i don’t always like when He starts opening bits of my heart, revealing the areas of weakness.
but how i like the change that comes when i humbly ask for His help to overcome.
friday favorites
my kitchen.
what newlywed starts out in such a luxurious space? i’m particularly fond of my baking corner.
sprinkles & color.
the husband asked if i could make cupcakes for the youth meeting tonight. they’re nothing fancy but they’ll taste good and i had color to put on top! i do love color!
old.
i’ve read a few books lately set in the late 1800s/early 1900s. and i’ve been following the growing-in-popularity downton abbey. and sometimes i almost forget that i’m not part of those stories and i don’t live in that time period. my trips to retrieve our mail from this postal box do not help.
walks.
they aren’t daily but they’re often. i like my owls.
lipstick.
when i actually take the time to put a bit of mascara on — it’s there! just look at the top lashes. — i reward myself by letting lipstick accompany. yes, i’m that pathetic. in order for me to actually take the 20 seconds to darken my lashes i have to promise myself something that i love more.
texts.
i know, you’re jealous right now because the very best of the best picked me.
food.
and that is one large calzone. now we can slice it and run. because friday nights are those kind of nights.
everything happy
the sun is shining, bringing my home’s temperature up from it’s typical 65 to a boiling 70.
tonight is a homemade macaroni and cheese sort of night. that was my requested birthday dinner for years. no, it’s not my birthday but i still want it.
my hands are dry and cracking in the worst way possible. it’s from the floor mopping, dish washing, bathroom cleaning life i lead. and i like it.
the husband gives me lots of kisses. and calls me “princess”. and holds my hand every minute when we’re in the car. and talks to me a lot. and makes sure that i’m talking. a lot. and is everything i could ever want for my best friend for life.
our mornings are earlier recently. they’re a full hour of making breakfast, bible reading, and bible memorizing. together.
my heart is everything happy. content. at peace. joy-filled.
and i guess i just wanted you to know that. know that i’m okay.
(untitled)
sometimes the husband is late coming home from work. i’m left hanging in the kitchen surrounded by the aromas of an almost-ready meal which makes my mouth salivate and my tummy start to rumble (no, i never read winnie the pooh).
all this is everything sad.
a picture sort of update
with the gift of a new camera for christmas there’s been much fun documenting random bits throughout my days. the husband said, “you are so strange,” when he saw me taking a random photo of our dinner table last night.
i already knew this.
we’ve been here for 2.5 months and in that short amount of time it’s gone from a brand, spankin’ new looking place to a very occupied looking house. right after pushing “publish” on this i shall go downstairs to vacuum and mop my incredibly dirty floors.
we have a constant stream of people coming through our wooden front door and we like it like that. i’ve been quite convinced from the very start that this is the the perfect place for rest & relaxation and that was proven to be true when my daddy stayed in his pajamas for 24 hours straight while playing games and sipping tea. who knew the man could do such a thing?!
christmas was here in our green home. and now it’s gone. our first christmas tree together was an absolute fail.
we had little ones at our home this past weekend. they are happiness to my heart.
if anyone knows anything about our green home then you know that the husband bought it three years ago when it was a dilapidated mess. he has finished the majority of the house but there are little projects here and there that still keep us busy. with the continual flow of guests we decided that finishing our two extra bedrooms is priority. have i mentioned how much i love my windows? i also love the color of this bedroom.
the husband makes me exceedingly happy. yesterday he built the shelves for our walk-in closet!
and me? i’m here, spending my days in our green home. i’m enjoying looking at our backyard in the evening light…
and i’m getting used to making dinner for only two (too many leftovers). the husband is a good sport and lets me make all sorts of dishes he’s not accustomed to (curried chicken and lentil stew anyone?!)…
and of course, in the moments when i’m not trying to get our house to look spankin’ new again, i usually have a paint brush in my hand. polyurethaning the closet was this morning’s project.
now, to clean those floors i go.
goodbye, little baby.
(via)
on christmas day we said goodbye to our tabolt baby. everything seemed fine until suddenly it was all very, very wrong and i knew it was over.
i felt helpless. i felt such sadness. and i felt such peace.
even there, in the midst of frustration and disappointment, God can be found.
He’s faithful like that.
all is right
i’m home in my big green house. i’ve found a comfortable place on my couch with a favorite quilt to keep me warm. a good book and cup of hot chocolate are with me. in the background i hear my daddy and littlest of brothers playing a game in my dining room. the mums starts dinner in my kitchen — wonderful, familiar smells. big snowflakes fall to the ground and the clock tells me that it’s not much longer till the husband comes home.
and my heart knows that all is right in my world.
how can it not be? the Best holds it all together.
bits and pieces
my life seems rather small these days, which i’m very okay with. there aren’t many/isn’t much demanding my attention and i’m perfectly happy to go from one day to the next in this quiet fashion i’ve recently discovered. i realize that it will eventually pick up so for now i’ll enjoy my slow mornings of sipping coffee, watching the world come to life, while i wonder what i’ll busy myself with today.
the yellow delight made the big move a few weeks ago. i felt horrible taking her away from the daddy & mums who have become so fond of that bird hanging in their kitchen. but after receiving threats from siblings that they were going to either release her into the wild or poison her if i didn’t remove the squawking noise from the big white house with a red roof, i decided to separate them. she is now in my kitchen and the topic of conversation whenever there are visitors. who knew?
the husband boasts that there hasn’t been one “babe, i burnt dinner” in our 8.5 weeks of being married. and there hasn’t been. until last night. i burnt our rice to a crisp. it would be okay if for some reason i had never made rice before but i’ve been making it since… for as long as i can remember. but there it was — burnt, crunchy rice with our beef & broccoli stir-fry. yum.
i thought that i was well prepared for everything pregnancy related since i happen to have been surrounded by pregnant women and babies my whole life. stretching skin, aching bones, labor horror stories — i grew up hearing it all (working in an infant nursery at a church is where it all starts. watch out for those places.). i realize now that i don’t have a clue. there are things nobody told me. for example –
how it is possible that the stomach can start thickening much earlier than you think it should and by 8 weeks you’re unable to button your high waisted dress pants and you find yourself on your knees thanking God for all your hideously evil low rise jeans.
how early you start waking once a night to use the bathroom (isn’t that supposed to happen later in the pregnancy?) and the voice inside your head reminds you that this is only the start of many, many wake-ups.
and how very, very, very tiring it is to have a little person be formed within you, and how it seems that everyone around you is laughing at you saying that this really is only the start, which only makes you want to cry since you’ve never been so tired before.
no, i don’t know a thing.
but i’ll be going back to my quiet day now. they really are the loveliest. you’re more than welcome to join me at anytime if you need a rest and time away from the normal craziness of life.
looking a bit like christmas
sometimes i stay in my pajamas until very late in the day. sometimes i make pumpkin bread, do laundry, clean my kitchen, and sit and blog in my pajamas. sometimes i pack the husband lunch and send him off for the day with a kiss in pajamas. sometimes i catch myself whispering, “is this really my life? do i really get to do this everyday?”
today is one of those sometimes.
but other news from the green home:
our christmas tree was picked and cut this past saturday morning. in the midst of me scarfing down saltine crackers we walked through a field in search of the perfect tree. and it was found. we only had to cut off a bit from the bottom and a teeny bit from the top to make it fit in our house.
if i didn’t have a favorite room before, i do now. a fireplace, piano, and giant christmas tree all in one room. can you get anything better?
yes, that yellow chair is sat in a lot.
and because it’s been requested, just the tree. our very, very simple tree.
a little tabolt in the making!
i started out on this crazy journey toward marriage by writing these words:
sometimes the best things in life come as a complete surprise, when you least expect them, when you’re not even looking for them.
i’ve said this before and i’ll say it again: i was surprised by the meeting of my now husband, was surprised by how certain i felt early on, and surprised by how quickly everything played out; i met him and 6.5 months later we were married. i was always told that when you know, you know, and i guess i now prove that to be true.
i knew and he knew and we were two people who weren’t going to waste any time.
i guess that’s just us and how we live life because again, a mere 6.5 weeks into being married, we find ourselves quickly heading towards another big landmark in life.
and again i’m being surprised by another best thing in life.
most nights as we fall asleep his hand finds my stomach. many prayers are whispered throughout the day for the new life that is being knit together within me. less is done around the house and more sitting with my eyes closed to settle my upset stomach happens (and i’ve been fighting other sickness as well. don’t do that. ever.).
it’s true, we discovered a few weeks ago that our family of two will be a family of three come this late july. a little tabolt is on it’s way!
i recently met a woman who grew up in our house from the 40s-60s. she told tales of what life used to be like in this old home with only one bathroom upstairs and seven small bedrooms that were stifling hot during summer nights. she said it was a perfect place to be raised and that it should be filled with life again. she would be happy to know that we are quickly seeing this happen. this home will know the joy of a child again and we shall know the sparkling new joy of being a mama & daddy. our hearts could not be happier.
first a wife and now a mama!
i just want to know one thing: when did i become old enough for all this?
