08/20/13

In my last post I shared how we did a few changes around the house that were small, but a great change to the look of some rooms.

My kitchen has always been a place that I have tried to keep the old farm feel.  I miss my days on the dairy farm and the border I chose 17 years ago is just as precious to me now as it was then.  It is of a country farm theme that repeats.  It is simple and not overbearing.

Over the years I have worked on the kitchen to make the farm life become more a part of what I originally wanted.  Seventeen years ago we didn't have Pinterest, or think of using spray paint as much to cover things that normally we would just give away.

I knew it was time to update the top of my refrigerator... it was in need of serious help.  I felt like for the longest time it was just stuff stuck up there that I had gotten as gifts, but there was no rhyme or reason for them being there.

I began to look around shops for things that looked old and farmhouse charm.  I had thought about going to antique stores, too.  Money WAS an option so I needed to keep the purse strings tight as I looked.

One afternoon it hit me... I should ask my MOM what she might have that was antique.

HELLO... where have I been?  She WAS the dairy farmer's wife and was raised in the country herself!

Well... let's just say I hit the jackpot with her.

She had things I remember from childhood that she had put away and was not using anymore.  I was ecstatic... a kid in a candy store... beyond words.  

My aunt passed away a year ago and many of my grandmother and great grandmother's items were given to Mom (and my other aunt).  Mom had just gotten them and was trying to figure out what to do with them.

I was so willing to take them off her hands.  :)

LOOK at all I was able to get!  PLUS, they have family/sentimental value that made me love them more.

• The egg basket was my great grandmother's.  She put eggs in it daily from the henhouse.
• The plate to the left (in the stand I had painted black from my previous post!) used to hold my great grandmother's fish when she fried fish.
• The tea cups to the left were my grandmothers.
• The spoons were my great grandmothers.
• The jar with the dried peppers in it were my grandmothers... some of her last she put up before she died.
• The percolator was my great grandmother's... and one of her coffee cups is in that area somewhere.
• The little house is actually a butter dish that was my grandmothers.  Mom said she remembered it being on the counter at their home all of the time.
• The potato masher was my great grandmothers.

This was my great grandmother's enamel wash pot.  I fell in love with the red rim, white inside, and the rust.  Yes, the rust.

Here is what I did on the fridge... 

the egg basket, enamel pot, grandmother's last pepper jar, an antique blue Ball canning jar, and another jar Mom had....

Look below to see what I did with some of the other things.  

This antique piece is in the kitchen near the farm table.

I have on it my great grandmother's percolator and coffee cup that she drank out of every morning.  (I percolate my coffee every morning, too, so this has double meaning to me!)

My great grandmother's potato masher, her bread bowl (already had), my grandmother's house butter dish, a green jar I had that I just liked for the color, and my Mom's old sifter.

I often wonder how my great grandmother liked her coffee... and was that one cup enough?

May I just say that every time I look over on my antique piece in the kitchen now or on top of my fridge I get a smile on my face?  So glad the Lord prompted me to "go shopping" at Moms!!!

08/17/13

I have yet to share with you some of the things we did around the house this summer.  These were not large-scale changes as I was in front of the computer most of the time, but changes that have made me quite tickled.

In 1996, when we were building this house, brass/gold knobs were the "thing."  Well, not so much anymore in my house.  We have changed many things around and the gold is looking out of place.  These knobs are in our kitchen and both bathrooms.  I have pictured our cabinet knobs below:

I also had this plate stand that I "inherited" when I cleaned out a room at school and it was no longer needed/ wanted.  I thought it had character and it has been good for some time, but the color was blah and needed some help.

I began looking around for new knobs.  

NEW KNOBS ARE EXPENSIVE.  

We had over 20 in the kitchen alone and I knew I would be breaking the bank over knobs.  I was also finding the pulls were not  matching up with the ones we had now.  Either the holes were closer together or farther apart.

What is a girl to do?

She does what she has learned from her friend, Gretchen.... she gets out the spray paint!

Here are the knobs and plate stand ready for the spray paint to begin.....

While I was getting Steve to help me spray paint (he was also helping me with a project I was doing at school), I decided we would spray paint one of Mikayla's old lamps.  It was adorable when she was two... now, at 13, not so much.  I had looked all over for a new lamp but didn't find one with the same height and shape for the area she needed it.  Then we began looking for a new lampshade but couldn't find one, either. 

Spray paint became the answer.....

So after the spray paint, we have our "new" lamp.....

.... and we have our "new" knobs.... (in kitchen AND bathrooms!)

While this may not be huge for some of you, it was for us and it only cost us the spray paint.  I could not believe the difference it has made in our kitchen and bathrooms.  To me, it makes my kitchen more country/farm feeling than before.  That has always been my desire.

There are some other things I did in the kitchen that I will show you next time.  More things to bring out the "old" into "new."  (You'll have to see the plate stand in those pics as I forgot to take a picture of it afterwards... haha)

08/13/13

First day of school.

First day of seventh grade for Wes and Mikayla.

The hardest part of the seventh grade day seemed to be the combinations on the lockers.  Everyone needs that as a rite of passage, in my opinion.  :)

Speaking of hard things....

A couple of weeks ago I took a teacher workshop from Dr. Phil Johnson.  If you have never heard of him, I highly recommend you learn more about him.  He is a Christian that thinks deeply, out of the box, and is so true in what he says about living this life we have been given by God, that I was chewing on all he had to say for days to come.  In fact, I am still chewing today.

He talked about the past few generations and discussed their differences.  There were a lot of laughs and "oh my... that is me, my parents, etc..."

He discussed how our world is changing... and changing fast.  He has an office in Texas and one in Egypt.  He deals with Muslims on a regular basis.  He is not afraid to stand up for his faith in Christ.

One of the things he talked about with us was "jumping your shadow"... doing things that require you to get past yourself and have faith in God.  That has been one that I have thought of quite often.

This one has stuck with me the most is another one, though.  It is this.... 

"DO HARD THINGS."

This term came from a book that was written by 18 year old twins about low expectations in the teenage world.  You can read the bio about it here - Do Hard Things.


When was the last time you did something hard?  Something challenging that caused you to depend so much on the Lord to see you through?

When was the last time you encouraged your child/children to do something that was hard just because it taught life lessons, perseverance, and dependence on the Lord?

This is something we have been doing with Wesley lately, and it is something I have been challenged by as well.

For Wesley, it is the responsibility aspect and the doing of things for which he has been given a talent... not because they are always easy or "fun", but because the Lord gave him a talent and he is to use it for God's glory.

I found a card today that I pray will encourage Wesley (and me... maybe, you...) in his learning of this important fact of "Doing Hard Things"....

Strength for the Journey

Don't worry that you're not strong enough before you begin.

It is in the journey that God makes you strong.

Isaiah 58:11 - The Lord shall guide thee continually and satisfy thy soul.

For me, it is that the Lord is telling me it is time to get back into doing hard things myself.  For a few years the Lord has taken me down a path of stillness before Him.  He taught me to step back from some of the things that I had been so determined to do, but after sitting still before Him I realized some of it, if not most of it, was for my own glory. 

Instead of complaining about hard a task might be, He is helping me to see that He is giving me a time of strengthening and growing.  I may be doing some of the same things I was doing before He had to bring me quiet before Him, but now my mindset is on glorifying the Lord in all of it.

I have honestly been hearing "Do Hard Things" over and over in my brain since that workshop and it has been such an encouragement to me when I thought something may be too hard. If God is with me, nothing can be too hard.

Jeremiah 32:27

Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?

Now... it is your challenge.  Are you ready to "DO HARD THINGS?"

08/03/13

There is a battle I have been "raging" this summer... and the past couple of years.

It is not abnormal.... most women I know are dealing with the same one.

It is the fact that I do not have the "skinny body" of years ago..... like what is pictured below.....

Well, except for the hair..... and the dress.... and maybe the shoes.... 

 

.. but now have the "I-am-over-40-and-weight-likes-to-stick-with-me-body."

Why does it seem like such a strange battle that I should write a post on this, you might ask, when most women deal with this?

I guess it is because I never used to battle my weight.  I watched what I ate and stayed the same weight but still enjoyed indulgences from time to time without the worry.

Now, I can watch what I eat, have done the exercise thing... and still gained.  I realize to most of you who know me in real life may think I do not "look" like I have gained, but my clothing tells me otherwise.

This summer I was struggling a lot with who I was now.

Self-perception can be such an ugly lie from Satan.  I began to forget that my worth and value is not how I look on the outside, which doesn't mean I want to have a carefree attitude, but what matters is what is on the inside.

Isn't that what I teach my students year after year that man looks on the outward appearance but the Lord looks on the heart?

Why, then, is it so hard to believe that and apply it for yourself?

Women, especially, seem to compare themselves to each other all of the time.  I was doing it OFTEN.

I had a conversation with a precious friend and was telling her to please pray that I would begin losing weight.  She asked me something I never thought I'd hear and I can't stop thinking about it.  She asked me what was my purpose in losing the weight?

 I just expected her to tell me she would pray for me and she sympathized with me. 

Instead, she made me think!

Was it that I wanted to be the small size I was before children? 

Before 40.  

Before LIFE happened.  

Was it a selfish reason or something other than that?

I did come up with the fact that I have a lot of clothes that I can't wear now and that I would like to wear them again.  Plus, I don't want to let my health go.

Her point was this - I should not be desiring to lose weight because of the wrong motivation.  If I have valid reasons, that is understandable, but could it be that I am where I am because God is teaching me something?

Hmmm..... I had to chew on that, and chew I did.

As I was doing my Bible study this summer, I struggled with the Lord over why I have gained all of this weight in the last couple of years.  I began to pray daily that He would help me to lose it.  In fact, as I went through the study of the first few weeks that was my main prayer focus.

Then, I read Colossians 2:10a -
 "And ye are complete in him,"

The Lord began to show me that it isn't what is on the outside with my weight that matters.  What matters is what I am learning about Him and changing on the INSIDE.

The outside will eventually take care of itself.  God will, in His timing, take care of all of that, too.  For now, He is teaching me to be comfortable in the body I have in this season of my life.

It doesn't mean I am to have a "free-for-all" mentality when it comes to taking care of my body, but to realize that being complete in Him is where I need to be.  I can't compare myself to the world or the Kellie I used to be..... because that is not the Kellie I am today.

Here are a few more verses He gave me during that day of Bible study and they hit home again today when I re-read them:

Colossians 3:1-4

If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.  

Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.

When Christ returns, and I am with Him, I will have the perfect body.  Until then, I desire from the Lord the ability to take care of His temple in me, but not become obsessed if I don't look a certain way because what truly matters most is what is for eternity.

That is where my heart... and body image...should dwell.

08/01/13

This summer I have asked the Lord to help me be more of a "Mary" in this "Martha" world.

If you look below in my picture you can see that my kitchen is a mess.

In order to learn to be "Mary", I had to let go of "Martha."

In fact, the Lord has been teaching me to do that more and more in the last couple of years.

There was a time in my life that I let everything get in front of my quiet time with the Lord.  It is still something I have trouble with from time to time, but now I MISS it, whereas before I would just shrug it off.

Even after hearing messages on keeping the Lord first, it wasn't until He broke me that I could humbly realize that without Him I am nothing and in order to know Him, I must spend time with Him.

This summer I have been doing a Bible study called Directions by Jeff Adams. 

I am going to be very REAL here.... when I was given this Bible study to do as a way of helping a friend and discipling her, I thought this was going to be a "simple" Bible study and one that I could just roll through because I had already learned the fundamentals of the faith, so this would not be difficult.  I have been doing Beth Moore Bible studies for the past few years and they can go extremely deep.  I had the mindset that since this Bible study was more for new believers it would be more like "review."

Can we say PRIDE?

Can we say... the Lord taught me otherwise!?

I have learned and gained SO MUCH through this study.

I am amazed, but should I really be amazed?  God has His hand in it!  I was so uncertain as to what study I would do this summer, but this one kind of landed in my lap as "Kellie, you are doing THIS one."  I wasn't prepared for what I was going to learn.

But that is the beauty of how the Lord works.  When we are "prepared" we have that issue of pride.... you know, the one I shared a few sentences above that apparently I had a lot of when I first got this study!

I have learned so much more deeply on the reasons WHY I am to glorify the Lord in all I do.  I have learned simply, yet deeply and profoundly.

I am complete in HIM.

Whether I live or die, I am to glorify Him.

He is in control of ALL... why do I even waste time worrying.

He loves me SO MUCH.  I can never fathom how much He loves me.

He wants me to go out and tell others and be BOLD.

He wants me to use my talents for HIM.

I could go on and on...

Now, I realize I have talked a lot about many of these on my blog before.  They are not "new" revelations to me, but the Lord carried me deeper into my understanding of these.

If I had continued to be "Martha" and just skimmed through this Bible study like it was easy peasy, I would have missed out on what He wanted me to know.

I skimmed for too many years of my life.  I don't want to do that anymore.

Because of that, my house did get deep cleaned, but if you looked at it today you wouldn't know it.  We have mess everywhere, it seems.

Does it bother me?

Yes, I would by lying if I said it didn't.

BUT....

... I have learned that this world will pass away... the dust, the mess, the shoes in the middle of the floor, the clothes scattered here and there....

AND....

... what I have learned from my Lord on how to affect eternity for Him will never pass away.

That has caused me to realize that being "Mary" is a great thing even when the world calls out for "Martha" to live in me constantly.

It is a battle I face daily.  It is one I want the Lord to win.

I want my children to see me spending time in His Word.

I want my children to see that I depend on the Lord for my answers and not my own thinking.

I want my children to know... it is OK .... and such a blessing.... to be "MARY" in this "Martha" world.