Royal Wedding

Royal Wedding

So, I cannot believe how many people woke up at 3 or 4 am to tune in and watch the wedding!  I tuned in for the last part while I was making breakfast for the fam.  Abi's favorite breakfast is pancakes, so she had these!

However, I'm going to talk about dreaming a little bit.  If you had been a guest at the Royal Wedding, what would you have worn?  Here are some pictures to inspire you (these pictures are from www.People.com):

And while you are dreaming of what you would wear, picture what you would wear WITH it!  Dress it up with some of these beautiful jewels:

    

 All of these beautiful jewels can be in your jewelry box!  Shop atwww.bamboopink.net/carriej today!

NOW LET'S TALK FOOD!

I want to hear from you what your dream menu would be for your own Royal Wedding.  And then let's figure out how to make it gluten-free!  Please comment here and let's start creating our own Gluten-Free Royal Wedding Meal.  FUN!

So Sweet

I got up early this morning to spend some quiet time with my Lord.  What a sweet time it was.  I didn't know where I would start, what I would read, what I would listen to.... I just knew I wanted to get up.  I woke up with the lyrics of "Arise, My Soul Arise" in my head, but could only remember a few lines.  SO I started by looking it up.  That led to memories of my church in Nashville, the home I had for several years. So I looked them up.  Grace Community Church in Nashville.  How thrilling to read about how much they have grown, how they continue to grow and they now have a couple of albums out.  I am now listening to their worship recording from last year's Easter service.  It starts out with the children singing.  How wonderful those little voices are!  How refreshing, humbling and inspiring to hear such sweet little voices sing praise to our Lord.

I am really struggling to find my niche, the "thing" that I am supposed to be doing.  I am trying to spread in so many directions to "find myself" when all I really need to do is be still and look up.  To pray and to listen.  Something so simple, yet so hard.  We live in a world that tells us to push and strive for more all the time.  We live in a society which leads us to want to "keep up."  To do, do, do.  When, in fact, we are sometimes called to wait.  To be still.  It is so very hard to sit and be still.  Especially when people are looking at you and wondering why, in the midst of crisis and downfall, you are waiting, doing nothing and waiting.  I assure you, our waiting has nothing to do with our lack of energy or drive.  It has everything to do with waiting on the Lord.  To allow Him to work.  To allow Him to provide as He has promised.  He has called us to wait.  I am not saying that everyone is called to this in times of trial - you are responsible to pray and listen to what God is saying to you and asking you to do.  And only YOU know what He is asking you to do.  Here is what I know of my personal trial right now.  I have been scrambling to make things happen, to get something in place, to be able to help provide for my family.  I have let it overcome me.  To be my main focus.  So much so that I forgot to listen to the laughs of my children.  That I forgot to laugh with them.  That there is a life happening right in front of me and I am missing it.  God has entrusted to me these precious little girls who are full of giggles, tea parties, dress-up parties, silliness and love.  They need to be loved and nurtured, and I have missed out on some of it because of my own agenda.  My own need to be in control.   And in the process of trying to gain control, I was quickly spinning more out of control.  The more I try to take control, the more out of control and lost I become.  Funny how that works.

So, I began to take a minute to giggle with my silly and precious girls.  To be free and goofy.  And to remember what is really important in life.  And that I have a calling right in front of me - to care for and love my children, raising them to love and trust the Lord.  Knowing there is something additional coming, but that it will be revealed at just the right moment.  So as I wait for the big reveal, I will continue live each moment as it comes, to have a tea party with my girls, to dress-up for the ball, to be silly, to pray, worship and praise my Lord and Savior, remembering all that He gave for me - how much He loves me.... There is nothing like finding a prayer in the Bible that completely sums up all that you are thinking and feeling.  This passage popped up this morning, so I leave you with this prayer:

Psalm 139

 ¹ You have searched me, LORD,
   and you know me.
² You know when I sit and when I rise;
   you perceive my thoughts from afar.
³ You discern my going out and my lying down;
   you are familiar with all my ways.
⁴ Before a word is on my tongue
   you, LORD, know it completely.
⁵ You hem me in behind and before,
   and you lay your hand upon me.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
   too lofty for me to attain.

 ⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit?
   Where can I flee from your presence?
⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
   if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
   if I settle on the far side of the sea,
¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
   your right hand will hold me fast.
¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
   and the light become night around me,”
¹² even the darkness will not be dark to you;
   the night will shine like the day,
   for darkness is as light to you.

 ¹³ For you created my inmost being;
   you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
   your works are wonderful,
   I know that full well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
   when I was made in the secret place,
   when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;
   all the days ordained for me were written in your book
   before one of them came to be.
¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts,^[a] God!
   How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸ Were I to count them,
   they would outnumber the grains of sand—
   when I awake, I am still with you.

 ¹⁹ If only you, God, would slay the wicked!
   Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
²⁰ They speak of you with evil intent;
   your adversaries misuse your name.
²¹ Do I not hate those who hate you, LORD,
   and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
²² I have nothing but hatred for them;
   I count them my enemies.
²³ Search me, God, and know my heart;
   test me and know my anxious thoughts.
²⁴ See if there is any offensive way in me,
   and lead me in the way everlasting.

Roots by the Stream

Jeremiah 17:7-8 reads, "'But blessed is the mans who trusts in the Lords, whose confidence is in Him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a dought and never fails to bear fruit.'"

This passage opened up this morning when I was flipping through my Bible at church during worship. We had yet another blow last night with the company and I have to admit, I was not excited about going to church this morning. I wanted to stay home and sulk. And continue to ask why this keeps happening over and over again. However, my spirit was stirring. And Abi REALLY wanted to go. Mark and Amanda have pink eye, so they were staying home anyway. I knew I needed to go, and I knew it was also not right to keep Abi from church just because of the state of my heart. So, I went upstairs and turned on some worship music while I got ready. I pulled up the music that the team was going to sing this morning as well as the set I will be singing next week. God is so good. The first song I clicked on was "You Are Holy (Prince of Peace)" by Michael W. Smith. "You are Lord of Lords, You are King of Kings, You are Mighty God, Lord of Everything. You're Emmanuel, You're the Great I AM, You're my Prince of Peace, Who is the Lamb. You're the Living God, You're my Saving Grace, You will reign forever, You are Ancient of Days. You are Alpha, Omega, Beginning and End. You're my Savior, Messiah, Redeemer and Friend. You're my Prince of Peace and I will live my life for you." As if that weren't enough to point be back in the right direction, here is the next song that I opened up: Todd Fields' "It is Well." We all know the verses well. Here is chorus, the part that stuck with me this morning, "It is well, it is well, through the storm I am held. It is well, it is well with my soul. It is well, it is well, God has won, Christ prevailed. It is well, it is well with my soul." It is so easy to say those words when things are going really well. But when you are struck down again and again, it's not so easy to say them and mean it. To truly mean "it is well with my soul." This morning, I did not start out feeling like all was well with my soul. However, knowing that the Lord brought these words to me to speak to me personally in this storm, It was easier to choke them out through the tears.

As I headed to church with Abi, my soul was quiet. Rested. And I was ready for what the Lord was going to speak to me. When I got into service, I stayed in the back, sat down and opened up my Bible while the worship was going on. Worship is my pathway and I knew the Lord had something He wanted to say to me. Some words of encouragement for this moment in our journey. He fed me all kinds of encouraging scripture. And in the midst of it all the team began to sing "My Savior, My God."  The chorus says this, "My Savior loves, my Savior lives, my Savior's always there for me. My God He was, my God He is, my God is always gonna be. " My Savior is always there for ME. As if this weren't enough to encourage me and to let me know He was in control and would take care of us, he brought me to Jeremiah 17:7-8 written above.

Now I hope my pastor isn't reading this because I have NO idea what his message was today. I was so tuned in to what the Lord was speaking to me that I didn't hear a word from the pulpit. However, I think he would be okay with that knowing I was listening to the sweet words of my Father. Here is how these 2 verses were broken down for me:

vs. 8 " He will be like a tree planted my the water that sends out roots by the stream." We are to plant ourselves by the stream of Living Water, to send our roots toward that stream. To spend time with God, reading His word, soaking it in, drawing His words up through our roots and through our branches so that we may continue to have green leaves and bear fruit. So that we can LIVE. HE is the source of our water, the source of our life. He will give us what we need to survive if we only trust and believe in Him. If we continue to seek Him in all we do and all we are.

The next part of vs. 8 reads, "It does not fear heat when it comes; its leaves are always green." If we continue to soak up the Living Water from the stream by which we are planted, we will never wither. We will remain green. We will continue to live. Because we have planted ourselves by the stream of water. Our roots have reached out to it and continue to drink from it. We have a constant source of life right beside us if we will only reach for it. We do not need to fear the heat, the struggles, the obstacles, the seemingly endless, dark tunnel. We need only reach for that source of Life.

The last part of vs 8 reads, "It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit." No worries in a YEAR of drought. A year! We have so much water to drink from and stored up that we need not worry. He is our constant life support. HE provides everything we need to survive, if we only look to the Lord and soak up all that He is, all the He has promised and all that He has to offer. He will guide us and give us strength and life.

As much as I question, I turn to worship which always leads me to the Word. I praise through my tears, frustration, questions....because there is Joy in those moments. Answers in the tears. Direction in the midst of chaos. And if I praise through it all, the enemy will not be able to get a foothold. If I go straight to worship and the Scriptures, the voices of doubt, discouragement and hopelessness are gone. Even when I don't feel like it, I worship. Because I know I will hear Truth. I will be encouraged. I will not know all the answers, but I will be reminded that I am not alone. That there is a bigger picture, a bigger purpose and a God who loves me like no other. A god who will not ever let me down. Who will be my one constant Rock through it all. So I will swim in the waters of Life. Take a deep drink of the water by which I have been planted. Soak up the water through my roots and allow it to flow through the branches, that my leaves will continue to be green and that I may continue to bear fruit in the midst of this drought. The source of Life is always beside you. Stand firm and full of life where you are.

We moved into a rental home a couple of months ago. We are in a beautiful location.... right next to the water. It's a canal, and we are right at the "T". God knew when He gave us this home that I would need this physical picture of being planted right by the water. This was not by chance. It was ordained for moments just like this. My Lord knew what was coming and planned ahead, like He always does. Oh, how much He loves me. How much He loves all of us.

Just in case I didn't quite get how much He loves me, He had my 4-year old daughter take the picture at the start of the blog. I had to chuckle about this when I was thinking through the past couple of days. I was taking pictures of the gorgeous glass-like water reflecting the clouds above. My daughter happened to take a picture of the tree by the water. And she hit the button by accident. Or so I thought. It ended up being my favorite picture! And today I realized this. There are 4 fruit trees in our back yard. This particular one is the closest one to the water (by inches) and looks to be the only one that will bear fruit this season. Chance? No way. I truly believe that my Lord orchestrated all of this to speak to me so clearly in this very moment. To remind me that He has a plan, He knows the order, and if we follow and obey, standing firm and blossoming where we are planted, the He will take care of the rest. That I can have peace in knowing He is in control. So here is a picture of peace, the one He gave me yesterday. Find peace where you are, seek Him always, and reach for the Living Water. He will give you LIFE.

All girls should play dress-up...

And wouldn't you just love to have this in your jewelry box?  I would!  Here is a look at the first jewelry giveaway from bamboopink.  Every girl should play dress-up, and wouldn't this be a FABULOUS piece to add to your collection of Jewels & Tiaras?!?  Come play!

www.bambopink.net/carriej

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Creativity over Toys

I have conversations with my husband about how we used to make up games when we were little.  We didn't have much, but I just remember having so much fun growing up.  My brother, sister and I would make up games, inside or out, be creative with what we had, use our imagination.... you know, back in the day.  I sound so ancient.  I truly cannot believe the amount of toys that are out today.  And for absolutely everything.  There really is no need for children to use their vivid, fun and creative imagination these days.  They don't have to imagine, they just have....

I am in the mood to purge throughout our house.  I am looking at the mountains of toys they girls have and wondering what I can do away with.  So I start with the toys and the first thing I see are the instruments.  We are a music house, so I can't get rid of their instruments.  Or can I.....

When we were growing up, we used pots and pans for drums, wooden spoons for the sticks, our air instruments and mouths for the guitars, trumpets, saxophones, etc., and a hairbrush for a microphone.  Come on, dance and sing with me.  You know you did it too!  And it was SO MUCH FUN!!!!!  I watched my 4-year old, who is very creative and imaginative, create an entire band in front of her using her garden tools, cups, play-dough shaper (we didn't have those either.. back in the day) and anything else she could find.  She had to work to put this together.  And all of her instruments were right upstairs.  She even lined up her animals and dolls behind her for "the rest of her band."   She then asked me for a mic stand... you know - since she had to sing AND play.  Did I mention we are pretty musical in our house?   So, following suit, I handed her an empty crayon box.  Tah-dah!  We have a mic stand!  And she was SO very excited.

Then my 2-year old wanted a microphone too.  I saw a tinker-toy stick on the floor in front of her and told her to pick it up and use that.  It was like a foreign thought to her.  She couldn't even see it, literally.  She didn't get it.  When she finally picked it up and held it in front of her, she deflated... as if to say, "I can't believe I have to settle for this."  She looked at me, I started to count off and she put it down.  She said, "Mommy, I want my microphone upstairs."  And off she went to get it.  Then I was deflated.  Have I totally zapped her from all of her creativity?  Imagination?  When she came down I told her that I used to use a hairbrush.  And still do sometimes.  It's just plain fun!   She totally didn't get it.  Abi, my 4-year old, thought it was great and told me to go get one to use, so that I could be in the band too.  Then when they were getting ready for a rest/quiet time, Abi lined up all the instruments for later:

So here is my thought for the day.  Do we REALLY need all of these toys?  Do you really need all of the toys in your house?  What if we packed up at least half and eve just put it away for a while.  Even just a week.  To see what might come out of it, how our children will grow in just one short week.  Kids are smart.  Kids are creative.  Kids are curious.  Kids are entertaining.  What would happen if we let them use all that creativity, imagination and energy?  And go rid of the crutches that make things so easy?  So unimaginative?  I say let them create!  Let them imagine!  And let them see the potential they have to think up new things.  Let them feel good about what they can do.

Let me know your thoughts and what you might like to put away for a while.  And how it goes.  And what your kids come up with!

Bamboopink.. See it For Yourself

If you haven't heard the buzz yet, you will sooner than you can blink and eye....

bamboopink by JudeFrances

Here is the video of the first bamboopink party.   The jewelry is gorgeous!  And the best things about it?  It is made by the reputable JudeFrances, AND it is affordable.  All between $13 and $99. 

You can be a part of this launch by visiting my website at www.bamboopink.net/carriej, signing up for free, no risk, no obligation, and sell this beautiful line all ONLINE.  Yes, everything can be completed and managed from the comfort of your own home.... and jammies, if you like. 

So what are you waiting for?  Sign up today.  Why? 

Because every girl should, and can, play dress-up.