Keep My Eyes Above the Waves

 Quick Update:
Yesterday we got some good news after I had an HSG test done (if you must know details, check out what this test is here). They found nothing abnormal - and for that we praise Him! We continue to wait for results from Richard's SA test and my appointment in October to determine our next step.

I woke up this morning craving the comfort of my god. This little infertility journey we're on is an emotional one and I constantly find myself needing stability when so many things around us are whirling and not in one piece. I was reminded of a song we sing at church and cried out in worship to Him.

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders

Let me walk upon the waters

Wherever you would call me

Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander

And my faith will be made stronger

In the presence of my Savior

I will call upon your name

Keep my eyes above the waves

When oceans rise

My soul will rest in your embrace

I am Yours and You are mine

We are not promised an easy life, even as Christians. In fact, we are told it will be hard. The thing is, He is always there with us to bring comfort and strength. Instead of being upset and angry, I run to him to find rest; to find comfort while we wait in the unknown. My heart cry is that I will learn to trust Him without limits, meaning, wherever He guides me - in goodness and in trials - I will trust in Him and in His plan FULLY. I have to stop putting limits on God. I have to stop trusting him just a little bit and give Him all my trust. It's hard, people, but it's so incredibly humbling and completely worth it! My faith is being made stronger because of this; because of this journey; because of His love for us and for that I am so incredibly grateful.

I am His and He is mine in ALL things.

Project: Cheap Pantry Organization!

Let me start by saying how much I hate loathe our kitchen. It's small, the countertops are awful, the fridge spot is too small for a normal size fridge, and the pantry...oh the pantry! Because of the location and size of the refrigerator space we have no door on our pantry. With the addition of a toddler in the past two years, we've set up a baby gate to keep him out of there - oh so classy and chic, I know. Knowing the things I dislike about our kitchen I have had to remind myself of the lovely things about it. The cabinets are in decent shape, there are windows all around so it's easy to watch J play outside without actually having to be outside with him 100% of the time *gasp*, and I love that it's open and flows into the dining and living room areas.

I really enjoy entertaining. We don't do it nearly as often as we would like, but it holds a special place in my heart nonetheless. I don't, however, like that everyone who comes over can see right into our messy, unkempt pantry. There's no junk drawer or closet to throw it into when guests arrive. It's always out in the open, nowhere to hide. Over the past few months I had grown pretty tired of the way it was{not}taken care of. I started pinning organization ideas on Pinterest and finding ways to do it on the cheap. So, today I share with you the how and what I used to tackle this project!

Take a look at the hideous before picture:

Even the lighting is bad. Ugh. I had a plan for where I wanted things to go, so my first step was to take everything out. Y'all, my kitchen was FILLED with this junk as I cleaned off the shelves and swept up the floor. Next, I started grouping items - bread, snacks, J's inside/outside toys (crayons, chalk, bubbles, etc), baking goods, and spices/seasonings. I also gathered up my cookbooks and organized them for the pantry - they had been sitting on the kitchen counter taking up space and collecting dust. Once I had cleaned everything out I started with the large appliances, which I put on the bottom shelf - no appliances on the floor! Yay! I placed my grouped items in plastic containers and baskets. All my cookbooks went into 3 separate magazine holders and all the plastic wrap, tin foil, wax paper, and ziploc bags went into another 3 separate magazine holders. On the top shelf I organized all my glass jars, vases, and serving platters/dishes and I was DONE!

What I bought:

• 4 medium rectangular plastic containers - I found mine at Target for $5 each
• 3 small rectangular plastic baskets - Target $1 bins
• 6 cardboard magazine holders - again, Target $1 bins *cha-ching!* I love Target :)
• 2 - 12 inch round turntables for two of the shelves corners - Bed, Bath & Beyond $7.99 each, but I had a 20% coupon for one of them

The final result:

 Even the lighting is better! It's nothing too drastic, but it's enough change that I love it and it's so much more functional!

What other ways do you organize pantry items?

Roll with It

This week has already started off very different than I had planned. And that's ok. I have been toying with the idea for awhile of taking a break from Facebook and Sunday evening I decided that, come Monday morning, I would follow through with that idea. So far, so good. I like social media (for me just Facebook, Instagram, and this blog), but there are times when it just gets to be too much. Everyone's little moments can be viewed at a click of a button or app on your phone instantly. It was getting to be overwhelming for my heart and for my level of confidence and self-esteem. See, it's easy to compare yourself to the things you see posted, which for me can cause struggles with my insecurities. I'm in a place right now that I needed to remove that temptation. I needed to free myself and my time to focus on the things that truly matter. So here I am, day 2 and going strong! I've decided to share any moments and/or events on my blog because to be honest, it helps keep our families in the loop (Facebook is a GREAT resource for our far away families). Plus I like writing and have failed to keep this little blog up and running for quite some time.

Monday marked the day of a new month - hello, September! Happy belated Labor Day as well! It was also a day I had planned to start my "2 year old homeschool preschool" with Josiah. Sadly, I've postponed it to next week and here are the reasons why: 1) slight car issues 2) serious tooth pain that has left me feeling absolutely miserable and so so tired! Sunday we got new tires on the car knowing there was a broken stud that needed to be fixed. Mechanics were closed Monday (duh), so today we've had to take the car in to be worked on. Nothing too horrific, just a little wrench in our original plans, but we're rolling with it. Several weeks ago I went in to get some fillings done at the dentist. Toward the middle of last week one of the fillings (and surrounding area) started hurting. The pain quickly became unbearable over the weekend and my home remedies weren't helping at all! I've not slept very well that past few nights and all the tylenol I've been taking to help ease the pain (which hasn't done much) have left me feeling pretty icky. Called the dentist this morning, shared my painful story, and was informed the earliest I could be seen would be tomorrow morning. The NEXT DAY?! The. Next. Day. I literally started crying on the phone, both from the pain I was feeling in my mouth and the pain I was feeling in my heart for having to deal with this awfulness for one whole day more. Definitely praying it gets fixed tomorrow and does not need a second appointment to make it better. Have I mentioned it's been awful? Sigh.

Needless to say, Josiah has been stuck playing in the house and backyard when I had planned to get out and do some fun activities with him at home. Next week, people. Next week. We've watched a lot of Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood in the past two days...

He rarely sits still, but he will for Daniel Tiger.

There are many ways to watch his favorite show {don't let the undies fool you, he still refuses to go on the potty and is not potty trained}

Seriously loves this show

Next week I hope to share some of our "mini lessons" and outings from our first week of my version of homeschool for a 2 year old. He has very little attention span, so this should be interesting. Also, I'll be working on more projects using my new Silhouette Cameo that I can't wait to share!