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Faith talk Friday

Advent Jesse Tree ornament exchange + DIY

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The Advent season starts today, Friday, December 1st and this year we have ornaments for our Jesse tree!

If you haven’t  heard of the Advent Jesse Tree, it is a devotional book you and your family can read together each day during the Advent calendar. We started this tradition last year with our girls and they loved it!

When a good friend of mine invited me to her Jesse Tree ornament exchange party, I was so excited! She also hosts the best parties and her home is gorgeous too!

There are 25 days in the Advent calendar and each day tells a special story leading up to Jesus’s birth. We all love this part because every day we snuggle up and read the daily devotion, pray together as a family and celebrate our Savior’s birthday. And this year we have all 25 ornaments to go along with each day, yay!

For the exchange, each person got to pick a day. I went big and chose Day 25, Jesus in a manger! Actually, I don’t know about you but when it comes to crafts, I like to choose materials I already have. So, baby Jesus it was!

Upon arrival we each had a spot to arrange our 25 ornaments. There was something like 50 ladies at the party so we had two rounds. Basically, we doubled the exchange and it was fabulous! After admiring everyone’s handy work and talent, we got to go around and collect our ornaments to take home. Just take a look, aren’t these so beautiful?

I had so much fun making these and they were so simple to make too. Hopefully, the step-by-step pictures I took myself are helpful, lol!

 

Jesus in a manger, Day-25 DIY

Estimated time to make: Roughly an 11/2hrs.

Materials you will need:

  • Hot glue gun
  • Scissors
  • Pen
  • Sharpie
  • Felt
  • Polyfill
  • Twine or string
  • Wooden doll heads
  • Ornament Hooks

Step 1: Mark about 2” X 2” squares on you’re felt, I eyeballed the measurement. Make 25.

Step 2: Cut out your squares.

Step 3: Start making your swaddles! I added less than a cotton ball size onto each square, then swaddled and glued together. Make all 25 like this.

Step 4: Make little faces on your doll heads, use a black Sharpie to make faces.

Step 5: Glue doll heads in place like shown and add another dot of glue to the back of the head to secure.

Step 6: Wrap each one with twine, found mine at Dollar Tree!

Step 7: Glue an ornament hook to the back of each one and voila, you’re done!

What do you think?

 

xx, Nicole

 

 

 

 

 

Summer reading list

Leave a Comment Faith talk Friday, LIFE

I kinda think it’s funny I am writing a post about my summer reading list because I am not the most avid reader!

However, my two oldest daughters are in school now and they are required to read over the summer so, I thought I better get to it myself, lol!

Do you have a summer reading list?

Well, if not, and if you are a bit curious perhaps? Here are a few of my favorite books this summer.

SUMMER READING LIST

This first book is one I am reading in my women’s bible study and I’m loving it! I’m loving it because one, it’s about women and two, it’s about some of the most amazing, epic, women in the Bible! The author, John MacArthur does such a great job explaining their background and their character too.

The second book I am reading (yes, I am reading two books at the same time, lol!) I was actually gifted this book by a dear friend of mine. I wish I could say I love this book too, but it is a lot harder to read. The reason being, it really speaks to that part of me that just doesn’t want to hear it! Even the title is intimidating and I’m not talking about the part about Satan, rather the “bait” part! Even though this book is a hard read for me, I know it is working on those areas of my heart that have been hardened for various reasons. Most of all, this book is helping with my areas of unforgiveness. After all, I am all about gaining more peace in my life and letting go of unforgiveness is a must!

Then last, but not least on my summer reading list is a book I have yet to open.

We are headed to Family Camp with our church next week so I’m hoping I can read this on the beach in California. I mentioned receiving this book from our church just before Holland was dedicated to the Lord and I have heard all good things about it!

The title says it all for me and I am all about receiving more grace from the good Lord so that I can pass that on to my husband, my children and to others.

If I can finish my goal to read all three of these books this summer, I plan on also reading, Present of perfect too!

Happy summer loves and let me know if you have a summer reading list. I would love to hear about it!

xx, Nicole

All good things come to those who wait

6 Comments Faith talk Friday, Motherhood, STYLE

Waiting is hard isn’t it?

All good things come to those who wait sounds so much easier than it really is right? However, it has been a good reminder for me as we have all been anxiously waiting for baby #3 to make her debut! My life verse has always been Philippians 4:6-7, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” –NASB

My hubby, Kevin and I were really hoping our sweet Holland Joy was going to be here shortly after Christmas when I started having painful contractions. But here I am still very pregnant at 39 weeks! My first two pregnancies were so different than what I have been experiencing lately. I have never had days of painful contractions leading up to the birth of my babies.

Waiting, being patient is not easy especially when you are in pain. Over the last few days I have wrestled with feelings of discouragement, doubt and even fear. I even had a mini melt down this week that left me in tears. My amazing husband has been so positive and so tender reminding me each day that passes, “babe she will come.”

Kevin is right despite my feelings and God has also sweetly reminded me all in his timing like the saying, “all good things come to those who wait.” His word always says it best and I found a few verses that are so encouraging to me.

James 1:4-5 says, “And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” -NASB He also has reminded me that He will never leave me or forsake me. He reminds us of this throughout scripture both in the Old and New testament. He mentions this in Joshua 1:5, Hebrews 13:5 and two times in Deuteronomy 13:5 and 31:8. 

Dress c/o: Pink Plush

Holland will be born any day now and even though I have never made it past 37+ weeks pregnant, it may be God’s perfect will for her to actually be born on her due date! We are so blessed and so excited and I can’t wait to announce the birth of our third baby girl!

 

 

The Advent season with The Advent Jesse Tree

9 Comments Faith talk Friday

Did you know, “the word Advent means, “coming” and refers to the coming of Jesus”?

-The Advent Jesse Tree

The Advent season is upon us and we are having so much fun reading the Advent Jesse Tree. Each night since December 1st we have read a page as a family. We were gifted this book by my hubby’s aunt a few years ago and we were so excited to finally share with our girls this year. Clara and Luci are both at a good age to sit through a short Bible story along with scriptures and a prayer and it has created such sweet family time.The Advent Jesse tree

So you might be wondering what is the Advent Jesse Tree?

Well, The Advent Jesse Tree seeks to tell the story of God’s redemptive plan for the world through 25 symbols from the Old and New Testament. Each symbol expresses and represents the heritage of Jesus Christ from the beginning of creation.

–The Advent Jesse Tree

The symbols are really cool and the book breaks it down for you to build a beautiful visual to go along with the daily reading. However, this year we are truly trying to make Christmas simple and sweet and have opted to only read through the devotions. If you want to create a tree to go with, hence the word “tree” in The Advent Jesse Tree I would suggest planning in advance.

The 25 symbols or ornaments look like this for example:

  1. a globe or picture of the earth
  2. an apple and a snake wrapped around it
  3. an ark with a rainbow
  4. a camel and a tent
  5. a lamb
  6. a ladder
  7. a colorful coat
  8. a tablet with 10 numbers
  9. a cluster of grapes
  10. a sheaf of wheat
  11. a slingshot
  12. a scroll or bible
  13. a stump with a fresh shoot or green leaf
  14. a lion and a lamb
  15. a dove and a crown
  16. a lamb and a shepherd’s staff
  17. a cross
  18. a heart with writing on it
  19. a Bethlehem town silhouette with star
  20. a fiery furnace
  21. a brick wall
  22. a star
  23. a candle
  24. an angel
  25. a baby in a manger or a nativity scene

Here is our sweet and simple Christmas tree this year! My hubby and I went back and forth for quite awhile…Do we set up our 11-year-old Christmas tree complete with all our family ornaments or do we buy something small? I am so glad we opted for this darling Norfolk pine. We have already nicknamed it our Hawaiian beauty!The Advent Jesse tree

As many of you already know we are expecting our third baby girl January 6th and truly want to make the most of this glorious holiday, but also want to keep it simple and sweet for all of us to enjoy.

How are you celebrating the Advent season and the coming of Jesus?

 

xo, Nicole

Simple ways to memorize scripture

8 Comments Faith talk Friday

Do you enjoy reading scripture? 

How about memorizing it?

I use to make up excuses for why I couldn’t memorize, but mostly it was because I didn’t try! This year marks the second year of being in an inductive women’s bible study. And part of our study requires memorizing scripture. Well, last year I think I attempted to memorize like maybe three verses! So this year I was motivated to give it a much better attempt. Even though I only memorized a few last year it felt really good and I am motivated now to keep going.

Sitting in church over the years I have heard many sermons about how important it is to be in God’s Word daily. The reason being, we so easily forget the spoken word and even the written word. We are currently studying in the book of James and I love this reminder in verse 1:23-24. “For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in the mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.” So true isn’t it? We forget so quickly don’t we?

Some of my methods are not super out of the box, but they are simple and have helped me be successful in memorizing scripture so much better.

  1. Writing on my bathroom mirror with a sharpie! Yep it’s not super pretty, but so effective because as I am getting ready in the morning or washing my hands throughout the day I can glance up at it. Plus don’t be afraid to write on your mirror because it wipes off easily with a rag and rubbing alcohol!
  2. I adapted this second one, the concept came from a friend of mine from bible study. She made up all our verses for the year on these handy typed up cards and I find they are super helpful to stick in my car cup and read when I am in line picking up my daughters from school.
  3. Lastly just a tried and true way to memorize… I say the verse out loud several times in a row until I have it memorized.

memorize scripture

memorize scripture

Blogging has connected me with so many other Christian mamas’ and I have asked two other ladies to share how they like to memorize.

Patricia from lifeofaministermom blog says,

“When it comes to memorizing scripture, for me repetition is definitely key. I need to look at it multiple times to really soak it in and pray as I do so in order for it to remain in my mind. I used to be much better at writing verses down as notes and reminders, but I honestly haven’t done that in a while.

I like highlighting scripture in my phone and referring to it throughout the day. I recall reading a blog suggesting leaving your Bible open to a passage you are working on learning in a central location, like the kitchen table, so every time you pass by that spot you take a look.  I incorporate this and I also read verses out loud with my daughters. My four-year-old will come home with scripture cards from church and we read those nightly. It helps the both of us, and I’d like to believe her 2 year old sister is soaking in the Word as well!”

You can connect with Patricia on her Blog/Instagram/Facebook/Email

Kalie over at somysoullongs blog says,

“For me, memorizing scripture is something I enjoy doing. I am able to remember certain verses when I am out and about, yet still in need of a reference, to remind myself or to teach. I like to use the method of writing the first letter of each word in the scripture on my hand in fine-tip Sharpie. This really works! It’s crazy that our mind can remember words with just the first letter!

Another way I like to remember scripture is by lettering the scripture out. This takes time and helps me meditate on the verse(s). Then with certain scripture, after lettering it out, I washi-tape it to the wall beside my bed so I see it at night and when I wake up.

I hope these methods help you as much as they have encouraged and helped me! Go out there and spread His Word!”

memorize scripture

memorize scripture

You can connect with Kalie on her Blog/Instagram/Facebook/Email

 

I hope this has encouraged you that you can do this too! So helpful to be reminded of a verse when you or someone else is in need!

 

xo, Nicole

 

 

 

 

End of a 30-day challenge, turned life long commitment

4 Comments Faith talk Friday

Have you ever given yourself a challenge?

Wow I can’t believe how fast the last 30 days flew by! I’m pretty sure I said that last month too. Hi, welcome to Faith talk Friday and if you are new here, I do my very best to set aside two Fridays a month usually at the beginning and the end of each month to talk about my faith. I love to feature other sister’s in Christ here too.

So at the beginning of the month I put into place this challenge for myself to remove the chaos and replace it with the right priorities. I was feeling so overwhelmed by all my to do lists and school starting and being pregnant, yikes my head is spinning again just thinking about it!

To review, this is the 30-day challenge I gave myself over the course of the month.

30-day challenge

#1  Spending time with God first thing even if it is just 5 mins each day

#2  Getting back to schedules, cleaning, gym, work and blogging

#3  Making lists to tackle projects

#4  When I slip up because I will to start right back at the top again!

“nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:39

You guys this helped me so much and no I definitely didn’t meet the mark everyday. I had plenty of days that just didn’t work out, but it was so awesome to always have this on my mind. Giving myself grace is usually an area I fail in, but again reflecting on this challenge knowing I have a goal each day felt really good even on the crazy days. 

The 30 days are up and I feel so good about the changes it has made in my life, but I’m not going to stop here. These 30 days showed me I want to make this a challenge for life. When I begin my day and make this my first priority this is what gives me peace. I have realized this is what cuts the chaos. If I do this one thing, the rest often works out the way it is suppose to. Will you join in me making God #1 each day? I guarantee it will change your life too.The 30 day challenge

 

xo, Nicole

 

 

Calming the chaos + a 30 day challenge

20 Comments Faith talk Friday

Lately life, my life has been chaotic! This month is blowing by like a tornado and if I don’t make a change soon it’s going to swallow me whole.Tornado -calming the chaosphoto: pinterest

Both of my girls will be in school starting this week and all I can think about is my never ending to-do lists. SO MANY LISTS like the laundry room we so badly need to convert so that I can empty out our office. The office needs to be emptied out so we can transform it back into a nursery for Holland. Sometimes I think if Kevin and I were hardcore do-it yourselfers than we could have this knocked out in a weekend or two. Well the reality is we are hardcore, but not that hardcore!

Honestly though this really isn’t half of the chaos I am feeling. Over the summer I have fallen away from all order and balance in my life. This also includes my devotional time with God like big time. When this lacks, life starts to get chaotic for me really fast.

Now I am reevaluating my time and where I spend it. Most of the time I am spending all my time in one area and this just creates more chaos for me. Being a mother is something I cherish, however I have been spending all my time here.

I like to think about my roles like a pie chart, I know total nerd, but it helps me to see if I am living a balanced life and I find this really helps. Well my pie has been looking like ALL “mom life” and not much of anything else.

I know I create the chaos and I know this is not what God wants for me. I am really looking forward to calming the chaos in my life and making better use of my time. I don’t have a gimmick for you, but I do believe it can take up to 30 days to break a bad habit. So below I am sharing with you my 30 day challenge getting back to balancing out my pie! If you are struggling I hope this helps you too.

 30 day challenge

#1  Spending time with God first thing even if it is just 5 mins each day

#2  Getting back to schedules, cleaning, gym, work and blogging

#3  Making lists to tackle projects

#4  When I slip up because I will to start right back at the top again!

“nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:39

 

xo, Nicole

 

 

 

 

 

What would you do for free?

8 Comments Faith talk Friday

What would you say if God placed something on your heart, but you had to do it for free? There are not many free things in life are there? Most things have strings attached or in order to gain the free thing you must first pay for something else right?

Well this is why I started Faith talk Friday because I can freely talk about God and his gifts. As Christians we are suppose to be sharing the gospel and the free gift of Jesus regularly. I have mentioned God in conversations, however I love the platform blogging has given me.

If you are new to Faith talk Friday and just tuning in. I post about my faith or sometimes a featured guest post the first and last Fridays of each month. For more information you can check out this post here or click on the Faith talk Friday tab to read more.

Have you thought about what you would do for free? I really believe with all my heart it should be what makes you happy. I didn’t get into this writing gig because I am a great writer. Actually I am really insecure about my grammar and I often get frustrated in the process! I stick with it though because I love to talk about God. Plus guess what God is greater than perfect grammar, thank you Jesus!

If you haven’t thought about this before maybe consider writing and sharing your thoughts, you never know where it could lead you. I would love to hear from you about this or what you would do for free. Please leave me a comment below or shoot me an email. Also if you are interested in guest posting please send me an email too.

 

xo, Nicole

 

Lay down your desires

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Do you find it easy to talk to God about your desires? I have a really hard time with this. I often think that my desires are not important. Even if there is an ounce of truth to this when there probably isn’t, God loves to hear about the things on our heart.

Lately, this whole thing has got me in a tailspin! I don’t know if it is because I am pregnant or what? So my faith has been suffering a bit because of it. I am suffering because I am not seeking Him about the things on my heart and regularly telling Him my desires. 

If I look back on the times I talk to God and specifically pray for something, I always feel at peace. The answered prayer may take time, but it is all about the peace you gain in the process. The thoughts that spin around in my head no longer have the power to trouble my heart.

Some of the desires that keep swirling in my head lately are for another healthy, beautiful baby. Anything I put my mind to I really want to excel at. Also, I still wonder what God totally has for me as a blogger. I am hoping to finally give all these things over to Him so I can rest and relax in His amazing peace.

One of my favorite life verses…

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” Philippians 4:6 

 And…

“So I say to you, ask and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” Luke 11:9 

 “But seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you.” Luke 12:31 

 Do you use a bible app? I really like this one.

 

xo, Nicole

 

the lonely hearts club

8 Comments Faith talk Friday, Motherhood

Maybe you have heard of the mom club or finding your tribe, but have you heard of the lonely hearts club? I have learned so much in the last 6 years of being a mom and I love the community of women God has placed in my life. However I can’t always say that I have felt this way.

When I became a mom heck even before I became a mom I had this wonderful idea that I would just naturally meet other mom’s and live in this harmonious mom life with other women. I dreamt of the moms club, you know the special group of women you could lean on, laugh with and probably more than anything cry with about all the new mom things like, why is it so hard to pump breast milk and why doesn’t my child want to nap?

I so desired a group of other mom’s to talk to, raise our children together and to encourage and lift each other up when it was needed. I never imagined the position that I had found myself in as a new mom and honestly it was lonely. I felt like I was in a club of one all by myself, the lonely hearts club.

I imagined, desired even that the women I was closest to, the women I went to church with would be my mom club. Most of us were even in the same season of motherhood as all of our children were about the same age and got along great. However we were not all in the same season of life. Most of them worked outside the home or didn’t have the same desire to spend time together. You may even wonder if I ever spoke up to any of these friends and the answer is, yes I did. Sadly though my heart was still lonely and nothing really changed after that.

So years went by like this, my heart hurt almost everyday and I often cried out to God about it. Why God, why is this so hard? Change me it must be me? God I know you can fill any void please fill this void in my life. I think one of the best things I did during this frustrating, painful time was going to a counselor. My husband is my best friend and usually my sounding board for many things, but this particular pain in my life was proving quickly to be harmful to our marriage. I didn’t realize it right away, but counseling was the right move and a huge help during this lonely time in my life.

Counseling has always taught me many things and I have been able to heal so much from my past. I am a big believer in healing your past because I don’t believe one can really move forward otherwise. In my experience sweeping things under the rug or pretending something didn’t happen does not work and it will always come back in some way to affect you. I am also a big believer in allowing God into these areas, these dark places of our lives. I do the work and He brings the healing. Thank you Jesus!

If I can fast forward a bit now and tell you well what has changed and what is different about me now? I would say, having someone to talk to and having a safe place to cry at times was a huge lifesaver. I learned a lot more about myself and even a few other areas where this was affecting me too. However she didn’t have the answer, the key to this mom club I was looking for. She instead posed a few questions on me like maybe you need to broaden your scope a bit, meaning I didn’t realize it, but I was sort of looking for my exact same situation in someone else! Wow I totally was because I thought this was the best way to relate to another mom. So between good counsel and continuing to wait on God I have found a lot more peace and I have noticed little by little this does not hurt me as much as it did when I first became a mom.

I know this may sound cheesy, but I started to let go and let God because it was truly the only way out. God never really gave me completely what I wanted, but He did give me a heart for other women and for other moms. This is why I am sharing this with you because my hope is that if you are feeling like a member of the lonely hearts club and felt like this as a first time mother, you are not alone. You are never alone! God knows what hurts our hearts and He cares for our desires. There may not always be an answer or a solution, but I do believe He gets us through if we let Him. I also want to open this up if you are a hurting mom and need prayer. Please don’t hesitate to message me. You can find my email here.the lonely hearts club

“Would not God find this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart.” –Psalms 44:21 NASB

“Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me.” –John 14:1 NASB

“in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things.” -1 John 3:20 NASB

“May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ.” –2 Thessalonians 3:5 NASB

 

The lonely hearts club