The After, Part 1

Ok, so here is a much anticipated after post of our house that I promised to post here.  Notice I said a post and not the post.  After pictures always seem to feel really overwhelming to me.  It is hard to capture our home in pictures, especially when trying to get the same angles as the before pictures, and especially since I am no gifted photographer.

So anyway, I decided to be content with the fact that my home would never be perfectly clean and put together; there will always be little projects that need finished and updates that I add to our home to do list, and since it takes me a long time to determine how I want to decorate and collect the pieces I want, our walls tend toward the side of bare.  That being said, I decided to post after pictures in phases, because that feels less overwhelming, and because I really want to wait to post pictures of certain rooms, like the baby's room, after we actually have it done (since we have a quickly approaching deadline on that one).  Just a quick tidbit about the upstairs, it was originally green carpet and flimsy ceiling tile/paneling with one room and one not-so-useful half room.  It is now our master bedroom with walk-in closet and bathroom.  For a refresher of what it looked like before, go here.  Another side note, the bathroom is still a work in progress, but within the past few months we have removed the awful sliding glass door (lesson learned, it is not always worth it to settle for free things when it comes to remodeling, even if they are FREE), and purchased a shower curtain that partially hides the horribly outdated biscuit color (again, lesson learned), and within the past few weeks I have painted the walls grey (which I think does wonders in making the coloring more desirable against the biscuit shower) and the vanity and medicine cabinet white (which really modernizes the standard construction-grade vanity we purchased for cheap).  I still need to get some art-work/shelving on the wall, talk my husband into finally finishing the trim and adding drawer pulls and door handles.  The bedroom could use a new, more modern headboard, trim holes filled, trim finished on the stairs (again, gotta talk the hubby into it), a solution to our drafty attic access door, and some artwork on the walls; I have plans for a mini gallery wall.  So anyway, here are some "after" pictures from the upstairs:

Finding Your Purpose as a Mom by Donna Otto

I am not always very good about reading. I enjoy reading (mainly non-fictional books that encourage me in my walk with Jesus), but I'm busy and I have never really cultivated the habit of reading in my free time. My sisters both used to sit and read for hours; if it was a good book they could get lost and finish it in a day or two. I have NEVER done that. As a kid I would have rather been outside.  I tend to be easily distracted when I'm reading, especially by my list of things I feel like I should be doing. Lately it has felt easier to read; I am learning the benefit of resting and encouraging myself. It doesn't seem like it is taking away from what I should be getting done because I realize how much more energized and encouraged I am after reading things that encourage me in discipleship. I started reading a few weeks ago, trying to read 5 minutes a day as I read to do on this blog, and then as I was reading this book (that I'm about to reflect on) I read how the author makes time for a sabbath. For her it's a full day each week; that feels hard to me at this point in our life, but currently I work from home/don't work Fridays. Typically I wake up and get straight to being productive. I usually have an impossibly long list of things to get done so I eat breakfast and make coffee and race through my Bible reading and get going to check off my to do list. So lately I've been allowing myself to sleep in on Friday (which has felt especially necessary since my 30 week pregnant body is not sleeping so well), and I spend time in God's word, and I take the morning slow with coffee and a good breakfast, and I read, and journal and pray, or enjoy a prayerful walk/jog. My goal has been to do nothing off my to do list until noon, and guess what, I'm amazed at how much I can get done Friday afternoons, and I don't feel exhausted by 2 pm either.

So anyway, lately I have been reading (and just finished) a book called "Finding Your Purpose as a Mom" by Donna Otto. It is a really good, practical, encouraging book that I highly recommend. And while the whole book has a lot to offer I want to focus on a couple chapters that really challenged and encouraged me.

On that note here are some thoughts on becoming a woman of peace and busyness which she addresses. She recommends developing a life phrase  that defines what you feel you were made for. I am still working on mine, but hers is:

"To share the joy of my life with others through my enthusiasm, example, teaching, actions, and perseverance."

I would add to my own encouragement and sharing my home and life.

She also encourages women to have 5 principles that reinforce right behavior and shape options. Here are hers:

1. Being a woman of my word

2. Being honest

3. Being neat

4. Respecting and listening to others

5. Being a hard worker

I'm still working on honing in on mine but thoughts I've had are- being prayerful and realistic with my time, choosing God's way over man's way, praying instead of worrying, being organized but willing to go with the flow, being a woman of grace, using my words to encourage and build up.

Finally you should have priorities ( things only you can do). If you are not taking care of these fundamental priorities then you should rethink other involvements. Here are mine:

1. Spending time with God through prayer, Bible reading, and worship

2. Taking care of my body and mind by being active, fueling my body healthily, and protecting myself from what goes in

3. Being a wife to Ryan- encouraging and supporting him the way only I can as his wife

4. Being a mother to my children (well in a couple months anyway)- offering encouragement, nurture, guidance, and correction only a mother can give

5. Managing my household because this is ultimately my responsibility (proverbs 31)

The idea of these three things is that if you know what God has called you to, what kind of woman you want to be, and what your priorities are in order, then you can make decisions and schedule your life accordingly.  

A few ways I am trying to make our home more peaceful and less busy:

- scheduling tasks associated with priorities before scheduling other tasks 

- being prayerful about our schedule and working on cutting things out/saying no (this will be a long work in progress as I am not good at this)

- less social media ( I took Facebook off my phone so I have to work harder to check it)

- less TV- I try to be intentional about not just turning on the tv to veg or because I'm bored

- as I mentioned above, taking a sabbath during the week, which for me is Friday mornings- sleeping in, reading, enjoying my home- the fire, coziness, fresh air, good view out our back window, coffee, etc., being in god's presence, praying, thinking, reflecting, walking/running, journaling

- making more realistic to do lists and not find my worth in what I get done; completing tasks in order of priorities

On Being Busy: "The Joy of Getting Unstuck" by Brandon Smith

I read a really good article today about busyness, which completely speaks to me at this point in my life and was a great reminder of my purpose.  As I posted a couple of weeks ago, life has been busy.  This really helped me gain perspective.  A few take-aways from the article:

"Like you, I’ve got a hundred things going on between family and church and work and all the in between. Let me be the first to say that all of these things are absolute gifts from God. He has been amazingly kind to me and I’m genuinely thankful."

"Remember, though we’re all busy, busyness by itself is neither godly nor sinful. Busyness doesn’t make you a super Christian and it doesn’t make you a wretch. It only reveals sin or temptation bubbling beneath the surface."

 

"Christ has freed me from self-reliance and bound me to his grace. I’m not doing God a favor; he’s giving me a mission. My life, my family, my work — it’s all from him and for him. I can rest in this. And I don’t have to be perfect; I can be obedient to my calling with the expectation that God’s glory will overcome my failures."

"In the end, my struggles had more to do with my outlook than with my busyness. Instead of looking for a closet to hide in, I should’ve been looking to the only one who can give me rest. And when I cried out to him in despair and fatigue, he reminded me that he’s given me responsibilities for a reason. His glory and my good are always his aim. I had forgotten that. He graciously answered my prayer for rest not with affirmation, but with correction. Rest wasn’t release from responsibilities; rest was release from self-gratification. There is great joy in this."

Sometimes I wonder if life will ever slow down.  Sometimes I long for it to slow down, to have a moment of rest; other times I look at the tasks I've been given with joy.  A wise woman once told me that she looks at her schedule as choices she's made, and that keeps her from complaining about being busy.  I think there is a balance for certain, and learning to say no to things is a huge challenge for me, but I want to look at life and all of the busyness that comes with it with the right heart, rather than being overwhelmed and bogged down by all of the good things that fill my calendar and allowing them to start to feel like one more thing on the to-do list, I want to look at them with a heart of gratitude- thankfulness that God has put so many wonderful people in my life, thankful that we have jobs and family, thankful for the home I get to take care of, thankful for the many dinners and lunches and coffees I get to share with people in my community, thankful that God has trusted me to take care of some of His children and has sent people to take care of me.  Not complaining, but thankful.

A Glimpse into Our House (Before)

As I mentioned in a previous post, about four years ago amidst house hunting for the home we would move into after our wedding in August 2010, we came upon a lovely (and by lovely I mean awful, outdated, unlivable, piece of work) house and we thought, "Hey let's make this our home."  Or more accurately, I thought "I cannot live here.  No way could I ever live here!"  and Ryan thought, "This place has potential.  Let's make this place our home."

Somehow, his excitement backed up by cad drawings of a new floor plan, his creativeness and his passion behind making a house our own, convinced me, and we were both in for an adventure.  He purchased the house in late March 2010, and that same weekend, we began destroying it from the inside out.  Down with the walls, down with the ceiling tiles, goodbye ugly carpet on top of ugly tile, good bye ugly paneling, good bye EVERYTHING! We left the studs and the foundation (but even that needed some work in places), and everything else got a makeover.  I could go on and on about our adventures remodeling a house (Ryan and I actually often reflect on the days of remodeling and spending countless hours at what is now our home), but I will spare you and just give you some lovely before pictures for now:

The upstairs before

Upstairs Before

Living Room

Living Room

Living Room

Living Room and Kitchen

Kitchen

Kitchen

Kitchen

Lots of Junk to Get Rid of

Outside Before (March 2010) and After (May 2012)

Floor Plan Before (designed by Ryan)

Floor Plan After (Designed by Ryan)

After pictures to come!

A Trip to St. Louis

To keep with the theme of a busy March, we took another weekend trip- this time to visit my older sister in St. Louis. She made us delicious Joy the Baker waffles.  We took a trolley tour of the city and walked to Bailey's Range for burgers and fries and ice cream. And we finished off the evening with a redbox movie- "Saving Mr. Banks"- which I sadly slept through much of (I tried really hard to keep my weary eyes open) after a breakfast dinner at Uncle Bill's Pancake House.

Sunday morning we feasted on some delicious World Fair Donuts (which judging by the age of the older couple running the store was likely in existence during the St. Louis World Fair in 1904) before heading back to Indiana (you should go try some donuts, but be sure to bring cash and make sure you know what you want when it's your turn to order; being there kind of feels like a certain Seinfeld episode- "No Soup for You"). Britani knows how to treat us right with all of that delicious food.  Burgers and ice cream and waffles, and greasy breakfast food are certainly the way into my husband's heart! It was a quick trip, and Saturday was a bit drearier than hoped for, but a fun visit none-the-less. 

A Blanket for Baby

There are lots of soon to be babies in my life right now. Here is a blanket I made for a friend who is due just 6 days after me with a baby boy. It's fun to think of our little guy growing up in church with all of these great friends. So here is a blanket for someone else's baby boy.  You can check out more crocheted projects of mine here.

So Long Second Trimester

We are in the final stretch! Only one trimester to go! I can hardly even believe how fast it has flown by! I am getting bigger and starting to feel the discomfort a little more but still really enjoying being pregnant and feeling little man kick. Here are a few pictures to catch you up:

28 Weeks

27 Weeks and another new fireplace

26 Weeks and a new fire place 

25 Weeks

21, 22, 23, 24 Weeks

17, 19, 20 Weeks