Budget Book Baby Shower

Recently, we threw a baby shower for my husbands sister. Their mom really wanted to include a meal for all of the guests and so that took up most of our budget, but we still wanted to decorate. We came up with a book theme for the shower, which enabled us to save money by hand making a lot of the decorations.

Books Please - The mom-to-be requested that her guests gave her books with a message inside that she could read to her daughter, as opposed to the traditional card. They ended up with a large variety of books, all with sweet messages inside.

The backdrop - We wanted to ensure that there was a nice backdrop for pictures to be taken against when the new mom & dad opened their gifts. The church in which the shower was held is not the prettiest, so we put up a board and covered it with purple & green handmade books, pegged onto a ribbon.

Colors & Centerpieces -We carried the purple & green theme throughout the party. Including it in plates, cutlery & table cloths. Also, in the centre of each table you can see a pile of books wrapped in colored paper. We used this as the center pieces naming each book open of the mom-to-be's favorite stories. We also put a fish bowl with a large flower and candle of each table.

The Menu - We spiced up the menu by using storybook and nursery rhythms to describe the food.

Final Product - In the end the shower turned out beautifully and was well within the set price range for such a large number of people showing up. Such a nice way to welcome our beautiful niece into the world.

Love Writer <3

"We won the lottery", he yelled!

"We won, we won the lottery".
My heart sank, "Yeah okay I said".
"We did", he laughed, "We won $2".

I could hear him smiling down the phone at his amusement of us winning $2, I know he never actually thought we would win, so it must have been nice to get those couple of dollars. I'm sure he had a great laugh in the gas station, makes me smile to think of my husband smiling! I love him.

I think that is the reason my heart sunk when he told me we had won. I love our life, I love our little home, I don't want anything to change. Even if that means missing out on millions of dollars.

Thank you Lord for us not winning the lottery, and thank you for all of our blessings! I love you.

Love, Writer <3

Letting Jesus carry us on a tight rope across the Grand Canyon

The Story - There was a famous man who walked on a tight rope across the Grand Canyon, people came from far and wide to see this amazing show cheering him on and encouraging him.

One day he said to the crowd.
"Who thinks I am so talented that I can carry weights on my back across the canyon?"
The crowd applauded and cheered in support.
"Who believes I can carry a person on my back across the canyon?"
The crowd cheered louder, exclaiming he could do anything.
"Who has complete faith in my talent?"
The crowd was louder than ever.
"Who wants to volunteer for me to carry them across the canyon?"
The crowd fell silent.

Regardless of how much he begged nobody volunteered to be carried across the canyon. A week later he walked across the grand canyon on a tight rope carrying at 200lb man on his back, that man was his promotional manager. He knew how talented he was, that he believed in him.

My tight rope moment - The reason I am sharing this story is because this is the story that led my husband and I to use natural family planning (NFP). We had a million and one reasons that we didn't feel it was the right time for us to conceive, yet we knew contraception was a sin. Together we prayed for an answer to our problem, and God answered.

A friend of our parents came over to pick some fruit at my husbands house while I was there, and he told me the story of the tight rope walker. He said, "Are you giving yourself completely and trusting in God? Or are you just cheering from the sidelines?"

This man had no idea of our personal life, yet he had solved our problem. By following NFP we have literally let God take over our life completely. Completely trusting in Him, trusting Him to carry us on his back in any situation and what an amazing decision it has been.

I hope I'll be able to apply this to our future situations too <3