Before and After: Bedrooms

I know, I know.  I've taken my sweet time posting any before-and-afters of our new house.  I finally decided to take some pictures today so I can share the blessing we have in our home!  When we first got into it, it had been foreclosed upon and some friends of ours had taken out all the "garbage."  It was quite the job for them, I'm sure!  And once we got it, it was basically a blank slate, minus the bathroom, which we (and by "we" I refer to my husband and father-in-law!) gutted.  Pictures of that to come soon.

Samuel's Room

Here is Samuel's room now.  I got a lighter blue for the walls, and the ceiling was cleaned and painted.  David and his dad also re-textured the whole upstairs (which contains the hallway, bathroom, and the three bedrooms), which fixed a ton of holes and other imperfections!  We carpeted both of the kids' rooms.  I still have work do to finish the windows - they all need paint on the trim, and I'm still looking for the perfect curtains for this room.

Both of the kids' room floors looked like this.  It's a wonder what carpet will do!

 

Our Room

 

 

So actually, our room wasn't too bad.  And I know this is a different angle, but you'd probably rather see this than a shot of our messy dresser!  I got a medium tan for this color, which I just love!  We also installed a ceiling fan and light.  I'm still looking for curtains for this room, too.

 

Girls Room

 

 

 

I think the girls room has the most noticeable difference.  The wall color was my choice, and it came out a little more bold than I thought.  But the more decorated the room gets, the more toned-down the paint seems.  I think it's going to be just fine when all is said and done.

 

We figured out pretty quickly that someone "closet smoked" in there ... the walls in the closet were yellow and stinky!  We did the same in the girls' room as in Samuel's room - new paint on the walls and ceiling and new carpet.  I'll get another set of curtains eventually, and we have some cute decorations for the walls in both kids' rooms.  Hey, I'm not doing so bad! We lived in our North English house for five years and I didn't even buy any decorations for their room in that time!  I have to feel inspired before I know for sure where I want to hang things.  We're getting there. 

 

Rachel Baby

I know it's been a long time, when here I was, all excited to get back in to blogging regularly.  Anybody else have that "Busiest Time of Year" feeling, though?  I mean, I'm having fun! But I am certainly lacking in the "time" department. 

One thing that I've done with the other two kids, and that I've been wanting to do with Rachel, is to share the story of their birth days.  We celebrated Rachel's first birthday this past weekend, and it was incredible to reminisce about how she came in to the world, and how much has happened since then!

When we accepted the position that David now has in October, we did so on one condition: we would not be moving until after I had delivered Rachel.  I was 7 months along, and after having the best-doctor-ever deliver my other two, I just couldn't fathom finding a new OB just weeks before delivery. So all along, David and I knew that once the baby was born, our lives would become very, very hectic.

I had never been induced before, but given the circumstances - we would be moving on December 28th, plus my doctor was not going to be on call much around my due date (Dec. 17)- we decided at the last minute that induction was going to be the best route this time. Dr. Wenzel gave us the info sheets and said to call in around 6:30 on Friday morning, December 14th, and that we could be admitted as early as 8:00. We got to work finding a friend to watch the older kids and preparing ourselves for delivering a baby just three days after we decided to go ahead and induce. Friday morning came and we called as planned.

 They said that I was going to have to wait, as others were in line before me, and a few ladies had gone into labor in the night. This had happened before, when I was wanting to be induced with Julia and actually ended up going into labor on my own. They put me off for hours and by the time they let me in, she came very quickly. But this time, there was no sign of labor ... I just wanted to have the baby before life got too crazy! Labor and Delivery told me, essentially, "Don't call us; we'll call you." Excellent. Dr. Wenzel was very understanding of my apprehension and actually called me personally twice throughout the day to discuss the situation.

  And what do you think David and I did all day? We packed. And packed, and packed, and packed! It was mentally and emotionally and physically exhausting. Finally, around 4:00 that afternoon, I received a phone call saying to make my way in around 5:30. I was so thankful - I felt terrible for the fact that my friend had had Samuel and Julia all day long, and our parents were just on hold, waiting to hear that we were going in. I got to the hospital around 5:30 and the ladies told me to sit in the waiting room. I couldn't believe it! She said they had gotten several more ladies in labor and that I would just have to wait for a bed.

  I think we sat in the waiting room for at least a half an hour, and it was very sad because we watched the news all day. The Sandy Hook shooting had taken place earlier in the day, so of course, that was all over the networks. I eventually decided that they had forgotten about me, and went to the front desk. Dr. Wenzel was miraculously the one sitting at the desk, and I explained to her that our parents would be arriving and I would appreciate at least being in a prep room rather than sitting in the waiting room when they got there. She led me back immediately and broke my water. With my other two, once she broke my water, I immediately dilated to a six, and then to a ten, and was pushing within a very short amount of time.

This time, that didn't happen. I was at a four when I got there, and after pitocin and a couple of hours of pain, I was still at a four. How frustrating! I asked for my "usual" - a half dose of Nubain. They told me it had been recalled. I remember asking, "so you mean, it's all or nothing??" and they said that was precisely what they meant. I really didn't want an epidural, and though Dr. Wenzel wasn't pushy, she recommended it. I held out until around 10:00 that night. We were struggling some with the baby having an irregular and often very low heartbeat, and my blood pressure dipped into the low 40s several times.

 I was still very hopeful to deliver soon, and really believed that I had dilated enough that it would be anytime. But when Dr. Wenzel checked, I was still only at four. She said that I was likely unable to relax enough to be able to dilate, and once again recommended the epidural. Even though I'd given birth twice before, they were completely natural (minus that half dose!), and I had never felt the intensity of pain I had that night. They had to dial back my Pitocin because of it.  My parents and my mother-in-law came to visit, and I so badly wanted to have some time to talk with them, but the pain was so bad that I couldn't even breathe through contractions. I decided that the time had come for an epidural.

I remember really shaking terribly through that epidural and being so nervous that I wasn't being still enough. I don't know how the poor anesthesiologist got the needle in the right spot! But he did, and he was excellent. They were right ... the epidural really helped me to relax. I mean, REALLY! I was on cloud nine! And I was dilating at last.

But then, Dr. Wenzel changed her mode. Before, she had been in and out of our room, chit-chatting about life and food and babies, and suddenly there was an urgency about her. She only allowed my visitors to come in for about a minute at a time, and she constantly monitored me. The baby's heart rate was apparently very close to being dangerously low, as was my blood pressure.

 I realized that they were at least somewhat preparing to do an emergency c-section. They were doing one on the lady next door, and made it very apparent that they were considering coming into my room first. It made me a little nervous, but probably not as much as it should have. I believe God gave me the peace, though, that everything would be fine. I was worried about my baby, and wanted to lay on my right side so that I could watch her heart monitor on the screen. But every time I went to my right side, we reached the dangerous numbers much more quickly. Time ticked on, and I fully felt the effects of my epidural. So nice!

 I had no idea what to look for as far as when to push, but a felt a tiny bit of pressure once, then a second time, and I pushed the call button. When Dr. Wenzel came in, the baby was already crowning. (oops!) I actually had to wake David up for the birth, which I thought was hilarious since the other two times I was yelling at him so much about who knows what, there was no chance of him napping!

  Rachel Elizabeth was delivered at 1:35 am on Saturday, December 15th.  She was just beautiful, and my smallest baby by over a pound, weighing just 7 lb 4 oz.  I was enamored instantly.  Dr. Wenzel had to do a shot of adrenaline in order for my blood pressure to normalize, and recovery from an epidural is a bit harder I thought, but otherwise, I felt great the whole time we were in the hospital.

Our hospital experience was awesome, and we saw it almost as our little retreat before the big move.  We didn't have many visitors, but that was definitely ordained by God.  We needed the time, the peace and quiet, and the stability of the hospital routine for those three days.

I am so thankful once again as I look back at the third labor and delivery experience.  Though there were scary points, and it definitely didn't go according to my personal plan, I can see how God's hand was so obviously controlling each moment.  I have nothing but wonderful memories of the entire time, and I think I will always hold it as a special time in my heart, because it was the last bit of time we had in our "old" life.  We moved when Rachel was exactly two weeks old.  I cherish that time we had in our familiar hospital, with familiar doctors and nurses who are dear to our hearts. 

And now, a full year later, I thank God for my sweet, energetic, LOUD little Rachel Baby!

A Classic Julia Story

I was going to come back to blogging with a bang.  I wanted to share how God has worked in our family, how He has provided, some huge lessons we've learned. Something life-changing.
 
But when I tried to type yesterday, the keyboard and the website weren't working together.  I gave it a valiant effort, but gave up thinking that God must not have wanted me to share right that moment.  I don't know - sometimes my thoughts and words don't match up the way I think they do, and I come cross wrongly.  Who knows. 

So, I will wait on those "big" blog posts.  Maybe next time.  Instead, I have a classic Julia story.  If you know her at all, you will surely be able to picture her saying this!

This morning, Julia brought me her little pink Bible, as she often does.  "Read me John 19:26," she said.

Well, okay.  I don't even know if there is a John 19:26.  I took the Bible and said I would look for it.
For future reference ... the book of John has 21 chapters, and there are 42 verses in chapter 19 alone. I proceeded to read a bit about Jesus on the cross. 

I got to verse 30.  "Jesus tasted the vinegar.  Then He said, 'It is finished.'  He bowed His head and died."

Oh, dear, I thought, here we go.  Julia has a fascination with death lately, which has generated some great discussions on salvation, but I wasn't sure I was up for that at an early hour this morning. 

She looked at me.  "Hmm," she said, shrugging her shoulders, "I guess He ate too much."

Yep.  Classic Julia.  Theology to follow ... another day. 

This is it . . . we've found "the house"!

God is always at work - always moving, always showing us His ways.  And His ways are so much higher than ours!

Last time I posted that we had reneged on the house we had been planning to buy.  That was a Wednesday. Two days later, we were signing a lease for a home.

On the Sunday before we backed out of the house, David was looking through craigslist to see what was available since we hadn't kept our eye on the market as much recently.  He came across a home that was listed to be sold "as is" or to be fixed up and sold for a higher price.  He called the owner, and it turned out to be a relative of our sister-in-law, who buys homes like that as a business.

We are going to buy the house but it needs some major (cosmetic, not structural) renovations before we will be approved for a loan.  Fortunately, a lease to own program was available, and David and I decided to go that route.

So, we are knee-deep in our home renovation project.  David has done similar things many times, but never on his own home; I have never been a part of such a huge undertaking.  We are so excited to be able to make this home our own, and it even has room to grow in if we stay for several years.

I can't wait to post lots of before and after pictures and will start doing so as soon as we get some rooms finished!  We are working on the bedrooms and a bathroom right now and plan to move in as soon as those are done.

Thank you all for your continued prayers!  It has been a very exciting several months and we expect nothing less for the future

A Big Decision

Ohhh, the mysterious ways of our all-knowing God!

Last weekend was long and emotional as David and I felt we were wrestling with God's will for our future.  It's kind of a long story, but all in all, we prayed and sought counsel and came to the conclusion that our God is not a God of confusion.  As I alluded to in my last update, we seemed to be met with nothing but confusion throughout our buying process.   We also feel we've had a real wake-up call in regards to taking care of our family's needs and being very wise in our spending, as we've had two friends unexpectedly die, leaving a wife and children, within the past four months.  It has made us take a second look at making the most of what we have - time, money, and resources.

On Monday we signed a rescission form releasing us from all responsibilities and obligatins we had made to the house we had been planning to buy for the last two months.  We thought we'd be heartbroken, but instead we both have complete peace with it, and our parents agree that it was the best decision.

We covet your prayers, friends, as we contemplate our next steps.  Thank you to all of  you who've followed our progress through our move, for all of the prayers and encouraging words thus far.  I will continue to update as we seek God's wisdom for the placement of our family!

Housing Update and Patience Lesson

Did I pray for patience?  I don't remember doing so, but God certainly is teaching it to me! 

An update on our housing situation:

We are still waiting on the house that we signed papers to buy clear back in mid-April.  We didn't realize, first of all, how much work a realtor does to make the buying/selling process go so smoothly.  David and I have been on the phone countless hours working out details, and have spent lots of time e-mailing, scanning, signing, faxing, and the works. 

It seems like the theme for this process of buying a home could be described by one word: delays.

Everywhere we turn, we are waiting on someone or something!  We had multiple misunderstandings from the start, from attorneys to bankers. 

As of now, everything has gone through.  Our loan is approved, all the paperwork is finished.  We were supposed to close last Friday the 31st of May.  On Thursday, we received a long list of fixes that needed to be completed before closing.  Obviously we were thrilled with that timing (note the sarcasm). 

We were quite nervous, because we had already decided that we could not invest any money up front on these fixes, and so the conclusion was that if the sellers would not take care of them, we would have to back out.  We were struggling to be content with that decision, but just trusted that God would lead us through that as He has during this whole moving process.  David visited with the homeowners as soon as we got the list and they said it seemed quite "nit-picky", but we didn't even have to ask them to fix anything; they offered to do it all but the electric work.

I had a great time on Saturday while David and his dad worked to fix the electrical issues - I got to go through the house and take measurements and pictures of everything! 

Right now we are waiting on the appraiser to finish his paperwork (par for the course to wait again!) because he has the final say on what actually has to be fixed.  As soon as he submits it, we think the sellers will only take a few days at most and then we are praying that we can close and move in quickly!

We are so thankful that we're in the situation that we are, so that we aren't in limbo somewhere else while we wait on all of this to go through.  I am glad not to be alone with the kids in North English, without David, or that we aren't renting something. 

We are hoping to be able to spend most of the summer in our new home, which has plenty of space for guests and barbecues!  For now, we just keep praying during the process and appreciate friends who are joining us in prayer.

Sneak preview:

Dining Room view from the Living Room - yep, that's a breakfast bar coming from the kitchen!!

Living Room view from the Dining Room

Other Half of the Living Room, looking out to the deck and yard

Samuel's Allergies According to our New Doctor

I've shared before about our ongoing struggles with Samuel and his allergies.  Last week, we went to meet our new allergist now that we've moved, and we weren't really sure what to expect.

Even though it is always good to get a second opinion on things, sometimes it's hard to know who is right! 

We like our new allergist (who happened to be the asthma/allergy doctor David's sister had when she was young).  He is very kind and clearly knowledgeable on things, but between doctor to doctor, everyone just does things a little differently.

Since Samuel tested positive for 13 of his 18 "scratch" tests two years ago, the doctor thought it would be good to re-evaluate and do many of those same tests again.  I think it's safe to say the news wasn't "good" or "bad", but basically confirmed a lot of things we already knew.
Peanuts still registered positive, though Samuel has yet to show any sign of a direct reaction to eating peanuts.  It seems weird, but we're not taking any chances.

I had pinpointed the pesto reaction he had a few weeks ago not to pine nuts but to cashews, and sure enough, that was his most violent reaction when we tested him.

Dogs, grasses, and trees no longer registered as severe reactions, if at all, but dust mites were right up there with cashews. 

Samuel is not old enough or severe enough right now to be classified as having asthma.  We will likely test for that at some point in the future but for now are supposed to use the words, "bronchiolitis" and "rhinitis" (which I guess are fancy terms indicating that he sometimes has trouble breathing and something to do with his nose??).

The conclusion from the doctor was that Samuel is a "highly allergic child" who may grow out of some but will likely develop new allergies as he grows older.  That means we'll always carry epi pens, inhalers, Benadryl, and prednisone with us and must monitor him carefully for a reaction.

But then again, we know two things.  First, God not only already knows our allergy struggles, but He created Samuel to be this way.  We will continue to trust that He has a plan for us all through it.  And second, Samuel just gets older and more aware of his situation with each day.  It is comforting to know that he is finally able to vocalize an oncoming attack and he keeps track of his backpack that contains all his rescue meds.

We are thankful to have a doctor in the area and for modern medicine!