I'm working on...

2nd grade!

I told God I wasn't applying to any 5th grade positions.
No way.
You have obviously made me for little kids, Lord. I LOVE K and 1st, and I'll definitely go up to 3rd, and just for pushing it, I'll apply to 4th. But no 5th.

A couple of weeks and no calls later I decided to apply to the 5th grade jobs, BUT there was no way I was mailing them my info or faxing them my resume.
No way.

Imagine my surprise after months of waiting, I get a call from an inner-city 5th grade school.
inner-city. 5th. grade.
James was excited. I was trying to be.

A couple hours later, I got another call from a magnet school for a 2nd grade position.

Nothing for 3 months and then 2 calls in one day.
The Lord has great timing, doesn't He?
I'll never understand, but I love it.

So we headed up to Chattanooga and 2 interviews, a follow-up interview, and 2 trips later, I found out I got the 2nd grade job!
The school is about 3 miles from our apartment and right across the river.
They have a partnership with 7 different museums in Chattanooga and go about every other week!
And one of the teachers already e-mailed me to say welcome!

Thank you Lord!!

heirloom pillows

My mom and I were cleaning out some old boxes in storage and found all these beautiful quilt squares that my great-grandmother had sewn.




Aren't these hand-stitches amazing? I can't imagine all the time it took to make these. They are just beautiful.



Apparently, they used to sew patchworks onto newspaper to keep them together. The old newspapers were so neat to read. They were sewn around Christmas in 1948.
Can't you just imagine her sitting in a rocking chair, sewing these by hand next to the stove, thinking of all the last minute Christmas gifts that needed to be finished - I'm totally imagining Little House on the Prairie :)





My sewing skills are not near ready for a quilt, so I decided to take a couple of them and make them into pillows. This was my first time using piping! I added some more of my $1 Dirt Cheap sheet for the back. Not perfect, but I think they're fun and I love the reminder of family.



And here's another project on to sewing to do list - a bigger-than-normal pillow for James to use on the couch. My 2nd time to use piping - you can totally see my white thread in places because I don't have a zipper foot, but James doesn't seem to mind.

One more thing off the list!

the barn

One of the things that I will miss most when we move is the barn. It has been the most wonderful blessing to be able to live here for the last 3 years!

Here is a conversation between me and James the other day:

Me (dramatically) -" James! Aren't you sooo sad about leaving the barn??!! It's like a whole season of our lives is ending! This is where we started our lives together! We're not newlyweds anymore!"
James (not dramatically) - "We've been married for 3 years, we haven't been newlyweds for a long time."
Me -"But you know what I mean, it's a chapter of our lives CLOSING!"
James - "I think we'll be ok."

Just wait till we start loading the furniture - he'll get sentimental...



James picked out that rug all by himself before we got married! He definitely had me in mind when he got it. Isn't he great?

And he painted the bathroom red just for me. Love...





Zoomed in and uncluttered shot...


And now the real picture with James' "man-shelves" on one side, trying to cover up the hunting guns with the curtain, and the chairs and bags on the other. That's real life...




Don't you love the mis-matched furniture here? We always had great plans for this wall - 2 matching armoires, open shelving, large shelves, etc... - but just never got around to it...


As I pack, I'm wondering how in the world did we squeeze so much stuff into this space! The blank walls make me sad. We have some wonderful memories here and I am so thankful to James' sweet parents for letting us live here.
It is a chapter in our lives closing! But I'm so excited to see where the Lord is going to lead us next! He is definitely taking us on a great adventure!

Easy Summer Dress

$3 tank from Wal-Mart
$1 sheet from Dirt Cheap
$1 elastic band

Orange is way cuter than white, right?

And you've got a fun summer dress!

Summer Sewing List

I've been working on my list of summer projects!!

A fun elastic skirt using this tutorial.

My first time making pockets! Much easier than I anticipated and it just adds fun I think.


Fun fabric ring using this tutorial.


And what do you need in MS summer heat? A scrappy headband using this!


More projects to come!!

Richmont Graduate University

This is where were headed in July!



There are about 80 students at the Chattanooga campus and the school is in this old church that has been completely re-done on the inside. We're getting excited!

sewing

I love the idea of sewing.
I love looking at sewing books.
I love reading sewing blogs.
I love coming up with great projects.
I love buying cheap shirts and imagining them as cute J. Crew designs.
I love bookmarking cute ideas.
I even love buying great fabric.

But I get scared to death of actually cutting fabric and attempting to put it back together into something cute with my basic, beginner sewing skills.

So this summer I've made a sewing list and I'm going to actually do it.

What's the worst that can happen? I already use my seam ripper more than my sewing machine :)

Here are a few projects I've attempted...

I love owls. I think they are just precious! This one is from little miss blue blog.



Bad picture. Fun baby headband made from little baby tights.



Is there anything cuter than these ruffle-butt onesies that are all over the blog world now? I think not.






I love this tutorial from Happy Together of the Placemat Clutch.
http://ohsohappytogether.blogspot.com/2009/08/todays-tutorial-placemat-clutches.html



I'm off to work on my list...

trusting

Moving next month with no job and no place to live?
I think this verse was written for me...

summertime

This week I bought cowboy boots and some orange push-up pops



which made my think of my grandfather because he always had boots on and orange push-pops in the freezer. We spent many summers picking corn, bottle feeding baby calves, and eating 'spit-ems,' (I have no idea what their real name is...)
Great summertime memories.





And on that note...

Here's James and his sweet grandfather who James was named after



'The righteous man leads a blameless life, blessed are his children after him' Prov 20:7