Weary. . .

Tired. Weary. Exhausted.

Call it what you want. That is what I am most of the time.

I work three 12 hour night shifts a week. I have two kids. I homeschool those two kids. I have a house to clean and laundry to do and grocery shopping needs to be done. . .

blah, blah, blah. . .blah-dy, blah. . .

We all have our list.

We are all tired.

We are all weary.

We are all exhausted.




I was just talking to my husband as he was trying to go bed the other night saying, "If only I wasn't always so tired! If only I could wake up early on my days off to get somethings done! If only. . ."

It was that same night that I was asking for energy that I wasn't able to fall asleep and ended up getting out of bed to clean the kitchen. . .hmmmm. . .was that an answer to my prayer?

In the way that I tackled "worthless" yesterday, I was excited to delve into "weary" this morning. . .after I fixed coffee and breakfast and collected eggs and. . .

My time this morning in The Word went in an unexpected direction. . .



Jeremiah 31: 25-26

"I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint." At this I awoke and looked around.
My sleep had been pleasant to me.



What a beautiful picture! I want this! I can just imagine slowly opening my eyes, stretching my arms, looking at the day ahead with renewed energy and a pleasant attitude! Sigh. . .this is my goal. How in the world do I get there when I am here
(rubbing sleep out of my eyes and on my second cup of coffee).



Isaiah 40:28-31

Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not grow faint.

Matthew 11:28

Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.



Ok. So this strength and power comes from God, right? I just need to go to Him each day for my rest and then take His yoke upon me and learn from Him. . . scritch (the sound of a record scratching). . .

His Yoke

Wait just a minute!!! The promise comes when I have His yoke upon me? He promises that is is easy and the burden is light? He promises that in His yoke I will find rest for my soul?

What is "His yoke?" Certainly not facebook, pinterest, candy crush, solitare, reading books. . .insert whatever time waster you want. I complain about not having enough hours in the day, but yet I waste so many of them doing things that don't matter. I use this excuse ALL the time, "I am so tired. I deserve to put my feet up for a minute hour, drink another cup of coffee and check my facebook."

What would happen if I woke up in the morning and asked for strength for the day to do what matters?


My marriage matters. I am called to be a loving wife.

My children matter. I am called to be a good mother to them.

Their education matters. I am called to be a teacher to them.

My home matters. I am called to be a good stweart of what God has given me.


God has promised to give me the strength and energy to tackle those things that He has called me to. . .and to be honest, those are the only things that bring me lasting joy. . .I don't know about you, but this is starting to hurt a bit.


Galatians 6:9

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Hebrews 12:3

Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Proverbs 30:1

I am weary, God, but I can prevail.



I loooove that last one! I can prevail!!!! We need to keep going after what is good and to not give up.

So, my prayer to day is that I focus on what is important. I ask for the energy to complete the tasks set before me each day. Show me what things are of You and what things are merely a waste of my time. Show me how to approach each day encouraged that You are with me through it all. Allow my sleep to be pleasant to me and help me to wake up refreshed.


I might still be tired in the morning after working a night shift and being up for 24 hours, but I am confident be cause of His promises that I can cross out weary and will approach this day

Refreshed.

Pile of Lies. . .

O.K. So, I haven't published on my blog in quite some time. . .life. . .enough said, right?

Most often I post fun and "fluffy" things things like recipes, 

craft projects, puppies, smiling children, etc.

Today, though I am sharing my heart, my struggles, my humanity. . .

I lay awake last night unable to sleep, which is not my norm!!! 

I usually fall asleep in 30 seconds flat. 

I ended up getting up out of bed and going in to clean the kitchen, which is also not my norm!!! 

I usually follow the mantra of, "it can wait til morning."

While I was rustling around the house the thoughts that plagued my sleep cycle kept running through my mind. . . worthless, weary, wallflower, ineffective, incompetent, incomplete, selfish, self-doubt, self-condemned. . .

As I was thinking these thoughts, I felt like I should just write them down. I wrote them all down on a piece of paper to get them out of my head and decided to tackle them in the morning. As I was looking at my list I felt a voice inside me say, "Look to my Word. There you will find your answers. The words on this paper are lies." 

Here is my pile of lies in all it's pathetic glory.

This morning I grabbed my Bible and a journal and started in on the first word on my list.

Romans 3:12

All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.

Romans 4:14

For if those who depend on the law are heirs, faith means nothing and the promise is worthless. . .

Romans 4:16

For, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed. . .

When I try to do it on my own I am trying to "work" it out under the law (to follow all the rules, to be good enough). I need to remind myself each day to stand under Grace and bask in the knowledge that God as chosen me to be His daughter.

As I looked up verses and wrote my prayer down a word jumped out from my page. . .Chosen. . .I have been chosen by God. God would not chose something that is worthless any more so than I would bring home a rotten apple from the store. He has deemed me worthy!!!! I am chosen. I need do nothing more than to have faith in Him and believe that He has poured out His grace and deemed me worthy. If I am trying to prove myself, then it makes His promises to me worthless.

So, for today I will cross out worthless and exchange that lie for truth.

Chosen.

Rag Rug Tutorial

So, I got put on call from work the other night and I decided to do something fun, rather than do what I normally do and try and get caught up on "stuff" around the house. . .

or . . .er. . .waste time on the computer. . .

Who does that?

Certainly never moi!

Anyway, I have had this project rattling around in my brain for a while and I decide to hit the fabric closet to see if I could find enough scraps to get my plan into action.

I found several different colors of leftover fabric from quilts and an old white bed sheet. . .

Perfect!

I cut the fabric into 2 inch strips and then got out the largest crochet hook I could find. 

I started with a chain about 2 feet long and then started single crocheting around that chain in a spiral. . .

The pattern I went for was to do a row of white and then a row of colors.

Here are a few action shots. . .

Loop and pull through. . .

When you start turning around the spiral you will need to add some extra stitches to keep the rug from turning into a bowl. . . on some of the rows I ended up doing two stitches in the same whole every other space around the curved part. I just kinda played it by ear to keep the rug flat.

Next to join the colors or when switching to white. Trim off. . .

Cut a slit about 1/2 inch or so. I doesn't have to be perfect.

Repeat with the next color. . .

Fold and snip. . .

Layer the two pieces together with the short tail on top. . .

Thread the long tail through. . .

Pull through. . .

Tighten. . .

And keep on working until the rug is as big as you need, then finish off just like you would with a crochet blanket. . .

This rug is big enough for a door mat.

I am pretty pleased with the way it turned out!
Best of all it came completely from my scrap closet and I was able to complete is in a few evenings while watching tv with the fam. . . I loooove multitasking a project!!!

Table Scraps. . .

So. . . .

I was cleaning up my table in my craft room last night (gasp!)

and I came across several bits and pieces from recent projects.

 I decided to try and come up with some quick cards rather than do what I usually do and put all of the pieces into a drawer or bag and promptly forget they ever existed!

This is the first card I made with leftover piece of cardstock (I didn't even cut it),  the center from a bracket frame cut on my Cricut, and leftover flower and leaves from another card.

I added the sparkle (Z1754), bakers twine (Z1702) and letters (Z1779).

Love it!

The next card I used another little piece of cardstock, with a leftover flower stamped from  Just For You (B1398) that I didn't end up using on another card, the center jewel was left over from my daughter's BD card.

I added silver shimmer trim (Z1799), ribbon and a stamped sentiment.

Love it! Love it!

Hopefully this will inspire some of you to. . .

1.Clean up your space!!!!

2.And use up those table scraps!!!!

Easter Card

Here is a card I made just in time for Easter. 

Even though it was snowing today I am holding out for Spring to show it's face. . .

Working with these colors brought Spring to my craft room at least!

Supplies List:
B1398   : Just For You Stamp Set
Z2106   : Blush Stamp Pad
Z2173   : Slate Stamp Pad
Z2197   : Pear Stamp Pad
X7163B: Chantilly Paper Pack
X5936   : Juniper Card Stock
Z1814   : Chantilly Assortment
Z1326   : Pink Sparkles
Z1096   : Neutral Embroidery Floss
Z1776   : Pixie Glitter Alphabet
Z1799  : Silver Shimmer Trim

Get your supplies today! Visit my website, buttercup.ctmh.com, to get started!

Layered Flower Birthday Card. . .

It is my daughter's birthday next weekend and I actually remembered to make her a card!

I have no idea why, but I don't think that I have ever made her one. . .
what is that old saying about the cobbler's kids and their lack of shoes?

I made this card using inspiration from page 42 of our new Make It From Your Heart Vol.1.

I cut this flower from Cotton Candy card stock. .
2 - 3 inch
2 -2.75 inch
2 - 2.5 inch
2 - 2.25 inch
2 - 2 inch

I inked them with Cotton Candy Ink, curled the edges with our quilling tool, and glued them together, shifting the petals each time.

I finished it off with a bling button and one of our new Pink Glitter Jems.

I then attached it to my card base that I used:
White Daisy card (5x7)
Whisper card stock (4.75x6.75)
 the pink is from the Chantilly Paper Pack (2x4.75)
 and finally our slate ribbon (looove that ribbon!).

I stamped the sentiment with Slate ink using our Card Chatter - Birthday stamp set.

Hope she likes it!!!

Here are a list of the supplies I used:
Make It From Your Heart 9035
Cricut Art Philosophy Collection Z1686
Chantilly paper pack X7163B
Whisper card stock X5933 (combo pack)
Slate ink Z2173
Cotton Candy ink Z2193
Slate Satin Ribbon Z1802
Pink Glitter Jems Z1807
Black button Assortment Z1821
Quilling Tool Z1795
Card Chatter - Birthday stamp set D1475

Head on over to my website to get your supplies today!

buttercup.ctmh.com

That time of year. . .

Well, folks, it's that time of year again!

I can hardly believe that we are starting of second year on the farm and it is already chick time at Even Meadow!

We went and picked up our new peeps yesterday after our library trip into town.

We went with five more Golden Comets, which will bring our total up to 12.





We still have one Rhode Island Red, but we decided to try out a new breed this year. We now have a total of 18 chickens. Eight "older" ladies and ten new babies.

Introducing one of five Australorps. When these girls grow up they will be all black, beaks, feet and all, with red combs. . . I think we have a black and gold thing going around here!!!

Black dog and Golden retriever, Australorp and Golden Comet, black cat and. . . yikes!!!
We need a yellow cat asap!

I think these little gals look like penguins. . .I shall call them, Happy Feet!

And just to prove that it is not all sunshine and daisies around here
(even though we do have a dog named Daisy). . .

Try not to be jealous of the chick poo on my hand. . .

So, for now, I will leave you one last picture of our huddled masses and a glorious,

"Helloooooo, Spring!!!"