Simple, Yet Satisfying...

 Welcome to our church on Sunday mornings (above) :) We meet next door at our friends' house (The Mortons) and we watch downloaded sermons from ChurchOnline.tv. The live service is wonderful, but for a couple reasons it is more reliable for us to download the sermons and music in advance and watch it. You know, when we first were 'attending' church in our house and watching it online we loved it but also felt a bit convicted that we weren't really fellowshipping and reaching out like God calls us to. Since then our little group has grown though. It isn't just me and Dallas. We now have about 12 people that regularly come and visitors regularly too. We have started a bible study with most of the folks in the church on Wednesday nights that meets at our house. We are so blessed to be a part of this group. I wanted a photo to capture this stage of our 'church' if that's where we end up going with this. Right now we are all just really excited about the growth and the work God has called us to on this little island. 

 More work that has taken off (slowly but surely) has been the woodworking. Right now I'm calling my work Perfect Imperfections. I don't know that it will amount to much of anything, but I have had a lot of people calling for information about custom made pieces, so you never know. This nightstand above was my first official piece to a customer. 

 It's a tricky thing because I want to do extra work to support our family if I can, but I also want to be available to my family and house and our main business when those areas have needs. I pray that the woodworking thing will allow me to enjoy my new-found hobby at someone else's expense and that I can also meet a need here on the island and in our bank account :)  These photos here are a few of our new couch  made from scratch! It is ten times more comfy from our old one that belongs to our landlord, but it will still be nice to pick out one a few more years down the road that will be our really nice couch. The storage is awesome though! 

 It has many flaws and imperfections, but again, they are mine and that adds to the charm of it :) My sewing has a lot of room for improvement too...I'm hoping the accent pillows I plan to do soon don't torture me too much! There's just so many things in life I want to do well but there never seems to be the time to really dedicate to all of them. Guess that's when I have to be diligent and listen to the Lord for what areas really matter to him. 

Yes, we have a Super Joss & Super Emit sighting...again :) I'm trying to do mostly homemade Christmas gifts for the boys this year and these are part of that...but I'll share that with you later if I can pull it off :) 

 Meanwhile I'm trying to get them to play with me at times and every now and then they are in the moods to cooperate! 

 Emit's showing me how to fly in this one :) 

 My big boy Joss! He's growing so fast and so stinking smart. He can be a bit of a challenge at times (as most of us can be), but lately he's been telling me a lot: "Mommy, I like it when you do whatever I want to do all the time, but not when you don't listen to me!" The fact that he can somewhat understand that it feels good when someone listens to us is a good stepping stone, I hope :) I try to tell him that I like to do what he wants to do too and that it makes me feel good when I can make him happy, but that he has to listen to me sometimes too and do what I want him to do. 

 The hardest thing these days is the whining and fighting. Emit is a very dramatic little dude. I'm pretty sure I've said that on here recently. He's going to be a guy that puts his heart and soul into everything he does probably. For now, keeping him happy and not whiny is tough. But when he's happy... it's all good :)  

They are pretending to be puppies again in these shots :) Emit has started bringing me remotes and food and shoes now as a puppy too. Before it was just one of the little balls they like to play with. Like I said, putting everything he has into his role!

 My biggest struggle with everything these days is {I NEED GO PEE PEE} organization. I have to find a way to {I GOT A POOPY ON} get on top of all my various roles, projects, menus, activities, budgets, etc. {I NEED JUICE} That is not an area that I'm particularly good at. {EMIT POOPED IN THE FLOOR} At least, I may have good 'plans' to get organized {JOSS IS FRANTICALLY CHASING EMIT DOWN TO RETRIEVE A TOY} but I don't really know where to get started or how to stay {I HUNGRY MOMMY} there. I've got all kinds of {DON'T BE RUDE}websites flagged and pinned and ready to go when I want to finally take the {TOYS AND JUICE CUPS FLYING ACROSS THE HOUSE} challenge, it is just very overwhelming to think about all the work that needs to get done and something I really don't feel like I have a lot of {YELLING, SCREAMING, CRYING--SOME OF THE BOYS, SOME FROM ME} time to dedicate to it (added to the list of all the rest).  

I just thought it might be fun to see how I feel like my train of thought at any given moment gets thrown off course... hence, the {BRACKET PHRASES}. I love my little 'interruptions' and just need to train my brain to be stronger and use more of itself. 

Back to the grind :)