Submission and Surrender- not bad words

The words submission and surrender tend to cause women's hackles to rise and our chests to puff up in indignation. I think due in large part to our society and ongoing development of the feminist movement, the words submission and surrender imply weakness, deficit, and degradation. However, on the contrary, the Bible displays these terms in honorable, loving, and worthy ways.

Why am I writing about this?

This summer has led Mike and I on our first house buying experience. We are the property virgins! How very fitting that I refer to us that way because I certainly went into this process envisioning us looking at three amazing houses, all of which would be waiting and available for us to mull over, and with sellers who were more than willing to pay our closing costs. Oh I was wrong!

We have been up against deadlines (our lease ending, the school year starting, a baby on the way) and a less than desirable market (increasing interest rates, modest budget, and competitive market). The combination of all these factors made for a more stressful summer than we could have imagined.

A few weeks ago we found a lovely home and put in a bid, which was beat by another buyer. This caused us to go into something of a frenzy, feeling absolutely positive that we had to buy something right away or we would never find a home. Another home came along that just happened to belong to our wedding photographer. We decided to bid and it was accepted. We thought everything was perfect because the seller was even willing to negotiate with us and for a while we felt relieved that our house buying nightmare was ending. It wasn't.

The day before our inspection period ended, we met with the inspector and had a chance to see the house for the second time. Mike came to me that night with a gut feeling that something wasn't right. He just knew this wasn't our house. I of course was adamant that he was wrong! I knew our finances, interest rates were going up, the yard was great etc etc etc. I just knew that I was right and was very upset that Mike would put our family's future in danger because of some fleeting reservations. After hours of prayer (on his part, definitely not mine), Mike asked me to please trust him as my husband to make the right decision even if it wasn't the one I thought we should make. I said yes and then went to bed in a complete state of panic. The next morning I woke up with a sense of calm and peace that I can't find words to describe. I knew God was telling me to submit to my husband's will. Suddenly I was relieved that I didn't have to worry about the decision anymore. I know that day was really hard for Mike because our contract was final at midnight. The whole process was more difficult because we had to contend with hurting a friend's feelings by backing out on someone we knew. Ultimately Mike made the decision to cancel our contract. It was heartbreaking and we definitely took a financial loss in the decision.

The next day (Friday) I started chatting with my friend Cheryl from Tres Dias and as a real estate professional herself she had much encouragement and advice to offer. She suggested we meet for coffee the next morning, which we did.

Cheryl came to me on Saturday morning having spent time in prayer herself for Mike and me. Her first words of wisdom after hearing me rant and rave were, "you and Mike need to rest. God never intended for us to strive like this. Making huge financial decisions while you are this stressed is not smart and ultimately you need to rest in Him." Wow!
After sharing some other steps and ideas as well, I went home and shared Cheryl's advice and after praying together, Mike and I decided to give up house hunting for the rest of the weekend. No looking at our portal, no researching lenders, we just decided to rest for the weekend. I won't say surrendering in this way was easy because I am a doer and I could hear that nagging voice saying, "there is a house out there that someone else is scooping up right now." Oh shut up, stupid voice!

Fast forward to Monday morning. Cheryl's husband Fred sent me a couple listings to check out and my realtor's portal updated. Guess what popped up? Our dream home!!!! It was back on the market...WHAT!!! I called Mike and we put in an offer right away. Guess what? Not only did the seller accept but he offered to pay our closing costs!

This is what happens when we submit and surrender. That is the lesson I've learned here. I submitted to my husband's will and allowed him to make the right decision (my decision would have been wrong). Then we submitted to God and He demonstrated that He is in control, He already had a plan for the home we were supposed to have. I surrendered my will, my timing, my desire, and my insistence that I knew best and ultimately, we ended up with a home more perfect than we could have imagined, we saved .4% on our new interest rate, and we ended up with a little more cash in our pocket to work on some home renos. On top of that, we are closing with a month to spare before our lease is up so we have some leisure with moving.

Lesson learned...there is something beautiful and perfect in submission and surrender. They are not bad words.

DIY head band roll

After my exciting hair bow frame I decided to tackle a new project. A friend of mine shared her beautiful head band rolls that she made for her daughter's room and it inspired me to do the same.

Here is Jess's version:

She got her idea and tutorial from the following website and its a good one to check out for ideas: http://thebeautydepartment.com/2012/04/organization-station-headband-holder/

Here is my version:

1. I started with another trip to Hobby Lobby for more materials. Here are the additional supplies I purchased.

Fabric (I needed 2/3 yard for my paper towel roll) $3.84

Paper towel spool (I want my roll to stand, not hang) $1.99 plus I used my Hobby lobby 40% off coupon. 

Top flower $1.99

Mini pink roses $3.50

You will obviously want to pick colors and flowers that fit your room style.

2. Cover the paper towel roll in fabric. I removed the plastic first because I didn't want the hot glue to melt it. 

Once rolled, I folded the edge under to make it look nicer.

3. Tuck the fabric into the holes of the paper towel roll

4. You can now stand the roll up on the wooden holder

You will notice that it isn't very attractive so I planned to hot glue roses around the base. To do so, you have to pluck the flowers from the stems and then trim the plastic down so they will glue flat

5. There may be some extra wood showing so if you have spare roses you ca. Fill in that space

If the base doesn't lay flat you may need to trim the little plastic leaves.

6. Finally, add the flower to the top. If it has a stem, you can feed it down into the roll through the fabric. Add a couple dabs of glue to keep the flower in place.

Finished!

Here are some after photos once I added K's bows and clips to both projects

DIY hair bow frame

I decided to tackle a Pinterest project for hopefully less than what you can purchase it from the website. Here is what I was attempting to make:

I have wanted to make something to display K's bows since before she was born but I just didn't want the typical hanging ribbon from a flower. I saw this and fell in love... Also because her new room will be gray and pink. 

I took at trip to Hobby Lobby for the following materials:

Picture frame (I did 11 x 14 but the size is up to you) cost $16

Fabric I loved the gray Damask from the example so I sought that out and had the lady at the counter figure out exactly how much to cut. I need 3/8 of yard. Cost $1.83

Ribbon again I wanted pink see through ribbon. Cost $2. I still have quite a bit left, which I'm sure I will continue to use in K's new room. 

Hot glue gun

Scissors

Measuring tape

Here's what I bought to start:

Fist thing was to take the frame apart. You won't need the glass at all.

You will see here that the fabric is just enough to cover the frame back and it is doubled over

The fabric was a little longer than I needed so I trimmed before I started, keeping in mind where the hanging pegs are on the frame

Then, I glued the sides first using hot glue. I used a liberal amount but be careful because you will feel the heat through the fabric.

Since the fabric is doubled you will also want to put a dab of glue under the top layer as well. That way the fabric stays tight. 

To glue the top and bottom, I did triangle corners (like you would if you were wrapping a present). This makes the material tighter and thicker. 

Fabric done! 

Next is to add the ribbon. I used a tape measure to figure out the full distance around the frame. For my frame and material it was 15 inches

Next I needed to measure and decide how many ribbon strips to include. For this size frame and ribbon, 4 worked great, they are spaced 1 1/2 inches apart 

I laid a tape measure on the table and placed my strips of ribbon and frame board against it to keep the ribbons evenly spaced as I glued them down.

All the ribbon is on! 

Almost done. Carefully press the board back into the frame

Done!

You will notice my finished product is a little different from the example but I'm very pleased. I did not include the hanging bow at the top because it will get smashed in the move plus I'm not sure how I want to hang it yet so ill add that later. 

Total cost: less than $20