And just when I mentioned how peaceful life was going, things started to get a little tricky.
First it was night after night of Bella crying for 30 minutes every 2 hours. We finally figured out she had hand, foot and mouth. Which she successfully passed on to Asher. Who then lovingly shared it with Amai. That fun is finally finishing, after a full week of sleepless nights.
And then this weekend our garage door opener stopped working correctly. So we marched to Home Depot to buy a new one. We forked over the $200 and winced a little but came home thankful to be able to get it fixed in one day.
But that wasn’t the end of our trouble. Yesterday our A/C unit was making this loud, high pitched squealing noise that it’s been making (for about a year) and so Chris went out to spray some wd40 into the part that seemed to be squealing. To make a long story short, the fan never started turning again after that. And naturally, since I hate being hot more than almost anything else (besides vomiting of course) I couldn’t sleep at all. Until about 5 am when I only had an hour left available for shut-eye anyway.
So as I type, the a/c guy is outside with Chris discussing matters. And hopefully fixing the darn thing!
Here’s the thing. Chris and I just recently re-committed to tithing 10% of our income to our church faithfully. We’ve been hit or miss about it over the years, mainly because we never have very much money (if any) to spare and to our minds it never seems like it is possible to give the full 10% away and still have enough to cover our expenses. At times we’ve tithed faithfully- but giving less than 10%, never trusting that God will fully provide for our needs.
The numbers don’t really make sense. If we tithe 10%, there shouldn’t really be enough to live on. And this is part of why I’ve felt so strongly over the last month or so that we should tithe exactly that much. I feel like we haven’t trusted Him fully to really provide for us. Like we can figure out how to provide for ourselves best. We are fairly disciplined with our money, but I think more than controlling it- God desires for us to really step out in faith this time. It shouldn’t make sense right now. But we’ve taken the leap and aren’t going to look back.
With every fiber of my being, I know for sure that I will have some awesome stories to tell of how God steps in to provide for us. Kind of like the Christmas when we had so little that we weren’t going to be able to buy any Christmas presents for anyone- not even each other or Amai. I kept praying, asking God for a way to provide gifts for those we love- and one day a money order in the amount of $200 showed up anonymously in our mail. And there have been so many instances like that. So, so many. I can’t wait to tell of the ways that God is providing for us.
It’s not just a matter of faith either. It’s a spiritual discipline that we need to learn.
Well, the verdict is in. It’s going to cost $700, and probably won’t be fixed until tomorrow. Oh boy- it’s going to be a rough day. Say a prayer for us if you get the chance. All 3 kids are home today, thanks to hand-foot-and-mouth. Holy moly!
Thanksgiving was wonderful! We had such a great time with family that day, and I can honestly say that it was the most calm holiday celebration we’ve had since the kids came along. And then…
On the way home from Chris’s parents place in Arlington I made Chris pull over so my pregnant bladder would live. And I got out, quickly followed by Amai who rather urgently announced the need to vomit. So after what can only be described as an impressively disgusting episode of throwing up in the parking lot of a gas station, we headed home for what I thought would be a 24 virus. And here it is, one week later and we just now think she is finally well.
What is it with the stomach flu? Why can’t someone figure out a way to make a vaccine for it. They have the Rotatec vaccine for babies, so why can’t they make a version for preschoolers- and even one for adults while they’re at it. I hate being sick at my stomach more than anything else in the world. To put it mildly. And thish week was fairly miserable. Poor Amai- she is a trooper for sure. Kids are much more resilient than I am, I think.
Since we were trapped inside all week, I decided to do something productive so I wouldn’t lose my mind. While I don’t mind sitting still, I prefer doing something productive while I am forced to stay in one place. Sooooo, voila! I finished making roman shades for Amai’s room. Take a look.
Yay!
I’m going to go with a more bold color palate for the baby bedding, as well as Amai’s bedding. (I don’t think you can tell, but there are some fairly bold colors in the shades.) And we may have to tweek the paint color a bit because of the pink in the shades. I love them though- they turned out much better than Ashe’s, even though his turned out pretty well, too. I’m even thinking of getting a different bed or making an upholstered headboard for Amai.
In case you don’t know, our house is a major remodeling project in the works. I love that we’re changing so much of it and will really love how it will help the re-sale value someday. But it is, by far, a diamond in the rough. I love our house, I’m so thankful for it every single day, but I know noone else sees the potential in it that I do. I’m eager to move onto the kitchen and “office” to get the paint and window treatments done. Then we finally get to focus on the master bedroom and master bathroom. One day, when any of the rooms are completely finished, I will post before and after pictures to amaze you all with the transformation!
Here’s a pic from Thanksgiving- see how healthy we all look? Who knew?
Happy Thanksgiving!
Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Ok, today is a super exciting day for me. I just (mostly) finished making roman shades for Asher’s room. I originally made them a different way, but thankfully only had to rip one apart with my trusty seam ripper before making them like this. I finished one last night and the other one this morning. Take a look!
The stripes aren’t perfectly lined up where I’d like them, but the fabric was $40/yd. so I had to just go with it like this. I got the instructions from an old article in Living that I had saved. My mom taught me to sew years ago and though she never knew it- I’m so grateful and love the fact that I can sew fairly well.
If you have somewhat decent sewing skills, you can totally do this project too. It saves a ton of money by not paying someone else to make window treatments for you. If you go to Martha Stewart’s site, do a search for roman shades and the first article that comes up should get you started. I tried to link it, but the article wouldn’t come up just then.
I made mine to fit very tightly inside the window framing, with a blackout liner ($5/yd from JoAnn Fabrics) so that the room will be pitch black for Asher’s naps. You could do it without a blackout liner, and not so close to the frame as well. JoAnn’s always has great coupons in their ads, so I timed all of my purchases around the sales they had and the coupons they offer to get an even greater deal on these shades.
Our house finally feels like it’s coming along. I can’t explain this, especially since we’ve only painted one room completely, but it feels like it’s finally going to all come together. The kitchen and office projects are both enormous undertakings and have stalled out numerous times due to life being busy with kids. But just getting a glimpse of almost having one room completely done makes it feel like we’re actually going to get it all done.
I’ll post pictures of Ashe’s room once I finish it completely. It may take a while because we have a very eager 4 year old who wants her room painted now! I’m going to do some similar shades in her room (some sort of pink at her request) and then we’ll probably try to finish those two rooms completely before doing our room. Somewhere along the way we’ll slowly get our kitchen done and our office as well. All in time. The living room will be the last before the huge changes that need to happen in both bathrooms.
So, so exciting…
Hope you are all doing well!
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