This is my final post at cortneyinchrist.wordpress.com.
However, it’s not “good-bye,” it’s simply “see ya lata.”
No, really… All you have to do is close your eyes and wish that you could read my blog on a different domain and it would be prettier, funnier, and downright, well more awesomer (yes, I know that’s not a real word).
Oh, but don’t forget to follow the link… that might make the wishin’ a bit more successful.
Love you all. See you there!
🙂
Cortney
Tomorrow is the BIG day!!!
Thomas starts as the pastor of a wonderful little congregation near Fayette! He’s nervous but I can tell he’s more excited than anything. And I’m like a little kid waiting for Santa Claus… I can’t wait to see my handsome hubby behind the pulpit at his own church!
Now, he still has a long way to go… he needs to finish his undergrad in Religion, head to seminary to obtain a Master’s in Divinity, and then be ordained before he can be a Senior Pastor in the United Methodist Church but God is opening doors for him all over the place and it’s so fun to watch!!
It blows my mind how far God has taken us in the last year. I’ve had this blog for about a year (although I haven’t made nearly enough posts to show for it) and I seriously can’t believe how much our lives have changed. One year ago today, we were living in a family member’s basement, working at Ruby Tuesday as servers and at a church as the worship leaders, and had no real plan for where we wanted our lives to go.
I remember kneeling at the side of the bed one night when Thomas was in the shower and BEGGING for God to show us direction.
We (kinda) knew what we wanted to be “when we grew up” but had no real idea on how to get there and we were lost in other ways too. Our marriage, while very new and pretty on the outside, was also very weak. We were both lonely and needing more but we were too busy trying to figure it out on our own to just shut up and listen to God!
I don’t know exactly the point in which God just put up a big brick, cement, and unmanageable wall and said, “Enough is enough!! Go THIS way!!” but I can look back now and see all the little walls he put up that we kept trying to knock down.
We couldn’t afford the house we were living in so we moved into a family member’s basement. Meanwhile, God was really putting on my heart that I needed to go back to CMU.
A new pastor began at the church we were leading worship for and we didn’t exactly see eye to eye on the changes he was wanting to make. Meanwhile, God was tugging on Thomas’ heart to pursue a career in pastoral ministry.
I could go on and on and on about the walls and the different windows we tried to fit through but that’s not the point. The point I’m trying to make is that, although, being college students again has made finances interesting and we aren’t quite where we want to be, God is providing for us in abundance I can’t even describe and we’re happy, really happy.
I will always be working to become a better wife, pray for my husband in the ways he needs, and providing him with the love and respect he deserves but God has done so much for my heart as Thomas’ wife. I was so scared to be a pastor’s wife. To be quite honest, I’m still scared. But I find the more I pray, the more He revels himself to me. Thomas has learned to listen, really listen to what I say (most of the time. lol) and I know how much he loves me because he tells me all the time! It’s marvelous! I sit down with our checkbook and budget every month and never see how we’re going to make it work but God does. He provides me with an extra day at work or Thomas gets a call that someone needs help around their house, and what they will be paying is exactly how much we need to cover a certain expense. We’ve had to learn to be creative and I don’t remember my last pedicure but God provides us our “4 walls” and we couldn’t/shouldn’t ever ask for more than that.
Maybe it’s true what they say… maybe, if we’re faithful in every aspect of our lives, God will be too. I sure it’s not a maybe!
How has He shown Himself to you today? This week? This year?
But more importantly…
How will you remain faithful tomorrow? Next month? In 5 years?
All Glory and Honor to Him.
~Cortney
On our honeymoon… almost 2 years ago!
Thrift Stores!!! I love ’em… I have found so many incredible deals and have saved so much money by shopping around and not ever paying full price for things. In fact, I went to The Attic, our thrift store in Fayette yesterday and hit the jackpot!
I bought a vacuum for $4 that will at least last until we can afford a nicer one, a set of hot curlers for $5 (practically brand new!), a winter vest for Thomas for $0.25, and an adorable Banana Republic dress for $5!! Finding such amazing deals inspired me to share some of my secrets. I’ve adapted some of this from my mother-in-law who is a true thrift store pro… I’m just in the minor leagues.
Here are a few tips:
• If you have something particular you are looking for (ex. a sewing machine), ask a store associate. The thrift store in our town will put your name on a list and give you a call when that item comes into the store. Also, it may just not be on the sales floor yet and you’ll never know unless you ask! Also, if the thrift store in further away than you would like to drive, give them a call, they can normally tell you right away if they have that item in their store.
• If you live in a bigger town with many thrift stores, ask when they mark items down and when they stock their shelves. You can catch the best items at the best prices that way.
• Donate!!! What goes around comes around. We have donated so much to the thrift store in town, they know us by name and know that we like to re-purpose items so they’ll call us if something neat comes in and typically give us great prices! It’s nice to live in a small town for reasons like that and it’s never a bad thing to be on a first name basis with the person who prices items.
• Keep an open mind. If you see a gross old cabinet with no glass in the doors, think about what you could do to change the item and make it what you need to be. It may take a little work but will be a fraction of the cost.
We’re in Kansas City for the day so I think we’ll be hitting up the thrift stores here. Big cities are great for bargain shopping!
Proverbs 31:16 A good woman knows how to buy land and how to plant a vineyard…
Happy Saturday all!
Cort
Our view on the way to KC! Thanks God!
Okay, it’s been WAY too long since I posted. I do have some really good excuses though! Ready or not, here they come…
Excuse #1:
We performed in an opera, Iolanthe, last weekend. Thomas played a peer (British opera) and I was a fairy (from Anderson’s library). We had so much fun!! It’s always so gratifying to perform something you’ve worked so hard on… especially when you get wings and a wand. 🙂
Aren’t we lovely?
Excuse #2:
It’s hot… everywhere… It’s hot outside (duh), it’s hot in the car when you get in it (I told you these were excuses, I didn’t say they were good ones) and our house is hot, especially the kitchen (which sucks because you know how much I love to cook and bake).
Speaking of cooking, I did bare the heat and make a delicious, romantic dinner on Tuesday night.
We had Pesto Stuffed Shells…
Smashed (not mashed) Parmesan Red Potatoes…
Delicious Recipes Coming Soon!
Fried Strawberries in our fondue pot…
Perfect for a romantic evening!
And a delicious concord wine from one of our favorite local wineries.
I know, I know… not super healthy… but it was all very, very delicious and Thomas was a happy man!
Excuse #3:
We are moving into the second apartment in our 2-story house! We’ll have so much more room and can get rid of our stupid storage unit! Moving is never fun, not even when you’re just rearranging and moving some things downstairs, but we’re so excited!
I have a huge kitchen with an awesome work triangle!! YAY!! And, we’ll have an office!! WAHOO!! We’re sharing, for now, but we’ll each have our own desks and I get a craft area! It’ll be so much easier to concentrate on school work (and sermon writing) when we have a separate area for everything.
Since we’ll have an office to decorate, I’ve been on a desperate search for a new paint color/colors, possibly a theme, and the best way to manage clutter. Pineterest has been a huge help and it’s given me an excuse to be on Target.com a lot! We already have desks so I doubt I can manage to find an excuse for new ones but shelving is always helpful and Thomas doesn’t ever argue with tidy! 🙂
I love this idea!! The white is so clean and the organization is both practical and stylish. Note to self: Built-in seating= awesome!
I also have another bathroom to decorate! I had so much fun with the last bathroom make-over so I’m elated to have to do another. I’m thinking antique French, shabby-chic, kinda thing…. still formulating.
LOVE this cabinet… must have! And a basket like that would be really cute for holding clean towels.
I would love to frame some scripture about being clean and refreshed. Like this one: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. -2 Corinthians 5:17
Or this one: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. -1 John 1:9
Oooohhh… the wheels are a’turnin’!!
As soon as we get settled, I’ll post lots of pictures! Of course, it may take awhile being that decorating seems to take a lot of money and we really don’t have much of that. Speaking of which, stay tuned for some of my thrift store hints and easy, pocket-friendly recipes.
Love,
Cortney
…Only everything.
I was just reminiscing at pictures from our wedding and honeymoon and that led me to looking back over the past few years and how much our lives have changed.
Thomas is the best husband and more than I could have ever hoped for. He is my rock and the only thing I could never do without. He’s the spiritual leader of our home and always has the most common sense out of the two of us. When I get a “crazy idea” he always has an unbiased opinion and is either able to bring me back down to earth (“Let’s move to NYC at the end of the year!”) or helps me execute the idea and make it work (like this blog for instance). He’s more than my husband… he’s my partner, best friend, and love of my life. Thomas really did save me. Ugh, I know… how cliche of me… but I’m serious… my life was going nowhere fast and it seemed that as soon as I met Thomas, it started to turn around.
By no means have our lives together been easy. We have made some decisions together that were simply not good, we’ve never made enough money, and we argue often. But I would not change a thing. It’s made us who we are as individuals and as a couple.
Speaking of amazing couples… my grandparents were married 62 years before my grandpa went to heaven, Thomas’s grandparents have been married 52 years, and his parents have been married 25 years! I’m so glad we have such wonderful role models for marriage.
So, here’s to my hubby!… I love you, Thomas! Thanks for being you and for being mine. 😉
I don’t know how Pandora does it and it freaks me out a bit but the entire time I have been writing this post, every song has been about love…
It’s time to share more decorating pictures! Yay! I hope you’re enjoying this as much as I am.
We will be taking over both floors of the building in the next couple of weeks so it will be fun to see how we transform our spaces… should be interesting. We’ll be bringing EVERYTHING to our apartment and finally getting rid of our stupid storage unit! I’m so excited to actually get to use the things that have been in storage for so long. Our current bedroom will become our office and our bedroom will now be on the lower level. I get to have a craft and office area of my own again! So, I’ll finally be able to finish some projects I’ve had to put aside. Thomas is VERY EXCITED! lol
Now, on to the fun stuff… Our living room!
I love our bookshelves! Here is where Thomas being slightly OCD comes in handy. Our books are alphabetized by title and categorized by subject. Sounds crazy bu it does make it easier to find books. Thomas hates that I have all those nick-knacks in front of the books but where else am I supposed to put our unity candle?! 😉
Notice the cello in the living room… we really need that extra space downstairs!
I also love all our unique artwork! Thomas’ grandpa is a professional photographer so we have a lot of his work up. Thomas is also extremely talented in many ways so I like to feature his work as well. I really feel like it adds a lot of personality! It’s also fun knowing that no one else has the artwork we do. I can’t wait until our kids are old enough to bring artwork home from school so I can paste it all over all walls!
Speaking of paint… The best suggestion I can make if you are unhappy with a room in your home is to grab a gallon of paint!! Seriously, it can completely change the mood and overall atmosphere of the room. Our living room is the perfect example…
After paint…
(Seriously, 100% better!)
And about our ongoing storage problem… SHELVES are our best friends!
We found these beauties at Lowe’s. They come in many colors and lengths and you can choose the brackets to match your decor.
We have them everywhere!… Our kitchen… bathroom… living room…
Just for fun… Remember our beautiful bathroom from my previous post?? This is what it looked like before our remodel…
Yikes!
I have found that since blogging, I take a ton more pictures! It’s great for the scrapbooks but a little rough on my printer. 😉
Happy Re-Decorating!
Cortney
We went on a wonderful and relaxing vacation this past week! Thus the reason for no posts. I took my computer and hoped to have time (and internet) to blog a bit but no such luck. However, that’s probably for the best… I was able to fully relax and enjoy our time away from home.
We spent the first couple of days in St. Louis where we visited The Arch:
Photography by Thomas 🙂
Hard Rock Cafe:
and the Science Museum (I don’t have a picture of us at the Museum, for some reason.)
My mom and sisters went to the zoo on Wednesday but I had an awful cough and didn’t feel up to it so Thomas and I stayed at the campground. Claire was SO excited to see penguins ‘in real life’ for the first time!
On Thursday, we headed to The Lake of the Ozarks and stayed at a couple’s (who attends our former church) lake house. Holy cow!… It was gorgeous!
More Photography by Thomas
Breathtaking!
We spent the next few days riding on the Pontoon, hanging on for dear life on the inner-tube that was attached to the speed boat and in fellowship with family and some friends from KC. We even had a worship service on Sunday morning at the top of a cliff over-looking the lake. It was so amazing to be able to relax, unwind, and take in some of God’s incredible work. Thomas and I also loved having time with my sisters and mom. We laughed (practically) the whole time!
Our family
Seeing the gorgeous landscape everywhere we went really brought me closer to God. I just don’t/can’t see how anyone can look at this beautiful creation and think that GOD didn’t create it…
But now back to reality… I’ve been dreading it since we arrived at the lake. I don’t know why though. We’re in a really good place in our lives. We’re working on a really fun opera, I have an awesome job, and Thomas begins as Lay Minister at a church in a few weeks. Not to mention that we’re making significant progress in school. I spend too much time reviewing the past and dreading the future. I really have to work on living in the moment and enjoying every minute of my day. How cliche’ of me. Why is it that every time I’m doing something, I’m already ready to move on to the next thing? I’ve spent my whole life with a go-go-go attitude and so I don’t seem to be able to thoroughly enjoy relaxing. I’m going to start a new devotion soon and am going to focus it on relaxing and growing closer to God. I’m up for suggestions and will share whatever I choose to do. I’ve been doing miniature devos on the Bible app on my phone but if I do that, I’m still on my phone so how is that considered relaxing, re-booting, and getting closer to God!? Just something for us all to ponder.
Well, time for bed… it’s back to the salt mines in the morning… Aka. my job where I get to spend time with 3 awesome kids and play all day. I know, my life is rough. 😉
I’ve been working on some more awesome crafts and got some really fun ideas on our trip so I’ll be sharing those soon. I think I’m going to have to make a 2nd headband holder… I bought 3 more on vacation. I know, I know… my name is Cortney and I’m addicted to headbands. 😉
Blessings Until We Meet Again,
Cortney
Happy Sunday readers! We attended the 11 o’clock service at church today in celebration of Pentecost. The sermon was inspiring (as always) and with the windows open in the sanctuary, it was a really beautiful service! I love having guests in our home and am lucky enough to have my good friend, Emily, from Colorado visiting this weekend as well as my little sister, Claire. We’ve been having tons of fun!! Now… on to nitty-gritty.
I’ve had some people ask about our home here in Fayette and how we’ve decorated it. Most of the people who have asked know that we moved from a 3-bedroom, 2-story home in Kansas City to a really small apartment here. I think the real question is, “What the heck did you do with all your stuff?” In all honesty, we have a small storage unit for a lot of our bigger furniture pieces and memorabilia but mostly I’ve just had to get really good at organization and making the most use of our spaces. I’ve also learned to use functional items as decorations. Today I’ll feature our bathroom because it is my favorite room in the house! I’m still changing things: adding some decorations and removing others but I’ll share where it is now.
Thomas and I have made a lot of the decorations and have re-purposed a lot of it as well so it’s really been a labor of love.
I just recently made this headband holder and love it so much that I will share how to make your own in an upcoming post.
This is by no means all I’ve my headbands (I have a bit of an obsession) but I love that I can feature some of my fancier headbands and double it as a decoration. I have the rest of my headbands in a white ceramic container that I actually bought in the kitchen area at Wal-Mart.
We knew we needed a way to keep things organized to avoid having all of our hair products and my make-up becoming clutter so we purchased an entertainment unit from Wal-Mart and white bins. Thomas has a bin of his own, one is for all of our hair products (we have a ridiculous amount) and the other two bins are mine (duh). LOL.
I needed better organization for Q-Tips, Cotton Balls, Hair Clips, and Bobby Pins so I went on the ultimate hunt. I wanted to keep the look crisp, clean, and modern so I found myself back in the kitchen department at Wal-Mart. I found the two larger jars (with the metal lids) there and the two smaller ones (actually candle holders) at Hobby Lobby on the ultimate sale (LOVE THAT PLACE)! The plastic Rubbermaid container is used for smaller items, such as eye shadow I don’t use on a regular basis and nail polish. I also have a bit of an obsession with smelling good so I have LOTS of lotion that I store in the metal container on the top shelf. By the way, that shelving unit used to have legs but it was very unsteady so Thomas sawed them off and nailed it to the wall. It works so much better that way!
We have built-in shelving but it isn’t very deep so not much will fit. We have our cologne and perfume on there because some of the bottles are really neat so they double as decorations. (I told you I like smelling good.)
When we moved in, the bathroom was a very ugly peach color (every room except the bedroom was that color…eek!) so we’ve slowly been painting (with landlord approval, of course). I love the color we found for the bathroom! Decorating it has been so easy and I’m starting to add little bits of color like on the frame above the sink. Also, since most of the decorations are white, black, or metal, I can add tons of pictures to personalize. That window was also covered with a very heavy set of blinds and made the bathroom so dark. We don’t have it covered at all anymore and it makes it feel so much bigger! And don’t worry, you can’t see into it from outside… we checked. ;0
I love our shower curtain! After we found it and the paint, the room just started coming together. It has been so much fun to watch the transformation!
Proof that we actually use this bathroom… wet towels.
If I’ve learned anything from living in a smaller place, it’s to think outside the box and have fun! I hope this inspires you to pick a space to transform.
God Bless!
🙂 Cort
Today is May 24th… I’ve been dreading it for a few months now. You see, I’m really good at remember dates.
This can be good… I’ll never forget my mom’s birthday.
It can be odd… I still remember my first serious boyfriend’s birthday.
And it can be bad… I will always remember the day my grandfather died.
It’s been 2 years and I still remember exactly what I was doing when I found out about his passing. I’ve talked about this before in an older post so I won’t go into details but with this being the anniversary of such a memorable day, I’ve decided to share some of my favorite memories… I figured it would cheer me up. If you have any memories you would like to share, I would love to rejoice, laugh and maybe even cry with you. Feel free to share below.
The happiest place on Earth…
He wore this hat all around Disney World just to make people laugh… He was amazing like that. 🙂
Our family still laughs about it to this vacation.
The way to a man’s heart…
My beautiful mother and me on my wedding day.
Seriously, I know many girls will say they have an amazing, supportive mom and I know I’m biased but I really did get the best one. Planning my wedding with my mom is a memory I wouldn’t change for all the riches in the world. I have a plethora of stories about my awesome mom but we’ll save those for another post.I have been blessed with a great life. Ya, there have been tough times of course, but when I look back over the years, I wouldn’t change a thing. I pray this post helps you look back at your own life, smile, and then praise the One who gave it to you.
May the Lord bless you until we meet again.
Cortney 🙂
P.S. I’ve been struggling with headaches & migraines so prayers would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
I say all the time how blessed we are but I think I still take things for granted. I know that if all else failed and Thomas and I were to completely lose the ability to make money and take care of ourselves that we have lots of family and friends that would love and help us. We would never end up on the streets or starve. However, many people are not as lucky as we are.
I love when God reminds me just how blessed I truly am…
What if you lived here??
I was in Columbia on Saturday night and stopped by our church. I got to talking to our pastor’s wife and learned that a couple was camped out in their van behind the church. “They are trying to sell their puppy to buy a tire so if you know of anyone interested, pass it on.” I’m not sure of the whole back story of how they ended up in this horrible situation but it sounds like they’ve just hit some extremely bad luck. First of all, let me say that I think it’s amazing our church is allowing this couple to do that. The man even said, “I think most churches would call the cops if a couple showed up and asked to sleep in their beat up mini-van in the church’s parking lot…” And that’s really all they asked for… they used the restroom, borrowed a book from the church library and thanked us for our prayers.
Unfortunately, that man is probably right and I hate knowing that someone thinks of church that way. That if we are afraid or don’t like what someone is doing, we’ll turn them away. That if we are afraid of the way it might make us look or that people are just out for our money, we will turn them away and even get law enforcement involved.
That really got me thinking: Are we really doing what we should as Christians? How many of us go to church, give some money during the offering, and label ourselves as “Christian” somewhere on our Facebook page but are never actually Christians in how we live our lives? How many of us say the occasional curse word, talk behind people’s backs, and only pray when it’s convenient? I have to say, I’ve been guilty of ‘Talking the talk’ but not always ‘Walking the walk.’
Thomas and I went out to talk to them and see if there was anything we could do to help. By no means do we have extra funds and although I really wanted to, we can’t afford a puppy for many reasons, mostly our sanity, but what good are we as Christians if we can’t at least try help others? We ended up taking them a $5 Hot & Ready pizza from Little Caesar. I wish we could have done more, mostly because they didn’t ask for more. If I had my own washer and dryer, I probably would have done some laundry for them. The man also said, “I’m sorry but we won’t be going to service tomorrow. We’re filthy and have dog pee on us. We’re in no shape to walk into a church.” This may have bothered me more than the other comment. They don’t feel welcome in a church because they aren’t “clean enough”!!?? What are our churches telling people? We tried to encourage them that it didn’t matter and no one in our congregation would judge them but when you’ve had a thought in your minds like that for so long about the church, one young couple isn’t going to be able to convince you differently.
James 2:14-17 says, “What good is it if people say they have faith but do nothing to show it? Claiming to have faith can’t save anyone, can it? Imagine a brother or sister who is naked and never has enough food to eat. What if one of you said, “Go in peace! Stay warm! Have a nice meal!”? What good is it if you don’t actually give them what their body needs? In the same way, faith is dead when it doesn’t result in faithful activity.”
Now, I am far from perfect and honestly all of us are but I know that after meeting that couple, I will change how I interact with the poor and down-trodden. I have been afraid to give spare change to the man at the stop light because society tells us that he is just going to use that money for drugs. But WHO ARE WE to judge that man!!?
I think it’s important that we live on the 90% of our income so we can give the other 10% away. Isn’t that what God calls us to do? Thomas and I are not there yet. We’re trying our best to following the amazing Dave Ramsey’s plan but we have a long way to go. With both of us as full-time college students, we can barely make ends meet… so I understand if you don’t have spare cash to throw out to everyone in need and I know this could spiral into a political argument and a huge mess but I encourage you to avoid all that and just pray. Pray for that couple, pray for all those who are on the streets, hungry and cold tonight, but mostly pray for our society that we may live more to the teachings of our Lord and Savior.
God Bless.
living for Christ 