Teaching My Toddler about Worship

Today I'm linking up with Into The Word Wednesdays with some other sweet ladies. Yesterday my friend Tiffany shared her story for the Now Rejoice series. If you missed it be sure to read it by clicking here. Her story is a testament of the Lord's beautiful gift of grace, mercy, and faithfulness in our lives. I was excited that she shared yesterday because the last week I've had a song that her & her husband wrote on my heart, Hallelujah, from their record. It has been on repeat in our home all week. Take a listen above. You will be blessed!

typical monday mornings in our house

So lately I've been trying to think of ways to teach my two year old about worship. I love that every time he sees a guitar his response is, "mommy we worship now" or that he lines up his little friends to sing them worship songs. It makes me happy that he knows that the moment we enter the sanctuary at church he excitedly runs around saying "worship time". 

However, I want Noah to understand that worship is a lifestyle. It is not a once or twice a week event that we take part in with our church congregation. I've been asking the Lord to show me how express to him that worship is more than a song. That part of worship is loving one another and serving others. I want him to know that worship is an every day way of life that on some days takes more effort than others. Just saying. 

Three easy ways to teach my toddler about worship have been:

one. Serving others through prayer, making a meal, listening, running an errand, and simply caring for others in any way needed. 

two. Everyday chores. As we clean up the house, complete daily tasks, or even make lunch I continually remind him that we can worship while doing this. 

three. Art. Markers, pens, and paints!

Over time I know that he will make the connection more & more. 

If you have been a visitor of my blog for a while or follow me on instagram you know that I love scripture art (usually drawing). I've made it a part of my daily routine of reading the word & spending time with the Lord. I enjoy playing worship music while drawing what the Lord puts on my heart or painting on a canvas. Important, know that I am not a good painter at all, but thats not the point. The point is to spend time with Jesus & worship him. Yesterday I introduced Noah to painting as worship. I'm pretty sure he loved it. 

To paint with your child I recommend Acrylic Paints because they wash right off their hands & usually don't stain clothing. However, use old clothes just to be safe. Acrylic Paints are crazy cheap at Michaels, Hobby Lobby, or Walmart. Grab some .25 cent paint brushes a $5 canvas & just let them go to town. I put the paints in a large throw a way baking dish. It works great! Reuse the same canvas & dish over and over.

If you have never done this, you really must try it. You will probably feel silly at first but know that sometimes to grow spiritually you might have to do things that you've never done before. I say that because over a year ago I was in a rut in my relationship with God. I felt like I wasn't going deep in the word, there was not a hunger for scripture, and I just didn't feel alive in Christ like he intends for us to be. For me, this truly took my relationship with the Lord to a new place. Just give it a try. Happy Wednesday!

~Brit

Happy Friday Y'all! (Instagram Style)

Happy FRIDAY Y'all!! 

Yes, I'm from Texas &"Y'all" is a key word in my vocabulary.

Today is brought to you by Instagram. 

My Kayla inspired headband. I've made several that remind me of her. However I can't pull them off like she can. A girl can try, right?

This week while Noah was at MDO I went to work like a crazy lady making all kinds of headbands, bows, hair clips, tons of jewelry, felt ornament, and coin purses for a market I'm selling at next month. 

Of course watching Friends while getting some work done. 

This week I've continued my hunt for shoes for Noah. He is in between sizes & finding shoes for him is very difficult. I didn't find any. But Noah found a pair that he LOVED! He spotted these tacky oh so cute cars light up snow boots from a mile away. I let him wear them all over the store & even stayed in the store longer so he could enjoy them. Look at that face, he is so proud!

I did not purchase them. Kinda feeling guilty about it.

 If they would have been $5 I might have. Not worth $25.

So the verdict is in, Johnny has pneumonia. My poor guy can't catch a break this month. It has been a hard week on him physically & to cheer himself up I caught him watching our wedding videos. It was so sweet to see him watching these. It was also fun to share them with Noah.

Turkey Wednesday was this week for the youth at our church. Every Thanksgiving Andrew & Angela have a huge party with lots of food for their youth group. Silly me volunteered to make the stuffing. For 70 people!I totally cheated & made half homemade & half from the box!

My kitchen after. It stayed this way until after church. I sent this picture to Angela before church. lol

Last night one of our good friends, Chase, stopped by to see Johnny. He came bringing gifts in the form of COFFEE from Starbucks for both of us! 

After Chase left I enjoyed sitting on the couch reading magazines, drinking yummy coffee, and holding hands with my Noah. Johnny joined us too!

Oh, this is what my morning looks like every day.

This one crawls into our bed at 6:30 am. He's good about letting me sleep a few more hours thought. I'm a blessed momma! Happy Friday Friends!

~Brit

Linking up with

Fellowship Friday & Favorite Friday Things.

A Sunday Social

Today I am guest blogging on Danette's blog, All of My Love for All of My days.

If you are not familiar with her you MUST head over & read her blog. Also follow her on twitter. She is just the sweetest person & if you are looking for a blog to sponsor hers is one of the best. Also, today I thought it would be fun to join in for,  Sunday Social Link-up.

1. What is currently on your wish list?

a kitchen aid & a hutch for our kitchen. something kinda like this.

2. Share a new iphone, droid, ipad app you have recently discovered that we all need.

I just found one called, Over. You can write text over your photos & well that is super fun. 

 Obviously I love Instagram. 

3. What is a new Fall TV show you have added to your DVR?

Um, we love Parenthood & the Voice. 

Other than that I watch Friends all the stinking time. I DVR it & watch the episodes over & over again.

Ha. I have issues.

4. Share your Social Media links for us to follow you on (pinterest, twitter, facebook, etc) Tell us which is your favorite and why.

Facebook - Instagram - Twitter - Pinterest 

5. What is a TV series or Movie or Song you could listen to or watch over and over and over and never get tired of?

Click here to hear the song I have on repeat lately. I love Michael Kiwanuka's voice! I'm also loving this incredible band I just discovered last week called Monsters Calling Home. Check them out!!

Movie? I can watch PS I love you over & over as well as a little movie called, Music from another room.

Linking up with Sunday Social

Happy Sunday!

~Brit

Random Things About Me

One week from today I'll be flying out of DFW & into IND at about 8 pm. This lovely lady will be picking me up from the airport. Jac & Tiffany are letting me crash in their room for the weekend! They are too sweet & such a blessing. I am so excited about going to the Influence Conference & getting to know these two lovely ladies better. 

Today I'm linking up here to share a few things about myself with some of the other ladies attending next week's conference. 

You Should Know:

- Often, I stay up way too late. 

- I am quite spontaneous. 

- Crazy about my man & our little Noah!

- I really enjoying making jewelry & hoop art. Selling them here. 

- Strongly believe in dreaming big & going after them. 

- I have a weird love for the show Felicity & Friends. I watch these series over & over again. Each time I laugh & cry just as much as I did the 1st time I saw them.

- People often think I'm quiet at first. Quickly after getting to know me, they realize they were very wrong.

- I make up really silly songs nearly everyday.

- Love people. 

- I'm pretty silly. 

- My new love, is pumpkin chocolate chip anything.

- Oh, coffee is a MUST! Starbucks is my friend.

Happy Tuesday!

~Brit

Represent: Take 1: My 1st VLOG!

Let me tell you about something amazing that is starting today called, Represent. Sarah, Allison, and Julie are the women behind this incredible opportunity for us to share our faith via vlogging. (Vlogging is blogging but through a video.) Represent is a vlogging series that is a place for us to testify about how we came to know God. 

This is just one of the many reasons that I have fallen in love with this community of women. Some people wonder why I blog or why I invest time into getting to know women who I do not see on a regular basis. This is why. These women love the Lord & they want to make his name known. So how could I not want to get to know these lovely ladies! Come listen to these testimonies & be blessed! 

Things you should know before you watch this video: 
1. It is my 1st vlog. augh! Excuse the extreme awkwardness that is this video (the screen shot says it all huh?)
2. hope the sound isn't off. 
3. it is a wee bit over the allotted 5 mins, by a minute.
4. can't wait to hear everyone's stories of how everyone has come to know Christ. I love this vlog series because it represents how beautiful a relationship with the Lord is. How each of us might worship him differently, go to different churches, or be in different places in our walks with him but ultimately it is all about our relationship with Jesus that matters. 
5. here we go....

RepresentTheseHappyTimes from brit @TheseHappyTimes on Vimeo.

Now that you know, how I came to know the Lord let me just say that if you don't know God or if you feel like you might have a misconception about him or questions about the gospel, please email me or click the tab above "Lets Pray Together" to talk or pray. I would love to hear from you!
~Brit 

p.s. this gets me so excited about Now Rejoice that is right around the corner!!!

A Link-Up Loving My Thrifted Home

Hey Friends! I'm so excited that it is Friday because it means that the Loving My Thrifted Home link-up is back today!  I enjoyed checking out your link-ups from last week & can't wait to see what everyone has to share this week. Last week I shared our DIY Shelves so this week I thought it would be fun to share the DIY Wall Gallery in the same room. This room has been a work in progress for the last two years & I'm loving seeing it come together. Before you get started on your wall gallery print off the pictures in the correct sizes to fit the frames. Grab a few prints to add to your gallery that are meaningful. I purchased a print from the Naptime Diaries Shop when she had a wonderful sale going on, found a few free printables on Pinterest, and then printed family snapshots off for the wall. 

DIY Wall Gallery for $25

Materials: 

Frames $7

Spray paint $4

Printed Pictures & Prints $14

(I used Walgreens photo center to print off my pictures. 

I waited for a 40% off sale on prints & grabbed the FREE print deals on 8x10's)

we hit up a thrift shop & bought all of our frames for $8

we grabbed a hanger & spray painted all the frames at once on the deck.

Noah & Johnny helping me arrange the frames

Snapping a picture as a reference really helps to make the hanging process go very quickly.

Grab a friend (I grabbed my hubby) to help hang all the framesOnce we started hanging them it took under 5 minutes to finish!

Almost done. Take a step back & review the arrangement. 

Make a few changes if you need to.

Thats all! Such an easy project that I regret dragging my feet on for so long. I had convinced myself that it was going to take forever to make a Wall Gallery that I would love. Not true. In all this project took me about 3 hours to search for frames, print off, spray paint, and arrange pictures. Not long at all. So happy we finally put together a collection of sweet memories for our home. I love sitting down on the couch to read & every now and then glancing up to see them. Do you have a wall gallery in your home?

If so, I'd love to see it! Link up your DIY projects, thrifting finds, recipes, and more below from your blog or facebook page. If you would like to co-host next weeks link-up let me know! Be sure to link back to These Happy Times.

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Feel free to grab a button.

Happy Friday!

~Brit

Loving My Thrifted Home - A Link Up

$20 DIY Shelves I shared on Craft Baby for a contest. A few months ago I won a $25 giftcard for a DIY project. 

Today I have a fun link-up to share with everyone. About 60% of our home is thrifted so I thought it would be fun to start a little series called, Loving My Thrifted Home. This is where I will share DIY's, Up-Cycling projects, vintage pieces that we have thrifted, and all kinds of things we are now enjoying in our home thanks to thrifting. I love thrifting because it is such a wonderful way to make your home unique and one that truly reflects the people living inside. 

Gradually, we have filled our home with lovely things that make our hearts happy over the last few years. When we first bought our home the house sat very empty. Like REALLY empty. We had an extremely tight budget so we started thrifting to decorate our home. This quickly turned into a love and I honestly now prefer thrifted & vintage items over new. However, I do 

love mixing old & new together. 

I didn't announce this link up until today, because I just decided to do it last night. HA! I had tossed the idea around in my head but last night I finally decided to do it. 

I would love for you to link up projects that you have repurposed, redone, and DIY'd to make them your own. Also I would really enjoy checking out all kinds of lovely thrifted finds that you have found & shared on your blog or Facebook page. If you are interested in co-hosting this link up let me know, I would love to have you! Email me at bzwillard@me.com

For this weeks Loving My Thrifted Home Project

I want to share our Barn wood Shelves in our sitting room.

Back in December we made two shelves out of barn wood we had left over from another project. Johnny cut the wood in the length desired, we sanded them both down a little but not enough to take away character, and then cleaned them ALOT because they were really dirty. We found these brackets at Lowes for $5 each & flipped them upside down to be wide enough for our wide shelves. Target had a coat rack that I loved & bought then TJ Max had clearance frames & owls that I loved. The rest of the decor was thrifted & I made the wreath to brighten up the shelves. The whole project, including decor cost about $50. Not too bad friends. 

The rest of the room. We still have lots of work to do in here but everything good is worth waiting for. In time.Plus $ doesn't grow on trees & we won't go in debt for it.

We love our little reading room. It has been such a blessing to sit in here with friends. As a family we love to listen to music from the record player (thrifted) in the room, play guitars, and sing. Mostly, I love to read in here!
I hope you will enjoy this series & would love for you to plan to link up on Fridays! Share home decor, furniture projects (little or big), or any lovely thrift store find! It doesn't have to be a recent post so feel free to link up one from a while back. Make sure to comment or email to let me know if you are interested in co-hosting Loving My Thrifted Home.
Happy Friday!
~Brit

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Link Up below & grab a button for 
Loving My Thrifted Home for your blog post or sidebar.

Oh the Lovelies, (Thanks Pinterest)

If you follow me on Pinterest you might have been noticing all of the lovely pins lately. If you have been to our home you know that we have a bit of a cottage feel going on. We love older pieces of furniture that we have redone & repurposed, barn wood used for headboards & shelving units, we love whites & soft pastels but with some pop of teal here & there. It really makes us happy. So lately, I've been getting inspired via pinterest to tackle the guest room/future nursery (no I'm not pregnant) our back porch, and we need ideas for our den that is a little too dark for me. Also, there are a few extra lovely things I've pinned.

Enjoy them with me ..... 

Okay, so if you know me pretty well you know that I've developed a slight obsession with campers. pretty, sweet, lovely little campers. Such as this one one above. I want to open a little shop in a camper such as this one above. to sell baked goods, yummy food, jewelry, hoops, and journals. 

I am in love with this piece of furniture above & the one below. I would love either of these for the awkward little space in our kitchen or for guest room. They would both be perfect. The colors & everything they are filled with. 

simply in love with all the goodness that is this hutch. 
Would be incredible to have everything it is filled with.

Oh this piano is just perfect for our sitting/music room. It really would go perfectly under our DIY shelves. Our sitting room has a vintage record player console, bongos, guitars, and a trombone. Pretty sure a piano would make it come together nicely. Love this one. The colors, plates, & seat, perfect. We have been looking for a a piano for the last few months, but don't have much of a budget to spend on one so the hunt is still on! I'm really wanting to start playing again. 

Don't you just want to sit here & read for an hour or so? 

I do. 

I would say this is probably my dream location to relax, read, pray, journal, have coffee, and enjoy the day! 

(couldn't locate orignal source for this picture)

I love floating around on Pinterest 

& looking at all the lovely things. 

A lot of my pins were found via my cousin Krystal's Pinterest Boards here. She also blogs here & here.

This was a fun post for me. 

 Hope you enjoyed all the lovely things here.

~Brit

Dear Friends in Real Life & this Community

If you & I have been real life friends for a few years you would have probably noticed that something is different about me lately. As we talk you would probably realize this deeper love for life and everything the Lord has for us, surface in our conversations. In sitting over coffee, while we talk about the gospel, I would hope you hear the desperation in my words in the hopes that other women fall in love with God's word, like I have. If we have been real life friends for some time I am positive that you may be a little tired of hearing about how excited I am for the Lords heart pouring into mine and feeling like I can't get enough. If we are real life friends, we have probably rejoiced over everything God has done in our lives over the years & the way the Holy Spirit is moving within us lately. If we are real life friends, lately the Holy Spirit has been encouraging us to go deeper into the things the Lord has for us. If we are real life friends, I am so grateful for you. There are no words.

I say all of this to say. I am so grateful for such sweet wonderful friends in my life. Best friends. God given friends. Friends that I know God placed in my life at just the right time. Also, I am so thankful for my blogging friends. I am grateful that if I'm having a bad day I can pick up my phone to text you, go read your blog, or see your instagram for a good laugh or smile. I'm glad that we can call and pray for one another.  I'm grateful for skyping dates with you lovely ladies & truly enjoy the community that I've been warmly welcomed into. My heart is fuller because of it. 

Scripture that has been rocking my world & challenging me to build community even more and has grown a love for others in my life is 
2 Corinthians 6:10-13 (the message)

"I can't tell you how much I long for you to enter this wide-open, spacious life. We didn't fence you in. The smallness you feel comes from within you. Your lives aren't small, but you're living them in a small way. I'm speaking as plainly as I can and with great affection. Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively!" 

Today, I want to share with you that God's heart is for us is to know him, love him, to become friends with one another, and to encourage each other through community. I am so thankful to belong to both a real life community of believers & a blogging community of women who love the Lord so passionately & strive to live out their lives for him. It is a joy several times a week I can get together with a good friend to have coffee at Starbucks or in our homes.

God desires us to get out of ourselves, our thoughts, daily routines & to expand and build friendships with others. This is how we can start living larger lives. We are the ones making our lives feel empty. We are the reason we are not growing in Christ. We are the reason we don't have community.

If you do not have a community of friends, what are you waiting for? If you are someone who doesn't make friends easily, ask God to give you the words to say in conversation. Ask for boldness to make friends. Pray for an understanding heart. If you live near me, come to Java after Jammies every Monday night, get involved with a local Bible Study, or ask your neighbor to come over for coffee. Start praying for devine friendships, ones that only he can provide. Trust me. With each one of my best real life friends, I have prayed for them. 

My heart is that women begin to make community with one another. True friendships filled with laughter, crying, hoping, dreaming, smiling, accountability, praying, worship, and relying on one another as we serve God. Community is something I have such a passion for these days because I know how vital it is in my relationship with God. I hope this encourages you to step outside of your comfort zone & to make real friendships.

Happy Wednesday. Today I am excited to link up with 

Into the Word Wednesdays &

 As always, I would love to hear your thoughts.

~Brit

Giveaway this Friday

 Today my sweet friend Laura from A Day in the Life asked me to come say hello on her lovely blog. Go say hello over there & be sure to enter a little giveaway for this pair of earrings. Also there is a coupon code on Laura's blog today to use to get 25% off your on anything in

The Happy Times Shop.

So this week has been such a long week, oh my. Overall it was not very productive until on Thursday when I got the creative itch while my tooth was hurting & I couldn't sleep. I made several new pieces of jewelry that are now in the shop! Be sure to check all the new pieces out. Here are highlights of a few of my new favorites. 

Hope everyone has a great Friday! My week is about to get so much better my mom, sister, niece & nephew our on their way to our house. Pretty excited! Haven't spent time with any of them in so long. Plus, I could use some cheering up from such a blah week.

~Brit