An Awesome Book!

For about seven years now, my go to book has been Francine Rivers' "Redeeming Love." It is a fictional book based upon the book Song of Solomon in the Bible. I read this book whenever I feel like I need a reminder that there is Someone who loves me unconditionally.

Wednesday, I decided I would go to B&N. My weekend had been pretty terrible and I needed a pick-me-up. I was intending to purchase a Gary Chapman book. I have the 5 Love Languages on Kindle, but I wanted a hard copy so that I could highlight, take notes and underline important sections. Well, B&N was out of stock on that book. So I perused the featured tables just looking for anything to catch my eye. I saw a book with a photo of the most beautiful wedding dress I'd ever seen. Appropriately, it was called "The Wedding Dress" by Rachel Hauck. I read the back cover. Its tag line read, "One Dress, Four Women, One Hundred Years..." or something to that effect. The summary read to be a great mystery book. Already I was hooked.

Additionally, I have this funny habit when it comes to selecting books to read. I will read the first page, a page somewhere near the middle, and another page near the end. I like to see if I will like the style of writing and how challenging a read a book may be. Just reading those three pages, I was hooked. The writing flowed well, there was mention of Jesus in an appropriate context and I wanted to read more!

I couldn't dive into the book until Friday. But, let me tell you... I was done with it in three hours!

This book is my new "Redeeming Love." "The Wedding Dress" was like a hug from God. The message of this book was that this wedding dress is a metaphor for The Gospel. The Gospel is for everyone. It fits everyone like a glove. The dress in the book fit four women over the course of a hundred years and never needed to be altered. As is the Gospel, It does not need to be altered. Not by one stitch in or out.

I have been saved since I was 8 years old at Mims Baptist Church in Conroe, TX. William Blackburn came to preach as a guest at our church and he did a good job of explaining sin and salvation. He did such a good job that at invitation time I made my decision to accept Jesus Christ as my personal Lord an Savior. I was baptized a few Sundays later. By no means am I perfect. I still sin. But I repent and I know that the Grace of God has redeemed me for ever and ever.

Anyway, after my terrible weekend, and reading this wonderful book... I feel back to 100%. I have been reminded that I have a Heavenly Father who loves me unconditionally even when my life is in turmoil.

Go Find Rachel Hauck Here.

Don't Make the Same Mistake I Did!!

Hide your valuables.
Lock your vehicle.
Take your keys.

I see that sign every time I go to the mall. The phrase is repeated on the news stations for Black Friday. It's pretty much stuck in my head.

BUT, I made a terrible mistake. Just once. And I learned my lesson. Big time. At some point between taking my final 2 weeks ago and this past Sunday, someone got in my truck and took my laptop.

It's sickening that I know a stranger was in my truck.

It's sad that the last time I backed up pictures, documents, etc was about six months ago. So, all my pictures from Natalee's first three months of life are gone. Most of my school work is gone. I had PDF documents of bank statements in a folder (password protected, BUT STILL...)

I'm not angry my laptop was stolen. It's just a thing. I can replace it. It will take a while; money doesn't grow on trees, ya know? I'm more upset at myself. I know better. I was probaby in a hurry and didn't think. I am upset that there are people out there that do things like lie, cheat and steal. I didn't do anything to provoke a stranger. What did I do to deserve this?

I do know that I came out of this situation fairly lucky. Our neighbor's truck had all its windows smashed out and tires slashed.

I'm so ready to move. I keep counting the days till we're out of here. Eight more days!! Can't wait!

So, don't be stupid, like me! Lock your doors!! Don't leave things in your vehicle. I'm about to go out and take all unneccessary stuff out of my truck. Just in case the jerk comes back. I'll be praying for him.

Wedding Photos

Matt and I got married July 10, 2010. Matt prides himself on knowing that we share our wedding date with Carrie Underwood and her husband! This whole wedding was planned and put together in four months! I realized nearly two years after the event that the only pictures online of our day were pictures we were just tagged in on Facebook. So, with no further ado… here are a few photos of our special day!

Completed Crafts

Being Crafty

Recently I have been in a crafting mood. Like, one day after another, I’m completing crafts!

This week, I finished a paper crafted birthday card for my wonderful Mom in Law using this tutorial from Pinterest, as well as a patriotic wreath using this tutorial from Pinterest (with my own adaptations…).

I LOVE PINTEREST!

This is the birthday card I made for my Mom in Law using this tutorial.

This is a handprint tutu Riley and I made.

This is a Patriotic Wreath I made following this tutorial.

Ransom Toys

“Take This to Your Room, Riley!”

Over and over again! All day, every day! Usually the same toys or shoes each time, too.

In fact, here are the toys in question

·         Noah’s ark

·         Ball

·         Basket full of crayons

·         Lisa Frank coloring book

·         Jewelry box

·         Books

·         A bunch of other “Riley Treasures”

So, one day on Pinterest, I found a pin that was a Mommy Ransom Chore Box. I wasn’t out to find anything related to this. In fact, I just did an “Everything” search and this is what I found:

All the toys left out during the day go into the tote and in order for the toy’s owner to get the toy back is to do a “ransom” chore such as cleaning the windows or baseboards or a silly activity like 20 jumping jacks while chanting “I am a clean machine!”

So, my question is… Is 2 ½ years too early to start ransom chores??  I kind of think so. I’m picky about streaks in my glass, she wouldn’t be able to reach very high, and she doesn’t have the attention span to finish a task. As far a silly activities go, I don’t think she is coordinated enough to do jumping jacks…  I suppose if I was really serious about this Ransom Box, I could always come up with my own chores or activities.

Does your toddler have chores to do at home on a regular basis? What does he/she do for you?

Riley already feeds her two guinea pigs, Dizzy and Lizzy. She also takes her dishes to the sink when she is done and will throw away trash when asked.

Camera Strap Cover

Happy Monday!

It’s just been me and the littlest one today. Riley spent the night with her Grandma, since it was Grandma’s sisters’ last night visiting us in Texas.

I’ve been stalking Pinterest a lot lately for things to do and make. I found this tutorial to make a cover for a camera shoulder/neck strap.

I hadn’t been planning on making it right away. I pinned it for later use. However, a good friend commented on my pin saying, “COURTNEY! MAKE ME ONE OF THESE!!!” I kid you not, all caps and many exclamation points. So, after finding out her favorite colors… yada yada… I made a trip to Jo Ann’s to collect fabric and fusible webbing. I went ahead and bought fabric for my own strap.

Ok, so Jo Ann’s is not new to our area of Texas. However, since moving to Conroe 20 years ago (HEY! THIS YEAR IS 20 YEARS OF LIVING IN CONROE!!), Jo Ann’s has been in three different locations, each one slightly bigger than the one before. Well, this newest location is absolutely HUGE. It took me an hour to browse everything in that store.

Anyway, here is what the strap covers turned out to look like. I’m very happy with them. I love that it only took twenty minutes to make one. I did tweak a few of the specifications to make it my own and a little easier for my eyes to see what I was doing on the sewing machine, but the end product is exactly what the tutorial end product looks like!

 This one will be my Friend’s strap cover.

This one is mine! (Check out my mad Instagram skills ;-)

Natalee's Two-Month Check Up

Today was a pretty great day! Perfect beach weather:) Too bad I wasn't at the beach. Matt was working close enough to home that Natalee and I got to meet him for lunch at Subway. I like these days. I wish there were more days where he worked close by.

After lunch, we went to Natalee's 2-month check up. We got there about 30 minutes early and when we walked in there was NO one in the waiting room. We got to go back to the exam room right after checking in. It was awesome, I don't think that has ever happened to us. Our nurse was wonderful. Natalee 'talked' to him the whole time he took her measurements. At 9 weeks old, Natalee is 22.5 inches long (50th percentile) and 10.00 lbs (15th percentile). So she is about average height and fairly skinny... but, she is following a curve so her doctor is not concerned one bit.

Natalee's doctor then came in to check her out. He was very happy with her progress and said he was proud of how good I have been doing with my kiddos' development. Obviously I'm going to take care of my kids, but it is always appreciated when an authority figure acknowledges accomplishments! Our pedi was Kyle's and my pedi when we were little. I've always liked him. He's a funny guy! Today he asked me how tummy time has been going. I told him, in all honesty we struggle with it. Or, *I* struggle with it. I hate making my baby cry. I didn't do very well with Riley and tummy time either and she's 2.5 and does everything just fine or even better. Dr. Mac told me, "Tummy time is a good thing. Letting babies cry is not going to turn them into underwear bombers or shoe bombers!" I laughed at that... So any way, Natalee is just as perfect as the day she was born and wont go back until she is 4 months old.

After Natalee's doctor appointment, we went to Grandma's house to pick Riley up and then home to get Daddy so we could go see Poppy at work. Riley loves seeing her Poppy at the hobby shop. If you ask Riley what Poppy does at work, she will tell you, "Poppy works on the computer and helicopters at the hobby shop!" Only, it sounds much cuter when she says it. After Dad closed up the shop, we went and grabbed dinner at Arby's. (I had a chicken salad wrap, it was very yummy and I totally recommend it!)

So anyway, today was a really good day! Riley is excited about tomorrow. She gets to go with Grandma to pick up Aunt Grace from the airport and then we all get to go to dinner for Grandma's birthday:)

Cheers!

A New Name and an Update!

Hello! It's been yet another long time since I have updated on our family.

Natalee Ann Dye is now here!! She was born 02-22-2012, 5:53pm, 6lb 12 oz, 20 in! 

Natalee is the calmest, most alert (and not crying) baby I've ever held! (Rooster was colicky for the first four months and Natalee is just a complete OPPOSITE!) As of this past Wednesday, she is 8 weeks old. 

This is our complete family on Easter Sunday 2012. We are all wearing some form of yellow!

This is Natalee this past weekend. I think she is roughly 9 lbs now. Just about 3 lbs heavier since birth :)

Matt and my in-laws and my parents got me a wonderful sewing machine for my 24th birthday last August. I have gone through several crafting spurts since owning it. This past week, I made this little dress for Riley. It was my first time to tackle a zipper. So far I do not like messing with zippers, but I also know that "practice makes perfect!" 

This is Riley sitting on the steps of TX's Capitol Building in Austin, TX. Here she is 2.5 years old! 

So, since we have added Natalee to our family, I changed the name of my blog. It is no longer We Three Dyes, but now it is Doodle Bugs and Daisies. I love Daisies and Doodle Bug is my daddy's nick name for me, but we use it for the girls, too! 

Cheers!