Silver And Cotton Thanksgiving Centerpiece

Thanksgiving is right around the corner, so we have centerpieces on our mind. I love the challenge of decorating a table, playing with layers, colors, and textures. 

For this look, we went with cotton, tarnished silver candlesticks, a galvanized bucket and some butternut squash from our garden. 

We used white plates, chicken wire napkin rings [Find our tutorial HERE] with white napkins.

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Pumpkin Bacon Alfredo Pasta

It's been a rainy chilly week here in Tennessee so we have been craving cozy dishes! On one such chilly afternoon, Brianna and I came up with this yummy pumpkin dish. Super savory, creamy goodness and little pieces of crispy bacon- does it get any better? This dish is super easy to make and tastes amazing!

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons Grass-fed Butter
4 Tablespoons Pumpkin Puree
2 Tablespoons All-Purpose Flour
1 1/4 Whipping Cream
1/4 Cup Chicken Broth
1 Teaspoon + extra for topping Parmesan Cheese
Salt (to taste)
Pepper (to taste)
Nutritional Yeast (to taste)
Onion Powder (to taste)
1 Box of Spaghetti
3 Pieces of Bacon

Directions:

Boil pasta according to the package. Melt butter in a small pan, add flour and pumpkin and whisk until combined. Add cream and broth slowly until combined. Add seasonings to taste. Cook on medium until thick. Fry bacon until crisp. Plate pasta, top with sauce, bacon, and cheese. Serve. 

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In Too Deep - Following God Into Deep Water

In too deep. My feet no longer touch the bottom. At the mercy of the water- and yet He beckons me on. Further and further from shore. Away from everything I've known and into the uncharted places. Into the scary unknown with Him where the only thing I have to hang onto Is Him.

It's a scary place- the point where you step onto nothing and you find your feet no longer on solid ground. But it's an exciting place, a place where Faith grows big.

Fear whispers, "You're in too deep". The shore mocks us, calling us fools, attention seekers. It shakes its head in pity. The safety of the harbor calls promising false security but He beckons me on with a loving hand.

I've got this, trust me... Not one of my sleepless nights is lost on Him. Not a tear escapes His sight. Not one shred of fear goes without His notice.

He knows how deep the water is. He knows the exact place my feet will no longer touch the bottom before I even get there. And yet He calls me forward, deeper toward Him. He sustains me until my feet can touch the solid ground again. He doesn't grow tired of me and sending back to the shallow water, He holds me tightly until my faith grows to the bottom. Like a small child in their father's arm's, He draws me deeper and deeper as I grow. He won't abandon me in the deep water, He's stretching my faith. Feeding it so we can go deeper.

So quickly my doubt creeps in... So quickly I forget the miracles of yesterday.

You make a way where there is no way. You move the mountains like it is nothing. You bring me to the end of myself so that I fall into your waiting arms. You whisper to my awestruck soul, trust me. Not once, but over and over and over again you provide. You hold me close. You beckon me on, into the deep.

You make a way.
You love me with unending love.
You catch me when I stumble forward in my own strength.
You write your love for me across the sky in blazing colors.
You provide in ways that could only be you.
You walk beside me in the storm and whisper peace to my soul.
You. Only you.

You amaze me. You take my breath away with your unending goodness. You make my soul sing your praises, it bubbles out until I can't contain it. If I didn't praise you the rocks would cry out of your goodness.

Over and over when there is no way left, no hope in sight, no one left to turn to I find myself at the foot of Calvary once again.

You are so good. You take me far away from everything that is familiar to me so that you can reveal more of your goodness to me. You are the water to my parched soul. You leave me in awe of your goodness. Through the storm, you bring me to my knees to discover your goodness all over again.

Your grace never ceases. Your love never ends. You recklessly chase after me, ever ready to wrap your arms around me. You move the mountains for me. You call me out into the deep water.

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Our Homey Fall Dining Room

Our muggy hot summer days are long gone in Tennessee, we got our first frost and freeze last weekend and the leaves are showing their full potential! It always amazes me how the world can go from everyday shades of green to the amazing colors of fall overnight. Like a painter has come while everyone was in bed and created a work of art.

I am so in love with our dining room decor! It's so homey and inviting! You know how I love to mix new and vintage pieces in my decor, and this room is no exception!

We piled green, cream and white pumpkins down the center of the table on a canvass table runner. 

We used a mix of wood and silver chargers, black plates and antique china and adorable little green pumpkins.

We added some pumpkins and hydrangeas to our side table to add touches of fall to our side table.

I found this pig head sculpture at Walmart and had to bring it home! It's just so adorable. I think it looks pretty cute on this galvanized tray with other odds and ends. We also wrapped this little piece of garland we found at a yard sale a few years back around the tray. I love how it nods towards December's sleigh bells.

We start decorating for Christmas in early November- I know that's early for some of you but it was a tradition began by my Christmas loving grandma many many years ago. Besides, it takes us a while to get everything up! If I'm honest I would have the Christmas tree up by Halloween if Mr. Cottage would let me, this year he's kind of feeling it (every time we go to Lowes he begs to get this massive 12-foot tree, we keep trying to tell him our ceiling is only 8 feet but...).

I love the layers of colors right here! Deep and rich like fall with a surprising pop of color.

It's official, I'm obsessed with these pumpkin colors! We will absolutely be growing them next year!!!

We picked this beauty up at a yard sale last week! I got a great deal on it- and some awesome vintage hats. I love the pop of color but it still has the more neutral pumpkins.

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Hope In The Hard Places

A thousand problems on your shoulders, a million things needing your attention as you are pulled in a hundred different directions.  Until you find yourself at the end of yourself... no way ahead, just a never-ending inky black chasm. Too late to go back. Nothing left to give. Your knees fall to the dusty road as exhausted tears slip from your eyes.

But perhaps this very spot was predestined for you. Like Jacob's rock, and Moses's bush perhaps this spot was created for you.

Maybe it takes reaching the point where we have nothing left to give, where we are powerless to do anything else- maybe it takes the breaking away of the illusion of control for us to reach the point that we see Him.

Maybe it takes the weathering of the storm, to knock away the things holding us back from Him and cut out the callused hard places in our hearts. Like glass tossed by the waves of the sea, it softens the sharp edges so when it comes out it is something new and beautiful.

Maybe it takes the storm driving us to the end of ourselves, a point we can't do it on our own so that we reach a place that we have to take that first terrifying step in faith not knowing what will happen so that we can see through His eyes. Maybe it takes that first step trusting Him to realize that we've been in His hands the whole time. That even though we couldn't see the other side, we were only stepping one palm to the other.

Perhaps it takes the breaking down to your knees beneath the pressure of the storm, to reach a point that we realize how much we need Him. Maybe it takes reaching the point that we have nothing left to recognize His overwhelming grace and our need for Him.

Perhaps its the very end of yourself, alone in the middle of the lake with the storm raging all around that we meet Him. Maybe it's here, with nothing left to give, and nowhere left to go that we are finally ready to surrender the pen and allow Him to take over, turn the page and start a new chapter.

Perhaps the storm was placed there to remind us of our absolute need for Him. A reminder that we can't do it on our own. Maybe it's here in this moment, that we allow His reckless never-ending love to flood in. Perhaps the storm serves to empty us- pull back the hardened places, strip down the calluses and drain the wounds the wounds we've allowed to fester so that when we reach the end of ourselves He can step in and fill us with Himself.

Have you reached this point? At the end of yourself, with nothing left to give and empty hands?

I can't help but think of Simon, He'd been out fishing all night long and caught nothing. He returns to the shore tired and empty-handed. His decks that He'd worked so hard to try to fill, empty- until Jesus stepped on to them.

Sometimes God lets us reach the end of ourselves- like Saul on the road to Damascus so that we can fall from our horses straight into His waiting arms. Sometimes it takes the shift between the illusion of control on horseback, to the end-of-yourself in the dust to change your perspective and hear His voice calling. Sometimes it takes falling to our knees with nothing left to realize He's been with you the whole time. Chasing after you. Loving you. Calling you. It wasn't until Saul became blind by worldly standards that he truly began to see.

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