For Good

Here's a couple of pictures on what we've been doing lately:

Basement is now empty and bare. Framing has begun!

Stairs rebuilt. Much better. Let's hope I don't fall down them again.

The fireplace will stay-gas logs. 

The floor underneath the carpet was red tile! Asbestos and all that.

Laundry room, for now.

Landscaping! We will seed the grass in the fall

Much better. Much much better.

We also added some house numbers and my plant in the Jack Daniels barrel
that I got from Jack on mothers day is doing great!

Kitchen cabinets in, so we have a lot of cabinets right now. I'm thinking of doing a
catering business. No I'm not.

We also had a yard sale last weekend, our first adoption fundraiser, and we raised half of our home study fee! We are thankful and it reminds me that if this is what God wants, he will provide. We met with our adoption counselor last week and received a load of papers. Currently we are trying to fill out all 7 questionnaires and all the appropriate medical paperwork. It's like they want to make sure we are responsible or something.

D money.

Yard Sale items. The woman that bought this was very excited.

Our yard sale bouncer

It's also been a strange and sad week with the shootings in Colorado and a close family friend taking his life. Last night I attended the funeral, which was beautiful. In the moment it brought me comfort, but soon after I was sad again. It just made me remember I have to put everything into Christ or I'll completely fail. There's no other hope. I heard the most amazing version of How Great Thou Art that I've ever heard that made me cry like a little baby. I was sad that my friend's wife would have to experience this heartache. That his one year old grandson would never know him and how could he do this to them. But in the funeral the singer sang a song called "For Good" based on Romans 8:28 "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Everything horrible and bad, God can turn to good. I trust that. I am constantly trusting him to do that in my friends life and my own. It's so hard to see your friends hurting and I have lots of them doing that now, but I trust God will be faithful to turn it to growth and beauty.
Another thing that caused me to stop was one friend's description of success, it's not money or business, but finding that people love you. You touch other's lives in positive ways and they feel loved. You are loved by others. Friends. Lives. Investing in personal relationship. This made me stop and think about those I love and refocus what I spend my time on. Life is so short and I want to make sure my friends know I love them. I hope you know that I do love you. 

Oh yes it's ladies night and I feel alright

Melanie, Mary Jane, and Katy

This past weekend I got the rare opportunity to take a four day vacation with my college friends. We all met in Atlanta and stayed a couple blocks from the Marietta square. If you asked what we did, it would seem boring to most travel experts, but we thought it was the glorious. Eating sitting down without having to make someone else's dinner first, laying on a couch watching HGTV and not curious george, browsing a store as long as you possibly could ever want, and eating lots of dessert. It was so restful and rejuvinating. We actually ate at the same place two nights in a row. Yes, it was that good. (Taqueria Tsunami for those wondering) We shopped. My friend, Melanie, brought crafts. It was so fun. We made necklaces and rings with clay and shrinky dinks. I did not know what these were, to Melanie's shock, but they are one big size and then shrink when you bake them. It was like art therapy. I had lots of pictures showing our crafts and Melanie's beautiful home, but my phone messed up and I lost all pictures. Pff.
We also talked. Talked about our kiddos and marriages. We all came away with one theme, kids suck the life of you and life is hard. It was encouraging to us all to be able to talk about ourselves and not feel guilty that you weren't focused solely on your kids. It was encouraging to hear that other moms struggle and that it is not easy, in fact, it's really hard. It was also relieving to hear that marriage is not a walk in the park, it's hard work to not become co-working roommates instead of man and wife.

Melanie sketched this drawing of Katy's three girls for her shrinky dink necklace

It's easy to keep on in life and think that you are the only one struggling. To look around at other women who seem to have it all together and not an ounce of sadness. The more I talk to moms, the more I can confidently say, we need each other. We need to listen and be brave to speak up and be transparent. To realize no one has it all together. My friends and I also decided that we need older women to tell us it's going to be okay. To encourage us, warn us, and inspire us. I know a lot of women forget how hard having littles can be, like labor, and maybe that's why not as many older women share these hardships. I hope I don't forget, because I know another woman will need me in a state in her life where I have been before.