Friday, January 30, 2009

~ My Husband Rocks! ~ The moment I knew . . .

Good morning and happy Friday, everyone! :)


Click here to read about why I started MHR Fridays!

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Prompt/Theme for Friday, January 30, 2009
. . . the moment or the circumstances that led to you knowing that you were going to marry the man who became your husband . . .

I have posted this entire story here if you'd like to hear the whole thing, but I'll put an excerpt here:

Austin has an amazing sense of adventure, and he is very spontaneous! I remember one evening when we were in college, we were sitting in one of the common areas with Florence, a girl in our class who was from Honduras. We were chatting about our summer plans, and she said, "You should come visit me!" Thinking, I'm sure, that it was a rather remote chance that we would actually take her up on the offer. Austin loved the idea, and immediately went to his dorm room for his laptop computer. He started right away researching plane tickets and planning a way to make this dream trip a reality.

I believe that this was the moment that I knew without a doubt that I would spend the rest of my life with him. You see, I have always been a huge dreamer/planner . . . but they never really left the dreaming stage.

So, when Austin came up with one of these (seemingly) hairbrained ideas, and then made it happen, (Yes, we actually spent 14 days in Honduras the summer after our college graduation!) I was absolutely hooked!

This story is a great lead in to why my hubby rocks this week! In addition to being a supportive, hard-working, loving individual, he has decided that we are going on a fantabulous vacation in the month of March!!! I'm so excited I could bust!!! We don't have all the details nailed down yet, but I can say for sure that it is going to be tropical, and there is definitely a beach involved!!! More details as they become available!

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Just in case you missed the challenges from yesterday:

This week I have three challenges for you. You can pick one, or do all three, or not do any of them. But these are going to be the things that I’m focusing on this week.

The first two kind of go hand in hand.

1. Be patient. As the Love Dare book puts it “Resolve to say nothing negative to your spouse.” Our words have the power to build up or tear down in an instant, and unfortunately the destructive possibility is much easier, and quicker than the re-constructive. Let’s be very careful with the tings we say to our spouses this week (well, always, but we’ll really focus on it this week).

2. Tell your hubby how much you appreciate him. I know that there have been weeks when I have gushed all over him on here, but I’m afraid what he has heard from me has been nagging and negativity. Don’t just tell the world how great your hubby is, be sure that you are building him up to his face, not just behind his back : )

and last, but not least

3. If you haven’t seen the movie Fireproof, or even if you have, have a date night this weekend and rent or buy a copy for yourselves! I cannot express how wonderful this movie is. Everyone who is married, or who may ever be married should see this movie! To hear an interview with the star, Kirk Cameron, click here!

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Be sure to check in with the other ladies who are bragging on their rocking hubbies today by clicking on the "My Husband Rocks Participants" button in the left sidebar.

(if you would like to add the MHR Fridays button to your sidebar, use this code ).


<a href="http://honestandlasting.blogspot.com/2008/06/my-husband-rocks-friday.html"><img src="http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn135/katylinvw/mosaicmhrf.jpg"/></a>


If you're not a blogger, but still want the world to know about your amazing husband (or wife, or husband to be, or wife to be, etc.) leave a shout-out in the form of a comment! If you're unable to comment, e-mail me at katylinvw [at] yahoo [dot] com and I'll add your shout out to this post!

As always, on Fridays From*me Tees will refund your shipping on any order of two or more items if you mention the great adventure and ~my husband rocks! Fridays~ in the "how did you hear about us?" section of your order form, so run on over there and check them out, too! Thank you From*me Tees!

Hope you all have a wonderful Friday, and a fantastic weekend!

Thursday, January 29, 2009

MHR Inspiration #8

I found this quote over at Pam's place (it's in her right hand sidebar), and I just LOVED it! Check it out:

No one falls in love by choice, it is by CHANCE.
No one stays in love by chance, it is by WORK.
And no one falls out of love by chance, it is by CHOICE.
-I CHOOSE LOVE.

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The movie Fireproof came out on DVD this week! For those of you who have not seen the movie, it kind of revolves around a book called The Love Dare. My parents gave us the book for Christmas, and I just started it this week.

The first day focuses on patience, so this week I was very drawn to this article:

The Power of Patience
by Stormie Omartian


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Prompt/Theme for Friday, January 30, 2009

I really enjoy hearing about the things that our spouses are doing on a day to day basis, so please don’t feel like we don’t want to hear about that any more. In fact, I try to include a little tidbit of something that I appreciated about my hubby within the last week (that helps me to focus daily on the positive, rather than just reminiscing about the past).

However, the main prompt for this week is another trip down memory lane. I would like to hear about the moment or the circumstances that led to you knowing that you were going to marry the man who became your husband. Does that make sense. For our story, I can remember a specific event that hit me in such a way that I knew that Austin was The One. But you’ll hear all about that tomorrow. For others, I know it wasn’t anything specific that was said or done, but a series of moments or feelings that brought it into focus.

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Challenges:

This week I have three challenges for you. You can pick one, or do all three, or not do any of them. But these are going to be the things that I’m focusing on this week.

The first two kind of go hand in hand.

1. Be patient. As the Love Dare book puts it “Resolve to say nothing negative to your spouse.” Our words have the power to build up or tear down in an instant, and unfortunately the destructive possibility is much easier, and quicker than the re-constructive. Let’s be very careful with the tings we say to our spouses this week (well, always, but we’ll really focus on it this week).

2. Tell your hubby how much you appreciate him. I know that there have been weeks when I have gushed all over him on here, but I’m afraid what he has heard from me has been nagging and negativity. Don’t just tell the world how great your hubby is, be sure that you are building him up to his face, not just behind his back : )

and last, but not least

3. If you haven’t seen the movie Fireproof, or even if you have, have a date night this weekend and rent or buy a copy for yourselves! I cannot express how wonderful this movie is. Everyone who is married, or who may ever be married should see this movie! To hear an interview with the star, Kirk Cameron, click here!


Hope you have all been having a fantastic week, sorry I've been a little m.i.a. for the last few days! Hopefully be back up to speed for next week!

Saturday, January 24, 2009

100 Things I've Done

I LOVE lists, and when I found this over at Tina's place, and thought I'd play along. Everything that is in BOLD I've done. If you decide to post this, please comment so I can check your list out!

1. Started your own blog.
2. Slept under the stars.
3. Played in a band.
4. Visited Hawaii.
5. Watched a meteor shower.
6. Given more than you can afford to charity.
7. Been to Disneyland.
8. Climbed a mountain.
9. Held a praying mantis.
10. Sang a solo.
11. Bungee jumped.
12. Visited Paris.
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea.
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch.
15. Adopted a child.
16. Had food poisoning.
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty.
18. Grown your own vegetables.
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France.
20. Slept on an overnight train.
21. Had a pillow fight.
22. Hitch hiked.
23. Taken a sick day when you're not sick.
24. Built a snow fort.
25. Held a lamb.
26. Gone skinny dipping.
27. Run a marathon.
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice.
29. Seen a total eclipse.
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset.
31. Hit a home run.
32. Been on a cruise.
33. Seen Niagra Falls in person.
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors.
35. Seen an Amish community.
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to truly be satisfied.
38. Seen the leaning tower of Pisa in person.
39. Gone rock climbing.
40. Seen Michelangelo's David.
41. Sung karaoke.
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt.
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant.
44. Visited Africa.
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight.
46. Been transported in an ambulance.
47. Had your portrait painted.
48. Gone deep sea fishing.
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person.
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling.
52. Kissed in the rain.
53. Played in the mud.
54. Gone to a drive-in theater.
55. Been in a movie.
56. Visited the Great Wall of China.
57. Started a business.
58. Taken a martial arts class.
59. Visited Russia.
60. Served in a soup kitchen.
61. Sold Girl Scout cookies.
62. Gone whale watching.
63. Gotten flowers for no reason.
64. Donated blood, platelets, or plasma.
65. Gone sky diving.
66. Visited a Nazi concentration camp.
67. Bounced a check.
68. Flown in a helicopter.
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy.
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial.
71. Eaten caviar.
72. Pieced a quilt.
73. Stood in Times Square.
74. Toured the Everglades.
75. Been fired from a job.
76. Seen the changing of the guards in London.
77. Broken a bone.
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle.
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person.
80. Published a book.
81. Been to the Vatican.
82. Bought a brand new car.
83. Walked in Jerusalem.
84. Had your picture in the paper.
85. Read the entire Bible.
86. Visited the White House.
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating.
88. Had Chicken pox.
89. Saved someone's life.
90. Sat on a jury.
91. Met someone famous.
92. Joined a book club.
93. Lost a loved one.
94. Had a baby.
95. Seen the Alamo in person.
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake.
97. Been involved in a lawsuit.
98. Owned a cell phone.
99. Been stung by a bee.
100. Read an entire book in one day.

Friday, January 23, 2009

~ My Husband Rocks! ~ Sacrificial Love

Good morning and happy Friday, everyone! :)


Click here to read about why I started MHR Fridays!

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This week's prompt:
Tell us about a time that your spouse went out of his way to serve you, and love you sacrificially.

Thinking about these things can be very good for your marriage, and definitely for the way you view your marriage and your attitude towards your spouse. Especially if you are experiencing a particularly difficult season in your relationship, or if you feel yourself beginning to have a negative outlook on the situation.

That's the point of even doing My Husband Rocks Fridays in the first place. Choosing to focus on the good in our marriages and in the men we will spend the rest of our lives with. God created marriage to be a perfect picture of Christ's love for the church, so why is it so hard? The devil ABSOLUTELY does not want the world to see that beautiful picture, so of course he will do everything in his power to degrade it and to chip away at our resolve to live that out!

Choosing to dwell upon those things that make us fall more and more in love with our husbands, every day, I believe, is one way that we can silence that nasty, nagging voice that tries to bring up all of the petty and selfish and unkind thoughts we are sometimes inclined towards. At least that's the goal.

I hope that this does not become repetative or rote for us, and I hope that this is not something that we just do on Fridays because that's the blog day to do it. Honestly, that is something that I have been struggling with for the last few weeks, but I am so glad for the accountability of knowing that over 100 other women out there in blogland were doing this with me. I had fallen into the "well, it's Friday, I had better come up with something to write about" while the rest of the week, I allowed myself to wallow in my self-pity and selfishness and laziness towards my marriage. I apologize if I have portrayed myself in an untruthful manner, but I wanted you all to know this because I do not ever want to be accused of being false or hypocritical about any of this.

I praise the Lord that he is using this little blog game, and if he is, it is of no credit to me. I do not ever want any of you to think that I think that we have it all together, or that I in any way want to take the glory for whatever good may come out of MHR Fridays! I know the benefits that it is bringing to my marriage, but even more importantly than that, my thought processes and attitudes toward Austin. This may seem very basic, but for this morning I feel like I really "got it." It has never been my job to change Austin, or to even believe that he should change. My job is to love him and respect him and work on allowing God to change me into the very best possible version of myself so that he can use me to bless those around me - especially my husband! Thank you all so much for showing me, every week, women who love the Lord and are striving to be the best possible wives for the husbands he has given them. I cannot tell you how much that means to me!

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Sorry for rambling. That was all something that has been on my heart for awhile now, and I'm not sure that's even everything that I need to say, but I'm sure this post is plenty long already and I haven't even gotten to the my husband rocking part :)

Austin has always been very good at doing what is best for me and for our family. I know that before he makes any decision he carefully and prayerfully considers the ramifications and decides on the best possible course of action. I cannot tell you how comforting and freeing it is to know that he always has our best interests in mind.

Before we were even married, he showed sacrificial love for me by spending the summer in Colorado, living with my grandparents, the year after we graduated from college instead of living at home where he had a sure-thing job, and all of the friends that he had grown up with.

Since we have been married, he has gone out of his way to serve me and to give me so many of the things that I just want - after he has made sure that, by the grace of God, we have everything we need. The most recent example of this is yesterday. Austin went to work for his normal eight to five shift, came home to have supper with me, left to go help a friend move some new furniture into their house, then went back to work to help with a last-minute job. When my alarm went off at five this morning, I called his cell phone, and he had just gotten home! He will go back into work this morning at eight o'clock and work another full day today! Without complaining about it at all, he just got into bed to sleep a couple of hours before hitting it hard again! I appreciate so much that he is willing to work so hard to build a life for us!
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Be sure to check in with the other ladies who are bragging on their rocking hubbies today by clicking on the "My Husband Rocks Participants" button in the left sidebar.

(if you would like to add the MHR Fridays button to your sidebar, use this code ).


<a href="http://honestandlasting.blogspot.com/2008/06/my-husband-rocks-friday.html"><img src="http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn135/katylinvw/mosaicmhrf.jpg"/></a>


If you're not a blogger, but still want the world to know about your amazing husband (or wife, or husband to be, or wife to be, etc.) leave a shout-out in the form of a comment! If you're unable to comment, e-mail me at katylinvw [at] yahoo [dot] com and I'll add your shout out to this post!

As always, on Fridays From*me Tees will refund your shipping on any order of two or more items if you mention the great adventure and ~my husband rocks! Fridays~ in the "how did you hear about us?" section of your order form, so run on over there and check them out, too! Thank you From*me Tees!

Hope you all have a wonderful Friday, and a fantastic weekend!

Thursday, January 22, 2009

MHR Inspiration #7

Hello and happy Thursday everyone! I hope that you have all been having a fabulous week! First of all, for everyone who commented yesterday, thank you for your concern about our stair railing! :) We will be putting a railing up - probably about the time that we get trim around the windows and doors, and it will definitely be there before we have little ones toddling around!

Today is a big day for me, as it will be the first full day of work in my company's new offices! It's pretty exciting!

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This week, I found an article entitled Sacrificial Love

This article is the second in the series that started with Does Your Spouse See Jesus In You? which was the very first article that we read (from this post).

This one really spoke to me about the way that I serve Austin. When we were dating, I looked for ways to help him and make him happy all the time, and he used to have a really hard time letting me do things for him. Well, as we have gotten more used to each other and to living in the same house, I have gotten complacent, and he has gotten more comfortable with asking me to do things (as he should), and, to my shame, I have found myself being mildly annoyed by simple requests that should be so easy for me to do.

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Prompt/Theme for Friday, January 23, 2009

Tell us about a time that your spouse went out of his way to serve you, and love you sacrificially.


I'm also going to include a challenge this week. I don't know that I'm going to do it every week, and you do not have to participate, but this one is really more to keep me accountable.

Your mission, if you choose to accept it, has two parts. First, look for ways that you can serve your husband. These can be big or small, sometimes the things that seem so insignificant to us can make a big difference in making our husbands feel loved and respected. And second, if your husband asks you to do something for him, even if it seems silly, or like he could easily do it for himself, do it cheerfully and without an attitude of annoyance.


Well, that's all for now! Have a teriffic Thursday! I can't wait to read all about our rocking hubbies tomorrow!

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Property Ladder - Living Room, Entryway, Staircase & Upstairs Hallway Reveal!

Property Ladder

The final rooms on the main floor are the living room and the entry way. It may seem that I did this little tour backwards, starting at the back of the house and moving forward, but it is the most logical progression for us, as we always come in the back door, and spend most of our time in the family room. :)

This is what the living room looked like before/during the renovations:

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And today:

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The piano came with the house :)

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Eventually, the pocket door that is leaning against the wall will be installed in its place - it was built into a wall, but all of the hardware and pulleys are still there and working!


The way that the house was laid out when we got it, you could not even access the main floor after you entered the front door. The house had been divided into apartments, and the area where we now have our entryway was jury-rigged into a bathroom! When you walked through the front door, you walked directly into a royal blue wall, and the only way you could go was up the stairs. I cannot for the life of me remember why we failed to take pictures of that monstrosity; however, I do have some "during" pics:

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The wiring was a virtual spiders' nest, as each apartment had one, or more, panel and box!

And after:

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Staircase before:

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And after:

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On the landing, we keep one of my favorite decorations. This beautiful piece was a wedding present from my coworkers, and I set up the inside with one of our wedding invitations, my gloves, and Austin's boutennier. :)


Because the house had been so chopped up, we had to re-work a lot of the upstairs layout. In fact, this is what was sitting in the middle of what is now our hallway:

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After shots:

Looking North:
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Looking South:
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I apologize for the doggy rear in some of these pics, she likes to follow me around :)

Monday, January 19, 2009

Motivate Me Monday ~ Different





Different ~ performed by Mollye Rees and Jamie Slocum

I have had the right
To stand and fight
But it would have still been wrong
I've had the chance to prove
A hurtful truth
I had to let it go and just move on
'Cause there's a gift called grace
That's captured my life
Though the way of the world is power and pride

CHORUS:
I want to be different, Jesus
Just like You
I want to be tender with mercy
Guiding all I do
So when others talk about me
Let it be because
I am different
Let the difference be love

Let me have the kind
Of heart that shines
The light and shows you're real
And where hope is dim
And fear sets in
Will you use me Lord to help and heal
I don't want wealth or fame
To define the life I live
Oh let me be known
For what I give

CHORUS

BRIDGE:
Every day is a chance to serve You
By caring for someone else
I will make the choice to surrender
And not live for myself

CHORUS



The song really says it all for me this week! Hope you all have a motivated Monday, and a wonderful week! :)

Friday, January 16, 2009

~ My Husband Rocks! ~ Dedication & Generous Wife Tip


Click here to read about why I started MHR Fridays!

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~ONE~

List at least one thing your husband did or said in the past week that reminded you why you love him.
This week, Austin and I decided that we are going to train for, participate in, and finish the Des Moines Marathon on October 18th!!! (It's on my 101 things list, and I originally posted about it here.) That decision in and of itself makes me really proud of and impressed by my husband, but the moment(s) this week that really reminded me of why I love him, and why I fell in love with him in the first place, were when we were working out for the first time, and the subsequent conversations we had about training and our eating and exercise habits.

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source


Austin has shown me once again the strength of his character in his determination and dedication. Once he has made up his mind to do something - in this case run the marathon - he is going to do it. He is excited about working out (which makes it a lot easier for me, because it's not really something that I would get excited about if we were not doing it together), he is becoming vigialant about what we eat, and he has decided to cut soda entirely out of his diet. He is pretty cool :)

~TWO~

Share a "Generous Wife Tip"
My tip is to do little things for your husband, little things that he could do for himself, but that he would appreciate having you do for him. Lay out his clothes in the morning. Does he like to have coffee, a bowl of cereal, or a multivitamin for breakfast? Set out a bowl and spoon, pour a glass of juice and get his multivitamin out for him. Set the coffee pot to auto-brew so it's reeey for him when he wakes up, or if you get up first, make the coffee. Make him a cup of hot chocolate to warm him up when he comes in from moving snow. None of these things take a lot of work, just a little bit of forethought.

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Be sure to check in with the other ladies who are bragging on their rocking hubbies today by clicking on the "My Husband Rocks Participants" button in the left sidebar.

(if you would like to add the MHR Fridays button to your sidebar, use this code ).


<a href="http://honestandlasting.blogspot.com/2008/06/my-husband-rocks-friday.html"><img src="http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn135/katylinvw/mosaicmhrf.jpg"/></a>


If you're not a blogger, but still want the world to know about your amazing husband (or wife, or husband to be, or wife to be, etc.) leave a shout-out in the form of a comment! If you're unable to comment, e-mail me at katylinvw [at] yahoo [dot] com and I'll add your shout out to this post!

As always, on Fridays From*me Tees will refund your shipping on any order of two or more items if you mention the great adventure and ~my husband rocks! Fridays~ in the "how did you hear about us?" section of your order form, so run on over there and check them out, too! Thank you From*me Tees!

Thanks for reading, everybody! Have a fantastic weekend!

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Modest Fashionistas!!!

(Scroll down for this week's MHR Prompt)



Due to unresolveable camera difficulties beyond my control, my YDHTBFTBM (You Don't Have To Be Frumpy To Be Modest) Fashion Show pics are nonexistent, but be sure to click on the button above to check out all of the fabulous modest fashions on display! :)

MHR Inspiration #6

Happy Thursday everybody!

Let's jump right in today:

Six No-No's for Relating to Your Man by Robert Lewis with Jeremy Howard

This article really convicted me of some areas that I have much improvement to make. I earnestly desire to be a respectful, helpful, supportive, loving wife, but I fall short in so many areas. Too often I take my bad moods out on the one person who is around all the time, so a convenient target for my nastiness. Why is it so easy be hurtful to the one we're supposed to honor above all others?

The following website has some great ideas and their daily e-mails are encouraging and help me to get my thinking going in the right direction as I relate to my husband:

The Generous Wife (Thanks Chelsea) I found the Respect Tips page particularly helpful.
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Prompt/Theme for Friday, January 16, 2009

This week's prompt has two parts:

First, list at least one thing your husband did or said in the past week that reminded you why you love him. Everyone has to have at least one - even on a "bad week" - it doesn't matter how big or how small! Nothing that touched your heart is insignificant!

And second, share a "Generous Wife Tip" - it can be on any subject - anything that you do or would like to do more often to make your husband feel loved and respected!


Looking forward to reading all your happy moments and tips tomorrow! :)


P.S. ~ I do not have my YDHTBFTBM Fashion Show post done yet, but in the mean time, check it out over at Sarah Mae's - she has a gorgeous new blog design, too! :)

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Generation Renovation - Dining Room & Library Reveal!

Generation Renovation

~ Dining Room ~
~ BEFORE ~

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We decided to turn the previous owner's kitchen into our dining room (since we were moving the kitchen back to be closer to the family room). In this picture, we were in the midst of removing the cabinets:

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~ DURING ~

Then we really opened up both rooms by tearing out the dividing wall:

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~AFTER~

This is now what you see when standing in the dining room, looking where that wall and the furnace, used to be:



We kept the bay window, added hardwood (laminate) flooring where they had had carpet and voila:
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~ Library ~
~ BEFORE ~

The above picture was taken while standing in the library. The library was the former owner's dining room:

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Note the walls the color of aluminum foil:

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~ DURING ~

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~ After ~

This room is going to serve as mainly Austin's office/work space (I have my own office upstairs), and we have not finished configuring the furniture exactly how we are going to have it, but this is the stage we're at now:

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This next picture was taken standing in the window bay looking towards the dining room. As you can see we kept the built-in shelving on both sides (I'm not sure why the walls look so blue in this one, they're really closer to the green in the other two pics):

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And this picture was taken standing in the living room facing the large desk/shelving unit:

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There you have it! We're getting close to wrapping up the main floor! Thanks for joining me on our extended tour!

Monday, January 12, 2009

Motivate Me Monday ~ Hypocrisy



Wow. That's a heavy word. I need to preface this by saying that I am not a great scholar, and I do not claim to have it all together especially in this area. This is just something that God has been working with me on, and when I was working on this post, this was all that filled my mind.

The 5:16 club has been studying the book of 1 John since the beginning of the month, and on our way through chapter 1, these verses stood out to me in a new way:


8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.



My notes on this passage looked like this: (I really like color-coding - I hope this makes sense)

Hypocrisy = ministry killler

Transperancy = forgiveness and help to move in the opposite direction

Hypocrisy hurts our reputation, but more importantly - hurts God's reputation



These may seem like "duh" observations, but I had never looked at this passage in this light.

With that in mind, Pastor Jeff spoke on the parable of the lost sheep yesterday morning, and this verse stood out to me:

7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.


Here, Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees who were notorious for looking down their noses at people and assuming that they had it all together. And I'm gonna take a little latitude here, but I believe that Jesus had a sense of humor, well in this case a sense of irony, so I envision him saying the last part of that statement with a slight little bit of sarcasm, if you will. Jesus, being God, knew:

10 As it is written:
"There is no one righteous, not even one;


So in saying that there would even be those "who do not need to repent." He was being a bit facetious. But I bet that the Pharisees, in their hypocrisy did not even recognize their own need for repentance.

I sincerely and fervently pray that I do not think more highly of myself than I ought, and of the same token I earnestly desire to catch myself when I even begin treading in that direction.

I'm not sure if any of this was even coherent, but . . . this is where I'm at :)

Thanks for reading,

Weekend Warriors - Laundry Room & Downstairs Bathroom Reveal!

Weekend Warriors

The bathroom/laundry room section of the main floor was one of those areas where we looked at what had been there previously, and then did it completely differently, lol! The previous owners had a full bath (sort of) which we shrunk to a half bath. So, we moved the wall over a little bit, and put the laundry room in what had been a tiny, tiny office/hallway - I know, it's hard to understand - I saw it and I still don't understand it!

I have kicked myself over and over for not taking good before pics of this area, so the best I can do is "during" shots:

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Note the lovely jungle green walls complementing the foam-carving rock work - for the feeling of bathing out in the wild.

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Rather than install a pre-made tub, they had constructed the shape of a tub out of plywood and covered it with a thick plastic material to serve as the tub. The thing was solid as a rock, but not exactly water-tight, so the floor underneath it was rotted away.

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The wall on the right with the hole in it is the one we moved slightly to make room for the laundry room. My mother in law (who is partially visible through the hole) is standing it what is now the laundry room.

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Our toilet now sits beneath the window that was above their bathtub/cave.

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Since we opted for a half bath on the main floor, just the pedestal sink, no tub or shower :)

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Smaller bathroom meant we could have laundry on the main floor which is such a HUGE blessing! I love it!

There you have it! Another small slice of our home! Hope you all have a fabulous Monday!