Living With Purpose

While looking up ideas for baby rooms, I decided quickly that I wanted to put our little girl's name on the wall. There really are so many cute ways to do it too! I first looked to see how much it would cost me to have one made... It was not cheap... Even just to buy letters painted already was pretty pricy, so I started to look up ways to do it myself. I found my letters at Walmart for $1.55 a piece. I found the paint at Walmart as well for .55 cents a bottle! I knew I had to buy low so if I messed up I would be too upset. My last two Walmart purchases were a bottle of Elmer's wood craft glue and a $5.00 book of pretty scrap booking paper. All in all I spent about $25 and I knew I wasn't done spending yet either! I kept thinking, "Why didn't I just buy this online?" But it was too late to turn back! It was time to start painting! I had 8 letters and 4 paint colors. Not too bad!  My painting complete, I still had to find picture frames - ...

I can not tell you how much fun I'm having getting ready for our little girl! I could... But you'd get bored very quickly. Between getting her room ready to paint, making a sign for her wall, and shopping way more than I should... Let's just say, it's been fun! But today I want to brag on my man. We will be celebrating our 1st anniversary on the 10th of August, and although we don't tend to make too big a deal about special days, I know that just thinking about having spent a whole year Matthew makes me smile. We always tease each other because we took a compatibility test in marriage counseling that revealed we were 80% compatible. At first I looked at that score and thought, that's a C! C's are not acceptable! However, Grandpa said that he's been having couples take this test for years and he's never, to his recollection, had a couple score that high! (Pretty depressing scoring system, huh?) So now when we finish each other's sentences or say...

We recently received a huge answer to prayer in the form of a beautiful church building that we have access to 7 days a week. We love it! It is easy to see the excitement it has kindled in our church family.  So many have volunteered to clean, pull weeds, build... Whatever they can throughout the week. It really is exciting! We feel like we have an opportunity for a brand new start! Matthew is teaching about soul winning on Sunday evenings, and trying to be available to go out visiting with anyone who is willing to go.  In my personal devotions I have begun reading through the book of Acts. I picked it because I wanted to be encouraged by a group of men and women who were also working hard to see the gospel of Christ spread. A group of people who in spite of persecution, would not accept defeat because they had a cause worth fighting for!  In chapter 4 of Acts, the disciples were thrown in prison. Before being released they were warned to stop preaching that Christ was th...

I hate paying full price for anything, so putting together a baby room is proving to be a fun challenge! So far most of our finds have been from Craigslist, and although it's often so much cheaper, it's also a whole bunch more work. I probably would never have the courage to buy anything off Craigslist if I didn't have my sweet husband there to protect, navigate, and lift everything for me!  When I saw the add on Craigslist I knew it was exactly what I wanted - and it takes quite a bit to entice me into meeting new people and doing new things... But I knew this was mine! So, I emailed the lister, waited anxiously for his response. I was disappointed to hear that he already had an offer, but he would contact me if it fell through. It took all my will power to pray " Father, Thy will" instead of "Father, I want it! I want it! I want it!" What a relief and a blessing it was to get an email saying that the offer had fallen through, and we were welcome to ...

I'm starting to blog again, not because my life is so interesting, but because I love the idea of journaling and being able to look back on the past and see the things - great and small - God has done. I may be the only one who ever reads this blog, but if it helps me to remember the goodness of God in my life, than it will be worth it. On the slight chance that you are not me and you are reading this than I'd better introduce myself. My name is Rebekah Hodge.          I will have been married for a year to the greatest guy on earth come August 10th, and  we will be adding a little bundle of joy to our family sometime in late October. Matthew and I are excited about our little addition, as well as petrified at the thought of parenting. Believe me, the mixed emotions are confusing even to us!                             I am working right now in a bakery, but I am greatly looking forw...