Lessons from A to Z ~ A Lesson From Hagar

Every weekday morning, I drive the kids to school. We have 4 minutes in the car together. And I use that time to pray out loud for each of them. I pray over anything specific they have for the day—a test, a project, friend issues. I pray that they will be a blessing to their teachers and peers. I thank God that He loves them so much, that He wants to use them in their school, and that He is with them through the day. And then I open the car door and send them off to their own little worlds of elementary and preschool. Worlds I am not a major part of. I don’t follow them. I can’t see or hear them. But God does.

“You are the God who sees…” ~ Genesis 16:13

I was reminded of this verse last month as I spoke on Hagar at our annual Women’s Breakfast. Her story is a powerful one and can be found in Genesis 16 and 21. In both chapters, Hagar encounters God in the middle of the desert when she is most desperate and alone. She is reminded that: God SEES you, God HEARS you, and God has a PLAN for you.

I love that. I pray this over my children so they will remember this as they enter school: that even where I can’t follow, God is with them and has a plan for them. This has been such a comfort as we work with them through heartbreaking friend drama, frustrating subjects and disciplines that seem oh so hard to master. He sees them in class, He hears them on the playground, and He has a plan for each of them. 

Like Hagar, I pray our family can all say “I have seen the One who sees me.” (Genesis 16:13) Have you seen Him in your life?

Conquering The Great Wall

OK this post isn't about conquering the actual Great Wall.  But the wall in our Study felt nearly as daunting!  With high ceilings and no windows, it has A LOT of wall space!  All we had to fill the room were two scrawny desks that look even scrawnier in this room.

Study (east & south walls) - Before

So, I started where I always start when feeling a little overwhelmed... looking for inspiration!  While combing through magazines and online, I kept my goals in mind: I don't want to spend much (or any!) dough on this solution.  So, I need to use what we have (mostly small scale stuff) to fill a large space (usually requiring large-scale items).  Remember I'm staging this room so it needs to look well-proportioned, unified, and not too cluttered or scattered.  Here's what I found:

Inspiration Picture (From Pottery Barn Catalog Fall 2010, page 58)

Here's what I love about it:  The colors - a mix of black & white with the warm accents of gold, burlap & wood. The ingredients - the mix of frames on the wall, boxes on the floor, and tall & short elements on the table. All these ingredients work together to trick the eye.  Instead of seeing a bunch of small things, it registers as one large cohesive focal point.  Yep, I'm copying this one!  And here's what I came up with:

Study (south wall) - After

Using what we had, I followed a loose theme to keep the look unified: black & white prints (mostly of architectural structures) with warm tones in the wood accents & the gold "M".  I have a few things to tweak... including finding tall galvanized bucket or wire basket to hold my blueprints (like the one in the right corner of the inspiration picture).  But the wall is pretty much conquered!  On to the next space... stay tuned!