Heavenly Housing

so in junior high they gave us this project: design an exterior of you dream home and one room inside. it was supposed to be an exercise in color and design, but i think i took it a little too far. it became the house by which i judge all houses. not that my design was great, but it was a large, old, restored victorian house with a wrap around porch. what's not to love?

so long after the project was over, i found myself over the years longing for dilapidated old mansions with visions of restoring them to their former glory, finding out things about the original owners that made me treasure the house even more, then planing tons of honeysuckle vines to surround the wrap around porch. i saw myself leisurely drinking tea and reading a book in my antique porch swing, while being surrounded by the smell of honeysuckles. sounds pretty good huh? apparently my dream home also included a life where i was extremely wealthy, and had no children.

well...reality check. i'm a stay-at-home, sleep deprived mother of two beautiful girls and i married a missionary. we are not wealthy. nor can i even stay awake long enough to read even a chapter of most books, porch swing and honeysuckles or not.

we have owned two houses since we were married 5 years ago. one had the restoration side of my dream home, but it was a 109 year old craftsman style 4-square. (the architechtural opposite of victorian...lol) turns out, i really loved it. it wasn't dilapidated, but it was uncared for for the previous owners. brad and my mom fixed it up really well and restored the original floors. we also did find out some interesting things about the original owners! alas, no wrap around porch, and when brad bought me a honeysuckle vine, (i was thrilled!) we accidentally planted it in a place that didn't allow it to bloom but for 2-3 weeks. so no intoxicating smell all spring and summer.

we moved to a new home right after christmas 2008 for a place with more space (potential) and a basement for the fun kansas weather. unfortunately i traded cute, quaint, and historical for a 1950's brick ranch with complete original interior. yikes. i suppose that's historical too, but not in a good way. the bones of the house and the neighborhood and neighbors are great, and i love the layout so don't get me wrong. i really like it here. i just don't like to look at it. we have big plans for it, but it won't be what we want it to be for probably another 5 years at least. (in case you don't know me well...i'm impatient.)

are you wondering what the point of all this rambling is yet? here you go...

so we moved here in the winter and the fence were covered with bush-like stuff and we were wondering what it all was. turns out it's honeysuckle...and miles of it! it bloomed a few weeks ago and smells heavenly! it's no victorian mansion with a wrap around porch surrounded by honeysuckle, but God was looking out for me still. He gave me a chainlink fence covered in it. not nearly as dreamy, but even on a budget God gave me another house with at least one aspect of my dream home. isn't it great to serve a God that cares about meeting our every need (no matter how insignificant) and One with a sense of humor to boot?!?

"let me shout God's name with a praising song,
let me tell of His greatness in a prayer of thanks."
Psalm 69:30 The Message

our house

a sampling of fabulous 50's style...

the other bathroom. yes, those are ducks on the wallpaper...jealous?

corinne in front of one of the honeysuckle bushes

honeysuckle galore!

A True Mother's Day

May 10, 2009 is a Mother's Day that will live in infamy at our house I believe. It will be hard to top at least.

The day began in the the middle of the night with Riley waking every two hours (instead of every 4 or 5) and she was inconsolable unless I fed her. We woke up on Sunday morning feeling pretty bad after a long night for everyone in the house. On our way to church Corinne peed her pants and soaked her dress, tights, panties and car seat which required a rush clean-up effort at church as we were trying to get Riley ready for baby dedication that morning. Baby dedication went off without a hitch thank goodness!

We tried to go to PF Chang's for lunch (a special request by me) but when they had a hour and a half wait we decided to go to Doc Green's instead. I got a horrific stomach ache that lasted from about 1:30 to 5:30 due to something I ate...no one else got sick.

The evening was good. I got a sweet card from Corinne for Mother's Day, and the Haines came over for a visit.

At 10:30 Riley woke for her last feeding of the day and vomited all over me 4 different times between then and 11:15. As I closed my eyes and got grossed out each time Brad asks the obvious question, "Why don't you turn her around so it doesn't get on you?" In a moment of true motherhood I heard myself say, "it's easier to clean myself up than to have to clean the carpet."

So...after a good shower we fell into bed and laughed it off. I can hear Alanis Morisett singing in my head, "isn't it ironic, don't you think?"

Brad offered to try mother's day again next week hoping for a more relaxing day and I'm up to trying. I'm actually getting excited about it...which is dangerous considering how the last one went! :)

Detox

I admit it. I'm addicted to many things...caffiene, Brad, chocolate, facebook, but I'm not interested in ridding my life of these things. However, I am interested to know if the Betty Ford Clinic has a program for whining. I'd like to self-admit and then enroll my two children.

I hate whining. It's unbecoming, annoying and weak. It annoys me even more when I realize that these are qualities that I find so prevalent in my own character. So anyhow...if step one is admitting you have a problem I'm ready for step two. (Whatever that is.)

I'm going to try and self-detox for now since insurance probably won't cover this as a mental condition in need of professional help. Here's my new mantra...

"Strength for today, and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine with ten thousand beside."
- Great Is Thy Faithfulness, Thomas Chisholm