Better Together

Before and After

The kids' bathroom was the first room I changed when we moved in. For some reason, I only enjoy cleaning when I'm cleaning a room that I like. To me there is nothing worse than scrubbing or mopping in a space that's ugly and doesn't feel like "you". So I spent 8 hours a day for 3 days painting every wall, cabinet, and piece of trim in their bathroom.

Here is the before:

It still scares me to see those.

Here it is now...forgive the horrible pictures, it's a small room and very hard to get decent shots.

(excuse the missing trim...the laundry area is getting a facelift as well)

made this from a chippy piece of scrap wood that was under the house

this mermaid was in Kali Mae's old room, and works perfectly in here

i know the top cabinet door is off...i am thinking about painting the inside blue also and putting a basket in there

the white bin houses all their bath toys

We are planning on taking out the tub/shower combo (bleck!) and putting a real bath tub and tile surround in its place. But for now, I worked with what I had and the kids love it!

Have a great Wednesday!

--Lindsey

ch-ch-ch-changes

My poor blog has been severely neglected for the last 6 months...but for good reason. We moved to our little house on the river in July and are loving it! There were many adjustments to be made for everyone. We miss our family and the things we grew to know so well in Houston. We miss our church and their wonderful preschool program. The kids miss having their own rooms, more space for toys, and their old neighbors. But God lives! And He is working on everyone in this family and has been since we made the decision to move here all those months ago. We may miss family, but when we get to see them we cherish it that much more and enjoy every minute that we're together. Thank God that we live in a time where we can speak on the phone or computer at any given moment. We have found a new church that the kids love and we really enjoy as well. We walked in their doors at an awesome time...they are moving locations and growing to accommodate the increasing amount of people coming to hear God's word. The kids' best friends live only 4 houses away, they have room to run and play, and how many kids have a river in their backyard? The children are all three sharing a room for now, and though they still bicker now and again, I see them growing closer and becoming more tolerant, patient, and respecting each other's space. I for one am appreciative that there is not as much room for toys and material things. I know it will make them better people in the end. Try telling that to a 7 year old! lol

The house is still a major work in progress, but we are getting projects done as we can. I think it's coming along pretty well considering there are 3 little people running around, a busy husband and a tight budget for the time being. I don't quite remember if I'd posted pictures of it before, so here are the ones of the rooms we've worked on so far.

Dining Room before:

Dining Room after:

It looks different in the dining room since this picture was taken, but not much. The banner was from a back to school party I hosted for the kids, and the carpet is gone. Now we have laminate wood floors, thank goodness!

Hmmm thought I had taken an "after" picture of the kids' bathroom but I guess not. I'll post those tomorrow, it turned out really cute. Here's some pictures of the house decorated for fall:

The other side of the dining room

Fall wreath I made

boxes I painted for my mom and mailed to her

We brought this little guy home some time in August. His name is Gunnar, he's a Lab/German Shorthaired Pointer mix. So sweet.

Then the last week of September happened. Kali Mae's birthday party plans needed to be wrapped up, my parents were coming in that weekend to stay with us and be here for the party. Chandler ended up being hospitalized due to asthma for a couple of days in the middle of the week. The morning after we got home from the hospital stay, our amazing dog Oliver was hit by a school bus and died instantly. It was a horrible week and even worse day. It still makes me depressed to even play back in my head. I made it through with prayer and family to helping to get everything back to "normal" and in order. We are blessed!

Kali Mae and Oliver a couple of months ago

I'll leave you with this:

weekend happenings

This morning we packed up and headed down the freeway to sign the contract for the new house!!! Next week we'll be closing on it and moving our things in! I feel like Houston will always be home, but we are so looking forward to new adventures in another city and growing closer as a family.

We spent Sunday at my aunt and uncle's house for a family 4th of July celebration. The kids had so much fun in a kiddie pool and eating the yummy patriotic cupcakes and hamburgers.

Trent sat in the dining room talking to my grandparents for a long time, it was priceless!

my daddy

my mama and me

my Nana, mom, me and my aunts

Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend!

Rain is a good thing

Yesterday was another miserably hot day, and the kids were wanting to play in the kiddie pool. We all changed into out swimsuits and headed outside with watermelon and juice pouches.

Josh suddenly wanted to wash the truck, so the kids jumped all over that. Grabbing rags, soaking them with soapy water, and dancing while they washed...occasionally gathering soapy bubbles on themselves to get clean. :)

As usually is the case, it started raining in the middle of washing the truck. Josh grabbed the water hose and started spraying us all with it. We spent the next 15 minutes playing tag, while Josh sprayed us and raindrops drenched us. Yes, we are that family.

Now the truck needs to be washed again, but at least the kids made memories! Tomorrow we're getting together with family for 4th of July. We're bringing stuff to make s'mores, and baking patriotic cupcakes in the morning. Fireworks are banned here this year due to the drought we've had, so maybe giving the kids a sugar high will be just as fun. ;) have a great holiday weekend!

--Lindsey

Our {soon to be} new home

It feels like we've been waiting forever to close on our new house...but we should be doing it next week! I'm so excited to start this new journey! It will be so nice seeing this every day:

Definitely a change in scenery! Now we just have to sell our lease our current house. Pray that it happens quickly so we can settle in without that weighing on us. We should be moving in the middle of July, being sure to drink tons of water since we're in the throws of the hottest summer in Texas history! Have a great 4th of July!

FAQ

i've avoided this topic like the plague for the last few months, but everyone we run into has asked us about the kids we were trying to adopt through foster care. i'm finally in a place where i can talk about it without feeling sick and depressed.

for almost two years josh and i were working with an agency, doing everything they asked of us...the TB testing on us and the kids, FBI prints, and the list goes on and on. all of that has to be done before your homestudy can begin. every time we would talk to the agency, our adoption coordinator would say she hadn't received some results, or that we needed to do things again, etc. after a very long year of jumping through hoops, we were told that we needed to come back in the fall. our homestudy would not happen. they had for the last three months that we were with them, implied that we wanted to adopt simply to receive monthly subsidies from the government. even after turning in the dimensions and blueprint of our home, which is more than large enough to pass their requirements, they repeatedly asked us if we knew that adopting three children required a certain amount of space. they were grasping at straws to give us the answer we desperately did not want to hear. there was no reason that we shouldn't have been able to adopt. NONE. the only thing we can figure is that our age was not on our side. at our first ever visit with the agency, they had pushed older children adoption on us. we changed our preference from toddler-7years to 7years+. with all of that said, i have lost faith in our country's duty to find these children healthy homes. i fell into depression, with such a deep feeling of loss that i tried to avoid talking about it with anyone, even josh. the only one i took this to was God. i prayed that He would give me peace and contentment. i told him i was sure He had other plans for us. one night josh came to me with the story of Abraham and Isaac. he reminded me that God leads you through things sometimes to measure your faith. to see how much He matters to you. and if the experience broke my heart into pieces, it still taught me that HE was ALL i need. from the first time we decided to adopt through foster care, to telling our friends and family about the sibling group, to preparing our hearts for this whole new life we would have, at any cost, it was all through FAITH. faith that i really never knew i had.

when God closes a door, it's because He has a better one to open for you. one of the reasons that we want to move to Corpus Christi, is that we will have half the mortgage note we have here. it is a smaller community than where we are, there are tons of ways for our kids can see and experience God's creations. and since we will have smaller bills, we will have an opportunity to save our pennies and adopt through Reece's Rainbow.
that will be a whole 'nother post. but in the meantime, we have become prayer warriors for a precious little baby boy named Keegan! i highly suggest taking a chunk of time out of your day to peruse through their site, the children and ministry are amazing. if you would like, you can donate to Keegan's adoption fund through his page by clicking on his name above.

gotta get busy packing more of this house up!

--Lindsey

spreading her wings

my baby girl, who was at one point glued to me like another limb, graduated from preschool two weeks ago. she had a speaking part, which made me beam of course. i used to worry, standing outside her classroom door, calling her teacher asking how kali was doing once i was home. hmmm...maybe mama had some separation anxiety as well? :) once she learned that preschool was a magical place, where her creativity was treasured, her jokes earned eager giggles, her small hands dipped in paint transformed into butterfly wings when pressed on paper...well, she fell in love. she has done so well, i can't believe those days are over for her, and for me. i'm left clinging to those memories, smiling and holding back tears as i turn the pages of the book we received from her teacher, filled with her artwork and documents of her progress.

how cute is she in that giraffe costume?!

her wonderful homeroom teacher

her stay-and-play teacher, who gets to do all the fun stuff!

congratulations beautiful girl! what a bittersweet time it is. i know you will only continue to grow and blossom and surprise and bless us daily with just being you.