Things I like

I thought I would share a little of my decorating in progress.  I have noted that others like to wait for completed projects to share but if I waited that long I may never actually share anything.  What is a completed project?  You still wouldn't have seen the wall in my kitchen if we were waiting for that.  I mean the trim now has one coat but there are a dozen little projects still to be done, on top of another coat of paint on the trim.  It is the joy of being a home owner and living on a budget and having a husband that works in construction and doesn't always want to spend his evenings and weekends working in his own home.

ANYWAY...Our family room has been the bane of my decorating existance since we moved in.  I just don't know what I am doing down there.  I have considered several themes but get bored with them long before I get around to acting on the thought.  Well finally a very undefined theme that I am calling "put what I like down there" is forming in my mind. The biggest issue will be painting the walls but I have decided to definately hire someone to choose paint colors for me.  I am ready to paint a few other rooms as well and am saving up all my paint color plans for a 1 hour consultation.  Worth every penny in my opinion.  Actually I heard recently that Home Depot will send someone out for free to give you a color palate.  I might check them out...In the mean time here are a few pictures of where I am going.

Believe it or not John got this great cabinet out of someone's kitchen when they were remodeling.  The plan is to paint it black and put shelves on either side and crown molding along the top to create a nice built in.  I gave up my bookshelf last year to Isabelle's toys and now have my books stored in strange places all over the house.  When I am looking for a book I really miss them.  Would love to see this project happen soon but realistically it will look like this for another year.

I did decide to start my "things I like/Family history" theme with some items I brought back from Kenya.

Now keep in mind this is a work in progress.  I love the Lesos on either side of the fireplace but I realize they are too close and the one is a little crooked. (and they both need to be washed and ironed desperately.)  I had the map of Kenya and the painting I bought at the Nairobi market both framed and love them.  The question is...do you like them together on the mantle like that?  I will probably hang the smaller picture up a little higher if I decide to do it but since it is brick don't want to do anything until I am ready to commit.  Actually don't know how I will hang it on brick when I do decide to commit so sugestions for that welcome as well.

So then this is my favorite part.  I have been thinking about a wall of family pictures for the past year and picked up some random frames at our church sale last spring.  Then I started second guessing myself thinking they wouldn't work because none of them match.  But since I can do anything I want in this new decor style I decided to bring them all down and lay them out around this big picture we have of John rock climbing back in his hey day.  It looked great.  Then I realized I had 2 other frames with pictures I didn't really have a use for inside them and they were both the same size.  So I put them on the end and voila...I am a genius.

(John did the math to hang them perfectly.  I am only about the concept not the details.)

So there you have my perfectly hung family photo wall but not with family photos in any of the frames. I had initially planned to pick up a mat for the two end frames with random openings to give that collage look but as I was going through Kenya pictures spreading them on the floor I really liked how they were looking laying there. I decided to simply open up the frames and glue the pictures to the back of the pictures already in there and pop them back in. They turned out great..

...if I do say so myself.

So now all the big frames are filled and I just need to order a few 8x10's and 5x7's to fill in the other frames.  While I love seeing all our Africa memories I do want the family room to represent more than this one event in our lives so I a going to try to choose a variety of other photos of our family to fill in the gaps.  It is so exciting to see it all come together.  Now I just need to figure out what to put on the existing shelves in the entertainment center.  I guess the answer is to look around and see what I love and what is part of the history of our family.

Artistic Family History

 I love reading magazines.  It makes me happy to read short snippets of information that can inspire me for a brief moment before I put the magazine down and forget it or rip it out and try that new craft, recipe, exercise, organizational idea, etc.  The past couple years I have been on a break from "womens" magazines and just getting Runner's World.  This year I felt it was time to take a break from reading about runners and instead go back to my girly magazines.  I went straight to the source and am now recieving Martha Stewart each month.  I also threw in Women's Day when I realized it was so cheap that 2 issues at the grocery store cost more than a year long subscription.

I haven't gotten my first Woman's Day yet but I have read this months Martha from cover to cover.  Some stuff I just glossed over.  She added a new column about pet care.  I know she loves her animals but I am happy to live in an animal free zone so I skipped that.  They are chronicling the re-decorating of one of her editors and this month was about his closet.  While I normally enjoy a good closet organizing article I could not get passed the obscene number of button down shirts and pants this man owns.  Rather than inspire me all I could think is that he clearly had a sickness and nobody should have more shirt choices in their closet than is available at the mens store down the street. 

There were many other articles I did find interesting but then I came to it, the article worth the paper this month.  It is an article about a woman who creates what they are calling "scrapboxes". 

Now I am not a scrapbooker per se.  Conceptually I really like them and have create a few simple pages over the years.  My sister-in-law makes beautiful albums.  But it just hasn't been the thing that has sucked me in.  However, I do love pictures.  I have many great pictures on my computer just begging me to do something with them.  Anything.  Just don't leave them hanging there in my computer waiting to be lost in the great computer crash of the century.    I have been wanting to print and frame a bunch to hang on the wall in my basement so I am constantly ripping out magazine pictures where they have a collage wall of pictures.  So here is yet another to rip out. 

Scrapboxes are pictures put into shadow boxes along with a little something extra.  Each box is simple and has one single theme.  Here are some examples:


Her favorite childhood book with a picture of her father reading it to her.

Turkeys made with her children's hands. I have these of Jake and Isabelle from 2 years ago.

She loved the picture of her Grandma reading to her mom so recreated it with her own daughter.  How great is that?

Isn't this fun.  Just one picture printed in a bunch of different sizes and placed on top of one another. Very fun. 

Her daughter wrote out new years resolutions and she saved it with a picture from new years and added some festive ribbon.  Love.  Will my daughter make resolutions someday too?

A family picture at the beach with shells they collected on the trip.  Something to think about as we contemplate an upcoming trip to Florida.

Aren't they all great?  And there are so many other fun ones here at Martha's web site.  Now these are nice but what makes Martha do a whole article on someone's scrapboxes?  Well they aren't just something cute on her wall they were part of an art show.  Someone who owns an art gallery saw them as more than a way to display family photos but as a form of art celebrating the history of the family.  How great is that.  Our family photos will likely never grace the walls of an art gallery anywhere but doesn't it just change the way you look at your photos to think of them that way?  It does for me.

My family room has always been the space in my home where my decorating took vacation.  I have never been inspired down there so just let the hodge podge of crap that accumulates over a lifetime pile up down there.  I have recently begun seeing it as a place where I can display family treasures.  Like our Africa souveniers and photos.  Or that collage wall of family pictures I mentioned.  Or anything else I find that I love.  I had already been wanting to make it into a place that displayed family pictures but now see that it could be a place that chronicles our family history.  What we love, what we do, who we are, where we have been.  And all that together is my art collection.  That room is my art gallery.  In this home where so much of my family history has been made I am excited to begin creating a way to showcase who we are.

I want to go home

Several weeks ago during a control battle between Isabelle and I she suddenly announces, "I want to go home."  Hello, you are at home.  "No my real home.  Where I was born."  The idea that at 4 years old she had put together the tiny amount of information she has and come to the conclusion she used to live with Lauren was so absurd to me that I just had to laugh.  I decided she had no idea what she was talking about and ignored her but a week or so later I heard the same thing during another tantrum.  I had told her she had to eat one bite of her dinner or go to her room for the night.  She had been in her room for a while having her break down and I went in to assess the situation and see if I could convince her to eat.  She begins,

"I want to go home"
Me: this is your home.
Her: no my real home.  Where I was born.
Me: the hospital?
Her: No with Lauren
Me: Even if you lived with Lauren she would make you take a bite.
Her: She is having the same thing?!  Thats....Weird.

I was rolling on the ground laughing by the end of this conversation.  She said it all while crying hysterically.  I almost called Lauren on the spot to back me up on this food thing.  We did talk later and I told her if I ever called with a strange request like, "should Isabelle eat a bite of fish?" she should just go with it.  We laughed together at her comments and discussed the fact that neither of us are prepared for her to begin asking about this at such a young age.

Although I am very secure in my role as Isabelle's mother and in her love for me I would be lying if I didn't admit to having a little pang of sadness when Isabelle announced she wanted to live with Lauren.  I had to give myself a little pep talk to remind myself that this is all part of the process and part of what I signed on for as an adoptive mother.  I know that understanding Sam and Lauren's decision is complicated and difficult even for many adults and will take time for Isabelle to mature enough to accept.  Everywhere Isabelle turns and all the media that she is exposed to portrays a traditional family where the mother gives birth to a child she keeps rather than giving it to another mother to raise.  Guiding her through this understanding will be one of the most important rolls I have as her mother.

After the second comment which I was continuing to try to ignore I felt God encouraging me to talk with Isabelle about her adoption.  I simply shared with her that even though she was in Lauren's tummy that I have always been her mommy.  That I was there the day after she was born and brought her home from the hospital.  She has never lived with Lauren.  She actually hugged me and thanked me for telling her this and looked physically relieved.  It is amazing to realize that at such a young age her sense of security can already be under attack.  But I think if she didn't feel loved and secure she wouldn't feel free to say these things and ask questions.

So far these question have come up when she was being disciplined.  It came up again this morning after I sent her to her room for something.  I specifically remember during one of our early meetings with Sam and Lauren before she was born Sam telling us that if she ever called them because we were disciplining her for something and she wanted to get out of it that they would always back us up.  I think we were all envisioning a pre-teen or teenager calling them not a 4 year old but it is nice to know even at this age they have our backs.  (If she really knew what was going on she would run to Grandma and Grandpa, they are the real push overs.)

Never a dull moment around here.
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Side note, I have finished labeling all my posts now so you may peruse all my thoughts by catagory.  Enjoy.

Praying for my children

Every year when I am making goals and plans I take some time to come up with a plan for praying for my kids and godchildren.  This year I was specifically thinking of my precious Mady.  I am her "fairy godmother".  My family doesn't really do godparents per se but my sister wanted some extra prayer for her children and so chose a special person for each child and mine is Mady.  I wanted to come up with some theme that I could send her a note about throughout the year.  Enter the study on Philipians that have been working on all fall.  There is a ton of good stuff in there but I was struck by Philipians 4:8-9 as being perfect and full of matierial for the entire year.

"Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.

The things you have learned and recieved and heard and seen in me, practice these things; and the God of peace shall be with you."

So much good stuff.  Of course I realized I didn't want to just save this for Mady but it was also perfect for my children and my other goddaughter.  Then a couple weeks ago a friend asked us to be godparents to their son so I have a godson to pray for as well.

Wednesday was the study of this passage and some great stuff came from it which will be so helpful throughout the year.  I think what attracted me to this passage, besides the fact that I could focus on each of the attributes pure, lovely, right, honorable, etc, is the idea of controling your mind and thinking.  It can be at times easy to physically do the right thing, keeping your mouth shut and obeying your parents for instance but in your mind you might still be sinning by thinking negative thoughts or blaming others for your circumstances.  The younger we can learn to control our mind and turn it to God the better off we will be in adulthood.  Actually one of the women in my study has a son in medical school.  He had taken a class on the brain and said that our minds develop grooves in the brain with our thinking.  So if you are in the habit of a negative thought then your mind just sort of rides in the grove of negativity.  You can create new grooves but it will mean working to stay out of that existing groove to do so and that old groove will always be there.  Much easier to create positive grooves in the first place than to pull out of the negative ones.  Much better to focus on all that is excellent and worthy of praise so that the God of peace shall be with us.

I think the most important part of this passage is the word "practice".  Paul, the writer of Philipians, tells us to "practice these things".  They don't come naturally to us.  Paul knew this, God knows this.  We need to practice.  In practicing we don't always do things right but we keep trying to do better and we improve each time we try.  What a great lesson in life.

Of course I will confess that I haven't sent Mady that first note yet and now the first month is almost over, so that is my task for today.  Send a note to Mady and spend some more time in prayer for my children and godchildren.

Above Average

I was reading a devotional today which had a quote from Florence Littauer--"It takes so little to be above average."  As my mom would say, "that's deep."  So simple but so true.  And in a way so sad.  Why do we contribute so little to our lives, relationships, homemaking, parenting, marriages, society that it only takes a little effort to make us above average?

How hard to put just a little effort in and become that shining star God has created us to be?  The devotional was on keeping promises, if you say you will call at 7pm do it.  How amazing that keeping a simple promise like that makes you above average.  Yet I know I have broken promises like that before.  In fact on Sunday morning I thought I might be on for serving communion.  I wasn't sure but rather than check and show up for my responsibility I decided someone would surely cover for me if I was on and so I slept in late and went to a different service.  It is easy to say everyone does it but that doesn't make it right.  I made a promise I didn't keep.  I am usually one of the faithful, I had been above average in this area of my life but today I am simply average, like everyone else who doesn't really take their responsibility serious.  How simple to be above average.

This weekend we threw a shower for my cousin who is having a little girl after 2 boys.  It will likely be the last baby for both her and this generation of our family and we wanted to celebrate.  We wanted it to be above average and it was.  But it was so simple to make it above average.  To buy a little pink tulle, and some pink fabric (which my mom made into a table cloth but could also have simply been draped over the table), to simply feel the love for the family and spend a few moments creating the details that make it above average.  We aren't a creative family but we are all bonded and so it came to me we should make a quilt together to symbolize our bond.  Of course, again, we are not a creative family, but we can all tie knots and so we all tied a beautiful blanket together for the baby.  How simple to be above average.

My family wants to eat dinner every night.  They are quirky like that.  Yet somehow giving them this simple thing on a regular basis seems to escape me.  This month I planned the entire month of menus ahead of time and except for planned excursions we have only picked up dinner once because I wasn't prepared.  That is big for us.  And I am amazed how easy it has been to just go in the kitchen and make the meal I planned and to grocery shop for each weeks needs as a result.  And not that I haven't always planned menus or shopping lists but I just don't always follow through.  This year I have resolved to take control of this area of my life and am finding it to be a very simple and rewarding experience thus far.  How simple to be above average.

How about you?  What are you doing "above average"?

A Birthday Tea with Grandma

My newly retired parents are preparing to spend the remainder of the winter in the warmth and comfort of Florida.  They will be gone for almost 3 months during which Isabelle will turn 5.  Not wanting to miss an opportunity to give many gifts, my mom took Isabelle and I out for a fancy tea at a nearby Arboretum as an early celebration.  It was lovely and Isabelle was definately the hit of the room in her party clothes, her excitement each time we let her open another of her 4 gifts from Grandma and daintily pouring herself tea.  A man even came and sang her happy birthday.

Grandma and Isabelle

I brought our tea hats to wear.  Grandma seemed embarassed and wanted to take it off as soon as the picture was taken but what is a tea without a fun hat?

Enjoying her Madame Alexander Fancy Nancy Doll.  Grandma really knows how to spoil.

Pouring her own tea perfectly.  Fingers holding the lid on and all.  Just add lots of milk and sugar and a few ice cubes and you have her perfect combination.

They brought he a special Happy Birthday cup to drink from.

Simply painting

Another aspect of simplicity I didn't mention the other day was finding new ways to solve problems that don't involve buying a specialty item. I am trying to be more creative. The first challenge before me was Isabelle's paints. I had purchased larger paint bottles but now never wanted to get everything out because it was such a hassle. I wanted to buy the fancy paint cups that I could just open up let her paint and then close up but knew they were several dollars each and didn't want to spend it. Enter baby food jars. While I am beyond this stage I know a few people who are empting a few jars a day and found a friend who happily passed on about 20 jars to me.  They are working great.  I used a few for her paints and plan to use a few for the house paint to make touch ups a little easier for me.

                                                      Simple paint pots

                                                    Simply painting