Thank you for your patience with my absence this past week. Today's post is chock full of lots of things. I could have parceled this out and made a few posts out of this but decided that together they make a better story! Hang tight baby, you are in for a ride! :)
This past week was super busy and full. I had to work extra at my social work job but also got to help a sweet friend decorate a parade home! Jaren is a friend of mine from college and she is a designer. She is so cute, sweet and uber talented! Check out her blog here.
The picture that I took of this house didn't turn out super great because they were taken at night. {That's when things were finally staged and completed enough to get a few pics!} We've had a lot of rain so the landscapers hadn't been able to put the yard in yet.
This process was really fun but it began my weekend long struggle with contentment! {There is a happy ending.....keep reading!} Staging a house for a parade is a little bit different than I thought. Our goal was to showcase different features in the house not just to make the rooms look good. The homeowners provided some of their furniture but the rest we hauled in. We couldn't put anything on the walls either so that made it more challenging.
Here's the gorgeous kitchen:
These floors are gorgeous but I'm not sure they're for me. They are a natural floor that you can only clean with water and then occasionally have to oil. When you wear socks on them you can tell they aren't polished but over time they will wear and distress.
{sorry, didn't have the white balance on on my camera}
This opened up on to the living room. You make notice I didn't take one huge picture of the big room. Things weren't all done before I left and had to strategically take some pics.
Upstairs there are four bedrooms including the master bedroom. In each of the kids rooms were these little doors that went from one room into the closet of the next kids so that they were all connected by these little tunnels. My kids would love this!
Solomon Homes in Rockford MI were the builders for this amazing house. Their attention to detail is superb and they always add a lot of unique elements to their homes.
So then I went home to my little house with my tight budget and a mountain of laundry.
And thus began my struggle with contentment. :) Its difficult to even admit that in my heart I complained. I am reminded every time I turn on the news how much sadness is out there in the world and how many struggle with illness, poverty and the loss of loved ones. But in this little moment I felt kind of bad for myself.
I am humbled to say that my God is always faithful. Even in the grand scheme of things and all the sadness in the world my God met me where I was and gently reminded me of what I do have. He reminded me through the smiles of my children, the hard work of my husband, the joy of good friends and time spend in His creation with family. Oh, how good He is!
The rest of my weekend was full and we got so much accomplished! I finally got all of my pots and windowbox planted along with flowers along the front path. I had to rip out the back corner in out back yard and replant it all because so much grass had grown up in it, choking out my flowers. My amazing hubby did all the grunt work for me this weekend without a complaint! This back corner of the yard kind of defines the back corner of our property on this side.
My hubby took the boys fishing and then they had a lot of fun fileting them on our front porch.
We also had supper with some of our great neighbor friends and even popped popcorn over the fire. A first for this little fam of mine!
We took a day trip up to Ludington Michigan where my in-laws have a summer place. Together we went to the other side of the lake they are on {Hamlin} to the state park there. We took the kids for a hike on the lost lakes trail and it was just gorgeous! If you live in Michigan and have never been to the state park in Ludington you are missing out! My kids were like puppy dogs running from one side of the trail to the other making all kinds of discoveries. We constantly heard "mom, look at this"! We saw wild deer out on the trail and even saw one swimming across a little bay area. Just beautiful! We were so impressed with the beauty of God's creation and marvel that some can think this all just happened by chance!
{My mother in law and daughter}
{My Hubby~ Isn't he cute!?}
{Yep, that's my baby and he's totally peeing!}
Resting after the long hike!
We were surprised to see so many wind turbines as we drove up to Ludington.
And I've decided that this pretty much makes me mother of the year....worms in my fridge!
When we were at our friends house, before we ate I was helping her with a little bit of decorating and we were looking through some books for a foyer table. We came across this one:
Lisa offered to let me borrow it and I read some of it on our trip yesterday. Remember that designer friend of mine, Jaren? She has been reading through this and actually doing the experiments in this book. {Giving up so many of the creature comforts that we Americans take for granted}. Oooh boy, this is a humbling book, and the perfect capstone to my weekend struggle. Jen Hatmaker is a very witty author and so far it has been a quick but enjoyable {if not convicting} read. I cant' wait to finish it.
This morning we finally got our vegetable garden put in which inspired the kids to start their own.
{Note that they are surrounded by weeds!} ;)
So now I am feeling fulfilled and blessed. We serve an amazing God who creates joy out of sadness and meets us where we are. Thanks for stopping by!
