Prayer for her

Selah Grace. We named you this because Selah, in basic terms, means: "think about it." And apart from the fact that this particular phrase is actually a part of your parents' love story, we settled on the name because our prayer for you is that you stop and consider the grace of our Father, every day of your life. It is the noblest of life's pursuits. The more you consider it, the more it will overwhelm you. It is a new gift everyday; one that meets every need, strengthens every weakness. It comforts, sustains, and renews. And it's yours. Never to be taken away, earned, or improved upon.

Selah, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Philippians 4:8,9

A gift from the start.

Treasured and fully known by God before we even met. Created to reflect and glorify Him. He can't have ugly thoughts or plans for you. That's just not Him.
In Him is light, there is no darkness at all. 1 Jn.1:5

Each new day, there is new grace for you.

Each one, lovingly given.

And everyday, you grow. God has given you strength, baby girl. 

At four she loves... graham crackers, raisins, dress up, any sugar at all, pretending to be seven, 

Humphrey, Madeline and Fancy Nancy books, kitties, Tinkerbell, Cinderella, painting, and making her dolly Suzy filthy.  You are joyful, tenacious, and independent.  You hop when you get excited, or are proud of an accomplishment, your brave, and completely unaware that you are the youngest one in the room. You plan to be a princess when you grow up. You whisper when you get serious, and are loud and contagious when you laugh. And surprisingly, you like to go to bed. 

 ...We have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.  For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Col. 1:9-14

What an honor to be chosen as parents for you.
Happy Birthday, Princess. Cant wait to see what the Lord has in store for four!

"Joo-Why Ferb"- Selah Grace, 4 years old.

Well, we've had tornado-grade winds, power outages, store closures, lingering illness, last minute injuries,

and very limiting budgetary restrictions, but we marched forward anyway, in an attempt to create a memory for the birthday girl. Some may call it crazy, I call it respite. And normal. Thus, absolutely necessary. 

Wanna see what we came up with?

Got a new teapot at Savation Army for $1.50- has the additional bonus of being reusable. We're green like that.

Ditto that for the glass punch bowl w/ cups. Three bucks, folks.

Decorations were all free, more of a time investment really, we

have tons of paper after ten years of kids ministry!

-Found some wonderful birdhouses at JoAnn Fabs. You know when you pull up to JoAnn's or Michael's and there are those bins of closeouts outside the front doors, and your heart goes pitter-pat as you approach to see what the goodies are? That was me yesterday when lo and behold, this Bird Nerd happened upon loads of clearance birdhouses. We will call them Woodland Fairy houses, for today. That was a score, for sure.

Let's eat:

Pretty simple.  Cream and Jam tea sandwiches and bread sticks served in an upcycled Lipton Ice tea can.

-Rolling with it: It was too hot (a blistering 101 degrees) for frosting of any sort to stay put. But hey- does it look like she cares?

 -taking time out to ask a blessing for our sweet missing princess-friend who had to skip the party and  spent time in the hospital instead. 

Shade. Most wonderful.

It's good to be a princess.

Isaiah 35:1-5

The desert and the parched land will be glad;

    the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. 

Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom;

    it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. 

The glory of Lebanon will be given to it,

    the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; 

they will see the glory of the Lord,

    the splendor of our God.

Strengthen the feeble hands 

 steady the knees that give way 

say to those with fearful hearts, 

    “Be strong, do not fear; 

your God will come, 

    he will come with vengeance; 

with divine retribution

    he will come to save you.”

_______________________

This scripture is special truth for me, in such a parched season. My word for today is, "refreshed." I was sweetly blessed, and thankful to be graciously looked upon today.  

I'm so thankful that the Lord is speaking to us, and we are able to hear. 

No specifics, really. Just encouragement. Much needed encouragement. A little goes a long way. 

Party for the princess.

Sorry about the mess, but I'm trying to throw together a little celebration for my almost-four-year-old. So I'm brainstorming and throwing all of my ideas up on the blog.

 When I asked her what kind of party she wanted, she said that she'd like a, "fairy princess tea party!" And, "Pink, Mommy! Lots of pink!"

So, there you go. I'm trying to get a handle on what this looks like, both in a aesthetic and a big-picture sense. Being four, she was kind of vague with the description of what she imagined, so between this, and a super tight budget, I'm really just winging it, and doing most of it (decorations, at least) by hand. Using old ribbon, tulle, scraps of fabric, and paper. This is tricky, because it requires a lot of sifting through stacks of unpacked bins. It's slow-going.  Thankfully, there are so many sweet ideas as I scour the inter webs, in search of all things fairy and frugal! I'm not sure how much I am actually getting done, but at least it's fun trying. 

Inspiration:

I love the sweet color scheme of this one:

http://www.thewhitelibrary.com/design-by-party-theme/kids-parties/fairy-garden-birthday-party/

 Sweet, right?

http://www.bottleyourbrand.com/blog/custom-label-invite-set-fairy-party/fairyparty

http://www.cakeeventsblog.com/

http://creativewithkids.com/how-to-have-tea-party-for-moms-and-kids/

I'm on a roll! -Totally inspired! 

Pallet 

Think pink!

I'm SO checking out the dishes at the thrift store when it opens!

Menu Planning:

1. Cream and jam tea sanwiches
2. Fruit and cheese plate
3. Pink Lemonade
4. Popcorn
5. Selah's Chocolate Cupcakes

http://thecraftingchicks.com/2011/01/a-fancy-fabulous-5th-birthday-party-candy-buffet-lollies-and-pennants-oh-my.html

Pink Popcorn= Sweet & $mart!

All Things Fun

1. Pin the Smooch on the Frog..(*Pick up cardboard, cut out)
2. Catch the Butterflies (*Got it!)
3. Painting fairy houses...(Price them at dollar store.)
4. Decorating cups (*Find at thrift store)

------------

 After a few post-storm attempts, I finally made it to the Salvation Army today and it was actually OPEN! Yes! This did a heart good. But what made it better was that all green tag items were 50% OFF. This meant my six dollar, real glass punch bowl with 6 cups was...you guessed it, 3 Bucks! I also picked up a silver teapot for a dollar-fifty, and three table cloths for $5.00. actually, one of them wasn't a true table cloth, but about seven yards of really nice cotton fabric that I will turn around and use for something else eventually. That's the nice part about party shopping at the thrift store. It's all reusable. ad if you don't think it's cute, don't buy it. No harm, no foul. I tell you what, I left that place feeling positively triumphant! I need some that once in a while. Now the real work can begin: cooking in the heat! Grace, please, Lord! 
So much to do, so little time to get it all done! 

Gallery: Storm damage in WV and across Mid-Atlantic - The Herald Dispatch

Okay check that, apparently, there WERE in fact, injures and loss of life. Praying of course.

Gallery: Storm damage in WV and across Mid-Atlantic - The Herald Dispatch