Must Read

Crazy Love by Francis Chan. Borrow it; buy it. Whatever you have to do, read this book.

That is all.

Tutu Extreme

  It's spirit week at our school, and yesterday was Extreme Team day. There are ten teams at our school and each team has their own colors. I decided make myself a tutu with our team's colors.
   It was really simple to make! I just googled "how to make a tutu" and found some great tutorials. I went to Hobby Lobby and spent $10 on the materials. All you need is elastic and tulle. I purchased 8 yards of tulle--four for each color--at $1.09 per yard. I wish I had purchased about 6 yards per color to make the tutu more full, but the great thing about this precious project is you can always add to it without having to start over.

Step 1: Cut elastic. Measure around your waist with the elastic and then make it about 2-3 inches shorter. The elastic will stretch out so if you make it using your actual waist measurement then it will be too big.

Step 2: Sew elastic. Okay, that's the real step, but I'll be honest and tell you I straight-up hot glued my elastic ends together. I didn't have a needle and thread on hand so I used the resources available. It worked great!

Step 3: Cut tulle into 6-in strips. I just held the fabric up to my waist and decided the length I wanted my tutu. Then I cut accordingly. One of the great things about tulle is that you don't have to be precise when you cut it. It's going to scrunch up so your strips don't have to be exactly uniform.

Step 4: Put elastic around something. I turned a large vase upside down and used it.

Step 5: Make a slip knot around the elastic. I alternated two blues then two greens.

Step 6: Scrunch tulle over as you go to ensure that your tutu is full.

 Finished product! :)



The Smell of Home

  I absolutely love driving to visit my family with my windows down because the road we live off of has its own smell. Of course, the individual scents are not exclusive to just RRR (Rifle Range Rd), but it is the combination of scents that make it unique.
  It's a very earthy scent. I pass hay fields and cotton fields on my way to my childhood home. I love the smell of fresh-cut hay. I love the expanse of green and white that is the cotton fields. It smells of the country. And I love it. It's not the type of smell you would necessarily want bottled up in a candle so your whole house could smell of it, but it's nice.
   It is said that the strongest sense tied to memory is smell. I believe it because I'm flooded with memories while driving down RRR. Memories of playing in the woods with Kelly. Watching my Granddaddy gather up cows and roll hay. Picking cotton on a class field trip.

So, pretty much, all this is written to say driving home makes me so happy!

Book Club

  A couple of months ago I was challenged during a Sunday morning sermon to do more for God. I realized that I certainly do my part in warming a church pew every Sunday morning, but I could be doing more--both inside and outside of the church walls. I charged myself to start attending more services and find a program to be involved in.

  Also, I wanted to find a need outside of church and fill it. I didn't really have anything in particular in mind. Of course, my first thought went to helping out with a Christian club at school. And while I think that would be amazing, it isn't finding a need and filling it. Someone else has already saw there was a need for that and is filling it.

   So I thought and prayed about it. I didn't want to start something up that was my own will and not God's. Finally, God showed me a need for Christian fellowship at school--for the teachers. We are given an awesome responsibility as followers of Christ and teachers of children. As Christians we are called to be like Christ, and for those of you who do not know, Christ is perfect. And, at least for me, its incredibly hard to show the perfection that is Christ through an incredibly imperfect person. Sometimes it's hard to show mercy like the Father has shown me. Sometimes it's hard to love with an agape love when someone is being really nasty. Sometimes it's hard to be patient and long suffering as my Savior certainly is with me. And, so, I decided that it would be nice to have a weekly gathering for teachers to discuss what God is doing in our lives and the lives of our students through us.

   I began asking around to get ideas and gather interest from my co-workers. Together, we decided to do a Christian book study. After sending out e-mails and getting feedback, we decided to start with Crazy Love. While I had never read the book, I had certainly heard about it. Everything I have heard has been wonderful.

   Tomorrow will be our second meeting. We are reading one chapter each week, and let me tell you, this book is phenomenal! I couldn't be more happy with our choice. It is straight-forward and challenging. I am so excited about this book and cannot wait to read it each week. In fact, it is so hard for me not to continue on to the next chapter.

   If you have not read this book, stop whatever it is you are doing and visit http://www.crazylovebook.com/.

Holy, Holy, Holy

   As stated in earlier posts, I use my 20-minutes commute to pray and worship God. When I stop and think of the Wonder and Majesty of God, sometimes I just have nothing to say. I am so small that sometimes I just find myself unworthy to worship a God so Awesome.

  It's times like those when I just repeat, "Holy, Holy, Holy" over and over. Isaiah 6 gives us a look at the Throne of God in Heaven. God's throne has seraphims standing above it. Each seraphim has 6 wings--Two covering its face, two covering its feet, and two to fly with. They are crying out "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory."

  An account of God's throne is also given in Revelation 4. There are four beasts who continually shout, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come."

  Three is the number of completion. Many say that the word holy is repeated three times to represent the Trinity--God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Others say that three is the number of completion and they are repeating it 3x because God is completely holy. Either way, I like it.

  There is so much power in that repetition; so much said in one word. We worship a complete and holy God. So next time you're meditating on the Father (or Son or Holy Spirit) and you stand amazed and dumb with his awesomeness, try repeating, "Holy, Holy, Holy" and feel worship fall on you.

This Wreath does not deserve a "Boo!"

   For those that do not know, I have this thing about wreathes. See, the thing is, I love them. Unfortuntely, the ones that I fall for always seem to cost around $50. And while I think they're awesome, I have to remember that I am a school teacher with a limited budget. I have a beautiful Christmas wreath that I splurged on, a really pretty fall wreath, and my spring/summer wreath. Those three get me through the calendar year.

  This year I decided I wanted to try my hand at making a Halloween wreath. Kelly had mentioned seeing a really cute one that was covered in glow-in-the-dark eyeballs, and I had originally planned to make that one. After looking on Facebook and seeing some really cute "tutu wreaths", I decided it looked easy enough for me to atttempt to make one. So on to Hobby Lobby I went.

   I purchased a straw wreath, 3 yds of black tulle, 3 yds of orange tulle, and ribbon all for about $15. I got home, turned on Law & Order SVU, and got to work. By the end of the hour long episode, I had made this pretty little thing.

   I still want to purchase some Halloween accessories to add on it and make it more festive. But even if I don't, I am pretty proud of it! This was so affordable and fun, I may just be making one for every holiday. And this may be my go-to gift idea for all occasions.



Ode to October

  While every month has something to bring to the table, I love the festivities that October brings the most! Below is a nice concise list of why I love October.

1. Trading my summer dresses and flip flops for boots and thick fabrics
2. Pumpkins, both whole and carved
3. Alabama National Fair
4. Autumn-scented candles
5. Homecoming Sunday at the church I grew up in
6. Those pretty red flowers that pop up around Notasulga for a couple of days each year
7. The anniversary of my grandparents (Oct. 15)
8. Halloween--one of my favorite holidays (and, no, I still do not know what I'm going to be this year)
9. Haunted Houses and Hay Rides
10. Decorating my house for Halloween and autumn
11. Fields of cotton getting ready to be harvested
12. My dad's birthday (Oct. 19)
13. Sweet Potato harvest