Verse of the week

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.  ~ Ephesians 3:20

I'm relying on this verse more and more lately.





There's been a family emergency and I will be MIA until further notice. Prayers and sweet thoughts are very welcomed. Thanks so much.

Artful Wednesday

I hope you absolutely love Cate Parr as much as I do when you've finished scrolling through! I am so inspired by her colors and the general feel of her watercolor paintings... love, love, love!

Seriously, how can you not fall in love with her paintings? I will definitely be daydreaming about these all day! You can check out her etsy page here.

I can not wait to have some studio space again... soon!



Do something great today.

I hope you do at least one thing today that makes you happy, makes your day a little better.

be wonderful.

love-lea

Verse of the Week

I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.
~ John 14:27


For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.
~ Matthew 11:30


I get daily emails from K-LOVE with their encouraging word of the day. This weekend I woke each morning to find reassurance tucked away inside those e-mails. Words that gave me hope and peace, words that helped me see that I am on the right track. (read the story here)

I just want to say Thanks, God. For knowing what I need when I need it. For knowing and seeing my doubts and loving me and encouraging me anyways. Thanks so much for your promises and the hope in your words. I am going to try really, really hard to not get anxious anymore, and to give it up to you.

Thoughtful Thursday

So if you read through my post on Tuesday you probably know that I put my two weeks notice in, if you didn't read through it... surprise! Haha.

I was talking to Steven earlier telling him I was thinking about blogging but I didn't know where to start, in which he responded with, "at the beginning of course." Ah, right. Of course!

I'm not going to start at the very beginning but I'll fill you in from when I can remember. I took the job I'm at now because it basically fell in my lap and it was really good money for my first job and I already knew and liked the people I'd be working with. After about 6 months I started getting frustrated and bored with the work I was doing. No one's fault, I'm just not into politics and government! It was really hard for me to try to be a great employee when I could literally not give two flips about agendas and short form plats (see exciting right? haha). I've stuck it out though, to get our savings up to our goal amount. Luckily we got a good amount back on our taxes which put us over that goal amount and then some. So after a lot of praying and thinking and running numbers and praying and thinking and talking I decided we decided that I was going to quit my job and try to sub full time at the two school districts near our house. We know that Steven makes enough to support us and whatever I make will be what we put into savings. Not as much as before, but I think as long as it's growing at least a little bit then that's the important part.

So after getting confirmations from God that I just need to trust Him and have faith I got up my courage and walked into my boss' office. I has no idea what I was going to say or how I was going to start the conversation. I thought about putting my resignation requisition in his in-box for him to sign and just walking away, I thought about just throwing it at him and running down the hall before he had a chance to say anything, but I didn't. I walked in there, he had some small talk with me, and then... by the grace of God said,"Is this bad news?" Hooray! I was so, so glad I didn't have to bring it up! That I didn't have to start the awful conversation. I just said, "Yes, I'm putting in my two weeks notice." He was shocked, rightfully so, since I had given him no real warning or signs of unhappiness. Put he was very nice about and after I left his office I realized I couldn't tell if I my legs were shaking from the work out I just did or from shear terror... I'm going to say it was the work out.

Since then, we've fixed Steven's truck, again (we've officially bought it at least 3 times, wonderful), and had some family issues that have been weighing on our shoulders. I'm going to be honest with you, I'm absolutely terrified. I'm scared that I'm about to put us into a situation that will make our lives not as easy going as they were, that we won't be able to treat our friends to dinner, or have people over and not worry about them bringing anything. I'm scared that I'm bringing an unnecessary complication into our life, I'm scared I'm making myself my own worst enemy.

Needless to say I'm doubting, hardcore. I've asked God to make it known what he wants me to do and I've let him know that I am having doubts and I need more confirmation, which he has provided. I just can't shake the fear. The unknown. I'm scared I've put my emotions and dislike of my job into searching for "signs." I think well... maybe he was trying to tell me something else and I just manipulated it until it fit what I wanted. That's a possibility. 

Even thought our money and lifestyle are going to be very different and I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do once schools out (hopefully pick up some more kids to teach art to and sell things on etsy or somewhere). I'm trying really, really hard to step out in faith and trust that God has got a plan. I know that if it is God's plan then it'll work out wonderfully after we get over the initial shock. I'm just praying that I'm hearing Him right.

I would really appreciate it if you just said a little prayer for us today.

Thanks!

Love-Lea

Artful Wednesday

Something I've learned from just doing these few Artful Wednesdays so far is that as an artist I'm not doing nearly enough experimenting and creating. I can blame it on the living situation we're in now, but honestly I had excuses when I had a whole room for my art supplies. I could blame it on the fact that I'm tired after working all day, which may be true, but if it's my passion it shouldn't matter how I feel physically. I am still able to sketch and play around with water colors after a long day. I just don't.

I'm seeing all these artists, some of them as young as I am, making a voice for themselves and making it known. I think I know what my style is, but I couldn't tell you for sure because I haven't experienced what my limits are. I just do what is comfortable. I'm ready for that to change. Not having cable or internet has actually helped a lot. Especially on the weekends! (I'm thinking this might be a good lifestyle change for the future) I currently have 4-ish paintings going right now. Two for commission work and two just for fun, for my husband. I'm hoping I have more motivation and time now that the sun stays out longer. maybe next week's artist spotlight will be me! (Not making any promises though, haha)

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Today's artist is: Andrea Shear

I just love her use of color and how her paintings have a sense of innocence to them. These are a few of my favorites, but you can see ore of her work here!

I've been thinking about doing some paintings on natural wood. I really love the look of it!

This one is my absolute favorite! Love the colors and just the overall feel of it.

If you're an artist, or actually in anything you have a passion for, I hope you are practicing all the time and pushing yourself to discover where your limits are and what you can actually do.

Happy discovering!

Love-Lea

Weekend Review

So Saturday my wonderful Husband decides that we are going to take spontaneous drive to the city. He surprised me by taking me to our new Anthropology store!!! (If you've never heard of it, check it out!)

They mostly had clothes and bedding, but we found some fun kitchen things to look at and... my all time favorite...hardware! I didn't think about taking pictures until we were almost done looking around but I hope you can see just how awesome their knobs are!

Hooray! I have been obsessing over this place for a while now.

So many glorious knobs!

See?? So pretty!

These were some of my absolute faves. Then again, I have a thing for turquoise.

We thought this would be quite a nice little cereal bowl.

(If you knew the price of this place you would understand how ridiculous that statement is)

 Yesterday was one of the prettiest days we've had in a while here in Oklahoma. It reminded me of springtime in college when we would go play tennis or the boys would just skateboard around for the afternoon. Luckily, we got to play some basketball for a couple of hours after work since it's so stinkin' light out still! It was such a complete breath of fresh air to be out in the sunshine and breeze.

As you can see, I did not play basketball... I just sat on the swings and the slide and took the opportunity to just enjoy being still in the warm sun and not stuck in a building with hardly any windows.

Mmmm, love, love.

I also discovered these sweet little flower weeds that had hearts for leaves. So cute.

I also started reading the 2nd book of the Huger Games today outside at lunch. The first one was a rush! I'm not expecting that much from this one, but I'm still excited.

Oh, and speaking of being stuck in a building without any windows (see above pictures). If you've read this far I think you deserve to know the most exciting news of the week so far.... ready?

I put in my two week notice yesterday!!! Hooray!! But more on that on Thursday.

I hope you are enjoying the sunshine!

Love-Lea



Verse of the Week

Slacking

I'm terribly sorry friends, that I have been MIA this week! Hopefully next week will be much better.

I hope you all have wonderful weekends!

Verse of the Week

"And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed"

2 Corinthians 9:8

We talked about this verse yesterday morning. I was so overcome with love and peace and tears when I read this to myself, sitting in the pew with my husband and my mom.

I love that God knows exactly what I need to hear and cares enough to help calm my heart.

Anxiety has been lingering in my heart and mind lately. Big changes are happening in our lives and I just pray every single day that we are in God's will.

I pray every single day that we will have everything we need and we won't have to struggle out of vain.

Magnificent March!

I am completely filled with excitement about March!

The weather will be warm, I can start to wear some of my spring clothes again (because even though it was in the 60's and 70's in February I am strongly against wearing spring/summer things in the fall and winter. I can't help it!), and daylight savings time is just around the corner! I know it means I'll lose an hour of sleep that day, and I'll probably be cranky and need a nap, BUT that means it'll still be light out at 7:00 instead of 6:00. 

Glorious!

My blogging has not been on schedule for the past few weeks, especially since we don't have internet anymore (eek!). But hopefully I can get back in the swing of things.

I've been tutoring a little girl in art for the past few months, twice a month. Let me just say that I love it! I was completely nervous the first few times... what if she doesn't like me? what if she thinks my projects are stupid? what if I can't really teach her anything??

Scary.

But after about 4 times or so I'm slowly getting the hang of it. It's definitely helping me realize how important time management is. This week we worked with clay and I showed her how to make a coil pot. I think she did absolutely wonderful and she loved it!

In the process of designing her pot!

She got so excited when I told her she could paint it after it dried.

Finished product! I think it's wonderful!

Next time she requested to learn how to draw lions, cats, and dogs. Too excited!

I'm also excited for March, or maybe just Spring in general, because hopefully there will be more quality time with friends, cookouts, game nights, bon fires, etc.

I'll also hopefully be able to bring a bit of good news to everyone sometime in April... keeping my fingers crossed!

But as for this weekend? Mine will be filled with painting, family time, and watching the game with our friends on saturday. Too excited! 

I hope everyone is having the best March ever so far and have a great weekend planned! 

Love-Lea