Seven...a slow digestion.

Seven is the book that I started reading ten months ago. What in the world?

The goal when I started the book was to try the experiment for myself as I read along.
Wrong idea.  Epic Fail.
We all do this, don't we?
We see how God is moving in someones life, and it's so amazing, we want it.
It took me a while in the beginning to remember that comparison really is the thief of Joy.
Trying to emulate Jen Hatmaker's experience was exhausting and unenjoyable. 
So very 7th grade.

I decided to take the better part of this past year just taking in the whole book.
I'd read a chapter and take notes all along the margins, then I'd put it down to chew on it.
I didn't want to try to live out her convictions, yet I kept finding myself trying to.
A big freedom for me in reading this book actually was the realization that our lives can't be traced or copied.  I should know that right?  
I think I mostly do know that, but it's too easy to read books like this one and assume we're all suppose to be doing the same thing.
What we're all called to do is Love God and Love Others as ourselves.
How that plays out in each of our lives can look radically different.
One book and ten months later, I think I finally got it.  
Thank you Jesus and Jen Hatmaker.

After all these months, this book falls into my "must read" book list. 

Here's why...
Whether you do what the Hatmaker family did with the 7 categories or not, 
you'll enjoy how it challenges you to think beyond how you're currently doing life.

It'll be just the "kick in the pants" you might need to break up with some of those areas in your life that are nagging you deep down.  


Now, I won't lie.
There were times when I thought the book was frustrating me, but after I finished it, I was keenly aware that it was ME who was frustrating me.  
...me and my "eager beaver, copy what everyone else is doing so I can feel good about myself,  recovering performance-based follower of Jesus" self.

Because I spent the first three chapters trying to do it exactly like the Hatmaker family was doing it, I will say that I wish she would have put some of what she wrote at the end of the book at the beginning.   I could have used the reminder early on that... 

"self-deprecation is a cruel response to Jesus, who died to make us righteous.  Guilt is not Jesus' medium.  He is battling for global redemption right now; His objective hardly includes huddling in the corner with us, rehashing our shame again.  He finished that discussion on the cross."

Jen expresses her struggle with this in every chapter of the entire book, and it's refreshing.
She's ridiculously funny when she openly shares the hard parts for her, which made me feel a little more normal. 

When reading a book like this one, our humanness vacillates between desiring to take on the challenge of a more radical life to feeling like crud for not being able to fully live it out.

This book consistently did two things....
It reminded me that apart from him I can do nothing, and it repeatedly turned my heart's attention back to the cross.

Fasting is good for our souls.  It's uncomfortable and hard.  It reveals the condition of our hearts.  It makes us ever-aware of the greed in us.  It also was a good reminder that I really am absolutely incapable of everything without his help.

Have you read it?  Think you want to?
Are you making a summer reading list?
Spill it.  I'm making mine and I need some suggestions.

Paula Deen's Strawberry Cake

The strawberry fields are ripe for the pickin' around here, so it's time to exasperate my family with all things strawberries.  This is actually the cake that I have requested for each and every birthday of my life, so it holds a special place in my heart.  My mom had her own version, but she found this one of Paula Deen's, and she's been using it ever since.  You need to come up with some reason, any reason, to make this cake this very week.  Your family will thank you.  Promise.



INGREDIENTS:
1 (18.25-ounce) box white cake mix 

1 (3-ounce) box strawberry-flavored instant gelatin
1 (15-ounce) package frozen strawberries in syrup, thawed and pureed
4 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup water
Strawberry cream cheese frosting, recipe follows

Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting 
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 (10-ounce) package frozen strawberries in syrup, thawed and pureed
1/2 teaspoon strawberry extract
7 cups confectioners’ sugar
Freshly sliced strawberries, for garnish, optional

Also optional is adding a thin layer of strawberry jam to each layer.

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease 2 (9-inch) round cake pans.

For the cake:

In a large bowl, combine cake mix and gelatin. Add pureed strawberries, eggs, oil, and water; beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Pour into prepared pans, and bake for 20 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans, and cool completely on wire racks.

For the frosting:

In a large bowl, beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Beat in 1/4 cup of the strawberry puree and the strawberry extract. (The rest of the puree is leftover but can be used in smoothies or on ice cream for a delicious treat.) Gradually add confectioners’ sugar, beating until smooth.

Spread frosting in between layers and on top and sides of cake. While you're at it, spread a thin layer of strawberry jam between each layer, too. Garnish with sliced fresh strawberries, if desired.

Beauty & Ashes...the things Motherhood is made of

i have started and stopped this post 8 times.  i write a paragraph and then i highlight the whole thing and delete it.  here's why.  i feel this pressure {most likely from myself} to write only the good stuff, so that i prove to all of you {and myself} that motherhood is one of the best things that has ever happened to me.  then, i start over typing a little reality, like the one i posted here.  but, that one leaves me feeling guilty for writing the real stuff.  the real stuff might make you think i'm not enjoying it most days, which i am, if it matters.

it's early, and my boys just came downstairs and turned on the tv.  i had to tell them it's mother's day.  they said in robot voices, "happy mother's day, mom."  they never turned around.  when i told them i'd like to see their eyes, they both turned around with huge grins on their handsome faces and wished me a happy mother's day once more, while actually giving me their eyeballs instead of the backs of their heads.

that moment was made sweeter by the memory of last night, when seth asked me to lay with him at bedtime, and i did for a whole 30 minutes, which is about 25 minutes longer than usual.  he asked me how my day was and wanted to know all the details.  he most likely was stalling having the lights turned out, but still, i'd like to hope that he asked because he just wanted time with me.  he shared his heart, kissed me a few times and told me i was awesome right after he told me how awesome he was in his soccer games this weekend.

and yesterday, for no good reason, luke grabbed me and hugged & kissed me and told he loved me.  be still my heart, he loves me.  a whole 30 seconds later he was arguing with his brother for trying to pull his pants to his knees.

lydia was worried yesterday, when she heard that today was mother's day.  she didn't know what she'd have time to make me or buy for me.  i assured her that her hugs and kisses were enough, but she ran outside to find daddy to see what she could get me.

she asked me to pray for her last night because she said it helps her sleep in peace.  i think it might be her favorite time of the day.  it has to be better than the day this week when she interrupted a phone call to tell me that it isn't fair that she can't play with madeline or lucy whenever she wants to.  it was hard to break the truth down for her and tell her that life isn't fair.  it was extra hard when she went to her room and slammed her door crying, "i don't like it when life isn't fair." she didn't like that truth at all. not one bit.

these mothering moments...they're made of the sacred, treasured ones, but they're also made of the ridiculously hard ones. being a mama is beauty and ashes.  

it's all too easy to hyper-focus on the ones that i'm not proud of...the ones i wish i could do over.
...speak more kindly, remind more gently, love more tenderly, discipline more graciously and on and on and on....

today...i'm focusing on the joys of every moment i get to be a mama to these three yahoos.
we argued all the way through that picture i took of them.
the grass was wet on their feet.
they didn't want to be late for church. {again} 
and i won't name names, but according to two of them, one of them had awful breath.
i pulled out the big guns and told them this picture was their present to me today. 
hey, whatever it takes, right?

motherhood is glorious, and i'm grateful for the gift of it.
i just got handed the sweetest card with a special note from all three of them.
it had a gift card in it for a spa pedicure. yes, please and thank you.
i'm surrounded by my crew, my parents, and my brother's family.  
life is full and wonderful.

Tweaking Our Mantle. {The Last Chapter.}

Remember when I showed you our mantle last week with my new favorite art on it?

Well, last weekend when my friend Kate was visiting, 

Andy and the kiddos took a field trip to a reclaimed wood sawmill and came home with a souvenir.
See that big, gorgeous plank of old wood in the picture above?
It's what we're calling the texture we needed to write the last chapter in the book called Our Mantle.  

As soon as Andy got it up, I was in love.  The mantle not only felt finished; it felt like "me."
It got me thinking about how much my style has evolved over the past 17 years of marriage.
In our first ten years, I hardly knew myself much less my decorating preferences.
Plus, we were students and new parents in our first home during those years.
 Everything we owned was handed down, and as grateful as we were for all of it, it wasn't necessarily "us."

This home-making business is a slow and steady process.
Unless you've got a bajillion dollars, it takes time to add pieces of furniture and art that you love.
It has taken us years to figure out what it is that makes a house feel like our home to us.

Some of our learning has come through mistakes that we've made in purchases.
For instance, we bought a matchy-matchy bedroom suit for our very first home, and we've slowly over the course of a decade sold every single piece.
I love classic with a vintage twist, so now I know that every room & every vignette in our home
needs to have a classic look with some vintage touches for me to love it for the long haul.
I've also figured out in all these years that texture finishes off a space for me.

The slow process doesn't bother me at all. I like to watch our home evolve more into who we are.
We moved into this house nearly a year ago, and it was a wide open, brand new space.
I love that our mantle finally represents us.
The art and the lanterns were a wonderful start, but the reclaimed wood adds the texture that makes it for me.

Ps.  The TWO winners of Jenn Rizzo's Santos Cage Dolls are::
Cheryl (comment # 4)
and
Susan (comment # 2)
Congratulations!  I know you'll love class!!!
Please send me your email addresses, so I can forward them to Jenn.

GIVE AWAY!!! Two Free Spots for a summer creative class!

Are you looking for something creative to learn to do this summer?
I'm in the middle of making our SUMMER FUN LIST, so something like this seems really cool!

Jenn Rizzo is offering two FREE spots in her Santos Cage Dolls class that she is offering through 

Jeanne Oliver's creative e-courses.

Wouldn't it be so fun to learn to do something that you've never done?  

Santos Cage dolls have gained popularity over the last few years.

They have a serene, rustic beauty and sometimes almost eerie quality that has transformed them from use as religious icons in the 17th and 18th centuries to beautiful works of art.

Each doll has it’s own personality and as you sculpt and create you will see your own style and beauty develop.

In this class, You will learn to make three different versions of Cage dolls.

You will learn techniques in assembling armature, sculpting and painting faces, and using unconventional materials to make beautiful figural dolls.

You can join Jenn starting May 27th for an in depth course on how to 

assemble,sculpt and paint Santos and figural dolls.

Jenn knows that summer is coming fast, so starting on May 27th

 ALL of the videos will be available THAT DAY and you have access for ONE FULL year from the date of payment.

So no worries if summer gets too busy and you are ready to begin again in the fall.

The course will be available for one full year!

The cost is only $19!!

To register you can go directly to Jeanne's creative network (the fastest and easiest way to register) HERE or register through Jeanne's website HERE.

Please leave a comment telling me what your summer plans are!
I'll pick TWO winners on Wednesday.

{SHOP} news.

Beth from Unskinny Boppy is offering one of our ORIGINAL FAMILY RULES signs in a give away.

I'd love for you to enter to win and also enjoy a 10% discount with the coupon

 UNSKINNYBOPPY.

Jeanne Oliver showed off her custom sign from us in her beautiful home this week.

She also is offering a 10% discount in our shop through the end of May with the coupon code 

OLIVER10.

Karianne from Thistlewood Farms has a new monthly post called The Shops at Thistlewood.

You can find tons of good deals and discounts from her advertisers!

She's offering a discount in our shop with the coupon code THISTLEWOOD.

We also have a couple of new signs that we listed in the shop this week, 

so if you're in the market for something like this for your house, use one of these handy coupon codes to buy it. 

Our Monogram Sign

Our {Try}umph Sign

Hope y'all have a great weekend...I'll be back tomorrow for some amazing weekend reads.

What Instagram Pictures Don't Tell You...

Our oldest turned thirteen a few weeks ago, and we had a handful of his friends over for the night.

Before we served his favorite dessert, Andy asked the guys to lay hands on him, while he prayed over him.

It was a sweet moment watching the guys giggle through the intimate moment as Andy prayed.

I snapped a picture because well...it seemed like a moment I might want to hold onto forever.

I posted it to Instagram later that night, but the whole thing stirred something up in my heart.

I didn't do it, but I found myself wanting to explain that this picture wasn't entirely representative of our family.

Of course, if you were to hang out with us for ten minutes, you'd know it,

but most people who read aren't people who know us.

I started thinking about how many times I've looked at someone else's pictures and assumed everything was perfect.

The problem with pictures on any form of social media is that they don't tell the whole story.

So much is left to be assumed in a picture,

and lets face it, we all assume everyone else's picture looks a little more perfect than ours.

For the rest of the story, you'll need to visit Courtney DeFeo's awesome place where I'm sharing one of my not so beauty-filled moments in parenting that Instagram luckily missed.  

Farmgirl Paints on Etsy is Open for Business!

I've been chomping at the bit to show y'all my new cuffs from Becky, but I wanted to wait until her shop re-opened.

I didn't think it would be very nice to show off mine without you being able to order one for yourself!

I'm so proud of her for taking a month off now and again to spend time with her family,
but oh how glad I am to report that she has opened her shop back up this morning!

This is my third cuff from her this year, and I swear I've got a head full of ideas for more. 

Her cuffs have become my personal solution to a longtime desire for a tattoo.

It's probably a good thing, because I'd start out with one tattoo and end up with a full sleeve.

Tattoos are beautiful, but these cuffs are cheaper and can be removed. :)

I'll tell you just a little back story about these two cuffs.
I actually already had a "trust your story" cuff, but I lost it at Disney World back in February.
It was there one minute and gone the next, and here's what you need to know...
I fell apart in the middle of Magic Kingdom.
My friend immediately thought to tell me that whoever found it would be blessed by it.
She tried to console me with the sweet truth that someone out there might need to learn to trust their story.
Yeah.  I panicked and acted like a fool.
Her son had to remind me that at least no one had died.
Alrighty then, a eleven year old boy had to "school" me in perspective.  Nice.

Needless to say, Becky was amazing and sent me a new one. Thank you, The end.

My "free indeed" cuff is my daily reminder. He who the son sets free is FREE INDEED.
Thank you {John 8:36} and Amen.  I think I'll live in that freedom He's given me!!!

Becky is offering my readers 15% off with the coupon code TARA15 this month.
If you've got gifts to buy, I promise these are a real treasure to receive!
Head over to HER SHOP and see what she's got listed!

So, have you ever lost a treasured piece of jewelry 
and acted like a crazy person?

April According to Instagram.

These months...they fly by.  I feel like I JUST posted my March Moments from Instagram.

Do you think it'll work if I scream, "Slooooowwww down life!"??

Long Sigh.  That's my response. 

 I don't think it will, which is why I'm gonna keep capturing all of it that I can, as mundane as most of it is.

I've been MIA since last Monday because one of my dearie heart friends came to visit me from California.

She's the beauty up there with me in the shot where I'm wearing my red Hello sweatshirt.

There's a whole post brewing in my heart about her, so I'll save that for later.

This month has been good minus the couple weeks of trauma caused by seasonal allergies.

The trees and flowers in all their glory make it worth it in the end.

  I might need to ask them to forgive me for the very bad thoughts I had about them.

Kasey Buick ordered a sign.  She's the cool cat that moved her family to Hawaii.  

I kept trying to convince Andy that we needed to hand deliver it to them, but he didn't budge. Party Pooper.

 The uber creative Jeanne Oliver also received another one of our signs. 

 It means a lot that she'd hang our signs in her home.  I'll let you know when she posts about it.

We're finishing up Girl Scouts this week.

It feels so good to have everything come to a close, doesn't it?!

Soccer, Girl Scouts, Community Bible Study and school!!!!

I'm ready to make our summer fun list and our summer reading list.

Have I told you that I'm sending all of our kiddos to school next year?  Homeschooling is coming to a close for us.  

There's a post brewing about all that, too.

Oh my goodness.  I roasted my first chicken, and THIS is why I love Instagram.

If I hadn't noticed that picture up above, I wouldn't have remembered to tell you all the gory details.

Brace yourselves.  This is gross.

I had to pull a bag of {who knows what} out of the cavity.  

Then, I stuffed the cavity with a lemon, onion and some garlic.

Here's what you need to know if you're like me and haven't roasted your first chicken::

You might throw up a little in your mouth thinking about the junk in the cavity that you have to pull out.

But I promise you, you and your family will eat every inch of that chicken and you'll be tempted to gnaw the bones.

I'm just saying..go to Pioneer Woman's blog and follow her easy instructions.  Run.  Don't walk.

Have you heard of Sacred Made?

It's a new company that you really need to check out.  Their prints are in a league of their own.

Check out the picture above of the map of China with the heart in it.  

Come to mama.  It needs to land in my house soon.  

Cat and Becca met through blogging and started the business together.  Read their story here.

What else happened this month?

I painted my toes and put on sandals.  Very exciting.

Lydia and Andy went to a daddy/daughter dance.  Melt my heart.

Seth and his buddy Bryson rode go-carts and went dumpster diving for fort supplies.  Boys' are awesome.

I started juicing again. Somebody keep me accountable.

Luke became a teenager.  Hold back the tears.

Andy turned 39, so we're officially the same age for two more months. I'm his old lady.

We had a great spring break trip to Atlanta.  Hotels make my kids happy.

Lydia learned to snap her fingers. Whoooo Hoot!

And, I cleaned out my car for the first time since last fall.  Hello Hoarder.
The missing girl in the picture above was found.  I need the rest of the story. 

Life is tooooo exciting not to Instagram it. 

 I'm kidding, but all jokes aside, I'm kind of stoked that I have a picture of my first ever roasted chicken.

Tweaking things as I figure out My Own Style.

This is what our mantle looked like on move-in day last year.  What a huge blank canvas!

When we first moved in, I started the decorating process with things we already had on hand.

The area above this fireplace actually seems bigger in real life than it looks in this picture above.

The only thing that didn't look dwarf-like on it was our city sign.

It feels weird posting a picture of our fall mantle in the middle of a gorgeous spring, but this is all I could find.

We love the city sign, but with our neutral walls and white mantle, 

we felt like the house was screaming that it needed a little more "OOMPH!"

We finally found just what we were looking for this past February.

A local artist here in Athens painted this for us, and we love it.  It's the perfect size for our space at 6X4.

She'll paint most anything you ask her to, but she's kind of famous around these parts for her florals.

I know that I'd like more of her work, but starting with something she's known for seemed right.

Her name is Cecel Allee, and if you can believe it, she's a self-taught artist..18 years in the making.
Who teaches themselves to paint like THAT?  

She has a shop here locally, and she has a booth at Scott's Antiques in Atlanta.  

Although, she's usually only there for a few hours because her work sells fast. :)

You can see more of her art on her Facebook page, if you'd like.

I wanted to show you this close up so you can see the texture that she adds to her paintings.

Everything she makes is truly beautiful and unique.  

Y'all know I'm a sentimental fool, so you know I loooove that I know who the artist is.

I dig putting anything in our home that has a story & some real meaning.

I remember putting a picture of it on Instagram as soon as we hung it 

because I wanted suggestions on what to put on either side of it.  

Did I need to add color?  How big did it need to be? I needed some help!  Thank God for Instagram.

I think nearly everyone thought Lanterns would look best.  I was hoping that's what they'd say!

I started at Hobby Lobby because I've admired lanterns there forever, but they were expensive.

I knew we were heading to Scott's Antiques to sell our signs in March,
so I decided to wait patiently and see if I could find something there.

Let me tell you something about Scott's Antiques.  You'll basically always find what you want!

These lanterns that we found are handmade,
and I wish so bad I had written down the name of the booth that sold them!

They are a beautiful, weathered, gray-washed wood. 

 I'm clueless when it comes to this stuff, but they have a Swedish vibe going on, don't you think? 

They stand about 2 feet tall, and the color of the wood is perfect because it doesn't compete with the art.

I have no regrets about painting all of our walls with Sherwin Williams "Southern Breeze."

It was my attempt to get as close as I could to white walls. :)

But, when I started looking at all the pictures I pin on Pinterest, I noticed that I like neutral with pops of color.
I started comparing some of the spaces in our home with my inspiration pictures on Pinterest
and it became clear that I had way more neutral than color.

This piece of art has been a game-changer in our color dilemma.

Slowly but surely, I feel like I'm figuring out my style.  It's only taken 20 years.

{thankful for}
778. this post from karianne because Andy and I can relate.
779. the hugest tree I've ever seen.
780. Jeanne's post on celebrating others and the truth that there's room for us all.
781. God's love and care for Tiffini.  Join me in praying for her as she bravely goes in for surgery.
782. Alicia's healthy delivery of their 4th child, a sweet baby girl.
783. Sasha's memory of her ticked out bike.
784. a very funny girl.