Friday Favorites

I want to be a blogger. I really do. But I just don't know where to begin... rather than just blogging mindless things. I know it will come to  me though eventually. So for now here are some of my favorite things throughout the week.

{one}.

I am in love with this Christmas tradition. I'm not sure I have the money & time to do it this year, but you better believe I'll be incorporating it into my traditions next year!

{two}.

These little dog bowls are the absolute cutest. As soon as I can afford them they will be taking residency in Ryland's little corner.

{three}.

I recently found out about an organization called Project Night Night that I have already started buying items for. Go check it out and get involved. I think it's such a great idea.

I hope everyone has a blessed and safe weekend! Twelve more days till Santa comes to town!

Thirty Days of Thankfulness; Week Two.

I am continuing on from last week with the 30 days of thankfulness link up from The Harrells on Hood.

November 8th: I am thankful for Fridays. The weekends are some of my most treasured times. My husband and I drive back down to our hometown every Friday and stay till Sunday to visit with our families.

November 9th: I am thankful for celebrating family's birthdays and spontaneous babysitting nights. We celebrated Josh's cousins birthday last Saturday at a Mexican restaurant and drove back to his home for cake. We also got to babysit two of the sweetest little girls who, though they are not related by blood, are our family.

November 10th: I am thankful for late night babysitting gigs and church and Sunday lunch. I got to babysit two awesome boys on Sunday night! They were five and seven years old and absolutely so fun to be with. Church on Sunday morning was very refreshing for my soul. Have you heard Nothing I Hold On To/Climb? It penetrated my soul so deeply. Give it a listen.

November 11th: I am thankful for the cold weather. I absolutely love it. Big sweaters, uggs, and great coffee!

November 12th: I am thankful for cute barber shops and new husband hair cuts. I found the cutest little barber shop in our town and I took Josh there to get his hair cut! I'll have to post pictures of it sometime later, but for now here's a picture of  my handsome husband's new do.

November 13th: I am thankful for a husband who takes care of me when I'm sick. I got a cold a few days ago and my husband has been so good to me.

November 14th: I am also thankful for husband's who call from the other room saying "This song is for you!" and precede to play my favorite song from The Nutcracker. He's a keeper, y'all.

wildest dreams.

I recently started a book study with the community at  (in)courage. The book, A Million Little Ways, has already changed the way I think about my life and the way I live my art for God. One of the chapters talks about our wildest dreams and it made me start thinking... what are my wildest dreams? I want to travel all over the world - from England to Italy to Africa to serve. I want to travel to the country where my husband and I will adopt some of our future kid(s). I want to live on a farm and grow my own food and raise chickens and goats and everything else. I want to hear many little feet pitter patter on our floors. I want to be an explorer, an adventurer. My husband shared with me he wants to have a windmill farm. That's his wildest dream.

There's a quote from the chapter that really sticks out to me. It says "What if you desire to do a particular thing because God created you a particular way, not to tease you or to make you miserable, but to actually mold you into becoming more like Him, for His glory and the benefit of others? Could it be possible that thing you most long for, the thing you notice and think about and wish you could do, is the thing you were actually made and are being equipped to do?"
That really struck a chord in me. After I read the chapter, I hopped on over to the discussion blog post on the chapter. I was reading through the comments on the chapter and I noticed a woman's comment that just inspired me so much. She said (to sum it up) that whatever our desires our, whatever our wildest dreams are, start pursuing them NOW. If you want to go to France, start learning French. If you want to live off the land, start growing things NOW! If you want to be a missionary, start now by sponsoring a child! There are so many steps we can take to start fulfilling our wildest dreams NOW! I just loved that so much. I am really going to start focusing on taking baby steps to fulfilling my wildest dreams right now.

It's not too late to go join the book study now! I'm three chapters behind just soaking it all in.

thirty days of thankfulness; week one.

I've been wanting to do a thankfulness challenge, but haven't really had time to do one. I finally found some free time this morning to sit down and catch up on some blogs and I came across a thirty day thankfulness challenge I found on The Harrells on Hood blog. So here it goes:

November 1st: I am thankful for the Cancer Treatment Centers of America. Specifically the one located in ATL. My mom had surgery there last Tuesday to remove cancerous tumors. She has complete healing in Jesus name.

November 2nd: I am thankful for the chefs at CTCA and that I have food on my plate to eat. The food at the treatment center was absolute incredible. I am blessed to be able to eat healthy meals and have food on my plate every single day.

November 3rd: I am thankful for stumbling upon this article that has went viral on marriage not being for you. Such a beautiful reminder of the marriage plan that God has for us.

November 4th: I am thankful for the holiday seasons. It brings so much joy to my life, brings families so close together, and reminds us of the true reason for the season.

November 5th: I am thankful for a place to call home. It may not be my ideal "perfect" image of a home, but I get to come home to a loving husband, a playful dog, and a pillow to lay my head on at night.

November 6th: I am thankful for laughter with my husband. Those moments when random laughter starts and it can't stop. Those are the best.

November 7th: I am so so so thankful for my family. They are my everything.

Thankfulness.

I am so very thankful.  I need to remind myself to cultivate an attitude of gratitude each and everyday, just not in November when I have constant reminders everywhere to be thankful.

This past week my husband, my sister, the dog, and I all drove to Atlanta to visit my mom who had surgery to remove tumors that have been causing the leiomyosarcoma cancer. Honestly, the whole experience was such a blessing. We know that God has healed her and that it will not strike it's ugly head again. I am thankful to Him for allowing her body to be healed and freed from the nastiness called cancer.

While in ATL, we celebrated my dads birthday. We took a day trip to Senoia, also known as "Woodbury" where The Walking Dead's governor's place is filmed! It was absolutely so much. Downtown historic Senoia (where it was filmed) had the CUTEST little shops. We enjoyed every minute of it. The third picture on top is where the governor's lab is filmed! How stinkin neat.

I am also thankful for eMeals. I recently signed up and it has been a grocery shopping and dinner lifesaver! I recommend it so much - especially if you are newly married and have no clue where to even begin in the kitchen.

God is sooo good, y'all. Lately, I have been struggling a lot, but I know if I just trust in the LORD He will make my paths straight.

This tiny apartment

Somedays I just get so worked up over where my husband and I live.

We honestly didn't look at that many apartments when we made our decision in May where we were going to live. We certainly should have expanded our search further.

Our landlords are the most unpleasant people. This is no exaggeration. If you were to look them up on Google you would find many bad reviews on them... We made the mistake of not looking them up first before we signed the lease. There have been many occasions of them being extremely rude to both my husband and I. Also, an incident happened a little over a month ago with our dog getting off his leash while I was walking him. A dog was coming towards us so he took off at the other dog. Long story short, for some reason the owner of the properties was just sitting in his truck in the middle of the apartment complex and he saw what happened. He decided to exaggerate way more and lie about the whole situation. He claimed that several people were trying to help the dogs stop wrestling each other, etc, when in reality it was just ME outside with him standing off to the side just watching it happen while I was screaming for help! That definitely caused me extreme anger, but I got over it.
I just can't wait till our lease is up.

Somedays I just want to cry because of this apartment. The dishwasher barely works, the downstairs toilet completely stopped working, the upstairs toilet barely works now, people leave out their trash on their doorsteps at night which ends up all over the complex the next morning, the neighbors fight, a cop and ambulance were here last Friday night because of something that happened with the neighbors a few doors down, there isn't any space to cook... I could go on forever with the list.

But I need to realize something.

Atleast I have a roof over my head, air, and heat.

I need to be thankful on a daily basis for that.

LORD, please remind me daily of how much you have blessed me with and that I am only in a season of stressing out over this apartment.

October!

Today is October 1st! I am so super pumped for this month! Fall, fall, fall! Bonfires, costumes, apples, pumpkins, crisp air, crunch leaves! I could go on forever about all my favorites of fall.

All dressed up for church on Sunday! Yep, that's part of our church right behind us! Our apartment is beside the church.

Life lately has been busy, but it's been fun. This past weekend Josh had a few friends over who spent the weekend at our apartment just chilling and hanging out. We all watched World War Z together... To be honest, I actually really enjoyed the movie! I am a fan of The Walking Dead also... but I am not a huge fan of zombies haha. My sister and my best friend also stayed with us this weekend... We definitely had a full house for such a little apartment.

My husband may or may not have asked me to paint his nails with glow in the dark nail polish he saw at Walgreens. It went on clear in case anyone was wondering. When we laid down for bed that night he pretended his fingers were spiders. He seriously had a blast. Isn't he precious?

Carry Me Through//Links for the weekend

This week started out with a sick dog and a flooding bathroom, but it has ended quite well. My best friend and I babysat my two favorite littles last night. Tomorrow, I'm going to the dog day festival back in my hometown! I'm pretty excited to spend the day with Ryland, my sister, and (hopefully) my husband will come along also! :)

For your weekend, here are a few links I have enjoyed:

I absolutely love this! This woman needs to make a sketchbook out of these for kids to finish! I love her daughter's additions to all her faces. I would buy this for my future littles.

I love this idea for a gift. I'm going to put one together for my dad's birthday at the beginning of Novemeber.

The Green PolkaDot Box. I just recently found this. It's an online grocery shopping site with organic/natural foods for CHEAP! Not having to leave the house to grocery shop and getting cheap organic and natural food sounds like a winner to me! I haven't decided yet if I am going to go ahead and use it or wait until we move into our home so all of the groceries aren't delivered to my apartment.

Speaking of grocery shopping, here is a list of foods for stocking up in your pantry! I am going to have to do that soon.

Have a happy weekend!

P.S. - Here's a picture from last night of my two favorite littles! How sweet are they?

HAPPY (ALMOST) FALL, Y'ALL!

Fall is definitely, by far, my most favorite season. It's just something about the crisp air, crunch leaves, and chill nights that makes me feel complete. I've already had many pumpkin spice lattes (and frappes!), I've set out the fall scented candles, and the husband & I bought our first pumpkin together as a married couple! I am so excited for what fall is going to bring me this year. I want to make the absolute best of it.

On a side note: Joshua and I are moving to a home by or before December, but have not found one yet. Prayers would be greatly appreciated for God to direct us to the right home for us! Thanks so much!

This is the pumpkin that Josh and I picked out the other night! It's a super bumpy pumpkin with the cutest stem! We love it!

{When that storm comes like a hurricance...}

Life lately has been full of highs and lows. It has thrown more stress at me than I ever thought possible. I'm trying to learn how to balance married life and college life. I'm not going to lie, it's been difficult. Last Monday, an issue came up with our landlords. They haven't been the nicest people, and it turns out that basically everyone who rents from them has issues. This issue has caused A LOT of stress for my husband and I, so tons of prayers would be appreciated! Also, my mom was in the hospital this past week. She has leiomyosarcoma (a rare cancer that affects 1 in 6 million women), but she was hospitalized due to a blockage in her intestines from a previous surgery last summer. Prayers for my mom would also be greatly appreciated! God is always faithful, though. He will never gives us more than we can handle. I just need to remind myself of that daily. On the bright side, on Saturday I got to spend some time with the two most precious girls ever. They are like nieces to me. I'm sad that I don't get to see them as often now because I live an hour and a half away, but I am so thankful for all the times when I do get to see them! I hope everyone has a blessed Tuesday, and I will leave you with one of my favorite songs that I know God speaks to me through every time I listen to it.

Love With Food August Review

*I don't have any photos of the subscription box due to (mainly) my husband eating all the contents of the box immediately ;)

Love With Food is a box of monthly treats delivered right to your doorstep, and they also donate a meal to a hungry child with every box that is ordered. I was very impressed with my first box!

Roasted Seaweed from Seaweed Love: I'm not a huge fan of seaweed, but my husband was more than willing to try it out for me. He described it as "the flavor wasn't good at first, but after a few seconds it tasted great!" Price - 0.72

Coconut + Mango Fruit Ice from Smooze: We have actually tried these before and anything that's frozen liquid is always a big hit with the family.  Price - 0.66

Gluten-Free Pineapple Coconut Cereal Bar from Do More Bars: Okay, this was definitely my favorite! I absolutely loved everything about it. It was made with organic brown rice and real fruit. It was absolutely delicious and the right amount of chewy. I will be buying packs of these! Price - 1.69

Organic Fruity Bears from Surf Sweets: I didn't get to try these because my husband ate them all, but he said he didn't really like them much. He's not a big fan of sweets though. I probably would've enjoyed them :) Price - 1.93

Sweet Plantain Chips from Turbana: These were a hit with my husband. He didn't say much about them except that he loved them and wants to buy some more! Price: 0.79

All Natural Fruit and Soy Bar from SoyJoy: I wasn't a huge fan of this, but I let my husband try the rest of it and he enjoyed it. Price - 1.33

Pomegranate Mint Chewing Gum from PUR Gum: The gum definitely had a different taste, but I liked it . The only downside was that the flavor didn't last very long at all. Price - 1.42

Organic Hard Candy from GoOrganic: I have yet to try this, but I love hard candy and the fact that this is organic makes it 100 times better! Price - 0.25

Organic Drink Mix from Flavrz: My husband loved this and I liked it too. He described the flavor as "watered down sprite".  It did taste really good and would make good Popsicles. Price - 1.12

The box also came with a $50 dollar wine gift certificate, but since I am underage I gave the card to a friend. Overall, I was very impressed with the box and see more in my future!

{Introducing Eleanor Claire!}

I may be biased, but Eleanor is definitely the cutest baby ever. I love my new niecey (:

Oh, How Pinteresting! Wednesday

These last two days have been fantastic! My husband and I have had so much fun together. Last night he let me shave his head. He had long black hair, but last night we took his razor to it. It was definitely an exciting experience for me. After that we gave each other facials. That man loves a good facial. We watched the movie Stardust. Let me to you, that movie was fantastic! I loved every minute of it! I definitely give props to Josh for picking such a great movie for us to watch. The weather outside has been so fantastic also! It definitely is starting to feel like fall! I am so excited.

Buddy the Elf pajamas! Oh my word! I am definitely going to be needing some for Christmas!

I love this! I wanna decorate like this for Christmas!

Future baby girl Driver will own this

Definitely gonna do this in our bathroom when we get our new home!

I love this color for a boys room!

And the winner is....

Tina Reynolds!

You should be receiving an email from me. Please let me know if it doesn't arrive.

Thank you to everyone who participated! I see more giveaways in the future :)

Marriage on a Monday

This morning I read a post titled "For The One Who Married Young". It spoke right to my heart. One line in particular stood out to me: "There will be moments and days and seasons that are really hard. And you’ll be tempted to think it’s because you got married young, but really, it’s just because you got married." Recently, I've been extremely stressed and the thought creeps up that it's because I married young, but when I read those words they brought a sense of comfort to me. She also talked about how "you hold in your heart each other’s worst and best, the awkward movement from child to adult. You are the witnesses of each other’s most sacred lives. Be careful with one another." Josh and I are in that awkward movement from child to adult. We are learning to navigate those waters. We are expected to be adults and handle everything that comes our way, but at the same time we are just young kids trying to figure life out. We fight and pout like children in kindergarten, and I mean what married couple doesn't do that? Haha :) But we always know, at the end of the day, that we love each other and wouldn't trade our young married lives for anything.

Haha I saw this a while ago on Pinterest and had to share it!

For The One Who Married Young

ATL

We headed to Atlanta yesterday for Justin Bieber's concert (Yes, go ahead and judge me :)). Our first stop was at Barnes & Noble for Pattie Mallette's (Justin Bieber's mom) book signing! We got there too late, but long story short one of Pattie's good friends named Chip helped us meet her! It was such an awesome experience and one we will never forget! The concert was of course fantastic!

I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend!

on becoming a young married college student

I just turned nineteen almost a month ago, and I just got married at the end of June. I'm having to learn how to be the best wife I can be while having to adjust to moving away from home for the first time and going to college. I honestly don't feel like I have been the best wife that I could be. My husband and I are both having to adjust to totally new situations and it has not been easy. Some days I feel completely defeated. I compare our marriage too much to other newlywed's marriages. I need to dig deeper into Jesus and His word, and die to myself daily. My goal is to have devotionals with my husband every single night. In order for our marriage to thrive, we must choose to die to our selfish desires and put each other above ourselves and to put God first. I want to become the best wife I can be. I want to make my home a haven, I want to cook healthy meals for us, I want to be able to serve others together, and I want us to enjoy this crazy wild adventure together. I have to learn how to have a balance between being a wife and college student. This won't be easy, but with God, all things are possible. If anyone has any encouragement on balancing being a wife and college student, please feel free to share it with me :) I hope everyone has a blessed Thursday!

Subscription Box Giveaway - Escape Monthly!

From Escape Monthly's website: "Escape Monthly is a destination-inspired monthly delivery of luxury products to help you relax, renew and escape!" Escape Monthly has asked me to do a giveaway for their new subscription service! Check out their website at http://escapemonthly.com/ and enter the giveaway below!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Married life and wedding photos!

My mom told me that married life definitely agrees with me. I love the married life, but it also has produced more challenges in the last month than I ever thought possible. Just this weekend our air condition has went out, our upstairs toilet has started to spit water out of the tank when we flush it, and the downstairs bathroom is beginning to clog up. The heat is getting to us, but we are trying to make the best of it. It's a good excuse to just walk around naked, right? This past week I got my wedding photos! They are absolutely beautiful! Our photographer did a fantastic job. Check out his website at http://adriandavidpayne.com/.

The groom's cake

My sister and I

This picture is super special to me. My mom has leiomyosarcoma, a rare cancer that affects one in six million women. The day of my wedding she became super sick and had to go to the ER, and no one thought she would be able to come to the wedding. I had an overwhelming peace about the situation that only could come from God. She showed up a few minutes right before the wedding started. God is good.

The entire wedding party! (Minus a tiny flower girl)

Little man decided to do crazy eyes in one of our photos together

Exchanging our rings

Josh seeing me for the first time in my wedding dress

Women who married into the Driver family praying over me

Dad fixing me dress right before we were about to walk down the aisle

I have a TON more wedding photos that I haven't posted here. If you're interested in seeing them let me know and I'll give you the link to my Facebook page!

Fighting for Finley

Finley needs a miracle.

Finley is just a little over a week old, and she was born with little to no heartbeat, and very few signs of brain activity. But I believe in miracles. I believe that God can fully heal Finley and use her to glorify His kingdom in amazing ways. 

Please join me in lifting up Finley in prayer, as well as lifting up her family, doctors, and nurses.
God still does miracles. He raised people from the dead, let the blind see, the deaf hear, and the lame walk. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 

*For updates on this sweet miracle, please visit https://www.facebook.com/FightingForFinley

Oh, How Pinteresting!

I am definitely going to do this when we move to an actual home towards the end of this year. Spray paint door knobs and handles with Rustoleum Oil Rubbed Bronze Spray to give the home a little update!

I really need to try to start using this cleaning schedule for the apartment so when it comes time to move I won't be so overwhelmed with how much we need to clean before we move out.

I am so obsessed with this DIY coffee table! You buy four crates from Michaels, stain them, and nail them together! I am going to get Josh to make us one soon hopefully!

I am definitely going to hook future baby Driver up with this. An inflatable kids pool with lots and lots of balls!

Going to try out some homemade fabric softener this week! Here is the link to the recipe in case you want to try it out also -  http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2013/07/homemade-fabric-softener-finally.html

I'm loving this dog house! Maybe Ryland can get one for Christmas? :)

Marry me, today and everyday

It’s been 30 days since I married my best friend. The past 30 days have consisted of so much more than I could have ever imagined. It’s been filled with fancy hotels, cabins in the mountains, rescuing a dog from an animal shelter, fleas invading our home, tears, laughter, late nights, and many car rides. There have been times when we have wanted to scream just because we don’t know how to do this whole marriage and growing up thing. We continually have to look towards Christ in order to make it through a day. Without Him, nothing is possible. We will have to learn how to nurture our marriage while learning how to not struggle at school. We will have to make it our goal to make friendships that inspire and encourage us and to help us always keep our focus on our Savior. We married young, and we may not know what we’re doing, but who really even knows what they’re doing when they get married? The Lord will lead us with strong hands through this adventure together.

Fabulous {Saturday}: Finding Joy In The Little Things

{This post was originally intended for Fridays, but I just now found the link-up so I figured I would do it anyway!}

I want to make sure I find joy in every single little thing. God intended for me to live my life joyful. The joy of the LORD is MY strength! {Nehemiah 8:10}

Here are a few things that have brought me joy this week:

*Finally purchasing Josh's wedding outfit! It's made of linen and he looks so handsome in it.

*My chihuahua smiling at me and my sister. I promise she did.

*Starting the http://shereadstruth.com Hosea reading plan.

*Addressing envelopes and cutting out invitations for my wedding!

I hope you find joy this weekend in everything you do, even in the hard moments.