Recently I added the cutest sign to my kids bathroom. This is really the bathroom that anyone uses when they come over to my house. I wish I had a kids only bathroom. That would be dreamy, maybe in the next house. Anyhow, in the bathroom there's this huge bare wall that has needed something hanging on it. It's where we put the kids towels, and I love the way we have those hanging, but we needed something to go above that and this sign was the perfect piece.
Hayley from SIGNS FROM SCRAPS makes these awesome signs from left over wood. Her husband builds furniture and then she uses the scraps. How awesome is that! They sound like one resourceful couple to me!
How cute are they with their precious little girl, Emma. Hayley & her hubby live in Kansas City but used to live in Austin and go to the Stone. She emailed me a while back and before I knew it I had this awesome sign for my bathroom. She recently made a sign that said “the struggle is part of our story” for a couple here in Austin that lost a baby. I love that saying, because it is so true. Our stories include our victories and our struggles. They both make us who we are.
Hayley wants to give away a sign to one of you guys that says “the struggle is part of our story”! I'm so excited to give this sign away because I know a lot of you have struggled a lot in your days. You are tired of struggling and ready to be thru with it. Well today I want you to know that this struggle is making you who you are. Let God teach you thru it!
Entering is going to be super easy! For each action you do, you will get an entry! You can like SIGNS FROM SCRAPS on Facebook. You can check out her ETSY shop and find something you love and tell me where you would put it! You can leave me a comment and tell me your struggle that you've been through. The form below is super easy to fill out and keeps track of all your entries! Good luck! Contest ends Thursday and winner will be announced on Friday!
I have a big empty space on a wall in my living room that could totally use one of these. They’re so cute. Thanks for the great giveaway!
“The Struggle is Part of Our Story” would be great for our house. My 2nd oldest, Seth, has health issues that are so hard for him, and as a parent so hard to watch your child go through. Watching your child suffer is one of the worst things experience. We pray that one day his struggles will impact the world for the kingdom of God.
Hayley and her husband sound like a great team. ‘The Struggle is Part of Our Story’ definitely describes the last 3 1/2 years of our family’s life. Our 2 1/2 year old daughter died in her sleep on December 26, 2009–still don’t know why. It was classified as SUDC–Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood. It has been devastating for all, especially our oldest daughter, who was 14 at the time. She started making some really unhealthy choices. My husband and I struggle every day to understand why God’s plan means our daughter is no longer with us.
Oh Katherine, I am so sorry for your loss. I can’t even begin to imagine this road you have been on. Thinking of you all day today!
Heather you are right. Watching a child struggle is so hard as the parent. You wish you could take it all on for them!
I have several blank walls in my house, but my hallway would be the perfect place for this sign!
This saying is so true. Several years ago we had many miscarriages and through that really hard time in our lives, the Lord led us to adoption. We have 1 biological son and 3 sons adopted from China. Our current struggles are the major surgeries that two of our boys had this summer. It was hard to see them in pain and they are still healing which means no swimming, bike riding, etc. One of our boys has to have another major surgery at the end of the summer too.
The struggle is part of our story – adoption and hard times – god is making it beautiful
I would put it in our kitchen – right smack dab in the middle of our wall 🙂
I love these signs but more importantly, we just adore Bagley, Emma, and Sam. Our family has been through a tremendous amount of loss this past year including the death of my dad and our fourth miscarriage. We are pushing forward, but can always use reminders that the struggle is making us stronger for His kingdom.
We are in the midst of a struggle but see God working in so many ways!
Our twin daughters were born at 30 weeks and we have been splitting time at the NICU with them and home with our 2 year old daughter. Although the birth of my girls is not what we planned or desired for them, God is moving and healing and caring for them and for us. The struggle is tough but teaching us so much!
My boys bathroom needs some loving, or the wall just inside our front door. They’re so cute I can’t make up my mind!!
Seriously…cannot choose just one! My kitchen, master bath, and family wall in the living room all need a sign. Pick me, pick me, pick me! 🙂
In the last 90 days, my husband filed for divorce and kicked me out me out of our house and now i have lost my job. I am learning that every single day is a gift and I have a choice to be grateful for what He has given me. I being continually reminded of his faithfulnesses, especially in light of human failings.
A few struggles come to mind. One is our daily life here in Haiti. It’s funny that I’m even taking the time to do this because I’m still trying to figure out how I’m gonna get that sign here to hang it on my wall. ;-). However I have plenty of open spaces for it and most likely it will hang right above our couch in the living room or over my itty bitty desk in the living room so I see it and read it and let it soak into my marrow every day. Living here in montrouis is a struggle but the bigger struggle is what got us here. What made us fall in love with this country. Our baby girl Ashley, in our hearts alone and not in our home, was only part of what solidified our calling here, but in a weird turn of events, also could have been the very thing that kept us from Gods call here. Luckily, we heard The Lord louder than the weeping of our hearts and we moved here to love on the country of and orphans as a whole in Haiti. Our story and our struggle have yet to be finished and we daily remember that His purposes are higher and his ways are incredibly greater no matter how much time has passed or how far away our lives have taken a turn from the little girl we were sure we were called to love. We cannot go ahead of God. So, is say our struggle is wrapped up in investing in His plan for today and right now with the ministry he called us to and let Him orchestrate the behind the scenes that we’d destroy if we attempted to navigate them anyhow…thankful for your blog, your experiences, and your transparency. 😉
I could say that almost every wall is still in need of a sign! We moved in over a year ago and we are still figuring out how to decorate our home. This sign would be perfect for us as a reminder that our struggle to grow our family is forming into a beautiful story for us to point others to Jesus. Our never ending adoption wait has taught me so much about relying on the strength, love, sovereignty, grace, and peace of God. I’m still learning so much and some days I feel like I’ve learned nothing, but God is moving and working.
how to pick from her shop?? so many amazing ones! but i would pick the mumford one for my girls’ room. i want words of truth to be around them to deflect all the lies they hear and see in the world around them.
and, oh, how i would love this sign – the struggle is part of our story. we adopted 2 little boys 2 years ago. one of them has been so hard and i struggle so much with loving (and even liking) him. i know God is in it and redeeming it and working every day. but it’s hard and a struggle and i want it to be behind us! in my most “faithful” moments, i trust that the story will be so very beautiful one day. but right now it doesn’t feel beautiful…it feels pretty ugly.
Wow!! These struggles I’ve read are heart-breaking!! We are in month 10 of our Ethiopian 4yr old boy being added to our family of 5. BUT, I want this for my sister. She is my biggest supporter and her husband lost his job last September. It was a terrible situation how things went down. In the midst of this past year he has had kidney stones, a tractor flip on him, and surgeries. It has been extremely tough on their marriage. out of 4 children, two are in college. Her only daughter (who is amazing), was born with a huge leg discrepancy, has undergone surgeries, rods, body casts, infections and so on, since she was 2. That being said, I’ve watched my sister with grace, handle it all and lean on her Heavenly Father. My sister turns 50 on July 21st!! We are trying to do a bedroom & closet makeover for her (her friends and I), and this would be amazing!!!
Currently, God is helping me with patience. We’ve been licensed to adopt through CPS for months now and I’ve been really struggling with patience.
Ooooo, I would love the Lumineers sign in the hallway near my kids bedrooms. I love the shop and Hayley and her husband’s resourcefulness.
Facing burn out from ministry and some big health issues, I’ve learned so much through the struggle in my story over the last couple of years. Reading through all the other comments on the heartache and struggle people face reminds me to love and pray. Life can be so hard. Proverbs 17:22
We adopted our youngest at the end of March and the story of how she came to us is full of struggles, but it’s our story and I’m so glad it ended with her joining our family. I would put that art on the wall in our bedroom. Thanks for the chance to win it!
Our story is full of struggle, but also with blessing. We adopted 4 kids about 8?years ago. I cannot communicate the challenge that has been for us. I went threw a time of depression and mourning the loss of the perfect little life I thought I would have. I so desperately wanted to escape the chaos, and I did through an affair with a pastor no less. We are years from that now and through much counseling, God’s healing and overwhelming forgiveness, we are constantly experiencing restoration. I am now sharing my story with other women and sharing my story through singing and songwriting. God is using my struggle to share His story with others. Wow. God is good.
The wall in my entry way to my house really needs something! I would love to add this to that wall!! This beautiful sign would be prefect!
It would also be perfect because our family has been through it’s share of ups and downs now for a long time. When you have been married to your highschool sweetie for nearly 23 years you start to see marriages unravel of your friends. So thankful that we have had our Heavenly Father to lean on and get us through our struggles and the ones yet to come. Lately, Rom 8:28 has been coming up a lot for me and the people around me are going through so much. But someone at my Bible study I go to on Wednesday nights said something great that applied to this verse, and this sign goes along with that. She said that Rom 8:28 talks about “ALL THINGS”, that means the good and the bad!! And went on to give a good illustration of this. When you make a cake it tastes fantastic! But if you ate some of a cakes ingredients on its own, they would taste horrible, and some would taste ok on their own…but when they all get put in the mixing bowl and mixed up the outcome is delicious. So, we all left thinking about throwing all of the good and bad into the bowl! It all becomes part of our story!!
I already mentioned the verse in my comment above. But didn’t go into details. There is a very special little girl that God has brought into our lives when she was only 3 wks old. He has allowed us to provide for her and be her source of love and comfort. We have been her foster parents too! But almost a year ago now, she back to live with us in what we thought was only going to be temporary. Next week will be a whole year that this temporary situation started…lol! So now…after miss understandings, confusion, tension and stress we are finally starting the process to become her legal guardians! We still don’t know where the money to pay the lawyer we are using is going to come from, but PTL she hasn’t asked us for one cent yet! Hoping this process goes fast because this wee one hasn’t had any medical insurance since the beginning of this year, and because we didn’t have any legal say so in her life we couldn’t do anything about it. So, praying God continues to protect her and her family. Because they’re all struggling right now!
We lost a pregnancy at 20 weeks and have struggled to conceive ever since. This piece totally speaks to me!
love these signs! I have a new house with nothing on the walls which makes it so hard to pick what I would get!
It has been a struggle living so far away from family the past few months but duty calls! It’s all part of being a military wife. We are enjoying the adventure of living here in Germany but there are days when you just need to be with your oldest friends. I’m learning that there is a time for everything and this is all a part of growing up and leaning on God when life is hard.
Our living room walls are blank right now and this sign would be perfect!
Too cute! Since we are rearranging to accomodate both my brothers living here now, I’ve been thinking how we need less stuff on the floor, but more stuff on the walls. I’d love this in our living room.
As for my struggle, I’ve been having to trust God a lot with leaving the family for our trip to London. It’s made me really weepy this week. But, I know it’s for His will and that He will provide and prove Himself faithful yet again.
I’m moving in two weeks – so all my walls will need something! But I think for this, it would go in our entryway hall.
Getting healthy, spiritually, mentally, and physically is a struggle that my family is going through. We have struggled for years to find a church to call home and about two months ago, we found a church that we think is a good fit for our family. God put some wonderful people in front of us and lead us in the right direction. Each day, as we are working on our spiritual journey, I feel that God is in control and leading the way. I feel thankful and blessed and have faith that he will lead us to our highest good.
This whole summer has been a struggle with me trying to figure out why my kids are acting bonkers. But, I think I’ve finally got it figured out… now that summer is almost over :).
What great signs!!!!
What great signs!!!! God is teaching me contentment with things I can’t change right now. Either because of not needing to spend money or because I just can’t change some things!!!!
My craft room/spare bedroom needs a sign.
Our infertility, road to adoption, adoption loss, and now two almost finalized adoptions (2nd one finalizes on Aug 19!) are a part of our struggle. Thankfully we are moving forward and the hardest part is behind us at this point. I’m sure there will be more struggles to come, but we are hoping the pain we have been through can help us minister to others. Glory to God, He sustained us through it all.
“If we ourselves had no faults, we would find less pleasure discovering them in others”
My email is down right now. Facebook is the way to contact me.
Great sayings, great dreams, positive inspiration.
Don’t care if Noah’s wins, but would love to purchase one for our Welcome Center. The animals here have gone through a lot, healed and waiting for new loving homes.