Peaks, Pits, Praises, Prayers

This has been a long week but it has also been a week with many little blessings. Sometimes it's amazing how God hides little blessings throughout your day to show you just how loved you are. Make sure and check in this weekend for the new addition to our family! I can't wait for you all to meet our new baby!

This is me in Australia on my graduation trip from high school. 

Peaks: This week I received an I-Pad mini for one of my college classes this semester and that was a major Peak! I get to use it all semester and it has been so much fun to play on! I love all of the cool things you can do on it!

Pits: Monday of this week was Matthew's 24th birthday. He died way to young and too soon. I will forever miss him and he will always be in my heart. That has made this week a little bit harder then most but I know that he wouldn't want  me sitting in misery and wants me out living life to the fullest like he always did.

Praises: This week has been difficult but I'm praising God for all of the amazing family and friends I have been blessed with to keep my spirits up when I am feeling down. I have had so much love this week from them that my heart fills so full and blessed.

Prayers: I would like to continue to ask for your prayers for my family. This week especially has been hard for us and the healing is a long process but everyday I know it gets a little bit easier. My little sister is playing in a basketball tournament this weekend and I am asking for prayers for her team and keeping them safe. Also my cousin is coming home on leave at the beginning of February from being deployed in Korea and I just ask that he has safe travels and makes it home safely.

What are you Peaks, Pits, Praises, and Prayers this week?

I'm linking up at these parties!

Kitchen Hutch Remodel

So we recently moved into a bigger house so we could have more room. Just another rental until we graduate and get big kid jobs. I don't know if all rentals are like this but everyone I've lived in has about zero cabinet space in the kitchen. Now a lot of college students don't cook but I do. I love to cook and I need space in my kitchen for my pops, pans, odds, ins, and food! So when we found the new place I noticed the lack of cabinet space once again and decided to do something about it. 

I got on Craigslist and looked until I found an old wooden hutch that I could get for a reasonable price and redo. Of course when we went to pick it up Jarr gave me the "are you serious right now, this is hideous" look. I just smiled and said you know I can work magic when I have an idea. 

The above picture is of the original hutch I purchased off of craigslist. Please ignore the stuff in the background this was in the middle of moving. 

So I cleaned the hutch really really good which it needed very badly, it smelled like a house from the 70's. It looked like a house from the 70's, and it reminded me of my grandma's house. I'm sure that most of you can relate to that. 

Please ignore my very lived in kitchen with the trash can and Eli's litter box. What we did was paint this bad boy about 95 million times to get her white. I used 3 coats of primer to get rid of the dark wood color and then two coats of Benjamin Moore Antique White to get her this lovely cream color. I replaced her knobs with some I got a Lowe's that I like the color of better. 

And we put chicken wire on the inside of the doors so you can see in the cabinet. I LOVE the way this piece turned out and I am so proud of my beauty. It took about a week to paint her, letting each coat dry overnight. I didn't put any kind of sealant on her I just let her drive for a week before we put anything on her and she seems to be taking everything well. I absolutely love how much storage she provides and I am so happy with my remodel. 

Here is the finished product complete with decorations on top. 

What do you think about my new kitchen storage? 

I'm linking up at these parties this week! 

Peaks, Pits, Praises, Prayers

Holiday season's are always hard. Things get crazy with people traveling and families all try to spend as much time together as they can. As I've mentioned many times before I have a big crazy Southern family. We get together and have feasts and make amazing memories. I love my family with all of my heart and I am so blessed to have them in my life. 

Well this holiday season we had a tragedy, someone in my family passed away. My other half, my partner in crime, my kindred spirit, was killed tragically in a car accident the week before Christmas. So this holiday season hasn't felt like fun. It's been sad and lonely. Someday I'll post more about this, its still too soon to talk much about it. 

Some weeks are just harder then other ones and this one has been tough. Starting back to school has been a lot tougher then I thought it would be. 

Peaks - Starting school this week I realized that after this semester I will have a whopping 10 hours left to graduate. It's getting real folks!!! Tonight is my little sisters high school basketball Homecoming and she is a senior! It will be nice to see my family at this and spend time with them again. 

Pits - Hearing a song on the radio that makes me break down. Last night me and Jarr were sitting in a restaurant waiting for our dinner to arrive and a song came on in the background and I broke down. Little things like this will always be hard. 

Praises - For Jarr, he has been my rock through everything. Always bringing a smile to my face and giving me a shoulder to lean on. He's the best and I praise God for giving me he continued strength and comfort in the form of Jarr. 

Prayers - I ask that you pray for me, my family, and our community. I'm from a small town and this has hit us hard. The loss is great and our hurt is continuous. 

What are your Peaks, Pits, Praises, and Prayers this week? 

Growing Up And Being Called a Kid

This post is going to be a little different from most of my posts but I feel like its time to talk about it. This may offend some people but that is not the intention for this post. This post is based completely on my opinions and thoughts. 

I am young, I am in my early twenties and for some people this means I haven't lived long enough to know much. In my short twenty-ish years I have watched many people close to me pass away, raised my little sister, worked a full time job while being a full time student, dealt with extreme physical hardship, and been told I was incapable of things because of my age more times then I can count. 

One of the most frustrating things about being part of the Millennium generation is the way other generations look at us. We are irresponsible, unreliable, and know nothing about the real world because we are too young to understand. However, for most of the people in my generation this is untrue, we raised ourselves a lot of the time. Most of us had TV baby-sitters, parents who worked 2-3 jobs, and were helping do chores and cook dinner by 10. These aren't bad things they are just the reality of having parents who did everything to make ends meet. 

One of the most important things I have learned in college is not to judge a person based on their age, gender, nationality, or my first impression. What's that saying, "Never judge a book buy its cover?" This is taught to all of us at such a young age and yet very few follow this. 

So I want to encourage all of you to take a step back, really look at the person who you are talking down to. Make sure this "kid" you think knows nothing hasn't watched a parent die, raised younger siblings, worked since 14 to help put food on the table, or raised themselves. How do you know they haven't gone through more then you in their short years of life. 

Because unfortunately the reality is that more of us have dealt with hardships at a young age then you. More of us have had to grow up so fast we missed a lot of what you think we should be doing. So take a look around next time before you just assume we are young kids with no idea what's going on in the world.