Roomag

I'm super excited about this new website created by Candace Cameron Bure {I've loved her since her Full House days as "DJ"!}  And you may remember her brother, Kirk Cameron, who played on Growing Pains.  Candace is both outspoken and passionate about her family and faith.  "Her desire is to minister to the hearts of women so they might pursue wholesome values that nurture and reinforce the family unit; that modern women would be bold enough to stand against the negative message our culture tends to reflect, and embrace the women we were created to be." - Roomag. 

On the site, you'll find all kinds of encouraging articles about life, fitness, marriage, parenting (for all you Mama's out there), how to build your husband up, money, decorating, DIY projects and much more.

I'm thankful for...

A relationship with God

A Husband that loves me unconditionally and makes me feel special

A Family and in-laws that love me

A group of friends who accept my bubbly, fun, quirky personality

A church that really feels more like family

A job that allows me take care of kiddos - I adore the child-like faith

A dog that keeps me company and makes me laugh

A life that I love living!

Marriage Conference

Last Saturday we spend the day in Liberty Missouri for a marriage conference.  We went with another amazing couple, Dave and Amber.  It was Dr. Gary Chapman's conference titled "The Marriage You've Always Wanted."  It was a day of learning and laughing hysterically.  Dr. Chapman is the author of The Five Love Languages and many other popular books.   The day was filled with lots of humor and practical insight on a sound biblical marriage. A Growing Marriage is designed to stimulate strong, healthy marriages—the foundations of strong, growing churches, and reaching others for Christ.

Topics we learned about:
· Communication 101
· Rekindling Love / The Five Love Languages
· Initiating Positive Change in a Marriage
· Making Sex a Mutual Joy
· How to Share the Things that Bug You

Dr. Gary Chapman left us with 3 things he encourages married couples to do yearly.
1. Read the book, The Marriage You've Always Wanted
2. Read a book on marriage with your spouse.  Read a chapter a week and at the end of each week discuss the chapter and ONE thing you could work on - NOT pointing out things your spouse should work on.
3. Attend a marriage conference a year.  (He states, marriages either improve or get worse.  They don't stay the same.)

LOVE: is not a feeling but a behavior.  

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her. 

                                                                                                                      - Ephesians 5:25

Notice how God Commands the husband to love his wife.  He doesn't give the husband a choice.

So how do we express love? by compliments, kind words, humble words (love makes requests not demands) and use unselfish behavior.  All of that in which has been told in 1 Corinthians 13:4-5  Love is patient, love is kind, it is humble, it is courteous.  It is unselfish, not quick to take offense, does not keep a score of wrongs.  So once again, love is being described as a behavior, not a feeling.

I've been attending small groups since going to Indian Creek Community Church but I've never held a group of my own.  My goal in the next year is to lead a small group of newly married couples and together work through the book above.  Now- hold me accountable!  :)

My Best Friends Wedding

My best friend from high school got married to a wonderful man on 11.11.11.  Amy is an amazing Christian woman whom I love with all my heart.  We think exactly alike.  We say the same thing at the same time, where identical clothes on the same day – and don’t plan it, have the best time doing absolutely nothing, and can share our deepest secrets.  She will truly be my best friend for life.  We always dreamed of being neighbors in a cul de sac, taking turns having barbeques while our kids play in the yard.  Whether this dream becomes a reality – only God knows.  But I won’t forget all the memories we had dreaming all this up.  We had so much fun singing down the hall ways of Haven High, driving around Hutchinson for hours drinking our cherry vanilla Dr. Peppers and listening to our favorite music while talking about our latest boy crush.  We have many memories through college and into our working lives.  I can’t wait to see what happens with us in the future!  I love you BFF.

Amy and I share something very special – we both got hitched on AMERICAN celebrations!  She – Veteran’s Day!  Dean and I – the weekend of Independence Day.  What can we say?  We’re proud to be an American! 

Their wedding was absolutely breathtaking.  She looked gorgeous.  Here are a few pictures I took on their wedding day! 

Amy is a school teacher and she had her class make butterflies for there wedding.  Amy and Brandon just put them up and are admiring their work!

This one made us laugh!!   It's the wedding day, Amy eats too much wedding cake, 30 seconds later her dress Rips "Rip! Rip!"  We just love children!!! - never a dull moment!

 Getting ready to see Brandon for the first time!!!!

Best Friends!  :)

 Mr. Shackley and I

My gorgeous Mother on her birthday!  She's 55years old and B-E-Autiful!  I hope I'm as stunning as she is at 55 years old!

Happy life together Brandon and Amy Deibler! 

We're Newlywed and DEBT FREE

It's Debt Free Friday so I'm proud to announce as of October 26th The Shackley's are officially DEBT FREE! I'm not telling ya'll this to get a pat on the back.  I really hope to be an inspiration to others.  The goal of being debt free is obtainable.  It's not impossible.  Our culture has told us over and over again that being in debt is normal.  We don't want to be normal.

Dean and I have talked and if there were only 3 things that we could pass on to others and someday leave behind as our legacy it would be the following.  The first, living a Godly lifestyle that shows others we LOVE JESUS!!!  We want to use our feet to follow in Gods footsteps and use our mouth to speak the words of God.  He made us all so differently and I tell you one thing: God made NO mistakes in making you!  The second thing is, having a debt free standard of living.  I want to pay cash for all my wants and needs.  Now, I understand buying a house might be slightly difficult to do only paying cash, but our goal is to put down a large percentage.  And thirdly, we want our life to be as healthy as possible.  We've been working out together - getting up at 3:30am to start our workout by 4am so Dean can get to work by 7am.  Dedicated - I know! ;)

Dave Ramsey was by far our inspiration for this debt free way of life.  He is a man of God and one of the world's greatest biblical financial teachers.  He was introduced to us a little over year ago at our church.  From that point Dean and I decided that how we wanted to live.  So one by one we worked at getting out of debt.

Here is the order in which it happened for us:
1. Paid my school loans off in 1 year of graduating college
2. Dean paid his off in 6 months - overachiever! haha
3. Paid my DELL laptop computer off
4. Paid my bedroom furniture off
5. Dean paid his Truck off
6. Paid for our wedding in CASH
WE GOT HITCHED!!!!
7. Paid my car off in the first few months of being married! - our last and final debt!

Yes, we will continue to live in our apartment and save for a down payment on our first home together!


Check out Dave's 7 Baby Steps in getting out of debt HERE.  To watch a video - to see how Dave works check out it out HERE.  We are discussing Life. Money. Hope. this month at our church.

"The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender." - Proverbs 22:7

"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."  - Matthew 6:24

11.11.11 {My Mama's Birthday}

November 11, 2011 was my Mother's Birthday!  She has been looking forward to since she was a little girl.  So this year we wanted to make it EXTRA special for her - we showered her with 11 gifts.  She received one each day starting 11-1 and ending 11-11.  We called it the 11 days of birthday! 

The 3 of us kids think the world of our Mother.  She is the kind of woman that brightens a room with her cheerful smile and warm laugh.  She has a positive, bubbly and outgoing personality that everyone loves being around.  Her attitude towards life just rubs off on people - she very rarely has a "bad" day.  I'd like to think of my Mom as a super-woman: going to Janessa's volleyball games, Garrett's middle school football games, and to varsity football games to see me cheer all in the same day.  Plus we'd still get a yummy warm meal afterwards.  I can't wait to be a Mom one day - so I can pass on all the great traits my Mom taught me by example. 

"Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast,
It is not proud. It does not dishonor others,
It is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered,
It keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil
but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts,
always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails."
- Corinthians 13:4-8 (NIV)

This is a very popular bible verse.  One of my favorites.  This is something I strife to be more like and one of the bible verses I can replace Love with My Mother.

My Mother is patient, my Mother is kind.

She does not envy, she does not boast,

She is not proud.  She does not dishonor others,

She is not self-seeking, she is not eaily angered,

She keeps no record of wrongs.

My Mother does not delight in evil

but rejoices with the truth.

She always protects, always trusts,

always hopes, always preseveres.

My Mother never fails.

Here are some pictures that bring me down memory lane!

I LOVE YOU MOM!!!

DIY No-Sew Pillows

Easiest pillows - EVER.  I found this tutorial that required zero sewing and I was in.

4 things you will need:

1. Pillow of your choice

2. Fabric of any sort

3. Measuring tape

4. Scissors

It doesn't really require a measuring tape if you have enough fabric that you can figure out the cuts by simply using your pillow.  Here's an example: My pillow's dimensions were 20x20 so you simply do three times as wide as your pillow, and twice as tall as your pillow.  Using this formula I needed my fabric to be 60w x 40h. So, you can get to these measurements by using a measuring tape, or by spacing your pillow on your fabric.

Steps

1. Lay your pillow on your cut fabric

Yes - Molly jumped into the picture! 

2. Fold the bottom half of the fabric (do the bottom first in order to make sure that the fabric doesn't fall open once tied)

3.  Fold top half over bottom

4. Next fold the ends together, kind of like wrapping a present, or a tootsie roll.  

5. Lay each side over each other. Then to finish, tie the sides into a knot. Then knot again.  END RESULT!

I'm still deciding if I like the fabric I picked.  What do you think?