"Happy face, silly face, and mad face" compliments of our very own supernanny :)
We love you, Talor!!
Mr. Wonderful & Addie running around our "wall island" to yell "rawwr" & scare AvieLu.
His face is hilarious. Her squeal was priceless.
Couldn't help but notice the drastic difference between mommy play and daddy play.
Mommy lays on the couch and sings songs and makes silly faces.
Daddy throws them over his shoulder and runs around the house yelling like a crazy person.
Silly Sisters...taking after their daddy
Greatest Daddy Ever!!
(at least in our chaotic world!)
Perfect opportunity to show off the girls' opposite personalities.
Addie - dancing and singing
Avie - smacking daddy on the head
The following pictures document our renovation chaos. By the way, if you aren't a fan of child labor, view at your own risk ;)
Oh, and don't judge us. We know we are nuts.
Entering the house from the driveway, the doorway in this pic leads to the kitchen and is doorway we are closing up.
The girls helped with the demo. And let me assure you that although they did help tear things up, they did not help things move any faster!
This pic is the view from the corner of the dining room beside the french doors that lead to the back yard.
Please ignore all the junk piled up on the dining room table...I was still in the process of re-loading the laundry room.
The laundry room doors are open and the doorway to the far left leads into the family room.
This is the view from the kitchen. The doorway to the left side is being closed. The doorway to the right leads into the family room then into the dining room. This is what we call our "wall island" The girls always ride their bikes around in circles here and love to play hide & seek around it.
Progress!
Not sure if I should call this pic progress or regress.
Just as we got the drywall hung and slapped some mud on it...Mr. Wonderful decided it was time for more demo.
And after several days of having to work late and not getting to touch the room...this is what it still looks like today.
Powder footprints down the hallway are getting on my nerves, but it will be so worth it when we are finished! I seriously hope we get to work on it this weekend. Any volunteers for keeping my rugrats...I mean little angels?!
If you know us or read this blog regularly, then you probably already know that Mr. Wonderful and I are bit obsessed with renovating and updating our house. I told you before that we live in a match box...that means that we must make the most of every bit of space we actually do have! Currently, our matchbox is covered in sheet rock dust and everything is out of place. And, unfortunately, it seems that it may take a while before things are better. Let me explain.
After a great church service/children's church service on Sunday, we had an even better lunch with the family, and followed that with a really nice nap :) We got up and Mr. Wonderful mentioned cutting the grass. Ugh. I couldn't even think about it. It's just too hot. Instead, I started unloading the laundry room. Why? I just wanted to see if we had enough space to move the washer and dryer to the other side of the room. I know it doesn't really make sense in theory, but whatever. I did it anyway because Mr. Wonderful didn't tell me not to. After dragging every single thing out of the laundry room, not only was our dining room full of junk...but we discovered that moving the washer and dryer just wasn't an option...for now. Mr. Wonderful was concerned that I may be upset that my laundry room makeover wouldn't be happening. Imagine his delight when I informed him that a kitchen makeover was just the thing to make me feel better!
I wish so much that I had pictures to show you. I'll try to get some together to show you a before and after...that is if we ever get finished!! Entering our house from the driveway/side door, there used to be a narrow hallway leading to the kitchen. On the right side of this hallway was my laundry room and on the left side was a wall separating you from the dining room.
My dad, Mr. Incredible, tried to talk me out of this hallway when we were building the house by insisting that it was wasted space, but I insisted that I did not want my laundry room opening up to my dining room. It only took Addie's first birthday party to convince me that my dad was right...the hallway was wasted space.
Although the dining room has french doors leading outside and a large opening to the family room, it felt really tight in there. When you went in there to sit, it was almost as if you were trapped. Hmmmmm....that three feet in the hallway sure would help do away with that "trapped" feeling.
About two years ago, I sweet talked Mr. Wonderful and Mr. Incredible into taking down that wall for me. Yes, my laundry room opens to the dining room now, but at least we can actually use the dining room! Hooray!! Plus, I have plans to swap out the closet style laundry room doors for some interior french doors. I think that will help it look a bit more formal.
The reason I had to "sweet talk" my guys into doing the work for me is that the hallway wall was load bearing, all of the light fixtures had to be moved (can lights and the chandelier), and the tile had to be patched (because we weren't..and still aren't... ready to completely replace the flooring), and so on, and so on.
At the time of this particular renovation, I thought I wanted to keep the doorway (that used to be at the end of that narrow hallway) leading to the kitchen. I thought it would be easier to bring food into the dining room and make clean-up easier, also. And it is. I still like it there, but my kitchen "things" seem to have outgrown my kitchen cabinets. Therefore, the doorway must be closed so that more kitchen cabinets can be installed in the kitchen. Whew! I knew that was a super long description, and I'm sure I probably lost you along the way, but maybe I can post a few pictures later to clear things up.
Enter the kitchen renovation that would take my mind off the laundry room renovation fail!!
As I loaded all of the junk back into the laundry room, Mr. Wonderful, with the help of Addie and Avie, started the demo of the doorway. Monday evening, he framed up the wall and pulled the wires for a new plug.
Tuesday, he hung the sheet rock. I decided that although I had never mudded (is that even a word?) sheet rock before, I would try it out. As I started, Mr. Wonderful decided that as long as we were making a mess of the house and covering everything in sheet rock dust, we should go ahead and demo the partial wall in kitchen. We had planned on taking out part of that kitchen wall and adding a peninsula that would not only provide extra cabinets, but also seating on the family room side. But we just didn't plan on doing it now.
So, just as our house was starting to look like a house again instead of a construction zone...more demo!! The house is a wreck right now, complete with white powder footprints down the hallway. Know what else? Mr. Wonderful called to inform me that he has to work late tonight and probably several nights. Yuck.
As he was working the other night, he asked me how long he had before I became super ill about the house being messed up (because we all know it's gonna happen). I gave him a week. Hmmm. Isn't looking too good for you, is it, Honey?! Just kidding! I love you and our out of control remodeling!!!
Before you read the song lyrics in quotes, scroll down and play the song then scroll back up so you can read the lyrics as you listen. Yes, I could have put them in order and made it easier for you...but you know computers and I don't get along, so just do the work for me this time! Thanks :)
"We pray for blessings. We pray for peace. Comfort for family. Protection while we sleep.
We pray for healing. For prosperity. We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering. And all the while, You hear each spoken need. Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things.
'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops?
What if Your healing comes through tears?
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You're near?
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise?
We pray for wisdom. Your voice to hear. We cry in anger when we can not feel You near.
We doubt Your goodness. We doubt Your love. As if every promise from Your Word is not enough. And all the while You hear each desperate plea. And long that we'd have faith to believe.
'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops?
What if Your healing comes through tears?
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You're near?
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise?
When friends betray us. When darkness seems to win. We know, the pain reminds this heart that this is not, this is not our home. It's not our home.
'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops?
What if Your healing comes through tears?
And what if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You're near?
What if my greatest disappointments or the aching of this life,
is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can't satisfy?
And what if trials of this life, the rain, the storms, the hardest nights, are your mercies in disguise?"
This song, "Blessings" by Laura Story, is my new favorite.
I had heard it a several times on the radio, but never really got to pay attention to the lyrics.....listening to the radio with my little girls in the car isn't an easy thing because currently they refuse to listen to anything that isn't either Taylor Swift or SonSurf VBS music...what a combination!!
I don't even remember how or why I came across this song last week. But I do remember that I listened to it over and over.
I'm sure I've said this before, but I'll say it again just in case you missed it last time. I believe that so much healing can come from music. I believe that because I have experienced it. God gives such wonderful messages to songwriters. He has blessed them with the ability to reach people in the best and worst of times. Somehow the lyrics of a song can match up perfectly with what I'm thinking and feeling and just can't find the words to say. Or sometimes when I am feeling lost and searching for answers, a song can speak to my heart and I know it was placed in my path for a purpose. And something about hearing those lyrics and singing along with them. I don't suppose it makes sense unless you have experienced it for yourself. But it can provide a feeling of almost relief. It just does something amazing when you finally find the words to say or even hear the words you needed to hear. Song lyrics can carry so much truth and meaning. And that is exactly what I feel about Laura Story's "Blessings."
Sometimes life is hard. Sometimes we have to go through things we don't want to go through. We have to deal with things we shouldn't have to deal with. We have to experience things that are painful and difficult and scary and unfair. All around us there is suffering. The suffering can come in many ways. Sometimes it is easy to spot the suffering, but other times we may never know what another person is going through. The sudden loss of a loved one, difficulty of everything involved in caring for sick family, personal illness, ongoing family illness, disappointment in our personal lives, broken relationships and families, financial difficulties, and on and on.
In my personal experience and in my experience of ministering to others, the common thread in almost all suffering is the question: Why? Why is this happening to me? Them? Us? Why are we having to go through this?
While I don't have the answer to those specific questions, I know who does. God. He is the answer that we seek. Our Heavenly Father sees it all. He is with us through it all. And He has a plan. He has an amazing plan. We can't see past our current conditions. We don't have the ability to think past our present state. But God can. He can see the big picture. He can look ahead and see what is coming. He can use our present to better prepare us for our future.
If we will cling to Him instead dwelling on our troubles....If we will ask Him for strength that we don't have instead of trying to handle things ourselves....If we will give Him the opportunity to work through us and be seen through us....No, we won't find a miracle cure that makes all bad things go away. But we will find is a way to survive those bad things. A way to come through them and be stronger. A way to use our experience to help others. A way to glorify God and find ourselves in a deeper relationship with Him than we ever imagined possible.
When Mr. Wonderful and I lost Baby....for the first time in our lives, we truly felt as if we had hit rock bottom. And when we were lying flat on our back, we had nowhere to look but up. We not only looked up, but we reached up, and we haven't looked back. I won't even pretend it was an easy thing to do. But I will tell you that by trusting Him and looking to Him and begging Him over and over, God has given us strength that I would have never imagined possible. Strength and comfort beyond comparison.
I know that some people look at us and feel sorry for us because of all that we have been through. They tell us that we are too young to have already experienced so much sadness in our lives. I can see people begin to shift in their chairs because they are so uncomfortable when I talk about Baby and AnnaSue. Some people have even been bold enough to say that because I can and do (and intend to continue to) speak of my babies that I lost, that I am just heartless and cruel and must have not even been upset about losing them. (Those people are just crazy and should keep their opinions to themselves) Well, sure, I could say I wish they had never happened, but I won't. Not now. Not now that I can see what God knew all along. And, honestly, I must say that I almost feel bad for someone who has always had a perfect life and has never experienced anything difficult. It is sad to think that they may not know what it is like to cling to Jesus with everything you have and to completely depend on Him, not only for the strength to get out of bed, but to depend on Him for the strength to take your next breath.
To me, that is what this song is saying. Instead of being upset about our current situations, we should just realize that God is with us through them. And, if we will let Him, He can and will use them to bless us. I found hope, love, and even conviction in this song. I know that God placed it in my path because it was exactly what I needed....because His plan is perfect.
