happy monday!

my shop is full of goodies perfect for valentine’s day – both for wearing and for gifting!

any assortment of ruffled scarves with petal pushers and ruffled mum pins would look great with any outfit!

and a tiny pouch with a love note tucked inside would be appreciated by any little girl (and she would love a mini ruffled scarf, just like mom).

show your ipad case a little love with a snuggly case for it!

head on over to my shop and get your orders in time for valentine’s day!

oh how i wish i were going to craft weekend!  to hang out with meg and craft with a bunch of ladies all weekend long?  um, yes please!

but if i can’t go, then i’ll at least send a little goody for each lucky lady that will be there – this time, its sunnies cases!

i love the cheery combo of the aqua and red!  and the insides are all fun, too!

my favorite?  gotta be the aqua scissors with the red ruffle – gah!

i think my blogging time may be a bit more short and sweet than i had originally intended – my chance to use the internet will be some evenings, and so far, i’m pretty tired come evening time!

today feels like it was really our first full day here, although we have been gone for a couple days.  our first flight from l.a. to dubai was about 16 1/2 hours long, then a short layover until our next 5+ hour flight to delhi, india.  we taxi’d to our hotel and passed all sorts of amazing crazy confusing sights (so many contrasts!) and fell asleep in our rooms to the sounds of horns honking and fireworks.  today, we woke up, shared a meal with our group, had a group discussion on a book we’re all reading together (real life discipleship by jim putman) then had enough time for a short walk along the streets outside our hotel.

due to some safety concerns, i’ll be keeping the rest of my posts for when i get home.  just wanted to thank you all for your prayers and let you know we are safe!

linking up my weekly phone pics with my friend, jeannett!

 i decided to repaint the kids’ bathroom.  and i picked the very wrong color.  proceeded to paint 2 coats of said wrong color.  still don’t like it and will proceed to paint 2+ coats in what will hopefully be the right color when we get back from our trip.

 after a couple months of making all the parts necessary, i sat in front of a good old movie and assembled a pile of bloom belts.

 nobody puts baby in a corner.  still as awesome now as it was when i was way too young to watch it.

 we have wacky weather here on the central coast.  my kids were in bathing suits and playing with water all day sunday.  lily was taking a break to give her baby a bath in the sink.

 here we are, all packed and ready to go! 2 back packs and 2 carry-on size suitcases (plus a duffle bag shoved inside that i hope to fill with fabric to bring home!)

 we have weird traditions.  when we get frozen yogurt, we always ride the nearby elevator and stare up at the mirrored ceiling the whole way up.  its weird, but its ours.

 my boy, with hair.

 my boy with half a head of hair.

 my monkey.

 i am so bummed i forgot to take a before picture of this coat, but picture it with no ruffle and about 8 inches longer – kind of a knee length trench coat.

i cut 2 strips off the bottom of the coat, one strip about 5″ wide and the other about 5 3/4″ wide.  the widths were different because the first strip already had a finished hem and the second strip had raw edges and needed to be hemmed to match the first strip.

i sewed both stripes together, end to end, did a couple basting stitches to make a ruffle, then stitched it to the coat.  i finished it off with a top stitch to hold the ruffles down a bit.

 i kind of love it, although i do look a bit like a ballerina in it now!

thanks for visiting for another week of wiww!  join me and link up your weekly outfits and lets keep each other accountable to getting out of our jammies everyday, moving beyond the yoga pants, and putting a bit of effort into ourselves each day.

sweater – all saints (gift – best ever!)

top – forever 21

jeans and boots – target

headband – just lovely things

sweater and top – forever 21

jeans – very old old navy

sandals – walmart

yes, it was warm enough for sandals – like 75*!

top and sweater – banana republic (hello sale last year!)

jeans – target

boots – steve madden

necklace – lisa leonard designs

petal pusher – the pleated poppy

bracelet – allora handmade

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  my shop is still open while i’m gone and my shipping assistant will be getting your orders all packed up as usual!

even sunglasses need their own cases – why not make them pretty?

oh how i love these bloom belts!  they work just as well with a dress as they do with jeans and a t-shirt.

keep your e-reader snuggly with this super padded case!

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wanna link up with me?  yay!  just follow the rules:

1. link to your specific blog post, not your blog’s main page. ex: http://thepleatedpoppy.com/2011/09/what-i-wore-wednesday-fall-inspiration/ not http://thepleatedpoppy.com/blog/.
2. please only link outfit related posts. your craft project may be adorable, or that may be a great giveaway, but this linky is for outfit related posts only – thank you!
3. please please please link back here to me so all this wiww stuff makes sense to your readers. and its just nice to do ;) grab a button from my sidebar (see the code box?).
4. check out as many links as possible! i am constantly inspired by so many outfits each week! and you will definitely find some new blogs that you’ve never stumbled upon before – so fun!
i’m also linking up with nina of momma go round for “real momma, real style” – join me there, mkay?

thank you!

thank you to all of you who have supported my shop over the last few years and even more so today for my 1 day sale (and yesterday for my newsletter subscribers – yay for early discounts!).

i woke up early saturday morning with a pit in my stomach and a lump in my throat.  i checked our bank account balances, knowing i had just paid bills the night before and had also sent in our tuition payment.  i knew i needed to transfer money around from savings and my business account to pay for those bills.  money has been tight, not something i air here all too often, but its real so here it is.  we committed to going on a missions trip in faith that this is what God had in store for us.  and when we didn’t raise nearly as much support as we needed, we had enough in our savings account to cover it.  we saw this as an open door, a confirmation that this was our calling, despite waves of doubt and questioning.

so i did the math and realized we had just enough to cover the bills i had paid, and not enough for our mortgage payment coming in just days.  as the tears poured down my cheeks i started praying, throwing my hands in the air and giving up.  this was not up to me.  if God is good He is ALWAYS good, not just in the times of plenty.  He always works things out and it it up to us to put our trust in Him in everything, even the things we feel we can control on our own.  i had been trying to control our finances for far too long.  i gave it to Him and said “it’s not up to me, this is all you.”

at church we were handed a check from a friend.

another friend mentioned she had sent in more support for us.

an unexpected check came in the mail from a random escrow insurance overage refund (or something… i don’t care what it was – it was good!).

sean got paid on a job he wasn’t expecting to.

i had a sale in my shop and you guys supported me.  you supported us.  whether you wanted to or not, you supported sean and i for our trip.

you have blessed us by supporting my shop and i wanted to thank you for that.

thank you.

so.

very.

much.

happy monday!

how about we start off the week with something fun?!

for today only, take 20% off your entire order!!!

i have listed lots of new items, including bloom bags, so head on over to my shop before midnight tonight!

don’t forget valentine’s day is just around the corner, so grab a couple gifts for your loved ones and maybe a little something for yourself!

just enter code 1DAY at checkout!

today’s message at church was amazing and i wanted to share my notes with you!

we’re studying james right now and have been taking little bites off at a time.  this week we studied “living faith – a look at james – james 1:5-8″

⁵ But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. ⁶ But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. ⁷ For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, ⁸ being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

in this text you find:

- an invitation to ask -1:5a

- assurance – 1:5b

- qualification – 1:6-8

4 questions that pop from this text

1.  do i ask?

- the answer to this question tells me a lot about what i believe about God and who He is to me.

- asking is an act of vulnerability

-in our world we value self-reliance.  we were not created to be self-reliant.   we were made to daily depend on Him, to rely on Him, to ASK him.

::  God has made us to depend on and need Him.

- do i know i am needy?  do i ask God for anything?  if not, no, i don’t depend on Him.

::  ”asking” is acknowledgement of my dependence.

- to ask is to admit my need

::  ”asking” is an expression of my trust.

- saying to God, “you can meet my need.  i trust you will.”

::  God, through james, invites to ask.

- He desires for us to express out trust in Him

- i don’t ask enough.  i wonder what i’m missing?

2.  what do i ask for?

::  james invites us to ask for wisdom.

- “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”  psalm 111:10

::  what is wisdom?

- wisdom – more than knowledge.  learning to live in and submit to God’s reality.

- God himself defines reality.

- why is james talking about wisdom?  vs. 1:2 (“consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.”)  seeing and experiencing trials in an other-worldly perspective.

::  why do i need wisdom?

- because in my trials i lack the ability to see, live in light of, and submit to God’s reality.

- in our trials, we don’t need relief, but wisdom, perspective.

- from wisdom comes joy, strength, peace, power to endure.

- know that God is real and has a plan.  know these truths.  need wisdom in trials.

- am i wise enough to ask for wisdom?

- He is the only source of wisdom.

3.  why should i ask?

::  james bases the invitation to ask on the character of the God who gives…

a.  God gives to ALL

- who is “all”?  the brethren, christians, those who have placed their trust in the name of Christ.

b.  God gives generously

- “generously” in greek: simply.  graciously, liberally, freely.  just ASK!

c.  God gives without reproach

- without finding fault.  without reminding.  without rebuke.  without lecturing (like we as parents will say “ok i’ll give this to you, but remember what you did last time…”).  without  reminding us of our past failures.

- offered without a hitch, but…

4.  how do i ask?

::  vs. 6-8

::  james says “ask in faith without any doubting.”

- “the one who doubts ought not to expect to receive anything from the Lord”

::  what does that mean?  is that even possible?

- is this realistic?  we have fickle hearts.

- consistent doubts = tension with scripture

- biblical doubters:  john the baptist – matthew 11:1-12, thomas – john 20:24-29, peter – matthew 14:28-33

4 notes to help us understand james…

1.  james is reiterating jesus and hebrews 11:6

“⁶ And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and thatHe is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”

2.  james put s things in black and white terms to spur his readers on to active “all in” faith in the Lord.

- God gives His truth throughthe personality of different men in the bible.  james is straight forward, so factor in his style.  very different from paul’s style.

3.  God gives to those who don’t ask and is gracious to those who doubt.

- remind yourself of this so you’re not crushed.

- Jesus doesn’t say He won’t give to those who doubt, but not to expect it. (matthew 5:45 – “… for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on therighteous and the unrighteous.”)

4.  when in doubt, take it to Him, ask for help, and look to the gospel.

- what to say when we’re in doubt: mark 9:24, the father of the demon-possessed boy – “²⁴ Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief.”

- don’t glory in doubt/unbelief, but go to Him, admit it and ask for help.  run to the gospel in doubt.  romans 8:32 gives comfort in doubt – “³² He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?”

if you get a chance, take some time and listen to the message for yourself.  better yet, start with last week’s message first.  happy sunday!

congratulations to erica!

look for an email from me soon!

and for the rest of you, you can still get 10% off your purchases from crystal b. through the end of the month!

just use code POPPY12 at checkout.