Project Day

I'm officially on Thanksgiving Vacation, but I'm not really laying low. I have a list of things I need to get done so today I tackled one I've been wanting to do for a long time. I bought this old student desk for $15 at a consignment/antique store in town over a year ago. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it, but I knew I needed to sand it and repaint it. I had some red paint I got in the mail from Glidden last year when you could get a free sample of their paint.  I didn't have a project small enough for this little can until I started thinking about the desk.  AH ha!

Painting it all red seemed a little much red to me though. It wasn't in great shape and had several layers of paint. So I could either sand the desk part down to wood and stain it or paint it another color. I had some extra chalkboard paint in my paint cupboard and decided that would be a fun idea.

I got up this morning and decided since it was such a beautiful day (76 degrees and sunny) I would work on the little desk today. It might rain later in the week and I can do my indoor projects then. I'd already started sanding when I remembered to take a before picture. So this picture has the top layer of paint already off.

BEFORE

AFTER

 Sam can't miss out on the action! 

You can also see part of my baby dresser that I sanded and painted white during the summer.

 As you can probably see, I need to do some touch up on the inside legs,

but I need to turn the desk upside down to do that and want to wait a couple days. 

Also, what do you think I should do to the inside?

Here's the chalkboard top.  I'm so excited about this little project.

It took four coats of paint and this was the result.  It's not perfect, but I wasn't going for perfection.  ha!  I'm also wondering if maybe I should add a poly top coat to it all.  That might prevent scratching and peeling.  Anyone have any advice about that? 

Thanks to all of you for your sweet comments on my last post.  The talk went well.  Everyone was really sweet and encouraging.  I did show the video at the end.  Lots of tears were shed.  I'll try and share some of what I said another time.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Update:  I linked up to Creations by Kara for her Look What I Made day.

In All Circumstances

This Wednesday I'm going to share my struggle with infertility and where that has lead us with our ladies class at church. When I was asked to do this, I was asked to share how we have been thankful and faithful through our struggles.

I don't want to come across as being perfect in that sense or having all the answers, because I don't! I've questioned why this has happened to us more times than I can count. But, even during all of this, I've trusted God...even though I don't understand the why of it. I know His plans far better than anything I can imagine.

I'm nervous and trying to prepare and could really use some good thoughts and prayers!

I'm also considering showing this video. I'm sure most of you have seen it by now. I'm just not sure I will be able to speak after watching it through all the tears.  I think it gives women a glimpse into the struggles we face and feelings we have.  What do you think?

Thought for Thursday

"Every experience God gives us,

every person He puts into our lives,

is the perfect preparation for a future only He can see."

~Corrie ten Boom

I took this on our camping trip.  It has nothing to do with the quote above. 

I just like the pic.  The girls were playing in the water/mud and had so much fun!

Halloween Camping

We had a wonderful Halloween weekend camping with some of our greatest friends. We got out to our campsites Friday after school and set up our tents. By the time we got everything set up and everyone finally arrived, it was time for a campfire.  There's nothing like sitting around a campfire and chatting with friends. After the kids all went to bed, that's just what we did.

Saturday, we got up and made breakfast and then went for a hike. We spent the day hanging out and I even had to run home for a bit. Did I mention the campground is super close to home?! When I came back some more friends that weren't able to spend the night came out for the evening and we had a pumpkin carving contest. It was so much fun!

I won't write about everything we did, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Once again, I have to say, I am blessed to have amazing friends. We love our little group!!

Our campsite...that's our orange tent in the background.

Our home for the weekend.

 Hanging out around the campfire Saturday morning.

 I love these girls!

 Wes is amazing!

 Ready with a worm.

 Using that new Barbie fishing pole

 Avery scooping out the pumpkin guts.

 Barry getting started on our pumpkin.

 This is serious business!

 I love this picture!



 "Please daddy, will you carve the puppy face?"

Abby's giving me some advice on how to carve my pumpkin.

 Nothing better than playing with dirt and rocks when you're camping.

 Cara made donuts and they were yummy!

 Enjoying a donut

 Sam wants his ball!

He likes to drink water from the faucet.

Here are a couple I touched up of the girls. I've got plenty more to work on.

I know there are a lot of pictures in this post, but I want to do a better job of adding pictures of our life.  I take hundreds of pictures all the time and then I don't ever load them on here.  I'm going to do a better job of adding them so I can look back in years and know what I was doing during this time in my life.

Prayer Request

Thanks for all your sweet words about Molly.  I truly appreciate them.  CB has been doing quite a bit of crying and I just feel so bad for her.  I'm sure she has no idea what happened to her mom.  I know it will get better and soon she won't cry so much for her.  I'm waiting for that day.

(courtesy google images)

In other news, as some of you already know, we could really use some prayers right now.  I won't get into all the details, but we have a possible adoption situation.  It's a different and somewhat complicated situation that involves a toddler.  I'll share a little bit of an email I sent to our friends and family...

Please, please pray for us.  We are scared about this situation because adopting a toddler is so very different than an infant. This wasn't our plan, but really when we thought about that, none of this has been our plan. ha! God's plans are often different than our plans. We are praying that we allow God to work in this situation and do what HE wants us to do. It's scary to us, but it's also exciting. One of my favorite quotes from Francis Chan in his book Crazy Love is this:

"But God doesn't call us to be comfortable. He calls us to trust Him so completely that we are unafraid to put ourselves in situations where we will be in trouble if He doesn't come through."

We don't doubt that God will come through for us. :) We trust Him completely.

Please also pray for this child. Whether we are a match for him and adopt him or he joins another family, he is going to go through a BIG change in the very near future. Pray for him to adjust well to his new family and for that family to love him and support him during this time. It will be a big transition for him. Also pray for his family. They love him so much, which is why they are choosing this adoption plan for him. Pray that they are able to find some comfort in the choice they are making for this sweet little boy. I can't imagine their pain in making this decision and I just pray they have a sense of peace about this.

That's just a portion of the email.  I won't share all the other details at this time.  Please just keep us and all the other people involved in this situation in your prayers. 

Thanks!

My Sweet Girl

This afternoon I came home to find my sweet Molly had passed away while I was gone to work. She was 16 years old and had slowed down quite a bit, but was still her normal sweet self.

I'm going to miss my Molly girl. She greeted me at the door everyday and sat on my lap in the evenings when I watched TV. If her dish wasn't full of food, she'd cry until I filled it up. She never wanted to be without food.

I feel really bad because I've been complaining about cat hair the last couple weeks. I usually vacuum every day and when I was sick a few weeks ago, I didn't get to it everyday and I was just disgusted by the hair. I don't just have Molly, but I have her "kitten" CB. She's not a kitten anymore, she's 15 now. She was right by her side laying down when I found Molly. It just broke my heart. She's never known a world without her mother. Poor girl.

Tonight I'm watching TV without my girl and I'm just sad.