A $550 Mistake, I mean Blessing!

Jeremy and I have had quite the week. What is so funny to me is how much the post has changed from what I thought I might originally write. Last weekend we bought a new couch from the paper. (Remember the really good deal one?) Well, to make a long story somewhat short it wouldn't fit in our basement. Looking back it doesn't seem quite so stressful, but at the time it was anything but! On Thursday night we brought it home and one of the boys from our youth group came over to help Jeremy move it into the basement because the trailer we rented to pick it up had to be returned early the next morning. Well, it wasn't budging and Jeremy and I were experiencing some "communication issues." (a.k.a. trying not to totally loose it in front of one of our kids) Well, he went home and told his parents, "I guess this just shows you everyone is human." Needless to say I was feeling very guilty I had spent $550 on a couch that wouldn't fit in our house. Luckily, my amazing husband wasn't mad at me for making such a stupid mistake I couldn't fix.  (Did I mention the trailer poked a small hole in the otherwise brand new looking couch?) 

On Friday morning this is what my living room looked like:

I couldn't believe I had made such a bad decision. But, I learned a very valuable lesson. I had been semi aware that one way I have been processing the grief our family is experiencing is to whole heartedly invest myself in "new" dreams. I have gotten myself excited about working on the house, improving my wardrobe, dreaming about our family vacation, etc. While this is not a bad thing it had resulted in me spending more money that normal. I am usually quite selective in how I spend money. I am so thankful the Lord showed me this before it became a issue in our home. God is a great teacher, even if I am a painful student.  

Thankfully my mother was coming for Garage Sale weekend and helped convinced me to put the couch in our upstairs living room. I was quite convinced it was too big and still frustrated it wouldn't go down the stairs. But after hours of rearranging it looks awesome and I LOVE it upstairs. (My mother was quite a saint, I was not easy to convince.)

So this is where the story gets long, but interesting... Remember, I said we had quite the week. Our basement flooded and is completely trashed. Those of you who are familiar with our home know that our basement is over half the square footage of our living space. It is our primary living room space and the girls' playroom/daycare area. I won't go into all the details but here is what my beautiful basement now looks like.

Basement with water, before the worst of it.

What is left of our bathroom...

But, God has continued to be faithful. Our small group has been absolutely amazing helping us move stuff, providing food, doing laundry, storing stuff, etc. And even though we still have a long road ahead to restore our basement I find myself in a place of thankfulness.  Did I mention what an absolute blessing it is to have a sectional couch upstairs? I know, I know God is funny! 

Even though my life lately sounds like a sad country song I have answered one of the faith questions that has always haunted me. I have always had a hard time singing the following worship song. I wondered if I could earnestly sing these difficult words. But, in my life recently I  have seen a glimpse of  the road marked with suffering. I have seen God give and take away in my life and I can honestly say, "Blessed be your name!"

Blessed Be Your Name
In the land that is plentiful 
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name

Blessed Be Your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed Be Your name

Every blessing You pour out 
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be Your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's 'all as it should be'
Blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering 
Though there's pain in the offering 
Blessed be Your name

Every blessing You pour out 
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, blessed be Your name

I am watching to see how He will turn this basement "opportunity" into a blessing as well.

Good, Clean, Cheap Fun

Its so fun shopping for girl's clothes.
Faith thought this dress made a great blanket for her baby.
My big splurge- a knit dress and jacket from Gymboree. (I paid $16) Its SO cute.
Most of our "bounty" other than the toys & books my kids were dragging away while I tried to take the picture!

This weekend has become one of my favorite family traditions, City Wide Garage Sales. My Mom and Charlene both came to join me in my biannual bargain hunting. We had a lot of fun, although not as many funny memories as other weekends. Here is a roundup of our great deals:

-A toddler cash register for $2.50 for Faith, Grace got a big girl one for her birthday and now Faith can play Grocery Store too.

-A Beauty Shop for $4. Grace was doing her ritual of asking what our favorite part was at dinner (from Dora). Grace stated her favorite part was this fun find.

-Fisher Price Dump Truck for FREE. I asked the man if he would take a dollar, he said you can have it. (not sure why either)

-A cool big basket for $.50.  I heart baskets, especially cute cheap ones.

-A ugly fur covered stool for $2 which I already recovered with black fabric and works great with my desk.

-A tractor floor puzzle for $2.

-A Minnie Mouse costume for $1, maybe for a future Halloween.

-Assorted books, toys, & fun for the girls.

This is the first time Grace showed excitement at checking out the sales. A future yard saler in training!

(BTW: That is my new red couch in the background of the picture, notice it is not in the basement. But more on that later...)

Project Monday

Our somewhat ugly yellow house, soon to be tan or something neutral! Oh, and hopefully a new mailbox and house numbers too. And maybe a new porch light fixture. (Hopefully Jeremy didn't read that last part...)
The girls loved the railing- Grace told her dad he did it perfect.
As you can see before the railing there was a dangerous drop off for little people.

As many of you probably know Jeremy and I tend to buy "fixer upper" houses. We usually do a majority of the work before we move in and then keep working on them as time allows. Well this is the longest we have ever lived in one place, and we are still finding LOTS of projects. Since we moved in we have put a new roof on the house, taken out the chimney, installed a shed in the back yard (that Jeremy built with his dad), ripped up carpet & refinished some of the hardwood floors, replaced all the curtain rods, painted pretty much the entire house, put down laminate in the kitchen, painted the kitchen cupboards, installed new stair rails to the basement, and a lot more I've probably forgotten. Did I mention we had to take down some nasty wallpaper? (not a fun project!) But, we are also in the process of several projects. I get ideas for improving the house all the time. I see an idea in a magazine or see a organizational issue etc. and my mind goes crazy. Unfortunately my poor husband can't keep up with me and it drives him crazy trying to think about a million different projects at the same time. So since his skills are highly necessary for 95% of the projects we do I have repented of my ways (sort of) and we started something called Project Mondays. Each Monday we choose one project to work on. One of us get the supplies we need that day and then we dedicate Monday night to completing or moving along that particular project. So far we have put up privacy film on our bathroom window (I really don't recommend this one it is a perfectionist's nightmare), fixed our couch, and installed a much needed railing on our tiny front porch. We are currently also in the middle of redoing our upstairs bathroom, building a snack bar in the basement, tearing down the old dilapidated car port in our backyard, seeding our lawn, and having our house painted. Oh dear, did I say I had changed my ways?? Anyway, I am terrible at taking before and after pictures. Which is quite disappointing because just blogging about the things we have completed makes me see how far we have already come. So I am hoping to occasionally blog about our Project Monday success stories. Here is the railing Jeremy installed on Monday, it will be painted white to match the rest of our trim when the house is painted (Did I mention we are actually hiring someone to do that? PRAISE THE LORD!) Today we are going to pick up a new couch I got a steal on, buying it second hand out of the paper. I am praying I can fit and the current sectional we own in our basement & it still look good. I'll keep you updated on how that goes.