Christmas Cards

Hey Everyone...
As you know the holidays are here and if you have not already gotten your Christmas cards made, I would love to help you out...
Here are some of the ones I have been working on:








If there is anything else you like, I can figure it out...

The Creative Party Place!!

So I found this new website that has really awesome ideas for parties...you should totally check it out. I submitted my lingerie party to be featured on the website and they put it on there...you can look at it here...

So Proud!

I am so happy right now, as a mom who LOVES art and crafts and everything hands on...this makes my heart so happy. I was making dinner and Grace was coloring, which usually entails shapes, lines, scribbles, the usual...BUT today she came up to me in the kitchen and said, "mom, look daddy!" Expecting a collection of scribbles I looked and saw this...the first drawing of Grace's that actually looked like what she said it was!!! And it was a person...with arms and legs and of course a pretty smile! All at the age of 3...so proud. This one is for sure going straight to the fridge!!! You know what they say..."like mother like daughter..."

Amanda's Lingerie Shower!!

I had the honor of co-hosting my sweet friend Amanda's lingerie shower. I had the most fun time making decorations and putting it together with Emily! We played lots of fun games and Amanda got a bunch of fun goodies!

Lots of candles and you can never go wrong with labels!!

A handmade sign to add to the feeling of the night...

This lingerie garland greeted the guests in the foyer!

These were the lingerie cookies that had cute little tags that say "Love" on them...

Bride to be chair

The mantle with garland and brown bags that I decorated with cute lingerie and candles, along with some brown and blue tulle.

We flanked the drink table with balloons...

I am linking up to

We made it!

Well, we finished our first week of school! Can I just be a proud parent for a second, and just say that I love my daughter so much and I am so proud of her! She did such a great job and she loved every second of one on one time with mom! We completed all of the things that I wanted to with her this week and she blew me away! We did worksheets and crafts and bible stoires and laughed a lot. As I was sitting there with her watching her work on a worksheet I started thinking...Wow, not only are we having fun and learning some stuff I am getting to pour in her encouragement and words of affirmation in a way that would not happen if I had put her in preschool! God you are so good! I mean I was so happy that I was the one who was getting to praise her and watch her learn something new...it is really neat and I am very excited to continue working with her and coming up with some fun field trips and activities for us to do!

My one craft of the week for any of you moms looking for something to do on a rainy day...

The Noah's ark snack:
first I read Grace the story of Noah's ark and then we talked about it while I cut a rectangle out of brown construction paper. I folded up all of the sides and taped them so that it created a little box. Then we got two graham crackers and I let her take buttercream icing and ice both crackers. Lay them down inside the "arc" (brown box) and then take animal crackers and place standing up in the icing. Makes a great little picture of the story and a yummy snack...
I will try and take pics next week of what we do...

New Adventure!

Well, I am really excited right now, as of tomorrow Grace and I are going to start doing our own pre-school at home! This all came to fruition because of our jobless status. I was going to enroll her into 2 day preschool here in Columbus, but A. it's expensive and B. we are going to moving soon, so I did not want to start her and then just pull her out.
So here we are...
A couple of months ago I had bought some great teaching tools from Lakeshore Learning Center, which by the way if you like school supplies this place is heaven! I had a blast looking through all of the different curriculum. I found a couple of books that I would highly reccomend:
1. Summer Bridge Activities Pre-K- it has a front and back worksheet for each day that teaches them writing skills and math skills

2. Instant Bible Lessons for toddlers- this book is one of my favs, it has a bible lesson and verse for each week and then about 4 avtivities to do about that lesson

3. Letter of the week Book 1- has like 6 activities for each letter, Great and very creative!

4. Big book of Monthly arts and crafts- it has like 10 crafts for each month that goes with all of the holidays for that month, it is really cool and just fun to have around for a rainy day!

You could for sure do it without all of these but they are some great resources. Lakeshore has a ton of books and lots of fun games and toys!

Anyway, so I went and got a weekly planner and set down tonight and figured out a plan....
we are going to do our memory verse first and then the bible lesson with one activity, our worksheet, have a quick snack and then do our letter of the week activity. After that I bought a really cool Animal book that has a ton of facts and questions so we are going to just go really slow through that. I hope to figure out some cool little field trips to add in there and I am really just going to make it fun and an intentional opportunity for me to pour into Grace and Fisher. I think we are going to try and do 3 times a week from 10-12. I am hoping that Fisher will just kind of go along and play with us and maybe learn a little also.

I honestly can not believe that Grace is getting old enough for me to even be in this place, but I am really excited and am just going to go with it. I would love your prayers and I will keep you guys updated... if you have any questions let me know!

Fisher turns 2!

Before I go on about what is going on in our lives...
I want to go on a short trip down memory lane...



I was looking through old picture and remembered that our little "fishstick" came into this world a little "blue". As you can see I am not exaggerating! His cord was wrapped so tightly around his neck that it make his entire head blue for like 2 1/2 weeks. It was so sad and at the hospital every time the nurses changed shifts they would walk in and quickly walk out to go get the doctor thinking that he was not breathing...poor guy! Well, we would of loved him even if he had kept his blue head but we are certainly great full that as you can see now, he is fine!

We kind of did his birthday like Chrismas this year. We had his presents out and we made him stay in our room so that I could get his birthday breakfast all ready...we let him loose to run in and we sang him happy birthday and he got to blow out his candles ( actually as you can see from the picture he really just drooled out his candles) and then he got to open presents and play with his new train set. It was really fun and I am just so in love with my little boy!
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I can not believe that my little "Fishstick" is already two years old! Wow... well in the past 2 years a lot has gone on in the James family. We moved from Houston to Columbus, Tx to work at Pine Cove. It was the most amazing decision that we could have made! Preston and I's life has completely changed through the people at Pine Cove and through the ministry that we got the chance to be apart of! Our mindset of "feed me" and how can I get the most out of this church, event or friend, has completely changed. We now look at ministry as a "how can we serve you" type of mindset. It has forever changed the way that we will be in our church, in our community and in our homes. From the amazing speakers that I got to listen to everyday in the summer to the Unbelievable wives that I have learned so much from...it truly is the body of Christ. I am really going to miss the wisdom and the friendships that I have developed over these past 2 years. I can not say enough wonderful things that I have learned from Pine Cove and I will never forget what we learned.

So...as you can tell...we are moving!
I know that the logical question after someone says "we're moving" is great "where?" Well as you know, we are not always logical...so we don't know! We feel strongly that the Lord is leading us somewhere else and so we are waiting...(not my strongest spiritual gift :) I am fully confident that the Lord has something amazing and I think that we are really thinking about the New Braunfels area...so we are excited to see what the Lord has in store for the James family!

Can I just say that the Lord does amazing things in my life in this whole waiting season...man I am coming to realize that I am not a patient person...which I am sure is why God is forcing me to be patient...however, I have some great days because yes, my husband has been unemployed for 3 days now and I have some not so great days...crazy! I am very humbled by the fact that I know that our family is going to be okay and that we will not starve or even go hungry for that matter because we are very blessed with family and friends. But that is not the case for so many families around our country right now...it is crazy and I my heart just brakes for those families. It has made me appreciate all of the amazing blessings that we have! But...I am still going crazy because the man that I love with all of my heart, and I know God put us together because we are so opposite of each other, seems to have no worries...I just want to scream sometimes because all I want to see is a little sense of urgency! Please someone out there agree with me??? Anyone...? I know all of you level-headed people who can think "logically" and "realistically" are shaking your heads, but sometimes a girl just wants to be unrealistic! Sometimes a girl just wants to take something and run all the way to the absolute most extreme possible situation and write the headline on the newspaper....hence the tension around the James household. Actually, when I do come back to reality, I can really see God refining in me qualities that definitely need some refining and I am truly thankful! My biggest prayer is that our family is doing whatever God wants us to be doing...so I can rest in knowing that He is in control and not me!

This adventure of ours has been amazing and I am so excited to see the next steps played out...I will keep you updated! If you think about it, throw up a prayer for us...

Where has the time gone?

Well, we celebrated Grace's 3rd birthday yesterday! CRAZY! I can not tell you how I can blink and I am holding her in the hospital! Anyways, I am so thankful for everyone who came and celebrated with us yesterday! It was such a blessing...Here are some pics...

Custom Photo Cards

Ok, so I am jumping on the band-wagon of people trying to make a little extra money...
I have started making custom photo cards, birth announcements, invitations, save the dates, and more. So if you are or know of amyone who might be interested go look at my site on Etsy lkayt027.etsy.com Thanks!

Great New Blog!

I found a great blog for parents with preschoolers. Click Here! It has a ton of great projects and fun things to do with your tot. Have fun and check it out...

Time Flies

As I sit here watching my two kids play together, I am reminded of a short time ago when I really thought this day would NEVER come! I can not believe that for the first time in 3 years I do not have a baby on a bottle, or the fact that I can actually sit here and write while the both of them are off playing in the yard. Time truly flies when you are having fun. My cup truly runs over. I am filled with so much joy in knowing that my savior is so real and so present in my life.

I have also been doing a lot of thinking and praying about our newest president. I have been so overwhelmed with people telling me that I just need to pray for him and honor him...I am getting so tired of hearing it. I know that God is in complete control and I know that He can and has many times in the past worked amazing things through rulers that are not actively pursuing Him. However, I feel that as a christian, my role is to not just simply sit back and pray for his well-being. Yes, he is my president, but He is not pursuing Christ and therefore, my prayers are a bit more specific. I am praying that God would reveal Himself to him and that he would repent! That he would be surrounded by Christians who are seeking after God's face. That he would see that ultimately, God is in control and that he is merely carrying out His plan. That he would fall down on his face when he thinks that he is playing a huge part in the deaths of thousands of innocent babies! I can not put my full trust in a president who is not moved to action at the thought of allowing all of these babies disappear. I wonder if he would feel any different if they had names and wore clothes? Somewhere in our country we have come to a point where abortion is just "something that happens" and it is not an abomination!!! There are two people in my world that have just gone through with abortions and I just want to vomit it makes me so sick! I could just scream and throw a temper-tantrum!

In all honesty, I am scared! If we do not have someone who can stand up in the face of opposition to God's word and do what is right. Then we are going to find ourselves in a very bad place. A place where God is going to give us over to our evil desires, and that scares me! My prayer for our president is that He would tremble at the thought of God's judgment and run towards the cross! Praise God that He can work through anyone and any situation, but also praise God for discernment. Now more than ever do we need to be clinging to God's word and His truth!

THe Strangest Thing...

Well, after MUCH anticipation it has finally arrived... We leave to go to Disney TOMORROW!!! Just me and Preston! I am So excited, HOwever...ever since I have had Grace everytime I fly I get so nervous. It is so weird, I have never been scared to fly...I guess now I know that I have something to lose and that their two little people in my world that depend on me and need me to come home safely! I would love your prayers of peace and also to not be stressed! I tend ( I know that no one else does) to suck all of the joy of the trip by being to stressed and schedule-oriented, Preston calls me a "joy-sucker"! ANyway, I just want to really enjoy the uninterrupted time with Preston. It is such a blessing and he is such an amazing husband. I could not of dreamed him up better! Thanks for your prayers and I will be sure to post pictures when we come home!!!

I also wanted to give an update on our family. This past year has been full of so many changes and tests and I finally feel like we are in a season of rest! Thank you Lord!!! Grace is just the cutest little two and half year old. Everything she sees or touches is the coolest thing EVER! She is talking like crazy (I can't figure out where she gets that from)! And then there is my little Fishstick, who steals my heart everyday. He is a carbon copy of Preston and can melt your heart with one slant of the eyes. he is walking and almost talking. He tends to find it easier to just scream to get what he wants...that is fun! We completed our first summer with Pine Cove and it was the most amazing experience. I have been learning so much from God and really feel like He is preparing Preston and I for something. I love our cute little town, no there is no Target or Starbucks or pretty much anything cool, BUT what it lacks in shopping it makes up for in community. I was just telling Preston how neat it is to go to the grocery store and see atleast 2 people from church and you just know everyone and feel apart of your town. We go to the football games and all of the parades, it really is neat. I can honestly say I love living in Columbus. Preston has had such a great year. He is so good at what he does and just blows my away. spiritually he has grown so much this past year and it is so neat to follow his lead. He is into his second year of conferences and has got it down. I have had a great year as well. I finally feel like I am coming into my own, I have been diving into my love for art and just exploring all of the different mediums and really enjoying it. I have created some type of painting for just about every room and started sewing and taking pictures, I just feel so fulfilled. I have also started a youth bible study with our new youth pastor's wife. That has been such a neat experience. I love pouring into others and mentoring those girls. It is not always easy, I tend to forget they are in high school, but is neat to see them growing and excited about Christ. We have had a great year and are so glad that God has placed us here for this season. We are excited to see what God is going to do this year and truly just want to be in His will!