Brave, 24, and Family

Brave

For the last few years I've been attending a ladies Bible study at our church on Wednesday mornings. I can't explain to you how much I've loved those ladies and that time together. Not only do we study the Word and grow together spiritually, but we are "real" with each other. No fluff, no putting on a happy face to look like you've got it all together. We told each other the way it is, how our lives really are, so that we could help each other through anything. Now that we've moved, I'm so sad to not be able to make it to Wednesday morning anymore. Jack's preschool schedule conflicts with it. So what did I do?? I made another one! I called up some girls I know over here and am so excited that they all wanted to do a Bible study too! So we are going to meet every other Wednesday night after work and do this study:

I'm so excited about it because it's just what I described: a study that focuses on the hearts of women. What we're really going through. That we get worn out and lost sometimes, and that we're all in over our heads. I can't wait to start to share with a new group of women!

Okay, so I'm a little behind the times. Jason and I have live streaming Netflix, so we decided we'd start to watch a TV show together on Netflix since it's the end of the summer and nothing is new. I watched a couple episodes of 24 at the end of the series right before it was cancelled, and I liked it, so we decided to go with that one. I CAN'T GET ENOUGH! This show is absolutely awesome! Why was I not watching it from the beginning?? The nice thing about Netflix is that we can watch a couple of episodes in a row if we want to. I have no idea how people waited an entire week before finding out what happened in the next episode? Loving it!

Family

Every morning Benji holds a vigil on the landing of the stairs waiting for Jack to get out of bed. So stinkin adorable....

Pretty much the best family a girl could ask for right here....

Contentment

Like all marriages, we've had our ups and downs, struggles, tragedies, and losses. But I've always been happy in my marriage. I've always loved my husband and have known that we'd whether all of life's storms together. But lately I've been feeling a different type of contentment than ever before. I can only describe it as an inner joy and peace with my family and my life. And I know that I am being blessed with this because I have grown closer to God in the last few years. I've been trying hard to focus on God's will for my (and our) lives, and being in the center of that will. Sometimes it's really hard....hard to discern if it's God's will or my own personal desires that I'm feeling .

I was hoping you all would pray for me. As the kids are getting older, I have the little nagging feeling that someday God is going to want me to do something. Maybe go back to teaching, volunteer, or go back to school. I have a feeling He might want to put me in a situation where I can use what we've been through to help people. Will you please pray that when He does tell me what He wants to do, I'm paying attention enough to listen and hear Him? ;-) Because it's actually listening for the answer that's the tricky part.

Thank you!

Grover, Home Makeover: Update #2, and Friends

Grover

Today our church was visited by a man named Grove "Grover" Norwood. He came to share his story and his ministry with us. Please, please, please click on this link and read his story. There's no way I can sit here and type it. I'd cry again. I've already cried three times today when thinking about him. This man and his family lived through a devastating tragedy, trusted God, and turned it into an amazing ministry. In a lot of ways his tragedy reminded me of our loss. God made miraculous things happen from their grief, as He did by bringing Sarah into our little family. A testament to what God can do with lemons. Cheers to lemonade!

More on Grove Norwood

Home Makeover: Update #2:

As I mentioned in my last post, when we moved into our new house it was pretty much a blank slate. The previous owners maintained it very well, but much of the house is original from what we can tell: paint colors, tile, carpet, light and bathroom fixtures, and ceiling fans (it was built in 2001). As I've been unpacking boxes I've also been slowly but surely making some updates to the house to put our personality into it a little bit.

I started by updating the fireplace screen. Most of the metal in the house (fans, door knobs, light fixtures, etc.) are gold, which isn't quite my taste. Rather than replace the screen (which runs about $250) I updated it with a few coats of heat resistant paint.

Before:

After:

The original cabinet knobs were white porcelin, and I updated with some brushed nickle ones I found on Amazon for 97 cents! (Glad they were so cheap, because the kitchen has 58 knobs.)

Before:

After:

Close-Up:

I forgot to take a before of the downstairs half bath. It had a Broadway-style bar light with exposed bulbs, a chrome and glass vanity shelf, and a hexagonal plate-glass vanity mirror. I updated it with a new light fixture, a framed mirror we already had (just painted it to match), a wall stencil, some artwork, and some new brushed nickle hardware (again from Amazon for less than $30). And of course a new paint job.

I'm really enjoying doing these do-it-yourself projects. It can be pretty frustrating at times, but I get satisfaction out of finishing a job. And it's a heck of a lot cheaper than paying someone to do it!

Friends:

Sarah and Caleb enjoying a snack together:

Jack at Kelly's mom's lake house going down the slide:

Aiden and Sarah rub-a-dub-dubbin:

Sniff sniff, me and my gal pals Val and Tammy, who recently moved to Florida and Mississippi. Miss you girls!

And another sniff sniff: Our church praise team, before 4 of them moved away. Miss them like crazy too. Had such a great time worshiping together with this crew.

Well....

.....we moved! It's been a whirlwind summer (which is why I haven't made a post in eons)! On July 17th we moved into a new house in Friendswood, which is about 40 minutes from our old town (Missouri City). We had several reasons for making the move, but the two biggest ones were to be closer to our family here and to be settled where we want to be before Jack started Kindergarten. We felt like God had his hand it bringing us here, and so far it's been great! We LOVE our new house and new neighborhood, and we love this town. Which is a good thing, because we're not moving again for two decades. And you are probably chuckling at that, but I'm not. I'm serious. Two decades. The earliest I will consider moving again is when I'm nearing the half-century mark and will hopefully have the mid-life crisis Corvette I've wanted since I was 12. Red or black, either t-top or convertible. But don't get me distracted. Obviously if God wants us somewhere else we'll go. But I really, really don't want to move again until my kids (and their junk) are out of this house. The last time we moved I was pregnant with Jack and we were leaving a rental with not too much stuff. This time we had SO MUCH STUFF! It took the better part of a week making trips back and forth to get everything from one house to the other. It's amazing how many things such small people can add to a family's belongings!

This is the only picture I have from moving weekend. It didn't bring out the best in us....let's put it that way. ;-) As I'm sure you can see by this picture. Jack is being a goofball while Jason and Nathan are picking all of our clothes up off of the floor of the trailer....

Here are Jack and Sarah swinging in their new backyard. Man, moving that swingset was quite the endeavor. Thanks to Andrew for your help!!

Jack's new room. The house is pretty much a blank slate. So I'm able to make it completely ours, choosing paint colors and updating fixtures. Jack wanted a dinosaur room that was blue and yellow, so this is what resulted:

The kid's bathroom. Similar to their old one, but now two colors of blue instead of one.

This is one of my favorite spots in the new house. I've never been big on baths, mostly because I have extreme difficulty relaxing. I can always think of something else I should be doing. But as I've gotten older I have realized that relaxing once in a while makes me a better wife and mom. So I made our bath a spot that was both relaxing and romantic (and that's all the information on the romance I'm willing to divulge.)

I got this chandelier from Amazon for $15. It was white and I painted it red to match, and put tea lites in it. So cute!

Hehe and I thought this wine bottle was appropriate decoration for a master bathroom!

Pre-K! Can you beleive Jack is in Pre-K?? Here is the new backpack hook he is super excited about. (Actually, maybe it's me that's excited about the hook. No more backpack on the floor ALL the time.)

First day of school was today. Sarah eating her Cheerios. Can you believe she's big enough for a booster seat already?? And of course Jack's Lightning McQueen mac and cheese cup had to be in the picture.

My big boy in his backpack. What a charmer he'll be someday.

A GREAT DAY!

We had a GREAT day today. Our church has begun participating in a refugee outreach at an apartment complex in Houston. Most of the people that live in this complex are refugees from areas where there is much unrest, mostly in Muslim countries in Africa and the Middle East. We want to show Christ's love to them and build relationships with them so they can hopefully understand the love of Jesus that we hold so close to our hearts.

Today we had what I can only describe as a big playdate with the refugee children. One of our pastors, a few members of our youth, and a few women (and Jack, Sarah, Makenzie, and Maddie) went out together with bubbles, sidewalk chalk, books, and popsicles to build relationships and trust with the people who live in the complex.

Here is a member of our youth helping Jack climb a tree.

Here are the kids eating their popsicles and playing together.

I'm so grateful to have this opportunity to show my children the importance of service and of showing the love of Christ to people in the community! I pray that my children grow up to have a heart for God, and I hope that one day they will be the members of the youth that head out to do these things!

From what I understand, the refugee women have gotten the idea (based on the media, TV, and movies here in the US) that Christian women are not family oriented. (Sheesh, I don't know how they could have gotten that idea from American TV!) We want to do our part to change their perception of Christian mothers! I hope Rachel and I were able to start to do that today. And if not, at least we had fun trying. :-)

In other news, Sarah pulled up for the first time the other day. She is only 7 1/2 months old! Jack was probably 10 months before he started to pull up! But she's got him to keep up with, so I'm sure she's going to learn everything much sooner!

Proud of My Paint

A while back I busted my tail painting most of the interior of our house. I've posted pictures of the kid's rooms and bathroom before, but never the kitchen and living rooms. So I thought I'd give you a peek at how it turned out.

Here is the kitchen, looking into the dining room. I have a red accent wall where the pantry is.

Kitchen looking into the living room.

Living room with another red accent wall that looks out into the backyard.

Living room looking into the master bedroom.

Party Time

I just can't beleive that my little guy is almost 4! Since Makenzie and Jack have birthdays that are 6 weeks apart (June 18 and July 31), we had a joint 4th birthday party for them this year at Blaine and Michele's house. TOO fun!

Here is our cute baby girl before the party started. She is so close to crawling, and she even tries to pull herself up on things occasionally. She is farther along than Jack was at this age, probably because she's trying to keep up with him!

Bounce house! Maddie and Laney jumping away.

Makenzie

Andrew, Kelly, and Aiden came down for the party. They are the best...LOVE them! Thanks for the visit guys!

Andrew, Rachel, and Makenzie

Me with my sweet babies.

Sarah LOVES Jack. It's really quite funny...he is IT as far as she's concerned!

Nicole and "Caweb" (as Jack calls him).

LOL I had to inculde this awesome hair shot! It seems Mama's still just a big kid herself. :)

EVERY time Jack jumps off the diving board he lands on his stomach, no matter what he's trying to do!

Tried to teach him to dive off the side, but it turned into a lesson in flips instead.

Very excited about his presents of course!

I'm thinking we should sell this picture to Domino's. I think she'd make a great model for their next ad campaign. :)

Dads

And for grins, breakfast pictures from today. Happy 4th!