A cozy monday

Hey!

Yes i fell victim to this cozy bowl chair that i wanted to get rid of. Thank you to my husband for saving it. I love it :)

I am trying new things! This ring is from target and i thought it was darling. (Target is my favorite store:))

What do you think of this fashion statement? My sister did this one time and i thought it was very cute.

My sewing machine. I decorated it a little with a cute bow.

I'm working on so many different things lately and i'm ready for a little mental break! So tonight i'm going to curl up in bed and read my Beverly Lewis book. My brain feels like mush from taking on the task of threading my sewing machine. I cut out two squares for the pillows and pinned them together, that was the fun part and things were going well until i realized i needed to get the machine set up. Lets stop and rewind...it took me over an hour to thread this machine and it's not even done! :pI was doing it all wrong but am starting to figure it out little by little. I was working through the booklet and not understanding most of it and feeling very overwhelmed. Calling my momma was a good idea. She told me to relax and take a breath! It's not easy to teach sewing over the phone but she did offer some instructions that made a lot of sense. Thanks for coming through mom!
This new hobby is intimidating and already a few times i've wondered whose great idea it was to pick this up. Yet, i know the more i learn that the results of what i sew will be worth every 'oops', 'ouch', and 'oh no!'. Wanting to see the results immediately is normal, but learning is all about patience and practice.
If this new hobby isn't enough in itself, i've picked up a few books on learning how to play the guitar and piano. I was working through the guitar book tonight and already have a billion questions. Okay not that many but i'm really confused. These are a few things that will be wonderful to enjoy when i learn them but it's the process of learning that can be tedious and not so fun. Who likes to sit there with a confused look? However, when you do come to those moments the light bulb goes on it's amazing, and worth it!

This afternoon i ran to home goods after the library and found an adorable blanket for $20! (it is shabby chic cottage totally!) I love it and it's very comfy. That store is really great because there's a lot of cute things for your home that are reasonably priced. I also bought a blank lantern from pier 1 that will go perfect in our beach theme bathroom. It was only 10 dollars and hard to pass up! I'm trying to get ideas together on what to paint the little table we bought. A friend suggested white and then make it look weathered. (I'm liking that idea) Today i went to goodwill to do a little more treasure hunting and on my way to the book area i saw this adorable three quarters pink blazer that was only five dollars. It was in perfect condition! I tried it on and thankfully it fit, it's really adorable. When you find deals like that it's the best feeling.

Currently the Moore home is on high *spider* alert after a freak out in the kitchen and a spider cricket in the neighbor's home. The kitchen scene was quite funny actually and Darren was stunned by my performance. I was drinking my vanilla coke in front of the stove just enjoying the day when something dropped in front of my face and then onto the stove hood. I thought it was a moth and went to swat at it and then realized it was a spider. I jumped up and screamed and then darted into the living room where Darren was and was speechless...The spider lived, and Darren jokingly told me it probably died from my screech. Those little buggers are so scary because its a surprise every time they decide to grace me with their presence!

We find out this week where we'll be going in a month. It's hard to believe our time is almost over in the beautiful state of Maryland. I was thinking how weird it will be when we'll be going to a new state. I'm looking forward to this next chapter in the Navy career for darren and then again i'm not. No longer is it a guarantee that he'll be home every night or that i'll have him for 7 months straight. This is the beginning of deployments and hard goodbyes! Although as Darren and I talked last night i realized God is going to use the time apart to build our marriage and our individual relationship with Him. Growth is needed for all of us and thus far in my experience that time of growing has never been easy or enjoyable. It is needed though! While those periods take place I remind myself to trust God's hand and have confidence that He will see me through.

I wrote a few songs over the last two nights. It was such a fun process! I've never done that before but the words flowed straight from my heart and it was an intimate time with God. I'm living life in the best way i know how right now. For a long time i was hurting and not really knowing who I was and it was a scary time. The one thing that remained constant was Christ, even though at times i was hurting him through disobedience, he remained. There were a lot of lonely days and nights that i spent very unsure of myself. I wanted to do what was right but continued to stumble as i made bad choices. Writing a song about that time in my life and the understanding of why Christ came to die for my sin because he loved me was somewhat of the closure that i needed. We all fall short and have made choices in the past that we're ashamed of but God's grace meets us right where we fall. It's really a beautiful display of love. I wish more people knew how deeply God loves them.

Tomorrow is the final exam for English. It's going to be a final where we write a paper in class. I'm not sure that i've ever had to do that before and i'm a little nervous about not having spell checker! Lord knows i'm a terrible speller but we'll pray that i do well still. Isn't it surreal how fast life goes? Seems as if only yesterday i was walking into the education office finding out about taking classes. I think the realization of how fast life is has me treasuring these days! My life is sweeter lately and i'm happy, genuinely happy to be here and spend time with God all day. No it's not roses and butterflies everyday, because certain circumstances are bad, but i'm finding out what joy means in Christ and how to choose the right attitude.

Well i'm going to go snuggle up in bed with my book for the rest of the night. Have a wonderful night!

love,

Laura