"I am slow of speech and tongue."

I finally had the chance to watch “The King’s Speech” this weekend.  Excellent movie!  Probably not one I’d watch more than once or twice, but I thought it was very well done, and an insightful look into that particular royal family. 

After having read this article {link} awhile ago, I was even more intrigued to see the film.  I thought Colin Firth’s portrayal of the King was excellent, and I truly felt my heart go out to him as he struggled with his speech impediment.  As somebody who doesn’t like public speaking to begin with, I can’t imagine the personal humiliation of the problem being compounded with stuttering and stammering. 

The movie also created a lovely picture of his wife & children and the unconditional love and support they gave him as he struggled to overcome this impairment.

There was a scene that particularly stuck out to me, where he was so distraught over the pressure and his inadequacy that he shook with tears and yelled: “I am not a king; I am not a king!!!”  

It reminded me of Moses in Exodus 3 & 4 where God told him to go to Pharaoh and ask for the release of the Israelites.  God gave Moses everything he would need, and what was the response? 

Exodus 4:10 –  Moses said to the LORD, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”

I can just hear him saying “I am not a king; I am not a king!”  (perhaps “ambassador” would be a better word in this case.)

Exodus 4:11&12 - The LORD said to him, "Who gave human beings their mouths?  Who makes them deaf or mute?  Who gives them sight or makes them blind?  Is it not I the LORD?  Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say."

God will equip those He has called.

Exodus 4:13-14a - But Moses said, "Pardon your servant, Lord.  Please send someone else."  Then the LORD's anger burned against Moses...

Ouch.  I think this was a long lesson for Moses to learn.  But isn’t it for all of us?  How many times have I felt prompted to do something and yet shirked away from it because of my own feeling of inadequacy?  Probably more times than I would like to recall. 

Philippians 4:13 – I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.

God never promised us that life would be easy, but He did promise that He would never leave or forsake us, and that He would give us the strength to do whatever He has asked of us. 

It’s been my experience in life that God doesn’t often just plop us into a vat full of grace and call it a day.  It’s usually more like droplets of grace sprinkled through each day, just enough to get us through, but not so much that we forget where our abilities and strength come from or our need to depend completely on Him. 

Have you felt those drops of grace in the midst of inadequacy lately?

What I'm Loving

Good morning, friends!

Today I'm linking up with Jamie for :

"What I'm Loving Wednesday"

1.) My husband recently got me hooked on Peace Tea and my tastebuds are pretty happy about it.  It's glorified ice tea in a can with some carbonation.  The Razzleberry is my favorite! 
Have you ever tried it? 

via

2.)  Toe spreaders.  I always chuckled at the images of fancy ladies at spas with their toes all spread apart with those foam spacers...until I decided to give it a try myself.  Wow, what a difference!  Seriously, who knew that they could be so helpful when you're trying to paint your own toes!

3.) You want to wake up to liquid sunshine brewing in your coffee pot?  How about Dunkin Donuts Strawberry Shortcake coffee?  Oh yes, this is dessert in your coffee mug. 
Go buy some....you know you want to.
(Target carries it!)

4.)  I'm definitely loving all the gorgeous flowers blooming right now, specifically the huge peony bush outside my kitchen window.  The smell is lush and the blooms are so big and fluffy.  They make beautiful bouquets on our kitchen table, and a vase of them came into the office with my as well.

There are so many things to love about this time of year! 

What are you lovin' on today? 

Making My World Go-Round

It’s Monday morning and all is right with the world.

Not because it’s Monday mind you, but because my dear husband is back home safe. 

He was gone eight days at a training seminar for work, and let me tell you, I’m not use to him being so far away!  (yes, I'm spoiled...and in love.) We have never gone more than a couple days without seeing each other since we were engaged so this was a new experience for me.  (and not one I was completely fond of either. Ahem.)

{Made me think of all your military wives out there who do that for months on end.  Hats off to you girls!} 

In the midst of his trip, I was reminded how important it is to cherish the little moments in life.  I was surprised to realize it was the little things that I missed the most… hearing his car pull in the driveway, or hearing his key in the door.  How he sneaks up behind me while I’m doing dishes just to put his arms around me and kiss my cheek, or when he randomly bursts into song. 

The little moments in life that are so easy to take for granted but are truly what makes the world go-round. 

via

At least my world.   

“Home” is wherever we’re together.  Simple concept, but definitely reinforced to me this past week.  Without him in it, the house felt like just a house.  But yesterday, it was home again. 

Sure, I might have gotten to sleep in the middle of the bed and had four pillows all to myself, but it’s lonely in the middle without my other half.   We were able to video-chat every night, but it just isn’t the same.  I was thankful for it, don’t get me wrong, but it was almost a taunt at the same time.  Being so close and yet so far at the same time is a strange feeling. 

Saturday night I went to the airport to pick him up, and seeing his face come through the gate suddenly made the past several days feel like a blur.  He was home.  My best friend, my husband…

In honor of my dearly-beloved’s homecoming, I made Cinnamon Roll Pancakes for breakfast Sunday morning.   You can view the recipe Here.   Although the pancakes turned out good, I was still slightly disappointed with the results.  Hubby thought it was the icing on top that needed a little work (maybe a thinner milk & powdered sugar drizzle would have been better?)  and I was just expecting perhaps something a little more dense overall.  All that aside however, they were quite tasty and we definitely enjoyed them!   

I loved the way they looked with the cinnamon swirl in the middle!!

Can’t believe I didn’t get a picture of the finished product, but you can check it out at the link above.

Happy Monday, ya’ll!  Hope all is well in your world!

Perfect Finds

After two years of not going to garage sales I’ve decided it’s high-time to get cracking this year!

1^st sale of the year and I scored a find I had been drooling over on the Office Max website for well over a year… at only a fraction of the price!


*drum roll please*


A desk.

Exciting, no?

Ok, so it was exciting TO ME. 

For the last 2.5 years my computer workspace has been on the living room couch.

Although it was far from ideal, I couldn’t bring myself to spend $250 on a new desk & chair for the office when I wasn’t in there a ton to begin with.  It’s not like I’m home all day surfing the web. 

This particular Saturday I headed out bright & early with the hopes of some amazing garage sale adventure.  My first stop of the day was just a few blocks away from our house, and as I walked up, there it was.  The desk… almost identical to the one I had seen online. 

And the best part?

It was $15.00.

And did I mention they also had a desk chair, one where all the hydraulics still worked? 

The sweet lady gave that to me for $4. 


$18 vs. $250

Ohhhh yeah.


I never cease to be amazed at how God provides for us, even in the little things.

My next mission for this garage sale season was to find baby clothes for one of my pregnant friends.  This is their first baby and the precious bundle-of-joy is due in October.  And ohhh have I ever scored the jackpot.  Who knew there were so many cute baby clothes in the world.  Some of these clothes even still had the tags on. 

I admit there might have been a twinge of baby-fever when I saw all those little sleepers flapping in the breeze on my clothesline the other day, but we don't need to talk about that. 

It was so much fun packing up all the cute little clothes and dropping them off for the mama-to-be! 

Do you garage sale? 

Have you scored any great finds this season?

Monday Munchies

I had some Cap'N Crunch cereal to use up from a previous recipe so I decided to make some yummies with the leftovers!

Ooey-Gooey Cereal Bars

• 1 c. Karo syrup
• 1 c. sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 Tbsp. butter
• 1 c. peanut butter, smooth and unsweetened
• 4 ½ c. Cap’n Crunch cereal

1. In a medium sauce pan, mix Karo syrup and sugar, bringing to a boil and stirring until sugar is dissolved. 
2. Remove from heat and mix in remaining ingredients (minus cereal) and stir until smooth. 
3. Add in cereal and mix well.  
4. Flatten mixture into a wax paper lined dish or pan and allow to set.  
5. You must work fast so it doesn’t start to harden before you have it pressed out. 

I cut mine with a pizza cutter, which worked great.  I also kept them in the refrigerator and let them sit out for a few minutes before eating.

These are pretty naughty, but oh so good!

Hope your week is off to a GREAT start!

Dirt Under My Nails

Mike & I went flower shopping, and oh what fun we had!  It had been too long since I had wandered through a greenhouse!  It's so hard picking out just a few of the many pretties on display! 

I have managed to create a bit of floral beauty in our back garden, although it’s far from perfect. I’m convinced the slow progress of the flowers is due partly to not having good soil, and partly from the many endless days of rain we’ve had in the past month. (And maybe because of a random rabbit or two that decided to nibble on some leaves, but I try not to think about that too much.)

What I realized when I started planting, is that so many of the flowers we picked out at the greenhouse were ones that I was use to seeing in my grandma's flower pots growing up.  It's nice looking out my window now and seeing that little reminder of her every day. 

I still hear her in my head as she would shake her finger and yell at the gophers: "You say out of my begonias!"  So proudly displayed on my front porch this year: a flower box of begonias.  I smile every time I pull in the driveway, and secretly hope the gophers don't discover that it's there.

One project I made time to pull together was a tiered planter for my back patio.  I had found the idea here and my idea evolved from there.

I was at Walmart and found teal & red pots in a sturdy plastic for MUCH cheaper than I could have bought the other supplies in the original pattern, so I went that direction instead.  I also ended up with two tiers instead of three, but I'm happy with how it turned out.

I put potting soil in the bottom of the large pot, and a couple soda cans in the center to elevate the base of the second pot.

I crushed a few other cans and placed them around the parameter to help with drainage and then filled the rest with dirt before placing the red (smaller) pot on top.
{No pictures of this step.}

Voila!  The finished product.

Do you have dirt under your nails this spring?

 

Fixin' to Feast

On one particular Sunday afternoon we were blessed with one of those days when you just can’t stay indoors because it’s so positively gorgeous out.  We decided to grill burgers, picked up some corn on the cob and some other picnic fixings.  I made some strawberry lemonade and we were heating up the grill, preparing it for our feast. 

I went out to put the corn on, and there were flames coming out from the front base of the grill, jumping up nearly to the lid handle.  Now I’m no grill expert, but I was pretty sure that wasn’t a great sign.  Mike came out to take a look and sure enough, the propane line had malfunctioned, the flames had melted all the front knobs, and our whole grill was a goner. 

{But, I am SO thankful we caught it early enough that the propane tank didn’t explode and blow up the house. 
Yeah, that’s wouldn’t have been so good.}

So we fired up our itty-bitty mini-grill and tried again.  Success!

And for the record, let me just tell you that corn was heavenly.  The flavor was wonderful and it was so tender and juicy.  For 19 cents an ear, I should have bought more than two…  Forget the chips & dip – I wanted more corn!

Mike made burgers to tempt any palate, perfectly seasoned, topped with bacon and fresh mozzarella.  Yummm.

Let me tell ya people, this was some seriously-good picnic food!

Have y'all started picnicking yet?

PS - fun summer giveaway at Mrs Southern Bride!!!

Um, Hello?

Hello?

Anybody still around?

I can’t believe how long it’s been since I’ve blogged.

Life gets so busy and my personal computer-time takes a back seat. 

But yes, I am alive & well, although a bit absent from the cyber-world.

How are my lovely bloggy friends? 

I do believe beautiful weather has finally arrived in pokey ‘ol Michigan.  Let me tell ya, it sure did take its sweet time.  I must admit though, I did flip my space heater on at work today, just for a few minutes to take the chill off a bit.  Space heater.  On June 3^rd.  Wrong, I tell you. 

May raced by at lighting-speed and I can't believe it's already June.  The year is half over already.  Seriously?  Wow.

One of my brothers graduated from high school in May, and I also had the privilege of taking his senior pictures.  We found some great locations to use as backgrounds, and everybody was really happy with how they turned out.

My dearly beloved had a birthday in May, and that's always a doubly-special day for us to celebrate. 

 #1) because It's HIS BIRTHDAY

and #2) it was the day were got engaged!

We spent one Saturday hanging out in Grand Rapids, and enjoyed the "Bodies Revealed" exhibit at the museum.  I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as I did the "Princess Diana" exhibit {grin} but it was fascinating regardless.  The intricacies of the human body never cease to bring me total amazement at how awesome our Creator God truly is. 

More updates and project reveals coming soon!

What have YOU been up to lately?