November? really??

 

Can someone pinch me to make sure I'm not dreaming? How can tomorrow possibly be the first day of November? Why is time going by so quickly? Why? This year is flying by so quickly and I'm wondering if it's because I make myself so busy all the time or if it gets that way as you get older. Either way, I just want to fully enjoy what is left of this year. I have many goals that I would want to fulfill yet before 2014. I'm actually looking forward to the new year. I don't want to get ahead of myself but in reality it is just around the corner. I cant wait for a fresh start. I feel as if I have had the most difficult year of my entire life. Difficult and beautiful at the same time. My health spiraled out of control earlier on in the year and all summer it was rough for me but I still in my heart knew that I needed to consider myself blessed. I still had so much more than many others. As I reflect back it was also a year where God took a hold of me and turned pain and a hurtful past into restoration and life! I found victory for the first time in 16 years and I know God is not finished with me yet! I have many goals for the remaining year but I'll list 10...

1. I want to love more

2. I want to laugh more

3. I want to encourage more

4. I want to be a better listener and less of a talker

4. I want to give up of my time to help others

5. I want to rejoice more in trials

6. I want to trust God more

7. I want to be a better mom

8. I want to be a better wife

9. I want to stay away from conversations that are consumed by gossip

10. I want to be quick to forgive and forget

So cheers to a fun filled rest of the year!
 

 I was in the baking mood today and decided to try this recipe. I got it off of pinterest and they are fabulous!

Crumb topped pumpkin cream cheese muffins

 

 

Here's the recipe if you want to try them

Muffins:

3 cups flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cloves

4 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

4 eggs

2 cups sugar

2 cups pumpkin (canned or cooked)

1 1/4 cup vegetable oil

 

*mix everything together and pour batter into muffin holders. fill each holder 3/4 full and then drop 2 tsp of cream cheese filling onto the batter. swirl alittle with a fork and then place the crumbs on top of the cream cheese mixture. Bake at 325 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out dry

 

Cream cheese filling:

6 oz cream cheese softened

2 T sugar

2 T milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

 

*Soften cream cheese and mix the 4 ingredients together

 

Crumb topping:

1 cup all purpose flour

3 T brown sugar

2 T sugar

1 tsp baking powder

a pinch of salt

6 T butter softened

 

*Soften the butter then add remaining ingredients.

 

 

This week was going so fast for me but today for some reason it seemed to come to a stand still. I am more than ready to have my husband home but he still did not get anything so I'm hoping he will have the opportunity yet. They have 3 hunts left so me and my daughter are earnestly praying. Alaina is being even more specific than I am. She's telling Jesus that Daddy needs to shoot a big buck so we can have bologna! :) Have a wonderful rest of the week.....

 

 

 

this and that

 

I just got done sending off my man to Oklahoma. A trip that he has been giddy about since he found out he is going! I can't help but be a tad bit excited for him, He never sings in the shower and well lets just say he was really singing his heart out before he left!! So how can I not be excited for him?  It does look like a long week ahead but I have no choice but to make the most of it. Looking on the bright side, I'm glad it's not a week.

Here are a few shots of the new addition to the family and her proud owner

 

 Her new best friend Fluffy

 

Also this week I was having so much fun on Pinterest again and I feel like its becoming an addiction! I did recently stop at a local farm where they sell anything and everything old. I grabbed a few things and gave it a makeover.

This box I bought for 2.00

And this is how it looks afterward, Its amazing what you can do with a bottle of spray paint

The aqua blue frame was once black and had a wedding picture in it. I decided it needed a new look as well

 

 

This item below I got the idea from a creative friend, this piece was also black and said "welcome friends", I spray painted it and then used my cricut machine to print out the snowflakes and the letters. Since it will be outside on my front porch, I spray painted the whole thing with an "all weather protection glaze"

 

Since my husband and I are not huge coffee drinkers I decided it is time to make our favorite homemade hot chocolate again. It is not just any hot chocolate, it is fabulous and I got the recipe from a friend last winter. I made it many of times last year and now that the weather is getting colder again I decided it was time to whip up a batch. It is fabulous, go ahead and try it!

 

Have a wonderful sunday afternoon, Erma





 

Trust or Control

I didn't blog for awhile but I find my office chair very inviting on this LOVELY fall day. Sunday afternoons are simply my favorite day of the entire week. Daddy is at home ALL day, the pumpkin candle is burning, the baby is sleeping, daddy is watching football or baseball in his man cave. No difference to me, all sports are the same in my eyes. He usually tries to get me to join him but I will refuse on a day like today. Not a cloud in the sky, as I look out the window I am in awe of the beauty of fall. I'm gonna be very honest, I think fall might be my favorite time of the year. Summertime is fabulous but my summers are to busy, I guess its all in how I make it but I love everything about fall. I just joined pinterest and 90% of my pins are fall related. So I guess that tells you how much I enjoy fall.
Now that hunting season has arrived, (in case you didn't know this but my husband is an avid hunter) I'm trying to keep myself busy because of the hubby being gone a lot but I'm finding out it is wearing me out. I do not do well with stress and when I'm gone all day it physically wears me out. then I find myself having my own little meltdowns or emotional moments. I'm an emotional wreck since I started my new medication and the other day after apologizing to my husband for being so moody and grouchy he simply says: "can't you ask your Dr. if you can go on meds that do not have side affects?'  why yes honey dear, I would love that but there aren't to many options for women who are still in their child bearing years. When my husband is away a lot I tend to go down this self -pity route and I'm working on that emotion. I have days when I feel like nothing but a single mom and I can't control my own child anymore. I believe Alaina senses when I'm feeling weak and like I can't control her so she misbehaves all the more. You moms out there, tell me I'm not the only mom that feels that way. Our children can sense when we are stressed with them or are simply not in the mood to deal with their meltdowns or attitude problems. I really came a long way with my husbands hobby and this year I feel proud of myself for handling it better than ever. Almost every time he went since I knew him I gave him some type of grief about how much he is hunting. Or I sent him out the door  trying to make him feel guilty and did I feel any better? NO! And I imagine he didn't always have a fun hunt knowing his wife is at home mad at him. This year, I purposed in my heart that things will be different. I told myself I will NOT go down that self pity path and I will not complain or try to keep him from going. A few times this year so far, I had to have "the talk". The talk that maybe he is pushing it. And its amazing the respect I get from him when I respect him. Does that make sense? If we both work on our own role in this marriage then it will be successful. Sometimes I question why I care so much that he goes and I think it's that fear of what if something happens to him that grips me. Since I have been rebuilding my relationship with God I feel myself trusting him more with details like that. This morning a man that was usually a member at our church passed away suddenly and it made me think so much, I do not know when my husband will take his last breath but before he does I want to make sure he is well loved and appreciated by his wife and daughter. I want to make sure he gets to live out his dreams and enjoys his hobbies to the fullest!
Another topic that has been on my heart so much lately is "Trust or Control". There are 4 things right now that I want so badly in life it actually hurts. And the past few weeks I felt like I tried so hard to take control of these 4 situations. I tried so hard  it was making me a miserable person. Subconsciously I tried  to make these 4 things happen and it just wasn't happening and i was getting frustrated at God and frustrated at myself. So one day I'm on the phone with momma and I'm telling her how I feel like I can't breathe properly and how I'm not sleeping well and so on. Soon she asks me if I'm trying to control certain things in my life and I paused for a bit and said, Yeah, I guess I am. I didn't really look at it that way but now that you mention that, yes, I'm trying so hard to make things happen my way that I'm unaware of how it's destroying me inside. So I began praying and asking God to take over these 4 situations. I told him that I want him to be in control and not me. I asked him to help me trust him more, and that I want these burdens at his feet and not on my shoulder. Since that moment I have found tremendous peace, a peace that I don't know if Ive ever experienced before! Why do we think that we know how to run everything or why do we try so hard to control the one person that knew everything about us before we were even created? I know it is so hard. I have poured out many tears at his feet already and pleaded with him to give me the things that i desire but how selfish of me. My God is for me so why can I not trust that his way is best for me and that he wants the absolute best for me. He is so much more than a guy who lives above the clouds. He wants to be our best friend if we let him in. He wants to be our healer, our restorer, our redeemer, our provider and so much more. Let him in and don't shut him out. I feel so much closer to him when I tell him who annoys me and who I wanna look the other way when I meet up with them. I love telling him about my struggles, my hopes, my dreams, my frustrations, my disappointments and my many joyous times to. That's really what he wants.
The day of my phone call with my mom, I open my Jesus calling devotional book and out of 365 days out of year, God chose this subject to be printed on the exact day I would need to be reminded.

"You are my beloved child, I chose you before the foundation of the world, to walk with me along paths designed uniquely for you. Concentrate on keeping in step with me, instead of trying to anticipate my plans for you. If you trust that my plans are to prosper you and not harm you, you can relax and enjoy the present moment. Your hope and your future are rooted in heaven, where eternal ecstasy awaits you. Nothing can rob you of your inheritance of unimaginable riches and well being. Your main focus should be staying close to me and I set the pace in keeping with your needs and my purposes."  Jeremiah 29:11 says "For I know the plans I have for you" declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." How awesome is that promise? So my challenge to all of us today is "Are we going to trust him or control him?"

 

With love, Erma

Feeling crafty

A powerful song, listen to it as you read

 

I'm finally living at home again after being at mom's for 5 days straight! Although I missed my husband, mom and I had a total blast!! when my husband first told me that he wants to go to the mountains for 5 days, I was thinking "no positively way!" but then I decided to let it up to him what he wants to do. I knew he wanted to stay up pretty badly. He's an avid hunter and he looks forward to archery season in July already. How can I say no? Dad and my brothers went to potter as well for 5 days so it worked out perfect. I got to mom's late Friday afternoon and we have this thing lately, every time we are together, we are feeling creative. We are always to open to learning new things! we love "pinteresting" Saturday morning rolls around and we decided to go yard saleing in a local development. We had SOOO much fun. To those of you who don't know my mom and I, well to say we were out of control would maybe be an understatement. Yes, we were snatching stuff as fast as we could. Moms car was packed down. Saturday was my birthday so we were all over Lancaster County. we yard saled from 8 - 11:30. I was totally exhausted Saturday evening. Got back to mom's around 4 and there on the front porch is a beautiful bouquet of roses. A dozen to be exact :) sent all the way from potter county. Thanks babe, you made my day! Here are a few of my finds Saturday...
 
 

I found this old beat up mirror for only $1.00

 

Mom gave me one of her many tin cans that she had around her property and I had a blast with it!

 

I just love mums, they add so much color in the fall

 

I found this yellow box at the Treasure Place, Love that place!

 

 

 

ok, this photo is not cooperating. I found this board at the yard sale on Saturday for .50 and all I did to it was spray paint the frame an off white. Then I chalk board spray painted the inside and used chalk for the writing. Thank you Lydia for the quote :)

 

MAKING YOUR OWN CANVAS PHOTOS

 This was another project we had so much fun with. I have been wanting to purchase a few canvas photos for my house for quite some time now. Every website I checked out, I thought the prices were outrageous. So mom and I heard that you can make them yourself. So we got all the materials needed for the project and went to town. We were so pleased with the results and I decided I wont buy a canvas photo ever! you can save yourself so much money. I decided to share every step with you and feel free to give it a try.

First you will need to purchase wooden boards to paste your pictures to, I bought a 10x10 at wal mart for only a couple dollars in the craft section (shown below)

then you spray paint the board (your choice of color) I chose an off white 

 

the ends of all 4 sides will be the only thing showing so it doesn't matter if the flat surface isn't perfectly painted, let the board completely dry or else disaster

after the board is dry apply a thin layer of mod podge (matte finish) to the board with the smallest roller you can buy at your local hardware store

I poured a small amount of mod podge into a flat plate and dabbed the roller in a few times and started rolling it onto the board. make sure their are no lines from your roller. the podge should be evenly spread out and don't put a thick amount on, just enough that the photo will stay sticking. Its basically a type of glue. Also I should add, the mod podge should not be dripping out over the edges of the board. that part of the board will be showing. Let the mod podge dry for about 20-30 minutes 

then I placed a 10 x 10 photo on top of the board showed as below

set a heavy object on top of the photo so it sticks better to the board

Then you roll a good amount of mod podge directly on the photo. Don't freak out, the picture will be almost white, that does dry. Again make sure there are no roller lines or any dirt sticking to the photo

the next step is to let it dry, I left it go for 45 minutes

The finished project below! yes it does look like a canvas picture

yup that's all that's to it!

 

Have a fabulous week, Erma

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How much does he really love us and reflecting back.......

 

This song was written for me (I can just feel it), and was released at the perfect time in my life!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ok I'm gonna be very honest. You might get tired of my blogs but since I've allowed myself to be honest and open with my feelings, I cant stop writing! You really don't have to be reading this. Only if you want. I've been thinking about my first post and there was lots more I wanted to share. After years of not loving myself and believing that God didn't love me and then all of a sudden the holy spirit is convincing me otherwise what I've been doubting. That takes the mind on a roller coaster ride! In the process of healing I have come across numerous scriptures that made my heart skip a beat. It caused me to have a "wow moment". (I love those by the way) I don't think anyone can fully comprehend how much our Jesus does love us. He loves us that much that he gave his only son so that we can have life again. That is a whole lot of love!! think about it, and the scary thing about that is that we are demanded to have that same type of love for our fellow man. OMW, that's huge! we are to love the ones that make our blood boil, those who we wanna look the other way when we meet up with them. Those who treat us wrongly! Yes, we need to love those. Lord help me! This is just how much he loves us, he says in Psalms 139: 17 & 18:

"How precious are thy thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum (total) of them?"

"If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand in the sea."

Psalms 139:14 says: 

"I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made, marvelous are thy works..."

How can I not love who God has made? Everything about me he has created, so in that case he has created me perfectly in his image. How can I try to change who I am? I can't and I won't ever be able.

This is why I've labeled my blog "created in his image". This very phrase has been a struggle of mine for many years and I'm finding healing.

Psalms 46:10

"Be still and know that I am God." 

Psalms 13:5

"But I trust in your unfailing love, my heart rejoices in your salvation."

Psalms 130:5

"I wait for the Lord, my soul waits and in his word, I put my hope."

 

In his love, Erma

 

 

In His Image

Blogging has been something I wanted to do for a long time, I just didn't know where to start. Writing was always a hobby of mine, from the time I was a kid to my teenage years, I journaled everything about my life. So yes it is my passion and I'm finding out that writing is therapy to my soul. It helps me gather my senses together. I love reflecting on lifes experiences. To those of you who wanna follow my blog you are welcome to read my first blog that is posted to my facebook account. I will be deactivating that account soon. I decided to try a better blogging website. My first blog will give you an insight to why I enjoy writing. It took a weight off my back when I began going public with my story. To some people it might not be a story but the truth is, everyone has a story. The things that God has been revealing to me the last couple months has been life changing for me. I'm excited to see what he has in store for me from here on out!

 

This is my daughter Alaina and I (taken this summer)

 

Alaina at the age of 2 1/2



 

 



I'm starting a new blog because I didn't like the options of the other blogging website. So instead of retyping everything that I wrote yesterday on my first blog, I'm just going to attach a link. So feel free to check out the link and be blessed

My Story