so I did something about it. Here's what I did.....

I found this idea on Pinterest (place where I spend waaaay too much time!) to color clear vases with acrylic paint. It was super easy and I love the result. You just pick a few different colors of acrylic that you like, drip it down in the vase and twirl it around till it covers all the surfaces. Let it dry over night and voila! Super cute vases!

The framed applique bird idea I also got from Pinterest. A woman had posted a pillow she made with appliqued birds on a line in different color fabrics. It was super easy also. And those are my favorite part!

Pillows for my Sister

It's been too long since I last posted. At one point I tried to change the layout of our blog and I messed it up so bad. I got so frustrated that for a long time I just didn't want to look at it because I didn't know how to fix it. But no worries! It's fixed now. It's a silly reason not to post, but it's my silly reason.

Ok so I know the last thing I posted about was pillows, but I've made more. Not for me this time, but for my sister. She is going off to college in less than a month and I needed to make her some cute decorative pillow for her bed! So here they are....

I am very happy with them and how they turned out! I got the tutorial for the flower one here and I came up with the pattern for the chevron one. I'm actually thinking of putting together a tutorial for how to do that one and posting it on here. Does anyone even read this blog any more? And if so, would you want a tutorial?? Let me know!

Sprocket Pillows

So it's been a really long time! Sorry guys! :) I don't have a lot to say, but wanted to share some pictures of some pillows that I'm making for our couch. I really like how they turned out!

I got the idea from here: http://www.cluckclucksew.com/2011/03/tutorial-sprocket-pillows.html

Dress A Girl Around the World

Do you like to sew? Do you need a good cause to sew for? :)

Well I have the perfect organization for you! It's called Dress A Girl Around the World. Their motto:

Imagine a world where every little girl owned at least one dress.

Plain and Simple, but so very meaningful for little girls all over the world. Join me in making pillow case dresses to donate to this organization. Use pillowcases, scraps of fabric, etc. to make perfect little sundress for girls. It's a super easy pattern that even a beginner could master! You can find the pattern here:

http://littlebiggirlstudio.blogspot.com/2011/03/dress-girl-around-world-sew-long-day-1.html

They have a pillowcase option as well as a full pattern option. I am going to create a facebook group dedicated just to the people who are coming together to make dresses. Let me know if you're interested and I will invite you to the group! Please share pictures of your finished creations!

After you finish your dress mail it off to:

Rachel Eggum Cinader

Hope 4 Women International

P.O Box 74010

Phoenix, AZ 85087

Please join me in dressing girls around the world!

Pillow Case

I found this fabric that I absolutely loved at Hobby Lobby. I bought two yards of it to use for a blanket that I will make sometime in the future. It's been sitting there on my shelf since I bought it and I admire it everyday. :) The other day I was at Hobby Lobby and saw in there "clearance scrap pile" a roll of the same material! It was 3/4 of a yard for only $1.50. So of course I snatched it up.

I had seen this really simple tutorial for making pillow cases recently and had just stored it away in my "To-Do" crafts folder. So when I came home with this small role of fabric I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. Here's the result:

Doesn't that just make you happy? :)

Project Couch: COMPLETED!

Ok so I know there really weren't many posts about my couch project, but I don't really care because it's finished!! :) And I LOVE them! While the actual slip covers aren't as brown as I'd like them, the fabric of the pillows makes everything better. Let me stop talking and just show you some pics!

I just love the fabric of the pillows! And I got it all for 40% off at Hobby Lobby!
Close up of the back....you can see where I added the zipper. Which I must say was way easier than I thought it'd be.
My cute husband sitting on the love seat reading a comic book. Isn't he cute?! :)

Baby Shoes and a Skirt

Let me start this post by first giving this disclaimer: we are NOT pregnant. Let me repeat myself (for those of you who skipped over the word NOT)....we are NOT pregnant. Just want to make that clear. I know many of you out there would see that I'm making things for a baby and your wondering brains would go straight to our future babies. :) That's kind of you to think of them, but that's not who these shoes are for!

The shoes are for my baby sister, Annie! :) They are actually a sort of Valentine's surprise for her. So don't tell her! :) I bought the pattern what I thought was a few months ago. Until today I noticed the purchase date was actually on Valentines day one year ago. I didn't know who I was buying the pattern for, but little did I know a precious little girl would be entering all of our lives. I am so happy that she's the first person I've made them for!

I also made a skirt for my other sister Karleigh Mei as a Valentine's surprise for her! It's basically just a reverse applique skirt out of an adult t-shirt. It was like the easiest thing I've ever made! :)

Project Couch: Step 1

I have decided to call my project to change the way my couches look "Project Couch". Today was day one/step one.....dye the slip covers brown. I decided that I wanted to go with the dark brown look. Like I said in the last post the first thing I was going to do was bleach the already blue denim slip covers and then dye them brown. Well let's just say the bleaching step didn't work. NOT at all.

So I'm standing there in this dirty, creepy laundromat with all these semi-scary looking people staring at me because I'm the only white girl in the place, and I am just wanting to get this done. I used three washers and with a gallon of bleach split evenly between the three, I was ready to say good bye to the blue. But I quickly realized the blue was not ready to part with me. I stood there for a while just looking at the now sopping wet blue slip covers trying to decide what I should do next. Desperate to start seeing brown, I poured a bottle of Rit dye in each washer and let it do it's thing.

After the first soak/cycle I realized that one bottle wasn't going to cut it. So I ran to the store, leaving my soaking slip covers in the machines, praying that no one would steal them. I mean really, who'd want them anyways?? To my joy, they were still there waiting for me. So I put another bottle in each washer and let it run it's cycle. Then I rinsed one more time to make sure all the extra dye was gone.

I have to admit when I was leaving the laundromat the slipcovers were looking anything but brown to me. Maybe it was just the harsh sunlight, but I saw a brownish blue and a purple. NOT the look I was going for. By the time I got them back on the couches they looked a lot better.

I don't have any pictures to share yet because I was too lazy to take them today! :) But I promise I will get some tomorrow when the lighting is better and I will post them first thing!