Happy Fall Y'all!

Last year I featured a Fall craft I did for my front porch decor using branches from a bush I'd trimmed and some fake pumpkins I already had.  You can see the post from last October in the blog archive on the right.

Banners are pretty trendy so I decided to make a little banner for the entertainment center in our living room.  Of course, with as much scrapbook paper as I have laying around, I was able to find the supplies I needed pretty quickly.

Thankfully I own a Cricut, so I used it to cut the triangles out instead of trying to cut all of them out myself.  Not that it would be a problem to do it myself, but it was significantly faster using the machine.

Pardon the lack of pictures for the step-by-step process.  Usually I try to include these so you can get a good visual, but I was so excited to make this that I completely forgot to take them!

At any rate, I chose paper with a Fall leaf pattern for the background, and a solid tan-ish colored lightweight cardstock for the front.  The solid triangle is about 1/4 inch smaller on all sides than the printed background.

The letters, however, were a MUST to cut using the Cricut, as were the leaf shapes.  You could stencil them on the solid color cardstock or use stickers as well.  But I didn't have either, and I'm trying to use what I already have instead of buying new every time.  That helps keep our budget in check and decreases my rather overly-abundant craft room stock.  I used a dark brown lightweight cardstock for the letters and leaf shapes.

After everything was cut, I used my adhesive tape to put it together.  As you can see, I used a brown marker to draw little 'stitches' around the edges of the light solid cardstock for a little more depth and interest.

Here are a few letters and the leaf design I used.

Using a smaller hole punch I punched holes in the top corners of the triangles so I could thread the twine through it to make the banner.

It was very helpful to measure and cut my twine before putting the triangles on so the banner would be the right width and hang on the entertainment center the way I wanted.  

To make sure the letters and leaves stayed put while they hung, I taped the twine on the back of the triangles.  That way it will stay perfectly for years to come as well.

Living in the South for the last 15 years has my speech pattern a bit in the 'southern' way.  So, instead of using "Happy Fall to You", I decided to use "Happy Fall Y'all".  That adds a little whimsy to the banner as well.

And...here is the finished project.  Perfect fit, and perfect little addition to my indoor decor!

Happy Fall Y'all!

Release...Remove...Relieve!

What is it that drives women apart?  Why is it that some of the meanest, harshest, ugly-hearted people we women know are other women?

The simple "Sunday School" answer is SIN.  Yes - obviously - it is sin that brings any negativity in our lives.  Because we are all human, all fallible, and will somehow hurt one another either unintentionally, or heaven forbid - intentionally.  It's just an unfortunate fact of life.

But the answer is more than just SIN.  The answer comes much deeper than I can even touch in my little post here.  So I'll merely skim the surface on a few things that are at the forefront.

We need to Release, Remove, and Relieve.

It starts in our Past.

Somewhere, somehow, a woman in our past has most likely hurt us in some way. Whether it is by words or actions, we've been on the receiving end of another woman's wrath.  This hurt from our past is something we continue to carry for many years.

So how do we deal with this type of hurt?  Have you heard people say "It's in the past! You need to get over it!"?

That's easier said than done, and while some are able to shrug past hurts away, others may need more to help them release that baggage.  If the hurt is too deep to overcome on your own, professional therapy may be what you need to help you work through this hurt, find a way to forgive, and allow you to move one with your life.  It's time to let go of the hurt and embrace the healing.  To finally let it go. Don't make me start singing that song!  You know the one.....

It's time to Release ourselves from what has hurt us in our past so we can not hurt others in the present.

It happens in the Present.

While there are those we'll never know are hurting, there are some who seek to spread their hurt to other people.  I have yet to make it a full week without being on the receiving end of some woman's negativity.  Most often this comes from total strangers, but occasionally it comes from women I know.

I work in retail, so I learned how to deal with ugly-hearted people and not let it bother me on a personal level.  It's important to learn how to handle negative people without letting them get us down.  If I can help change their attitude with compassion and kindness, I do.  But if there is a bad situation I can't deal with and need to just walk away from, I do that.  And that's okay.  For my personal life, I prefer to be around people who lift me up - not tear me down.  So I remove myself from women who bring hurt into my life, and surround myself with those who help my life, my testimony, and who genuinely spread love instead of strife.

It's time to Remove ourselves from the hurtful situations in our lives so we can stop the madness now and prevent it in our future.

It can happen in the Future.

Let's face it - there are a lot of hurting women out there.  There are a lot of women who continually radiate negativity, hurt, and hatred among other women.  We are going to encounter these toxic people no matter what we do or where we are.  It's a sad state of affairs indeed.  But there is hope. Hope for us and for our future.

Just because other women hurt us doesn't mean we need to follow suit and hurt other women.  There are a lot of us who seek to stop the cycle of hurt and make the change to a more positive, life-affirming world.  One of the most delightful quotes I've heard is one that I use frequently.  I first heard it on the introduction to the "Marie" show, by Marie Osmond.  She said "It's time we stopped competing with each other and started completing each other."  You've got it spot on Marie Osmond! I wholeheartedly agree!

It's time to Relieve our lives of the hurt we women bring to other women - right here - right now!

Imagine the power we women can have!  Imagine the love we can spread!  Imagine the support we can give!  Imagine the joy we can embrace!  Imagine the life we can love living......when we Release...Remove...Relieve!

Ladies!  Let's "stop competing with each other and start completing each other"!

Rainy Day Sauce

We had a cooler, rainy day last week.  The view from our windows showed the wet roads, dark clouds, and rather dismal-looking situation.  But I loved it, no matter how it looked.  The temperatures were in the mid-60s and the rain fell softly on the ground.  I opened the windows to feel the glorious, cooler, fresh air, and enjoyed the morning.

While there wasn't much that could be done outside, there was a lot I could do inside.  I had a pile of assorted tomatoes and a few sweet peppers from the garden that were waiting to be eaten.  Rather than let them go to waste, I decided to make some homemade spaghetti sauce.  In between rain showers I ran to the garden and picked the fresh basil I'd need.

The last time I made my own spaghetti sauce I made up my own recipe.  So I decided to be adventurous and do the same this time.  I love that all of my ingredients are from my chemical-free garden, and that the spices I chose to use are also non-GMO, all natural additions.  I used some dried, organic garlic pieces as well.

My choice for the main seasoning of my sauce was the Roasted Garlic Grapeseed Oil and Absolutely Onion Blend by Wildtree.  The Roasted Garlic Grapeseed Oil is so good I sometimes put some in a tiny finger bowl, dip my bread in it and just eat it that way. Oh my goodness - it's soooo good!   Since I didn't have a fresh onion, and didn't feel like getting out in the rain to go to the store, I used the Absolutely Onion Blend.  This added the perfect amount of onion flavor!  Yummy!

My beautiful daughter-in-law sells these AMAZING cooking spices, sauces, oils, and more.  You can find her here:  Wildtree with Amber.   I usually order directly off of her website and have them delivered to my home.  So easy, and we've yet to be disappointed by anything we've tried.  I rarely cook with anything other than Wildtree now because I can trust the product to give me incredibly rich flavor.  And it's important to me that I feed my family food that's all natural, has no preservatives, additives, MSGs, food colorants or dyes, and is non-GMO.  A lot of Wildtree products are also certified organic, so that's definitely a plus.  No - I have not been remunerated for this post, nor has anyone from Wildtree - including my daughter-in-law - asked me to talk about these products.  I just love sharing with you when I find good stuff that's also good for you.

Now....on with the sauce!  While I was chopping and dicing, this song came on and I thought it so apropos that I had to include it here.  After all - why not an Italian singing a great tune while I make some good sauce.  A little Musica maestro!

The first step was pouring the garlic grapeseed oil, the onion blend, some freshly ground pepper corn (I have a little peppermill I use for this), some salt, and the dried organic garlic pieces in the saucepan.  Then I diced the sweet peppers and added them.

I wanted to save the seeds from the Sweet Peppers for my garden next year, so after I cleaned them I set them to dry on a paper towel.  When they were completely dry I put them with the others I'd already done before.  We'll see if my efforts are worth it in my garden next Spring.

The next step was to cut the little bite-size pear tomatoes.  They are so cute and colorful in their yellow splendor.  See how plump and juicy these have grown?  I love picking them and eating them right out in the garden.  They have great flavor and are not bitter like some of the other bite-size tomatoes.  They look great in the saucepan don't they?

Next came the little Roma tomatoes.  The type I planted this year are a lot smaller than what you usually see in the supermarket.  These are about the size of two cherry tomatoes.  I wait to pick them until they are this deep red, and every time I cut into one I'm delighted at their meatiness.  They are SO delicious, and perfect for sauces. And...dump!  On top of the pear tomatoes.

I read that the seeds of tomatoes can make a sauce bitter, and I've had a couple of these little Romas be a little bitter.  So I took the seeds out of the majority of them before adding them to the saucepan. When I made my sauce before I didn't do that and it wasn't bitter, so this time I did it to see if it made any difference.  I couldn't really tell a difference when it was all said and done, so I'll probably not remove the seeds the next time.

On to the beefsteak tomato.  I'm very pleased with these this year too.  This one was as big as 2/3 of my hand!  And oh so juicy, plump, and very 'beefy'.  See?  Yes - it was as red and juicy as it looks.

Into the pan with the rest of the tomatoes!

My basil has been growing extremely well, and I really should have dried some to use throughout the winter.  Maybe next year.  Isn't it pretty, with it's deep green leaves? Basil is full of great taste and is a great source for Vitamin K and Vitamin A.  Lots and lots chopped and added to the mix.  It smelled and looked so good I was tempted to just eat it as a salad instead of cooking it down for sauce!

And now...I have a confession.  I didn't stay true to a good Italian tomato sauce.  As an added bonus to my husband, who likes spicy foods, I decided to add some Wildtree Fiesta Salsa Mix.  This stuff has a deep, rich, bold flavor that adds a little kick with full-body flavor.  So I dumped some of it in the pan purely for experimental purposes. Well...and to please the hubby!

We have this wonderful old electric Tappan stove in our home.  I love the space between the burners.  It's perfect for setting pans on that need to sit for a while, or anything that comes out of the oven that needs to sit somewhere other than my counter, and all the while I can still cook on the burners.  I have no idea what year model it is.  It was in the house when we moved in, and everything works wonderfully, so we've never replaced it.  Isn't it charming?

Onto the stove goes the mixture, to boil and reduce down.  All the colors and the spices look delicious!  I started it out on medium-high heat to get it boiling, all the while stirring it so nothing would stick to the bottom.  After it boiled a few minutes, I turned the heat down and let it continue boiling on its own, checking on it and stirring it only occasionally.  

After a few hours had gone by, this is what it looked like.  Some of the tomatoes had begun to reduce, and the fragrance of all of the spices was wafting throughout the kitchen.  

Let's keep the mambo beat going.  How about good ol' Dean with this Musica!

(Yes - I did dance around the kitchen a little bit.  Got to love that beat!)

After about four hours, the rainstorm had passed, the dark clouds replaced by a few fluffy white clouds, and the sun was once again shining.  

And...the sauce was reducing very well!  The fragrance of all the blended spices made me hungry.  I wish you could do a scratch-n-sniff on this picture, because although it may not look appetizing, it smelled A-MA-ZING!

After being on the stove for around 4 hours or so, I let it cool down.  Then into the blender it went!  It all blended so well, and although it's hard to tell in the picture, was a wonderful red colored mixture of deliciousness.

After all this...imagine my surprise to find that I didn't have any spaghetti in my cabinets! You would have thought I'd have checked that before I started right?  Nope!  That would make too much sense! Ha!  At any rate, I did find some elbow macaroni, and used it instead.  Unfortunately I cooked a bit too much for the amount of sauce I had, so when I added cooked ground turkey to the lot, my meal turned out more like a goulash instead of a spaghetti.  How silly is that?!  Silly...but oh so delicious.  The added fiesta blend did add that kick, and my husband was well-pleased.  He was very possessive of the leftovers too, so I guess it was a success.

While I didn't use a recipe, I used what I knew from reading recipes in the past, and previous experience cooking to create this spaghetti sauce.  If I had never seen a recipe before, or cooked before, I would have been lost.  The good Lord saw to it that I learned from family, friends, and cookbooks, and used my own ambition to learn how to cook. Because of this I was able to use what He provided, some of it right out of my own garden, as nourishment for our physical bodies.

Our spiritual lives work on the same premise.  If there is nobody to learn from, we don't know how to access God's 'recipe book' - the Holy Bible - or how to use the 'recipes' - His Word - to provide the nourishment our spiritual bodies need.  The good Lord saw to it that His Word was written down for us to read.  He sees to it that there are people who can help us learn.  And He relies on us to be ambitious enough to learn how He wants us to live.

I pray that you have physical nourishment today.  Most of all, I pray that you have the spiritual nourishment you need today and every day.

Blessings to you!

Back to the Dogwood Tree

Back in April I posted about the beautiful Dogwood Tree in the front yard.  At that time, the Lord was showing off His glorious splendor in the gorgeous white blooms that adorned the branches.  It's the tree that we took my son's pictures in front of each year he went to prom in high school.  That just happened to be the time of year it's blossoms were in full array.

Now here we are, in the middle of August, and the tree is green instead of white.  It's still pretty.  See?

Speaking of 'pretty', here is some pretty Musica to listen to as you read on.

As my husband and I were looking at it, he noticed the bare branches where the harsh winter had taken its toll.  He also noticed that the other branches were not symmetrical, but growing out a little wildly.  He pointed out the suckers at the base of the tree.  He wanted to trim the entire tree.  I, on the other hand, wanted to remove the dead portion and the suckers and leave the rest of the tree alone.

We've watched that tree grow in splendor during the 8+ years we've lived here.  It holds a lot of sentimental value to me. The Lord has taught me a few lessons as He has spoken to me through the process of watching that little tree. Some of you may think - "How can God speak lessons through a tree?".  Hang in there with me - I'll explain.

The tree has held its own through drought, severe storms, ice, harsh winters and ideal weather.  We've not given it any special attention.  No water, fertilizer, or extensive trimming.   Without any extra special care from us, the little tree has endured.  It's only by the grace of God that it's still standing.

That tree reminds me of my own life.  I've been through drought, storms, harsh times and ideal times. Through it all, the Lord has provided His tender loving care, and sent others along the way to help.  When He chose not to send others, HE was there, and by His grace I'm still standing.

Like my husband and I did with our little Dogwood tree, I took time to reflect on my life.  I do this continually, and it's a process that gets easier the more often it happens.  With the Lord's prompting and guidance, I have to take the steps necessary to 'prune'.

Like our little tree, when there is a branch (relationship, circumstance, or situation) that dies (no longer beneficial to my life and/or causes more harm than good) I needed to get rid of it.  That is something that can be difficult, but it is vital to creating the beautiful tree (life) God wants for all of us.

We always agree that the little 'suckers' need to go at the bottom of the tree.  And the sooner the better. Why?  They grow at the bottom of the tree instead of at the top, where branches are beneficial and help create the beauty we see.  They suck all the energy from the tree so it doesn't get the nutrients to the main branches that need it.  And left to themselves, they create a mess that is a chaotic and takes even more time to set right. Over the years I've learned that the 'suckers' (people, situations, circumstances) in my life need to be removed for the very same reason we remove them from the tree.  And the sooner the better.

As for the wildly growing branches, they aren't too out of control and add some character to the tree.  And they remind me of my own personality.  Sometimes I'm a little wild, perhaps at times a little out of control - but never too much - yet still effective where God has placed me.

So with just enough attention, that little Dogwood Tree stands beautiful in our yard.  And with just enough attention to my own life (spiritually, mentally, physically) I can stand beautiful in God's yard (our world). That's my lesson from God this week.  Taught through our little tree.

While not perfect, the tree is still lovely in my eyes.  While I'm not perfect, I'm still lovely in God's eyes.

Now - time to get back to the Dogwood Tree and do some pruning.


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Delight

Sometimes, as I sit in my living room gazing out the windows at the traffic speeding by, I feel like I'm in a little bubble.  A wonderful, peaceful bubble.  The noise is drowned out by the hum of the air conditioning and the soft music playing in the background.  While I know not what people are doing with their day outside my house, I know that I'm enjoying it inside.  

I'm stranded at home, without a vehicle, and I really don't mind at all.  For some, that would be a bit disconcerting, but for me, it's a delightful thing.  I have plenty to keep me busy in our little home. Housework, the dogs, crafts, reading, a bit of tv, research and writing.  

My husband requested homemade chocolate chip cookies, so I honored his request.  Of course, any of the cookies that were broken while I took them off the cookie sheet had to be gotten rid of.  In. My. Belly. Haha.  Well, as you know, I don't like things to go to waste, and I couldn't put broken cookies on the plate or in the trash...so I had to eat them!  (That's my story and I'm sticking to it.)

I usually just put the cookies on a paper plate with some wrap covering them and leave them to be eaten. I thought of my mother and how she taught me to make each day special in one way or another. So I decided to bring out one of the beautiful Carnival Glass plates I inherited from her and put the cookies on it.  You can see it there on the bottom left of the picture below.  So pretty!

After eating a few cookies I decided I needed something just as yummy to wash them down.  See that cute little teapot/mug combo below?  My wonderful hubby got that at a garage sale for me.  I used to have quite a few teapots, but have worked my way down to just three.  This little teapot holds about three cups; just right for one person.  It's such a wonderful little gem with a cute little matching cup that sits right on top when I store it.  And it's made just for that purpose!  Isn't it adorable?

         

I 'inherited' my love for tea from my mother as well.  We used to drink tea together and have wonderful conversations.  While I do use bagged tea, when I can get a good loose-leaf tea I prefer to use it. A friend of mine had given me some wonderful loose leaf tea, and I brought it out today for that extra-special relaxing moment.  I have the cutest little tea infuser that I picked up many years ago.  My mother had one of the old acorn-shaped infusers, and we used it often.  My little infuser is perfect for my little teapot.  It has a chain and hook to make it easy to get out of the teapot.  The lid is a on a two little hinges so it opens to let me scoop in just the right amount of loose-leaf tea.

It is the most adorable little house!  Isn't it cute with the little curved door and windows?  It brings me joy just to use it.  Here it is, deep in the water, ready to brew deliciousness.  Lid on now to brew a proper pot of tea!

And when it's all done, it's a beautiful amber color, and makes for a pretty cup of soothing tea.  I'm so pleased with the special moment for today.  Mother would be delighted as well.

As I enjoyed my pot of tea, I thought of how Mother would suggest ways to make ordinary moments and ordinary days special.  She said "God gave them to us.  It's up to us to make them our delight."  And she's right.  It works that way with our relationship with God too.  When we take time to make that relationship special, reading His Word, and pausing in our busyness to listen to Him, we find the same delight that Jeremiah did.  In the midst of his busyness and complaining, for a brief moment he reflected on what gave him delight. In Jeremiah 15:16 he said "Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O LORD, God of hosts." 

I share Jeremiah's delight, each time I study deeply the Word of God.  And I have delight each time I call upon the Lord in prayer, gather with others in worship, and share Him with others.  I enjoy the delight when I take time to create the quiet, reflective moments in a day like today.  And I thank Him for the day of being "stranded" so I can enjoy - delight.

All Things Garden

I love the thought of having a vegetable garden.  Most of my friends began planting around mid-April to mid-May at the latest, and have vegetables overtaking their gardens.  My process was a bit slower, since I needed to wait on my husband's availability to pick up a load of good compost amidst his very busy days starting and repairing sprinkler systems.

In planning what I wanted to grow, I decided that I needed some labels so I would know what to expect as the plants began growing.  This part was fun and cheap.  I had some paint left over from a previous craft project, and some left over unused paint stir-sticks that I collected each time I bought paint.  I needed a few more stir-sticks than I had, so I went to the local home improvement store and asked them for the few I needed.  They were happy to give me what I needed, free of charge, since they knew me from buying paint there before.

I painted half of the the sticks with the colored paint, and after it dried, I painted the name of the vegetables/fruit/herbs I was going to grow in black paint.  After that dried, I painted the entire stick with a sealant - you know - the one that rhymes with Hodge Lodge.  After that dried, I stuck the unpainted end in the ground and voila!  Garden markers!  Here's what they looked like before I put them in the garden.

As you know, I'm a big re-purpose/recycle person.  While hubby wanted to build a pretty garden space for me, I just wanted to use what we had lying around the house.  Why waste the materials and spend more money, right?

Hubby and I built the framework for the raised bed out of scrap lumber we had around the house.  After laying down some weed barrier (which we also had), he was finally able to pull away from work to get the compost.  I decided to try square foot gardening, and had some ribbon in my craft room I had laying around that allowed me to line my grids perfectly.

The fence was built using two different chain-link fence pieces, which hubby wasn't pleased about, but I insisted on using.  I wasn't about to go buy more when we had what we could use laying around, and I didn't care that they were two different heights.  All I cared about was that we weren't wasting what we had, and that it kept our two little beasties out of the garden.  For some reason, when they saw the nice soft dirt, they thought we were building their own personal playground.  They made holes and popped the ribbon off in many places.  Here are the culprits.  Don't let their cuteness deceive you - they aren't as innocent as they look.  But they are cute aren't they?

     

 

Finally, after doing all that, we purchased the seeds and plants for the garden at our local garden store. Hubby was such a dear to put a sprinkler system in for my garden so I could water easily with just the turn of a handle.  I'm so blessed to have him!  Now let me tell you - it's June 6th.  Yes - June.  So many people were telling me that June is too late to plant seeds and not to expect anything to grow well because of the impending summer heat.  Of course I didn't listen to them because I was determined to have a garden no matter what they said.  Here it is after our day of planting.  See the little stick Garden markers on the outside edges?

We were blessed with a very cool, rather wet beginning to our Summer here, for which we were all very grateful.  I was excited, because I thought my plants would have the water they needed to help them grow. We had the fence (the ugly one my hubby hates but I think is a testament to using what you have instead of frivolous spending) to keep out the larger animals and protect the plants from being dug up.  What I didn't plan on was the sky being cloudy all the time, which made the plants not grow much at all, because there really wasn't any sunshine for them.

The other thing I didn't think about was squirrels.  Yes - the pesky, destructive, curious, horrible squirrels! They dug up all of my beans, corn, carrots, lettuce pods, spinach pods, broccoli and cauliflower.  At first we thought it was birds, but when I saw the little pods taken out whole, and slightly torn apart, I realized it was the squirrels.  We have yet to keep the squirrels out, so each time I plant to replace what they've eaten, the process starts over again.  Next year we may invest in a motion sensor on the irrigation.

At any rate, the sun finally came out and the garden finally started growing.  Each day I find a couple more tomatoes and sweet peppers.  The corn, hot peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, spinach, and romaine were destroyed by squirrels so I've given up on those for this season.  The cucumbers, cantaloupe, watermelon, and pumpkins are slowly taking everything else over, so I'm excited to see if they make anything good to harvest.  There is one bean stalk winding its way up the trellis, so maybe we'll have our little french green beans after all.  The three types of tomatoes and the sweet peppers are doing wonderfully.

Here's my little bitty harvest today:  grape tomatoes that are actually about the size of a kumquat, a yellow pear tomato, and a sweet pepper.  I know it's not much, but there are more on the plants ripening as I type. So we'll have more soon (if the pesky squirrels don't yank them off).  I've never had yellow pear tomatoes, nor the light little sweet peppers before, and have been delighted at how tasty they are!  I recommend trying them in your garden.

Here is what my garden looks like today.  These were actually taken today before I wrote this so we're taling 'real time' here folks!

In the picture on the right you can see the tomatoes, sweet peppers, beans, cukes and basil on the right-hand side of the garden.  On the left-hand side are the cantaloupe, watermelon, and pumpkin.  The open space in between is where all the other plants should be growing but aren't because of the squirrels.  

The sun is out now and the heat is beginning to rise again, so the plants are getting what they need to grow. They are indeed growing quickly now, so now we'll see how well they produce.  Even if I only end up with a few more tomatoes and peppers and nothing else, I'll be satisfied.  I figure the late planting is a learning opportunity, and who knows - maybe I'll have so much growing after everyone else's gardens are dying back that I'll have fresh veggies and fruit into the early Fall!  Wouldn't that be wonderful?

I'll be certain to keep you updated on All Things Garden as time passes.  In the meantime, if you have any gardening tips, suggestions, or testimonies to share about gardening in Northwest Arkansas, feel free to comment on this post.  I'll be delighted to read them!

Blessings and fresh produce to you!

Beautiful

It seems that as I've perused through social media lately there is a theme that abounds.  People are becoming more aware that there is something to be said about being happy with yourself as you are, and realizing that you are beautiful.  No matter what you look like - overweight, underweight, skin concerns or none at all.  If your hair is perfect or not-so-much, even if your teeth are straight or not.  This is a good thing.  Yes - a truly wonderful thing!

When I was young, I was fit, healthy, and while not model-beautiful, felt pretty and was confident.  I loved myself.  I'm not saying I was in love with myself, like in a self-absorbed way, but that I loved who I was in a good way.  I didn't care what others thought about me, how they talked about me, or if I fit the mold of what they expected.  I knew who I wanted to be, who I was in Christ, and was true to myself in every aspect of my life.

As the years passed by, life threw me one curve ball after another, and somehow I let it slowly erode that self-love and confidence.  It was replaced by a thought process that undermined what I had spent my younger years establishing.  Somehow my viewpoint changed from how God saw me to how the world saw me.  And the world is a cruel place.

Here I am, in my late 40s, and I no longer fit the cookie-cutter mold of the woman who is fit, well-coiffed, and stylishly dressed.  I don't know how to dress stylishly for my age and body type, nor do I have the budget for it.  I am allergic to make-up, so I choose not to wear it unless it's a very special occasion.  I never did get braces, so my teeth are crooked, and although I do brush and floss daily, they are not pearly white. As a matter of fact, I recall the day a child in our church asked me why my teeth were not as white as his mommy's.  When I asked him what color they were, he said "more like ecru".  Seriously - true story.  A child calling your teeth ecru isn't something you'd ever want to make up.  Ha!  I had to laugh - and still do!  I don't color my hair as often as I probably should, and don't really seem to dwell on the grey that is in abundance (until I see it in a picture).

I struggle sometimes with my physical self-image.  And I shouldn't.  I know I shouldn't.  But somehow I do. I allow the inundation of the media's image of a skinny woman who looks like a model to dictate how I should look.  I fall into the trap that says my extra weight and physical limitations keep me from being a useful, valuable, beautiful woman.  In doing this, I betray myself in my thoughts.  And even more, that negative thought process is my own betrayal toward God.

You see, if I were true to God, I wouldn't allow any of this to permeate my brain.  I'd daily rebuke the assault on my thought process, and value how my heavenly Father sees me.  And He sees me as His beautiful creation.  He doesn't need me to adorn myself outwardly - dress in the latest fashion, wear makeup, have white or straight teeth, or even grey-free hair.  He needs me to adorn myself inwardly.

1 Peter 3:3-4
Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious. (ESV)

Don't misinterpret these verses.  There is nothing wrong with wearing the latest fashion, being perfectly coiffed, and looking outwardly adorned.  This is all well and fine.  When it becomes our primary focus and hinders our rightful self-image, then it becomes wrong.  After my body and health betrayed me I realized my life was more than outward beauty.  I realized I needed to shuck the world's image of me, like you shuck the husk off an ear of corn to see the golden beauty that lies underneath.

I realized that my self-image was contagious.  To my husband, to my son and daughter, to my extended family, and even to my close friends.  Then, as I spoke to others, I realized the viewpoint of myself in God's eyes was the viewpoint they, too, needed in their lives.  In their hearts.  In their minds.  I realized the change needed was a change in the way I, as a woman, expressed my view of not only myself, but also of them.  Instead of focusing on the outward appearance, I shared the truth of the need to focus on the inward love.  The love that only Christ can give, and the love that we can truly have for ourselves.  And you know what?  I let them know I'm beautiful.  And they realized they are beautiful too!

Ladies - you are beautiful.  You are beautiful because God made you.  You are fearfully and WONDERFULLY made!  God doesn't make junk, and he doesn't make ugly.  He makes unique, beautiful, and wonderful.

Psalm 139:13-14
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

When you have accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior, you become a princess.  You become a princess because your Father is the King of Kings!  (I don't know who originally said that, but I say it all the time.  Because it's true.)  And we all know that the most important thing about a princess is not that she is pretty on the outside.  The most important thing about a princess is that she is beautiful on the inside.

So while you look at yourself in the mirror, know that no matter what you see, you are beautiful.  You are who God made, and you are beautiful.  You are unique, and you are beautiful.  Lady - you are just plain, ol', flat-out, beautiful!

Go here to hear a wonderful song by Colbie Caillat that I absolutely LOVE about this same thing.
Beautiful Musica

No go on out there and let your beauty shine!