Wardrobe Cheerification

Yes, I made up a word.

Otherwise, this post would be titled, “Crafting on Heavy Medication”, and that just didn’t have the same ring to it.

This project wins because it a) was cheap b) was addictively quick and cute, and c) could be completed while standing  up, always a plus when one has a herniated disc.

There are approximately 80 gazillion variations of this in Blogland.

1) Take a plain, XL or XXL t-shirt (the bigger, the better),

2) cut it below the sleeves and trim off the bottom edge (excuse bad lighting and blurry pic),

3) and pull and pull and pull!

4) Ta-da! Infinity scarf!

5) Add one of the cutie-patootie flower pins that are all over Pinterest (I’ll demonstrate my favorites so far later),

6) and enjoy your cheerified wardrobe!

Linking up at It’s Overflowing, Fridays Unfolded, and Romantic Home.

Be blessed,

Ginger

 

Midweek Mary Moment

On repeat while I grade 600 bazillion papers:

Isn’t it just like God to reset priorities in the midst of the most tedious moments of the day? 

Praying you hear Him singing today.

Be blessed,

Ginger

When Spring Is a Long Way Off

It’s been rainy here.

Today, the sun is trying to peek through, but the clouds will win the day and rule the week to come, if forecasts are correct.

Blah.

I want sunshine, please, and plenty of it.

I’ll even trade the milder temperatures we’ve had this year for some blue skies.

Deal?

Ummm…

There’s just one problem.

We need this rain.

Rivers run full, if muddy, and streams that had faded to trickles in the fall are rushing and churning over rocks again.

So, truthfully, I should be thankful for another day with wind-shield wipers on.

Charles Spurgeon wrote:

“We need affliction as the trees need winter that we may collect sap and nourishment for future blossoms and fruit.  Sorrow is as necessary for the soul as medicine is for the body.”

I need the rain.

I am not enjoying it.

I am tired of it,

but I need it, somehow, and I am asking for it to bloom into something I can’t yet see.

Be blessed today,

Ginger

 

Repost with a Reason:Psalm 123: A Paraphrase

***I posted this paraphrase of one of my favorite Psalms a while back, and I share it again today because the last few weeks have been hard. None of my problems have been earth-shattering, but they have been life-altering and just plain annoying.  Through it all, I’ve been a tower of spiritual strength and insight a grumpy, discouraged mess, and I need this Psalm to be my prayer. 

Lord, I am grabbing hold of Your hand, and I’m not letting go until You show me I’m Your treasure.

May it be your prayer, too.

Be blessed today.

Ginger

I lift my eyes to You

to You Whose throne is in Heaven.

As the eyes of a maid look to the Hands of her Master,

so my eyes are glued on You.

I’m here,

(image from kaikorai church.co.nz )

my tears falling on Your feet,

Your Hand resting on my head,

and I’m not leaving

until You show me Your mercy,

until You grace me,

until I know I am Your treasure.

Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us.

 

Why I Love Thrifting

Before Christmas, I made a last-minute shopping run that took me by my favorite thrift store and my least favorite store in the whole wide universe--

Walmart.

At the evil store, I bought:

1. aluminum foil

2. ziploc bags

3. plastic wrap

4. a ham

5. four boxes of sparkly ornaments ($2 each)

6. A basically unattractive but more or less functional couch COVER for the basement sofa. (It was neater when company came.)

Total cost: $ 120

At the thrift store, I bought:

1. Ann Taylor loft belted sweater (which doesn’t, in real life, look like something from Obi-wan Kenobi’s wardrobe from Star Wars; it’s actually quite cute with fun sleeves!): $ 6

2. Two summer skirts; the blue and white one is Eddie Bauer ($2 each):

3. A box of about 1000 paper clips: $1

4. T-shirts that eventually became scarves ($2 each)

5. A few little odds and ends (ornament hooks and such)

6. And. . .

a CHAIR!

Not just a chair COVER…an overstuffed, clean Broyhill chair-and-a half that currently resides in my basement but will soon be moving to its spot of honor in the living room.

Grand Total:

$ 60

And that, my friends, is why I love thrifting.

Be blessed,

Ginger

Linking up:
   Shabby Nest I’m Loving it ~ Simply Sweet Home ~ Whipper Berry ~ Chic on a Shoestring decorating ~ Spunky Junky ~ Delicate Construction ~ Homemaker in Heels ~ Family Ever After~ French Country Cottage ~ Common Ground ~ Young And Crafty ~ At the Picket Fence ~ Fingerprints on the Fridge ~ Miss Mustard Seed ~ Addicted to Decorating ~ Making Lemonade ~ I Can't Stop Crafting ~ Over the Big Moon ~ Shabby Art ~ Answer is Chocolate

What Love Sees

Permit me a post full of other people’s words.

From Selwyn Hughes’ book, God, The Enough, because it convicts and challenges me:

“Sin is without a doubt the biggest problem God has ever had to deal with.  . . .{The gospels} spell out in terms that are crystal clear how much anguish sin brought to the heart of the Deity. . . .

Cornelius Plantinga, in his book Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be, spells out the issue in these poignant words:

‘The ripping and writhing of a body on a cross, the bizarre metaphysical maneuver of using death to defeat death, the urgency of the summons to human beings to ally themselves with the events of Christ and with the Person of those events, and then to make that Person and those events the center of their lives—these tell us the main human trouble is desperately difficult to fix, even for God, and that sin is the longest running of all human emergencies.’

What is God’s answer to sin? The suffering of Christ. . . But what prompted that suffering?…It was grace.  Grace increasing, abounding, and sufficient.  Hallelujah!”

 

Be blessed today,

Ginger

Winter Mantel

I promised you the winter mantel. 

My inspiration from—three guesses, and the first two don’t count!—Pinterest:

(image from hgtv via pinterest)

A little scrounging around the house, a thrift store run for baskets (.50 each) and the 70’s wall hanging-turned chalkboard ($1.25) , and here’s what we got:

 

Romans 12: 9-16 is first on my memorization list this year, and for a family in a busy and sometimes difficult season of life, that portion of the verses stands out.

Others above myself.

 

For whatever reason, this mantel makes me smile. 

Thanks so much for your prayers for my back!  I am still moving slowly, but I’m in much less pain than before!

Be blessed today!

Ginger

Linking up a It’s Overflowing, thrifty home, savvy southern style

A Sneeze Changes Everything

Welcome to 2012!

This was intended to be the post where I wished you a cheerful Happy New Year, showed you my January mantel, which might be my favorite of all time, and chatted with you over a cup of coffee about newness and goals and growth and all that other stuff.

Then I sneezed.

You see, I have a dicey back, and as happens about once a year, I pulled it last Thursday.

Chiropractor, ice, ibuprofen, typical stuff.

I was standing in my kitchen last night talking to the girls when I sneezed.  Pain ripped through my back and left me bent double over the counter, completely stuck and hurting more than I ever have.

For the record, I’ve had two babies and two major surgeries,

but girlfriend, I have never hurt like that before.

One trip to the ER and lots of painkillers later, I can say 2012 started, ahem, auspiciously.

One of my favorite Christian authors is Selwyn Hughes.  Last week I started his excellent devotional, God The Enough.

In it, we are challenged to recognize that God really is enough for all our needs—particularly my need for grace greater, more powerful, and deeper than the seemingly limitless depth of my sin.

I had already decided that my word for 2012 was enough—to walk this year with the daily awareness that He is extravagant in every way and in all circumstances.

Ironically, as I begin 2012 with my teeth gritted against spasms and my head woozy with medicine, I get my first field trip of the year.

Lord, You are enough in the midst of this pain.  You were with me last night; You did not forsake me, just as You promised. You are teaching, guiding, comforting, working all things for Your glory and my good.

You are God, The Enough.

Be satisfied in Christ alone,

Ginger