Recipes: Spicy Fish Tacos and Cappuccino Cookies

These recipes were so YUMMY!!! Try them, you won't be disappointed!

Fish Tacos with spicy slaw and a sour cream avocado sauce!

Get recipe here

I mean...seriously...doesn't that look amazing! The spicy slaw is a must...my hubs who doesn't love cabbage was eating this up!!

And for dessert...

These cookies are amazing! Just enough coffee flavor to bring out the chocolate...I used semi sweet chocolate chips instead of white chocolate, because I LOVE chocolate!!! YUM!

Get recipe here

Great dinner recipe for the weekend!!! Have a great one!

Happily Ever After...

Everyone is abuzz with the royal wedding this morning...

She looks so beautiful! I'm in L-O-V-E with that dress!

I admit that I went online this morning and watched the highlights! It was incredible!

Talking with people this week, there was a sense of excitement about this wedding and people were making all sorts of plans for celebrating with the rest of the world!

It got me to thinking...

Why was I excited...interested...dying to see strangers take their wedding vows (oh...and the dress...I couldn't wait to see the dress!)???

I think it's because each of us are longing for the epic romance of Jesus. We are wanting to be chosen by the Prince of the Universe. We want someone to call us up and call us out from the crowds. To put a ring on a finger and a crown on our heads and pronounce us royalty before the nations of the earth. To embrace us and take our hand. We want to be swept away by a love that will never fail us!

As a girl, I want to be beautifully displayed by my Lover for all the world to see! I want His eyes to light up as He sees me walk towards Him. I want the whole world to fade away when we're together. I want a steadfast burning for all eternity kind of love not found here among the mortal.

It's not a an unrequited dream or fantasy. It's DONE. It's HERE.

The Bridegroom stands in waiting as the Beloved in made lovely.

We will one day be united in the greatest wedding celebration the world has ever known.

I can't wait.

Breaking the Mold

Heart Mold

Sometimes I feel like I'm trying to fit into a mold I was never created for. One forced upon me by the world and my own sense of expectations. I've had this restless stirring to break free from this mold...to find a new one...the one He wrote my name on.

I think often times I feel unsettled in my life because I'm being squeezed into a mold I was never meant to inhabit. God made me different...I'm uniquely formed and intricately designed. I was not made from the stuff of this world...I was intentionally knit together in the deep places of my Father. My place of home is within the confines He so graciously created me for. Within His fold.

I want to be shaped by my Crafter. Formed carefully into the fullest expression of Him that I was made to be. Every dimple and crevice is a reflection of the places I have poured myself into Him and allowed His goodness to rub me new. It's not always easy...this pouring out and being molded. It's stretching and sometimes I'm uncertain of the final result. 

I look at my children and marvel at how unique they are. Proof that their formation into something special was not my doing. They are the handiwork of a much larger conception. I would never want them to be anything other then what they are...I cherish that they are nothing like each other.

I wonder if God is saddened when He looks at all His children trying so hard to look alike. We put aside the "quirks" that makes us US and we squeeze ourselves into the molds of "comparison" and "perfectionism." All the while, we feel like misfits. Wandering through life feeling restricted and not knowing why. Maybe God wants to graciously shatter those molds that suffocate us and release us into who we were really made to be. We pour ourselves into His mold. He doesn't pour Himself into ours.

I'm asking God to make more clear to me who He has made ME to be. Not what others think I should be or who the world tells me to be. I'm a delicately designed and intricate piece of work. There is no other like me. The enemy would want me to waste my time trying to be someone I am not. To constantly feel dissatisfied and inadequate. To seek out the giftings of others instead of cultivating the ones that are mine. To forget my function in this Body He has crafted for His glory.

It's time to break the mold.

"Thank You for making me so wonderfully complex!

Your workmanship is marvelous- how well I know it."

Psalm 139:14 (NLT)

"I want to live at the beach..."

Our awesome beach house for the weekend!

We just spent our Easter weekend with my parents in Galveston at a beach house! It was amazing! Our boys had only been to the beach once and that was when they were really little so they don't really remember it.

They loved playing in the waves...

Look how cool my BOYS are!!!

Sawyer ate his fair share of sand...EW!

And Gavin built sand castles only so that he could destroy them and say, "Hulk SMASH!!"

The pool was a bit chilly, but they still loved it! Especially with Dada!!

We especially loved all the great time with Nana and G-Daddy!

Sawyer catching a ride on G-Daddy's shoulders!

Nana and Micah on the train in Kemah!

And of course, we celebrated the death and resurrection of our Jesus!! We had the Lord's supper and Chris washed the boys' feet and Jesus was placed in the tomb in our garden. We lit our candle and then blew it out to signify His death. But, Sunday morning...the candle was burning bright and Jesus is alive!! Such a fun thing we did with the boys this year! We can't wait to do it again! The celebration is even more special with you see it through the eyes of your children! It's a beautiful thing!

Hope you had an amazing Easter Weekend!!

Silhouette Giveaway!

I would LOVE one of these!! Go to this POST and sign up to win a free one!!! So many amazing things you can do with a Silhouette!

Craft Night and Spring Wreath!

So, last night was our first official "Craft Night!" It was so much fun and I'm hoping to plan another one for some time in May...depending on what moving looks like for us in the coming months!! If you have any crafty/artsy project ideas put them in the comments! Maybe this time we can all work on one small project together that can realistically get done in the hour or two we have together...maybe hand stamped note cards?? What do YOU think??


I started this Spring wreath for my front door at Craft Night...it was a little more time consuming then I had anticipated, but here's the finished project after some work on it this morning! Thanks to Jones Design Company and the wonderfully creative Lauren for this great idea!

Love the ruffles and the little birds nest with an egg for each of our boys!!

A close up of the little bird's nest!

Hope you have a wonderful Monday!!


Christie

Oh...and also make these...

So, maybe you should also make these to eat while you do your Easter Garden thang...so yummy!


I found this original recipe from The Picky Palate and it's really good! Makes HUGE cookies! I'll be dropping our leftovers from craft night by the church tomorrow because if they stay around my house Mama is going to EAT THEM ALL!!

In the annoying words of Rachel Ray......"YUM-O!"

Yes, that's right...that is an Oreo cookie INSIDE of a chocolate chip cookie! Ridiculous!!


Have a great Easter week! I'll try to update the Easter Garden as it unfolds, so check back in!

Make An Easter Garden this week!!!

I found this amazing post on Top of the Page...an awesome blog that you should read...it was a post about making an Easter Garden! I LOVED the idea and decided we were going to take it on and make it our own. We on Saturday we headed to Lowe's to buy the materials and here is what we came up with!

Our little Easter Garden

A close up...

So, it's basically a large pot filled with potting soil and you plant various succulent plants in it and create the Easter story backdrop. We made a small path with rocks that leads to a stone tomb. There's a little cup filled with water that looks like a little pond...the water signifies that Jesus is the Living Water. The Aloe Vera reminds us that by His stripes we are healed. The small cactus is a reminder of the pain that Christ suffered before and during his death on the cross.


Today we recreated the Triumphant Entry! We had Jesus (well...maybe he's actually Han Solo, but it's the best we could do!) entering Jerusalem on our little road. He road a little horse and all the people (Iron Man included) bowed down and worshipped Him. I cut out little scraps of fabric to lay on the "colt" and to lay in the road. LOVED Jimmy's message this morning about offering Jesus whatever we have...no matter how small it may seem. 

Chris reading the story of the Triumphant Entry from the Bible!

Sweet Gavin listening to the story!

Jesus' Entry into Jerusalem! R2D2 looks overjoyed!! HA!

So, that's about it! We're excited about all the boys awesome questions and we can't wait to continue the greatest story the world have ever known this week! We will continue playing out the story and reading from the Bible. We will have the Lord's Supper on Thursday and talk about the garden where Jesus prayed. We have another small pot of plants that will be the garden. Then, Friday we will talk about the death of Jesus. We will light candles along the path and they will be blown out at the hour of his death. A small wooden cross will stand by the tomb where Jesus will be placed with guards (Lego knights!) out front. Then...RESURRECTION SUNDAY! We open the tomb and Jesus' clothes are laying there! HE'S ALIVE!! 


I love that this is something so visual for my boys to see and even play with. They spent hours playing in the little garden today with their Lego's. It's an awesome idea! Try it out this week!!!

A Handcrafted Gift

Chris and I were talking the other day about the idea of something being handcrafted....made by someone with intentionality and love. It makes a gift so much more personal to know that a friend used their resources and time to make something they thought you would enjoy. I see this more and more in this generation now...the desire and appreciation for the handcrafted. Hence, the recent phenomenon of Etsy! (Which, by the way, when are they going to create Etsy gift cards...uhhh-huh!! Would be am-a-zing!) 


We have a desire to fill our homes with not just the big box-store stuff we got on clearance, but also with items that have history and personality. Something that a person's hand touched and that wasn't mass produced from a machine. Maybe even something bravely crafted from another part of the world like these...

Colorful necklaces made out of magazine
scraps by Ugandan women!

or these...

Amazing sari pajamas from Punjammies

or these...

Beautiful indigenous Rwandan baskets!

I know I find myself desiring more of these things in my home. A little taste of the nations in my very "American" home. Things that serve as a reminder of these people and God's unfailing love for them and delight in what they create!


Collecting things of meaning...Chris' grandmother recently passed away and we inherited a pair of really great chairs from her home. I love the idea that we will have something of hers forever in our home and used by our family. It's something we will glimpse or use on a daily basis that will forever remind us of our precious Mema. (I'll have pictures to come as I attempt to paint and re-upholster them! AHHH!)


Lately, I find myself wanting to search out items...do a little digging at thrift stores or vintage stores. I recently found this awesome school house light fixture for $18! 

We don't have a home quite yet to hang it in, but I'm so excited to use it someday! HA! I also found this amazing old map of Big Bend National Park that would look so great framed somewhere...a cool reminder of Texas. They are new to me but old to someone else. I love that I'm reusing what otherwise might have been dumped in a landfill somewhere and I also love that it's something that someone once treasured and bought for themselves.


So, all that to say...I'm learning how to be more intentional in the things I buy and my desire is to give gifts more and more that are handcrafted or repurposed by ME or someone ELSE! 


Is there something YOU could make someone today? Maybe just a written letter in the mail, a simple homemade baked goodie in pretty packaging, or a wreath for a friend's new fabulous turquoise front door??


Give it a try this week...


Much LOVE,
Christie

So..Here we go!!

Welcome to Storehouse Crafts blog! I'm still in the process of making it all purdy and stuff, so it will be evolving in the coming weeks!! I promise I'll bust out my nice camera and post some better pics! HA! I'm glad you're here with me at the start of this blogging journey. I'm excited and a little nervous about how this might evolve over time and the commitment of being a regular blogger, but I feel the Lord prompting me so I'm jumping in! Hopefully it will be a place of personal expression, Holy Spirit perspective, and practical lessons! I'm excited to share about things I come across, recipes I love, crafty fun, and simply things God is teaching me. 


I named this blog Storehouse Crafts because the Lord has been speaking this idea of a storehouse to me and Chris for a while now. It's a promise...a promise of abundance in Him! We each have a storehouse from the Lord!! A place of filling from him...a place of promise to cling to even when it seems like our silo is depleted. We remember the promises of the Lord and we believe for the Storehouse abundance in our lives! 


So...all that said...I'm a mom of three small boys and a wife of one amazing man. We are currently living in transition trying to move to a new city that God has burdened us for. We're living on the cusp of change...it's exciting, but also a little unsettling. We're so ready for God to release us into what He has next and to take root in the land He has promised to us! He's moving!!

Here's my amazing three boys at the grocery store!!!

I am so blessed to be a mom of these boys, but in the last few months the Lord has been showing me a little more about myself. He's been awakening the CREATIVE in me and it's been awesome! As moms, we get caught up in the day-to-day and sometimes it's hard to remember that we're creative beings made by a creative God! That I'm a mom, but I'm also a WOMAN and I have an imagination! And sometimes I need a little space to craft something pretty or cook a special meal or simply paint something or have a moment of quiet to reflect on something God is trying to show me.

So, that's what I've started doing! Making things...simple things, people! Nothing crazy! HA!

A wreath I made for my sister-in-law

I painted and distressed and old door from our last house
and used it as wall art at our current rental

The hoop art I made for my very first craft swap.
I made one and then I was paired with a stranger
who made one for me! So fun!

Making jam for the first time with my mother-in-law!
The blackberry was amazing!

So, there's a small taste...and along the way God's revealing his heart for beauty to me and releasing me into bringing that beauty into my family and my home. I've learned so much! So, here goes...the ride begins!

Excited to see what God has in store through this little stay-at-home Momma of 3!