Thinking back..our first spring in Nebraska 1996

My family moved to Nebraska in 1995 and until I was married in 2002, I never wanted to consider this my home. There are great people, wonderful shopping, very clean cities and communities, and good things to enjoy all year long, but I was against leaving my home in Georgia. It was the first place we'd actually started to put down roots, and feel as though we'd be there permanently. I remember that car ride through Iowa and into Nebraska. My mom and I were following the uhaul my dad was driving and I think we both were panicking from shock to see there were more cows than people, more people than trees, and how most towns didn't seem to have more than 2000 people. And that's a good size town! It seemed as we were driving across the wide open spaces the sky would swallow us up. There weren't any trees to keep it up, and heaven forbid we run out of gas. Who would we call? It was before cell phones were on the market, and it didn't appear as if anyone would have known what they were if they had been. Ha! It took me a good 7-8 years, after finally getting married and then preparing for a family to realize there's no where I'd rather be. Everywhere has it's downsides. It all depends on what your state of mind is. We've lived a number (20+) of places in my life, and I know first hand that it's not the location that makes me happy, it's me. I have the power to make myself happy in all circumstances and locations. Sure I get frustrated at the wind we generally have in the spring that makes most tasks outside unbearable, but it's only occasional. But at the same time I'm irritated, I stop and think it's nice to have a strong breeze on the 85 degree days because it keeps you cooler. I get rather frustrated at the winters sometimes, but it's such a relief to have a break from our very hot humid summers and all the work that goes along with it. Not to mention it's great fun to have necessary wardrobe changes every year! A blast if you like clothes! :) Not to mention, it gives us a break from the heat and gardens, mowing, mosquitoes, and all other bugs, etc. etc. and allows for all new sports and different types of family outings. Snowstorms were something to get used to, but if you look at it from a different perspective, they are great (as long as your safe) because they lay down snow for sledding, snow angels, snowball fights, hot cocoa and getting warm by the fire. Our spring and fall thunderstorms can be bad, but boy it's sure nice to not have to go out in the heat (85 degrees today) and water the garden! And then, I have to appreciate the spring for the cool nights. It was "hot" today and yet tonight it's in the 50's. I love it.

There still aren't as many people in the state of Nebraska as there are in the metro of Detroit, and we still have crime (in the larger cities), but for the most part (in most of the smaller towns) you don't have to worry about taking your keys out of your car if you run into the grocery store, or locking your house when you leave. People watch out for everyone and loan money to random people at garage sales!

Since I've had Bekah and we've moved to our little community, I've loved our time here because we've put down roots, and know alot of the town citizens. Within our small community we belong. We don't just merely pay taxes and are a number, but people care about us and it feels like an extended family. Neighbors exchange food, tools, beg you to attend town functions, and even call us if they think we may not have seen a package on our porch.

When we first moved 13 years ago, I had every intention of leaving because it didn't hold the allure of large cities and fast-paced lifestyles. I have changed my perspective since then and now enjoy what we have, what we can offer to the citizens and children being raised here. I want to appreciate all that I have, and learn to be a better person and contribution to society. Although at that time, I thought moving was the worse thing that could have happened to me, I think it helped me see something different as not a threat, but lessons to learn in making me better. I just hope that my daughter doesn't learn as slowly as I did.

I once read this thought and I don't remember where it came from...oops....but it was so true nevertheless...

"What if appreciated that the thorn bush had roses and not looked at the rose bush despising the thorns?"

Kitchen...the heart of our home :)

I love color! I know, I know, it's so obvious. Our home is very colorful and I have to laugh when I see the HGTV home selling tips...no we don't plan on selling our home, but I'm afraid I'd have to repaint 80% of our walls if we did! :) Alot of my time growing up was spent in Louisiana and thanks to the Cajun Creoles, of that region of the U.S., I am so used to color that I feel blah without it. My kitchen colors were inspired by the Birdman, a quaint coffee shop in St. Francisville, Louisiana. At least the yellow and green. The red....ah, red. I just love the color red. It makes me invigorated, happy, and inspired. When I was first married to Chris we were discussing clothes on a shopping trip and he asked me if I could please get another color in my wardrobe besides...red. ha-ha. So, now I don't have all red shades of clothes, but it is throughout my house, nevertheless.
Oh well. :) Wouldn't the world be such a bland place without color? white rainbows? white pheasants? white fish? I just can't imagine having a lack of color in our home as well. :) OK, so off to explaining our kitchen. My husband had to gut the kitchen, raise the ceiling to the original height, lay flooring, tile the back splash, put in the new light fixtures, and on and on. Of course, there's things we'd still like to do, in addition to finishing projects. (Like oh, how I would love a farm sink and new faucet....all in good time, though. The cabinets were here then we moved in and an ugly brown. We couldn't and can't afford new cabinetry or counter tops, so I pulled out some black paint and a piece of sandpaper. I love paint. It's the cheapest way to update and restyle with instant results! All our other finds were treasures and refurbished stuff.

Speaking of the kitchen, guess I'd better get tomorrow's dinner under way! How much nicer it is to have supper done when we get home from church, than to rush around afterwards throwing stuff together in a tired and hungry panic!

Let's go Garage Sailing!!!

Let me tell you, I'm in love with garage sales. Many people enjoy the fun of going to them, but I'm one of those people who love it all. I love organizing them, making coffee and drinking it in the brisk, early morning air, setting them up, selling things, and meeting new people.
In our little town of 2000 people, it's so fun to have a garage/yard sale and meet those who venture out to not only go through our stuff looking for treasures, but also to meet us, the new neighbors.
Last year we had a yard sale and two older bachelors came to wander through our garage, look at an old car my husband had for sale, and eat a couple hot dogs my then 2-1/2 year old daughter was selling. They were so fun to talk to. I think out of their loneliness they stopped at our sale, more than they really needed a toy ship or home decor. (ha-ha) We enjoyed meeting them because it cemented a feeling of comradery in our small town.
I get so excited at going to garage sales as well. Waking up early to treasure hunt. It's fun on the other end, to look through people's junk and dream of how I can recycle it to make it fit my home. How can I turn an old gaudy mirror into something for my room? How could I use a large old dress that's material is still good? I don't really recycle as far as cans, plastics etc. go, (or haven't until this week :) yay!) but I have prided myself on finding junk and giving it a whole new life and vibe.

Funny story and it only happens in a small town, a couple weeks ago I stopped at a garage sale and only had $3 on me (I thought I had more). I picked up a couple shirts, boots, a winter jacket and couple other items for Bekah. When the gal totaled my finds, it came to $5. I told her I only had $3 that I could write a check, though. The women who owned our video store piped up at the other side of the garage and said, "Misti, you're coming in to tan later, why don't you just bring me the $2 and I'll spot you." I had to laugh. This lady is an aquaintance, not even a close friend...but only in a small town! ha-ha

I love the spring air, the bustle of the people on Saturday mornings, the coffee shop a buzz, and meeting people as I go through their stuff!

Almost everything in our home (with the exception of the tile, piano, walls .) have been treasures I've found and given a little TLC here and there.

I'll be having a garage sale at the end of this month. And the fun about getting stuff at garage sales, is that it's not that costly to change your decor often!

To the Garage Sale...

Busy at home

The cream area is the living room, and what I forgot to take a picture of is the piano! ha-ha
Chris, my husband, took out the carpet and hopefully this year will be refinishing the house's lovely patterned wood floors. Opposite the piano is the dining area. He also built the mantle and installed an electric fire place, which is great since there wasn't any in the house. The wall the fire place is on was completely and utterly bare. It was a fun and cozy addition. Under the long box along the wall is our radiator that heats that area. They are throughout the house. The skeleton of a black screen was once gold with hideous material and is undergoing a transformation. I plan on adding material to make the illusion of a wall. Eventually we'll replace the fan over the dining table for a chandelier and put up faux columns on line of paint that separates the two rooms. :) We have done alot to the house as of yet, and although I think my husband can do anything, he hasn't the power to make more hours in the day.
The last couple days I've been de-cluttering and organizing and moving furniture to fit our new piano we recently had delivered. Here's a couple pictures of how it looks now. We moved into this old house 3-1/2 years ago and it's been a work in progress.


Our Kitchen/family room, and foyers...oh and front porch next post!

Peace in Staying Home

A couple days ago I woke my brother up because his alarm clock didn't go off and he was going to be late for work. After he left I started thinking how I do not miss the mad-morning rush of going to work, nor the mad-evening rush of returning home to try to relax, catch up on things, commitments made, try to fit in a hobby, exercise, or anything else on my long list of things that weren't even possible to fit into my schedule. (And to think I didn't even have children!)
I quit my job 4 years ago during my pregnancy with my daughter. It was a hard, long pregnancy, and sometimes I think even harder since I was home all the time and the circumstances at that time weren't pleasant. Since making the decision to stay home and not seek employment to "add" to our family's finances, there have been numerous times I've thought about going back to work, thought I was bored, didn't see a point in depriving myself of my own money, etc. etc. However, in the last year of the past 4 that I've stayed home, I have found a purpose, a new vision for staying home. Yes, I'm a stay-at-home-mom. However, more than that a "Homemaker". I am not a housekeeper, but a Homemaker. My Home is my canvas, my laboratory, my library, my sanctuary, my gardens, my love, my handiwork. A house is a building. A home has to be made and molded into a place of rest, rejuvenation, discipleship, and love. A house is not this unless a mother has touched it, made it special, and molded it to the needs of her family. ~Anyone can take twigs and grass and try to make what resembles a nest. However, when a mother bird is preparing her nest, she molds it to the perfect shape for her eggs. She takes great care in adding security with the twigs and sturdier pieces, yet she adds paper, hair, and even fur to make it comfortable and soft for her offspring. ~ How much more important is it for me (as a Christ-follower) to make my life and our home comfortable, inviting, and warm to those I'm responsible for; as well as those who I come in contact with. As Christ-followers we are instructed to be hospitable, (Romans 12:13, Titus 1:8, 1Timothy 3:2, even a pre-requisite for a widow to be taken care of by the church-1Timothy 5:9 &10, 1Peter 4:9, ). How can I leave my home to take care of someone else's business/affairs/children and expect to be aware of my own families needs, much less have the proper state of mind and time to devote to them.

This has turned into a longer blog than I planned, however, I just want to reiterate what brought me to these thoughts in the first place. Alarm Clocks. Having to wake up on someone else's schedule, to do someone else's work, for someone else's family, and leaving my domain. This doesn't apply to a man, because from the beginning the Man was to work. Women were to have children and raise families. Although many women do work some because of needing to feel important in a society that doesn't value mothers and femininity, some work because of debts that have been incurred, and some feel they don't have an option because of one reason or another. Whatever the reasons and I've had them all....I chose to stay at home and make the necessary changes in our life, our budget, and it has brought greater joys, peace, and unity to our home than I ever imagined. What I thought was a dream, to REALLY be a mother and care for my family, I'm learning is God's plan for women and there is no greater role for us. If God is God and He made us, doesn't He know what will ultimately fulfill us? Our needs, our desires, our wants? He set things in motion a certain way in the very beginning of time. Who are we to think that His laws and rules are obsolete because we think we have obtained a "higher" level of thinking and reasoning? He said (Isaiah 55:8) that "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Who are we to change our purpose because we think something else is better for us than something that He's commanded?

These are things I've been pondering the last year and as I've worked towards being more obedient to God's perfect design, our family has been blessed by opportunities, peacefulness, unity, and even our finances have fallen into line. I'll write more later about what we've been doing financially and our lifestyle changes to work towards becoming more of a woman of the Bible's standards, rather than the world's standard. There are lifestyle changes. There are some sacrifices. However it's built stronger securities within our family and with a righteous security comes peace.

Sometimes I think maybe I would like to get a job to contribute to the finances, but then I remember the alarm clock, the extra taxes, the daycare, the reoccurring illnesses, the extra gas money, the box lunches or continual fast food, the traffic, the dress codes (which means having to spend more on work clothes and less on going camping or other family pleasures), the chaos trying to get everything caught up on the weekends, the stress filled grocery trips, the lack of time to prepare balanced and special meals, the lack of time to just cuddle and do nothing when my husband gets home because I have other stuff to do, the answering to two bosses instead of just my husband's when we want to fly the coop and visit family or travel, and the list goes on.....Then I think , Nah....turn on some music, pour myself a cup of sweet tea, and take my daughter outside to pick spinach, water the flowers, and play on the swing set.

I like living on a budget and although my husband makes a good wage, it's very important to only count on that. Not to live outside of what he provides. I need to allow him the feeling of accomplishment, masculinity and importance in taking care of his family. He needs to feel like he's taking care of me and the family, not being in competition with me. That's his accomplishment to own. That's his calling, his duty. He can not fulfill the thing God told women to do and that was to bear children (I am very mindful that some women aren't able... as is God, but our goal and purpose to take care of our family remains the same, with or without children). A wonderful story (When Queens Ride By) on this principle made me think further on how women are women and men are men and who are we to hog their purpose and leave them with nothing!

OK, time to close...off to get dinner!