Beautiful Life

Writing Blues

I have not felt like writing.  There are so many things going on.  The house continues to come along.  The kids continue to grow.  We have family events (we love being close to our parents and extended families). Our dog is as cute as ever.  I found a new tea that is fantastic. Etc, etc, etc.  

But then there is the hard stuff, the real tough stuff.  Friends hurt.  K struggles with her cancer.  K's mother-in-law is in ICU dying.  Another blogger was pregnant with quad girls and 3 have passed away.  My husband's cousin-in-law lost her 45 year old brother to melanoma. The list goes on and on.

And the wind goes out of my sails.

Home building and tea suddenly seem meaningless and prayer and supplication are the only way to survive each day.  Yes, I believe holding tight to Jesus is the only way to survive each moment, good or bad, but sometimes in the really dark days, all I can do is pray.  Blogging is hard. Yet today I was reminded that my hurting friends enjoy reading about tea and home building because it feels normal and takes them away from pain for a moment.  

And so I'll write on, even if it's with a heavy heart some days.  I am just so thankful for faith, family and all of you sweet friends.  

With love, 

Maria

Kitchen arriving

Thank you so much for giving me your opinons on granite! You all are wonderful. I ended up choosing Typhoon Bordeaux, option #1. Here is how it looks in a finished kitchen.  It has a lot of movement, which I love.

The kitchen continues to come along.  The cooktop came in yesterday.  I was shocked by how huge it was.  I can not wait to cook with it every day and make my family and friends yummy meals.

I hope all of you have a wonderful weekend! 

Granite Poll

For nearly a month I have been waiting for a new truck of granite to come in.  And it finally came!! YAY. Here is my kitchen as the cabinets are being set. Sorry this photo isn't great. It is the only one I have from today.  By tomorrow night I should have some more to post.

I am down to two granite options.  Which do you like most?

Wood Floors, Tile and Cabinets

I returned from traveling last week and found our new home to be coming right along. Our wood floors were installed, sanded and stained.  They are nice and warm, without being too dark. I am happy.

The kids bath tile went in too.  

The kids' bathroom vanity arrived and is currently in ERHs bedroom. I brought in the shower curtain to be sure it went well with the wood.

The kitchen cabinets and mudroom cabinets are in the garage, awaiting install. I am excited to see it all in the house.

Opportunity

I've had an amazing week.  Late last week, I had the opportunity to talk to my friend, Kristen, who has stage 4 cancer. With her hope fading, I spoke with her about my faith and how it is what sustains me through both the good times and the tough times.  She wanted to hear more.  Then her sister and I spoke and she wanted to hear more too.  So, I booked a flight to see them and tell them more.  In the meantime, I got calls from others about the situation, wanting to know about my hope in Christ.  To say I felt humbled is not enough.  I felt and continue to feel so small yet I know God can do anything.

I was able to fly in on Tuesday to spend time with my friends.  I told them the Gospel, that God hates sin (sin is anything that we do apart from Him, for our own pleasure), that God sent his Son, Jesus, to die to forgive us of our sin. And that if we believe in Him, we can have eternal life.  Thankfully, God allowed me to present that huge amount of information in a loving and very non-confrontational way.  I just told them my own story.  My friends were baffled.  They had NEVER heard the Gospel before.  They both said they were interested but not ready to believe. They asked tons of questions and will continue to ask questions as they process everything.  I left them with the book "Heaven is for Real." (if you haven't read it, you should.  it's a very easy read without any intellectual, hard to understand thoughts). 

I was also able to meet up with some other friends who know Kristen.  As they greive for what Kristen is going through, they are asking "why."  That is a very good question.  I don't know why.  But I told them that God has a plan for each of our lives.  I told them stories of friends and family who've been through terrible situations but God has used their pain and restored them with huge blessings.  They all wanted to know more so I shared the Gospel with them.  As we conversed, one of them looked at me and said "I believe." She has been thinking about faith more lately and she just decided it was time.  

God truely is amazing.  He led my family to live in the neighborhood, where we met Kristen and all of these other ladies.  And he allowed us all to keep in touch after we moved away.  He worked this whole trip out.  He allowed me to hang out (and drink way too much tea) and love on these ladies.  And I was able to share faith with them.  He gave me my sweet husband who took three days off of work so that I could go do this.  

I can't wait to see what God has in store for the future.

He is Risen!!! Happy Easter

Good Friday

 

I still can not get over the fact that Jesus died for me.  I don't deserve it.  I am just a hot mess most of the time. But He loved me that much.  And He loves you that much too.  No matter where you are today.  No matter what you've done. Jesus loves you and He died for you too.  

 

Paint Part II

I was so excited about my initial ideas for paint colors in this post.  All of the light totally washed out all of my pretty ideas. So, I went to talk to Amy, an interior designer. She helped me.  Thank you, Amy!!!

The painters finished the first coat on the entire house this week.  They'll be gone for a while now and come back to put a final coat on everything.

Here is what we have so far:

Main color -Universal Khaki, Sherwin Williams.  This color is in our living room, kitchen, hallways. It's nice and warm.

 

Dining Room

Sherwin Williams, Tropical Tan.  We picked this based off of our home in Minnesota (photo above).  I always thought the dining room paint was pretty with our furniture. Sorry the photo of our new dining room is so bad. We don't have any lighting installed in there yet.

Master Bedroom - Benjamin Moore Horizon Gray - this is a gray with some blue in it. It's nice and soothing

 ERH's room -  Farrow and Ball, Pink Ground.  She loves pink.

PMH's Room - Sherwin Williams, Misty 

Kids Playroom - Restoration Hardware,  Silver Sage (no photo available)

It is so fun to see things come together.  I am getting excited!!! 

 

Remnant Countertops

I went to the remnant yard to pick out countertops for our bathrooms.  And it was FUN.  There are a million different remnants and they are all the same price so you can get some great deals.  Here is what I "took home."

(some "crema marfil" for the bathroom)

("venetian gold" for the laundry room sink)

I am still waiting for full slabs of the granite I want to come into our stone yard.  Then I'll pick out the exact piece of stone for our kitchen countertops.  I went a couple of weeks ago thinking they would have it...they didn't.  Oh well, I hope it'll be worth the wait.

Prayer Request

(photo taken March 2012)

We were a little bit early to church this morning so I sat in a pew and talked to my husband. After a few minutes, he reminded me to check to be sure my phone was silenced. As I looked at it, I realized I missed a voicemail.  When I saw who it was, it knew I needed to listen to it.  So I did and this is what I heard. "Her cancer is back.  It's in her liver (stage 4), it's in her spine, it's in her lymph nodes."  All of a sudden that lump in my throat started to well and I was about to ugly cry in church. We were in the center of the pew so I couldn't easily get out.  By this time church is about to begin.  So, I prayed, "Lord, help me pull it together. Teach me this morning.  Use me."  With that, the music started and the first song was  "God is Able."  I thought to myself, "yes He is!"

My friend's name is Kristen.  She is beautiful (you can see by the photo).  I've posted about her cancer before. I love her dearly. And I don't understand why.  I don't understand a lot about God.  But I know that He is in charge, not me.  And I know that I can put my trust in Him.

Will you join me in praying for Kristen, her husband Mike, her daughters Maddie (10) and Lily (9), her sister, Jen and her parents?