Looking to Jesus

I wrote this essay last year and sent it to one of our pastors and it was published on our church blog.  God continues to remind me of who He is, so I thought I'd share.

Steve is still in school and we still don't have a definite end date.  He is still looking for a job in an industry that has been hit very hard by this economic downturn.  Just yesterday he received word about another job that won't be offered to him.  We are living "in limbo"...it is uncomfortable and sometimes unnerving.  Will we be moving?  How much should we do to get the house ready to possibly put on the market?  Maybe we won't have to move at all?  

We may not know what the future holds, but we do know who holds our future.

Looking to Jesus 

"...looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God."     Hebrews 12: 12

I am so thankful for all the wonderful truths and promises our Lord has for us in His word.  Recently, He has been using this promise in Hebrews to calm my heart and set my focus on Him.

You see, my husband is a full-time graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania.  We moved here from Colorado in 2006 specifically for this school opportunity.  Steve is now in his 5th and final year of school.  I stay at home with our two daughters and home school them too.  I am also pregnant with another sweet babe due in May.  Graduate school has been harder than we ever imagined, yet God has also grown us more than we ever could have imagined.  We are amazed and thankful for His care and grace.

Steve has started the process of looking for a job, to begin when he is done with school.  Job hunting is, to say the least, a test in managing hope, expectations, and anxiety.  We eagerly anticipated fall recruitment, hopeful for a job for Steve.  There were less companies who came to Penn for fall recruitment last year, but the interviews Steve did have went well and he was even invited up to Boston for a second round of interviews with one company.  We experienced such a mixed bag of emotions to learn that Steve did not get that job...thankful for an answer, disappointed that it wasn't an offer, and thankful to not be moving (to Boston, at least).

As we processed the news, our Lord continued to remind me of who He is and where He is.  He visually used the image of Himself seated at the right hand of the throne of God to minister to me.  My Lord is not alarmed or surprised; He is seated.  He is not confused; He is seated.  He is not calling his head angels into council to discuss Steve's job search; He is seated.  He is not whispering up to God and questioning the search so far;  He is seated.  He is calm and tranquil, not in the least bit shaken or surprised; He is seated.  He has reminded me that He has a plan; He is seated.  He has reminded me of all He has done so far; all while He was, and is, seated.  

This image of Jesus has calmed my heart so much.  As He calls me to look to Him as the founder and perfecter of my faith, my focus shifts from our circumstances to our Lord.  All situations that seem unsure to us are known by Him.  All life events; past, present, and future are known by Him.  We can rest in this truth; our Lord is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Have a blessed day~

Rach

Bathroom Makeover

The bathroom redo is officially done!  

We are so blessed to have our home...but "blessed" is not often what came to my mind when we first purchased our current home.  Steve, the optimist, definitely saw more of it's potential than I did.  This is our 3rd house...we built our first two...yes, I was spoiled..very, very spoiled.  Thankfully, God has really worked in my heart concerning this house and how I look at a home...and this home has really grown on me.  I am so very thankful for the home He has provided and the things He has taught me.  This is a great home :)

...but a bigger upstairs bathroom would still be nice :) 

Anyhoo, our home was built in the 50's (I think the cool, HGTV term is "mid-century") and sometime in it's history, an addition was built on the back...the heavy use of dark wood paneling makes us suspect the addition was added in the 70's :)  (1973 to be exact, according to Steve...who remembers this tidbit of info from our mortgage documents.)  And with the addition, came a downstairs bathroom...which I soon learned is actually a pretty nice bonus for some of these older homes.

We painted the dark paneled rooms years ago...at least they are real wood and look pretty nice lightened up.  What a difference a coat (well, many coats actually) of paint makes!  

But the downstairs bathroom...what can I say...we affectionately called it Outhouse Chic.  The linoleum was this ugly river rock looking stuff...we named it Shiny Pebble.  It had dark paneling (the fake stuff) up to the chair rail, dark wood trim, a sink whose hot water handle came off every other time you used it, a doorknob that often came off in your hand (and sometimes made opening the door a bit tricky), and wallpaper that made me wonder why that pattern was ever even made.  As I peeled the paper off, Bella had a hard time telling the difference between where the wall was now bare with just the glue left behind and where the paper was still up...it was that bad.  And to complete the effect, we even had a wooden toilet seat!  The only thing missing was a moon cut into the bathroom door :)  It makes me laugh just to write about it! 


See...

Wooden medicine cabinet, dark paneling, shiny pebble floor...classy!

The previous owner used a napkin as a valance.  See that bit of wallpaper...it almost matches the glue pattern left behind where I already peeled some of the paper off the wall.  Oh, and there's part of the doorknob~

Wooden toilet seat...bonus!

But now, my friends, it's a completely different room.  First, I hired this really HOT handyman! Ooh, la, la!

The HOT handyman...putting in new flooring...bye-bye Shiny Pebble!.  Notice the broken doorknob~

HOTTIE!

Bye-bye old broken doorknob~

Steve put in new flooring.  He used a product called Allure; nice looking, easy to install, waterproof (important for a bathroom), and very affordable (important for our budget).  He removed the dark paneling and replaced it with beadboard.  I removed all the old wallpaper and the glue and we painted the room a nice shade of blue (Behr, Cloudy Day, if you're interested) and painted the dark brown door and wood trim a nice shade of white (Behr, Moonlight White, again, if you're interested).  The pedestal sink got a new brushed nickel faucet and we're all so happy to have a fully functioning hot water faucet handle :)  I happily threw away the old (once again, wooden) medicine cabinet and replaced it with a beveled oval mirror.  I simply spray painted the brass sconces that were already there with this really cool hammered metal spray paint...they look great!   Steve installed a whole new toilet...no more wooden toilet seat.  I almost cried tears of joy when I saw the garbage man throw the old toilet seat into the garbage truck :)  We opted not to re-hang the bronze chicken towel hook (once again, not making this stuff up) and replaced it with a simple brushed nickel towel ring.  And we also opted to replace the wooden, double toilet paper roll/magazine holder with a simpler holder that matches the new towel ring.  I also made a new valance and added some fresh towels.  I displayed some of my sea glass by the window and some framed lighthouse greeting cards (I bought in the Outer Banks years ago) completed the transformation.    

Outhouse Chic has been replaced with Seaside Serenity~

Here it is!  Fresh towel, framed NC lighthouses, new mirror, fresh paint, new beadboard~

The new valance, made by yours truly.  More framed lighthouses~

Steve's new floor...much nicer than Shiny Pebble!  New toilet and no more wooden seat :)

Seaside details...shells and seaglass~

We love it!  Steve, you did an amazing job and I am so thankful for all your hard work...you're wonderful!  I think we make a pretty good team :)


Come visit...and try out our new bathroom~


God bless~
Rach

Valentine's Candy

The girls and I joined some friends yesterday for some Valentine candy making!  Here's a picture of the creations.  It was so fun and relatively easy.  I had no idea how easy it was...but I definitely see where it can get really complicated.  We were working with 10 to 5 year olds, so we kept it pretty simple.  

First, the girls learned how to use a double boiler to melt the chocolate...dark and milk.  Then they dipped caramels in the melted chocolate and let them cool on wax paper.  Then they drizzled them with contrasting chocolate.  Okay, the drizzling was pretty messy...but so fun!  They also dipped pretzels into the melted chocolate and added sprinkles too.  Yep, the sprinkles were everywhere :)  

The pretty ones in the papers were made using a candy mold...mostly by one of the moms.    My friend put some chocolate in the mold, cooled it, then added a squirt of this wonderful frosting filling, and then finished filling the mold.  Then she put them in the freezer to cool some more, popped them out of the molds, and another friend drizzled the white chocolate.  They are delicious...and so pretty!  

We will definitely be making candy again!  

Rachel~

Happy Valentine's Day!

I just had to share this sweet picture Sophia drew for me for Valentine's Day.  It's our family...Bella is saying Happy Valentine's Day Baby...Steve is reaching over and trying to "eat" one of Gracia Kathryn's cheeks...so sweet and simply beautiful~

 Happy Valentine's Day!


God bless~
Rach