Spiritual Highs and Lows

So, Spiritual Highs and Spiritual Lows.  Most Christians know what those are.  For those of you that don't I'll give an example.

A mountain.  It looks pretty hard to climb, huh?  It takes a lot of effort to get to the top.  This is an example of a spiritual high.  A spiritual high is when we're walking right along side of God, feeling his power all the time.

 And this, a valley.  It doesn't look like it would be too bad to live in.  This is an example of a spiritual low.  When we can't seem to find God anywhere, and we're just stuck.  We've been having trouble in life, and everything is depressing.

Our whole christian lives we will be climbing up and down, going from mountain to valley, mountain to valley.  Why can't we just stay on top of the mountain, talking with God and hearing him talk back?  Well, we can try.  But I can almost guarantee you won't be able to.  Let me give you another example.

A heart monitor.  Yup, that's what I said.  That picture looks crazy, right?  The line is going everywhere.  If you didn't know what a heart monitor was, that line wouldn't make any sense.  But picture it like mountains and valleys.  See it?  Our Christian lives are just like that, being so close to God at times, sometimes lower, and a lot of times just . . . nowhere.  Stuck halfway up the mountain.

Now, imagine if that line wasn't going up and down.

Yup.  That's what it would look like.  We all know what a flat heart monitor line means.  Death.  Your heart isn't pumping.  We need the highs to realize God and his awesomeness.  And we need the lows to remember what life is like without him.  To want to be up high.

Many of you may have heard the heart monitor theory before, and maybe some of you don't agree with it.  I just came out of a sadly long spiritual low, so I just wanted to share this with everyone.  Thanks for reading!

Modesty Definition 2

 

When I first started posting for APOC, one of the first things I did was look at the definition of modesty in a variety of dictionaries. One of the first definitions I came across was one that I was already quite familiar with....the first definition stated that modesty was not drawing attention to ones self. After looking at a couple other definitions I came across another meaning for the word modesty that I never had heard of or thought of before. The second meaning stated that modesty was not only avoiding drawing attention to ones self, but showing proper attention to others. Of course, there is a difference between showing improper attention to another person, which would be immodest, but showing attention to another person when it is appropriate is actually a definition of modesty!  

All Dads love to be encouraged by their wife and kids and since my dream for my future is to be a wonderful wife and mom, I think that encouraging my Dad is a great habit to have so that way I can encourage my husband and kids one day as much as possible. 

Right now I would like to practice the definition of modesty that I stated above by giving attention to my AMAZING Dad and the wonderful remodeling job he has been working on for our house. 

Lets begin!

So true! Though it seems a little backward..... If anything, the most unlikely place for "normal" to live would be in our laundry room! After a year and a half of moving our dryer and washing machine from room to room trying to avoid the traffic of remodelling, a year and a half of hooking up and un-hooking the machines and cramming 5 peoples' clothing in one closet, we are all soooo excited to see our Dad’s latest masterpiece finally make our laundry life a little more "Normal". 

Here it is! Our new laundry room complete with two dryers and two washers, 7 tall cabinets and 5 smaller cabinets for storing clothes, cubby holes for shoes and all the other laundry accessories a family of 9 needs! A dream come true! 

My Dad did such a SUPER job! He did every single bit of the work himself except for the drywall. You might not believe it, but this room used to be a screened in back porch. But Super Dad came to the rescue and totally re-did the whole thing and turned it into the best laundry room I have ever seen! The best part is that there is no traveling all over the house to put 9 peoples clothes away...you just turn around and hang it up! 

We still have to stain the cabinets, add some cosmetic trim, add some of the doors to the smaller cabinets and add some countertops to the smaller cabinets but everything else is finished.

Here is a tour of my Dad’s masterpiece! 

Each of us 7 kids have our own tall and short cabinet. All folds (Jean skirts, T-shirts, pants, etc.) go inside the tall cabinets. All hangs (skirts, dresses, blouses) go hanging up on dowels hung above the small cabinets. Underclothing go in the two drawers in the small cabinets, and below the drawers go any shoes that will not fit in the little cubby holes that are below all the cabinets. Amazing or what?! 

My favorite part about our new laundry room is the two washers and dryers....any large family's dream. Mom estimated that she could get rid of a days worth of 9 peoples laundry in less than 2 hours. That's washed, dried, and put away!  

My next favorite part about our new laundry room is the clothes closets. The picture below is of my little sisters cabinet. Since the little kids have less clothes that needed hung up, he added a dowel in the cabinet for their hangs instead of giving them a small cabinet as well. That way hangs and folds all go in the one cabinet for the younger kids

Mom added some country flair to our laundry room by adding three window boxes in which she planted some herbs. Dad made the shelf for the boxes to sit on. 

 

Just a cute photo I took of our window box and our home grown peach ripening in the sun. (The peach was delicious! All 9 of us split it up the other day.)  

Sadly, I moved from the clothes job just after our new laundry room first opened, so now I have kitchen duty which is the next room that is under renovation. :( So, just in case y'all aren't jealous already, let me give you a sneak peak of my Dad’s amazing work in the kitchen which he just worked on yesterday! (Hey! Remember, I'm just practicing being modest! :) 

Mom calls this the family "UFO"! Yesterday Dad installed 14 can lights in the ceiling along with the "UFO". (The "UFO" is actually a ceiling fan in the middle with six lights around it.) The kids love it, especially because it can only be operated with a remote! The fan/light/UFO is going to hang over top of an island which we are going to install later. 

Just in case y'all don't already know, my Dad is extremely diligent and I am soooo glad that he is my Dad. I mean, who couldn't be happy to have the BEST Dad in the whole world? Oh! Did I also tell y'all that I have the BEST Mom too? :) I’m sooooooooooo blessed!!!!!

OK. I'm finished being modest. :) So, Here is a challenge I would like to ask you all to do this weekend: Say an encouraging word to your Dad every day this weekend. That's really only two days, three days if you count today. For an extra challenge, try saying an encouraging word to your Dad every day for a week. You may not know how much it means to Dad’s to know that their kids appreciate what they are doing, but it means a whole lot to them. 

I hope you all have a encouraging Friday and don't forget that Fathers Day is Sunday! 

Blessings, 

Kennie Blossoms {Product Review}

Another Etsy review. I promise, in the next two weeks, I'll slow down on the reviews, K? I don't think I really have anything after next week, so I'll post something non-review related then. So don't get annoyed at me, m'kay?

Anyway, this is the Girl on Fire Hunger Games scrabble piece necklace.

Sorry for the blurry photos. The camera had just finished a round of pictures (Last week's review) and didn't want to focus after that.

Anyway, it's a glossy little square picture thing glued onto a scrabble piece. It's slightly off-center, which annoys me a teeny bit. But, then again, I know everything can't be centered perfectly, so I've accepted it.

The chain is one of those plastic beads that you can adjust with the little pill shaped thing. I don't know what it's called, so that's the best way I can describe it.

I know, I know, I'm terrible at description.

Yeah, I was experimenting with the camera and angles, so that's why there's a close-up of the beads. Sorry about that. The chain's pretty long. Not sure the exact measurements, but it's about chest-length.

You can find the necklace HERE. The owner is on vacation (At least, last time I checked). You can still place orders, though. Click HERE for her shop. She has really cool stuff!

Full Length Lace Tee {Product Review}

A couple of weeks ago I bought the Full Length Lace Tee from Deborah and Co.  I absolutely love it!  The length is really long, which is great since most shirts tend to be short on me.  There is broad lace around the hem adding a feminine touch to it.  The neckline isn't quite as high as I imagined it would be, but it's still pretty high up.  One thing I don't necessarily care for is how wide the neckline scoops out.  I have fairly broad, square shoulders, so I don't know if that makes it scoop out more or if it's supposed to fit that way.

I ordered in the size I normally wear and it ended up fitting like a tank top (pretty form fitting).  I knew I wanted to use it as an undershirt only, so that wasn't a problem.  If you want to wear it by itself, I'd recommend ordering a size or two larger.

Overall, I really like the shirt.  I plan on ordering a white one sometime in the near future. =)

 

Disclaimer: I bought this shirt on my own and am under no obligation to review it (good or bad).

What I Wore to The Beach + My Swimwear Story {ClassyGarb}

 

Aloha, ladies!

(Haha, I never actually say aloha, but since this is a post about the beach, well, what could be a better way to start it off?)

 

So, my family and I just returned from our weeklong summer vacation and I wasn't feeling very inspired on what to write or post today. It's always difficult to get back into the flow and swing of things when you've been completely off-schedule for a whole week, you know? While I had several encounters at the beach which gave me ideas on things I might want to write about sometime in the future, (think stalkers, the consequences of both modesty and immodesty, etc) none appealed for today. So instead of a full-fledged article, here's a make-shift outfit post.

 

A while back, we had a post on modest swimsuits and it made me want to do something furthering the topic, since in my short life so far I've already gone through a number of various 'modest swimwear' and have had the chance to somewhat 'review' each one as I had it.  Okay, well duh. If you possess something *of course* you have 'the chance to 'review' it'...that wasn't a terrific way to get my point across, I know.

 

Anyway. My swimwear story. So this swimsuit I currently have, I really like. You can see where I'm wearing it in these pictures, above and below. I bought it two years ago from Meant to be Modest, and had it custom made to my measurements. I had the leggings lengthened to just above ankle length, because at the time I ordered it I was really obsessive about not letting my legs be visible at all. (My views have changed concerning that, since then, and now I'm okay with my calves being visible. I rolled up the leggings a little in these photos.)

 

It's amazing how much your views and standards can change in several years, or throughout your lifetime. I don't really understand why I was so concerned about my lower legs showing, but I do think it was a bit too much.

 

This is me, with my lovely mother, who got her swimsuit from Swim-Modest. That was actually where I got my very first modest swimsuit, at about age 10. (Before that, I wore one pieces and even bikinis/tankinis as a very young girl...back then I had no idea about modesty and even if I had known, I was completely lacking any form of self-consciousness, being just a little kid.) I liked it for a while, but then I wanted more coverage on my legs so Mom and I started investigating other options. We then found Simply Modest., got a pattern, and some sweet friends of ours, actually Evangela and her mother/sisters, had some fabric already on hand and they helped sew me my suit, which turned out beautiful.  

 

 

(Here is the Simply Modest suit, I was about 12 here.)

 

And here is the first Meant to be Modest suit I got, in 2010. I liked this one a whole lot and was sad when I wore it out. (literally)

 

Back to the present again, I would very much recommend Meant to be Modest. Their suits are very comfortable and practical, plus they look cute! I literally can do any sports activity in this suit. I can do flips and cannonballs into the pool without anything coming up which needs to stay down. I can run, climb trees, body surf, you name it...and during the entire time, I don't have to worry about looking or feeling immodest.

 

I think that they next time I order from them I will ask for shorter leggings and perhaps sleeveless bodice, because the only negative is the awkward tan lines I get wearing this...e.g., my shoulders remain all white while the rest of my arm gets tan. I wear tank tops relatively often, so you can imagine how this looks rather...funny, to say in the least. 

 

These swimsuits last a while though. I bought my current one (the blue floral one above) two years ago as I already stated, and it's still practically brand-new despite all the wear it's gotten. After 3-4 years, depending on the usage, the suit material will start to stretch out and become faded, but it also depends on how you take care of the suit. And this one has double lining on the bodice, so it should be a long while before it stretches out bad enough for me to get a new one entirely.  

 

So, while I was at the beach my cousin got some pictures of me at our annual family picnic/reunion. I figured I'd post them because this is one of my new favorite summer outfits and I thought y'all might like to see it.

 

I really like this blouse. It's so summer-y and I love the color scheme.

 

I just loved this view! It was so cool, the trees and shoreline combined like this.

 

My hair was a mess, because it was hot out, yet quite breezy. And in this last photo I had actually just gotten my face painted...Don't laugh.

 

What I Wore

 

Blouse: Absolutely Famous - Sears

Skirt:  St. John's Bay - JC Penny's

Flip flops: Union Bay - Bealls

 

 

Well, I hope y'all are having a wonderful summer so far! Time for some feedback: What do you like to do for swimwear? Do you have a 'swimwear story'? And what would you like to see in a future post?

 

Blessings,

Masquerade! {ClassyGarb + Product Review}

So, today I have a dual post for you! A hairstick review from Dryad's Hollow, and an outfit post!

 Yesterday, I went to my cousin's masquerade wedding. It was so much fun, and I got to wear a mask, and some people even wore costumes. It was really cool.

 

 This was the night before. I was practicing hairstyles. The blue things are the hairsticks. :)

 

 This was the day of the wedding. The hair had been like this for several hours already, so that's why it's a little fuzzy. 

 

A full view of my outfit.

The back.

 

Top half. 

 

Shoes.

 

Side view.

 

Side of my hair.

 

 Just a fun sibling picture.

What do you think?

 

 

Outfit

Dress: Chadwick's. I got it at Good Will, can you believe it? (I love Good Will.)

Jacket: Jane Bryant. Another Good Will find. (The only problem I have with this is it's capped sleeves which makes me feel a little awkward at moments if I'm not careful. :P)

Shoes: Mootsies Tootsies. I believe I found these at Peebles.

Mask - Simplicity. Amazon.com

Hair sticks - Dryad's Hollow. Etsy shop.

 

Now, the hairsticks.

 

 

I loved the packaging. I thought it was really quite cute.

Inside the packaging. They're so pretty.

Review:

 The positives: They matched my dress, which I wasn't even thinking about when I picked them. They're pretty, and they held well in my hair. At least in the style I tried. 

The negatives: I have a couple of beefs with them. I don't know if the weight has anything to do with quality- they were light, but that wasn't my complaint. I felt they were a little too short for my hair. I've seen longer ones. I suppose they might work a little better with someone who has shorter hair then my almost two feet. A few styles I had trouble accomplishing because of the length of the hair stick. The second thing would be that the top part bends. I don't really know much about it, but yeah. 

 I'll definitely wear them again, at least in the style I wore them in because they held my hair quite well.

 I hope you enjoyed this outfit post and review! God bless!