Have You Laid Your Foundation For The New Year?

As we approach the coming year, some of us excited, some road weary, some of us hurting- hoping that the coming year will be easier. Some of us perhaps a little apprehensive, some us ready to dig in, go further, meet those goals. We stand in a place no one has walked before, ready to journey into uncharted places. None of us know what the future holds, what joys, what heartaches, none but Him that is.

We have the unique opportunity to set the foundations for this year, not just resolutions that we'll keep for a week- maybe, but deeper than that. We can choose, to leave the baggage we've dragged around for the last twelve months right here and step into the new year free. What have you been carrying around, that you need to surrender to Him? What lies have you been claiming, instead of His truth? That you're unlovable? He doesn't care? He doesn't see? That there isn't a reason you were placed on this earth? Perhaps you doubt your worth. Perhaps like George Bailey in It's A Wonderful Life, you can no longer see all the lives you've touched. All the good you've done. 

Are you clinging to a dead, or dying relationship? Trying to breathe life back into it, when only He can? Are you trying to step into His role to bring back the wayward child?

You have the power to step up to the cross and nail those things, that have been weighing you down, pulling you under, stealing your joy. You have the power to bring them all to His feet and say "I can't do this. I can't carry these things, it's too heavy. It's too great. Only you can fix this," You were never meant to carry these things, and He stands ready and willing with open arms to take them. But you must decide to surrender them.

It's become so natural, to cling to those things. To let them fester. To steal the pen and try to write the story, to make sense of all the pieces- but we can't. We can't see all the pieces, just the little place where we're standing. He is the only one who can fix this, He's the only one who can make sense of it. He's the only mighty enough to take that pen write our story. It's not easy, to bring our heavy burdens before Him and drop them at His feet as an offering. But it's even harder not to run back and pick them back up because they've become comfortable. 

We can choose, to leave these things nailed to the cross and enter the new year free, and unhindered. We can lay this foundation, one stone at a time. Those things that weighed us down, we can lay them down one stone at a time. We don't have to understand the "why" or the "how" that has haunted us, we don't have to listen to the "what if" that plague us. We can give them to Him, write His name across them and nail to the cross. Lay them as the foundation. 

God, I choose to give this to you and not pick it back up. The things that have hurt me, the things that steal my joy, these lies that I have believed I choose to give them to you and in there place I'll cling to you. I'll claim your truth, I'll claim what you say about me, I am treasured, I have a purpose. I am loved beyond measure. There is no place that I can go that you are not with me. No relationship is too dead, or too broken that you can't heal. There is no hardened place in my heart that you can not replace with a heart of flesh. No child is too far gone that you in all mercy and love can not seek out and bring them home. 

What will be your foundation this year, will you cling to the things that you drug about this year? Or will you cut the ties that bind you to those things and lay them at the foot of the cross? Only He can fix what is broken in your life. Only He can restore what has been lost. Only He can breathe new life into what has been dead. But you must decide to let calvary cover it, or to keep on dragging. He's already died for those things, let them go and let Him cover them and step into the new year, fresh, unburdened and ready for whatever He has planned for you.

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Classy New Year's Eve Table Decor

Can you believe another year has flown by? I can't! But here we are saying goodbye to one and hello to another. New Year's Eve is pretty quiet at Rosevine Cottage, we have a nice dinner and then stay up late playing games and eating horsd' oeuvre until midnight when we watch the music note drop in Nashville. It's cozy and filled with laughter as we ring one year out and another in, surrounded with some of our favorite people.

However, you celebrate the New Year we thought we would share this beautiful tablescape with you. For this look, we went with silver and white and a splash of gold.

Down the center of the table we placed our white faux fur table runner, we found this one in the Christmas section at Hobby Lobby. Over it, we placed glass bottles with white candles and silver cones to give the table a touch of sparkle. In the center, we placed a gorgeous gold clock in a cliosh'. 

For each place setting, we used a mixture vintage an new silver trays with vintage gold star china plates. We looked everywhere for clock plates, we saw a set we fell in love with online but could never track it down. Once we get something in our head, it's hard to let go of it so we decided to create our own.

Originally we had planned to use fabric on a clear plate but that would make the plate unusable and that is no fun. So after picking up 6 clear glass plates at the Dollar Tree, we visited Graphic Fairy and downloaded a gorgeous clock face and hands. After printing each piece separately we cut the clock and hands out and then laminated them that way food wouldn't ruin them and we can use them again. Next, we simply placed our clock face on top of the china plate and laid the clear plate on top.

We alternately use sparkily and silver napkin rings around the table.

How do you celebrate the new year? Tell us in the comments!

See all the behind the scenes fun over on Instagram.

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Our Vintage Travel Themed Office

Our adventure office has been a long time coming about, its a mix of all things travel and history. With touches of vintage aviation. safari and archeology. When we first started working on this space we knew we wanted it to feel like you were on a safari. So we painted the walls a sandy tan color because this room is in our basement we and doesn't get much light so we tried to keep the walls as light as we could while still getting that warm color. As the room started to take shape, we began adding touches of aviation and space. 

I have a special love for old planes and space, I know it's a bit strange but old planes make me so happy! Older the better- especially biplanes.  We used dark pieces of furniture around the room to give it that heavy feel of an old study, like this table we picked up at a yard sale a while back and spray painted black. We also used this metal shelf in one corner, we wanted it to be a mixture of function and display so we placed some baskets to hold office stuff. We also placed little treasures here and there, like trunks and polished rocks and other things we collected over the years. 

Behind the desk, we hung this giant map we found at Hobby Lobby and a propeller we found on Antique farmhouse a while back. On either side of the map we hung square prints. One is a beautiful travel-themed one from Hobby Lobby on the other side it says "Your story matters, share it with the world". It seemed fitting for a writer's office.

On one of the shelves, we displayed our collection of nests. I think it's an interesting touch among the touches of travel and bits of history we displayed here.

On this shelf, we placed an old chest and sprinkled polished rocks and shards of things we found in the yard. Fun fact that amazing metal piece at the back we found in our garden, and the piece of a bottle we found digging in our creek.

I love the top of this shelving unit so much, we have shells, old bullets we believe to be from the civil war (we dug them out of the garden), arrowheads old marbles (also found in our yard), petrified wood, sand from the mount of olives, reproduction WW2 Buttons, a giant moth, and an old aspirin bottle we found out in the yard. We also placed a lantern and a chest filled with all kinds of treasures (can you tell I have a problem with chests?).

This wall was so much fun to put together! Over the years we've collected each piece or made them. We have pieces or artwork, clay moon, and sun, a leather mask a country map our dear friends brought us on one of their visits.

On this shelf, we placed a piece of petrified wood, pretty polished rocks, a chunk of shell an old picture of my grandfather in the navy, little toy soldiers, and a chunk of the Berlin Wall.

To one side we placed this old suitcase we got at a yard sale over the summer, we also sat a globe on top of it.

This is a chunk of the Berlin wall, I thought it was the perfect place for it!

Brianna was amazing at Remembering World War II this year [Check out our trip HERE] and asked the Captain America re-anactor for an autograph. She's awesome! Love you, sis.

That massive volcano is from an old school project, we built it with my grandmother many years ago and never had the heart to erupt. We want to turn it into a light but for now, it sits on top of the armoire. We placed a pile of books and a model plan on one side and suitcases with nature books and a camera on the other as if someone has just returned from an expedition somewhere.

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