Addison's First Christmas: Baby Ornament

Since this will be Addison's first Christmas I am really hoping to start some fun traditions and I hope to share them with you over these next few weeks.

One tradition that Nick and I hope to do is to purchase or create an ornament for Addie (and our future children) every Christmas. I would like to somehow have the date as well as her name included somewhere on the ornament so that we not only know whose ornament it is but what year it was received. :)

This year we are pretty tight on money so I knew I was going to have to find an ornament that wasn't too expensive. I looked everywhere from Hobby Lobby to Wal-Mart to Hallmark. I couldn't find anything cute that wasn't way too expensive or gaudy looking. I finally had a DUH moment and decided to check out Etsy! Of course I was overwhelmed by an array of ornaments but after hours of searching, I finally found an adorable ornament that fit all of my requirements (and my budget)!

The shop I bought it from is called "From Nancy's Heart" and the store owner (as the name implies) has some of the cutest ornaments I have ever seen! I already have my eye on a few that I hope to get as gifts. They would make adorable gift tags!

Anyway, I was excited to see that it arrived while we were in Iowa and I couldn't wait to share it with you! You will have to forgive the pictures. Our camera was dropped (wonder who could have done that...) and is no longer in service so I am stuck taking pictures with my phone. Sorry about that!

Here is how it was packaged! Isn't that cute? Part of me didn't want to open it because of how pretty it was wrapped!

Eventually I did open it though and here is what the ornament looks like! Eeek! I LOVE it! It is even better than I imagined it would be! I wish I could show it to you in person so that you can see all of the gorgeous glitter!

Nancy also sent a really sweet card so I wanted to share that with you too! Her customer service was amazing!

I wanted to put it on a tree but didn't have mine up yet when I took this picture so I used my mom's little feather tree instead! :)

Again, the pictures do not do this ornament justice so I apologize for that. We are completely thrilled with how it turned out though! Nancy is such a sweet lady and obviously very talented! She has so many cute ornaments in her shop so you should definitely go check it out!

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I look forward to sharing more traditions with you in the near future! :)

Power

When I think of the word "power", many things come to mind. In fact, there are 32 different definitions for the word in the dictionary! Now that is one incredible word!

Well we had quite the experience with power last night. Hurricane force winds reaching 125 mph hit us suddenly in the middle of the night which resulted in lots of damage. Trees were ripped from the ground, roots and all. And I'm not talking little small trees, I'm talking massive trees that have been standing for decades! Power poles were snapped in two leaving many (including my household) without power for hours. There is a barn at the end of our road that is no longer standing and its rubble can be seen for miles. That's a lot of power!

Fortunately, the only damage that hit home with us was Nick's shop. Part of the roof was ripped off but thankfully, it was not the area that Nick was using so no damage was done to his supplies. However, someone else was using that area and so I am sure they are feeling a little bit differently about the situation today.

Here are a few photos of the aftermath.

Now that's a lot of power, huh? One thing that hit me today though was this. Who gave the wind that power? Our mighty Lord did! He has the power. He has ALL the power! He IS the power! Nothing can compare to Him. So why do we not fear Him more than we do? He is an all powerful God and He should be feared! Why are we so quick to misuse His name and sin against Him when the truth is, he could take us away from this earth if he wanted? We too quickly forget that this God of ours is not just the New Testament God,  but He is the Old Testament God as well. The two are the same!

Fortunately for us, He is also a compassionate God who loves us more than anything. More than we could ever imagine! He spares us time and time again. He spares ME time and time again! Everytime I fall, He is there, waiting to help me back up. He is my provider, my sustainer of life, yet I treat Him as a convenience store God. I act like it is His job to help me through the tough times and then leave me alone once things get better. Wow. I can be so blind.

Why is it sometimes so hard for me to pick up my Bible and read His word? Why do I have to force myself to spend time praying and talking to Him? I need Him so much but I act as if I can make it on my own.

Please pray for me as I work on getting my priorities straight each and every morning. Often times it is a struggle for me. I know that it will look different every day but I want to be dedicated to my Lord as He is dedicated to me!


Let us not forget the true Power.

Purpose.

This morning I went to my friend Leanne's house for brunch and of course, true to form, we spent hours chatting. It was great to spend time with such a dear friend and I really needed it. We had some really meaningful discussions and I left with a light heart.

Anyway, one of the things that came up was blogging and the reasons behind it. She shared with me how her blog has become a way to document her life and her children's lives and it really got me to thinking. What is the purpose of my blog? I mean really? Why do it?

I have come to realize lately that this blog has kind of become a mishmash of randomness and it really has no specific purpose. So I have decided to give it one and what better purpose than one that I find the most meaningful: to be myself. That may mean different things but basically I want to share my thoughts and my life with others.

I don't really feel the need to create fancy tutorials or projects that I think will draw readers in. I have discovered that I really am not great at that and so therefore I will leave it up to those who are! :) I don't want to spend a lot of time trying to impress others either. I honestly don't have the time or energy to focus a lot of my attention to this blog because I need to be focusing it on other things, like my family and my Lord. Because of this, my posts will be sporadic (which you are used to already) and will probably be short and centered on what is taking place in my life. Let's think of it as my public journal!

I don't want to sound haughty because, believe me, that is the last thing I want. I just want to be honest with you and with myself. I truly hope that I am not coming across as rude or conceited. I feel that it is important for me to share the purpose of my blog with those who read it and I really hope that will understand where I am coming from!

For those of you who blog, I'm sure you all came to this point in your blogging as well. So share with me, if you will. What is your purpose for blogging? I would really love to hear it! :)

Now I'm going to leave you with some seriously adorable pictures of a very adorable little girl! LOVE HER!

 

Thanks for stopping by and thank you especially for understanding my purpose! :)