Easy Paint Projects to Update Your Home Decor

You don't need me to tell you how much paint can transform your home. Paint is one of the most inexpensive ways to give your space an update, but it's not just limited to your four walls, my friends. Nope, you can use paint to update your home decor and create a space that is full of personality and style all without spending a whole lot of money while doing it. Now that is my kind of update! 

Easy Chocolate Croissant Crescent Roll Ups

I try to make most of what we eat from scratch, but there are some prepared items that are just begging to be used. These chocolate croissant crescent roll-ups are not only delicious they are super easy to make. Stock up on the cans of crescents when you see a sale because you are going to want to have these on hand to make whenever you have a chocolate craving! 

Rock Your World With This Matthew 25 Challenge!

I was only seven, but I still remember how I felt in 1985 when I memorized every line of the song "We Are the World." I have very vivid memories sharing a snack with a friend that summer while talking as deeply as any elementary-aged child could about how there were children dying and that we needed to eat our freshly-picked cherry tomatoes with the idea of starvation in mind. This was the first time I remember my heart breaking for those in need. 
I was almost in middle school before I met anyone who had skin that was a different color than my own. I grew up deep in the heartland and I've had to be intentional about opening my eyes to learning more about this world because, to be honest, I was downright ignorant. 
God tends to speak to me through music. Several years ago, before a trip to journalist trip to Zambia that I didn't feel even remotely prepared for, there were some lyrics in a song by Matt Maher that we sang at church. The line says "you shattered my darkness, washed away my blindness, now I'm breathing in and breathing out, I'm alive again!" And I couldn't help but think about how God had been opening my eyes to poverty, sickness and the overwhelming needs of children and families all over the world. 

It's easy for me to get comfortable in my home and forget the way that families struggle to have even the most basic necessities like clean water. I can easily forget that nearly 1600 children under the age of five die every day because of diarrhea from dirty drinking water. I can ignore the headlines about refugees and seek out the gossip in the entertainment section. Or I can scroll through Instagram and be totally oblivious to anything happening anywhere beyond those squares.  I know I'm not the only one.  It's why I'm joining with World Vision to bring you a little challenge. A challenge we are going to join in together. A challenge you can do with your whole family. 

DIY Upcycle A Large Chalkboard Sign for Under $10!

My spell checker doesn't like the word upcycle, but it's one of my favorite words in all of my vocabulary. I had to look up the definition of upcycle because I wanted to make sure it wasn't just a word I made up and was hoping it would catch on. It's not. Upcycle: also known as creative reuse {side note, love that!}, is the process of transforming by-products, waste materials, useless or unwanted products into new materials or products of better quality {yep and yep} or for better environmental value. 

To be totally honest, the reason I upcycle is because I'm cheap. The environmental benefit {less waste in the landfill yadda yada} is just a good side effect of my cheapness. It's why I cloth diapered my kiddos. But I digress... This DIY upcycled chalkboard sign. It's huge. Like really big and I made it for under $10. If you want the real total it was really only $2, but I'm thinking if you want to make something similar, I would venture to guess that I could steer you in the right direction and you could DIY a large {and I'm telling you this is like 8-year-old child sized} chalkboard for under $10. Want to know how? Keep reading!

Keeping Your Family Safe with OneLink Smart Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Detector

Thank you Onelink by First Alert for sponsoring this post. Add smart protection to your home with the Onelink Smart Smoke & Carbon Monoxide Alarm.

It started with a beep. I heard it after I walked out of the bathroom that's attached to my bedroom. It came from the carbon monoxide detector that had been sitting quietly in the corner for years. I picked up the detector and rolled it around in my hands. I looked for any sign that there was a low battery that was making it emit the beep but couldn't find any. The carbon monoxide detector had done its job. I called my husband, packed up the kids and we left the house. 

Our home was a few years old when we bought it, and we went through a thorough home inspection. I can only imagine it wasn't the homes first and yet no professional had detected the leak that was happening in our garage when a strange set of circumstances were occurring all at once. Turns out the vent from the furnace wasn't properly sealed and carbon monoxide was being leaked and sucked into our home. The same home we thought was our safe space. 

Things might have ended differently had we not had a carbon monoxide detector to warn us of the dangers and I'll be forever grateful that we had one to keep our family safe. Today I'm sharing everything you need to know about carbon monoxide and how you can protect your family. And why our family home will never be without one!