Hair, Baking and Crafts galore!

Hi guys! Its been forever since I last posted. I'm realizing that I'm not as faithful of a blogger as I used to be. I think its because I'm lazy, but I'd like to use work and other general business as an excuse :-)

Ive got a photo heavy post here, so get ready! We'll start with the biggest subject- my hair. Not that my hair is big, like afro big, but its a big topic. Since April I've been itching to cut my hair. I go through this vicious cycle every few years, where I'll grow my hair out just to cut it all off. The last time I drastically cut my hair was in 2008. I cut it from mid back up into a super short pixie cut.

(Click on pictures to enlarge)

After looking at the old pictures (above) of me with the ubber short hair, I decided I didnt like it. At all. Why didnt someone tell me I looked like a lesbian? Ugh. I digress. Anyways, this time around I decided I wanted to stay on the longer side of the pixie spectrum. Here is before:

Here is after:

Hopefully I dont look like a lesbian! If I do, please tell me now so I can grow it out! Ha.

Besides the hair craziness, I've been crafting and baking a lot. I know its just a big phase, but I figure I'll take full advantage of it while I can!

On the baking end, I've been all over the place. I've made everything from Apple Pie Bars, to French Silk Pie, Coconut Macaroons to Coconut Poke Cake. I forgot to photograph all my ventures, but here are a few.

Peanut Butter and Jelly cookies (gluten free)

Coconut Macaroons (gluten free)

Apple Pie Bars

With crafting, I've been trying a whole assortment of things. I'm mainly working on headbands (feathers and felt/cloth flowers). I'm also practicing my sewing a little bit and making plushies. I dont have a sewing machine, so I'm doing everything by hand. Hence the horribly crookied lines! Oh well, its all fun to make!

Felt flower barrett

Feather headband

Feather headband

Fabric flower headband

Felt flower headband

Felt flower barrett

Felt kitty magnets (my baby Hank and Lady bird!)

Lastly, some plushies I made for my niece and nephew. Their slightly scary, but ay, my niece and nephew are not old enough to care!

Artsy Fartsy

I'm in a super creative mood lately. Maybe its the spring weather thats getting me inspired, or maybe its just the never end cycle I go through of creativity and boredom. Either way, I'm in the mood to get my hands into some projects. I have a million stories running through my mind begging to be written, my hands are aching to get into a intense art project (maybe trying my hand at pencil portraits), and I'm actually getting the itch to pick back up photography! 

My problem is I just cant decide what to do- and because of this I'm wasting precious time thinking about what I could do, instead of just doing it. I've always had a problem with that. I'm a classic overthinker. I think, rethink, re-rethink and then think again. And, by the time I've made my mind up, its to late and the moment has passed. I think I might have ADD, OCD or some other acronym mental aliment. I wish I could focus all my energy on something worth while instead of wasting time  

I've been working hard to become more focused at home with chores. And, its going fairly well. I dont think it will ever become natural for me, but making a habit to have a 'tidy' and 'orderly' home is important enough to invest my energy into. Now maybe I need to turn some of my efforts to focusing on cultivating my creativity. Just like God is a God of order, God is a God of creativity. His glory is displayed when we create things that uplift His name. I think thats why we has humans are so draw to beauty- and to recreating that beauty. Whether we consciously know it or not, we are drawn to splendor of the King. Its our choice to use that longing to draw ourselves closer to the Creator himself, or to the darkness in the world.

Welp, we'll see how this creativity itch goes. Maybe it will pan out into something I can post about later on. Maybe not.... Hopefully I can just do something. Instead of sitting here dreaming about it. Ugh. FOCUS KATIE!
  
 

Have Your Way...

Waiting is so hard. And, it seems like I've been waiting for God's hand to move in a certain situation forever. Every time there is a step forward, then it falls two steps backwards. Its so draining to look at a part of your life, or in some cases, your whole life, and only see unanswered prayers and broken dreams. It feels so hopeless. This past weekend all the pain, heartache and strife I'd been holding over the situation came to a head, and I got to the point where I began doubting God's promises and whether He would come through. I've desperately wanted resolution for so long , and when I looked at what had been accomplished in the past years and I only saw digression. I just wanted there to be a quick fix, an answer, anything to begin resolution so I could experience some peace and rest.

The whole weekend I lamented over the situation. I allowed myself to wallow in the heartache and pain to the point where I couldn’t even be around people, let allow go to church, worship and pray. I felt my heart quickly running to bitterness and anger over everything, and I started looking at myself as the victim and everyone else as the abuser. I doubted that God would ever move in the situation, and I began to wonder if I'd have to live my whole life with this hurt and pain.

God is so good though. He's always so gentle and loving to remind me of his promises and great love for me. He let me wallow in my pity just to show me how wrong I was. I had to experience the bad to really see the good for what it really was. On Tuesday afternoon while I was at work still wallowing in my pity, the song "Have Your Way" came across my iPod. I couldn’t help but begin to weep over the truth in the song. Every single line in the song was like it was written exactly for my situation. It truly was the cry of my heart, but instead of it turning to anger and bitterness towards God for not doing what I wanted him to, it surrendered to God and worshiped him anyways. I had to adopt the prayer "I'll stop searching for the answers, and I'll stop praying for an escape. I'll trust you God with where I am, and believe that you will have your way..." I had to let go of my anger and doubt and turn my heart to surrender and the knowledge that no matter what, God is God and I am not. He is good, and I can trust him.

This isn’t going to conclude with a happy ending saying "God answered all my prayers and now everything is ok!". That just isn’t the truth. The pain and heartache is still there, and the wounds are still deep. But, the incredible thing is that no matter what, God is here with me, and he WILL fulfill his promises. He will have his way, and its my choice to stand firm in his promises and believe that he will work all things together for my good and his glory.

Even if my dreams die, and even if I don’t survive, I WILL worship him with all my life....

Have Your Way- Britt Nicole

Feels like I`ve been here forever,

Why can`t you just intervene?

Do you see the tears keep falling?

And I`m falling apart at the seams.

But you never said the road would be easy,

But you said that you would never leave.

And you never promised that this life wasn`t hard,

But you promised you`d take care of me.

So I`ll stop searching for the answers,

I`ll stop praying for an escape,

And I`ll trust you,God, with where I am,

And believe that you will have your way.

Just have your way.

Just have your way.

When my friends and my family have left me,

And I feel so ashamed and so cold.

Remind me that you take broken things

And turn them into beautiful.

So I`ll stop searching for the answers,

I`ll stop praying for an escape,

And I`ll trust you, God, with where I am,

And believe that you`ll have your way.

Just have your way.

Just have your way.

Even if my dreams have died,

And even if I don`t survive,

I`ll still worship you with all my life.

My life.

And I`ll stop searching for the answers,

I`ll stop praying for an escape,

And iIll trust you, God, with where I am,

And believe that you will have your way.

Just have your way.

Just have your way.

I know you will.

I won`t forget.

You love me.

Have your way.

Goals, Resolutions and the New Year

"The common begin- but it's the uncommon who finish" ~ Donna Otto

I’m not one for New Year’s resolutions. The thought of them makes me think of people joining a gym and only working out once, or purposing to read more and only getting half way through a book. So, I’m usually not one to really make them- or at least make the cliché ones. There have been years in the past that I’ve made resolutions, and, just like the rest of America, I rarely follow through with them. It’s almost like we’re predestined to fail by the culture we live in. We’re told skinny is beautiful, and then bombarded with hamburger and pizza ads. We’re told that its important to be educated and highly intelligent, but then celebrities like Snookie, who are praised for being stupid and brazen, are the ‘it’ girls in media. The whole culture is a prime example of the “Do as I say, not as I do” mentality. And, it sets us up for failure. It’s only the truly focused, determined and motivated that accomplishes their goals, and maintains them year in and year out.

I don’t want to be causality to cultures double-minded ways. I don’t want to endlessly yo-yo from resolution to resolution- hoping and praying that I’ll be able to somehow ‘stick with it’, only to fail a week later. I don’t want to wallow in the guilt of failing and beat myself up for not accomplishing the goal. So, this year I’ve decided to make a goal to finish my goals. I don’t mean goals like going to the gym more often, I mean life changing goals that my motivation is more then societies peer pressure. I’m not making goals that aren’t doable, or setting myself up for failure by having unreal expectations. I’m taking it slow and easy. I’m making daily choices that will directly get me one step closer to accomplishing the goal I’ve set before me. Will there be days I fail? Yes. But, the beauty of it is that I can pick back up right where I left off. No harm done. No unnecessary guilt. The point is to reach the finish line, not to reach it in record time or in perfect performance.

So I suppose this year my ‘resolution’ is to become more disciplined and to persevere. This time next year I might not be able to say that I did something extraordinary or that I 100% completed every goal I have for myself. I'll pick new goals up through out the year, and some goals I'll drop due to them being unrealistic or unnecessary in the grand scheme of things. But, if I can say that I persevered and disciplined myself to daily make the choice to move forward, then that’s a success in my book!

For Darci....

I have a dear friend who is pregnant. The poor thing has been ready to pop for weeks, and yet, the baby hasnt come. Sunday morning she thought it was gonna happen- contractions where coming heavy and quick, and she was praying that it would be the day! But, it wasnt. In fact, she still hasnt had the baby. It must be miserable to feel that way- waiting with expectancy, but feeling like its an eternity for this new beautiful baby to enter the world.

I've never been pregnant, and dont plan on being for quite so time. My husband and I have a few years before we walk down that road. The thought of bringing a life into this world and caring, protecting and giving my life up for it just doesnt seen quite right, yet. Someday it will, and when it does I'll be the happiest mother-to-be there ever was. But for now I'm content pouring my love and life into other things.

Today, however, pregnant is the only way I know how to describe how I feel- spiritually speaking of course :-) As I've been thinking about my friend, I realized that pregnancy isnt just a temporary physical state a women is in when she's with child. No, you can be pregnant with a great many things. Pregnant with hope, pregnant with regret, pregnant with stress, pregnant with ideas. The Bible says in James 1:15 we can even be pregnant spiritually with sin- "Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin;and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death." All of those things- spiritual and emotional, are conceived, grown and birthed through our spirits just like a baby is in its mothers womb.

For years and years I've had a growing desire, a burden in my heart for great things. Those things I wont share here, for they are still young and tender and not ready to face the world. But, just as a mother nurtures the growing baby in her womb, I've felt the Holy Spirit nurturing these dreams in me. There has been the hope and excitement of the dreams being conceived in my spirit, the growing pains as God has stretched and molded me, and the expectancy waiting for those dreams to come to fruition. There are so many days I'm so anxious. I just want to see all these dreams come bursting forth! I want to see how they'll look and play out in my life. But, its then I'm reminded those dreams are not yet developed. No matter what the idea, it needs to grow and mature in me, for if it comes out to early it will not be everything it could have been. The conception and birth of something within us spiritual can play out in so many different ways, and wont be the same every time. Unlike the birth of a child, who we know will come in 9 months gustation, we never know when the birth of a spiritual concept will come. God is the author of our hopes and dreams- and he has everything planed. It will come, in his perfect timing.

So, today I'm praying for my friend- that she'll deliver this baby soon! And, I'm praying for my own "spiritual baby"- that dream that continues to grow inside of me. Not for it to come soon, but for it to come in God's perfect timing, because then and only then will it be exactly all its suppose to be.