Weekend Snapshot: July 28-29

Weekend Snapshot
SATURDAY Rest (i.e. p.j.'s ALL day and multiple naps.
SUNDAY Home to Virginia | Flying with 3 little ones all by myself. (short flight but proud nonetheless. Especially when I managed to get all three sleeping at the same time. :) | Meet & Greet Baby Adelee My mom invited anyone and everyone over for a southern style potluck dinner. Yummy does not do it justice... | Cousins playing until wayyy past their bed times. Makes my heart happy.

There is something unbelievable sweet and heart-warming about a photo of your sweet granny's holding your baby girl. Love my granny's.

Heavy heart.

My heart was heavy this morning.

I set out to finish working on my Inspired Paper collection (all kinds of paper goodness complete with beautiful scripture passages.)

And yet, I found myself completely overwhelmed when it came to the specific task at hand this morning. Design a sympathy card. Feel the weight of that task. Design something that's entire purpose is to encourage and comfort a person in pain. How do you effectively do that through paper & ink?

So, in need of inspiration I pulled out two boxes of cards that I have kept for almost 4 years now. When Aaden died, the daily trip to the mailbox was just about all that kept me going some days. From first hand experience, cards, letters, sweet notes of encouragement, and prayers of healing mean so much more than you could ever know.

I read through card after card this morning weeping at such a great loss.

I begged the Lord for encouragement in His Word and He led me to Psalm 55:22, 'Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.'

Thank you Lord for your gracious provision and power that sustains.


And just minutes ago my husband brought to my attention that an amazing couple that we have been praying miracles for are now facing the worst possible result. My heart is aching for them... aching for her. Such a great loss. All the while, we are still praying for a miracle in her body.

While Aaron was reading me the update, my heart was repeating, 'May You be glorified, may You be glorified...' And again I sought the Lord. I begged Him for answers. Such pain is too much to fathom.

He brought me to Psalm 95.


Oh come, let us sing to the Lord;
    let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
    let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
For the Lord is a great God,
    and a great King above all gods.  
 In his hand are the depths of the earth;
    the heights of the mountains are his also.
The sea is his, for he made it,
    and his hands formed the dry land.

Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
    let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!

A sweet and tender reminder from the Lord that we are to praise Him and trust that 'In His hand' are all things. He is in control. He is faithful. And we praise Him.

...

Our prayers are with the Hurst family. We pray for hearts to be held by a God who knows deeply the pain of a loss so great. We pray for miraculous physical healing for Angie. We pray that you would hold Thomas as he leads his wife and children through such tragedy. We pray for their sweet boys, that You would keep their hearts tender toward You protecting them from fear, anger or bitterness. We pray that friends and family would surround them with comfort, encouragement and willingness to walk through the lifetime of healing to come.

Sneak Peek at Progress.

Slowly but surely.

Progress is taking place.

Very soon I will be revealing a brand new website, blog and shop, complete with new products for your every day, for your celebrations, and for your home.

I cannot wait!

Styled. Sweet Summer.

The Effortless Beauty Style Guide exists to inspire and encourage you to let the beauty on the inside show on the outside. My hope is to show you that it is not difficult (or expensive!) to pull an outfit together and that you are worth a few extra minutes every morning to feel beautiful all day long.

---
A sweet summer look that is perfect for those hot summer days, dressy enough for a party and still casual enough for the mom on the run.

Pretty Tank & Shorts // Ruffle Tank - Target | Shorts - Target | Flower Studs - Forever 21 | Bangle - Target | Hand Bag (similar) - Nine West | Sandels - Target

Weekend Snapshot: July 20-22

 Weekend Snapshot // Outreach (as a family) on USF's campus handing out icee pops to students | Busch Gardens (in the sweltering 100 degree heat!) for the afternoon. So MUCH fun! | Ice cream was the cool treat of choice post Busch Gardens (daddy ate Asher's after we realized there was absolutely no waking him (note the head on the car seat.) | Happy 1st Birthday party to our sweet little friend Austin (guitar themed of course. and included the cutest guitar cake ever.) | Church family practicing the new set-up for our (the church's) BIG move to the YMCA in two weeks. (this was done on Sunday evening after a looong morning of set-up and tear-down at our current facility for the Sunday morning service. i.e. We have the most amazing church family ever.)

What did you do this weekend?!
I hope there was lots of fun memories made (even if that included staying in your p.j.s all day. :))

Memory Verse Place Mats.

One of our family goals this summer was to start memorizing Bible verses with the boys. So far it has been a success. Asher points to his head and says in his squeaky little voice 'miiiiiiind.' So cute. I should definitely video that cuteness at some point.

A tip for memorizing Bible verses is to place the verse(s) everywhere, so you cannot help but see it throughout your day. So, I made these little memory verse placemats with our current verse and thought I would share it with you. 

Simply click on the link of your favorite design and save it to your computer. You can then print it on your paper of choice. I just so happen to have a great friend who is letting me borrow her laminator so I made ours kid-proof (so we can actually use them as place mats.) In the coming weeks I will be offering laminated place mats (these designs and more) for sale in my shop.

 Gray & Yellow

 Aqua & Red

 Raspberry & Pink

 

 Blue & Red

Which color palette is your favorite?

Would you purchase these for your home?

Style Guide. Effortless Beauty.

The Weekend Wardrobe feature has been renamed Effortless Beauty Style Guide. 

The new style feature will no longer be solely about the specific looks and styles from my weekend. Instead I will be putting together looks that are effortlessly beautiful for all of you busy ladies who might just need a bit of inspiration and encouragement when it comes to letting the beauty on the inside show on the outside. 

My hope is to show you that it is not difficult (or expensive!) to pull an outfit together and that you are worth a few extra minutes every morning to feel beautiful all day long. 

This is my current go-to outfit. Post-baby bodies can be a bit tricky to dress and still look (i.e. feel like they look) nice. A few suggestions if you are currently sporting a post-baby body:
1. Start working out. :) Exercise is so good for you both physically, mentally and emotionally. Trust me.
2. Invest in a great pair of 'transition' jeans. Not maternity pants. This made a world of difference to me. For me, wearing clothes I wore while pregnant made me still feel like I looked pregnant. Not the look I was going for. I bought a pair of dark wash, straight leg jeans right after Adelee was born that I adore. They provide great structure and the long lines of a dark wash jean is very slimming. 
3. Accessorize.  (Accessories always fit, no matter if those pre-baby clothes are still not looking quite right yet.) 

Simple T-shirt & Jeans // t-shirt - Target | jeans - Target | earrings - Target | bangles - Forever 21 | nail polish - essie | gold sandals (actual from Forever 21) similar - Steve Madden

Green Grass.

 

Art by Daily Love Dose

I am watering my grass. 

I am investing in what God has given me and finding contentment where He has me.

I am prayerfully not wishing or asking for different circumstances.

I am working towards the goals and calling that He has laid on my heart: to serve and love my husband and little ones well, to love others and sacrifice my needs for the well being of others, and to be a good steward of this business He has entrusted in my care.

For the next few weeks and possibly months (i.e. newborns don't really care about your deadlines. ha.) I will be furiously watering my grass and investing in this business with the hopes of launching my new brand, new collections, new shop and even a few surprises very soon. 

I can't wait to show you all that I have in the works!

 

Mommy + Baby Must Haves

baby girl essentials // ruffle onesies - Carters | hot pink flower headband - Lizzapooh | mams baby love pacifiers - Target | Burp Cloth - Guguberry | diaper pouch - Jilly & Joon | baby swaddler - Wild Sprouts | noise machine - amazon | moby wrap - amazon

mommy essentials (so I still feel pretty & creative) // gold earrings - Target | nail polish - essie | gold sandals - Steve Madden | adorable & inspiring notebooks - target (not sold online)

Around Here.

We are adjusting to life as a family of 6 (-1 here on this side of heaven).
Everything takes just a bit more time and planning.

I am trying to figure out how to accomplish even the smallest of tasks each day and have not been super successful up to this point. ha. My husband suggested that I write a blog post about what it looks like to be a working mama. I told him as soon as I figure that out I'll definitely write one. :)

My daily prayer is to be focused and intentional. I feel a bit frazzled so to be either one of those would be a huge answer to prayer.

Below is a snapshot of my life including our July 4th festivities which included spending some amazing time with amazing new friends.  (photos courtesy of Instagram since my camera + computer decided not to work together this morning)

And in case you missed these (a little light reading and lot of photo viewing):
+ Happy 7th Anniversary
+ Welcome Baby Adelee
+ Happy 5th Birthday Andrew
+ Happy Father's Day
+ Adelee is One Month Old
+ Hello July (Free Download!)
+ California Vacation

And currently I am very inspired by this (and another) little notebook I found 

while aimlessly wandering the aisles of Target. 

Love it.

This past Sunday our church ordained and sent out two church planters. It was amazing.

So encouraged by their faithfulness to God, His mission, to their wives and little ones and to the church.

I pretty much spend my days staring at this little face. Love her.

California Vacay!

Who takes a 2 week old baby across the country for 9 days? 

Better yet, who calls that a vacation? ha.

Aaron and I are absolutely that crazy. 

The church planting network we are a part of had their annual pastors' retreat in Newport Beach, California just a few short weeks after we had our 4th little baby. We had decided toward the end of the pregnancy that whether I am at home or in California life pretty much looks the same, sleepless and a walking refrigerator. So, why not be that in one of the most beautiful and peaceful places in the country? :)

We extended our stay for a few days after the retreat to enjoy some time together and to spend quality time with family and friends that we rarely are able to see (Aaron is from southern California.)

It was perfect. 

We stayed in the most beautiful and amazing hotel, we ate amazing food, talked until the wee hours of the morning, loved on our baby girl, and did the most fun touristy things (which I know Aaron did just because he loves me... and I totally appreciate that sweet gift. :) )

I apologize for the amount of photos, but I just couldn't resist!

Balboa Island

Balboa Bars on Balboa Island

 Hello California Flowers!

Julian 

 

 Old Town Trolley Tour

throughout downtown San Diego

Seaport Village

 

Coronado Beach

 

My Love.

 Hollywood 

 

 Pure Sweetness.

Happy 4th of July!

{photo from Balboa Island, California while on our little vacation a few weeks ago.}

So thankful to have the privilege of calling America my home.

Praying you have a blessed day and an opportunity to celebrate with those you love!

And for all your entertaining needs, here are a few recipes I found around the web:

Frozen Banana Popsicles

 

 Firecracker Cakelettes via Pizzazzerie

 

4th of July Marshmallow Pops

 

Star-Spangled Pie

Red, White and Blueberry Trifle

Enjoy! 

Happy Independence Day!

Hello July!

While June was crazy (I'm working on a few different posts to sum it up!) July is proving to be even crazier. I am desperately seeking the Lord for energy, power and wisdom in tackling this new role as a mommy to 3 little ones.

To keep you inspired and grounded during July, here is a free background for your desktop and iphone! Enjoy!

1280 x 1024

1600 x 1200

1680 x 1050

1920 x 1080

1920 x 1200

iphone

{To Download}

Choose the link that fits your computer. Click the link and it will take you directly to the image. Some computers will allow you to right click your mouse and give you the option: "Set as Desktop Background." If not, right click and simply save the image to your computer. Then, change the background in your computer settings.

{To use on iphone/ipad} 
Simply download the photo using links above and email the photo to yourself. Then open the email on your phone/ipad and save the photo to your phone. Then set the photo as wallpaper once you save it.