Uncategorized Archives - Page 3 of 15

Best Pound Cake Ever

January 24, 2014 by Logan 6 Comments

poundcake

I’m not sure where to begin to share about the activities that have transpired in the past 3 weeks of our lives, but on New Year’s Day, it sort of began when our HVAC literally started smoking and caught on fire. About an hour later, our septic tank began overflowing poo and other grossness into our front yard.

Clearly, we had issues.

Last week we escaped our problems (after just installing an entire new HVAC system) and went to Disney world…a trip we’d paid for before Christmas as our kids’ gift. And just as promised, the Magic Kingdom did feel magical (mostly…I mean, let’s be honest, that much stimulation makes kids from all over the globe a little nuts at times.)

We returned home Wednesday, and then yesterday our front yard had an excavator digging 3ft wide by 5 ft deep trenches in our front yard to fix our septic system… which according to professional diagnosis is “worse than we’d thought.”

Never a good diagnosis….and one which carries with it more sounds of *cha ching…cha ching* … money flying out the front door. Seriously, if there even was a working money tree in our yard, we’d be picking the bark off of it by this point.

So I did what anyone in our situation would do…I baked a cake.

Sometimes comfort food is well…comforting.

And ever since I was a young girl and Kathi Cameron taught me how to make this, it’s been my favorite. I still call it Mrs Cameron’s Pound Cake, and to make everything more right in the world, I am going to share it with you all.

Because sometimes when things are down and out, we just need to pick ourselves up and do something for someone else. So yesterday I made chicken noodle soup and took it to a friend today, and made pound cake just because… (and if I’m honest, I also made it because I forgot to buy cupcakes from Publix to take to school for Hudson’s birthday celebration today.) Friends, just do yourselves a favor and never let yourself run out of ingredients to whip up an emergency Mrs Cameron’s Pound Cake.

So here you go…

Mrs Cameron’s Pound Cake

1 c butter softened

1/2 c shortening

3 c. sugar

1 8oz pkg cream cheese

3 c sifted flour (cake flour makes it great, but if you don’t have that, regular will work)

6 eggs

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

1/2 Tbsp almond extract

*I also put probably 1 tsp lemon extract

Cream butter and shortening til white and fluffy. Slowly add sugar and beat at a medium speed til fluffy. Add cream cheese and then beat it til it’s super fluffy! Alternately add eggs and flour (I add the flour in probably 1/2 c increments and then always end with adding flour.) Mix in well and then add in all of the flavor extracts. Grease and flour about 3 loaf pans (or a bundt pan…whatever you want) and bake for about 45 minutes at 325. Cool about 10 minutes and then turn them out!

Log Cabin Bedroom

December 31, 2013 by Logan 7 Comments

I do love a good project, and revamping my boys’ room has been in process for awhile now. It’s still not done, but we’re getting there.

I’ve seen the pallet wood projects all over lately, and I think it’s pretty cool, but it seemed so “everyone is doing it” to me, as well as, FOR REAL, who wants to really rip all the pallets apart and remove the nails?! I wanted the rustic feel, but thought it’d be fun to find some color too. So we loaded up our kids and headed to our favorite local salvage yard where we walked around a couple acres of property and unearthed one cool looking board at a time, just kinda guessing on how much we’d need. I tossed it all together, offered the man $50 for all of it, and we put it on the van and headed home.

My good friend Daniel White had done a pallet wall before, and he suggested we first cover the wall with roofing felt to deaden the light in the cracks between. So that’s just what we did!

felting wall gridded wall

After we used a air compressor and some staples to get the felt onto the wall, we marked all of the studs with a white colored pencil so we’d know where to nail the boards. We also marked level lines periodically so that we could make sure as we worked our way up that we weren’t getting wonky with our lines.

I don’t know what’s the best way to do this, but since all of our boards were different widths (I did try to choose ones that were pretty close in thickness), I had to figure out how they were all going to go together. I measured our wall and then marked it out with sidewalk chalk on the driveway…pretty technical huh?!

Because we have dormers in the room, i made sure that the boards overlapped that line plenty so that we could cut the 45 degree angles when we got to each board. It was a pain…I’m not gonna lie!

We started at the bottom left and worked our way right and up using an air compressor and brads to nail the boards into the studs (also, the brads are tiny, so they dont’ show up at all.)

We didn’t cut the angle of the ceiling until we got to that point (working left to right), and it was better to cut them slightly too long and trim off the straight edge to get a tight fit than to risk a big gap.

Also, I’d found the gorgeously awesome plank that we used on the top (which amazingly had a bevel on the top so that it fit a bit more closely to the crown.) When we got close to the top, we went ahead and put it up there to fill in the spaces between the bottom level and the top one. My husband had to rip a couple planks and then use a planer to shave them down when we got to that point. This whole thing was like a crazy puzzle to fit all together. My setup on the driveway worked pretty well, but there was of course some discrepancy once we actually got stuff on the wall.

It took us the better part of an entire day to do this, but it turned out pretty incredible! We have plans to put it onto the low walls between the dormers as well, but have to gear up to get that done.

So, here’s the before…in all it’s messy glory! It’s like a makeover photo…never put makeup on the first picture.

And now..

My sister knew I was doing this and so for Christmas she gave the boys a faux cowhide rug that I think she found on Overstock.com. It is fantastic!

And the wall, all decorated with some incredible vintage showshoes I picked up for a steal, an old map I just had, a fun shotgun made from old license plates we found at the Antique Tobacco Barn in Asheville, NC, and a random piece of leather I had and some ropey thing (no idea what it is) I got for free at the salvage yard. My son’s old bed was a convertible crib, and this wrought iron one was my great grandmothers that was mine when I was a kid. I spray painted it (it was white) with an oil rubbed bronze Krylon spray paint and it looks totally refreshed now! I love the way it all turned out!

So there you have it! And all total, I still have probably as much wood remaining as we put on the wall, so you’re looking at about $25 worth of salvage wood there (that had a minimum amount of random nails here and there to remove._ And for those of you wondering, I guess it might have lead paint, but since my kids aren’t eating it, and I sanded it and cleaned it off pretty well, I’d say we’re ok. I LOVE the way it turned out and think the boys will enjoy it for years to come!

Favorite Things

December 9, 2013 by Logan 3 Comments

Raindrops on roses, and whiskers on kittens

bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens

wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings

these are a few of my favorite things…

Favorite things. We all have them. And let’s be honest, whether you were an Oprah lover or not, the best show of every season was always the “Oprah’s Favorite Things” show. She would get crazy sharing her favorite things with everyone in the audience that day! Egyptian cotton sheets, cashmere sweaters, Hermes scarves, Apple Bottom jeans, and I really think I remember her giving everyone a car once too! There is just something fun about sharing the things you love with the people you love.

My friend Julie told me about this thing that she and her girlfriends have done for years that they call, “Favorite Things.” It sounded so fun that 5 of my closest girlfriends and I decided to do it together this year and make it an annual tradition.

The idea is that you gather a handful of your friends and all bring some of your favorite things, one for each other person. There were 6 of us, so I bought 5 of each thing I gave. The favorite things can be ANYTHING. There’s no price range or limitation (just whatever each person is comfortable with doing), you can do as many or as few things as you like, and mostly just have fun with it! Julie told me over the years the favorite things she’s gotten have ranged from a favorite chapstick, toothbrush, O-Cello sponge, art print, monogrammed tray, and the list goes on. The possibilities are endless!

And as many of you know, after years of close friendship, there has been a fair amount of rough stuff that this group of gals and I have walked through together this year… from the death of one of our closest friends, Melissa, to our church experiencing major transition which deeply affected us all, to births of babies, loss of jobs…it’s been a major year for us. And we just decided it was time to celebrate something together, to celebrate one another, and the fact that as hard as it’s been this year, we’ve made it through.

So I booked a couple of rooms at our fabulous Allume hotel, The Hyatt Regency Greenville, and we spent nearly 24 hours together for a little stay-cation. We kicked off the afternoon just puttering around and doing a little Christmas shopping, and then headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner together! (There is just something super fun about getting ready with a bunch of girlfriends too…trying each other’s makeup, learning how to use the curling iron just so, and putting together outfits…it’s just fun, and not something a bunch of moms have the chance to do nearly as much as most of us could use the break. My pictures aren’t great…so bear with them!)

After getting ready, we headed out for dinner and then grabbed dessert from another place to bring back to the hotel and enjoy in our jammies! (I’m totally doing an Advocare 24 day challenge right now, but I straight up cheated the whole night…super special occasion!)

And then we got down to eating dessert and sharing our favorite things! It was seriously such fun. Scoot over Oprah…I’m betting women across the world are gonna get in on this train now!

We put our names on paper and drew to determine the order. I was picked first, so I handed out my gifts which I had the best time just wrapping! Check out the fun pile of presents…

I know you’re dying to know what our “favorite things” list included! My first one was a baggie of my favorite sugar cookies (recipe included.)

I also wrapped my favorite toothpaste (Aquafresh Extreme Clean), and my favorite dry shampoo (Suave Keratin in the gold bottle…$3.) But my most favorite Favorite things are my Goody Goody Bon Bon slippers….seriously, I cannot get enough of them, and my friends couldn’t either! Squeals may have been heard around the world. Can’t believe I forgot to bring my pair with me! Doesn’t that lone bare foot look so sad?!

Then the rest of the girls went…and it was such a hilarious variety! I’ll show you a picture and do my best to list everything!

Fuzziest socks ever
Glass serving carafe
Body Shop body butter
Aerie underwear
Bvulgari soap
Wet n’ wild lipstick
purple nail polish
salted caramels and salted caramel mocha
button sized earrings
bird picture made from one of our friend Melissa’s old shirts (she loved birds and we loved her.)
mini prophetic painting for each of us
wooden cutting board with changeable plastic mats that nestle inside for different foods
teeny tiny gold cross necklace
golden bird ornament for “hope”
individualized prints our friend made because the saying reminds her of us: “She’s whiskey in a teacup.”

I fear that I’m leaving something out! It was such a blast! Julie said that among her friends, they’ve done a huge variety of things over the years too. It’s so fun too because as I wear or use these things, it reminds me of some of the special people in my life. I’m thinking it’s the kind of thing that long-standing traditions are made of!

Anyhow…just hysterical and fun and creative! I liked the idea so much that my family is doing it this year as well. My Hubs is buying his favorite things for the guys (dads, brothers, brother-in-laws) and I’m getting my favorite things for the girls (moms, sisters, sis-in-laws.) Our kids are picking some of their favorite things for cousins as well! It’s just a fun way to spice up the gifting!

Just had to share….too fun not to! So grateful for this handful of friends who have walked through fire together over the past 6 years. Truly, grateful for even more friends in my life than just these…honestly, as much as this past year has brought in the way of hard, it’s sure made me love the people in my life even more.

Amazing Sugar Cookie Recipe

December 6, 2013 by Logan 1 Comment

This is the 3rd time I’ve posted this recipe, but let’s face it…I’ve made them way more than that!

These cookies are amazing! Flaky like shortbread, hold their shape when cut with cookie cutters, and amazing whether you like them thin and crispy, or thick and soft. Hands down, the best recipe I’ve found. So good in fact, that my own mother has abandoned her life-long sugar cookie recipe in favor of this one.

Amazing Sugar Cookies
yield: about 75 medium cookies

24 ounces butter (softened)
20 ounces powdered sugar (sifted)
3 whole eggs, plus
1 egg yolk
1/2 ounce vanilla extract
1/4 ounce almond extract
6 1/2 cups flour

Directions:

With paddle attachment, mix butter for 30 seconds. Add a 1/3 of the powdered sugar, mix on first speed for 1 minute. Add another 1/3 of the powdered sugar, mix another minute. Finally, add the last 1/3 of sugar, mix 1 minute.
Combine eggs, vanilla, and almond extract together, add to butter/sugar mixture. Mix for 30 seconds.
Add a 1/3 of the flour, mix 1 minute.
Scrape.
Add the next 1/3 of the flour, mix 2 minutes.
Scrape.
Add the final 1/3 of the flour, mix 3 minutes.
Refrigerate until able to be rolled out and cut into desired shapes. (if you’re using the dairy free version i told above, I’d refrigerate it 24 hrs before rolling out to make sure it really sets up.) Bake at 350 for 9-15 minutes depending on the size you cut them!)

Get crafty too with the packaging! My kids and I have been making paper snowflakes, so I decided to stick a large one on the front of a brown paper bag and just added some jute string, a couple pretty wired ribbons, and a clipping of christmas tree. Easy peezy lemon squeezy, and my kids thought it was fun too!

Another quick idea is to toss a couple into a brown paper bag and include a printout of the recipe card on the outside! I’m really into brown paper packages tied up with string this year!

Fall…and the Perfect Pumpkin Bread Recipe

November 7, 2013 by Logan 6 Comments

Let’s talk fall for a minute. As in, how rain doesn’t fall now in droplets of water so much as in storms of leaves floating down to earth from their lofty views above.

About trees that burn in colors that only a celestial paintbrush could mix.

And reflections of earth and water and sky somehow produce vibrant reflections of the soul.

Where the promises of God somehow come alive again in full color and travel from heaven to touch the fields of earth below.

Life slows as the wind chills, and our view pulls out and suddenly we can see for miles.

It’s in these days we want to stop and enjoy the simplicity of pajamas by a fire…

And flavors that remind us of it all…brought together and meant to enjoy one slow bite at a time.

You all know I have opinions about recipes, and while I can appreciate hints of pumpkin with heavy sprinklings of chocolate chips, or dense pound cake-like pumpkin breads with cinnamony notes, my most favorite of all times came from my roommate in college Laura. With chopped pecans, and bites of rich dates melting into cake-like bread, heavy flavors of nutmeg, ginger, cloves and cinnamon…this bread will always remain my favorite when it comes to flavors of fall. Give it a try and let me know what you think. And while you’re at it, try making my favorite Sweet Potato, Chorizo, and Spinach soup. Dish up some fall flavors in a bowl of soup or sliced on a plate for breakfast with pats of butter or cream cheese!

Pumpkin Bread with Dates and Pecans

1 c. water
1 c. applesauce
1 can pumpkin
3 c. sugar
3 eggs
1 c. chopped pecans
3/4 c. chopped dates
1 tsp each…nutmeg, ginger, salt, and baking powder
3 1/2 c. flour
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cloves

Mix first 7 ingredients together in a large bowl. Mix drys all together and add to pumpkin mixture and blend well. Pour into 2-3 loaf pans and bake at 325 for 1 hr or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Allume Reflections

October 31, 2013 by Logan 19 Comments

It’s been a month since I’ve even written here in this space…no surprise really since I was running Allume which happened this past weekend.

I want to recap things…the weekend… but, I have to confess that it’s near impossible to recap a weekend when that weekend was really the culmination of an entire year for me.

So I don’t know where to begin. And maybe I begin a year ago when I was on the phone with the kind friends at (in)courage and I cried and said that I had no clue what I was doing. I was handed this thing called Allume, a thing I never looked for or even wanted to dream to do, and suddenly when I realized that my dear friend Sarah Mae was fresh out of vision because she has given so much over the prior 3 years, and that I needed to get some vision, I felt just lost and totally inadequate.

So I cried on the phone with Saul and Lisa Jo, and I got off and called Sarah Mae and was angry that she had “hung me out to dry.”

Or at least that’s how I felt a year ago.

But God knew…and He knew that He had a vision, and that because I didn’t, I’d ask Him to share with me what He wanted to do. So I listened hard. This whole past year I have been on my knees listening hard, making decisions, and then holding them heavenward for holy confirmation to be given.

So this past weekend for me, it was confirmation that I listened and heard Him speaking, because the King of Heaven and Earth showed up in that space, and for 3 days, the Hyatt Regency Greenville became holy ground.

I had felt for months that Christ-centered identity would be spoken, that there would be exhortation for faithfulness in the still places before we’d be called into louder ones, that a brokenness would be permitted, life would be breathed onto dry bones, and then that from the fullness that we have in Christ, that we would be made aware of the overflow and the generosity we can then pour out. I had never known how that would happen, but it began with Ann, continued with Melanie, broke open with Jennie, breathed life with Bianca, and then poured out with Jeff. And in between in all of the sessions, more of the same…a calling, a filling, and an outpouring.

The body of Christ united not just by what we do (the writing, the blogging), but by who we are, and why we do what we do.

I’m still spinning from it all. Soaking up the joy of a revival that I believe was birthed in many hearts as we spent our time together. And I’m taking a couple of weeks to celebrate God’s goodness of what has been done, and asking for his wisdom to see where He leads us all together next. And I have a few ideas, but just like this year, I can have ideas and plan up to a certain point, but the space that made what we shared so holy, was in the parts that God did, that we couldn’t begin to know.

For the Love of the Game

September 28, 2013 by Logan 3 Comments

My son just had a flag football game today, and the whole thing actually put me in a funk.

This is our second year playing Upward Flag Football and it has been the best experience. If you’re not familiar with Upward, check them out! It’s a faith-based sports program dedicated to teaching the mechanics of the game (they do soccer, basketball, flag football, and cheerleading) with an emphasis on equal opportunity and playing time, as well a focus on good sportsmanship and the idea that every child is a winner. In my opinion, its an awesome way to introduce a game to little kids, teach them to understand the game, but still have loads of fun.

They don’t even keep score.

Which in my opinion for a bunch of 7 year olds is absolutely fine. It’s great in fact! They will have all of their teen and adult years to keep score and have others keeping score of them.

I’ve noticed this trend of uber-competitive sports involvement since I’ve had a child old enough to be playing organized sports, and I have to tell you….I just don’t get it?! What ever happened to boys starting to play tackle football for the first time in middle school? And when did little kid teams start traveling out of state for games? And no wonder by the time some kids are getting to college now, they’re burnt out on something they used to love. When did childhood sports become about domination and having to be the best and chiding your kids that they’re not good enough unless…?!

We have a friend who played football at Boston College and he said the same thing. If you start too competitive too young, somewhere along the way, the love of the game gets lost.

And I want to know too why are little boys who’s bodies are just growing are focusing on tackling and hitting one another before their brain even has the chance to learn cursive writing?!

Today at our flag football game, one kid literally tackled another one and knocked him flat on the ground. I get it, you might dive after a flag and knock somebody over, but that’s not what this was. All of the parents on the sideline gasped in unison as we held our breath to make sure he was ok. But then the part that really shocked was when the coach of the tackling offender began to loudly clap and yell “Way to stop ’em buddy!”…and then more claps. Then yelling at the kids on his team to circle up to get ready for the next play while poor Josh was still flat-backed on the ground.

Are you kidding me?!

No “Hey buddy, are you ok?!”… or to the kid that knocked him down, “Make sure he’s alright…how about helping him up?”

Nada

Just claps and “circle up” and don’t worry about the kid you just tackled in a no-tackle game.

So their team went on…passing the ball to the same 3 highly athletic kids, not giving a fair shot, and for me…destroying the reason we play in this league.

When you’re 7, a game should still be a game. It should be fun.

The reality is that most of our kids do not have a career in professional sports ahead of them. So why do we act like they do?

I realized today too that the way we behave as parents at our kids sporting events has the capacity to completely enhance or ruin the fun for everyone. The parent who’s yelling at their kid who can’t keep their hands wrapped around the ball. The parent of the super athletic one who gets ticked off if their kid doesn’t get to play the whole time. The parent who purchases literally every single bit of unnecessary gear for a non-competitive flag football league to make sure their child gets noticed. We, the parents, set the tone for everyone.

It’s all really messed up. And it messed me up today too. It made me mad, and it made me sad, and I just don’t understand what’s so darn wrong with letting kids be kids and play a game for FUN.

I read a quote one time that says, “Children need the freedom and the time to play. Play is not a luxury, it is a necessity.” By definition the word “play” actually means, “engage in activity for enjoyment and recreation rather than a serious or practical purpose.”

Why so serious ya’ll?!

Why can’t we hold off on the intense sporting stuff til they’re old enough to decide for themselves that they want it? Why must kids be on traveling teams when they have barely learned how to tie their own cleats? And why do parents get so up in the mix that they ruin it for everyone?!

And I can only do my part I guess and not be that way. Even feeling angry about this today isn’t exactly the best response, I know that. Maybe I’m crazy, but I kinda think that childhood should be fun, and that playing on teams when you’re little should be about learning to work together, being fair, and practicing good sportsmanship.

They are called GAMES for a reason.

An Ode to Soup and Friendship

September 26, 2013 by Logan 6 Comments

I have a lot of meaningful things that I want to say about this past week of my life spent gathering with likeminded and hearted women from all over and also about my experience at the Idea Camp. My friend Sarah Markley said those things well…so since my words are short now, read hers HERE.

I have pneumonia. And as my wise friend Katie said the other day…”Ain’t nobody got time for that!”

Amen sister…Amen.

With the Allume Conference coming up in less than a month, and week that I pretty much took off last week to be present in my surroundings with the people in my face, I have stuff to do. And ain’t nobody got time for pneumonia.

But I do have time for an ode…this will be my first ode ever, so if it’s awful…that is why. Some things just deserve odes…like soup, and the friends who bring it when you’re sick. It’s just something I have to do…this ode. And my pneumonia medicines make me feel a little loopy, so here goes.

Oh Soup
You really are for the soul.
With warmth and care and nourishment
You bring healing with each spoonful.
And friends who make soup…
You are balm
Your soup is expression of love made edible
Provision
Care
Sacrifice
Hospitality of the Biblical kind
I am overwhelmed by bowlfulls of love

Just Getting Started….Happy Birthday to Me!

August 27, 2013 by Logan 8 Comments

August 28th is a big day for me this year.

I’m turning 35.

Yes….35!

Some of you are thinking, “oh…you’re still so young!” And probably some of you are thinking, “oh, I hope I’m so fun when I’m 35!” (I’m actually just really hoping some of you are thinking that second one! LOL) And me….I’m thinking… “Wow…that happened fast!”

For real….that happened fast!

Because I distinctly remember taking this picture with my sister and Rebecca Kirkland when I was probably 12. And just before my mom snapped it, I looked at my sister and said, “Do I look 16?”… with all the assurance in the world that I looked at least 17.

I would be the hottie on the far left in what appears to be a dress more likely on someone who is 71 than 17. Rebecca was really rocking the Nefertiti looking gold collar, and my sister would be the Joker look alike in the green bridesmaids dress…at least she had the wherewithall to rock a red lip.

But somehow, I passed 16, and then went to college. And I graduated and then had a few jobs while I tried to find myself I guess. What I found was that I wasn’t sure what I wanted, and if I’m honest…even knew too much of who I was.

I heard something a few years back that said that women really begin to finally fit into our skin…to know who we are…and to walk in our callings round about mid-thirties. And while it’s odd to find myself now solidly ensconced in the “mid” part of my 30’s, I’d have to say that for me, that’s pretty true.

Because 10 years ago, I was just getting married with all the hopes and dreams of a perfect family and the notion that the main difference from singleness was that my best friend would always be around, and I’d have sex everyday for the rest of my life. And 8 years ago I was pregnant and obliviously happy with what I’d say was a pretty easy ride, and a life shaping up about like I’d expected. And then about 6 years ago, I was slammed in the face with loss….and after that more loss…and then struggle, and more struggle. And then another baby, and then a season of rest and growth. And suddenly out of nowhere, I entered a season of surprises from the Lord…and those surprises grew and grew and the doors kept opening and opening as I kept walking curiously through them. Then more loss….the hard ugly kind, and lots of questions and lots of wrestling, but at the same time still…more blessing too.

And so it keeps going on…loss and blessing, struggle and rest….the seasons keep changing, the wrinkles they’re a coming, and somewhere in the midst of it all, I found God in ways I never have before. And in finding Him like that, I actually found me.

I learned that the best things in this life, are the things I never could have guessed, the surprises I didn’t have the guts to dream, and the things I never knew that I could love the way that I do.

And I hope that the lesson that the Lord has been teaching me this year is the one that defines the rest of my life….

Just Love

Love, and live, and be thankful…to whoever I’m with, wherever I am. To pour out more than I think that I can. To breathe life and to enjoy it.

For my birthday this year, I just want the people. I want the random drop-bys of friends who love me. I want life to happen with people alongside me, in the midst of heaps of laundry. I want to pour into community, and pour out blessing. I want to redefine what it looks like to be authentically and biblically hospitable, and as a result love people like I never have before. I want the people…the friendships…the relationships…the partnerships…I want the fullness that comes from loving well.

While I’m still pretty stoked about a little birthday money from my Nanny to do something for this tired mama, the stuff I really want….the stuff I really love…it just doesn’t have any pricetag and can’t be easily accomplished. The stuff I’m loving most, is the stuff I’m learning, and the life I’m just living.

So, while 35 used to freak me out, I’m beginning to think that maybe I’m just finally figuring out how to get started.

When Love is a Finished Room…

August 25, 2013 by Logan 21 Comments

One of my very dearest friends has had a very full few months. And to top it off, she’s been pregnant…which of course is joyous, but also horomonal. In the midst of the pregnancy, they sold their house…and were buying a new one. But as buying and selling often go…things don’t happen according to plan.

And as having a family and babies go also… things often don’t go according to plan.

So when the un-plans landed our friends in a really insane week, my incredible friends and I realized that something had to be done.

Our friend’s oldest daughter started a new school Wednesday. Thursday, our poor gal was scheduled for an earlier-than-planned delivery of their 4th child. Friday, her husband had to leave the hospital to meet the movers at their house and then close on the house they were selling and turn around and close on the house they were buying.

My friend left her house for the hospital to never return to it again. And when she was coming home Sunday (today), she was coming into a completely new house that she hadn’t been able to touch AT ALL!

OH MY…LANTA!

I don’t know about you other moms out there, but when I’ve had my kids and come home from the hospital, I’ve been an emotional basket case….and that was coming into a house I’d been able to nest in for months. None of us could imagine coming into a house we’d never lived in with paint colors and wallpaper you hate and boxes piled to the ceiling.

And I say it again….OH MY…LANTA!

So naturally….we did something. And her mom did something, and her mother in law, and her dad, and her father in law. They all worked getting the kitchen, den, and kids rooms into some working order, and our friends and I decided to do something about the Master Bedroom. At least if her own bedroom felt good, then maybe recovering from a csection with a new baby and 3 other kids around, might feel a bit better.

When I got to the house at 6:30 on Friday night, it looked like this….

Some awful colored yellow adorned the walls, and the window treatments had enough dust to create a full sized dust bunny on their own. And let’s not forget the ginormous amount of boxes, containers, a queen sized bed, and who knows what else shoved into trash bags in the last minute efforts to finish packing all piled in the middle of the room!

Katie, Laura, and I painted right over those yellow walls with the prettiest beige (Sherwin Williams Balanced Beige to be exact) on Friday night.

Yes I did just post a late night silliness picture with not a stitch of makeup in the room. (Sorry Katie and Laura!) We do look devious though don’t we?!

And Saturday, Lindsey, Lisa, and I came back to tackle the mess of stuff piled in the middle of the floor. We unpacked closets, moved furniture, cleaned, sorted bathroom items, and decorated til about 1pm. Poor Lisa even found a bathroom drawer that apparently the previous owner had clipped their fingernails into for what appeared to have been years. GROSS!!!!! She cloroxed it immediately.

So when our lovely friend Jo came home today from the hospital, she didn’t see that mess in the floor…or a single packed up box waiting for her to do something about it anywhere in her entire room or bathroom. What she came home to with that sweet new baby today was this….

Because you know what…sometimes love just needs to look like a finished room.

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. – 1 John 3:16-18