This post was inspired by my girlfriend, Evie! She is pretty much amazing at everything and super creative. She has a great blog and lately has been posting things such as this or this, calling them wardrobe refashions. Basically taking old clothes and making them into something fabulous with a little cutting, sewing and creatively thrifty thinking.
SO THIS ONE IS FOR YOU MY DEAR...
Step one- Take teenagery top that I will never wear and do the following:
Take off buttons
Cut binding and uncuff sleeves
Remove waist tie thing
Step two-Voila...
Iron the top and add a cute pen to connect the sweater together.
Then ask your mommy to take a picture (I know not as cool as Evie's lighting and pretty face looking off to the clouds, but oh well, at least I tried...)
Step three- take the buttons and sew them onto a pillow that had a bleach stain.
I bought this pillow last year in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam in the silk district. I loved it so much and it is special to me, but somehow it has gotten a bleach stain right in the middle of one of the patches.
I took the buttons from the sweater and covered the bleach stain (it was the top button) then added the other two for balance.
This sits on my living room rocking chair. My mother rocked me in this when I was a baby.

And there you have it!

Thanks Evie for all your inspirational posts. I completed a wardrobe refashion!

Proverbs 31

NHP

He prepares me...

It's so comforting to know that my God knows exactly how I work. He gently moves me along to where He wants me and often He prepares me through dreams.
This is my FAVORITE thing about God right now. I love how my dreams come to fruition. I love how God gave me a whole novel in a dream. (Which I shared in this post about one of my three New Years resolution's being to write a novel. Update on that- I have written 3 pages. That's a lot people. Probably about 4 hours or so.)
So back to being prepared through a dream... This dream was last week.
I had a dream that Adam was going on a mission trip to Haiti. And I saw it in full detail.
I woke up and way down deep in my spirit I felt joy over this dream. I thought about it a lot, but never mentioned it to Adam.
At church on Sunday our missions pastor comes up to the front and says they are hooking up with a clean water project and wanted to take a team of 8 people to Haiti. My heart jumps and I look at Adam and ask, "Do you want to go?" Considering I have never offered this invitation in the 8 years we have been married he shockingly said, "Yeah, maybe..."
So he went to the meeting and they made it clear that they were looking for people with medical backgrounds. There were over 50 people or so interested, but Adam still signed up for the trip.

We went home and together prayed about it. And again before we went to bed. Asking that if God wanted Adam to go on the trip, make it so, and if not, close the door. But we BOTH just KNEW he was going to go!
Adam got the call yesterday that he has been invited as one of the eight for the trip. The only non-medical person going besides the leader of the group. We were just in awe! I KNEW that Adam was going to be perfect for this trip. He is full of patience, endurance and has a servants heart to help the people of Haiti. I KNEW too, that God prepared me for this.
He will be gone for 7 days. The team will hike into Haiti, sleep in hammocks and we will possibly not have contact the whole time he is in country. Yes, this is pushing our family into places we have not been. The longest time period Adam and I have been without talking in 12 years is less 48 hours. And I have not been away from him for longer that 5 days. BUT I know this is straight from the Lord and I cannot wait to hear his stories and see all the pictures. I know this will change him, in the best kind of way, and I am SO PROUD of him for going!
"God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all." 1 John 1:5

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light and heavy

Lets start with something light, shall we?...
Started on a new project. I realize this picture is not the best, but you will get the idea. I have been saving my favorite baby clothes of Avi Joy's over the last three years and I have started on her baby clothes quilt. She and I have been cutting, ironing and piecing together the most precious keepsake gift from mama to daughter.

I was blessed to book 6 jobs for Christmas. Here are 3 of the pieces.
Last name, Gibson...
Baby name, Samuel...
Family Tree, Catalano...

Perfect For You Watercolors started eight years ago and my "style" has come a loooonnng way! In all cases my client tells me their desires. The name/design, frame color, exact size, these colors, touching verse, along with any other details. I do not advertise, I just let it ebb and flow and always enjoy when jobs come my way.

Time to share the heavy:

Here are some quotes and verses that are helping me though this tough season. Some from sermons, friends or from counseling. The main verses (not all listed here, its about 60 verses) I am calling it Fear Detox. I am about 75% through them. Some I just need to commit to memory and let them change me from the inside out. If you know that feeling, read on...

Most frequent quote from the Bible is “Do not be afraid, fear not.”
Faith or fear? Fret or lean? Worry or Trust? Worthless or Worthwhile?

We can lose focus of God and put all our focus on the “issue”.
Defeat the issue by doing your job. Loving God. Defeating it with His Word.

Not living in imagination, but whatever is true. (Phil 4)

He gives us Power through the Holy Spirit to Stand against temptation in the battle.

Starts in a thought, plant the seed, takes root becomes a stronghold.
Touching the hem of His garment. Bringing our issue to Jesus. Come to Him.

LIVING UNDER FEAR IS NOT LOVING GOD. PERFECT LOVE CASTS OUT FEAR. (John 4)

Why play at satan’s gates when we are a child of the King?

Its got to be Godward or its just downward.

Why is this allowed in my life?
TO CONFORM ME TO THE LIKENESS OF CHRIST JESUS.
Called: Progressive Santification
And it is painful- but He works ALL things… Romans 8

Hook up with the power source- stay in the vine! (John 15)

Look at this time in our life as a Stepping Stone and not a stumbling block.

Why do something? To overcome? NO, to please the Lord and be empowered to overcome by His Spirit.

All the things I have are in Him. Anything that tells me otherwise is a lie! (John 8)

Not in my abilities but in my dependence on the Lord.

Could make me into a beautiful squash in one season but He wants me as a mighty oak tree!

Darkness has no power over the light. It is overcome by the Light. (word study on Light)

Is That True? Than am I giving in to what is false or trusting my God?

“How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him, but if Baal is god, follow him.” 1 Kings 18:21

God wants the best for my children even more than I do!!!

And my favorite from today:
God always has an agenda for me when I look to Him. Its less of me and more of Him. It is destroying that which destroys me so that He can be elevated to His proper place. If you look to Him, you will become more like Him.

Have a wonderful week,

NHP

Menu...

I love when I see friends who share recipes and menu ideas, so I thought I would give it a whirl.
We do not have a "set" grocery store time, as in we do not shop for groceries every other week, we just make a list of meals, buy everything, eat it all up, then shop again. It works for us.
It may not be the most organized system, but I like it and we usually only have to make small grocery runs for milk or fresh produce. This list does not include our drinks, which are usually grape, apple, o.j. (100% juice of course, and we are still in the half water phase) and milk. I also didn't include our fruit or vegetable list.

I make two lists.
One with everything I need to buy at the store, the looooong list.
One with the list of meals that we will make. I post it up and know what we have in the house that we can make to eat. I keep these lists in my recipe book and have several to look through if I want an easy month for meal ideas.

Breakfast: (We always try serve a fruit with breakfast. We use fresh, frozen, then canned as the month goes on.)
Egg and sausage casserole
Homemade banana muffins
Cranberry bread
Cereal
Yogurt with granola and fruit
Oatmeal
Egg sandwiches
Kashi Eggo's
Toast with p.b. and honey

Lunch:
Turkey sandwiches w/ avocado
Chicken Salad
Homemade honey spice pretzels
Roasted garlic and tomato spread
Morning Star's Black Bean Burgers (we love them)
Tuna salad
Cottage cheese
Mac n cheese
Leftovers from dinner

Dinner: (We always try to serve a veggie with dinner as well.)
Cheddar and scallion bread
Spaghetti
Artichoke dip
Almond chicken
Jambalaya
Ravioli
Sour cream cheese puffs
New Potato bake
While Chicken Chili
Bean Burritos
Sloppy Joes
BLT's
Monterey Chicken

Desserts:
Orange chip cookies
Raspberry bars
Date penwheels
Lemon cake delight
Nutella

Other menu items from last month:
Baked potato soup
Ruben's
Balsamic Pasta
Butterscotch cheesecake
Biscuits and gravy w/ eggs
Pizza

We usually use recipes from Taste of Homes magazine (which I LOVE), from allrecipes, or from that we have snatched from family and friends.

In between all these things there will be many snacks of nuts, kashi bars, and yes, even goldfish. One of my favorite things is Almond Butter. I love it on everything. Adam loves pickled okra.

We try to stick to the 75/25 rule of eating. 75% of the time we eat healthy, whole grain, fruits/veggies with every meal, lean meat (no red meat) and small portion sizes frequently throughout the day. Then the other 25% of the time we BLOW IT! Eat whatever we want and go to our favorite restaurants for fried foods and ice cream. Our two favorite places to go out to eat are Taco Buneo and Desi Wok. Party burritos and Indian chicken tikka masala are from God.

If you have favorite food websites or want to post your menu for the month, please leave a comment and let me check it out!

"But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil." Hebrews 5:14

NHP

Happy New Year

Some quick thoughts on the New Year and resolutions!

I have several friends doing 365 projects. Writing and posting pictures each day of 2010. What I think is crazy about this is that I am going to KNOW these people better than some of my closest friends. These are all "blog-friends" and when you have them plugged into google reader, they pop up as to say, "Good morning, here was my day yesterday." When in reality I don't even know how my best friend, parents or sometimes even husbands day was yesterday! Weird. But I continue to check, right? A few of my favorites (not necessarily daily blogs):

For great musings and story telling I love Lawerish.

Family fun with Amy.

For ALL things Crafty.

Life in Vietnam.

And a host (but more could be added!) of other beautiful families that I so enjoy their lives.

My mom's theme: "Fit and Thin in Two Thousand Ten." I am convinced that I will see this slogan on TV very soon, by someone like Denise Austin. She coined other special catch phrases, such as, "If you don't squeeze it, no one else will."

Some friends are pressing themselves to do new things. Like the Daniel Fast, becoming vegetarian or training for a marathon.

And other general things I have heard this last week: becoming more balanced, saying NO more often and being more generous with our time, talent and treasure.

I will start off by saying that I have done resolutions every year. I went to look for my 7th grade journal where I wrote my first New Year's resolutions, but could only find back to 1998. I think those before that are in the attic and its just too cold for searching! But I remember that was the first year I heard about this type of thing. I pulled out a notebook, jumped on my bed and wrote ten things down to work on that year. I am sure it was things like, make up a dance to Salt n' Pepa or get a spiral perm.

This year was EASY. I am narrowing down on life and what I am passionate about.

1. Getting the novel in my head out on paper. I know this will not be completed this year, but it is going to start this year. I have several novels in my head, but one is on my mind the moment I wake up and throughout my dreams. I heard that out of every ten people who want to write a novel (or as Adam has been teasing me from American Idol auditions, a novella. Which is longer than a noveletta but shorter than a novel) only ONE actually writes the novel. I have decided this will be me.

2. Continuing to learn Vietnamese. I am going to start saving for the, gulp, very expensive Rosetta Stone. I do NOT want to stop lessons for three months in the summer and have the desire to keep exposing my brain (and ears) to the language. Along with this I would like a Vietnamese bible and some children's books.

3. Planting a garden. Yes, in my backyard there will be fruit and veggies. I want to plant, tend, grow and eat what God makes. I am SO excited and know absolutely nothing about how to start, but the passion is there so I am going to do it. I also would like to can. So my grandmother can be expecting a call from me when tomatoes are coming out the wazoo.

Well, that is it.

I could go on and on about adoption and other desires. OR that I need to continuing to work on freedom from fears and anxiety. Or making sure I am a great wife and mom who always has dinner on the table and a clean kitchen... but those things are ever evolving and never ending areas. The Lord has His own areas that He prunes and to Him I am beyond thankful that what does not bear fruit in my life is pruned. I want a life to glorify Him first and foremost. Without His guidance, I am truly nothing.

The word of the year will be Faithful.

The scripture of the year will be Romans 8:28:

"And we KNOW that in ALL things (good, bad and otherwise) God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose."

Quote of the year: God does not call the equipped, He equips the called.

Have a wonderful 2010,

Natasha

Send off to Africa

I had the greatest college experience and it is mostly due to my wonderful roommates. We lived together for 2 years in the dorms then 2 years in an apt. They met in high school and we all met the first week of college. We were all 18 years old.

We had a couple other gals that lived with us for a while, but we three were a cord that has not broken. We have watched each other grow up in our faith, cry over break-ups, share our deepest hurts without condemnation and truly rejoice in blessings.
Here we are all youthful looking- atop of bad haircuts, bushy eyebrows, outdated clothes and as you can tell from Shannon on the right- she didn't learn how to smile in a picture until like yesterday. But that is just one of her quirks that we like.
The girls came over this weekend along with their husbands and children. We celebrated our last meal together as the Jones' are heading off to Africa for two years. (I also just noticed we are in the same order as the pic above.) Vanessa is in the middle and their family has committed their lives to God's service and to His people in other countries.
Kyle (top right) is a doctor and will be working at a hospital in Kenya. Vanessa and their 3 boys (all under four) will be doing school at home and ministering to the women of the village.
They also came bearing gifts...
They are all from Amani Ya Juu. All the items on their site are handmade by African women who are in need. The words Amani Ya Juu in Swahili means, "higher peace," which they are learning comes from the Lord. The women made our family an angel, a purse and a kickball. The ball is made of grain sacks from relief agencies. The refugee's in Kakuma make everything from curtains to roofing from these sacks.

We had a wonderful time eating delicious food, letting the kids play and spending time in prayer. Their family has been attacked in many ways, especially in forms of sicknesses, and it was time the enemy knew they have a whole army behind them sending them off to Africa. I look forward to the letters sharing how Kyle was able to pray for someones healing and they were healed and how Vanessa's househelper notices this home is just a little bit "different" because the Lord lives there... you will be missed, but are exactly where you are supposed to be!

RANDOM LANGUAGE THOUGHTS:
We talked about learning Swahili in Africa and I wanted to share a statistic I heard:
To become fluent in a foreign language requires 800 hours of conversation. OH My Word.

As you know we started Vietnamese lessons in August. I REALLY LOVE learning the language and can tell that I am actually learning something. I can say short sentences (like my name is..., hello friend or thank you very much), I know individual vocab, numbers and introductions.
My favorite website for basic instruction is everydayviet. Donna's tones are awesome and you can actually hear the slight tonal differences when she teaches! And of course we love our teachers at language school. We would not be where we are today without their kindness, patience and one-on-one instruction.
I did have my first dream in Vietnamese. I was buying a purse at the market in HCMC and I started talking to her in Vietnamese. "How much Dong is this purse Miss?" I woke up happy!
My next thing to figure out is how to write on our computer in Vietnamese. Like with the accents an everything. I can go to a language converter and do it word by word, then paste it, but yuck! Adam says they have Vietnamese keyboards. I don't know, I want to be able to type... we will see.
Mrs. Anna, Avi Joy's Vietnamese teacher, sent us a Christmas card this year. I loved what it said... "Wishing you a beautiful Christmas season. May your New Year be showered with blessings and steps closer to God's dream for you." Is that NOT precious!

"I will praise You, O Lord, among the nations; I will sing of You among the peoples." Psalm 57:9

Natasha

Spreading a little Christmas cheer...

Its was Christmas morning... in the early tween years.
I combed my Sun-In'ed hair, got dressed and went into the living room to open all my Christmas presents. Little did I know that it would be the BEST Christmas ever!
This was the year I LOVED every single gift I received...

I put on my new 1, 2, 3 sweater from my aunt and uncle.
My new watch-ring and locket necklace.
Put on my gold, black and white pearl dangle earrings.
Painted my nails with my new Streetwalker Red nailpolish.
Opened my new Estee Lauder make-up kit (which my grandma always got me) and bathed myself in Hot Pink Porsche lipstick and Sunset blush.
I posed next to my frilly lamp and my see through neon colored phone (remember those?)

I am sure I had to make sure that my bangs were just right, my non-plucked eyebrows were not hanging in my eyeballs and everything looked perfect for my Christmas night photo showing off all my new gifts!

Oh yes it was a grand Christmas.
NHP