Pinterest Phun

I just really like using alliterations, but in this post I am going to put pictures of all my completed Pinterest projects! If you haven't heard of Pinterest it is an incredible site of inspiration for life! You have as many virtual bulletin boards as you want and each one has a different category and title, and you add pins to your boards. The pins are pictures from across the country of crafts, cooking, sayings, homes, style, you name it. Be warned you will be spending HOURS pinning really fun pictures (that lead to how-to links) on your boards.

Really you just end up pinning more then actually doing, but it gets an A+ in inspiration!

Yet, I was determined to ACTUALLY do some of the pins I had on my boards so below you will just see a few pictures of what I have done. I have also made a board solely for completed things!

It makes me feel good seeing all seven of my completion on there.

All seven make me happy!

I don't have the how-to of what I have finished here, mainly because I really don't even remember everything I did and plus the credit goes to the people in the pinterest/bloggin' world who have already done that for us!

When I think of something creative myself I will make a how-to, that's when I do.

Budget Envelopes

 I had extra double sided scrapbook paper. I unfolded an envelope that would fit in my wallet and traced it on the piece off scrapbook paper. Then I added a piece of cardstock on the back with a yarn with a blanket stitch to stick it in my wallet.

 Voila! 

I have been wanting to use this money handling method for a long time and since being married it made a great excuse to actually put it into practice 

And it helps us immensely to stay on a budget...thanks Dave Ramsey! 

 Deck o' Love

I made this deck of cards for Blake for our First Christmas! I bought the deck of cards at Bass Pro Shop, only because they had deer on them and then wrote on each card why I loved him! 

See that BIG 5 point deer!  (10 pt deer if your from the south)

 I liked how thick it was to hold and it was SUPER fun to make. 

 Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars

I made these for dessert when we invited our neighbors and friends in a small group over for dinner. Are they supposed to look like this?! 

They tasted okay...I just ate the cookie dough on top! 

Cupboard Door turned Coat Hanger

my actual vision and idea

At the JF Ranch there is an OLD OLD house that has been vacant for at least a 1000 years

maybe a hundred years

Blake just informed me at least 50 years.

Well, we went in this house, hopping from beam to beam where the floor wasn't completely caved in and found this gem (and many more) in the kitchen. It was an old cupboard door that we took off. Then we took the authentic glass knobs off the other cupboards and drawers that didn't look at great.

We drilled holes into the wood, I bought bolts from Home Depot and we put this puppy together.

I felt like a handy (wo)men. I think Extreme Home Makeover could hire me.

 There it beautifully hangs in our little humble abode.

Thanks Pinterest and all you out there full of inspiration! Here are the links of the above projects:

Budget Envelopes

 Deck o' Love
 Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars

What Pinterest projects have you finished?!

NAME CHANGE

*IMPORTANT * BLOG URL NAME CHANGE *

was: amandarbeagle.blogspot.com


NOW:
inresponse-farrar.blogspot.com

Since becoming married to the most wonderful man in the world, like other woman,  I have had to change my name on quite a few things.

1. My driver's license (stood in line for hours, but I had my Kindle so it worked out great
2. My Social Security Card (stood in line for maybe 5 minutes...great!)
3. My passport which I am just now hoping my new one is enroute (as we will need it in May!)

Most important to you is my blog!!!!

it was amandarbeagle.blogspot.com BUT NOW its

inresponse-farrar.blogspot.com! 

so for any readers our there...here its the new one!

"What If" Wisdom

This is a blog from a wonderful woman, mom, and mentor that I had the pleasure to sit under her wisdom for the three years while I was at Pine Cove. Her and Kara even made beautiful cupcakes for our wedding! Then, not but three months after I moved to Dallas, her husband got a job at Watermark Church and they moved to Dallas too! I hope to catch up with her soon. Until then here is her blog that moved me to think more about my "what ifs"

I hope you enjoy:    http://siscofamily.blogspot.com/2012/01/what-ifs.html

The beautiful arrangement and tasty cupcakes

Here is Mandy and her beautiful family

Update

Like most things I do, I start and have awesome ideas and intentions and then somehow seem to forget about them or not take the time to finish or continue! This is a major flaw and I am currently working on it! I really am, Blake said he would help. Yet, I am will still going to tell you excuses why I haven't blogged in, give life updates over the past four months!

1. I finished my job at the Bluffs as the Guest Relations after three whole awesome years! I worked with one Camp Director, two Conference directors, and three guest services and every minute was incredible!

2. I started to work part time at another Pine Cove ministry call IWS (Institution for Wilderness Studies). This is where the Lord guided me to fall in love with teaching science. [ Coming soon: How Amanda Completely Changed Careers ]

3. GOT MARRIED!! That's right, I am now a happily married woman to the most incredible man in the world. Blake Farrar!

4. I moved to Dallas, Texas (really we live in Irving, Las Colinas area) to move in with Blake and created a home in our humble apartment! Yes, I am officially a nester! We bought our living room, dining room, and bedroom furniture from different craigslist friends! Next on the list: washer and dryer.

5. Take care of our loving vizsla, Big Boy! We go running and have dog park dates with my friend Jessica Anthony who also owns a vizsla named Isley.

Sorry I don't have a picture I hardly blog without a picture, but honestly I haven't taken a picture in 10 months!! Add that to the list of "things to work on in 2012...2013...2014......."

6. Our holiday was filled with travel with a Christmas at the JF Ranch on Dec. 23 and then a flight up to Wyoming for the Christmas Holiday. My parents then held a Wyoming Wedding Reception for all the people that weren't able to make it south to the BIG event.

7. We went to Keystone, CO and defeated the slopes over the New Years Holiday with Blake's parents, sister, and her friends!

8. Now I am looking for a job! Anyone out there needing some help?! While I am also applying for a teachers certification to become a Biology Teacher!

9. We started attending an incredibly family friendly church that just over a block away from our house called Irving Bible Church. We have also JUST started a small group that we are excited to live life with.

I would say those are all the major life updates and until next week, month time I will hopefully be taking pictures to keep this blog spicy!

Once Upon a Time

We all know that every great story starts with Once Upon a Time and most of these types of stories are great love stories. And boy do I have an amazing love story. My "Once Upon a Time" is an incredible proposal story that Blake gave me. I mean I have had strangers and the most random people come up to me stating that they have seen the pictures on Facebook and have heard how I got engaged. Its humbling really and so sweet. If you don't know the story I have posted all the details in an older post and you can read it here.

This story has even reached the public press!

Not the New York Times, or Time Magazine

But, the Wedded Bliss. There is a local free wedding magazine in East Texas called the Wedded Bliss that has all sorts of crazy information for Brides planning their wedding and other weddings that have happened throughout the area. I was searching their site and they ask for your engagement story. And since I am still amazed at my proposal I thought I would submit the story, so naturally I just copied and pasted my blog post about it. The sweetest lady named Sandra replied and I could hear her joy from the story through the email. She gave some wonderful marriage advice and encouraged me in Blake and I's journey together. She even said that she wanted to put our story in the September/October edition of Wedded Bliss.

I was thrilled!!! Really....my story?! Well Blake did do a really good job.

Most of the engagement stories in the Wedded Bliss are a paragraph long and the couple puts one picture of them beside the story, and they have about three stories on one page. For my story I thought that this poor lady Sandra was going to have to condense all my writing into a small paragraph, which would take a lot anyways with my writing. Yet, I was excited to see our story in this magazine!

So this past weekend Blake and I were at a Tux Shop getting all the details finalized when we saw that the Sept/Oct edition of the Wedded Bliss was being delivered. We immediately asked for one and anxiously flipped through the magazine looking for our story. Did it make it? Is it cool? Did we even submit a good picture?!

Then in complete amazement we found our story! Actually how could you miss our story.

It was two full pages with about 5 pictures and practically every detail that I had written in the blog post. It needed shortened and Sandra did an incredible job of keeping my personality in it and still preserving the whole story!

AMAZING!! I am so thankful for everything that Sandra did and so blessed by her. That my story would get this type of attention. Even all my friends made it! Autographs to be signed later!

Every time I tell this story I realize how blessed I am and reminded of how INCREDIBLE Blake is! Every time I tell this story I am humbled because I didn't even do a thing...not one thing!! Blake did the planning months in advance, he organized the details, and did the asking! I was just there and said "yes," the rest was all Blake!

Every time I tell this story I am reminded of the gospel.

I'm reminded I have been given a spiritual story, not because of what I have done, the sinner I am, but what Christ has done. I did nothing but say "yes" to Christ and accept him in my heart when he asked me to be his bride and join him in his kingdom.

When he did EVERYTHING for me. He did the planning before hand and came to earth and lived a holy life. He put together all the details and came to dwell among us and be a living example, and then he died for wretched people and their disgusting sins. Not only did he die a horrible death but he then was raised again, and put death to death!

Then he asked me to live with him forever.

And I said, "yes."

My heart is spoken for.

Every time I remember this I realize how blessed I am and how INCREDIBLE Christ is!!

This is not my story but God's love story.
"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurableriches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been savedthrough faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."  Ephesians 2: 1-10

Who Knew?!

I am in the process of making an Ebenezer from my trip to Israel last year. It is a Photobook from Shutterfly with all the pictures that I have from the trip. Yet, sadly my camera broke Day 1 of the trip, I mean we weren't even out of the US yet and it just crashed, so I had friends graciously take pictures of me.

So needless to say I had pictures of me specifically in a hundred different places. I copied a bunch of facebook and had friends email me a few too.

Until recently I had a friend, Patoya (love her!), email me a bunch that she had taken so I could finish by book. And by surprise this was one of the pictures:

Blake and I in Israel, Gamla I think

You look at this picture and you think oh how cute, right?!! When Blake and I look at this picture we think...CRAZY! Who knew?! Only because this trip to Israel is where we met without even knowing it.

In the fall of 2009 I decided to raise money and ask for support to go on a 12-day study tour through Israel. The Lord provided in crazy ways and I was able to go in March of 2010. There were 50 people going, half were from the forge, a quarter were Pine Cove staff like me and then the other quarter were people who knew about the trip and were connected with Pine Cove, one of those people being Blake.

All 50 of us spent 12-days straight together, learning, laughing, and hiking a lot and not once did Blake and I talk. Now talking about it today, neither one of us were on each others radar. Which for both of us at the time, was a good thing as weird as that sounds. I had an amazing trip with absolutely no distractions, (because Blake WOULD have been! haha), and it was GREAT! 

It wasn't until we were back in the states that I began to notice Blake. I mean when you go on a trip with people for that long and that meaningful they are practically already your best friend!

It was on Thursday mornings at Einsteins that I would continuously see him, because I was meeting with my friend Adrianne there in there mornings. He would be there working and we would say our cordial hello's and I thought he was great, but that's about it. Then I started to see him at other places afterwards like Macalisters and Pine Cove events, and that's when it all started!

After one wonderful talk at Macalisters and sharing a chocolate chip cookie we exchanged numbers and it was history from there!

So now being engaged we look at these pictures when we are right beside each other in Israel where it all started having no clue.

Who knew that when we were right beside each other then, that we would be that way forever.

 

Blake's birthday, a week after the engagement!

Between Wondering and Wanting

Well Blake and I have been engaged one month to this day and you better believe I will be riding cloud 9 as long as I can.

So far we have conquered some huge wedding plans and I am pretty proud of us.

Date: October 16th, 2011

Ceremony and Reception: Stone Oak Ranch Murchinson, TX near Tyler. Click here to see pictures. It is a beautiful barn, my dream was to have my wedding in a barn! And the people who run it are so nice.

Photographer: Brandi Burkett, who is simply wonderful and has the same taste as I do. Click here to see her blog.

Officiant: Chris Sherrod and he and Chris Legg are going to do our Marriage Counseling

Wedding Coordinator: Adrianne Miller, a SWEET friend and amazing women who will do so well!

Cupcakes: Mandy Sisco and her sweet friend, this is a huge feat and she was so sweet in wanting to help and even have a tasting!

Registered: a tiny bit at Bed, Bath, and Beyond...Blake and I had a lot of fun. He allows me to dream!

Misc: I have already gotten HUGE help from people around Pine Cove and great connections from my future in laws!

I don't have a dress yet, but I went shopping with my mom over Easter and my best friend Megan is coming May 6th. So Lord willing that will come quick and easy!


And if you are wondering, yes I am still working on the colors

Phew...we have come a long way in one month! I am trying to get all the big stuff done before May 14th, because that's technically when summer camp starts and I will be MIA with all this free time!

Blake and I have done a lot and made a lot of decisions. Yet, our biggest question is how on earth do you be engaged exactly. What does engagement look like?

There are books up the wazoo about dating and how to date and specific books on types of dating and tons of advice from friends. Then there are even more books about marriage and how to be married, work on communication and even more great advice from people. Yet, how do we do engagement well.

So I feel like we are in between wondering and wanting. The first stage of dating is wondering if we are going to get married, wondering if we are a good fit. Then realizing we could totally marry this person and wondering when it will happen. Then the other stage is then wanting to be married, we now know we will be getting married and the wondering stage is done. Yet, now we want to get married (sometimes next week), and we know it is coming but what does engagement look like? How do we serve each other in this season of life.

I realize the basic things, like this is a time to prepare for marriage with christian counseling, reading books, talking through stuff and planning a wedding. If this is what engagement is all about then great, its been a fun ride. Yet, this new season has brought our relationship to another level and its important to continue to cultivate this time together and my question is what does it look like?

So Blake and I decided that instead of trying to fit our engagement into our lives we would create a foundation and filter the actions of engagement through scripture. So the goal and desire of our engagement is to:
1. Glorify God
2. Be an example to those around us with his power

So in this season we thought that we would pray Romans 12:9-13 over our relationship.
"Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection.Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality."

Being engage is so AMAZING and we are slowly looking at what this means in our lives as we are learning to understand one another in preparation for marriage.

Yes, we're engaged, but...WE ARE GETTING MARRIED...and that's what its all about! 

 Two Words: Pure Joy