Guilt

If you're a Mom, you've probably felt it. If you're anyone, you've probably felt it. But for some reason for me, it's quadrupled since I became a Mom. GUILT. False or otherwise, it creeps up almost daily.

I feed my kids too many hot dogs. Guilt.

My oldest ignores adults that talk to him when we're out in public. Guilt.

I don't play with my boys enough. Guilt.

I don't sing with my kids enough. Guilt.

I don't pray for my kids enough. Guilt.

I haven't worked with Levi enough on his ABC's and some other kids his age are already writing and learning to read. Guilt.

By the time my husband comes home, I have no energy left to pour into him. Guilt.

I never send a birthday card out on time, if at all. Guilt.

And the list goes on...and on...and on. It's silly, really, when we choose to focus on all of the things we aren't doing, or aren't doing right. The truth is, I have to cut myself a break. We all do. Despite what Pinterest tells us, we CAN'T DO IT ALL. And when I think about it, I don't totally screw it up all the time.  I'm a pretty fun Mom. I do silly dances for my kids while they eat their lunch or take their bath. I tickle them and wrestle with them. I play Lego Minecraft  with my four year old and want to die of boredom, but I do it anyway. My kids are ALIVE and healthy. I manage to feed them three square meals a day, even if it is hotdogs a lot of the time. I tell them I love them 100 times a day and I give them more kisses than they care for. And most importantly, I tell them about Jesus and how much He loves them. I have to cut myself a break. We all do. Despite what you think, you're doing more good than you realize. You're in their lives, and you're trying. So take a deep breath, and let go of all that FALSE guilt.

 My friend Dani Byham wrote about this beautifully in her blog today, you guys should check it out: The Mom Season. She writes truth about Momhood, ya'll.

A Few of My Favorite Things

One of my goals this year is to be more intentional about buying handmade/local. I've had my own Etsy shop, Free Spirit Jenny, for a couple of years, but honestly, I never really purchased much for myself off of Etsy. Part of the reason is because in the past two years I had our second son, Elliot and was also busy setting up our new home. We had just moved from West Africa, where we had spent the previous four years working at a school for missionary kids, and we had almost nothing to set up house with! So, a lot of our money was going to furnish our new home- and dang, it takes a lot! I thrift and re-purpose almost everything we own, and it still added up quickly! All that to say, I didn't exactly have a lot of extra cash lying around to buy cool, handmade stuff. Now that my shop is taking off a little more, I can afford to pick up a few new things here and there. I'm going to start featuring some of my favorites on my blog, so you guys can get to know a few of the very creative artists behind them! Let's do this thing!

Check out this sweet, book letter monogram by the talented, Simply Vintage GA. Seriously, some people are just so creative. I would never look at an old, Reader's Digest book and think, "Yeah, I think I'll carve that into a letter." Anyway, I think they are super cute. She does ampersands, too. I had to hold back and just order one for now.

Wouldn't this be super cute if you spelled out L.O.V.E or you and your hubbies initials? She has all different kinds of colors and patterns. Fun. Anyway, if you get a chance, check out Krystal's Etsy shop!

Home Tour

I am so honored and excited to have our home featured on the wonderful Life Made Lovely blog this week! I have been a huge fan of Heather's Home Made Lovely series for a long time, and I am thrilled to join the club! If you are looking for decorating inspiration, check our her blog- it is awesome. I am re-posting my home tour below. Enjoy!

I may look like your typical American girl, but I actually grew up overseas as a missionary kid. I was raised in Hong Kong and started going to boarding school in Malaysia when I was just 10 years old! Since then, I lived in Europe for a while doing missions work, and my husband and I spent four years working at a missionary school in West Africa, where our oldest son was born. I've lived in a ton of different places and a ton of different houses, but no matter where we were growing up, my Mom always made our house a home. She always decorated so beautifully and no matter what ugly, cold building we lived in, the inside always felt so warm and cozy and wonderful! I guess it just rubbed off on me, because it is so important to me to make our home, wherever it is, a warm, lovely, cozy, vibrant, creative place to be! Come on in and take a peek!

I'm a sucker for thrifty art and flowers! The two combined equal my entryway. Bright, happy, eclectic- this is what you get when you first walk into our home. 

The living room for me, has always been the heart of the home. I put the most effort into this space. It's where we spend time learning, laughing, talking, entertaining...just living! It's where we spend most of our time and I wanted it to be cozy, but reflect my style...which is vintage meets modern meets eclectic...something like that!

When I shop for items and furniture to fill our home, I really don't over think it. I just buy things that I like and that make me happy and find a place for it! I don't worry too much about color schemes and matching. Although, there are certain colors I'm definitely drawn to: can you see all the mustard?

We thrifted these vintage lamps  for a few bucks when we first got married, and I love them!

The mantle is kind of the focal point of the room, and I'm always changing it up depending on the season or holiday or whatever. It's so important to me to surround our home with pictures of loved ones- it just makes it personal.

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 I have to give a shout out to my sweet hubby for sanding and painting this dresser for me! So many people ask me about it, and I have to give him all the credit because there is no way I could have done it this nicely. He's pretty proud of it, too =0)

I decided when we moved into this home (our first purchased home), that I wanted to surround us with truth. That's why I love my chalkboards! I am constantly writing Bible verses and inspirational quotes that breath truth into our home and encourage us. 

I collecting unusual, quirky, fun, and inexpensive items to fill my home, which is why a lot of the decor and furniture is thrifted or handmade. We got this awesome hutch for $125 at a little antique store in our town, and I think it was a steal!

We obviously spend a lot of time in the kitchen, so I wanted it to be cheerful, fun, and fresh feeling. We just re-did our backsplash and countertops, and we love how they turned out.

 As in all of my decorating, I love mixing vintage and modern patterns. I thrift almost all of the material I use in my projects.

 I'm always trying to find the balance of making the downstairs bathroom functional for my boys, and pretty for my guests!

My oldest son, Levi, has a room downstairs. We moved him down after our other son was born to give them each some space. It's worked out so well, because it functions as a play room for both of them throughout the day. I love all the pops of bright colors- it's just a happy room =0)

I get a lot of ideas from Pinterest, and this ABC wall was super fun to put together. I bought every letter on sale, so it took a few months to gather and paint them all!

I scored these vintage flash cards at the Charlotte flea market. They are one of my favorite things, for sure.

My husband recently built this book box because we were so tired of all the books sliding off and falling onto each other. Plus, they are (mostly) out of little brother.

I kept the stairway simple, because it's right across from crazyland: i.e. the wall of flower pictures in the entryway.

We really wanted to make our room a peaceful retreat, and I actually focused on sticking to just a few colors (for me, this is just a few colors). I love the mint walls and pops of mustard. And of course, I still have to have my fun vintage mixed with modern- like the Chevron rug and big lamps.

 

 Our youngest son, Elliot sleeps is this cozy, little space. We don't spend a lot of time up here, so really all he does is sleep here. I really wanted it to have a vintage feel and I believe almost everything in here is second hand.

My home is such an expression of the creativity inside me. As cheesy as it sounds, sometimes I feel like I'm going to burst if I don't have a project to work on, or something to make. I just LOVE decorating and making our home unique and warm and us. I hope I've been able to inspire some of you to do the same with your homes- to make them expressions of you!

Thanks for stopping by,
Jenny