Ancient Word Wednesday

I know it's been awhile since I've posted on this, but this morning seemed like the perfect time.

Part of our homework for the Bible study I'm apart of is to do a study on the heart. We're studying motherhood, and part of that is understanding what Scripture says about our hearts. It's been eye-opening. I know that we are born sinners, but wow! We are born with ugly, nasty, wicked hearts! And that means that my precious, sweet Wyatt also has an ugly heart.

My Bible has a list in the back - what the Bible says about the heart, the character of the unrenewed heart, and the character of the renewed heart. I started in mid-January with the unrenewed heart, and was so thankful when I got to the renewed heart a couple weeks ago. God is so gracious and merciful to provide a way out of our sin!

Yesterday I read Jeremiah 32. Jeremiah is in prison and the Babylonian siegeworks surround Jerusalem, ready to take the city any day and carry off its inhabitants. Then God tells Jeremiah to buy a field. Jeremiah obediently does what God commands, but toward the end of the chapter he asks why. God answers with a beautiful promise of returning disobedient Israel to Him and their home one day. He says He will give them one heart and one way that they may fear Him and be loyal to Him. He will rejoice over them for good! As we know from Ezra and Nehemiah, God does that very thing.

This morning I read Deuteronomy 30, and was absolutely surprised to read almost the same words! I've known that God warned Israel in Deuteronomy of a blessing and a curse. Blessing for obedience and curse for disobedience. But Deuteronomy was written almost 900 (if my math is right) years before Jeremiah! God taught, instructed, and trained Israel for 900 years!! Even when Israel was absolutely wicked and disobedient (child sacrifice!?! hello!), God was merciful and gracious.

A couple applications hit home for me. First, our God is an amazing God. He takes sin extremely seriously, and He disciplines thoroughly. But He is merciful and gracious. He gave Israel many opportunities to love Him even though He knew they would not. And then He sent Jesus and provided a way out. And beyond that, He sent the Holy Spirit. He doesn't expect us to change; He changes us. He takes our hearts of stone and gives us hearts of flesh.

I also learned something from the perfect Parent - instruct, instruct, instruct. Teach, remind, train. And discipline. And don't grow weary in it, for it will bear fruit in the end (Gal. 6:9).

Fishing for Ideas

I love office and organizational supplies. What I don't love is my current "mobile office." Now that I mostly work from home, I remote into my office and generally don't need many paper files. But I do have some and I take them back and forth with me when I physically go to the office on Mondays. Right now they're in an ugly reddish brown accordion file that is about to be duct taped back together. It hasn't stood up well to my curious 9 month old. So I'm searching for solutions.

I've thought about a covering a box with fabric, but finding the right sized box is going to be a trick. I've thought about making a fun laptop tote with room for files, but I'm afraid it would get far too bulky. Hobby Lobby has some super cool coordinating office supplies including an accordion file with a handle, but it could be a tad too small. That's as far as my ideas have gone.

Anyone out there have any fun and creative ideas? I'd love to hear what you have!

First Night Away from Home

We got to Grammie's yesterday afternoon, and she brought out this.

Today Papa's calves are sore from pushing Wyatt in laps through the kitchen and dining room though the living room and tv room and back again. Over. and Over.

So...Wyatt had a GREAT time with Grammie and Papa on his first overnight stay.

And Mommy and Daddy had a GREAT time away too.

Away. Together.

Tomorrow Hubby and I are going off by ourselves to a romantic weekend away.

Okay, we're going with half of our church to a marriage conference at a hotel 45 minutes from our house. But we're still excited.

Wyatt is going to Grammie's by himself. Overnight. Mama's not sure she's ready for this. But I'm sure the conference will be wonderful for us. And I'm really am excited to get to be just with my hubby.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Yeah, the picture is from '07. Yikes.

Door Decor

Hubby has made a few comments about my "winter" door decoration. I just hadn't gotten new inspiration since I found 3 Christmas candle rings at Hobby Lobby at 50% off. Glue them to a velvet ribbon and voila! a "wreath" inspired by Target (yeah, I know) for 1/3 of the price.


But then I saw this wreath at The Old Painted Cottage and got my inspiration for this...


I had some burlap-looking fabric in my stash, so I wrapped it around my standby grapevine wreath, mod-podged red and white fabric (made adorable kitchen curtains at my old house!) onto a piece of cereal box (works great when you need chipboard), attached it to the wreath with a mini clothespin, and added a bow. Happy Valentine's Day!

And I know...my door is white. I don't like my white door. It used to be the same dark blue as our house, so this is an improvement. I just haven't come up with anything better. Suggestions?

Off Target

I like Target. I like their 50% and 75% off sales racks. I like wandering for deals. And last week they sent me a packet of really good store coupons in preparation for this week's big baby sale.

Today I don't like Target. During Wyatt's morning nap I carefully went through Sunday's ad, matching my coupons with their sales. For most things I had a store coupon and a manufacturer's coupon. It's the perfect trinity for frugals!

Wyatt woke up, drank his bottle, immediately got changed from his soaked outfit (all the way down to the mattress pad - he took an extra long nap and sometimes cloth dipes just don't hold up for those, but this one was extra wet), ate lunch, and we got ready to go. He was a trooper as I set off to compare prices.

First stop - Huggies wipes. A few weeks ago Hubby scored a once in a blue moon price at Dillons - .18 cents per wipe. Not bad. This morning between two coupons, their sale ($11.99, which didn't seem all that great), and the 504 count I figured I could get the same deal. Sadly I was too late - all the 504 count boxes were gone, and the deal just wasn't as good with the 448 count box. Hmmm...I wondered. What's the regular price? So I flipped up the little red and white tag to see the yellow normal price - $11.99. This is no sale! Neither was the 2 for $6 Johnson's body wash or the baby food. All "as advertised" but not actually on sale. Nice "big" baby sale.

I ended up buying. I was there. A few things I needed actually were on sale. But I also had great coupons. I ended up saving $10.13 - 1/3 of regular cost. Not bad, but not as good as it could have been.

Today I don't like Target.