What to wear?

October 8, 2017 | Stacy

The girls’ closet it a treasure trove of beautiful garments. It is a treat to dress them as the LORD has seen fit to fill their closet to bursting with hand-me-downs.

This lovely morning, they asked Daddy if they could wear these outfits and presented themselves to Mama for her stamp of approval. I deemed them gorgeous, but pointed out that they would need to wear stockings with these selections. Neither of them are a fan of stockings, but Katriel had a thought:
”Johanna? Do you want to wear stockings and you can be Mrs. Claus and I can be an elf?”

Johanna opted to squeeze in another warm-weather dress, as we are enjoying higher than normal temps this October.

Matthew 6:28-30
And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

A Soccer Game Down Memory Lane…

October 5, 2017 | Stacy

Marie’s game was all the way out in Brockport today.
Once upon a time I drove to and from Brockport with my eyes closed. (No. No. They weren’t closed. I mean I was really, really tired, but they were open.) I attended college at Brockport and I’ve only been back through the town once or twice in the last 23 years.

A lot of the scenery has changed, and there are a lot more stores out there now, but it isn’t any closer and it made for a long trip.

The trip included me turning one street too soon for the soccer field and ending up smack dab on the west side of campus, where I was suddenly greeted with the high rise buildings I had lived in all those years ago.

Now – if I had never, ever seen the campus again, it wouldn’t have mattered to me. I rarely reflect on those years at all and I certainly don’t pine for those days. But it was interesting to see them still standing tall there.

We made it over to the field where the team won again. It was a very good game.

But it wasn’t 80 degrees like it had been last Thursday!

After the photo we drove back through the south side of campus to see what we could see.

I’m not one of those folks that smile wistfully about my “college years.” College was something that I needed to do to get on to the next step in my life. I did have some fun, and I made some great friends, but I’m not a “whole college experience” kind of person. Especially these days. College has gotten astronomically expensive for very little return on investment. But – it did make me smile when I remembered the days when this was my home for the night.

In an effort to emphasize that these structures were my homebases for a season, I said, “Marie – this is where my bed was. This was where my pillow was!”

She responded with, “Mom, you are always thinking about sleep!”

Colossians 2:8 –

See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

Towel mountain

September 28, 2017 | Stacy

Every. Week.

Marie is towel washer and folder here.

This makes me smile…. When we were getting married we registered at JCP for towels. Golden yellow for the main bathroom, taupe for the master bath, the kitchen was all white and blue, as was the nearby powder room. So elegant and neat.

I don’t think we have two matching towels in the whole house these days.

(And I wouldn’t have it any other way.)

Mark 7:4
And when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.

GM day

September 27, 2017 | Stacy

Every few years we get a sneak peak into Daddy’s work. Pictures are prohibited outside, so we widely have to lean on our memories to recall what his plant looks like.

They had this race car outside and we were welcome to pose and sit in it.

Ecclesiastes 3:13
Also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man.

Getting decked?

September 25, 2017 | Stacy

Our deck needed sealing.
I will spare all the details, and just reflect on the goodness of seeing the kids work along side John to make this big job very doable.

I can’t believe how fast they have grown up.

The bees were a problem the second day and John got creative.

(Doesn’t everyone have a beekeeping suit?)

Ecclesiastes 4:9
Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil.

Her turn

September 21, 2017 | Stacy

Katriel has been showing signs that she is ready to take reading by storm.
Her friend, Rumor Weed, is helping.

I can’t wait until the day she can open the Bible and read it for herself.

Psalm 115:14
May the Lord give you increase, you and your children!

Endless shrimp 2017

September 21, 2017 | Stacy

For the third year we made it to Endless Shrimp at Red Lobster.

We ate until we were sick…

(and I about really WAS sick when they said they no longer take Olive Garden gift cards [even though it says they do on the back] and I had to pay the full $85 it cost for this extravaganza!)

Still – time with these silly girls is gift.

Matthew 15:11 – It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.

SK 2017 season

September 19, 2017 | Stacy

The first game was today and the weather could not have been more lovely. I convinced Marie to let me braid her hair early and as soon as Spanish class finished up we hopped into the van to get to the game vs. Saint Paul on our own field.

If you’ve read other posts about Scarlet Knights, then you might remember how highly John and I regard Marie’s Coach, Mr. Marshall. He is SUCH a good and godly influence and mentor. I am regularly astonished at how gently noble he is.

Nan met us there, and later Stewart and Nigel headed over to watch the second half. Marie got to play quite a bit and the won the game.

Throughout the game we wondered what the band was she was wearing. It turned out that in addition to the two regular team captains, they are going to have two honorary captains each game to bolster both defense and offense plays on the field. Marie was given the honorary defensive captain job this week.

The little girls were whiney and hot. Or hot and whiney. You decide. I decided that I would not bring them to another game. Just sayin’.

I Timothy 4:8 –

For while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.

New bedroom (mostly)

September 18, 2017 | Stacy

This bedroom. LOL. It has continued to undergo transformation over the last 1.5 years. It started and stopped, at least twice. The first time was when I realized we didn’t have the money or energy to switch out the old carpet. So I “fixed” it with a new quilt. Story here: Settling.

Then – our friends gifted us an unused gift card that paid for the bulk of a new carpet and we embarked on a redo. Story here: Bedroom re-do. Except that it never felt done.

Then – One day my friend Diane was over giving me some suggestions for my living room. I mentioned that I really wanted to fix my room, but I wanted a white metal headboard and they are ridiculously expensive. A day or two later she sent me a Craigslist link with a brass headboard. We bought it and I got busy painting it white.

Over the course of the spring and summer we built other things when time and budget allowed. I got very familiar with Pinterest, thanks to Diane, and had lots of new ideas.

I also painted the formerly (and short-lived) purple walls to match the first two. I had to guess the color because the old can didn’t have a label. It turned out fine. *PHEW*

NOTHING happened over night.

We had trips to Costa Rica and Canada (twice) and camping. We had birthdays and friends from Oregon visits and a kitchen redo. We had football and soccer and baseball schedules. We had a leaky roof, a dying van, and a lawn tractor fire. We had life.

And then there was the bedspread hunt.

We have a history of not paying too much for bedding and I didn’t want to change that. I didn’t hate the spread we had and wasn’t going to change it just to change it. I waited for a good deal.

We had a few attempts.

And then Walmart to the rescue!

And the curtain hunt began.

And while there are still a few decor ideas up our sleeves, I’m going to call it pretty-sorta-done.
With the emphasis on pretty.

The hanging, mirrored, jewelry case was a Mother’s Day gift and perfect for me and this room.
The bedskirt is a story of ridiculous splurging after ruling out making it myself. On rare occasions I will willingly pay to not have to do something ourselves (especially if it seems it would cost more time than we have).

I LOVE my bedroom. I love it. John is very happy with it, too. I get such a happy, rest-filled feeling in there. We have purposed to keep it very clean and so far it is working out. We don’t do school in there anymore, either. It’s a refuge in a busy house in a busy life.

Matthew 8:24
And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep.