2011 Nostalgia

So tonight, I just watched my almost-thirteen-months-old niece, Ellie, for the last time in 2011. My husband would say phrasing it that way is a bit dramatic, and he's right, but right now, it just fits since I'm feeling a little nostalgic about the past year. Our lives are competely different than they were this time last year. See, it's kind of ironic since this week last year (Christmas 2010), I was just meeting my almost-one-month-old niece for the very first time. Some words I wrote after the experience, "She pretty much stole my heart before she was even born, but when I met her, words can't even describe the joy I felt holding her. I mean, she isn't my child, but I just felt this huge love for her." And that was before I spent a year almost forty hours a week with her. And that same week, Nate and I made the major life-changing decision to move to Texas so that I could be her nanny. (You can read that novel here and here. I warn you, I do not exaggerate when I say it's pretty much a novel.) And now, I can look back on the past year and honestly say we have been so blessed.

Nate has two jobs that he really, really enjoys. Right now, he is really praying for God's direction in his career because he really just wants to find something he knows he is supposed to do for the next thirty years. I feel pretty confident right now that one of the two places where he works will turn into that for him, but if not, I'm so proud of him and I know he will do whatever God wants him to do. People at his past jobs and even now at his current jobs always come up to me and tell me how much they appreciate him for how hard he works and how invested he is in doing whatever it is well. I can't adequately tell you what that does for my heart. I know what kind of man he is, but to hear it from others just brings such joy to me. It just affirms that I married the perfect man for me.

As for my employment, I have spent more time with Ellie than anyone save her parents, and when she isn't crabby, overtired, or teething (and I'm not crabby, tired, or feeling sick), I cherish pretty much every moment I have with her. I talk to her all the time. I explain things to her that there is no earthly way she can currently understand, but she listens to my voice anyway. We play and giggle and talk. We have conversations, but a lot of the time I invent what it is that she is saying since I can't understand most of her babble. I read her stories. I tell her how to be gentle when she pets the doggies (mostly my dog, Apollo, since he's the only indoor pet she interacts with regularly). I taught her that the Christmas tree is pretty, and that we can look but we can't touch. Every time I say that to her, she looks over at me and shakes her head "no". She understands more than we give her credit for, I know. She is sort of potty-training as she knows when she is wet and tells us "diaper" when she is ready to be changed. Her little voice is so sweet. I thank her for being obedient when she does what I ask, and I praise her for being a good girl even when she isn't asked. She generally claps for herself when she does something right....haha. She loves to share her toys and her food. I love all of these little moments with her. I pray I can be a good influence on her. This job isn't what I went to school for, but it is almost like practice for being a mom someday. I've wanted to be a mommy since I was four years old, so I'm so totally okay with this. I will pursue my graphic design business on the side and hopefully grow it slowly. Right now, I'm not in a hurry.

So, I have the next two weeks off to be with my husband on a road trip over Christmas which is a strange but wonderful story in and of itself, and God is continuing to bless us. That's such a common little catch phrase, but it's true and in ways I can't wait to write about. I will write another blog about the road trip and yet another about how God has blessed us. Two thousand eleven has been such a full year!

...leave to thy God to order and provide...

I often have a hard time with things not going as planned. Not that I consider myself to be a complete planner, but I would rather have a Plan A and be flexible with it than no plan at all. For example, my days off. When I have a day off, completely unscheduled, I get exactly NOTHING done. I stay in lounge clothes. I don't necessarily shower, and sometimes I forget to eat. It's sad, but it's true. I don't get the house clean or the grocery shopping done, unless I planned to do that.

So I generally run with a limited outline in my head of what the next few weeks, months, and years will or should look like. I probably should keep a day planner, but since graduating from college, I don't. Anyway, it generally helps because I like having goals. Goals are great. But, many times I try to make plans involving people or things outside of my control, things I never should have planned in the first place. And then when they don't turn out the way I expected, I just do not handle it well. At all. It's like I set myself up for disappointment.

I know better than to be this way. There are lots of verses in the Bible that remind me not to try to be in charge, but Proverbs 3:5-6 pretty much says it all.

Proverbs 3:5-6
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.

I know these verses very well. I memorized them in elementary school. But I still need reminders. Because sometimes I read a Bible verse and think, yeah, yeah, I know that I should do ____. But sometimes the concepts are abstract, like trust. Your own understanding. Acknowledge Him. And if I don't take the time to absorb it, I move on because I didn't listen to what God was saying to me or even to apply it to my life. Maybe it's just me, but music (especially hymns) speaks into my life so often and gives me the reminders I so often need. For example, I'll be doing something like checking Facebook and listening to my hymn station on Pandora in the background, and bam! A phrase will just hit me.

I love the song, Be Still My Soul anyway, but the line "leave to thy God to order and provide" has never jumped out at me before. In the middle of a time when my plans were not occurring in the order I wanted them to and also when I knew I couldn't provide for some of my own needs, I heard this line of this song in a whole new way. I can plan and set goals and make lists and budget, but God is ultimately the one who orders my days and provides all of my needs and my wants even before I know what they are.

 

This image is now my desktop background, so I have constant reminders that it's okay to set goals but I need to allow God to micromanage my life.

Hanukkah!

So last night, Nate and I took our niece to a Hanukkah service and party at our church. I should preface by saying that our church has a large-ish Messianic Jewish ministry, which means they minister to Jews who believe in Jesus as the Messiah. They meet about once a month on the first Friday evening of the month, which I believe is when the Sabbath technically starts (at sundown). We have been to a service before, as it is open to anyone who wants to attend and is not limited to Jewish people only. Since I've never been to a service at a Jewish synagogue, I can't say with any degree of certainty, but I would imagine this service is a cross between our regular weekend services and a traditional Jewish service.

I love experiencing new and different things as often as I can, so going to a Messianic Jewish service was an awesome cultural experience for me. A few interesting things to mention:

• They read from the Torah in Hebrew and then again translated into English.
• They do not write out God or Lord as, in Jewish tradition, God's name is considered so holy and revered that it's too holy to try to spell or write on paper. Instead, they write G-d and L-rd.
• They sing songs in Hebrew (I think?) and in English. We sang the famous song (in the movie/musical "Fiddler on the Roof") Hava Nagila as well as others. The song that got stuck in our heads the most is "Shema Yisrael" which means "Hear O Israel" and the rest of the song translates to "the Lord, our God, the Lord is one."
• There is a group who does traditional Jewish dances during the worship part of the service, which is soooo awesome.

So they explained Hanukkah to us, which I am going to sum up to the best of my knowledge. If this is totally off, please don't be offended. This is my blog and not a history paper, so I'm not going to do a ton of research for this. I am leaving out a lot of what I'm sure are important details, so if you are curious, look it up. :o)

Basically in the time between Malachi and the Gospels, there was a really bad king who forced the Jews to worship the Greek gods in the Temple and to slaughter pigs on the altar, which is obviously a huge afront to how the Jews were to worship the One Living God as per the Law in the Old Testament. One man rose up in rebellion and started a revolution that overthrew the Empire of this bad king. They rededicated the Temple to God. During the uprising, they only had enough oil to last one day, but it is believed that God made the oil last for eight days instead of one. The Menorah is a symbol of God's constant protection and provision for his people, Israel. I believe this is recorded in Maccabees, but since that isn't in our canon and I'm too lazy to look it up, I wouldn't know for sure.

Anyway, before attending this service, I had a very limited knowledge of what Hanukkah actually is. I knew what the Menorah was and the Dreidl, but as for their meanings, I had no idea. At the end of the service, the pastor of Jewish ministries, said this, "You can basically sum up all Jewish holidays like this: They hated us and tried to kill us. We fought back. We won. Let's eat!"

We laughed so hard. Love it. After the service, we went to the party. They served some traditional Hanukkah food, which is predominantly fried to remind us of the miracle of the oil. They did some more dancing to teach anyone who wanted to learn. There were photobooths, music, driedl games and the chocolate coins all throughout, and festive decorations. So much fun. The only thing I didn't like is that there were too many people for the size of the room! My niece, Ellie, loved the driedl! It was such a good experience, and I would recommend something like it to anyone who is curious about Hanukkah.

My DIY Christmas Wreath

I've been doing so many crafty projects lately that I am dying to share. I love decorating, and so right after Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times of the year because that's when we start decorating for Christmas! I want to share one of such projects, but first, the back story.

While going through our boxes of Christmas decorations, I came across the wreath box. I opened it and went, "ughhhhhh." I'm not a DIY blogger, obviously, so I forgot to take a before picture, but I haphazardly put the wreath back together so you'd get the idea. Sorry the picture is not so great.

It's not the ugliest wreath on the block (you should see my neighbor's!), but let's be honest, it looks like something circa 1994. My mom is one of the best bargain shoppers I've ever met, and she knows a find when she sees one. A year or two ago, she knew I didn't have a wreath and found this one for me probably thinking it was better than nothing, as I used to be into collecting bears when I was little (that's a story for another day). So, I paid nothing for this wreath, but I wasn't really feeling it this year. But, since there's no money in the budget for a new wreath, I ended up hanging it up anyway thinking I might find a way to modify it to my liking later. I'm a little ashamed to admit that. As an aside, after hanging it, I discovered the bears covered the little peephole in the front door, which I felt like was kind of a safety-hazard.

I did do some shopping around the next day to see if I could find something I liked better, or at least inspiration to make mine better. Have you seen prices on wreaths? Unless you get the yucky, fake looking ones, they cost anywhere from $20-50 dollars!!!!! Even if I did have money for it, I am wayyyy too cheap to pay that much for a wreath. Well, I might pay $20, but after this project, no way. What I did notice is that grapevine wreaths are still in style (or are again?). I knew there was something I liked about this wreath!!! I also saw that Hobby Lobby was selling plain grapevine wreath bases exactly like mine for $10. Score!

So when I was out shopping yesterday, I picked up two branches/bunches of the cranberry-looking floral embellishments. I'm sorry I don't know what they are called. I have never done this before! They were $1.27 each, but I got them for half price. Score again!

Last night, I sat down with my pliers and ripped the bears and little sign off the wreath. I noticed the twine on it was old, weathered, and had broken and been tied back together in places. Thankfully I already had the heavy duty jute twine to replace it, so I took off the old twine, added the berries and new twine, and ta-da! The result:

A brand new, contemporary, natural, gorgeous-looking wreath that only cost me about $1. :o) And while I am pretty excited about the low cost, what I am even more proud of is that I did it myself. Pinterest actually had nothing to do with this project! I've never done anything like this before, and I had no help. This is so not like me: I didn't even look at any pictures for inspiration or how-tos. *gasp* I just kind of sat down and did it. And bonus, it doesn't cover the peephole anymore! So yay for craftiness. The end.

My DIY Centerpiece

We are hosting Christmas dinner at our house for the first time ever this year, and while I was decorating, I couldn't find anything I liked in my decorations that would work well for a centerpiece. While are only hosting my brother, his wife, and their daughter on Christmas day, Nate and I both wanted something festive on our table that we could enjoy all season. So, along came Pinterest. I love that site for so many reasons, not the least of which is for decorating ideas. I found this picture and thought it would be perfect!

Link credit here.

I was so excited and had everything I needed except for the vase, but I showed this picture to Nate. He was less than impressed. "It doesn't look very Christmas-y," he said. Granted, I knew he looks at a picture and sees...exactly what is in the picture. I look at it and see the possibilities or how I would do it differently. I am the artsy-crafty one and can visualize it with our silver platter, our ornaments, and on our table. Nate, not so much. He was obviously reacting to the colors, and since they are not red and green, they are not Christmas-y. ;o)

Anyway, I had already decided that in order to keep our living space in our apartment from looking totally tacky, it was going to have to have a consistent color scheme. I decided to keep the traditional colors red and green (keeps the husband happy), add silver, and use those elements all throughout our living room/dining room area.

If you haven't read or heard much about us lately, you might not know, but we are on a tight budget (which sounds awful, but we love it). This means I don't have much extra to just go out and
buy decorations for Christmas. The only thing I had to buy for this centerpiece was the vase, the silver ribbon, and the green ornaments. Not too shabby! Without further ado, our centerpiece.

My pictures aren't as awesome as the original, probably because I took it right before the sun went down this evening and not earlier in the day, like I should have. Oh well. Hopefully you get the idea.

Elements of the centerpiece:
Green Table Runner - Dollar Tree - $1 (I need to iron it still, obviously. Pretend it's not wrinkled. ;o) )
Silver Platter - already had - I think this is a "Mom Find"
White Pillar Candle - already had - Mom Find (I used homemade mod podge, salt, and fake snow to make it sparkly. It turned out awesomely!)
Square (actually rectangular) Vase - Target - ~$10
Red & Green Ornaments - Dollar Tree - a tube of 12 for $1
Silver Ornaments - IKEA - Mom found them at Goodwill, I think for really cheap. I have two small boxes of them and there are enough to cover our whole tree and then some. I love them, and so does Nate.
Salt & Pepper shakers are just a part of my Pfaltzgraff dishes set
Fake snow (the kind you sprinkle) - Meijer last Christmas - IDK how much it cost
Silver Ribbon - Hobby Lobby - $2.50 (It was half price in the floral section and not in with the Christmas decorations. I have used it A TON. I was going to get more yesterday since I almost ran out; but, the sale had ended, and it was back to full price. Yuck.)

A few extra notes:
• I like that in the original picture, it looks like they used ribbon for the table runner. It looks nice but is so not practical for all month in my house. Plus, you can't really beat a table runner for $1.
• I also found a how-to on making the bow since I've never attempted something like that before. My grandmother is good at things like that, though, and she would be so proud!

My very favorite thing about this centerpiece is that it is pretty to look at but also very low profile, meaning you can actually see the people across the table from you, which is a rare quality in a centerpiece for those of us who are short! Also, Nate loves how it turned out, too. Hope y'all enjoy seeing it!

Christmas with the Piatts

This year my husband and I are spending the holidays (meaning Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year's) away from our parents and extended families. If you are new to our blog, I should add that we do live near my older brother, his wife, and their daughter, but it's very different, and many times difficult, for us to not be near our extended families and friends or able to enjoy many of the Christmas traditions we are used to. This year, we have decided to carry along with the spirit of the Attitude of Gratitude: 30 Days of Thankfulness and come up with 31 things we are doing to make the Christmas season special to us. We chose 31 because that's how many days there are between today and Christmas Day this year.

Christmas with the Piatts
31 Things that Make Christmas Special to Us
(Most of these things are free or inexpensive!)

November 25: We listened to Christmas music and decorated the tree! (I squeezed in a second fun thing by making our first batch of Christmas cookies while Nate watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. He loves that movie!)
November 26: Today, I brought out the Christmas dishes so we have a full month to enjoy them.
November 27: I made a dining room table centerpiece.
November 28: I made a wreath for our front door.
November 29: We had dinner and spent time with new friends.
November 30:
December 1:
December 2: We went to a Hanukkah service and party for the first time!
December 3:

I will continue to update this post as the days and weeks go on, but I'll try to post a photo of each thing each day, as I am able. Enjoy and Merry Christmas! :o)

Attitude of Gratitude: 30 Days of Thankfulness

I decided to jump on the bandwagon and daily post on Facebook the things I'm thankful for. It only takes a minute or so each day, but it has significantly impacted my mindset and preparedness for the Thanksgiving holiday. It's easy to get caught up in looking forward to the day of eating turkey and other yummy food and planning for Christmas (which seems to start the day after Halloween), but doing this simple thing every day has really drastically changed my outlook on my life. Not that I hated my life before, but I truly am thankful for all that I have. I will list all of my posts for this year below, for posterity. :o)

Attitude of Gratitude: 30 Days of Thankfulness
November 1-30, 2011
1 :: I'm thankful for days off when I can sleep in. ♥
2 :: I'm thankful for Starbucks and chats with great long distance friends like Laura Taylor.
3 :: As much as I'm looking forward to us having kids of our own some day, I am so thankful for this time in our lives when it's just the two of us.
4 :: I'm thankful for a zero-based budget, Dave Ramsey, and Financial Peace University which we are attending in January.
5 :: I'm thankful for three-day weekends!
6 :: I'm so very thankful for our pastor, Robert Morris, and Gateway Worship at Gateway Church. We are truly so blessed with a wonderful church home.
7 :: I am thankful for life, my relationship with Jesus, and my upbringing as I'm praying for the unknown family and friends of our 32-year-old neighbor who committed suicide last night.
8 :: I'm so thankful to live in a country where I get to vote. It is an honor and a privilege that is way too easy to take for granted.
9 :: I'm thankful for grilled cheese and tomato soup. Whether I'm 8 or 28, it has never failed when I want yummy comfort food. ♥
10 :: I am thankful for new, cute and inexpensive outfits. It seems trivial, but since it's rare for me, I am sincerely grateful for it!
11 :: I am truly thankful for veterans, especially the brave young men and (woman) that I know who have served, but today I'm also thankful for YouTube, Baby Einstein, and my parents for what they dealt with when I was a cranky, sick, teething kid. Now that I understand more of what they went through, I can reeeeeeally appreciate them.
12 :: Seeing as I was on the go from 8 am to 11 pm today, I am thankful for rest! :o)
13 :: I am thankful for Skype and FaceTime which make 1,000 miles not feel so far. :o)
14 :: I am thankful for Pinterest!
15 :: I'm thankful for our small group. I am missing it tonight, but I love the new relationships we have established. I am going to be so sad when the semester is over!
16 :: I'm thankful for my amazing, annoying, loving, thinks-he's-a-lap-dog, five-and-a-half-year-old mutt Apollo who keeps me company. Thanks to him, I never have to be home alone! :o)
17 :: I know it's controversial, but I am thankful Occupy Dallas is over. It was disbanded last night, and since they DO NOT represent me or pretty much anyone I know, I'm glad they no longer have the media attention and voice to accomplish a whole lot of nothing (but abusing people and public property).
18 :: I'm thankful for guilt-free date nights on a budget! No regrets. I love spending time with Nate Piatt. ♥
19 :: Today I am thankful to live in Texas. I know how blessed we are to be able to experience events like my niece's first birthday party today, and I hope I don't ever take it for granted. Oh, and the 79 degree weather in November isn't too shabby either. ;o)
20 :: I am so very thankful for a 87-year-old lady, my GramE. She is my only living grandparent, and today is her birthday. I know lots of people don't get to know their grandparents as adults, and I am so thankful to have her. I just wish she didn't live so far away. Love you GramE! :o)
21 :: I am thankful for these "Attitude of Gratitude: Season of Thanksgiving" posts. It forces me to stop and reflect on my life every day and has totally prepared me for the upcoming Day of Thanksgiving. Even though we are so sad to be away from most of our family and friends this year, we truly have so much to be thankful for.
22 :: I'm thankful for Ellie Grace Wills. Happy first birthday ever, Elle Belle. Your "Ayaya" loves you more than you know.
23 :: I am thankful for employment.
24 :: I am thankful to be able to spend Thanksgiving Day with family, even if it's only the 5 of us.
25 :: I am thankful for friends. I don't have nearly as many good, close friends these days as I did back in college, so I'm thankful for the ones I do have and that Facebook helps us keep in touch.
26 :: I mentioned them in a previous post, but I am thankful for my parents. If I do half as good a job being a parent (some day) as they did with us, I'll be doing just fine. Love you Mom and Dad!
27 :: I am thankful for my two awesome brothers. I wouldn't trade them for anyone, and the wives they picked out are pretty great too. I love having sisters now that are also my friends. :o)
28 :: I am thankful for my husband, Nate Piatt. He is hands-down the hardest working man I know. He is quiet and serious a lot, but we are so goofy sometimes – he cracks me up like no one else. I am so grateful that I get to do life with him every single day. I love you, babe!
29 :: I am so thankful for the Bible that I can read and understand in my language and that I can carry with me everywhere I go (on my iPod). We take it for granted but other generations and cultures did not have this privilege, and it's pretty awesome.
30 :: Last, and definitely not least, I am thankful for Jesus, who truly was and is the best gift ever.