Far Above Rubies: Proverbs 31:30

"She maketh herself coverings of tapestry;
her clothing is silk and purple."
Proverbs 31:22

From my readings I have gathered that this verse is here to show the Virtuous Woman's fine taste and her efforts to really please the eye of her husband. This woman not only works outside, but she works inside by making these types of things. "Jack of All Trades" comes to mind. While these days it is oftentimes more cost-effective to buy from stores, we still should be willing to work with our hands when the need arises.

"Her clothing is silk and purple" - her family was not poor it seems. She is wearing fine clothing and I'm going to go ahead and assume she takes care of herself. I don't think silk and purple equates to sweats and t-shirt... of which I am definitely guilty! I don't know about you all but I sometimes just get lazy and throw on whatever I can find without much of a thought. Of course, I don't think there is anything wrong with this, but I also think I should be putting more of an effort to look nice for my husband. I know I didn't go around looking like a slob when we were "courting".

It doesn't take much to "let yourself go", so to speak. Now I'm not saying I look horrible day in and day out but I could do better. I think when you take care of your appearance and take care for what you put on in the morning, you feel better about yourself. And I know that one of the ways the devil really gets to us women is by picking at our self-esteem. There are too many Christian women out there who suffer from low self-esteem and I am here to say this: THAT IS THE DEVIL! The devil loves to tear us down. He loves to make us feel inferior and make us "covet" after the body types or the clothing of those around us. He gets in and so severely attacks our self-esteem that it is all we can think about. We become more focused on Earthly things like perhaps our clothing or our weight or different aspects of our appearance, instead of focusing on Spiritual things. There are so many people out there who put so much effort into these worldly things that they forget what is truly the most important thing for us to make sure is pure and beautiful: our souls.

Now I say this because while yes, you should put forth an effort into how you look {at least those of us who have husbands need to realize we don't need to jip them! ha!}, but there is an extreme you can go to and that is putting too much thought into it. We don't need to spend so much time on our appearance and end up jipping ourselves out on true beauty, Spiritual beauty.

Any husband who wishes to have this virtuous wife I am sure would rather have a spiritually beautiful woman than an outwardly beautiful woman. In fact, if you read on in Proverbs you'll eventually get to this verse:

"Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain:
but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised."
Proverbs 31:30

I will save my thoughts on that verse for when we get to it, but I felt like it tied in to what I was saying before.

I hope you ladies have been able to understand what I've been trying to say here. I feel like it is all jumbled up and incoherent. If it is - I am so sorry! I am very interested in your thoughts on the subject!

Oh, by the way. I was thinking about what I was going to say on this verse while I was showering, and I made sure to make myself look nice before I sat down and wrote this. How terrible would it have been for me to go on about looking nice for your husband and sit here in my slob garb! Ha!

Y'all have a great week!

Feelin' Feminine Challenge

EDIT// Today was cut short as not too long ago the top tier of my funky pink skirt ripped. R.I.P. funkalicious skirt. I'll try again tomorrow for day 2. My skirts are in the washer/dryer right now.

Sigh.

ORIGINAL//

Not too long after I wrote this post admitting I was wearing sweats and a hoodie {what was I thinking?!}, I came across this post on my dear blogging friend Katy's blog. Then I just sat here and thought, "Why can't I be feminine today, or every day?" I mean... I felt kind of... genderless wearing my sweats and hoodie. I mean, really. How feminine is that? So I decided I would join in and see if I can do a skirt or dress every day for a week.



Now, don't laugh. You know how much I love bright colors, especially looking back 3-4 years ago when I was 16 or 17. I do love the color pink, but only if it's bright enough! You've had your fair warning.

And just so you know, this is the brightest skirt I own, so after this you can be assured that I'm not going to be dressed as wildly bright.



The skirt and shrug were both given to me {because they actually match a pair of pink shoes I have...yes, for real}. The shirt ... uh, I've had it forever. And the belt doohicky came with a pair of pants.

Did I mention it's cold today? So I'm wearing tights. These tights.



They are thick, they are warm, and you know what? I like 'em!



And I like the belt thing too.

I feel a lot better now than I did when I was wearing my sweats and hoodie. Since we're going out tonight I'll probably put on my black leggings {over my tights} because I'm a wimp when it's cold and rainy. Now I'm just debating on whether or not I should wear my pink and purple rain boots or my bright pink "loafers" with this.

Like I said before, this is as wild as I get these days. And this is tame compared to my earlier years.

I'm laughing now as I post this. I can't believe I'm sharing my insane wardrobe with you!

a plethora of topics

My sister-in-law got her wedding pictures from December recently. I was going through them just seeing how they turned out and if I looked super goofy in them or not {I was the Matron of Honor}. Ahem... well... I think these pictures speak for themselves:


Please someone tell me that's cute. No, I didn't wear those leggings {or the coat for that matter} during the wedding. It was just so cold! Not to mention the fact that the dress and shoes were or had brown in them... and the leggings were black. Is that acceptable? I've lost track of fashion... I mean, right now I am wearing sweat capri's {and it's supposed to sleet today} and a hoodie... with red socks with daisies and monkeys, which I don't remember buying or receiving.

I am not a fashionista.

I think it looks goofy... but if anyone... anyone out there thinks that looks cute in any way {except the goofy way}, speak now or forever hold your peace! And then I'll just die of embarrassment of having been caught like that in wedding photographs.

At least Benjamin was super adorable:



He wasn't walking very well at that time, so my little cousin was holding his hands. Looking at his hair that way reminds me that he's got a little bit of a mullet coming in now... which needs to be cut. I refuse, as I have probably said before, to pay someone $10 to snip here and there. So I'm debating on whether or not I should try my hand at trimming it up. Worst case scenario, it will look super goofy for about a week. His hair grows so fast. I want to get it cut before we take off later this month {which I'm not disclosing when or where because I don't want that info out on the net}.

___________________

One last thing. I read last week on the box of Special K cereal we had up in our pantry that if you followed their diet for two weeks you could lose up to 6 pounds and drop a pant size. I figured I'd like my thighs to match the rest of me so why not give it a shot? We went grocery shopping for the stuff yesterday, which included Special K cereal, cereal bars, protein bars, and protein shakes.

Do not do this.

Unless you have a plethora of cash, don't do it. I couldn't believe how much money we spent on all that stuff. I am going to do this diet until I run out of stuff, and then I am stopping. We are not going to go broke just to lose weight. Leaving the store I felt very selfish and shallow. So we're not doing it again after this.

Right now I'm drinking the protein shake for my lunch.

It makes my tongue tingle.

Oooh, Fashion!

Tonight was the night we left Benjamin with Hubby's mother while we went to a banquet at the Middle Georgia Christian School. I admit it. I did cry a little bit as we drove away from the house. This is the first time we have left him for that long! It was a very ... eh night. Those at our table weren't very talkative and everyone that we did know sat way across the room from us. We made up for that by going out to Baskin Robbins with our friends Chris and Kayla afterward. They have a daughter who is a couple weeks younger than Benjamin, and who Benjamin loves immensely! For the record, I wore my new blue dress that I am also wearing in my brother's wedding. My future sister-in-law suggested I take it for a 'test drive', which was good because if you remember in my last post, I was trying to find something to wear ... I took advantage of no baby to nurse and wore a dress! And I carried a real purse, not a diaper bag! Liberation!

At the end of the night, though, I really did miss Benjamin. I was happy to find that he had behaved for my mother-in-law, and so happy to kiss his pretty face again!

I didn't take any pictures tonight, but tomorrow we are going to the Georgia National Fair to work at a booth for the church of Christ in Warner Robins, so perhaps I'll take some pictures then to share with you!

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Besides that.

I had something I wanted to share with you. This laptop is an old thing. It was my husbands before it started messing up and he had to get a new one for school. I use it now. I found a whole bunch of pictures on here I guess that I had sent him (he lived 9 hours away) while we were "courting" (definitely not considered dating!). This is one of said pictures:



I think at the time I must have been 16 or 17. I was so cool, can't you tell? With my huge glasses, funky skirt, Marylin Monroe shirt, and black leggings. Actually, in 10th grade (before I decided to be educated at home), I was put in the yearbook under the fashion pages because of my quirky fashion.

Anyway, I just thought that picture was funny. And see my bright celery green bedroom wall? I guess it's no surprise I like our blue dining room and office!



So funny! Feels like ages ago when it was really only 3-4 years ago. Wow.

"We are the goon squad and we're coming to town!"

Look Good Doing It

And now for something completely different.

In our house, we do not have cable. We do have Netflix and do watch shows we want to watch there. I don't really miss having cable (except when the Dawgs, Falcons, Bears, or Braves are playing!). I mean, there's so much trash out there that I don't need to watch anyway.

I used to watch the show on TLC called "What Not to Wear" and also "Ten Years Younger". I really don't know why I was so into those shows. I don't consider myself a fashionista of any sort. Shopping isn't a favorite past time and I'm really not into makeup. My favorite kind of hairstyle is the one I can get by without even blow drying and not look like a rat has made it's nest up there. I don't like dressing up - I'd rather be comfortable.

Lately, though, I feel like I have been getting a bit too comfortable. I remember those shows and occasionally the question would be asked, "How did you get to be this way?" and the answer would be, "I had kids and I let myself go." This, I heard, more than a few times. After hearing and seeing that, I would always tell myself, "Not me. No way. I will never let myself go like that after having kids!"

Insert bitter laugh.

I believe I have started down that slippery slope. Most days I am quite fine to hang out in my husband's old gym shorts and an old t-shirt from too many years ago. I don't bother with makeup. I don't bother with my hair, at all. I guess the word I am looking for is "Frumpy".

Yes, I just said it. Frumpy.

And that sound you just heard? That was me putting my foot down.

I will not let myself go.

From this day forward, unless I am sick or in mourning, there is no Mrs. Frump in this house. I am not that Mommy. I will no longer go about my day looking like I just rolled out of bed, at 3PM (now doesn't that sound nice? Rolling out of bed at 3PM. . .). I'm TWENTY YEARS OLD. Now, I know I waved bye-bye to my perfect, young body at like. . . 5 months pregnant. But that is no reason to just let myself go.

I am going to take hold of the youth that is still in me. This is my journey that I am going to call "Look Good Doing It". I am going to go about my day as a young mommy who hasn't slept through the night in nearly 8 months, but I am going to look good doing it.

Can I get an Amen?