Can We Fix It? YES WE CAN!!

With all the house projects, this little man has been hard at work. Of course, he can fix anything. Really.

Be careful what you say....

Or it may come back to bite you! When we left Memphis I said we would never fix a house while we lived in it again (let alone fix one up at all). Well, the Houlihan's are suckers for a good a deal. I'm sure that's news to most of you. So we bought this great deal, 2 duplex, right next door to our friends property that is 100+ YEARS OLD. I'm talking didn't have plumbing or electrical when it was built old. So it needs a little work. First project? My amazing, wonderful, works super hard for his family husband refinished the hardwood floors (that were hiding under old, heroine-cooking burned carpet) while Isaac and I were out of town. The man worked 8 hour days, then came home and worked 8 more to make sure it was done by the time we got back. So, here are the before pictures (we forgot to get them before we tore the carpet out, but you can see what the wood was like before Steve fixed it)

Standing at the front door, looking into living & dining room. Far door goes into the kitchen, bedroom doors are along the wall to the left:

Standing at the door to the kitchen, looking back towards the front door (far right):

Isaac's Bedroom:

Our Bedroom:

Bathroom (Jack & Jill style between the bedrooms):

Kitchen:

Those are all the 'before' pictures, some 'after' pictures to come [it's still a work in progress, but PTL the air conditioning is working now!]

St. Louis Trip (post flight)

We are LONG overdue for a post, I was doing well there for awhile but it seems that summer hit and our lives spun out of control!  Isaac and I had a great time visiting St. Louis once we finally got there. There are perks and drawbacks to having both families in the same city, one of the perks being we don't have to travel all over the country to see everyone. We're the only crazy ones who would move to somewhere like Montana.

Here are some highlights of the trip:

The Magic House in Kirkwood:

Playing in the Pool:

Time with Uncle Travis:

Time with Pops:

AND I got to take the weekend and go to Memphis sans Isaac and see our awesome friends there!

We also got to see Steve's brother, mom & her side of the family, but I failed in the photo department on that one. Thankfully, our return flight was uneventful and we made it back in time to sleep in our new house! (posts to come...)

The Most Awesome Flight I've Ever Been On

Scheduled Itinerary:

1:27 pm Depart Billings
3:15 pm Arrive Denver
5:15 pm Depart Denver
8:15 pm Arrive St. Louis

Someone had other plans for us:


1:27 pm Depart Billings
3:00 pm Redirected to Colorado Springs due to tornadoes and high wind
4:30 pm Denver airport reopened, in line to leave Colorado Springs
4:45 pm Denver airport closed again, sit in Colorado Springs longer
6:15 pm Airline required to allow passenger to get off if they want to, but you can't get back on (we stay)
7:00 pm Depart Colorado Springs
7:20 pm Arrive Denver
7:22 pm Mechanical failure on plane, no steering. Sit on tarmac in view of gate
7:25 pm Lightning, must wait 15 minutes before we can move
7:35 pm Lightning again, 15 more minutes
7:50 pm Towed into gate
7:55 pm Passengers disembark, passengers with small children wait for strollers
8:10 pm Pilot searches for groundcrew to retrieve strollers
8:25 pm Groundcrew missing, pilot retrieves strollers

AND 2.5 hours, 4 rude and unhelpful United ticket agents, 1 kind and helpful United ticket agent, 1 McDonalds dinner, and 1 shuttle ride later...we check in to a hotel.

AND arrive in St. Louis at 11:30am Thursday instead of Wednesday.

Really, we should do this more often. It was pretty much awesome.

Struggle

Seems like lately we've been confronted with the struggle and suffering of many people who are close to us. We can all relate: life can often feel like a constant battle against something.

There have been many significant portions of our marriage that have been serious, heart-wrenching struggle. With one another. With God. With the world. So many times I have thought: God, why is this happening? Why can't things just be 'normal'? Why can't we just get it right? Why does this have to be so hard?

The more I experience hardship, particularly through marriage, but in other areas of life as well, I see the great love the Father has lavished upon us. What? That doesn't make any sense!

God is looking into my heart, into my marriage, into my relationship with Him. He sees what I don't see. I like the status quo, but God wants to give me so much more than I could ever ask or imagine. And He does it by refining me. By taking those little parts of my heart (that I don't even know are there) and drawing them out. He makes those parts of my heart His own. And it doesn't usually feel good.

But it is Good.

What I Want For Mother's Day

Mother's Day has passed, I hope all the mommies had a great day and everyone else remembered to at least call their mom! We had a great day relaxing, took Isaac to the Y for some family swim time, and went out for lunch. I got an AWESOME surprise of a new coffee table I have had my eye on but NEVER in a million years ever thought Steve would actually let me get. Have I mentioned he's pretty great?

Well, this Mother's Day I was laying in bed praying for Isaac and thinking about what I want the absolute most for him (and our other children once they come). There are a lot of things moms want for their kids: a secure future (including jobs and financial security), a good education, a loving spouse, children...

I guess the older I have gotten (I know I am not that old) and the more I grow in Christ, the more I have realized how little many of these things matter. Of course they are good things, but in the end none provide satisfaction and fulfillment. None give true joy. And none can be fully trusted.

Want I want more than anything else for my children is for them to know and love Jesus. That's it. Take or leave anything else. I pray for the Lord to take Isaac to the very end's of the earth with the gospel out of a heart full of love for his Savior. I think about the story in the bible of Abraham and Isaac. Abraham was willing even to sacrifice his own son out of his trust in the Lord. I want to be able to give my son to the Lord as Abraham did, fully trusting in the Lord's grace and provision for him.

The world offers many 'promising' things for our children. Jesus offers more. I want to teach my son, and for him to ultimately choose for himself, the things that Jesus promises.

My Man

I am going to take this opportunity to brag. About my husband. Not something I would normally do, but something I should do more often. Maybe not brag, but praise out of a grateful heart. Yes, that sounds better.

I like to sleep. A lot. The bed is my most favoritest place pretty much in the whole world, especially if it contains me and I am sleeping. I also love coke. Recently, it's coke of the cherry persuasion, but I'll take a regular if that's all you've got. I also have an ambiguous love language. No matter how many tests I take, I don't fit into any one of them; really it's all of them BUT physical touch, the love language made for men. 

Every morning my husband gets up with our son so I can sleep an extra 30 minutes, even on weekends when he doesn't have to work.  He stops at the 35 cent coke machine regularly so I can have a pick-me-up in the middle of the day. These are wonderful acts of love and sacrifice (35 cents is a lot these days people!), but he is so much more than that. He is forever searching for all of those ambiguous ways to make me feel loved. He tells friends how wonderful I am because of how I can solve the puzzles on wheel of fortune, or the way that I can figure out Quickbooks without much help, or even the way that I discipline our son. He lets me (and others) know how wonderful he thinks I am. I usually shirk off his comments out of embarrassment or because I don't know how else to react, but deep down I love knowing how much he adores me. Usually I don't adore myself much, or think I am worthy of being adored, and usually I tell him he's wrong about me. He just tells me I'm crazy and goes on loving me. I often pray that I could love him half as well as he loves me, without expectation or condition, simply out of a pure heart.

This post was inspired by this blog post that I read this evening. I couldn't help but be reminded of the wonderful man of God that the Lord has given me, and how grateful I am for who he is.