Thursday Scrapping With Lori

The last couple weeks Lori and I have been trying to start a new tradition. Now that I have a designated scrapping space (yay!) and she does too, we are hoping to scrap once a week for at least an hour. In fact, I am waiting for her call now. I've missed this part of my life so much lately! Anyway, these are last week'spages. We only scrapped for an hour, but then we had annual scrapping night at church that evening, so I got a bit more done.

ct|woman contribution August/September 2011

Help! My teenager won’t listen to me!

I can’t tell you how many times I have heard this statement from a frazzled parent of one of my students. I completely understand the frustration of feeling like your child is simply not hearing, or caring what you say. How do you cope with a teenager who doesn’t listen? Here are a few guidelines.

Pray before you say anything. We have a tendency to react in the heat of the moment. And often times that first reaction may not be our best reaction. We also have a tendency to lean heavily on human reasoning, rather than our relationship with the creator of the universe (who happened to design your teenager as well). Before you decide what to say, especially on the critical issues, consult the Counselor. Make sure your words are lining up with His heart for your teenager.

Whatever you say, say it in love. You may have the best intentions, and even say the right things, but your tone or body language can instantly undo everything your words are communicating. Studies have shown that up to 93% of communication happens through tone of voice, facial expression and body language. Remember from consulting the Counselor, that His motivation is always love. Ours should be as well. 1 Corinthians 13: 6-7 paints a picture of what real love is and isn’t. “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.” We should speak truth to teenagers, but always with love. Make sure all of your person is engaging this conversation with love as the highest aim.

Say it often. When you, have decided what to say, and learn to say it in love, remember to say it often. You may begin to feel like a parrot in a pet store, but that’s ok. In youth ministry, we repeat a point over and over, for weeks, sometimes even months or years. How many times? Until they start to repeat it back to you. Until you see them start to live it in their own life. Then you know that they’ve caught the message.

Stay strong, be vigilant. It may help you to remember one of my favorite proverbs, Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” I repeat this verse often as a personal mantra over my own children, and I encourage you to hang on to it as well. We serve a mighty God and it is His desire that not one should perish. We can trust that He is working in our teenagers lives with every bit the fervor that we are. The best part is, that He has a much stronger success rate that we do. Go ahead and lean on His strength.

Thoreson La Mansion

[the name lovingly given to our new place by my friend, Jen]

So, this is by no means a complete tour of the house.. But I figure it's at least time to start with some sneak peaks. I have been cleaning, sanding, painting, hanging, measuring and planning. :) We have a strong start, but it's a big house and I have at least five rooms that I've barely touched. It's ok though, I am enjoying the process!!

So here is the view from the street. That's my rental car for the week in the driveway. Had an unfortunate mishap in the church parking lot on Friday, my convertible is at the body shop and should be good as new early next week.

Also, check out the roses at the front door - a sweet reminder of Baytown??

And an upgrade, perhaps these are hydrangea? Not sure, but they are lovely!

Next we wander up to the front porch. These chairs aren't my final hope for the front porch, but we had one and easily found a companion. A great place to take in the stars and an ice cream cone after about ten pm in the heat of the summer.

Swing on in the front door from there and here is the unfinished living room. We will have an entertainment center eventually, it's being given to us, it's white, about 8 feet long and built by our one and only, Pastor Doug!

Just beyond the living room is the formal dining area. We were blessed a few weeks ago with a pedestal table and four chairs. I have big plans for this table, a multi-colored managerie of color. It needs a minor repair, and therefore hasn't been done just yet. :)

Across this large front room is this huge wall. It is home to my antique shelves and telephone chair. I am hunting for an antique window to hang in the archway. It also tends to be a fallout shelter for random things that wander in the door. I'll have to work on that.

Just beyond the formal front room is a quaint doorway that leads into my favorite room of the house. The kitchen. I could (and do) spend hours in this room. The tile floor is so fun! And my red spots of color seem to work well. The best part is the built in cabinets around the desk, my new scrapbook nook! I used it last week and now Lori and I have a weekly appointment to scrapbook! yay! This kitchen is a dream to cook in. On Friday I had six people mixing and stirring and chopping and it wasn't even crowded! Then we hosted a fabulous dinner of spaghetti and meatballs with nine around the table. It was so fun! I love being able to have people over in our home again!

h, and in the kitchen, I found the table and chairs (they used to be french provincial white and maple) for $75 on craigslist. Add about $25 worth of spraypaint and laquer and ta-da!

Around the corner there is a built in bar area. You can see that the home is perfect for entertaining. And the kitchen joins up with a large family room. Our large tv is there, and this oversized couch and chair that I found on craigslist for $150. They are perfect for snuggling as a family or having a late night snack while watching 24. :) (our latest addiction)

You can see that our desk is in that space, as well as a beautiful fireplace. I love my offset Monet up on the wall, but other than that this space is bugging me. I have run out of 'stuff' to put on the wall. LOL. I'm thinking some floating shelves above the computer would be awesome, and maybe some bookshelves around the tv, maybe a different console altogether. I'm not in any hurry, craigslist is a lot of fun to hunt on. :)

There are grand sweeping stairs down to the heart of the house. And this wall of photos is my favorite, it just kind of came together. I'd like to add another 2-3 frames eventually. Down this hall is my French Quarter. LOL. I love France, and there is a purple half-bath (not at all decorated) and this lovely laundry room with the black and grey tile floor. Also, I found this amazing shelving unit for $45 on craigslist right before we moved.

The only other room I really have finished is Sarah's room. I spent most of last week on it and she loved it. The actual room was painted with this lovely mural by the owners of the home.

The centerpiece of the room is this armoire that I found on craigslist. With the help of one of my students, Genie, we transformed it into the wardrobe from the movie Tangled. On the outside.

On the inside, it is Narnia. Of course. Which absolutely delighted her. :)

We also painted her dresser, the shelving unit (with paper) and her doll chest.

Then to top it off, there are glittered butterflies alighted all over the room.

Ok, well, that is it for now. I'm almost through with Eli's room, and ours. The rest of them (the guest bathrooms, the guest bedroom, the studio, the laundry room) all have a long ways to go. I will continue to post pictures as I make progress. :)

Overall, this house is a tremendous blessing. We can't believe we get to live here!! It's so exciting to have a guest bedroom, we plan on having visitors as much as possible! :)

Need a Moment?

Grab a Twix.

Oh dear. I'm there this week. Actually, the last couple weeks, teetering between getting it done and throwing in the towel. I keep telling Rob we need another vacation, just to catch up! :) And then I remember that my God is bigger and I don't need to finish any of it today, or at least very little today, and I just need to concentrate on those few necessary things first. Whew. Good place of dependency to be.

Sometimes I need to just stop and focus on the blessings, rather than being overwhelmed by my inability to manage it all. We are truly, insanely, blessed. These kids. Wow, they are just incredible little people. When I think about the responsibility, the trust that God has placed in us to raise them. That's pretty humbling in itself.

Then I think about my hubby. We attended Marriage Encounter a few weekends back, and for me the very best part was getting to spend 44 hours with him. After 13 years, you all know he's still my best friend. But it was nice to revel in it for a few days. I'm so glad we did, because we've been going 90 to nothing since. (which, btw, he hates that phrase and says it doesn't make any sense, but I don't care, I love it anyway. I guess that's me being my non-sensical self?)

Then I think about our church. I cannot describe to you the joys of pastoring at such an awesome church. We are truly blessed. We love our staff, we love our people, we love the facility, the city, the culture. We love. :)

And then I think about our house. It is so much awesome. I know I haven't posted pictures and I'm sorry. I've take a few. It's just that I am in the middle of like forty two projects right now (and I'm not even exaggerating) AND I have not found my sd card reader just yet. I think I've narrowed down the box it is in, and have even half unpacked it, but I have not been home long enough to finish that project.

The house is incredible. Each room has a plan and a purpose and all of them make me smile when I think about the way they will be whenever I get to it. :) Probably a long way off. We have some friends that are chatting about visiting in October and I'm hoping we are a bit more there by then. I love that we can have people stay, isn't that amazing? And there will be space to talk and laugh and eat and sleep. What a breath of refreshing air that is!

See, glass half full. I just needed to stop and think about all the awesome. God is so good to us and we are so undeserving. It's so good to revel in that and pursue a life that brings Him glory always.

Blessed Beyond My Mess.

Well, we survived the move. It was a bit hairy, probably one of our more complicated moves, but we've made it to the other side. And as of today, the entire house has air conditioning. Yay! We are slowly unearthing, at least it seems slow to me. But usually we move into a place and get settled immediately. But that just wasn't in the cards this time, maybe God is trying to tell me something? :)

Now I am looking at this HUGE house and just pinching myself that we get to live here for the next who-knows-how-long. What a blessing. It's of course, still a disaster, but I'm starting to see all the potential. And I was surfing a bit on pinterest.com and finding some pretty neat motivators. I can't wait to start getting creative!! We have a commitment this evening and then a long weekend stretched out before us and I can't wait to get started!!

Just wanted to check in and let you all know we made it!