this and that…

it seems I can never keep up with this thing, haha. we are all moved into our new house…although certainly not all unpacked! we are really enjoying the house so much. the girls are loving the back yard…mama & daddy are loving the deck. everything is all on one floor, so we are all “together” all day long and it’s so nice. the girls seem to be sleeping well (although the have had a hard time getting to sleep), and so am i! the neighborhood is really nice and quiet.

we feel so blessed to have our very first home.

~earlier in the week a dear friend came over for a few hours on 2 different days to help me decorate. it was fun. she has a good eye for decorating, and I certainly do not. we’ve had fun coming up with ideas for different rooms. some stuff we’ve done, some will take a little while…but it’s been fun starting to make this house our home. here are a few sneak peek pics of the family room (although more has been done):

above the rope/knots picture is one of my dad’s army medals.

on the left top is a doll cradle my gram made for me when I was a little girl. inside the cradle are a pair of jonathan’s baby shoes. on the right top is my bodhran (irish drum) I got while in ireland. my flute is on the wall, too. I never would have thought to use all of that for décor!

I know the top left pic is sideways, but I am waiting for a new family pic print to come in the mail to replace that one :).

~jonathan has been working hard around here, too. he put together our new kitchen table & chairs, changed the locks on the doors, and hooked up the washer and dryer (among other things). he had a little help with the kitchen table.

there are two more chairs to go with the table.

~the other day we finally had some warm, sunny weather so the girls and I had lunch on the deck. it was so enjoyable! and after the girls went to quiet hour, I was able to enjoy some Bible study time out on the deck…bliss!

~I looked out our backdoor a couple days ago in the evening, and the sun was shining on the mountains…it seriously looked like the mountains were illuminated while everything else around looked normal. I took a couple of pictures, but of course they don’t do the real thing justice…I’m not even sure it really looks like that in the photos…oh well, I tried. Our God is so majestic, isn’t HE?!

~the Lord has really been blessing me/answering my prayers for friends here…and I am so so thankful. one new friend even has a little girl who is liberty’s age (I was praying for a friend for libbs, as well)…those 2 girls are the best of friends already. and that same friend watched the girls for me more than once last week while we were moving. another friend’s husband came over to help jonathan & our neighbor move our furniture, etc to our new house…what a blessing! and I have met the sweetest women in a ladies Bible study I have been attending. Thank you, Lord, for this answer to prayer!

~and I want to leave you with a beautiful and exciting verse from the book of Ecclesiastes chapter 3, verse 11:

“HE has made everything beautiful in its time. HE has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”

it’s a great reminder that God will make all things beautiful in HIS time…and that we are not truly meant for the here & now…we were made for eternity…and it is set in our hearts. like when we look around and wonder if this is all there is…or think there must be more to this life…that is the sense of eternity that God placed in our hearts. isn’t it so great to know that this isn’t all there is when we have the Lord?! I don’t know about you, but I am longing for that eternity with our Lord!

blessings to you, friends!