Emily!

Emily is a girl that I have been meeting with for the past 2 years. She has been such a wonderful blessing in my life and has helped me grow in so many ways. Many people say that when you disciple someone, you end up changing/learning more than you teach them. Well I think this is probably the case.


Today was our last official meeting and so I have been thinking back about the last few years this morning. Seeing where Emily has come from is amazing. She is no where close to where she was a few years ago. The Lord has used her in GREAT ways. She is now a member of a sorority and living every day to expand God's Kingdom. It is amazing. I am so proud of her!


I will definitely miss her but I know that she will continue to grow and impact others' lives. Can't wait to see where she goes!

Easy Christmas Gift

For those of you who don't know, I sell Mary Kay here and there. Once in awhile I'll do a facial, party, etc. and when there's a sweet deal I'll let you know. :)

Well... there's a SWEET deal right now!

This pedicure set is only $11 right now (normally $22). It includes:

• a relaxing foot soak
• soothing foot balm
• pedicure brush/pumice stone
• and the zippered bag.

So if you are frantically searching around for a gift for that person who is impossible to buy for (or simply someone who LOVES pedicures)... here you go!

If you would like to purchase one simply let me know by:
commenting on this blog,
emailing me at amy.farley4@gmail.com,
or calling me at (515) 520-1683

Let me know if you would like to purchase any other Mary Kay gifts for this Christmas season!

**Shipping is free**

Student or Teacher?

So I will be beginning my student teaching on January 9th. I am very excited about it and have already been talking with my cooperating teachers.

I will spend my first 8 weeks at Coolidge Elementary in Cedar Rapids. I have talked on the phone with this teacher and I am VERY excited to spend these weeks with her. I will have 18 classes a week and have grades K-6. One of my college professors is also very good friends with her and cannot stop saying wonderful things about her. I will get to meet her in about a week.

My second 8 weeks will be at Jefferson High School in Cedar Rapids. My cooperating teacher goes to church with a few of my good friends from Cedar Rapids so I am very excited about that connection as well. Jefferson is a Big school in comparison to Roland Story so this will be a new and exciting change. They will be putting on Thoroughly Modern Millie for their musical this spring which I will help with. I am very excited about this since I was in this musical during my high school years.

I will keep the updates coming once everything begins. Can't wait for this chance to learn and teach at the same time!!!

4 letter word everyone seems to hate...

S.N.O.W.

The forecast for tonight is 1-4 inches of beautiful, unique, incredible white fluff. Whenever I have heard someone talk about this today or have mentioned it to people their first response is "really?" in a monotone, annoyed tone.

Now I'll be the first to say that scraping snow off my car and trying to stomp through feet of snow when late or dressed up are not my favorite things. There are aspects of winter and snow which I could do without HOWEVER...

I can choose to live in Iowa or Texas.
I can choose to be annoyed or excited.
I can choose how I respond to this forecast.

So for the past 4ish years I have chosen to LOVE winter. To embrace everything about it. Why complain?!? We live in Iowa... God has given us 9 months to prepare for snow and since you've experienced it say 20 times before, you know what's coming.

So let's all choose to LOVE winter and when there's a -30 degree windchill and you are outside scraping 2-inch-thick ice off your car which was covered with 2 feet of snow... SMILE because you are experiencing an incredible creation of God in an extremely intimate and interactive way. :)

Blessed.

We are blessed.

Over the past month I have been bombarded with stories about people who have a much harder life than I have. Here are a few examples:

-Watched "Hotel Rwanda" and saw all the lives of those people being torn apart.
-21 year old boy: mother and brother were shot in his presence when he was 5.
-21 year old girl: had a gun stuck in her mouth at the age of 4 and threatened to be shot.
-21 year old girl: husband of 1 year is filing for separation and kicking her out.
-Started reading Kate's Kisses which explains the lives of children in Uganda and the trials of living there.
-Read my cousin's blog about living in Africa and the daily struggles that brings.

And those are just a few examples. Yet I continue to complain at times. God has blessed me in so many ways. I have never seen anyone be killed, I have never been abused, I have never been 'hungry', I have never had to worry about money or where I was going to sleep at night. I have a WONDERFUL life.

Yet... I am distracted in this world of "comfort" and "easy". In Kate's Kisses the author talks about how going through all the trials without any 'comforts' caused her to fall on her knees before the Lord. It MADE her depend on Him. In this world where I have a 'wonderful' life I am never MADE to fall down. I am never without help from a worldly thing.

So yes I am blessed, yet at times I see those 6 year old children in Uganda as more blessed than me. They understand what it means to fully drop before the Lord and praise Him for ALL that He is since they have nothing else in their lives.

Burlap Wall Hanging

Burlap Wall Hanging
(just inspired)

I was going to do another craft from Pinterest which required a frame so I bought a cheap one from good will. I ended up getting inspired in another way and that original craft never happened. Maybe another day. But here is what came out instead!

Bought a cheap frame, felt, burlap, and wooden letters to spell whatever I wished, in this case...Family.

Painted the letters red (to match the felt) and the frame brown.

Lined the backing of the frame with burlap.
(I had never thought of burlap before as an option for decorating but am starting to love it more lately... and it's decently cheap!)

Made some more felt roses which you can see a tutorial on my previous post.

Hot glued everything on! DONE!

Twine Letters

Twine Letters

(inspired by Pinterest)

This craft was a bit time consuming but ended up really cute! I am very excited about it.

I started by outlining the letter with twine.

Then I wrapped the letter completely, hot gluing the twine on the back as I went.
It was kind of hard determining which was the twine should go and how to get it there.

The finished wrapped up letter.

Next... felt roses. Here's a quick tutorial.

Cut a 'wiggly' circle like below.
(I had started the next step when I took this picture)

Cut around the edge going towards the center so it becomes one long 'snake'.
Leave the end as a little circle. (See below)

Start rolling up the fabric starting at the end you started cutting.
You can change the look of the flower depending on how tightly you roll it.
Hot glue the bottom of the flower to hold it all in place.
Take the circle piece at the end and glue it to the bottom to make a finished look.

I made 2 flowers for this. The size of the flowers depends on the size of the original circle.

Then I cut a strip of the fleece and glued it on the back. SIMPLE!

FINISHED PRODUCT:

Reusable Makeup Removers

Reusable Makeup Removers

(inspired by LisaGrace Alsbury)

-----------------------------------------------------
Craft #3-- If you didn't see the other two crafts I've posted look below. There's one more to come as well...
-----------------------------------------------------
I go through around 1 tube of cotton rounds a month. They are about $2.00 a tube ($24.00 a year) and I just throw them away... not a way to save the planet!

So I saw this on another blog and decided to try it out! Nothing crazy and they aren't well made (because I made them so fast) but they will work.

Bought a 1/4 yard of FLANNEL.
Sewed right sides together into a long strip.

Turned it right side out.
Cut into small squares.

Did a quick seam down each side of the square and viola!

A completed square (don't judge me by the horrible side seams/cuts... I am a bit embarrassed by them)

I am simply putting them in a 'delicates' bag when I wash them. Hopefully these work.

Total cost: $0.68 for 30 pieces
Saved: $23.32 and a bit of the world :)

Easy Canvas Design

Canvas Design

(inspired by Pinterest)

I simply put drywall mud into a plastic bag, snipped the end off and squeezed it onto the canvas. Then once it dried I painted it all.


I did draw out the design before so I knew where to put the mud. It was also hard getting the mud to come out evenly so I may experiment with new types of pastes or something. The people I got the idea from said elmer's glue but I tried this and it did not work out.

The Reliability of the Bible

Steve Riggs, a doctor in the Cedar Falls area came and talked at Navigators the other night. He spoke about the reliability of the Bible and how we can trust that what we have today is what was originally written in the Bible. Here are a few things he stated.

Do Christians REALLY believe the Bible is the Word of God?

82% said "God helps those who help themselves" is the most widely quoted verse in America (NOT EVEN A VERSE)

42% of the congregation read the Bible less than 5 minutes a day

58% could not name more than 5 of the 10 commandments.

63% could not Name the Four Gospels.

DEUTERONOMY 32:47- "They are not just idle words for you- they are your life."

New Testament Manuscript Evidence

I hope you can read this... Ultimately the Bible has less time between when it was written and the earliest copy we have than plenty of other books we call 'fact' or study intensely. It also has thousands more copies than any of the other books on the list.

These copies are 98.33-99.5% pure and without doubt as to textual accuracy.

Because of the small amount of years between the original writing the date of the copy we have today, there is no time for a legend to have occurred.

Old Testament Manuscript Evidence

The Old Testament was completed around 400 BC and we have copies dating from 100-200 BC. (Dead Sea Scrolls). All of the copies of the Old Testament are 95% accurate in comparison to each other. The other 5% of variate are basically made up of obvious slips of the pen and variations of spelling.

We have a LIVING GOD who spoke these words into being... and we have a RELIABLE source from which we can learn about this Incredible God!

Thoughts (and a little extra fun)

Ok so I have always said that I am not very good at expressing my thoughts in words, but today I started thinking as I "read another blog/tried to comment on it in a meaningful way" about why I say this.  It is something I don't like about myself and I have always wished that I could be 'better' at it.

So... why don't I work at changing this?  Why don't I 'study' other people and how they 'express their thoughts through words' and learn from them?

Why do I just go to saying that I'm not good at it?  I think ultimately this is because I don't want to be seen as 'awkward' when I speak or because I just down right compare myself to others.  Who cares if this person can express their feelings in a more fluid and clear way... I can't (as of now) and so I'm just going to stumble through my thoughts and work at it. 

Another thing... Why do I say that I'm 'shy' or 'quiet'?  Yes I am, but ultimately I have been voted one of the loudest people in my family... and that means I'm loud...NOT SHY or QUIET.  So why do I hide behind this?  It simply hinders me from stepping out, getting to know people, having meaningful relationships, and on top of it all... SHARING THE GOSPEL.

So... I'm gonna work at it.  That's it.

And just because it's fall.... 

Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle

Ingredients 

2 packages (14-1/2 ounces each) gingerbread cake mix

 1 package (4.6 ounces) cook-and-serve vanilla pudding mix 

3 cups 2% milk 

1 can (29 ounces) solid-pack pumpkin 

1/2 cup packed brown sugar 

1 carton (12 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed, dividedPumpkin Gingerbread Trifle Recipe 40 Directions 

       Prepare and bake gingerbread according to package directions, using two greased 9-in. round baking pans. Cool completely on wire racks.

       Meanwhile, for pudding, in a large saucepan, combine pudding mix and milk; stir until smooth. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil. Cook and stir 1-2 minutes longer or until thickened. Remove from the heat; cool to room temperature. Combine pumpkin and brown sugar; stir into pudding.

       In a 4-qt. glass serving bowl, crumble one gingerbread cake; gently press down. Top with half of pudding mixture and whipped topping. Repeat layers. Cover and refrigerate overnight. 

Yield: 25 servings (1 cup each).

ENJOY!!!!!!!

Crafts...

I have been doing some fun crafts lately to take up my time.  Here are 2 of them.

Craft #1- Wall decoration.

Made out of 3 pre-finished shelves from Lowes.  I simply added picture hangers on the backs. Total cost: $16.00. 

Craft #2- This is inspired by Pinterest!  It's a key holder.

The supplies.

Painting the frame and the "F" (sorry it's sideways)

Adding the paper.

I just used elmers to glue the "F" on.

Without the hooks

Hooks added.

Finished product.  Total cost: $8.00

Easy-smeasy.  I have another craft that I'll blog about soon too.  I am getting hooked on Pinterest and loving all the fun craft ideas!

I want to learn how to...

...use knives properly.

...decorate cakes.

...dance well.

...take pictures.

These are the four ares where I want to improve.  I would love to take classes in all of these areas. I am not someone who loves taking 'classes' normally but I have been thinking about these areas a lot.  So if you have any ideas about how/where to start let me know!

I think I may start by taking a cake decorating class next semester (since this semester is crazy) at Hobby Lobby or HyVee.  That's as far as I've gotten!

What do you want to learn how to do?

The Unlikely Shmo

The Unlikely Shmo is someone like you and me.
Someone who is average. Someone like...

Gideon
David
Mary
Peter
Esther
Rahab
Noah
Abraham
Moses
Paul
Joseph
...

But all these people have something in common...
BOLD FAITH.

God called each one of them to TRUST HIS STRENGTH rather than their own and 'go for it.'

Gideon tore down his dad's altar to Baal and fought a huge army with only 300 men.
Esther went before Xerxes with the possibility of dying to save her people.
Moses went to his brother and requested for the Israelites to be set free.
Peter was unschooled but had the courage to preach God's word to all.

In every situation these people were blessed and rewarded for stepping out in BOLD FAITH.

Why?

God's Miraculous Power

so...

The Unlikely Shmo + Bold Faith =
God's Power

That is what we are called to do as Christ followers.


So what if we don't...What's the opposite???

"I'm the man" ideology + Self-Reliance =
God's opposition


I think I choose the first!!!

(from Mark Arant's sermon on 8/28/11)

Room Remodel #1

So I have been working on getting our space all put together in our new place. Nothing too major just painting the walls and putting stuff up. Here are before and after pictures of our bedroom. I've been working on the bathroom slowly as well but still have to paint and do a few other things.

BEFORE PICTURES

View #1- Before

View #2- Before

View #3- Before/During :)


AFTER PICTURES

View #1- After

View #2- After

View #3- After

And the closet...

More to come...

White Coat Ceremony

Matt was OFFICIALLY inducted into Pharmacy School on Saturday with his White Coat Ceremony. There was a wonderful program and fun little desserts afterwards. After the program, Matt's family and my family went back to our house and had lunch/hung out. It was great! What a wonderful day.

Matt... I am so proud of you. You have worked so hard and I know you are going to do great these next four years! Way to go!!!

Matt getting his coat. (Sorry it's such bad quality)

Me and my future pharmacist!

Brian attempting to pick Matt up... didn't quite work... but thanks Rachel and Brian for coming!

Matt's parents; Tom and Yvonne

The two girls Matt studied with all through undergrad. They had all the same classes. They are now attending DMU and have their white coat ceremony next weekend. They are a great support group for Matt.

Life update...

Here's a quick update of my current life... all about to change.

-Married and LIVING WITH Matt.
(we are going to start living in 2 places on Monday)

-Living in the basement of Mike and Lianne's house.
(moving into the basement of Angela and Josh Evans on Monday)

-Been re-doing our room and bathroom.
(Painting, hanging pictures, etc... pictures coming when it's all done)

-Working at Chick-fil-A full time.
(I will only work Fridays and Saturdays starting next week)

-Enjoying the freedom of summer.
(School starts Monday)

-Went to Wisconsin with Matt, Nicole and Chris to see our cousins a few weekends ago.

-Had 3 weddings this summer and a few more to go this fall.

-Matt has been working full time for the Iowa Athletic Department.
(Starting today he is IN PHARMACY SCHOOL and only working a few hours a week)

-Transitioning nicely to the Iowa City area.
(Still working on getting acquainted with everything... only to now move back to Cedar Falls)

-Finished Summer School... I took 10 credits this summer.
(And school starts again after a 3 week break)

-Have almost gotten used to writing my name as 'Amy Farley'
(I can't change my name at UNI due to some complications so I may have to go back to writing it the old way.)

So that's a quick update... nothing too exciting but life is great and I love it!

Barefoot Cupcakes

Tonight I had a craving to make some cupcakes... although I had lots of other things to do I followed my craving and I am very glad I did. Here's the product...

Coconut Cupcakes
From the Kitchen of Ina Garten
(Barefoot Contessa, 1999)

Ingredients

• 3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 5 extra-large eggs at room temperature
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure almond extract
• 3 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup buttermilk (or 1 T white vinegar mixed with 1 cup (minus 1 T) milk)
  
• 14 ounces sweetened, shredded coconut

For the frosting: (I made half of this and had leftovers)

• 1 pound cream cheese at room temperature
• 3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  
• 1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
• 1 1/2 pounds confectioners' sugar, sifted

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. On low speed, add the eggs, 1 at a time. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and mix well.

In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In 3 parts, alternately add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk to the batter, beginning and ending with the dry. Mix until just combined. Fold in 7 ounces of coconut.

Line a muffin pan with paper liners. Fill each liner to the top with batter. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, until the tops are brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Remove to a baking rack and cool completely.

Meanwhile, make the frosting. In the bowl of an electric mixer, on low speed, cream together the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla and almond extracts. Add the confectioners' sugar and mix until smooth.

Frost the cupcakes and sprinkle with the remaining coconut.

OH SOOO GOOD!!! You gotta love you some Barefoot Contessa.

Basement Dwellers

We are currently in the middle of moving out of our apartment. We have lived here for 2 months and have enjoyed it a lot, however in order to save money we are joining Nicole, Chris, Rachel and Brian Farley in the...

Basement Dwellers Club!

We are moving in with Mike and Lianne Farley.

I think we should make shirts for all the Farleys. Ours can say Basement Dwellers Club Members and Mike and Lianne can be the presidents or something. :)

Mike and Lianne just bought a BEAUTIFUL house in North Liberty and we are very excited to join them.

Here's a few reasons:

1. Get to know them better.
2. Play with Ben... their ADORABLE 1 year old.
3. Get to welcome he/she baby 2 in January with them.
4. Have LOTS of Foosball tournaments.
5. Have very close community with them.
6. Be encouraged daily by their strong faiths.
7. Make wonderful desserts with Lianne... because she rocks at them!
8. Learn from their marriage.
9. Have a walk-in closet and reading nook in our room.
10. Save money from entering into our debt-load.

Thanks for letting us move in Mike and Lianne... you guys are the BEST!

(a few pictures from our current apartment... new pictures to come.)