True Love

Next week is spring break for the boys, but it is also Holy Week.  The week leading up to the crucifixion and then resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Jesus spent His last days on earth teaching, loving, healing, and preparing those around Him for what was to come.  He knew who would betray Him and who would deny Him and He loved them anyway.  He knew the pain and agony that He would have to endure, but took it all willingly in order to spend eternity with each of one us who chooses Him.

"Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, "We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled.  He will be handed over to the Gentiles.  They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, and kill him.  On the third day he will rise again."  

Luke 18:31-33

Even in the midst of that pain and agony, He continued His ministry.

"Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed.  When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals - one on his right, the other on his left.  Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."  And they divided up his clothes by casting lots." 

Luke 23: 32-34

"One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him:  'Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!' But the other criminal rebuked him. 'Don't you fear God,' he said, 'since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve.  But this man has done nothing wrong.  Then he said, 'Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.' Jesus answered him, 'I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.' " 

Luke 23:39-43

May God continue to minister to each of us, especially during this next week as we remember just how much He truly loves us.

I will be taking a break from blogland over this next week and look forward to celebrating with you on the other side, when we can shout "He is risen!" 

"He is not here, he has risen, just as he said."  

Matthew 28:26

Living thru faith,
Misty

God and Kindles

Santa gave Daniel a Kindle Fire for Christmas 

(just a few months ago, you know).

via

He was climbing down from his bunk bed (holding his Kindle, of course) and fell.  He was ok, but his Kindle wasn't so lucky.  The screen shattered.

When Brian checked online we discovered it was going to cost $100 to replace the screen.  But...he thought about it and then called Amazon.  He told the customer service rep exactly what happened.  It was completely Daniel's fault.  Much to our surprise they sent him a new Kindle anyway!  
They wanted him to be completely satisfied.

About a week or so after Daniel's incident and three days before Brian left for England, his Kindle died.  He has had that one for at least a year, maybe more, and uses it especially for the reading he has to do for his dissertation.  He called Amazon. They would replace it for around $90 and have the new one here in time for Brian's trip.  We decided to go ahead and just take the money out of savings.  A week later, Brian received a payment for some work he had done on a class and had inadvertently never been paid for.  

It was for right at $100!

We never know how God is going to meet our needs and He doesn't always meet our needs like we think He should.  Sometimes we find Him meeting needs we didn't even know we had.  

But what a blessing to know that He is always watching over us.  Ready to take care of us and love us in ways we could never even imagine.  

Even through some broken Kindles.

Living thru faith, 
Misty

I Need Ice Cream

Sarah came to me while I was working on the computer.

"I hurt my leg, so I need ice cream."

Really.  How do you argue with that?

Makes sense to me.  :-)

Living thru faith,

Misty

Daniel's New Chore

Daniel has finally reached the big time!

He is now the main mower in the family.

Brian tried teaching him how to mow a couple of summers ago, but his hands were too small to hold the bars together.  He had the same problem last year, but was able to do a little bit of mowing at his grandparents' house.

Towards the end of last summer, Brian finally replaced the old mower.  The thing was literally as old as Daniel.  He was only a few months old when we bought it.  It had a long and productive life, but it finally gave up.  Brian didn't realize how badly it needed to be replaced until he mowed with the new one!

I wouldn't say that Daniel is super excited about his new responsibility, but Matt sure is!  With baseball everyday, he is really happy to pass on the torch!

Living thru faith,

Misty

More painting

When I painted the front door, I decided to also paint the back door.

(I was having to hold the screen door open and take the picture at the same time.)

The thing I really hate about painting is taping.  

And then what aggravates me even more, is peeling off the tape and finding the paint that came through anyway.

So, I guess one day I'll start scraping the glass.

Living thru faith,

Misty

A Tea Party

Sarah set up a tea party for us to enjoy together.

She was so excited to show me her whole setup (and have her picture taken).

She is such a cutie, don't you think?!

Living thru faith,

Misty

A little painting project

We had some nice weather this week, so I decided to go ahead 

and paint the front the door.

I would really love to replace the door, but that just isn't in the budget.  I would rather have one that would let in more light than the little fan window at the top and one without the brass.  I couldn't do anything about that part since the brass is incased in the window.

So, this is what it looked like before.

(

The door gets direct late afternoon sun and this color had faded over time. It actually looked pink.  I had a hard time deciding on what color to paint the door because of the fading issue and the colors in the brick.  I would love to have a red door, but the brick had more orange in it than red.  

Plus the red would just end up pink again.

So, I decided to embrace the gray.

I think it turned out pretty good, but I'm not loving it. 

I think I'll like it much better once I get everything else done.

I need to replace the upside down light fixture 

(I'm not kidding.  It was installed upside down.  It doesn't fit right side up.)

I am going to paint the house numbers that you can't see in this picture. (They're brass.)

I am going to move some of the planters on the porch and would really love to find an old wooden bench or something to add some character.

And last, but not least, I plan to spruce up the flower beds.

So much to do.  So little time.  So little money.

This should be interesting!  :-)

Living thru faith,

Misty

Just saying Hi!

Things have been so busy around here, especially with Brian still being gone!  Projects took longer to complete than I had anticipated yesterday, so I didn't get a chance to post anything and planned to upload pictures this morning.  

Daniel woke me up this morning to tell me that he hurt his ankle again.  I took him in last Wednesday for his right ankle. This time he hurt his left ankle.  So there went the plans for today.  A doctor's visit definitely was not part of the original plan.

But I did want to say hi.  I will hopefully be able to get the pictures uploaded this afternoon and some posts together for the rest of the week to let you know what all we have been up to.

Source: cookingwiths.blogspot.com via Misty @ livingthrufaith on Pinterest

My day has definitely not started off as I have planned, but it is nice to know that He is still in control of it...even when it seems completely out of control!  

Living thru faith,

Misty

A More Real Love Story

Much to the disgust of my 16 year old son, I really do like Taylor Swift.  I think I enjoy her songs because they really are stories.  I'm a sucker for a good story!  Especially a love story!

I also love a good laugh.  Good, clean comedy.  Not like what a lot of comedians do these days.  Which is why I always love hearing Anita Renfro.  I shared her Sweet Tea song with you on National Sweet Tea Day.  
(Love my sweet tea!)

 So Friday I went to a local mom's group for the first time and got to enjoy a video performance of Anita Renfro (which also happened to include the sweet tea song!).  Here is Anita's more real version of a "Love Story".

(A More Real) Love Story from renfroe3 on GodTube.

Living thru faith,

Misty

Sarah the Artist

Sarah loves drawing.

This week she has left her creations on the driveway.

She drew our sweet friends Abby and Anna.  She wanted me to be there with them and then she decided she needed the girls' mom and dad, too.

She wanted to draw the airplane that Daddy was on.  Daddy couldn't fly alone, so Mr. Phil and Mr. Mike (our pastor) had to fly with him.  And then the pilot had to have a name, so he became Pilot Steve.

 

Of course the plane had to have an airport and runway.

She also had to pose with every picture.

Living thru faith,

Misty

Umm, did I miss Spring?

First of all, let me just say that I am not really complaining.

However, one thing I love about Kentucky is that you get 

a taste of all four seasons.  

In Louisiana, we basically had two - fall/winter and summer.  

It wasn't completely unusual to be wearing shorts on Christmas Day.

But, I was really tired of the cold this year even though we didn't have much of a winter in Kentucky.

 And yesterday was a beautiful, sunny day!

But it was almost 80 degrees!  

They are talking about having heat AND humidity over the next few days!  

I even had to run the a/c for a little bit!

But... did I miss spring?

I love spring!

The cool mornings and warm afternoons.  Being able to open the windows and feel a nice breeze.  Sitting outside and not breaking a sweat.

I want spring before summer.

I'm not asking for too much.  Am I?

Living thru faith,

Misty

 

Outdoor Day Dreamin'

Now that the weather is warming up and the sun is staying up a little longer, I am thinking about all the things I want to do outside.

And, of course, I get a lot of inspiration on Pinterest!

I want to hide the garbage cans and a/c unit.

Source: camelotartcreations.blogspot.com via Misty @ livingthrufaith on Pinterest

Source: bhg.com via Misty @ livingthrufaith on Pinterest

I want to paint the front door and pretty up the little porch.

Source: bhg.com via Misty @ livingthrufaith on Pinterest

I also want to add railings to the front porch...eventually.

Source: apexcarpentryinc.com via Misty @ livingthrufaith on Pinterest

 I really want to put a window box under the kitchen window.

Source: bhg.com via Misty @ livingthrufaith on Pinterest

So many ideas!

We'll see what actually happens. 

But until then, I'll just keep day dreaming!

Living thru faith,

Misty

A Pretty Good Supper, If I Do Say So Myself

Last night I tried some new things and it turned out pretty good.

I had a small package of stew meat I bought on sale.  It was just enough for the four of us. Sarah and I had watched The Pioneer Woman's cooking show from this past Saturday which gave me the idea of cooking the stew meat in the skillet.  It wasn't tender like if I had slow cooked it, but it was bite sized and was actually rather tasty.  I even made some homemade gravy!  I figured they could either have the gravy or steak sauce and we would do biscuits and gravy another night.

I had 2 zucchini that I needed to use quickly.  I knew it wouldn't be a big hit with the kids, but I decided to try this stuffed zucchini recipe I found on Pinterest.

Source: kayotic.nl via Misty @ livingthrufaith on Pinterest

I have to say it was so easy!  Daniel and I were the only two that liked it, but that didn't really surprise me.  I think I will have to try this one 

again once Brian is back.

I also had a huge bag of potatoes I needed to start using up.  We had mashed potatoes recently, so I decided to do oven roasted potatoes.  I cut up several potatoes and tossed them with some olive oil, salt, pepper, and onion powder.  I placed some small pieces of butter on top, covered it foil, and cooked them for about 30 or 45 minutes.  They were wonderful!

Matt, of course, had to have some bread.  I had just found some at Walmart on their "oops, we baked too much" rack, so I threw those in the oven while I finished getting everything together.

The meat was less than $4.  The entire bag of potatoes was about $3, so it was just pennies for the amount I used.  The zucchini was less than $2 and less than $1 for the bread.  All in all, it was a fairly inexpensive yummy meal.  In the end, I tried some new things and everyone's tummies were full and happy!

Living thru faith,

Misty

My Non-Existant Morning Routine

Since I quit working, I have been trying to get into a morning routine.  

I'm not aspiring to anything complex at this point.

1 - Get up

2 - Get dressed

3 - Make bed

4 - Eat breakfast

Unfortunately, my trouble begins with step 1!

source

There are a few things I have figured out (or confirmed) 

over the last month and a half.

1 - I am not a morning person - or a night owl.

2 - I do not like getting up when it is dark outside.

3 - It is hard for me to get up when no one else is up.

4 - I would rather lay in the bed and wake up slowly.

Source: cuteoverload.com via Scarlatina on Pinterest

5 - Sarah does not need to wake up slowly. 

6 - Sarah does not think anyone should need to wake up slowly.

7 - My boys are better at getting up on a school day than I am. Sad I know!

8 - I'm at my best between 9am and 2 pm. Then I need a nap or caffeine.

Source: google.com via Adeline on Pinterest

 

9 - I rarely get to take a nap and I'm trying to cut out caffeine.

10 - I really miss caffeine! 

So, it appears I'm pretty hopeless!  But, I'm not going to give up.  

I'm stubborn that way.  Heehee!

Living thru faith,

Misty

Daddy's Little Girl

Well, today we put Daddy on a plane for his annual trip to England.  He has to go every year as a part of his PhD program.  It's always hard on all of us while he is away, but for one little girl it is a little bit harder.

She was lovin' on her daddy before he went through security.  

Laughing, giggling, and telling him secrets.

 

 

Tonight she prayed for Daddy at bedtime.  

She loves her Daddy!

Living thru faith,
Misty

The Different Sides of Sarah

There are many different sides to our Sarah 

and we have seen several of them over the last few days.

This is her kitchen diva side.

Her ballerina side.

And her princess wrestler side.

 

Living thru faith,

Misty

 

New Cabinet Hardware

Before leaving for our "Tornado Party" on Friday, I managed to get the new cabinet hardware installed that I had bought at Home Depot that morning.

Here are the old knobs and handles.

 

And these are the new ones.

The knobs are bigger than they look here, but I really like them.  They feel much more substantial and easier to grip than the previous ones.

I also like that I put them on all by myself. :-)

Now I need to find a new faucet and light fixture...

Living thru faith,

Misty

 

 

March Snow in Kentucky

After the tornadoes on Friday, we received the biggest snow fall we have received all winter (which still isn't saying much, I must say).

But the kids still had fun playing in it!

 

Living thru faith,

Misty