Babies

I am behind in posting updates from the last couple of months, but I had to share these precious little blessings with you.  I've actually lost track of the total number of friends that have had babies this spring, but one weekend in particular, at the end of April, it was baby time!  3 sweet little ones entered the world within 24 hours of each other!  Two of the 3 were born here in town, and I absolutely loved getting to meet them, and of course, hold them.

Truman and I visited Baby Hailey in the hospital.  She was so sweet and laid back and let me hold her for at least an hour.  She has already grown so much since then, but in those first days of life, she was tiny and absolutely beautiful.

I didn't get a chance to meet baby Kaiden until several weeks later, when he was a month old.  He is adorable and his little personality was already beginning to shine through.

It is such a joy to celebrate these new little bundles of joy with our friends!  It is sad that we haven't had a chance to meet so many of the other little ones who live far away, but we sure are enjoying loving on these sweet ones that are close by.  Soon after we get back in August, some new little faces are scheduled to make their appearances too! 

Organization Overhaul: Operation Closet

If you are anything like me, you love having things organized, with a place for everything and everything in its place.  This particular closet was a joke in our home.  When we moved in, we just stuck things in there that we knew we would store there, but for months I kept saying, "we really need to organize that closet!"  Every time I would attempt to find something in that closet, it took forever to find what I needed, and I often got attacked by falling items.  I dreaded opening that door.  I was seriously a little giddy when it was finally neat and organized.  Even my hubby appreciates being able to find what he is looking for.  I wish I remembered to take a before shot so you could see just how awful it really was.  But, I was so anxious to get organizing that I totally forgot!

During my mom's last visit, I told her that one of my birthday gifts would be helping me organize this closet!  We set off on a mission with measurements of all of the shelves and a list of the items that needed to be organized, to help us pick the right storage items.  All of the plastic bins and canvas totes came from Bed, Bath & Beyond, purchased with a combination of their awesome coupons. 

I used mini wooden rectangles that came in a pack from Michaels to make the labels, and sprayed them with chalkboard spray paint.  I used Chalk Ink Markers (also from Michaels) to write the contents of each bin on the label.  For the plastic bins, I used good ole' duck tape to stick the labels on the front of the bin.  It has held great!  For the canvas bins, I used a piece of 1 inch grosgrain wrapped around the top with a mini clothespin to hold it to the chalkboard label.  The grosgrain ribbon came from Dollar Tree and the mini clothespins came from the office supply aisle at Walmart.  If I ever want to change the contents of the bins, a damp cloth will wipe off the label.

It felt fantastic to check this task of of my ongoing to-do list.  And I still get excited every time I open the closet door.  I wonder how many minutes of my life were wasted hunting through this closet pre-organizational overhaul?  It only took an afternoon and it was 100% worth the effort.  What closet do you need to tackle?

Ironing Pretty

I love when you are out and about and you find that perfect item, that's even better than what you could have imagined, when you aren't even looking for it.  Some people have those discoveries all the time, but for me, they're rare, so it's exciting when they do happen!

I've slowly been working on making our laundry room cozy as I find little things here and there.  I painted the walls a beautiful shade of robin's egg blue.  During one of my mom's visits, we stopped into TJ Maxx and I found this beautiful ironing board cover in the clearance aisle!

It is exactly the colors I am using in our laundry room and I adore the pattern.  (It's hard to capture the true color in photos because there is no natural light in this room.)  Our poor ironing board cover was thin and loose and I had been thinking we needed a new one.  If I have to iron, I'd much rather do it on a pretty ironing board!

What fun discoveries have you made lately?

The Painted Plate

The number thirteen is often thought to be unlucky, a bad omen, a number that most people frown upon. Hotels skip the 13th floor. Airplanes don't have a 13th row.

For us though, 13 has become a number for good things.  I explained in this post why the number 13 is actually a meaningful number for us.  My birthday is April 13th.  Truman's is December 13th.  We were married on May 13th.  We closed on our first home together on November 13th.

For almost a year now, I've had a blank white plate mixed into the photos  on the shelves in our dining room.  I've been planning to paint a number 13 on it.  People have asked if there was significance in the white plate.  Not yet.  But, I finally got around to painting it.  There is now!

I thought I would share a tutorial for how I glazed a permanent 13 onto the plate.

Prepare your glass or ceramic item by wiping it down with rubbing alcohol to make sure it's good & clean.  Remove any stickers since you'll be baking it later.

I used this Folk Art Enamels paint.  The bottle says "Acrylic Paint for Glass and Ceramics."

First, print out what you would like to paint on your glass or ceramic item.  Play around with the size until you get it the way you want.  I used the Engravers MT font.  Cut around each number or letter leaving just a little white space.  If you are using more than one number or letter, I found it easier to cut them into separate pieces so you could space them however you want.

Next, you need to use a pencil and trace the outline of the number or letter on the back of the piece of paper.  Holding it up to a window makes this step a LOT easier!

After both are traced, position them where you want to transfer them on the plate and use a piece of scotch tape to secure them in place.

Take your pencil, and scratch with pressure over the outline of the numbers to transfer the pencil outline on the back to the plate or whatever glass/ceramic object you are using.

When you've scratched all of the edges well, carefully peel back the paper, and you will see your pencil outline on the plate.

Now, you will use a paintbrush to fill in your transferred outline with the ceramic paint.  Be sure to use a tiny brush and make sure the bristles are smooth and there aren't any errant bristles poking out to the side.  If there are, it will be very difficult to get a straight, smooth edge.  This is not the time to use your preschooler's water color paintbrush.  I promise you will get so frustrated if you try.  Find the smallest brush you can!  If you think it's too thin, it will probably work perfectly.

After your text is filled in completely, allow the item to air dry for one hour.  After an hour, and following the directions on the bottle, place it in the cool oven, then heat the oven to 350 degrees.  Bake for 30 minutes, cool in the oven, then remove.

Your paint will be permanently set!  Do not use your painted item in direct contact with food and handwash it or put it on the top rack of the dishwasher. 

It's right at home on the shelf and surprisingly, even after almost a year of having a plain white plate displayed, the 13 fits in like it's always been there.

Freebie Fire Pit

One of my absolute favorite summer treats is s'mores.  We also love an evening spent sitting by the fire, relaxing and chatting, or hanging out with friends.  Ever since we got married, we've been talking about having a fire pit.  After we moved Colorado, we decided it was time to make it happen.  The evenings here are cool, even after a hot day, which is the perfect recipe for a fire pit evening. 

Our budget has been extremely tight the last few months, so we were on a mission to build a fire pit in our backyard for free.  After looking on Craigslist for free materials for a few weeks with no luck, our patience paid off and we scored when our teammate offered us free rocks that he had dug out of his yard when installing a retaining wall.  (Thanks, Hullah's!)

We enjoyed our first evening by the fire pit a couple of weeks ago.  Complete with delicious fire roasted s'mores!  We are looking forward to many more evenings by the fire after we return from our summer travels.

Mmmm....

What do you enjoy in the summer?

Leaving On a Jet Plane

Our bags are packed, our house is clean (we have houseguests who will be staying in our home while we are away), and in just a few hours, we will be boarding the plane that is going to take us to Italy, and then on to Africa!  We are so excited! 

Because flights from the US to South Africa typically connect through Europe, we were able to schedule a layover in Italy on our way to South Africa.  We are very blessed to have a time of refreshment and relaxation before we kick into high gear and lead 25 college students in serving the people of South Africa.  This time will also allow us to break our travel into two 10-12 hour segments, rather than one long flight, and allow my body and health some time to recover from the travel and time to adjust to the time difference before our summer project begins. 

 (picture borrowed from Adam Go)

Several people have asked if I will be updating my blog during our summer adventures.  I hope so!  We will have limited and inconsistent internet access, but I hope to post a few updates, (prayerfully with photos!), so you can be a part of what we are experiencing this summer.  We believe that God has some huge plans for the next two months!  We would love your prayers during our time away, so I will try to post some prayer requests with our updates. 

I have scheduled some fun, crafty posts for while I am gone, so if you come back throughout the summer, there will be some creative inspiration, along with some summer updates!  I didn't want to leave my readers with an empty blog for 2 months!

Food For Friday is taking a break for the summer, but will be back this fall, with lots of delicious new recipes. 

 (picture borrowed from Adam Go)

I hope that the next time I sit down to write, I'll have a tan from the Tuscan sun and be enjoying some homemade gelato as I post from Italy!

Countdown to Africa: 5 Days!

As people around the world are turning their attention to South Africa and tuning into the World Cup, which kicks off in Johannesburg tomorrow, we are literally packing our bags to leave for this beautiful country.  Back in November, I announced that we will be spending 6 weeks in Pretoria and Cape Town, South Africa on a mission trip with Campus Crusade for Christ.  At the time I wrote the post, our departure seemed so far away, but in exactly 5 days, we will be on a LONG flight, making our way towards Africa!
 

In the coming weeks, as you see images of South Africa all over the news, remember that there is another story behind the striking beauty of this country and it's people:  A story of brokenness, a story of redemption, and a country in need of the Good News of the Gospel.  Did you know?

More people die of AIDS in South Africa every year than anywhere else in the world.

20% of the South African population is infected with AIDS.

A South African little girl has a better chance of being raped than she does learning how to read. 

For the first part of our trip, we will be working with Beam Africa, a faith-based, South African run development center.  Daily, they feed and invest in the lives of 100 orphaned and poor children, including children with AIDS, providing at least one healthy meal (for many the only meal they will eat that day), as well as a safe environment for them to learn and experience needed love and support, from help with their homework to job skills training and clothing. 
 

We will then travel to Cape Town, South Africa where we will be working on 4 college campuses throughout the city.  Through initiating spiritual conversations, building relationships with South African college students, and outreaches, our students will take the Good News of Christ to college students in Cape Town.  The future leaders of South Africa will come from this generation of college students. 

In 2009, 54% of college students who heard the Gospel in South Africa made decisions for Christ!  Most students have not yet had the opportunity to hear the Good News, but when they do, they respond.

In the coming weeks, as you hear about South Africa in the news, will you remember to pray for us?

I rarely talk about opportunities to give on my blog, but I also want to mention that we are still in need of additional financial support for this mission trip and are trusting God to provide all of our needed support before we leave on Tuesday!  If God is tugging at your heart to be a part of what He has called us to be a part of in South Africa, you can give directly through Campus Crusade for Christ here.  All gifts are tax deductible. 



P.S.  Because we live in a world of sin and I've heard the blog horror stories, I have to say, if you are reading this post and are thinking our home would be a fantastic target to break into while we are away for 2 months, be advised that family members are housesitting for us.  Our house will not be empty!