Saturday, April 14, 2012

More house...

So I have finally gotten around to taking pictures of the remaining rooms to share with you...along with a few fun finds that we have snagged.  Gosh, who knew setting up house could be so much fun!  Especially when you love old things most consider junk (it would stink if my taste had higher price tags)!
First off, I removed the cabinet doors in front of my sink and had a cute little linen curtain made on etsy.  Love the way it turned out.  The cabinet doors will probably go back on as soon as Brooks is mobile until he can understand not to get in there!

Spring mantle with fun new vintage windows.  LOVE the blue paint on the tall one.  I also made rag garland out of fun spring fabric but this was an earlier pic and I am too lazy to download a new one!

The large 28 is from an old printing press.  This is one of my favorite things ever.  It is Bo's birthday and I just love the age of it.  I am still on the lookout for a 7 and 8 for Abby Kate and Brooks' birthdays.  And the washboards were purchases we made recently too that I love.

Adore this lamp I found at Hobby Lobby a few weeks ago.  I am super struggling with styling this buffet.  My BFF interior designer may be coming by this weekend and I am going to have to pick her brain!  I want fun and unusual and of course vintage but have NO vision.  It is one of the only things left in the house to decorate!

Not sure if I had a good pic of these in the first house post but found these antique shutters on a trip to the lake last summer and though I had NO clue where I would put them, I LOVED the color, age, etc...and am SO SO glad I purchased them.  They are truly one of my favorite things in our home!

Abby Kate's room.




I know the lighting is terrible in this one.  Just so you can see the shape and she LOVES the chandy in her dormer!  I am about to repaint the pale pink chairs around her little table.  The table and 2 of the chairs were mine when I was a little girl.  



This is the play area at the top of the stairs outside of the kids bedrooms.  It was supposed to be a narrow hallway and am so thankful and the backside was supposed to overlook the living room.  We are SO SO glad we floored this.  It makes an EXCELLENT play space.  We spend hours up here.  


Kids bath

Mirrors are from Wisteria, cheap galvanized outdoor lights from Home Depot, rug is from Urban Outfitters and shower curtain from West Elm.


This dormer was also supposed to not be finished but I am so glad we went ahead and floored it too.  This ledge with hooks we had in our entry over an old church pew in our old house and I love that it fits perfectly here. I love the space it gives and we use the changing table every night after baths!


Bo's room.  This room is about to get a huge makeover once Brooks moves in!  I have so many ideas and am excited to see it finished!  Think vintage in every way!


Again horrible lighting!  Sorry!

LOVE this ceiling fan in their room!

School area.  Wanting to do something fun on this window some day.

Finally have rocking chairs on the porch!  My sweet parents and brother and SIL got them for us for our birthdays!  AMAZING gift!

Bobby made/hung this tire swing and it is now my kids 2nd favorite place in the world (first being our trampoline!)

We FINALLY finished the chicken wire for our upper cabinets.  Though it isn't a super dramatic change, I LOVE that it is finished and love the final result.  SO glad when things turn out how you imagine in your head!

And another fav, finally ordered these canvases of my babies from Mpix during one of their sales and ordered the subway art canvas from RedLetter Words that I have wanted for ages.  LOVE this as well.  LOVE seeing my babies in the one place in the house I spend the majority of my time!
My next project is our bedroom.  We have matching furniture that is about to get a huge makeover with Annie Sloan chalk paint (in different colors) and new hardware.  I would love to sell our headboard and footboard and get an iron bed (eyeing the coleman bed from Pottery Barn but would have to sell our bed for around that price).   A few new vintage finds for the walls and new/old quilt for the bed and should be finished!
Thanks for looking friends.  I would still LOVE for you to come visit any time!

Wednesday, April 04, 2012

Adoption...

For years, adoption has been weighty in my heart.  I had always thought in the back of my mind how much I would love to adopt.  And after struggling for two long years with secondary infertility, I began to truly explore what adoption would look like for our family.  We joined an adoption community group at our church full of precious couples that had or were praying about adopting.  We were deeply blessed to be part of a church at that time in our lives that was PASSIONATE about adoption.  It was the norm for families to be completed through adoption and the faces part of different families often did not match, but were deeply, poignantly beautiful.  Our pastor launched a series about adoption right at Easter 3 years ago, deeply challenging and exciting our hearts.  One of the many things that stood out to me was him teaching the verse, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world" James 1:27.  Somehow, smack in the middle of my favorite book of the Bible, a verse sat that I had never unpacked, studied or mediated upon.  I heard it and sat slack-jawed and humbled.  It resonated with me moment by moment, week by week for years.  Actually still does.  How had I missed this?  
Now, here we sit, two kids post the fertility struggle and most assuredly finished in terms of bearing biological children.  However my heart still begs the question, what does He want me to do with this verse?  What does it mean for OUR family?  Our pastor here has been teaching on adoption the past several weeks and it has revived a passion, and excitement in my heart for the fatherless.  I have had many situations hit me in the face lately regarding families neglecting and/or abusing their children in horrific ways.  And our foster care is in crisis.  These precious children that are suffering at the hands of the ones they are supposed to be able to trust above any other are now sleeping on cots in office conference rooms.  My heart just aches and I beg God to show me what He wants us to do.  I, like so many other parents, fear bringing wounds that some of these children bear into our home and exposing my children to horror children should not know.  Any child.  However, if we are called to be the hands and feet of Christ, He was NOTHING, if not messy.  I read this post on the blog, Foster Hope Project and it has haunted me since...
"I wonder why, in a country of thousands of churches, of millions of homes with a spare bedroom and an extra car seat, why foster kids sleep on an air mattress in a county office.  Why people who label themselves as Christians don’t see the face of Christ himself  in the laughter and the tears of these children.  Who will YOU see?  And what will YOU do about it?"
And truly, my apathy is sickening.  Why is it my heart is stirred time and time again and I do nothing?  Why is it that I can make a thousand lame excuses and sit on the sidelines?  I am so, so tired of doing nothing.  Here I am, a mostly stay-at-home Mom.  I homeschool.  I teach a couple of classes.  But mostly, I am home with my babies.  Can I minister to the masses at this stage in my life?  Sure.  But would it be in the best interest of my kids?  Absolutely not.  I believe so very passionately, there is NO WHERE, I mean NO WHERE else I am called to be right now.  I know my children are my single greatest ministry.  Their discipleship and coming to Christ means more than anything else.  Period.  But I also ask, how hard would it be to add another to the mix?  I don't work full-time.  I don't have a million commitments or activities due to my commitment AT home right now.  So what is my excuse?
About 3 weeks ago, I was putting Abby Kate to bed and we had already read, prayed and talked a while.  Then she said something that caused me to suck in my breath and for my body to instantly be covered in cold chills...
"Momma, do you know I am going to have a sister someday?"
Me:  "No baby.  We are finished.  God gave you two precious brothers who adore you!"
AK:  "No Momma.  I am going to have a sister you all will adopt!  And I will bring her home and show her our trampoline, and our room, and our toys!  (now she is crying) She is going to love it SO much Momma!"
Me: (crying too)  "Why are you crying?"
AK:  "They are happy tears Momma."
And then I was struck in the stomach again.  Breathless.  Questioning.  And now intensely praying.  I was told Monday by a sweet student of mine of her grandchildren she took custody of over the weekend.  She picked them up after their Momma left them.  Their Daddy tried to kill himself and was in the hospital.  And she picked them up and they had no diapers,  clothes, blankets, burp rags and...formula.  The 5 month old had no formula...and when she asked what she had fed him, the Mom said, "Just put some kool-aid in a bottle.  He will be fine."  And I just wept.  So many children suffering.  Hungry.  Wet.  Untouched.  Unloved.  Neglected.  
I am tired of doing nothing...