So far in January

Since we moved to Georgia, I've had my diffuser on my bedside table.  As a result my essential oils have found their way to my bedside table too.  I love the purple glow!  It is pleasant and gives a bit of a nightlight when we need to get up throughout the night to use the bathroom or when my husband goes to work before sunrise.  

My husband bought me these wonderful knitting needles and wool for Christmas. 🙌😍 

Getting them trained to go to their own bowls at their own designated spot.

If you had asked me 4 years ago if we could see ourselves with more animals, I would have said we were happy with our 2.  Well, now, we've not only added 2 more dogs, but a cat named Pickles, too!  LOL

Ginger is 7 months old!  She loves to play, snuggle, and chase the cat.  We plan to breed her with another golden retriever in the next year and selling the puppies.  We're getting more experience (for the kids) with being entrepreneurs, and this is a good way to not only love on our dogs, but learn about having puppies to love on and care for, as well as the book work and financial aspect of business.

The progress on my new Bible bag.  It is made from 100% wool that will be felted soon.  I'm getting to a point where I'll be adding details.  I just have to decide how to do the handle and flap.  😉

Playtime!  

We are enjoying the temperatures here in Georgia this winter.  We jokingly say, "Well, we had our 3 days of winter, now it's time to have Spring."  Today it is 69⁰.

[This part of my post was written on January 21st.] We're expecting some storms today and there is a tornado watch for our area.  The last time we had tornadoes go through was on January 2nd when we had 9 documented tornadic events that left EF1 & EF2 damage behind in a variety of places through 4+ counties.  Your prayers for recovery would be greatly appreciated.  There has already been over 10,000 hours of volunteer time documented which probably only touched 10% of the damage.  Samaritans Purse has headed up the recovery effort as well as Franklin Graham.  Georgia Emergency Management Agency has been involved and the spokesmen from Albany, GA city petitioning FEMA without any response.

Today, January 25th, there were deadly tornadoes that hit Southwest Georgia with many counties, including our county, included in Governor Nathan Deal's state of emergency.  While we have not been hit with any of the tornadoes, I feel so trite saying "My heart goes out to all those who have lost everything in these storms."  But, it goes much beyond that.  I put myself in their shoes and my heart gets ripped out with every picture I see.  There is a plantation north of us by about 4-5 miles that was obliterated by the storm.  I see pictures and there is a sick feeling in my stomach that my spirit cries out and weeps for these people.  They've lost everything.  I'm trying to be proactive and help as best I can by sending my kids to help, donating water and food, praying, and helping to set up a facebook group to pull all the local information together for everyone to see that is all in one place.  It's the least I can do to help keep information in one place.  I've found that with Turner County being so rural, there needed to be more communication.

Please pray for Southwest Georgia.  There are many needs.  Many people are hurting.  Many people have lost loved ones, some are still missing.  Albany has been inundated with volunteers and many have been turned away because they're not plugged in with the right places.  If you come to Albany to volunteer, please go to the Coke Plant at 925 Pine Avenue.  Samaritain's Purse is here.  They do a training for people at 7:30AM and 12:30PM.  They go out, help people get trees off their roof, tarp roofs, remove trees from the property, praying with the owners, giving them Bibles signed by each working on site that visited them, and leaving a cross carved with a chainsaw in one of the mangled trees when they cut it down.

God is good!  So many stories of how many have been spared, many with some unbelievable ways the trees fell in a circle around their house, but the house wasn't harmed.  Then there are so many who lost their homes and are living with loved ones or in shelters.  There are many Sunday School classes who are adopting families to bless them with the things they need to start all over again because they've lost everything.  Our Sunday School class has a family we're helping in this way, but also another gentleman needed his yard cleared so the utility companies could get in to fix his heater/AC as well as his water and electric.  While my hubby and I couldn't be there, our class did this!  I'm so proud to be a part of such a loving and wonderful community of believers who are saints, each one!  They're such a blessing!

"After" clean-up.

"Before"

Although it is February 6th, January's memory will linger for a long time for many folks around here.  We had some unreal winds, a 71 mile long path of destruction from a tornado and the folks here are banding together.  Many folks are giving donations through Samaritains Purse, Red Cross, and etc, many folks have physically brought their donations to sites to give physical needs.  

What a blessing!  We still have a long way to go.  The devistation is gut wrenching.  Many people just up the road from us a couple miles have lost so much.  There were houses that were rolled over on to their roofs in the tornado.  I've never seen that before.  It was a gut wrenching time of emotional turmoil for those folks.  I've sent my kids many times to help in many venues, donated stuff, and set up a facebook page for folks to share information for our county.  My heart just weeps for folks.

Never under estimate the power of God!  He is above all, in all, through all and in every way you could possibly imagine.  Yes, He allowed this to happen, but He is raising up His people to come help and the blessings from being able to help in every possible way, coming together, and loving on our neighbors is also part of His will.  

Please continue to pray for Southern Georgia as everyone recovers and finds a new "normal" in their lives.

Have a Blessed Day! 💗

Considering the Future

My husband and I are beginning to consider what our lives will be like once our young folks sprout wings and leave our nest.  We are looking at downsizing our home, even though we just moved here last year.  We are looking at possibly having more property, even though it means more work to do the things we'd like to do.

We're realizing that we are limited with how much activity we can participate in at church living almost an hour away.  The special things that happen on days other than Sundays and Wednesdays simply cannot be attended because it isn't just a short jaunt over to the church or to a Couple's Night with our dear folks in our Sunday School class whom we've grown to love.  So we pray.  We'll find out soon enough what the Lord's will is for this as we lay this at His feet.  There is a lot to consider and even still, we consider the necessity of selling our current house when the time comes too.  Lots to consider.

We're realizing that we will be physically limited with how much we can accomplish on a daily basis due to the fact that our young folks will be out of the nest.  I mentioned to my husband that we could get him a good tractor (not to be confused with "new") with accessories that would help him do the work that is needful without needing one or more of the kids around to do it.  But, the other things, like putting up fences or things like that, if course we'd ask the kids to come help.

We're realizing that we'll need a house with 2 master bedroom/bathrooms just in case there is a need for one of our parents to move in with us.  Additionally, we're looking at building an apartment over a garage just in case our oldest son needs a place.  That will give him his own space and as much autonomy as possible.

We've talked about "puttering" with our days on the property.  We've talked about having a garden and having fruit trees and selling the produce.  We've talked about going to different festivals with things that we make to sell.

It's a sweet thought for us to have things like this in mind for our future.  I don't want anything ornate, but simple and all one level, but nothing too big.  I want to be able to have family and friends over to love on them.  I want to bless others and serve the Lord with my husband.

"Ponder the path of your feet, and all your ways will be established." 

(Pro 4:26)

In Christ,

Humbled and Content

Tonight as I read blogs of my friends, I read things about contentment, emergency surgery, gardening, essential oils, Proverbs 31 women, and the list continues.  There are many many people on my subscription list from all over the world, all walks of life, and all stages of life.  I am so very thankful.

As I read about everyone's flower gardens, I allow myself to dream.  I dream of all the beautiful arrangements, flower and vegetable beds, and yard sale finds I hope to find in the future.  It truly is a blessing to visit everyone's blog to get such wonderful ideas of how I can redo the blank slate in our front yard, side yard with overgrown weeds, bushes, and trees, the enclosed back yard with the pool and deck.  I dream....

I want to start with my mail box.  I know this seems rather silly, but my mailbox in PA looked like this:

My mailbox here will resemble this with the Black-Eyed Susans, but a little different due to life circumstances.  We had to throw up a quick mail box, so we bought the materials locally, nothing decorative, but simple.  It filled the need.  So now, I'm looking at it as a blessing.  It is a basic box with wood to hold it up.  I've seen mailbox wraps to make it pretty with the changing seasons, so I'll consider those when I see them again.  I like Mary Englebrett designs, so we'll see if I can find something along that line. ;)  It will probably be a while before I do anything along that line because I wait until I can find it at the lowest price possible. :D

Along the front of our house is a lovely railing.  In some places it needs to be replaced, but it is simple and I love it.  

(The railing in the above picture along the front porch.)  

The railing pictured here shows what I mean.  It also shows the blank slate of the front yard.  We're going to have fun planting and watching things grow.  :0)

We'll replace the bad parts with new, repaint it and put up some window baskets.   The ones pictured below are the ones I'd like to put on the railing.

These are the ones from our PA house that we planted about 4 years ago.  

I'm excited to gradually get my flowers back and add to my collection.  For now, I look back at pictures from my flower beds in Pennsylvania.

For now, I am choosing to be content with empty whiskey barrels, no veggie garden, and the blank slate.  We are still getting doctors testing done, establishing ourselves in practices in the area and getting to know the seasons.  We're researching many things about the area too, with regard to flowers and growing, pest control and things like that.

I am humbled that so many folks have taken an interest in our daughter's story in God of Wonders Beyond Anything and Everything I Ever Knew or Understood and Resting on the Promises, in His Wings of Love.   We are currently in the midst of neurological testing, EEG, Neuro-Psychological testing, MRI/MRA and getting appointments for all those, as well as establishing ourselves with a new dentist.  Why all this testing?  Why now?  Well, in Pennsylvania we were told that once something came up, to pursue testing then.  We've had rudimentary testing done on her, but nothing extensive, giving us a picture of her brain.  So the Dr's down here in Georgia are using this opportunity to get all that done.  I'm thankful for that too.  Now we can see what's going on and if there is further treatment needed for her. There is no need to worry.  Nothing is "wrong" with her, we're just taking this opportunity to get all the testing done that we can so that we can get a better picture of her brain.

As for me, I had an MRI of my right knee done and found I have a complex tear in my miniscus, degraded cartilage (bone-on-bone), and arthritis.  The Dr plans to "clean house" addressing all the issues in one surgery.  The therapy is to just walk.  Wonder of all wonders, it's amazing!  The very thing I've been wanting to do for such a very long time, but can't due to this hurt knee, I can now do after my surgery.  Hooray!  Remind me of that when I am trying to get out of bed or a chair after my surgery and it hurts.  ;)

God has lessons for each one of us, on our own levels, adjusted to each of our own needs.  I am so very thankful He loves me to prune and grow me more for Him.  

God is Good!  

Blessings,

Summer Before Summer Time and Open Invitation

The past few weeks we have been enjoying temperatures in the upper 80's to mid/upper 90's.  I'm told this continues well in to September.

I know this sounds very difficult to many, but for us these temperatures are lovely.  Some days when we walk outside it is humid, but not so oppressively humid as we had experienced in Pennsylvania.  Even on the hottest, most humid days here, it doesn't last long.

Everyone's gardens are well established; their yards are manicured; they are adjusting their schedules to get their yard work done super early in the mornings.  Then there are those of us from Pennsylvania who, although we've adjusted our schedules too, continue to struggle getting the young folks to understand getting their yard work done early is the best thing they can do for themselves.  I have to laugh though.  In Pennsylvania we always did yard work after 10AM due to allergies.  Here it done long before 10AM because the temperatures could be 85+ degrees by then.  They are learning and they are understanding more of the "why" now after a couple days of needing to finish a project.

This is our house last August, before we moved.  It looks a little different now with things trimmed and the grass mowed.

The swimming pool has been open and (giving us fits) being used daily.  The previous owners were not able to care for the pool and after getting the water tested we've found that it has Mustard Algae in it.  We are having a difficult time getting it cleaned off the side walls due to the toughness of this particular algae.  We've done everything suggested and continue to do everything suggested,but the algae doesn't go away.  I'm not sure what the solution is, but I'm not going to worry about it because that's my husband's department.  I don't know much about pools.  I go out and skim every other day for half an hour before I swim.  I'll do whatever is asked of me other than that, but I have no experience or understanding of pool care.  My Mr. G has worked in this area about 23 years ago, so this is his arena.  My area is inside the house.  

You can't see it in this picture, but the deep end has a lot of mustard algae.

Looking to the south on historic state route 41

My husband is a shutter bug.  He loves taking pictures of clouds and weather formations as they come across the land.  He's done this for years.  When he hears of some awesome storms rolling in, he heads out with the camera as you can see in the above picture.  :)  Now he has me doing it!  LOL

I walked out of a W*lmart neighborhood store and found this!

The Lord met me at the door with this beautiful sky when I walked out of the store.  I stopped and took the picture while everyone around me looked at me funny.  It's ok.  I enjoy stopping and taking pictures of the beauty God blesses me with.

As we continue our new lives here in Georgia, the learning curve is still there, still steep at times, but still there.  We are adjusting, adapting, improvising, overcoming obstacles and making changes as needed.  The Lord has been so very good to us.  We've had some obstacles that has caused us to question whether or not we're supposed to be here, but the Lord has brought us reminders many times over that "Yes!" we're supposed to be here, right where He's brought us.  We greatly miss our Pennsylvania friends, church family, work friends and the area and life we knew.  We are working currently to make a place for guests to stay when they come this direction, even just for over night.  We're only a mile off the interstate, so it's very easy to get to our house.  Those of you who are traveling south are more than welcome to stop by for dinner, over night, or just stop and stretch your legs and visit for a bit.  We have lots of room!

God Bless,

CHRISTmas

This year, our Christmas is going to be a little different.  Simplicity is something I've always craved.  We've gone from overboard years ago when we thought more gifts were needed, to more simple and just giving 3 gifts representing the gifts of the Magi, and this year we're doing needs, keeping it simple.

Why?

We're becoming more and more convinced that the we need to strive hard to keep the commercialization out of Christmas.  This is one of those things that we really want to drive home with our kids.  Christmas really means the celebration of the gift of the coming of our Savior.  What better gift can there be?  So we worship, work together and love one another.

...fast forwarding to the day after Christmas...


I would love to begin Christmas shopping for next year right now.  The only problem is finding space to store said items, and hoping they won't melt by the time Christmas 2016 rolls around.  What about home made things?  Well, here in Georgia, those nice warm things--like wool socks, afghans, and fuzzy jammies--are not needed.  This year at least has seen some high temperatures than normal, but I'm assured that they do get cold here.  So far, we've had the AC on up to today.  Go figure!  I've felt a couple nights that have been a wee bit nippy and just a few days, not even a handful, but mostly it has been in the 70's and higher.

Our Christmas was very quiet with everyone pitching in to do their part for the very simple Christmas dinner after opening gifts.  The gifts were simple this year and I noticed how much thought my young folks put in to their gifts to one another.  What a blessing it was to see them putting such thought in to their gifts!  To me that showed so much more care and compassion than any extravagant gift ever could.  We never told them they had to give one another gifts, they want to.

Today my oldest son has been working on his bedroom painting it.  He's really looking forward to making it his own work of art--something simple, but tastefully done.  He's painting it dark green with tan trim.  He wants to have me make plaid curtains, so we've been looking at fabric for that.  I hope to have the fabric chosen and pulled together with the curtains hung in the next 2 weeks.  He wants to get a rug and new bedding too.  I imagine a new lamp is in order as well.

My daughter has been working on her bedroom off and on for the past couple of months.  She's finished painting (I think), and is in the organization phase.  She's got quite a bit more to organize and put away, but she's been working on that.  She has some important decisions to make here soon, so hopefully she'll be deciding in the next 2 weeks and moving on with things.

Me with my youngest son.  :)  

My youngest son has been taking Gus on daily walks down here for a while now.  I'm so glad he does because it gives him alone time, and time to just look around at where we now live and just enjoy himself.  He needs that.  He and I are in the beginning phases of planning for his next school year.  It's hard to believe he's going to be a Jr!  Today we talked about Bible studies and working on the important things, revisiting topics that need to be done, and reading more.  I'm finding that I need to challenge him to keep growing, to learn more and seek more.  He's always risen to the occasion.



My hubby has an interview for a new position here in GA.  Our plans all along have been for him to start looking for work at the 6 month mark so we can make extra payments and get our house paid off quickly.  We're hoping to be debt free in 5 years, Lord willing.  Then we can work toward helping others, giving of our time, talents, and treasures as the Lord makes us aware of the needs.

I hope all of you have had a wonderful Merry Christmas with all of your loved ones.  I'll see all of you next year!

God Bless,

Me & Pickles the cat

Culture Shock or Culture Love?

Moving on from Pennsylvania has been interesting.  Our main reasons for moving south were to be closer to my husband's family, to get better health care for our son, to get out of debt faster, and to allow my husband to get out of the career mindset he was in while working in the PA state corrections system.  These reasons have not only brought thankfulness, but also challenges of their own.

Currently, we live a few hours from my husband's parents and brother.  We haven't had a chance to go see them yet with 4 animals needing to stay here with a house sitter.  We haven't found a house sitter yet.  We're hoping to find one soon so that we can go down to see them soon.  It has been too long!

Health care for our son has been met with the challenge of a Dr. who is only in our area 3 times per month.  If we needed anything, like a signature for a pre-authorization for medication, we'd have to wait until he came back in to town, otherwise he's unreachable.  Ugh!  So, we're switching Dr's to one that is more reachable.  The advent of more technologically advanced practices down here has been an eye opener.  Some of the Dr's in this practice do a type of Tele-conferencing where you just show up to the office for your appointment and sit in front of a computer screen with the Dr in their office--where ever that may be, and have your appointment with them.  Definitely an interesting change from Pennsylvania!   Fortunately, he is getting the care he needs and we're able to move on and get him in to a program for vocational training.

Originally, our prayer was to be able to buy a house outright, without debt.  But, after looking at countless houses, including foreclosures and HUD homes, we decided that a small mortgage with a 10 year loan from a local bank was the best way to go.  We tried larger banks, but for the small amount we needed, they would not lend to us.  They would not be making much money off our loan, so they would not lend to us.  Go figure!  So, here we are with a modest loan from a local bank, getting ready to pay extra on the principle balance to pay it off early--5 years instead of 10.  Will broach the "why" at a later time.

Our current house has been dropped in our laps, filling our needs quite nicely and many of our wants, in a very quiet little town with a quaint blow of a train whistle about 1/2 mile away a few times a day and once at night (confirmed by my daughter since she hears it at night from her bedroom).  LOL  The challenge, as I'm sure you may have read or heard from me has been that this house, while fitting our needs, has needed quite a bit of work.  The cockroach infestation has been mostly controlled, but we had to wait for a bit to put the kitchen items away for a good 2 weeks, sometimes longer in some cases, due to the infestation.  There is a cupboard that I won't use to this day because when I open it and clean the dead roaches, there inevitably is more once I open it again.  They are getting in from somewhere, but due to the spray my husband put down, they die within a foot or so of being inside the cupboard.  So, I clean them up every so often.  They don't get any further than that, fortunately.

Another issue has been ants!  Not carpenter ants, but the little bitty brown ants.  They've come up through the smallest of holes and gone after the dog food.  One morning Gus was barking at his dish and upon further investigation, the dish had ants marching in it and continuing to it from a tiny crack where the floor met the wall!!!  We had a good laugh, pitched the food, cleaned the dish and within minutes, he had more food and it was relocated.  Another incident with ants inside the house was on the "clean" dishes on the counter.  We followed the trail and found that they had gotten in where the addition meets the main house.  It only takes a small pinhole for these things to get in and they came up through the grout in the kitchen and made a trail to a wooden spoon that was just barely wet from being washed the night before.  Once again, my husband sprayed and they're all contained.  More ants though!  In the vehicles has been the roughest area.  They get in to the engine after the sweet smelling antifreeze, then make their way in to the main part of the vehicle.  If you don't stay on top of things, getting all the trash and wrappers out from a Mega shopping trip, then the next day you have a stream of ants forming a line to some small crumb laying on the floor.  Whew!

Lastly, my husband has been retired from corrections for 6 months now, thankfully.  His spirit is more at ease now.  He is much more relaxed and content.  He now has a new name that the locals gave him, "Mr. C____ from Pennsylvania."  He beamed when he told me.  He is no longer identifying himself in the former job he had, which I will not repeat the name he dubbed of himself which is very demeaning to himself.  He is such a visionary man.  He is a leader when leadership is called for, otherwise he is a Mr. Steady, going with the flow.  These have always been a part of his nature outside of corrections, he just didn't see it.  He was saved on December 30th, 2012 and now he's able to relax, away from the corrections environment, and allow the Holy Spirit to grow him.

As we have met people and talked with them about our lives, they've asked us, "What brings you to Southwestern Georgia?  Work?"  We say, "No, God  brought us here!"  That small statement has opened up so many wonderful conversations about God's work in our lives and His goodness toward us.  What a balm to our soul to find that just about every person we come across has enjoyed hearing about God's work in bringing us here.

We will become members of Sherwood Baptist Church on December 6th.  We have found our church home and look forward to being stretched and challenged by THE Word of God in a hope to continue becoming more like Jesus.  The pruning of our hearts and minds are about to begin.  Yes, pruning hurts, but we truly believe the Lord has brought us here to this point in our lives.  Because of that, our willingness to lay down our "self" and willingly submit to His loving pruning should be cause for celebration.  Thank God for His loving kindness!

In Christ,

Pictures Updated as Promised

With my last post in mind of all the things we've accomplished, I give you these pictures to show you what we've accomplished.



Starting with our bedroom~

When we first moved in and got our bed and dressers in place this is what the room looked like.  It looks a little different now with the rest of our bedroom brought down here.

This is the hallway from the sitting room to our bedroom.  The baby gate is so that Gus would leave Rustie alone.  Our bathroom is to the extreme right and Rustie likes laying on the floor in there.

Our Bathroom~

Where you see the baskets straight ahead, I have a wicker shelf where I'm going to put those baskets to store small things that I get with coupons that belong in the bathroom.  I have so much storage in this bathroom already, but I could just see my wicker shelf right in that spot.

My walk-in bath tub complete with a container of Epsom Salt and my essential oils in the baskets.

The other side of the bathroom.  I love baskets and I love my essential oils.

Sitting Room~

My hubby working on the floor in the office/sitting room.  It turned out beautiful!  My youngest son has been helping by cutting pieces, doing the up and down, running out to the garage to cut pieces.  :0) 

Office~

The sitting room above is the office now!  This is the change that has taken place!  I love the flooring!  I can't wait until the rest of the house gets done!  :)

Kids' Rooms~Coming soon!



Living Room~(I'll get a better one soon.  I have a few things to take care of in there.)

This is one picture taking looking from the dining room to the living room.  It's the only one I had right now, but it is coming right along.  I'll get more pictures of that room when it has more work done in it.

Kitchen~

  

My kitchen is coming along.  I've added a little color here and there so far.  I'm patiently waiting for the rest of our things to come down from PA so I can put all of my serving platters and odds and ends away.  Then I can get rid of the boxes and bins behind me and to the left in this picture.

Finally!  The boxes are off the counter and all of my things are here in Georgia!  This is my kitchen right now.  My goal for this room is to use as much color in the things I use as possible since everything is white.  Just to give you a wee bit of a "tour", to the mid-left is my sink.  Above my sink is a pass-through to the sun room.  In the far corner is my Bosche mixer, all my sprays and oils, as well as my home made Trim Healthy Mama blend and oat flour.  Where you see the aqua blue frying pan is a flat top stove, then to the right of that is my Trim Healthy Mama cookbook.  The floor to ceiling cupboards to the right is where we store bulk foods, our dishes, baking dishes, plastic items, and other condiments and so forth.  Beside the refrigerator out of sight except for the little bit of white sticking out is a little counter top.  As I've been unpacking, I've found extra plates and bowls that I don't know what to do with, so they're sitting there until I figure out what to do.  LOL

Dining Room~in mid-October

As promised, these are the updated pictures of the house.  The dining room has the rest of my things in it and less boxes.  I just wanted to get the pictures up for all to see.  :)    I figured I'd better get pictures up for everyone to see so that everyone can see how our house is coming along.

The living room needs an overhaul of sorts.  The flooring is still bare concrete.  My hubby found 2 beautiful braided rugs at the yard sale next door a couple weeks ago, so we bought them to put in the dining and living rooms.  I know what once the flooring gets done, with the rug in here, it will give the room a homier look.  I would like to pain the walls and yes, a couple different colors, but at this point in time, I'm not sure what to do.  I can do the more rustic look, but for crown moulding I'm at a loss.  I've been watching "Fixer Upper" with Chip and Joanna Gains to get some ideas.  I just really don't know about mixing the rustic with the formal--ie: crown moulding with a distressed rustic look on the walls and a few antique end tables and coffee table.  Right now it is a hodge podge of colors and textures.  I would like to paint before we do the floor and put things on the walls.  I'd love to do that in the next couple of weeks, but I have a feeling we'll need to wait till after the new year to get it done.  I do know that we want to replace the windows in the house, so I may wait to do anything in there until we get the windows replaced.

For now, I'll let it grow on me until I decide what to do.

Until next time,

Everything in it's Place

While that age old saying holds true for many households, it is going to be a while until it can happen here.

Why?

My husband took a 2nd trip up to PA to get more of our things.  Come to find out, the things I need to put away belong inside some furniture that is still in PA.  So, I just pile all those things on the dining room table until the hutch and buffet table arrive here so I can put them away.  On second thought, I'll just line the wall with them so I can start serving dinners at the dining room table!  Yes!  I think that will work!  :)  I'm missing our "family table" and after having over 2 or so months of "eating where we can" it's time to get that going again.

I have no side tables for what is now the living room at this time, but, I do have ONE living room lamp here.  Hopefully soon I'll be able to get everything put together.  I feel myself getting so very frustrated because my home is not coming together as quickly as I would have liked.  Currently our "Living Room" is my Sewing Room/Sitting room until we can get the AC on the other side of the house fixed.  The technician should be making contact soon, hopefully.  I've wanted to get moving on my sewing by now, but I need to get things put away before I can sew.  The main reason for that is because I need to find my foot pedal for my sewing machine.  All I know, that could still be in PA too!  LOL

As I wait, I'm trying to tackle getting things cleaned up, put away and/or set aside for when the rest of the furniture arrives.  I'm also trying to find an Armoire for my canning jars.  I'm looking for something made from solid wood that we can gut, add some shelves, and put in the yellow room on the wall opposite of my kitchen.  Who knows how that project will end up.  We may line the wall with cupboards, who knows?!  I've found some nice Armoires on Craig's list, so we'll see how things go.  I'll post progress pictures as things move along.

What have we done since moving in here in Georgia?  I'm glad you've asked!

• The carpeting was purged by a husband and wife crew before we got here on the 29th.  They did some basic cleaning because it took an act of God Himself to get the water and electricity turned back on.  It was turned back on on August 27th, so the cleaners didn't have time to do much cleaning.  
• The exterminators have become our best friends.  They have been here four times to help eradicate cockroaches, 2 times for termite protection.  Upon closing we paid for a termite bond where they protect our house and/or fix any future termite damage should there be any once we've signed on with them.  The roaches are fewer and fewer.  I've found it to a point where it is "ok" to start putting my things in the drawers.  I keep the roach bait handy though, so that when we see one, we put the little packets in the general area where we saw the roaches.  We go days now without seeing them, then we'll see one and put out the bait station.  
• With a great start by some wonderful friends of ours, we were able to get the house wiped down....everything!  We started and within 3 days--even in the part of the house where the AC is down--every wall was wiped down.  We took a little longer with the kitchen because it was a disgusting mess.  We couldn't put anything away.  So we spent the first 2 weeks here eating microwave dinners, sandwiches, and just very simple meals because of the roaches and bait in my kitchen.  They would leave their little corpses in drawers and everything.  I didn't want to put anything away until I knew they were eradicated.  My husband bought bait stations and spray stuff that we'd used for the Lady Beetles in PA worked for roaches in GA!  LOL
• My husband and sons have begun working on the flooring.  If you look at my last post, you'll see our bedroom.  If you look at the floor, that will be throughout the whole house with the exception of where the tile is currently.  I think he plans to get more of it done after the 3rd and final trip to PA to get our things.  That way there is nothing looming over his head to have to take care of in PA.
• Fencing was taken care of within the first day or so due to having the dogs.  We wanted to make sure they would be contained.  Once they got out there, they settled down and just relaxed.  They knew they were supposed to be there.  It was all good!
• Plumbing!  Oh wow!  We didn't have hot water coming from any of the taps.  We just really had our hands tied with it....so after closing on Monday, we called the plumber on the way back to see if they could get out to the house to look at the hot water issue.  They not only fixed the problem, but fixed the pool pump as well as a leak under the sink too!  What a blessing by God!  He said, "Welcome to Georgia!"  We thought it would cost so much more than it did!  Whew! 
• The pool, Oh My Goodness!  This was potentially a wonderful thing for exercise for all of us. However, it looked absolutely nasty scum covered pond like. Fortunately, I have the most awesome hubby!  He got to work very quickly on the pool once the plumber took care of the pump!  Awesome!  Now it's beautiful!  

Gus is making progress getting in to the pool on his own.  He barks his fool head off at the other two dogs when we bring him in to the pool, as if to say, "Get back here!  You're not supposed to be in there without me!"  LOL

• Odds and ends--there is always something to fix, something to redo, something to replace.  We purchased a "quasi" foreclosure so it stands to reason that it is going to be more work.  We're not afraid of it.  

Hubby is fixing a sliding screen door.  The wicker set that you see, I found on a facebook flea market site. I'm going to clean them up, paint them teal and reupholster the cushions in a bright red/yellow/fuchsia/teal fabric.  It will go in this sun room once it is done.  I'm hoping to find a nice area rug as well. And true to form, the ceiling fans in this room need to be replaced and the popcorn ceilings need to be replaced too.  LOL  One thing at a time, though.

• The truck has been worked on for more money that we would have liked, but it needed to be done.  We are so glad that it is done though!  
• We've been to our homeschool group class days twice.  Hubby and I have decided that we need to buy a different Pre-Algebra curriculum for our youngest so that the class he is taking makes sense for him with the curriculum they're using.  I didn't know they would be so rigorous when I signed him up for it, so I need to bite the bullet and make the changes. 
• I've finished my 4th hat for our Operation Christmas Child boxes!  I just need to weave tails in.  Next is a hat just like it to make it the 5th hat.  I don't know if I'll get it done, but if I work each evening on it, I'm sure it'll get done.  :) 
• We've decided on a church and so far, youth activities locally.  We're staying local for youth group and traveling almost an hour for church on Sundays at Sherwood Baptist Church.  We'll see what happens on Wednesdays when the time comes.  Sherwood has a lot going on for families on Wednesdays, but we'll see what happens.  We're thinking we'll stay local for now, though.

Goals for the not so distant future:

1. Find my foot pedal to my sewing machine so I can start making curtains for my house.
2. Find and organize my sewing room and office so that I can get moving making not only curtains, but more aprons to sell.
3. Get my armoire set up so that I can get my canning jars put away in their place whether they're filled with yumminess, or waiting to be filled with yumminess.
4. Get my actual living room put together with side tables, lamps, TV, piano, computer so that everyone can congregate in there.  I have to get the young men helpers to remove furniture from my sitting room and office where we are currently using as a living room. LOL  I'll post pictures soon. 

I think that's probably good for the next month.  I promise to post pictures soon!

God Bless,

We're Moved....Mostly

We're officially Georgia residents now!  We bought a house in Southern Georgia and we're mostly moved in.  We've had some hiccups along the way, but nothing that isn't being handled.

Kitchen progress!  We've had an infestation which "put off" putting things away, organizing and such, so we had to wait.  Now it is driving me nuts not having things completely put away!  LOL

As you can see in the picture above, the doorway to the far right shows what most of our floors look like.  We had a crew come in and remove all the icky carpeting.  My husband is gradually getting the new flooring put in, but he needed to stop when he needed his table saw...and it was in Pennsylvania.  So, we clean concrete floors, tile floors, and laminate floors. 

I think it's worth waiting for, don't you?!  

Once I find my sewing machine I'll need to get to work on lots of curtains!

 We're getting settled, laying new flooring, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, organizing, scouring craigslist, thrift stores, & facebook for sale/flea market groups for things we need.

The Dining Room is HUGE!  Our table that seats 12 when completely pulled out now has room to fit in a space without feeling cramped!  More updates to come, I promise!

The red is going "bye-bye" in favor of a "Bermuda Blue."

Our daughter started priming her bedroom because it is so very red.  She needed to go over the primed wall twice to cover enough of the red to start painting the blue/green aqua that she wanted her walls.

This picture was taken a few years ago, but this is the color of her old room in Pennsylvania.  She wanted the same color here.

She and I went shopping on Friday to get some things for ourselves at one of the outlet stores for our birthdays, found a chair that would go well in her room once it is painted, and bought the paint.  I figured it would be good timing since her 18th birthday is tomorrow.  I'd already ordered her some boots and flats as a surprise, so her birthday celebration is in full swing!  The only thing I need now is to get her a cake and figure out where to take her for her birthday dinner.

My birthday is coming up this Friday as well.  I've already purchased a dress, scarf, and earrings for myself.  I didn't buy any shoes because I knew my hubby was getting all my dress clothes from PA brought down here this past weekend.  I just need to go unearth it all.  LOL

Of course there has been quite a bit of pool time.  We're trying to get the dogs acclimated to the pool.

She had Rustie in the pool and Gus went nuts.  He didn't want Rustie in there and wanted him out!  This is the first time Gus went down on the first step without anyone trying to coerce him.  LOL

We have visited 2 churches here.  While the doctrine and messages are both very powerful and on point, the worship styles are very different.  There is a lot to consider and pray about.  The question of "where can we serve and where will our service be needed more?" is one we're praying about.  A consideration brought out by our daughter is that if we're not being fed, how can we serve with our whole heart?  So there is a lot to think about and pray about.

Please pray that our house in PA sells soon.  There are tons of reasons we need for it to sell and the Lord knows all of them, even the ones we don't know about.  Please just cover it in prayer.

I hope to get in to a groove of blogging more often, at least once a week.

Until then...

God Bless,