Exceedingly and Abundantly More...

Ephesians 3:20 is one of my favorite verses!  It says, "Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly and abundantly more than I could ever ask or imagine, to Him be all the glory."  I couldn't wait to type this post!  My fingers can't type fast enough!  I have been in tears ALL DAY long because of God's goodness and faithfulness to me today.  Let me share the awesomeness of God that I encountered today...

It began around 10:30am.  I got a call from a man who said he wanted some information about a subdivision lot we have for sale.  As soon as he said those words, I smiled.  You see, I have been SPECIFICALLY praying that the lot we've had for sale for almost 6 months, would sell by January 31st.  I have prayed earnestly over that particular date, but I still asked God for His perfect timing and His perfect will in selling the lot.  When the call came today and the man on the other end of the line told me he wanted to BUY our lot, I almost fell apart on the phone.  Fortunately, I held it together until I hung up the phone, but as soon as the call ended, I fell to my knees and bawled.  I thanked God over and over and OVER for being such a good, faithful God!  Can you believe it?!  He could have had that person call several months ago or even yesterday, but he answered my specific prayer and the man called today, JANUARY 31st!  AMAZING!!!!

On top of that, God's goodness has been so evident in our lives with the sale of our house and the purchase of a new house!  I told you last week about how Mallory has been praying for over a year for us to live by my parents.  I told you the sweet story of the couple who had wanted our house 6 months ago when we first put it on the market, but had to save their money for a down payment before they could make an offer.  God allowed our house to be saved for them and He worked out the timing to fulfill His perfect plan.  Well, he has been working out details in the purchase of our new home, too.  With a set price in mind, we made a TOTALLY RIDICULOUS offer on a home 3 doors down from my mom and dad's house.  We knew that if the offer was accepted, that it would be a miracle from God.  Well friends, God is still in the miracle-working business!!!  Our offer was accepted and my little Mallory's prayers have been answered!!!  We will be moving in 2 weeks!!!!!!  The house needs a lot of updating, but we know it's where God wants us and are looking forward to updating it little by little as we can.

As Ephesians 3:20 says.... God has done exceedingly and abundantly more than we could have ever asked or imagined.  It's incredible and totally AMAZING!!!!  To Him be ALL the glory!!!!!  I can't wait to share pictures of our new home and start decorating it!!!  :-)

Sweetness

Mallory is reading to Macy.... precious!

Then Sings My Soul Saturday - Great is Thy Faithfulness

Oh, how faithful God is!  We have experienced His faithfulness over and over and over recently.  He is so good, so trustworthy, so holy, so merciful, so loving, and SO faithful.

 

Sit back and be blessed by other songs at Signs, Miracles, and Wonders.

New Home Decor

Ya'll, decorating my home is probably my all-time favorite hobby.  I love to rearrange my furniture to come up with a whole new look.  I love rich fabrics and trims.  I enjoy making curtains, pillows, and all kinds of accessories for my home.  It's just FUN!

Tonight I made a new accessory that I'm so excited about!!!  I actually made this one for a gift for a friend, but I'm dying to make one for myself.  Take a look at this frame...

I just love the leopard and red.  And ya'll know how crazy I am about bows!

I put it in several different places so I could try to get a good picture that really shows all the details.

If you're interested in having one, too, let me know!  I'd love to make you one! 

Along with decorating my house, shopping for furniture and accessories is essential.  There are certain pieces that just MAKE a room!  You know what I mean?  Right now, I'm struggling with our dining room.  See, we don't own any dining room furniture, so the room has taken on a "sitting room" or "piano room" look.  I'd love for it to look like a REAL dining room.  Lately I've seen some really beautiful traditional dining rooms, but I've noticed a trend of using more modern dining room furniture.  There are so many fun options!!!  What would you do?

Valentine Bows

Valentine bows are now available at Mandy Jane!!!  Only $8 each!!!!  Order now to get yours by next week!  This bow combines red, white, hot pink, light pink, and sparkle heart ribbons.  Do you prefer only red and white?  Need more pink?  Mandy Jane will customize a bow to your specifications.  Just let me know what you need and I'll make it for you at no extra cost. 

Check out all the bows I have to offer at Mandy Jane!!!

And, let me know what you think!  I'd love to get your feedback!

Good Things

The past few days have been WONDERFUL!  I don't know about you, but when Mallory has breaks from school and is home, I love it!!  Friday she was out of school for a teacher work day and today we enjoyed the Martin Luther King holiday.  How nice to be able to stay up a little later than normal and sleep late!  Tomorrow we'll be back to our old routine of getting up early and going to bed extra early. 

We played lots of games, ran lots of errands, and truly just enjoyed being together.  I can't wait til the next teacher work day or holiday!!!  And what's really extra special to me is that although Mallory LOVES school, she told me that she really enjoyed being home these few days, too.  :-)

I have SO much to share, but not near enough time to do it tonight, but God has been moving significantly in our lives lately and we have had so many prayers answered.  I just have to praise Him for His faithfulness and goodness.  Mallory has been praying for over a year that she could live by my parents (her Nana and Papa).  We would all love that, so back in July we put our house on the market.  After ten days, we had a contract on it!  CrAzY!!!  We couldn't believe it!  But, literally within hours of the option period ending, the buyer decided to back out.  We were crushed, confused, and devastated.  But, God was at work and we can look back and see His hand in it all.  This past week, we got an offer from a couple who had wanted our house 6 months ago when we put it up for sale, but needed time to save enough money for a down payment.  When we were wondering why in the world our house wasn't selling, God had intended it for this couple.  Isn't that amazing????

Well, there are more incredible details that I can't wait to share, but tonight it's getting late and I've got to get up EARLY in the morning (well, it's earlier than the past several days!).  I'll leave you with some snapshots taken recently.  Good night!

My guys - Aren't they cute in their matching outfits?!

My sweet girl 

Reading a bedtime story with Nana 

Lazy days in our pj's watching Wow Wow Wubbzy!

This particular day, Jack wore his pj's to take Mallory to school and he still has on his shoes.

A Challenge

Ok friends, I'm going to let you in on a little secret!  I have shared this with you before, but today I want to share with you a fun challenge!  If you're a friend  of mine on Facebook, then you've seen this on my status MANY times...

What am I talking about?  SWAG BUCKS!!!  So, what's the big deal?  Well, last year alone, I earned $75 using Swagbucks.  And it is SO easy!!!  Swagbucks is a search engine that's powered by Google.  Every time I use the internet, I use Swagbucks to do my searching and I earn points!  Those points (swagbucks) can be redeemed for prizes.  Last year, for every 700 points I earned, I cashed them in for $5 cash which was deposited into my paypal account.  This year, I'm going to do something a little different.  For every 450 points I earn, I'm going to purchase $5 amazon.com gift cards.  I'm going to accumulate those gift cards all year and use those cards to help pay for Christmas!!!  At the end of the year, I'll do a post and tell you how much I earned and tell you about how I spent the $$$!  :-)  Sound fun?!?!  I can't wait to see how much I can earn!

So are you interested in trying it too?  Want to have some extra cash for Christmas next year?  There are lots of ways to earn points...

Searching- Use Swagbucks as your Search Engine!  I use it EVERY SINGLE TIME I use the internet.  Even for sites I already know the address for!!!! 

Swagbucks Tool Bar- A MUST-HAVE!!!  You can get up to 2 Swagbucks for just having the toolbar each time you open your browser.  This is also my reminder to use Swagbucks - it's right there waiting for me when I open the internet!  It doesn't get any easier than that!

Referring- Refer your friends, you’ll earn every buck they earn up to 1,000 Swagbucks!!

Shopping- For every $1 spent through the swagbucks site, you earn 2 Swagbucks.

Swag Codes- Swagbucks releases codes for more Swagbucks on their blog and on the toolbar at times.

So do you want to accept my challenge and see how much you can earn this year????  I think you'll be AMAZED!  :-)  You already use the internet, so why not earn $$$ for doing your everyday searches?!?! Click HERE to get started!

Snowy Sunday

After we got home from church this afternoon, it started SNOWING!!!  Mallory couldn't wait to get in it, so I bundled her up and let her go out while Jack took a nap.

While it continued to snow, we came inside and had some girl time in front of the fire! 

We watched a movie and had hot chocolate with marshmallows!!! 

After Jack and Daddy woke up from their naps, we bundled up again and headed out for a little more fun snow fun.  This was Jack's first experience with snow! 

Mallory made a snow angel. 

And she rolled down the hill.  :-) 

Both kids had a blast!!! 

Later that night, I was working on my laptop by the fire.  Jack put on my glasses.... check this out!  HA!  This picture just cracks me up!  :-) 

It was a fun day!!!

Three Word Thursday

Isn't that CUTE?!?!

I know... I'm not supposed to say more than 3 words!  But in case you can't tell, Jack is sitting on my mom's makeup stool in her bathroom watching tv.  :-)

Icicles, Little Shopper, and Randomness

As I sit here trying to think of every good excuse why I shouldn't go walk on my treadmill, I realized I haven't posted anything recently!  And, since it's SO important for me to share these tidbits with you, I'll definitely put off the exercise for a few minutes.  :-)

When we all arrived at my mom and dad's house after church on Sunday for lunch, my dad told all the kids he had a surprise for them in the backyard.  Just so you know, it was COLD on Sunday morning!!!  This is what the kids walked outside and found....

The water in the fountain had frozen and there were icicles everywhere!!!

Papa loved showing the kids his big surprise! 

Grant and Mallory were thrilled!!!!  I just love the precious smiles on their faces!

Grant thought his icicle was pretty cool! 

Jack didn't know what to think.  Look at that face!! 

The fountain is not supposed to look like THAT!  :-) 

It didn't take long to get back inside since it was SO cold. 

Mallory headed straight to the fireplace! 

Mallory and Macy both wore leopard print dresses to church on Sunday.

Aren't they adorable!?!?! 

And this is a very common scene when Jack and Grant get together.  They both LOVE Wow Wow Wubbzy and beg to watch it on Papa's phone.  Even Scarlett got in on the fun!  :-) 

And in other randomness, last week while shopping, Mallory found this cute little hat and decided to model it.  She wore it all through the store while I shopped! 

And finally, I've been making more bows this week.  I made this blue and silver bow to match a jogging suit my mom bought Mallory for Christmas.  She wore it to school this morning... 

I just love her sweet little smile!!!

Here's a closeup of the bow... 

And, of course she had to do some posing!  :-) 

Hhhmmmm, is there anything else I can think of to share????

I guess not.  I guess I better go workout now.  UGH!  ;-)

Have a FABULOUS day!!!