Picture Perfect: Goofy Girl

Glasses and a Goofy Girl!

Changing Me, Not Him

I have come to the realization over the last few days how easy it is to take what my husband does for granted.  Every day he gets up around 5:30 and snuggles Addilece back to sleep until about 6:30.  Then he makes his own lunch and gets ready for the day.  He plods out the door at 7:30 to work an 8 to 5 job.  Five days a week that is his schedule.  That is what I have come to expect.  That is what he should do, right?

Well, it may be what his role is in this family, his role given by God.  However, that does not give me the right to just expect it.  In expecting it I loose a lot of the appreciation of what he does.  Leaving every day and every sort of weather and not complaining.  Doing what he does each day (I would love to tell you but accounting is beyond my realm of knowledge) with a willing spirit. 

And then there are the other things, like cuddling Addilece, taking out the trash, keeping the car in good working order, handling our budget, and keeping this apartment from (literally) falling in on us.  His list is also about to grow as we buy a house.  I'm hoping (wink, wink) that he will add shoveling and half the mowing to that list and I know he will add house repair.

Ok, so now the truth of this story, how I came to this realization.  See I was feeling pretty under appreciated myself.  I sat there lamenting and wondering why my hubby did not comprehend that I would love it if he loaded the dishwasher on the night I went to do 3 hours worth of laundry.  I kept thinking, "He could care less about what I do around here.  How can he spend three hours playing video games while I do laundry."

That's when God hit me straight in the middle of my forehead.  I realized that I was just as guilty, if not more, about assuming things were his responsibility.  I easily grip if he's running late (usually because he was snuggling and feeding Addilece so I could get a little bit more sleep) and I have to make his lunch.  And I grip about being the one that had to pick up the windshield wiper fluid.  Its easy to stick the trash by the door and NOT run it out when I'm going out anyway or just get grumpy because its overflowing.  Afterall, aren't those his jobs??? Yes, I am way more guilty then he is.

See, God wants me to change, not me to change my husband.  He wants my heart to be right and to leave my husbands alone.  So, I just wanted to publicly say that I am PROUD of my husband.  I'm proud of the way he handles each day with a great attitude and a willing heart.  Thank you baby to all you do.  Now that I've said it publicly I must make sure I say it privately (seeing that he will never read this)!

Everybody has a part....

 

...what's yours?

Book Review: Little Star

My latest book from Blogging for Books was Little Star by Anthony DeStafano.  It was a book about a star and the story of Christmas.  I was really looking forward to how this book would present the Christmas Story.  However, in the end I walked away rather disappointed.

The pictures in the book are very beautiful and very life like.  And the book does try and teach some very good lessons.  It answers many of the problems people have with the Christmas story: why was Jesus a baby? Why was he born in a stable?  In the book the main character, Little Star, gives up all he has (and ultimately himself) to Jesus, his King.  I love that message.

However, I found some rather large errors with the book.  The miss representation of what the star of Christmas is bugged me.  (The true star of Christmas was used to guide the Wise Men and did not show up until the Wise Men arrived and the star in the book was used to warm Jesus.)  It also has a lot of simple errors to the story that are cultural not biblical (all the people are VERY western in look, Mary rides a donkey, and Jesus has a halo).  Tony and I are very particular about the "Biblical" items we let our daughter experience.  They must be accurate, not just cute.  We chose her Children's Bible due to the fact that it quoted scripture exactly.  This was also not a book that grabbed Addilece.  She couldn't even get through it once and hasn't picked up the book since it arrived.   

While the book was well written, well illustrated and was a cute story, it will not be a book we will personally put on our child's shelf.

This book was provided for me free of charge by Blogging for Books and WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for my personal review.  Other than the book I am receiving no other compensation.  The views expressed are my own.

New Addition

It's offical, we are an Aunt, Uncle, and Cousin again.  And we are loving every minute of it. 

Zoey Morgan was born yesterday.  She was 6 lbs, 2 oz and 18 in long.  She looks so much like her momma and her daddy is completely taken with her.  She is such a beautiful little girl.

Congrats Jay, Char, and big sis Hayleigh!!!

Little Zoey makes grandchild number six.  So exciting!

I can't get over how in love he looks with his little girl.

Doing Little Things Add Up Big

I think it is easy to look at a problem and think. "That problem needs BIG things done.  I can't do big."  But God doesn't necessarily ask us to to do big.  God just asks us to do.  The bottom line is God doesn't really need us, he doesn't need our money.  However, he chooses to use us and give us the blessing.

One young lady decided to just do and God has turned it in to something BIG.  Many others joined 15 year old Addisyn for One Day, One Lunch.  They gave a little of what they had and hoped God would do BIG with it.  Well, God has. 

$3,620.13

Think of all the beautiful kids who will be fed this next month with that.  THANK YOU for being the hands and feet of Christ.  May you be deeply blessed by it.   You can read more from Amy Block.

Blogging for Books: God Loves Me More Than That

After seeing blog after blog post free books for blogging for books I knew I had to get on board.  I checked it out and ordered my first book.

God Loves Me More Then That by Dandi Daley Mackall is a book for young children.  It is about how much God loves them.  The pictures in this book were incredible!  The artist (David Hohn) did an amazing job capturing life in a new way.  I loved the concept of the book.  It stretches a child's imagination to just how much God loves them.  When they think semi truck or elephant they think BIG and that is the point of the book.  My 18 month old got a huge kick out of the book.  In 24 hours we have probably 10 to 15 times.  She loves to also sit independently and flip through the pages.  She pours over every detail of the pictures.

I didn't like that the book was written more for boys (treasure, trucks, space ships) but it doesn't seem to bug my daughter, yet.  I also didn't like that the books switched between God and Lord.  I think they should have stuck with one.  There was one sentence that was not grammatically correct and it bugs both my husband and myself every time I read it.

Overall its a great book and it teaches kids amazing lessons.  I'm excited its in our library.

This book was provided free of charge from Blogging for Books for my personal review.  Receiving this item free did not sway my opinion on the book.  These views are completely my own.

From Good to Better

At the end of September or beginning of October we found a foreclosed house that was a great price.  We weren't planning on house hunting till November so when Tony started showing me how good the numbers looked I let myself dream. 

We visited the house.  We love it. And found out it need a $10,000 repair.  Believe it or not, that still made a good price on the house.  The next day Tony and I sat down and decided that we wanted our dads to see the house.  We set up the appointment.  They went.  They loved it.  Tony and I talked about it and both of us came to the conclusion that we didn't want to make an offer till after the first of the year.  It was now the end of October, so we would have to wait over 2 months.

December came and Tony began discussing financing with our bank.  The bank we've had our accounts with since we were married.  During this time we found out the house had dropped by $1,300.  They eventually said "yes".  The day after we found this out and four days before we were going to make an offer we found out the house had sold. 

Crushed, sad, disappointment.  But Tony and I stood by the what we felt God had led us to do, wait to make an offer. 

New Year's weekend we began the online house hunt yet again.  Monday I called to schedule an appointment for a house (foreclosure) and found out it dropped by $10,000 (yes, over night).  I also found another house (also a foreclosure) that we were interested.  By that Saturday (the day of both our appointments) house 1 had sold.  We went and saw just house 2. 

All I could say was wow.  It was beyond perfect.

Then the wait began.  Because we were no longer getting a construction loan every thing changed and we could no longer afford what our bank was asking us to do.  We applied for a free pre-approval from First Mid Illinois.  David (our loan officer who we found out grew up in our current church and is an adoptive dad) was great about explaining why we were having trouble getting our requested percentage down even though our credit scores were great.  (Apparently two little debt can be bad for you...who knew).  But he saw potential in us and so he decided to find a non-traditional way to get us the loan.

A week and a half ago the price of the house plummeted.  After about 20 days on the market the house was brought down $8,400.  Below the original house (plus the major repair) and below what we were willing and even what we were hoping to pay for it.  Then the phone tag began, desperate to get our approval before this house disappeared. 

Friday we got it.  Sunday we signed papers to put in our offer.  Monday morning (first thing) it was submitted.  Then we waited knowing our offer was only good till the end of Tuesday.  Tuesday came and we heard nothing.  After contacting the realtor we found out she had heard nothing.

Wednesday mid morning we got a call.  The house was OURS.  It needs to pass a home inspection and a home appraisal but our offer was accepted!

I think I have looked at the property listing a million times since I found out it was ours.  I still can't believe it!

Upstairs hall way.  Don't you love the stain glass on that window?  The hard wood floors need stripped in the whole house but they are going to be awesome!  Standing in the upstairs bath.  Bedrooms to the right and left and straight ahead to the right and left.

Half the upstairs attic.  Potential, potential, potential.  Master suite or two bedrooms or a family den....

Part of the other half of the upstairs.

Love this stair case.  Hoping to make the landing into a reading nook.

Landing.....future reading nook?!

Stairs would be directly to the left.  Door to the outside (from the porch) directly to the right.  Love the fire place.  Kitchen to the left ahead, living room to the right ahead.  Love the arch door.

Living room.  Dinning room ahead.  Love the window seat in the dinning room.  It has two openings.  One for a few of Addilece's toys and the other probably for blankets.

Breakfast nook.  Maybe future cabinet space and/or exit onto a deck (which we would have to build).  Bathroom through the door way to the right.  Love the window, love the arch.

Kitchen.

Kitchen.  Not a lot of cabinets but their is room to grow.  Entry way with fireplace/stairs to the left.  Behind me is the dinning room.  To the right is a breakfast nook and bathroom. 

Outside.  Addilece and I are going to have a LOT of fun degrowthing the yard.  Two car garage to the back.  Swing set is being left.  You are looking at a side door (up to the house and down to the  full basement) and the landing.

This house has so much of what we need and want....

The other house:
1. Cheap price but MAJOR repair (no money left for much fix up).
2. Three bedrooms
3. Huge porch.
4. Beautiful floors and woodwork (but it was painted so that would be a lot of work).
5. Two very small full baths.
6. Huge yard
7. One car garage
8. Storage shed (with a two seat outhouse....YES)
9. Small deck
10. Awkward but full basement
11. Close to Tony's family and closer to mine
12. Decent schools.

The house:
1.  Cheap price (quite a bit lower then the other one when you included the repair) meaning money to fix up.
2. Four bedrooms with the potential of more.
3. Porch (not huge but still there.
4. Beautiful hard word floors and woodwork.
5. Two full baths.
6. Big yard.
7. Two car garage
8. Swing set is being left and is in great shape.
9. Bigger town with a gas station, hardware store, and small grocery store.
10. Full basement, in good shape.
11.  Still close to Tony's family and closer to mine but also 10 minutes closer to town for work and church.
12.  Same school district but actually in the same town as the school.

We wanted good.  God gave us great.  We were rather happy with the other house.  God blessed us beyond where I could ever imagine.  It has been a major faith journey.  I have learned so much about my God and the bigger picture that he sees.  We get alot more square feet and a lot more growing space. 

A family of three will not be able to fill this house up.  Tony and I keep talking how this is a perfect house for a big family (with so much ability to expand the bedrooms, kitchen, a big dinning room to eat in).  We are excited and scared to see how God is going to fill this house!  May what He wants to be done, be done here!

Picture Perfect: Snow Day

Snow Day...

As 2/3's of the country knows, we got hit with a MAJOR blizzard here.  It put Tony out of work and us stuck at home.  I'm not complaining though because we kept our power and had a blast!

We declared it a pj, snack, fun (meaning no stress over cleaning) day!