"Have ya'll decided what you're gonna do yet?"

Have you ever heard the song "Hands and Feet" by Audio Adrenaline? If not, I suggest finding it on YouTube, Itunes or Rdio or just googling the lyrics. Its a great song but it took on a whole new meaning on our way home from Virginia.

Ben drove on the way to Virginia so I drove on the way back. I missed most of the scenery on the way up because I was crocheting and working the GPS on my phone. On the way home, I was silently praying and feeling anxiety over our decision about whether or not to move to Virginia.

I was asking God "How will we know what to do?"...and "How will you show us?"...."Will you give us a sign?"...."I need a sign God, I need to know that it's YOU..." About that time, we passed by a huge blue water tower (in Amelia County, I think) and under the county name it said in BIG white letters "Your Future Is Bright". I teared up a little knowing God was speaking to me...trying to get me to trust Him and just relax knowing that He has everything under control.

In the background the song "Hands and Feet" was playing and it was on the part of the song that says:

I'm willing yet I'm so afraid
You give me strength
When I say

I want to be your hands
I want to be your feet
I'll go where you send me
I'II go where you send me

It validated my feelings of being afraid of the unknown. It was God speaking to my heart and telling me "I know you're scared and that's ok. You're willing to follow me that's what I want."

I started thinking that if God was speaking these things into my heart while we were still driving through Virginia then SURELY He would reveal His entire plan to me by the time we got back to Alabama, right? Wishful thinking on my part. :-) His word says "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength....they will soar with wings like eagles...." So...we're waiting...and praying.

As it's getting to the middle of the week and we know we should be telling them an answer about whether or not Ben will take the job, waiting is getting more difficult. This is the time when someone may say "C'mon Lord...they need to know..." but God says "Wait."

Suddenly, more doors begin to open and God is rewarding our faithfulness...and I can't elaborate on those doors just yet but please know that God is teaching us to trust Him and we are walking in His favor..."favor with God and with man" just as He promised in His word. Continue to agree in prayer with us that His will be done. We are seeking wisdom and discernment so no "signs" are misinterpreted. We just want to honor Him.

Lastly...I have a weight loss calendar on my desk (to motivate me, of course!) and the Feb 16th entry was NOTHING to do with weight loss...but God knew I needed to read it "for such a time as this" and here's what it said:

So...to answer everyone's question, we are still praying about it. The doors in Virginia are still open to us despite that it's been a week with no decision on our part. God honors our actions when we live by His timing. :-)

Hey Girl

Unless you have a Pinterest account or a facebook, you probably haven't seen these "Hey Girl" posters with Ryan Gosling. They're basically just pictures of Ryan Gosling with the words "Hey Girl" followed by a comment that typical guys would never say. So funny. Here's an example:

So...where am I going with this? Well, we were in Virginia and I drove the whole way home since Ben drove the whole way there. I got a speeding ticket...fun. Not only that but it was a state tropoper who gave it to me and I've always had a fondness for state troopers...and their hats...seriously.

Ben always gives me a hard time about "getting out of" speeding tickets. I've been pulled over 12 times since I was 16 and only got a ticket 3 times (including the one I just got). When we got home, Ben made me this. I cracked up! I shared it on facebook but I know not everyone who follows our blog has facebook so I wanted to share it here too. :-)

Then he made me this one...

He's so funny, I love that he keeps me laughing all the time!

My Granny & The Velveteen Rabbit

I saw this on Pinterest and pinned it. I loved what it said but something about the picture reminded me of my Granny...maybe it's the soft expression or the wild white hair. :-) haha. My Granny used to say her hair looked like the man on the Quaker Oats box when it wasn't fixed. It didn't matter, we always thought she was beautiful, even when she died she was beautiful.

"Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes don't see as well and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. "But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand" --The Velveteen Rabbit

Granny's Sewing Room

My Pawpaw gave me a bunch of my Granny's sewing stuff a few weeks ago. Just the yarn he gave me filled a 3 drawer rubbermaid rolling tote and I still have some in a trash bag. He came accross things I had sewn with plastic canvas when I was like 6 and 7 years old. My Granny had saved them and it was SO incredibly special to see them and remember sitting and sewing with her. They were things I had forgotten about even making!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE vintage things but especially the items my Granny has in her sewing room. She had so many items from even before the 70's she had saved, used, put away. Buttons, zippers, and other trinkets...some she had stored in old vintage mayonaise jarsI plan to do a big shadow box with some of the items and the rest are packed away safely so that anytime I open the box and go through it I can know that hers were the last hands to touch these items.

There are a few items of hers I plan to use....a small pair of metal scissors and a wrist pin cushion. I didn't want to mess up/ruin or change the atributes of anything else in her box but using these two items will just make me feel close to her when I sew knowing that she had used them when she would sew.

 

One of the treasure troves of sewing items from my Granny's sewing room.

This is the bag of items she saved from when we would sew together when I was a little girl. We would sew plastic canvas together...I know it's hard to see it all but the top left was going to be a book/bible cover, the two circles with the rectangles cut out were tops to banks I was making. The bag on the bottom right is little "books" I made with my Granny's scraps. I made them into little books for my barbie dolls. I also sewed my name but ran out of room and had to put the "ny" on a seperate piece of plastic. The thing above the flag was a magnet I was working on like the one my Granny made. It says "Create in me a clean..." The rest would have said "heart and renew a right spirit within me."

This bag of plastic canvas is pieces Granny and I cut out together and she was going to make me doll furniture for my barbies.

Thread from one of my Granny's sewing drawers. I LOVE knowing that the last time any of this was touched was by my Granny. I love looking at half empty thread spools and wondering what she last sewed with it...and how long ago she used it.

This is my Granny's sewing box that she always kept by her sewing machine/sewing table (which I also have). You can read the sewing machine post here.

It opens up on each side and has several more vintage sewing items. My tummy gets butterflies looking at all of it. I'm so proud to have these things and it brings a smile to my face each time I open them up and look and revel through remembering when I was a little girl watching her sew, and how she helped me sew even in my home economics class when I was a junior in high school.

My Granny's scissors. I had to photo the box too so you can see how old they are but how well she took care of her stuff...they are so heavy and she used them for everything. Then tucked them away in their box and put them in the drawer with her other sewing stuff.

This is a buttonholer made my Kenmore. If you're a seamstress or know anything about current model sewing machines, you'll appreciate that we no longer have to use these oversized attachments to put buttons on clothing. Once again though, the box, manual and other attachments are in the box all safe and sound. I took this picture with my hand in it so you could get a better idea of the size.

Look at the price on that meta zipper...25 cents! The papers are a pattern that she had made of some sort...it was marked "place on fold"...."bib"...."bottom piece"...etc. I'm not sure what it made or if these are all of the pieces to it. I love the jar of buttons too...we'll get to that in a minute.

A second buttonholer...this is a more upgraded version...she even had it in its box and then in this brown paper bag whic I;m assuming is from the store she bought it at.

This is the sewing box that came with her sewing machine that I have. I wish you could see it in person. All of the feet are shiny chrome and look brand new. It's amazing how well preserved all of these items are and how well she took care of them, kept the original packaging, etc.

Buttons buttons everywhere...I love all of the vintage buttons...cover buttons...snaps...eyelets...fasteners...

 Look at this one...Sharon is my mom's older sister. Apparently Granny had used these to make something for my Aunt Sharon and then labeled them in case she needed more later on. My Granny used to make all my mom and Aunt Sharon's clothes. It's pretty special to have this. Notice the price...15 cents!

I love these tracers. I call them tracers...there may be a more technical term for them. They have wooden handles! I love that. My tracer is about the same size but has a thin blue plastic handle. They just dont make things the way they used to...and I love the charm about old tools and how detailed they are.

 This is cool to me...I knew her machine took metal bobbins but I wanted to share them in case those of you who haven't seen older model sewing machines are inly familiar with the plastic bobbins. I saw a shop on etsy that takes these to make steampunk jewelry. Nice idea...I'll think about it. I already have plans to make a shadow box but maybe some kind of jewelry or something I can wear and keep with me at all times would be nice.

 Ahhh...the jar. Not sure why I'm so in love with this jar..but I am. I love the sound of buttons rattling in a glass jar and I love the old buttons in this one. They still have threads attached to some of them. AND I didn't knwo it until my mom and Pawpaw told me but this is an old mayonaise jar from the 70's. This whole jar just got cooler. It sits beside my sewing machine because I just love the look of it and it's even more special because it was my Granny's.

Other than the jar, I have everything else packed away except these two items. A wrsit pin cushion and a small pair of metal scissors. These are probably the only items of my Granny's sewing stuff I'll use...other than the hundreds of skeins of yarn. :-) I'm so proud to share these things with you. They mean alot to me and it has been so incredibly special to have her sewing items beside me when I sew.

Love you Granny. <3

Tanner's Valentines

Here's Tanner's Valentines...his FIRST valentines...I was so excited to do these for his friends. It's just one more thing that makes me so excited to be his mommy. 

 I hole punched them and tied ribbons through them onto a bag of "bait" which was actually gummy worms I had put in clear cello bags. They turned out cute!

Here's all the sweet little valentines from his friends at Mom's Day Out. I let him have the candy of course, but the valentines are going in with the special items I plan to scrapbook one day.

 Then, Tanner and I made cake pops...many more than this....but this is just the point I stopped to take the picture.

My parents took us out to eat at O Charleys that night and it was yummy. We had a good time. We didn't have to wait and they weren't crowded at all.

We ended the night reading books on mommy's kindle. It doesn't matter what time of year it is...he loves to read stories about "ho ho".

On Valentines Day, my parents and pawpaw came over to give Tanner his Valentine surprises. He got candy, balloons, a valentine cup, and some stuffed animals--a big green frog and a Scooby Doo. He was so excited! He also got a card in the mail from Grammy (Ben's mom).

She and Aunt Debbie had already mailed him a box of goodies last Friday before we left for VA and when we told him it was a package for him from Grammy and Aunt Debbie, he said "Aww, that's sweet". :-)

Aunt Jessi, Josie and Jolie came by later that night to bring Tanner a valentine and a box of chocolates. Uncle Joe was with Joel because he wasn't feeling well.

Practice Makes... Plenty

So...I'm still crocheting. I finished this Auburn scarf for my mom on the way to Virginia. Hence why I took this pic in the car. Not sure it will ever get cold enough in Alabama for her to wear it but at least she liked it. AND--I made it with yarn from my Granny's sewing room. That makes it even more special. It's not variegated...I crocheted two yarns at the same time to achieve this look. I liked how it turned out so I'm working on a pale purple and heather gray one for me. :-)

The yarn I bought in VA and started crocheting was called "Peacock"...isn't that a fun color combo? I made this one for Ben's mom. She lives in Pennsylvania...a much more appropriate climate for scarf-wearing than Alabama. :-)

Virginia Came Knocking

"...Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.” -Ruth 1:16,17

For those who don't know, Ben was contacted the first Thursday in February by a golf course in Virginia and they asked him to send his resume'. He hadn't applied for this job but they were impressed with him and sought him out. He sent his resume' on Friday. The following Monday he had a phone interview. 3 hours after the phone interview, they called him back and asked for a face to face interview that weekend.

We left Friday morning for Richmond, Virginia. Tanner stayed with my parents for the weekend. We stopped in Georgia and had PF Changs for dinner and then went next door to Barnes and Nobles so Ben could do some school work and I could get some starbucks. :-) We got to Virginia about 2:40 a.m. on Saturday and his interview was at noon. He dropped me off at a shopping center accross from our hotel and I shopped in Kohl's Target and Hobby Lobby for the 2 hours he was in his interview. I finally just bought some yarn and a hook at HL and headed back to Target to get some Starbucks and sit in their cafe area and crochet til he called to find out where I was and pick me up.

I started chatting with a lady next to me and that made time pass by. Ben called to tell me he was out of his interview and asked which store I was in. I told him and he headed my way. In the meantime, it started to thunder and the sky got dark. I said "Oh wow, I guess it's gonna storm." and the lady next to me that I had been talking to said "That's snow thunder." and sure enough...it started snowing...HARD. I mean SUPER HARD. It was so hazy from how much was falling and the wind was blowing hard. My phone said it was 22 degrees so it was cold enough for it to stick and after about 10-15 minutes it did start sticking.

Ben got there and picked me up and we headed to an outdoor mall that the guys at the golf course had told him about. It was SO. COLD. But I loved it! Every minute of it! We did some shopping and bought Tanner some things. We also got some new shoes and I got a new dress and shirt. They had a cool christian store called C28 and it was trendy christian apparel and jewelry. I got a shirt in there that says "I love my Husband"...cause I do...so much!

Saturday night we had dinner at Kona Grill...a super amazing restauarnt where the food was worth every penny, the service was unlike any we have had anywhere and the atmosphere was so calming and classy. We had sushi as an appetizer that was delicious! Then we had salad and clam chowder and for our entree Ben had a 28 day aged ribeye and I had sea bass that was marinated in a miso-saki sauce for 3 days--SUPER yummy!

We left there and headed accross the street to Cheesecake Factory to get some cheesecake to take back to our hotel and since Starbucks was also close by, we swung in there for some coffee to take back with us too.

Here's some pics from our trip. And if you're wondering how the interview went, Ben was offered the job and we have prayerfully been considering it since Saturday. We are supposed to give an answer this week. I'll keep you posted, keep praying that we will have clarity and wisdom in making this decision. We want to be exactly where God wants us to be..."for such a time as this".

Side note here...this is us in the elevator of our hotel...and I made the scarf I'm wearing. Yep, crocheted it myself. I was super proud of it!

 Driving in the snow headed to the outdoor mall...this was after about 10 minutes of it snowing...just to give you an idea of how fast/hard it was coming down.

 Ben booked our hotel and everything. He did a great job picking it out! It was really modern and super nice AND he got a good deal on it!

 This is where we checked in...and on the left is the pool table/lounge area. We had an assigned parking spot in the parking deck and when we got on the elevator and went up, the other side of the elevator opened and we walked into the hotel check in area. It was a neat setup.

 This si where they cooked breakfast in the mornings, or you could buy items from the fridge area, etc.

 Bathrom in the hotel room.

 King suite.

 Flat screen tv on the wall accross from the bed in between two huge windows.

 The view from our hotel room straight down. The whole base of this building all the way around was a HUGE childrens museum...to play...dres up...paint...make pottery....learn...explore...create....we definitely plan to bring Tanner here sometime. I wanted to go in and play...it looked like so much fun!!