Memories

I got home from work today and started cleaning my house for premarital counseling tonight. As I was cleaning, memories began flooding into my head of all the things that have happened in this house. This has been happening a lot lately... especially since its getting closer and closer to us selling it and moving to St. Louis. I usually don't have too much of an attachment to things, but this house is different. I have a strong attachment to it. I think it's because this is not only the first house we have bought together, but its also the first house we fixed up and worked on together (for before and after pictures, click here). We put a lot of work into this house, and have a lot of memories before we even moved into it. There have been many more memories since moving here and I'm definitely going to miss this wonderful house.

Not the best picture of the house, but our first one. This was before we bought it and for some reason the screen was taken out of the window? We were going in to plan our updates :)

We have some friends hopefully lined up to buy it from us. This house was rented out before us by some guys in our church and then we bought it as soon as they moved out. If our friends buy the house from us, it will stay in the church. I'm hoping and praying that it will work out to where they can buy it from us.

There are SO many memories of group get togethers, hang outs, babies playing, counseling sessions, leadership meetings, sewing adventures, movies watched, and amazing conversations made in our comfortable homey living room.

Sometimes I just sit the couch and look out into the living room from this exact perspective and think about all the times I had with Asher and Dallas. I really miss staying at home with them. I can't wait until God gives us children of our own that we can make tons of memories with.

SO many memories of great meals cooked, wonderful desserts baked, feeding babies, more counseling sessions, meetings, and talks, and many many dinners with guests that have become incredible life long friends all happened in this kitchen.

What I'm beginning to miss most are the memories of Suzanne and Dallas being here. As many of you know, she moved out from upstairs to live with her parents. A lot has changed in our relationship with Suzanne over the past several months. I've probably felt every emotion possible towards the situation, and now I'm really beginning to mourn over them being gone. There really isn't any communication or friendship left there, and it breaks my heart. For a while I've been angry about the things that have happened, just like I was the last time she moved out (January). However, this time it's different. I'm not so sure she'll actually come back this time, and we're moving. So the fact is, we may never see them again. What really breaks my heart is we've spent so much time with Dallas, and we love her so much as if she were our own. We still often quote Dallas' sayings and envision her running around the house playing with Leo or in her little red chair (pictured above in the living room). But in a short while she won't even remember us anymore. It almost feels like a dream now. All I have left to do is pray and trust God in all of this.

I know that as it gets closer to us leaving its going to get harder, not only leaving the first house we bought together, but also leaving our church family. But I'm also super excited to go where God is leading us and I know we're going to make many great new memories there too. God is good and He loves His children.

Event Filled Saturday

Yesterday was a very eventful day. We spent most of the day with Zach and Michelle, and Phil and Danielle. We went to the Farmer's market and then we walked over to the Habitat for Humanity Restore. We found this awesome coffee table and some really nice lamps.

The candle and holder on the coffee table were on there at the store, so we went ahead and bought that for $1. We thought it looked great and went with the look of the table. I love going consignment shopping and finding stuff that is super unique. I've never seen a coffee table like that before.

New lamps!

Close up of one of them.

We got the coffee table for $20 and both lamps for $10. After we bought the table, lamps, and candle with the candle holder, we walked back to our house... with all the stuff. We live pretty close to downtown where the market and the restore are located, but its a good 15 minute walk. So Brice, Phil, and Zach took turns carrying the coffee table while me, Michelle, and Danielle each carried the lamps and candle. It was definitely entertaining for people driving through town. Multiple people stared, turning completely around as the drove by just to get a good look at us.

When we got home and situated, Brice and I decided to finally re-cover the "new" ottoman. We purchased a glider ottoman to go with our glider for $.50 at the annual attic sale at the beginning of the year. The fabric on it was cream colored and covered in brown stains from use. So I placed a piece of fabric over it that I was planning on covering it with. We finally did it this weekend and it turned out great! Sadly, I never took a before picture of it.

I only had a small piece of the fabric leftover from when I recovered the glider. So I had to cut it in half, and then cut one of the halves in quarters and sew the strips to all four of the sides of the other half of the square. That way it would be big enough to stretch over the sides and onto the bottom enough for it to be attached. It ended up having seams on all the sides, but I don't think it looks too bad. Brice did a great job stapling it down!

Someone gave us the glider and it had really dirty, ripped up, cat hair covered cushions on it. I took the covers off of them and used them as patterns to re-cover the cushions. I did it about 2 years ago when I had little to no knowledge on sewing, so it took me about 48 hours total to do it. It taught me a lot about sewing though and it was pretty fun! Here is the ottoman with the chair (please excuse the pillow, I didn't fluff it back up and straighten it after someone sat on it):

After we re-covered the ottoman, we went to Tybee Island with Zach and Michelle. Right now it's a full moon, and the moon looks amazing over the ocean during this time of the month. So we drove to Tybee, walked on the pier for a little while, then went to Spanky's and got some awesome potato spuds. Then when it got dark, we took some blankets back to the beach and laid down to look at the stars. Brice pulled out his Ipod Touch to look at his planets app so we could see where all the constellations were. We were all looking at this really bright star pretty close to the moon, so he wanted to see what it was. So he looks at his Ipod and said, "Hey, that bright star is Jupiter!" Michelle goes, "Really?! Why can't you see the rings?" We all start laughing and changing the subject because we sort of thought she was kidding but she kept asking, why you can't see the rings!? She finally says, "Will someone please tell me why you can't see the rings?!" It was so funny, we were all laughing so hard! Poor Michelle! We finally told her that Jupiter doesn't have any visible rings, and even if they were visible, there is no way you would be able to see them from Earth. After that we laughed and joked the whole time, and even got to the point of crying because we were laughing so hard.

Yesterday was a very event filled day, but it was an awesome day spent with great friends!

I started this post last Saturday...

and I am just now getting to it. I've come to the conclusion that if I actually sit down to blog when I want to, then I wouldn't have a major amount of things to blog about when I sit down to do it later!

I was reading some other blogs on how people are using blog trackers. I thought that was a great idea, just to see how many people were looking at my blog and where they were from. So I started using one, and noticed that a lot of people were actually finding my blog by searching unpaper towels on google. It got me thinking, maybe I should start selling them again? A lot of people out there seem to interested in it. When I started making them to sell, not many people seemed interested, at least in Statesboro. Maybe others outside of our little town have actually heard of them and are interested in them. The people that are most interested in Statesboro are the ones who know me or come over to our house and see them on our countertop. What do ya'll think about unpaper towels? Have you heard of them, like them, would you ever use them? I'm interested to know other's thoughts.

I was struggling a lot this past week (week before last now) with getting pregnant. I think this is just one of those things that's always going to be a roller coaster of emotions. At the beginning of the month, we're both super hopeful for what the month is going to hold. Will this be the month it happens?! Then, the second half of the month is a waiting period wondering if it's going to happen or not. Then it doesn't, and I go through all of these emotions of sadness, frustration, and loss of hope. I know a lot of it has to do with the hormones that are already going on at that time, but it's still just one of those things that I feel like I'm always going to struggle with.

This month I noticed Brice was more upset than usual. I think as more time passes, the more he's wanting a child. When he found out we weren't pregnant this time around, he expressed to me that he was just as upset about it as I was. I know that he's always been upset when we thought we might be pregnant and weren't, but for some reason this time it seemed different. He seemed more sad about it not happening than normal. However, he is still very strong and positive about us getting pregnant when it's God's timing. A lot of times its very hard for me to be positive and hopeful about it, so it's very helpful to have him there as a support.

I'm also extremely thankful for the women God has put in my life to support and encourage me through this time. I was able to talk to one of them last week about it and just pour out to her what was going on and the emotions I was going through. She prayed for me and was tremendously encouraging. She told me things from an outsiders perspective; things I never noticed which helped put things into perspective for me. I don't know what I would do without women like that in my life. It is super hard to go through something so emotionally draining and not ever knowing when the emotional cycle will end. I can't imagine going through it without other women in my life to talk to.

I've been thinking a lot lately about writing a book. Well, not so much a book at this point, but sort of like a journal of mine and Brice's story. I've told so many people about how we met and what has happened in our lives, and almost everyone I've told has suggested we write a book. People love to hear stories like ours, and everyone says it would be such a good book. I'm not sure if I actually want to write a book, but I definitely want to write it all down and be able to look back on it and read it. I would love to have something like that for our children to read one day too. I'm just not sure how to get everything I want to put it in down. There's so many things and events that have happened and are happening now that I want to include, but how do I ensure that I get everything before I start writing it out? I want it to be in order and if I start writing then remember something, I won't be able to go back to put it in. That always happens when I go to write things out. I think I know everything I want to put in there, then I'll remember something I wanted to add but forgot. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to do this? I'm think I'm just going to brainstorm in a notebook and try to remember as much as I can. Then, when I'm pretty sure I've gotten it all, I'll start writing it out in a nice journal.

Brice had off all this week for fall break so we took a night and went to the fair. It was SO much fun. We went with a group of friends, and we rode a bunch of rides.

We rode this awesome ride called the Crazy Mouse. It's one of those mini roller coaster type rides where you are in the little car and it feels like you are going to go right over the side of the tracks. We went on this ride the first time, and loved it so much we went straight back in line to ride again! Brice had the great idea of make a video of us while riding it.

So much fun!

A Month's Worth of Events

I realized today it is has been almost a month since I have blogged. It's October... I can't believe that! Where did the time go?! I guess I've just been so caught up in life that I lost track of time!

Lots of things have happened in the past month.

I started my sign language class three weeks ago. I absolutely love it! I've learned so much already and I've only been to 3 classes. I can't wait to learn it all! I've been looking up Christian songs on youtube that are interpreted in sign and it's incredible to see how much the signs symbolize the meanings! I definitely want interpret someday.

I had a pumpkin spice latte for the first time ever last week! It was the most incredible coffee I've ever tasted!

I put out some of my fall decorations!

Not much I know. I still have some more to put up and I want to get some wonderfully scented fall candles! Fall is my favorite season!

We made this awesome soup the first official day it was cold! It's a Rachel Ray recipe and it's called BLT and Potato Soup. It is SO delicious!

I found out two of my friends are pregnant again. Congratulations again Kim and Emily! I love you both!

We celebrated Zach's birthday last weekend. We went to Atlanta to the Sun Dial and had lunch at the rotating restaurant.

We went to the Coca-Cola museum.

And we went to the Braves vs Phillies game. Phillies won. :)

Sadly Zach is not even in this picture. We didn't get many pictures of all four of us!

We've started pre-engagement counseling with an incredibly sweet couple that we recently met and instantly became close to. We have so much in common that we literally became great friends the first night we had them over for dinner. We talked forever and then Danielle came to my house a total of 4 times that week. We have so much fun together and I can't wait to continue growing closer with them!

I'm very sad that we don't have a picture with all four of us. We need to work on that one!

Oh, and the biggest news of all....we are officially moving to St. Louis next June!

I don't think I ever blogged about this, but Brice got accepted into the New Frontiers church planting internship. God has been speaking to us for months now about planting a church in Jacksonville. Carl, the pastor at Jubilee Church in Atlanta, put Brice's name out there to Jubilee Church in St. Louis. They sent him some tests to take to make sure he was qualified to be a leader, and then he had an interview. We found out two weeks ago that he was officially accepted and we're moving! We will move up to St. Louis for a year and Brice will learn everything he needs to know about planting a church. Then, we will be sent out to plant one! That's the very super short version of the story. It's very exciting news! God is also moving on some other couple's hearts in our church to come help build with us in Jacksonville. We are very excited to see what God does!

Consignment Shopping

I love going shopping at consignment shops because you can always find the best deals! We went to the farmer's market this morning and there is this cute little children's consignment shop right next to it. They are a children's shop, but they also have tons of juniors clothes and purses. I can almost always find shoes there because I can fit into kids 3 1/2, and they sell for $2.50-$3.00 a pair! You can't beat that! We stopped in there today after going to the market and I bought the cutest purse and wallet set for $5!

The inside is cute too! It has lots of pockets and I love all the different fabrics on this purse.

Well anyways, I loved the bag and bought it. Then I decided to make a checkbook cover to match it. So I bought some fabric that matched the ribbon, and made one! I've never made one before, but it turned out great and only took about 20 minutes!

Now I have a cute little purse set, all for about $7 total with the cost of the extra fabric plus tax! I've been needing to get a smaller bag since my old rag purse is really worn out. I've been meaning to make a new one, I just haven't had time to get fabric for it yet. So I'll carry this around for now!

We also saw these awesome bags at the consignment store made out of dog, cat, and chicken food bags! That's right, dog food bags, crazy! What a great way to recycle though! They were super cute and would be so easy to make, and they were selling them for $15! I'm going to make one out of Leo's food bag once he eats it all. They are great to take to the farmer's market and to the grocery store. Sadly I didn't get a picture of it, but I'll definitely take some once I make one!

Show Me A Sign Giveaway!

I was browsing around my friend Jennifer's favorite blogs and came across this cute blog Simple Little Joys. I clicked on her latest entry and found out she's doing a giveaway of one of Jennifer's amazing signs!

I've known Jennifer since I was 4. Sadly I have not seen her since my wedding 4 years ago, but we still keep in touch through email and each other's blogs. Jennifer and her husband Matthew have been going through the struggles of infertility as well. It's amazing that God put us in each other's lives so long ago. Now we have so much in common with the similar struggles we have gone through.

The Lord recently moved on her and her husband's hearts to begin the adoption process. She began making these awesome signs to sell to raise money for their adoption. She is amazingly talented!

Here are two of my favorites:

If I had children I definitely get this sign. I love it so much!

You can check out more of Jennifer's signs here:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/jennlajeunesse?page=1

and her blog here:

The LaJeunesse Family

You can enter to win one of Jennifer's signs here:

Simple Little Joys

Just follow the steps on Rachel's blog to enter! Have fun browsing Jennifer's beautiful signs, grab the button off her website, and spread the word!

Our Home Before and After

I've been blogging around lately looking at different people's blogs and have found some really cool ones on decorating. It's neat to see how people decorate their homes and all the different ideas they have. I thought I would share our before and after pictures of the work we did on our house.

Our Tiny Bathroom: Before

After

Before: Notice the yucky floor, it's hard to see but it was gross!

After: Notice the floor and new toilet! Brice did such a great job! We are actually going to re-paint this bathroom and sand color that sort of matches the floor.

The Guest/Hallway Bathroom: Before

After

The Guest Bedroom: Before

After

Before

After

Our Bedroom: Before

After

Before: Looking from the hallway into our room and to the kitchen

Same view after without Brice standing there :)

The Kitchen: Before into the laundry room, and no dishwasher

After: Door on the right goes into the laundry room, and there's the new dishwasher! Brice and his dad did a great job!

Before

After: Brice put new laminate on the counter top and installed the new sink and faucet

Before

After, again without Brice

Before: with the old stove and old hot water heater

and overhanging counter top next to stove

After!

Dining Area in the Kitchen (notice the nasty floors)

After! Notice the new beautiful floor that was underneath the nasty floor!

The Living Room

After

Before

After: Didn't really get a good picture of this area after. It looks different now anyways.

Before

After

So that's our home! I have some before pictures of the laundry room and third bedroom, but I never took after pictures since they were never really decorated. They both still need some work. It was so much fun doing all that work to the house and turning it into something beautiful!