21st Time

I heard this song, by Monk and Neagle, for the first time today on my drive home. It's similar to "If We Are The Body" feel, and is Very good!

Weekend with Wendi - Part One

I wasn't going to start blogging about this trip until I got home, but I ended up with a little more time than I was expecting, so here's the first day in pictures:

Caleb and I had a great day of travel on Friday and got to Merritt Island to Mom and Jeff's in the evening. We spent the night and had a relaxing morning (and delicious breakfast) before hitting the road again. It was only about two and a half hours to Coconut Creek to Wendi's parent's house, where she is staying.

I was able to see the Wifia last spring at our reunion in Colorado...

... all except Wendi =(

So, this trip was super important to me!

Now I've "collected all five!"

It was SO good to see her! We picked right up where we left off (nearly two years ago!) and have been having a great time so far!

I had never met her baby, Abigail, and her boys, Isaac and Elijah have grown up so much!

Abigail and Caleb getting acquainted

(She is more than twice his age, but they are almost the same size, and his feet are as big as hers!) =)

Isaac being sweet with Caleb

Ironically, there was a Turkish festival going on in Fort Lauderdale, so we decided to go check it out! Wendi was excited to introduce us to a little of "her" culture, and it was awesome hearing her speak Turkish to the people there (they were all so surprised!) =)

Music, dancing, spices, food, jewelry, pottery - a great little taste of Turkey!

Lahmacun - sort of a Turkish "pizza" rolled up with salad in the middle - very good!

Wendi and I with the flags

I love this picture of Wendi with her kids by the fountain

After the kids went to sleep, Wendi and I hit up DQ. It's a favorite with both of us and I think it was her first visit since coming back to the US!

DIY... or not

DIY (Do It Yourself) books, projects, websites, blogs, tips and tricks have swept the planet (or at least North America) for years, as people have become empowered to make their own crafts, turn junk into treasure and reuse, repurpose and reconstruct things in their home to make them useful or more attractive.

I have been bitten quite badly myself by the DIY bug (as Andrew can personally attest to from his recent visit...chaos!) It poses as a harmless, creative streak that pops up every now and then and usually produces some pretty cool and fun stuff.

However, I've been thinking lately, as much of my time and energy has been taken up with concocting, planning and creating things, that... it's not necessarily "harmless" at all.

What am I getting at? Crafting is bad? No, not at all. On a serious note, I feel like I have let the "DIY" mentality affect other areas of my life. I tend to "do it myself" instead of asking others for help when I'm stressed or sick or overcommitted, I "do it myself" when I am having a rough time with the kids instead of asking other experienced, wiser moms for advice, and sadly, I "do it myself" too often and find at the end of the day that I have not asked for help from the Lord even once that day. DIY or DIHW (Do It His Way)?

What if I spent as much time seeking His Book as I do on Facebook,

or as much energy building my relationship with Him as I do building home decor,

or as much time meditating on His Thoughts as I do on left over terra cotta pots?

"But choose you this day whom you will serve..." Joshua 24:15

There will be no more "project reveals" until I have had some catching up time with my Lord. I have a lot of driving to do in the next few days and no one else in the van who can talk... no excuses there. =)

Random Things That Make Me Smile

This truck that I see on the way to Keenan's school

My Valentine's roses

Blanket togas Philip made for the kids

How sweet/patient Spunky is with the kids

First Margarita Monday with Melissa in a LONG time!

Caleb falling asleep while playing

This picture Keenan drew of Caleb =)

Busy Three Weeks

So... when we had Andrew come, we were hoping he could manage to complete the deck and the murphy bed during his stay. Those were our two main goals. Well, as you know, he did those...and so much more! Here's what else he accomplished (and I'm sure I've forgotten something):

Put a new latch on our door

Fixed a spot where a DIYer had done a poor job of bricking on the back of the house

Sanded the pantry doors for my Chalkboard project

Haha! I love this picture of him pretending to sand our shiny fridge! =)

Repaired the brick wall at the end of our driveway

Made two rustic wooden frames for me

(project reveal coming soon)

Removed part of the slats on the wall in the entryway to install the shelf

Did some plumbing in the backyard

Built this shelf for my Entryway project

Helped me paint this hallway

Painted this hallway on his own

Installed a curved shower bar in the bathroom

Took this wall from this to this

Also, he babysat for us so we could go to a party and took the kids out for the evening so we could go to the airport to meet Melissa when she got home!

He also hung several things for me, cut random pieces of wood I wanted to save, moved a cast iron bathtub out of our backyard that the previous owners left buried back there, and put a new sealing strip on our basement door.

What a guy!! We are so blessed to have had him come and use his many talents in and around our home! Thank you, Andrew!

Another Before and After =)

Yesterday morning, (after having seen this list on Facebook), I woke up and decided to make some artwork for our hallway. It was originally called "10 Ways to Love" and had scripture verses to go with each one. I only had room for eight of them (and that was enough measuring for me, trying to figure out how to fit it all into 22 inches!) =)

This is what I did

Not a bad picture, just no spot where it really went in our house

(It came from Rebekah W, who had bought it and had the same problem)

I couldn't get the glass out, so I just covered it with paper and painted three coats...

...and then distressed it,which doesn't show very well in this picture

(I do like that you can see Spunky in the background, though!)

On the wall in our hallway, where there used to be a mirror (terrible lighting)

(Interesting, instead of seeing myself, now I have to think about these...)

Definitely going to be getting a lot of use out of my extra can of "Key Largo" blue!

Philip's Birthday Continued

Here are a few more pictures from the rest of the day yesterday:

We had our annual "birthday dinner" with Myrtle (to celebrate her birthday on the 14th and Philip's on the 15th) at Logan's. I've decided it's one of the Best kid restaurants around because they LOVE throwing the peanut shells on the floor! =)

Keenan and his beautiful date (doesn't she look amazing for 81?)

I love this one!

Me and my man

Our boys

Birthday cake and singing Happy Birthday before the kids went to bed

(they got to eat it for breakfast this morning) =)

We usually end up with waaay too much cake, so I scaled it back this year

Big News!!! Caleb and I are taking a road trip this weekend to Fort Lauderdale, to see.... WENDI!!!! I think most of you know Wendi, she was one of the "wifia" here during our residency and she and her husband JB, are currently stationed in Turkey. She's in South Florida for a month right now, her first visit back to the US! Even though it's 10 hours away, it sure is a lot closer than Turkey, so there is no question, I'm Going!!

Philip will stay here (bless his heart) with Keenan and Moriah for the four days that we'll be gone. I'll leave tomorrow and drive to Merritt Island where we'll spend the night with Mom and Jeff before driving the last three hours on Saturday. We get back home on Tuesday.

I'm not planning to blog while we're gone, so I have several posts ready to auto post while I'm gone.

Please pray for safety as we travel and that I will continue to heal quickly during this time as well.

It's Philip's Birthday!!

Today is Philip's birthday! The first anniversary of his 30th birthday. =)

A week or so ago, he helped me "zing" one of his colleagues with funny birthday posters plastered all over the clinic. In all fairness, I emailed that same colleague yesterday with a picture (that I think is Adorable) of when Philip was two, for him to distribute as he wished. =) Great fun ensued.

Love it!

What a year this last one has been! How about we don't spend most of it apart this time around, huh, Babe? =) I love you!

I'm blessed...

It was a long Valentine's Day for both of us. Philip didn't get home until close to 8 pm. Apparently these roses had been sitting out on the porch for me for several hours before he got home, but I hadn't heard the delivery guy! Oh well, then Philip got to give them to me himself. =)

What more could a girl ask for?

Valentine's Day 2012

Valentine's Day... the day every year that makes me think in red and whites and hearts and curly cues. =)

I Had to dress the kids up and get some pictures, because that's what we Do around here! Here's a look back at the last few years:

2009

2010

2011

I tried to put Keenan and Moriah in the shape of a heart with Caleb in the middle, but they really aren't quite tall enough yet to be able to bend in that shape =)

Love this one

=)

And of course we can't forget that this is Caleb's first ever Valentine's!

Notice his "tattoo" =)

I kept Keenan home from school today because he was coughing pretty bad. Today was kind of a big deal at school today though, and I felt really bad that he was missing it (he'll still get all his valentines tomorrow and get to pass out his own). So, to make it up to him, we made the day fun by doing some fun valentine's crafts (we took some to Philip), making miniature cupcakes and decorating them (we took some to Myrtle for her birthday), watching a Valentine's movie, and.. after their nap, I set out a fun tea party for them.

Table all ready

Sweets tray

Cupcakes, pretzels and Nilla wafers dipped in candy melts

Chocolate initials

Different view

Chocolate dipped apples

Fun decoration left over from Moriah's 2nd birthday party

Cool silhouette

Ready to dig in!

I think this one is really sweet

Tea, anyone?

Sweet sleepy face

They opted to switch to their plastic tea set =)

Cheers!