Sunday, November 25, 2012

Coming Soon ...

our 2012 Christmas Card!

Here's a preview:
Stationery card
View the entire collection of cards.
You can get yours at Shutterfly.com. They are having a great sale, too!

Friday, November 9, 2012

A Little Shout Out

Just wanted to give a shout out to Tiffiney at Tiffiney Photography.  I have been following her work for years (literally, like since Briggs was a baby).  Her photography is some of the best I have ever seen.  I finally decided that we were not going to wait any longer to have her photograph our family, especially now that Corban is here.  She "captured" some great "moments" (words in quotes were her business name when I first found her online!) for us this week, and I can not wait to see all of the images.   Not only is she a wonderful photog, she also has a heart for missions and for other people, as evidenced by how she gives back to the community. She was so easy to work with, and I can't recommend her enough.  If you need a photographer, please give her a call.  You won't regret it!

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Pray with us

It has been a little over a year since we moved back to SC from Louisville, KY.  Most of you know that after our move we started a non-profit missions organization to build homes and share the Gospel with the people of the dump in Guatemala City.  Our plan has been to live here (SC) for the next 5 or so years as we build relationships in Guatemala and raise support for our non-profit.  We have begun to feel that we cannot fully build relationships and do the work the Lord has called us to do while living in the US full time.  It is our desire (as well as what we believe to be God's desire) that we move sooner than later.  Please pray with us that God will open doors for us to move within the next year to 2 years. We are looking at different possibilities about how we will get to Guatemala full time in that short time frame.  We know that if God wills it, he will provide for us to go.

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Remodeling

I have been waiting to post about our house remodel until we are completely finished ... and then I realized I might never post about it if I do that! :)

We moved in May and have been working ever since.  We've gotten a lot accomplished, but there's still much to be done.  3 trips to Guatemala and having a baby will put you a little behind schedule!

Here's a few before and after pics.  The before pics are blurry because I forgot to take them so I had to grab them from the realtor's webpage when the house was for sale. You can get the idea, though.

I guess the boys' room is complete, minus the bedroom door and curtains.  Curtains are not easy to find and are not cheap, either.  I've decided that I may end up purchasing fabric and making some myself.  When to find the time to do that is the question!  The bedroom door is down in the basement waiting to be hung, but I think I actually like the room without a door.  The door opens into the closet (I guess what I mean is that when the door is open the closet is right behind the door) so you have to close the door to open the closet doors.  Right now, it's just easier to not have the door.

The kitchen needs to be tiled and then it will be finished.  Aaron is hoping to work on it in the next few weeks once Briggs is finished with soccer practice (2 nights a week).

The living room is pretty much done, minus wall hangings.  We are getting family pics taken next week so hopefully by Christmas time our walls will no longer be bare.

Our bedroom hasn't been touched.  We decided to finish everything else before we even tackle that room.  The dining room has gotten a new chandelier, but that's all.  It has paneling, which I would just as soon paint, but Aaron hates it and is going to have it taken down and the walls sheet-rocked hopefully this spring.

We want to redo the flower beds outside, which will also be a spring project.

We did take out the carpet throughout the house and have the hardwoods refinished.  The kitchen had about three layers of linoleum that had been put down with tar .. yes, tar.  It was a doozy to get up.  We put down vinyl tile.

My thoughts on the whole thing: If we are not gonna be living here full time, then don't worry about all the renovations, but it is driving Aaron crazy!

Enough explaining, here's the pics:

Before:



After:




BeforeAfter


Before:

After:

There's not a before of boys' room, but here's the after:



Ignore all the boxes and junk everywhere ... I'm in the process of switching out summer/winter clothes!