December

Well, Christmas has come and gone, and we are almost on to a new year (hard to believe!).  December seems like a whirlwind for my family.  Our little Jaelyn turned one on the 10th, Darren and I celebrated our 14th Anniversary on the 19th (and by celebrated, I mean that we acknowledged it in passing, and he bought me flowers), my parents came on the 21st, and, well, you know when Christmas was.  Leading right up to the big day, Darren was working overtime hours about 14 hours a day), and I work retail...so we didn't see much of each other.  Life is getting back to normal now...whatever that is.

We tried to get Jaelyn gifts from some "work at Home Moms" this year, and tried to follow the "something she wants, needs, wears and reads" rule for Christmas/birthday.  We bought her a Super Snuggle Baby and Hammer Rattle from Little DeMoura Designs - http://littledemouradesigns.com
 which is the something she wants 
(well, she is really too little to want, but we knew she would like them!)

We got her a new Stocking from Comfort Cove Designs
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Comfort-Cove-Designs/169454069781139?ref=ts&fref=ts

which is something she needs.

We got her new Supergirl pj's for Christmas Eve, and a new little board book too, which was something 
she'll wear and read 
- not from a work at home mom, but practical nonetheless.
We tried not to go overboard (pretty easy when you have no money, haha), but also tried to make it 

memorable :)

If you have a chance to check out those two companies, please do!  They have wonderful products 

and are great to work with and order from!

Her new stocking *love!*

  

Jaelyn in her new pj's and with her Super Baby!

Holding her hammer rattle she just got in her stocking!

Happy Baby!

I hope you and yours had a great time, too!

Wordless Wednesday - December 19, 2011

Married 14 years to my best friend!  Happy Anniversary my Love! (And thanks for the flowers!)

Pinterest Pin Reviews - Make Ahead Breakfast Sandwiches & Apple Cinnamon Water

It definitely has been a while since I have blogged on here.  At the beginning of this month, my maternity leave came to an end and I reentered the workforce (for me, that is Retail Sales).  It has been a learning curve juggling taking Jaelyn to and from childcare, making meals, and getting our housework done...but my husband and I have survived the first couple weeks :)

During these weeks, I had some opportunities to try out some Pinterest Pins I had wanted to try.  The first one being those "Make Ahead Breakfast Sandwiches" (link found here: http://www.homebeccanomics.com/2011/09/14/make-ahead-and-freeze-breakfast-sandwiches/ )

We made a dozen at first - not totally following the directions.  We toasted English muffins, added cheese slices, a one-egg omelette, and a small round piece of ham.  we then immediately put them in some paper towel and ziplock bags.  throughout the week, we would unwrap them, and put them in the microwave for two minutes before we headed out the door. The result?  They were tasty, but a little soggy.  I reread the instructions, and added some things for the next time we made them.

The next time around we added cooked sausage rounds instead of ham, and we waited for them to cool before wrapping them in paper towel, and placing them in ziplock bags to freeze...much better!  (And when you reheat them, leave the paper towel completely wrapped around them, that way it will absorb any moisture)  This last time we made them, we drizzled some pancake syrup on the English muffins before putting them together...very tasty!  We want to try different varieties so we don't get bored, but on mornings when Darren leaves at 6:30 (which is every weekday morning) and days when I have to leave at 7:15, these are a great way for us both to have a breakfast on the go that will fill us up until our next work break.  Highly recommend it!


Now, for the second Pinterest Pin (and the link can be found here: http://tonetiki.com/2012/04/01/apple-cinnamon-day-spa-water-0-calories/ )....who ever thought of putting apple slices, ice and cinnamon in water and letting it sit overnight for a great weight loss and energizing drink has obviously never tried it.  I asked my husband to try some that I made, but when he came out of the kitchen he had a glass of orange juice instead.  I said, "I thought you were going to try that water!".  And he replied with, "I did."  The result of that experiment?  No...just no....unless you like the taste of slowly browning apples floating in water.

Our breakfast sandwich creations...

The epic apple water fail....

Wordless Wednesday – October 31, 2012

Wordless Wednesday - October 24, 2012

A little weekend project – ripping out the old fireplace and boarding it up so that we don't get drafts in the winter.

And we got more space!

Wordless Wednesday - October 17, 2012

A picture we messaged to my sister a couple days ago - she is in Guatemala on a medical missions trip.  Technology is wonderful :)

Prepping For A Busy Week

In an effort to help make my life more-stress free, and therefore more enjoyable, I am continuing to try out Pinterest Pins that I think will help me out.  This week:  pre-frozen breakfast sandwiches (my husband is starting his route this week with his new job at a courier company...which means early mornings...I am determined for him to have a good breakfast AND for him to not spend money eating  out!)

English muffins, cheese, egg omelette and ham, all ready and individually frozen!)

For myself, I know I need to drink more water every day, but to be honest...I HATE drinking water!  I ran across this Pin about apple cinnamon detox water and though that hey, it couldn't make water taste any worse, right?

thinly sliced apple, cinnamon sticks, ice and water...sitting in the fridge overnight 

These are now all ready and sitting in my fridge/freezer.  In the next couple days, I will be testing these ideas, and then post a review (I'll also share the websites/Pins where the ideas came from).  

In other news of house prepping, we are also trying to seal off drafts in my house (doors, windows, fireplace), as you can definitely tell the temperature is dropping out there.  It is October, and you won't hear any complaining from me (except maybe about the price of oil).  I actually don't mind cold weather.  

Perfectly Pumpkin!

Fall is by far my favorite time of year, and Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday… I love the whole concept of giving thanks, being around family… And of course the food :-) I also love decorating for fall.  I've collected some inexpensive decorations over the years, and I hope that it will help inspire you to do some decorating on a dime yourself.

Mini pumpkins from a local farm and I-Pick, leaf bunches from the dollar store, and platter from the store where I work when went on sale… Altogether only about $7

I got the garland at the Dollar Store (you need to keep your eyes open for the good ones, and shop around!), and the pumpkin candle holder I won at a baby shower...so total cost was only $1!  I love decorating fireplace mantles!

Again, the garland is from the dollar store.  I also cut up a garland to make little leaf bunches (which work great when tied around napkins with raffia for a gorgeous Thanksgiving table!).  I filled a basket I already had, and placed this on top of a bookshelf.  Total cost - $2

The scarecrow was from a craft I had made at church years ago (just toll painted wood pieces held together with wire, and hay glued into little hoes on the ends of arms and legs).  I placed little sparkly pumpkins throughout my house (I won these as well, but you can get them at Michael's, Walmart or dollar store).

Even though Thanksgiving day is over in Canada, there is still a long stretch of time before I start decorating for Christmas (usually December 1st).  I find fall decorations always give a cozy and homey feel to the house!  I always use the same decorations (plus any new ones I have acquired), but I don't always decorate the same way, in the same combinations.  That way, the decorating seems fresh every year :)

If you have any other inexpensive fall decorating ideas, I'd love to hear them, so please share!

Wordless Wednesday - October 3, 2012

Nothing like ripping out your kitchen, and trying to put it back together in one day :)
I don't really recommend it....

Breakfast Casserole In The Slow Cooker Review

When I found this recipe on Pinterest, I was really excited to give it a try... I mean, who doesn't like breakfast?  The original website that the Pinterest pin linked to is this: http://www.alattewithotta.com/2010/11/crock-pott-recipe-egg-brunch-casserole.html 

Basically you later frozen hashbrowns, cooked bacon, sautéed onions and garlic, and cheddar cheese. You then pour a mixture of eggs with whole milk and salt and pepper and some other spices on top.  I personally do not like the spice, dill, so I didn't add any of that.  We aren't huge pepper fans in the morning either (I know, I know...we're boring), so we decided not to put that ingredient in.  We also didn't have any whole milk in the house, so I just used 1% milk and added a little dash of cream.  The main flaw with the recipe is that it claims that you needed to cook it 8 to 10 hours on low in your slow cooker… It was finished in under five.

In the end though, it was pretty good, but I would recommend cooking it for a brunch, lunch or supper.  Setting it before you go to bed to cook for five hours and then warm for a bunch of hours, runs a serious risk of burning, which is what would have happened if I had cooked it for the recommended amount of time.

We added putting a little drizzle of maple syrup or storebrand syrup on top... Made it taste like skillet!

Wordless Wednesday take two – September 26, 2012

Too cute not to share!

Wordless Wednesday – September 26, 2012

Adventures in crockpot cooking.... I'll let you know how it turns out, ha ha!

Heeeeey......Macaroni!

I've seen a lot of 'sensory bag' and 'sensory bin' pins for babies and toddlers on Pinterest lately, and I've pinned a few myself.  I have every intention of making these - lots of them.  Unfortunately, many of my crafting supplies are still in boxes in our basement (which, if you've never been to Sydney, NS, you may not know that the stairs going down to many older basements are pretty much ladder-like in their steepness).  As long as I'm alone with the baby during the day, I won't be going down there anytime soon.   I've also read a lot of reviews from pinners on these sensory bags, about how the bags will frequently rip or leak, and make big messes.  I'm not a fan of big messes.

I decided that I was going to make Jaelyn's first sensory bag, and that it was going to be simple.  What to put in it?  Macaroni.  That's it.  No liquid, no color, just macaroni.  I found a large freezer bag, put in some, made sure I didn't trap a lot of air in it, and sealed it.  I also went over the opening with packing tape, as I didn't want the pasta to 'escape' and go everywhere...and raw macaroni is not the best play toy for an infant when it is not encapsulated in a freezer bag.

It took about a week for my little sweet Jaelyn to get up the courage to actually touch the macaroni sensory bag...she's shy around things she isn't familiar with sometimes.  She finally is grabbing it, shaking it, squishing it, and throwing it.  She's not sure about it...it feels weird...and that's the point.

Baby Safe Wipes Box

Who hasn't heard about that dreaded moment when a mother finds that her child has taken every single wipe out of the box and thrown them around the room?  Not only has it made a mess, but depending on how long the wipes have been out and the manner in which they were thrown, they may be unusable.  I recently found a Pinterest idea that was pinned by "A Spotted Pony" (http://aspottedpony.com/fun-for-kids/turn-a-wipe-container-into-the-best-infant-and-toddler-toy/876/)  You take an empty wipes box, and fill it with squares of fabric.  Problem solved.

I decided that this was a pin I would like to attempt, but I realized I don't own a sewing machine and since I didn't sew, I didn't own pieces of fabric.  I did, however, have a bag of baby clothes that I was going to donate to Value Village (mostly items that I couldn't sell, or give to people that I knew personally that needed them, and I wasn't keeping for the next child).  I grabbed some scissors and cut them up into sqaure-ish shapes (hey, I'm not a perfectionist).  I also received free Disney stickers in the mail, so I put them on the box...and voila!  A new sensory toy, and it cost me $0 to accomplish!

Jaelyn is mostly intrigued with the pop-up lid right now, but each time she plays with it, she understands more and more that there are things inside that she can pull out.  ThIs is a great learning toy that any Mom or Dad can make!

Wordless Wednesday - September 19, 2012

The leaves are changing!  Excited to see the view outside my window in a couple weeks :)

Wordless Wednesday - September 12, 2012

Introducing tooth #1 & #2....

How to Deal With The Rooms You Are "Waiting" To Rennovate

It's inevitable...you buy a 'fixer-upper' house and begin making all these grandiose plans for how you are going to make it beautiful, and the 'fix-it' list becomes enormous.  You will eventually get to everything on the list, but it may take a year or two...or three...

I've lived through that already, and I'm about to live through it again.  First on our list is a complete reno of the upstairs floorplan, then the kitchen, and then everything else.

But what do you do with the rooms while you are waiting?  I need it to feel like 'home' for my own sanity, and not a continuous construction zone.  Darren and I rented for 10 + years before we were financially able to purchase our own house, and while it was annoying to have to wait so long to own something, we did learn some tricks along the way to make each place we stayed in feel like 'home'.  And yes, we've moved a lot...at least 13 times...I think we've lost count along the way.

The very first thing I always have to do is paint...something...anything.  I can't express this enough - it makes a HUGE difference, and it doesn't cost that much (if you are really on a budget, pretty much all paint stores have a mis-tints section where they sell cans of paint at discounted prices).  The house we recently purchased has horrible colors, and the paint job was horrendous.  In fact, they liked to paint EVERYTHING (light fixtures, electrical outlets, baseboards, light fixtures, paneling...even toilet seat and bathtub) in the same colors.  Both our living room and dining room are pretty much livable right now, but they needed some sprucing up to feel homey.  We painted our hideous fireplace out white (it will eventually be destroyed and rebuilt), and are planning on putting a tile insert in the front...I'm sure there's some tile in our basement (oh, did I mention that the previous owner left the basement and cupboards FULL of things?  Mostly useless things?)  We also painted out the bead-board trim in the dining room, as it was painted a dark grey-brown.  These rooms will eventually have the walls plastered and painted, but for now, there's  a sense of cohesiveness.

Fireplace before - they had it painted the same color as the wall, and there is a weird plaster finish on it.

Fireplace - painted it out white, and we are experimenting with a tile insert (we can get cheap glass tiles from Walmart).  We also have it blocked off from my 9 month old!

Dining Room Before

Dining Room - beadboard painted out

While painting is quick, I have recently found that wall decals are quicker!  This is something that I am new to, but I love it!  Our daughter, Jaelyn, had the most beautiful tiny room in our last house.  And now, she has another tiny room, but this one is just sad.  The floors need to be redone, she needs a closet, the walls need to be fixed, and it is painted the most lovely shad of Seafoam (barf!).  I remember saying to my husband that I was sad for her - it is such and ugly room to wake up to every morning.  We don't have money to, in essence, renovate twice, but she needed (or I needed) something to make it feel like a little girls room.  Then I discovered a wonderful company called Wall Pops - who make beautiful, reusable vinyl tiles.  They are affordable, and are found at your local hardware store (and if you keep the packaging/backing, you can remove them before you paint, and reapply them).  For $16 I purchased a package of Ivory butterfly and flower Pops, and it has really changed the feel of the room.

Jaelyn's Room just after we moved in...so sad, not even any real curtains!

Jaelyn's room with Wall Pops and curtains...feels like a little girl's room now! (Don't worry, when we put up her new curtain rod, we'll raise it!)

I also discovered wall decals at the local Dollorama for, you guessed it, $1.  I've experimented with some of these (hey, they're only $1), and it resulted in a beautiful door to the basement that I love!  I had to cut up the wall decal so I could format it the way I wanted, but I really like the result.

Finally, I suggest that you deal with the curtains - sometimes you are lucky enough to inherit decent curtains, but when you are buying a fixer-upper you usually have to dispose of the dated, lacey, valency, ugly things.  You also will most likely need to move your curtain rods.  Did you know that many if not most people hang their curtain rods incorrectly?  Take the house we are in, for example.  They have the living room and dining room curtain rods fastened directly to the window trim.  To get the most out of the height of your room, you should put your outer curtain rod brackets 3" up and 3" out from your window casing.  If you have fairly high ceilings, you can even  take them pretty high up.  And just because you have a shorter window does not mean that you need shorter curtains!  They should be the full height of the wall.  While our upstairs curtains that we inherited were all gross and dated, we lucked into plain ivory cotton tab curtains in the living room.  They had four panels on each window (which they didn't need) so we were able to use the extra panels in the dining room.

Our last sad little "room in waiting" is our bathroom.  I have found that the easiest fix there is to shell out the money and buy a new shower curtain.  A nice one.  Look at the color of the walls and the floor, and choose one that compliments both.  It will really make a difference in your room, and then you can coordinate from there.

Bathroom before

New Shower Curtain - $25!

Budget Friendly Activities For Baby - "Treasure Baskets"

I was scrolling through Pinterest this morning (as I usually do), and I came across a Pin that described having sensory activities for your baby.  I love the idea of having learning activities for my daughter, but frankly I don't have the money or time to set them up....so I thought.  When I clicked on the link to the site, my mind was blown by all the activities I could have for my daughter and her developing brain, all for free!  Before I go any further, I want to acknowledge the site: http://www.theimaginationtree.com/2010/10/heuristic-play-treasure-baskets.html and encourage all mothers (and moms to be) to check it out.

After flipping through different pages on the site, I came across an idea for a baby 'Treasure Box'.  Basically, you find things around the house and put it in a basket.  You then give it to baby and let her discover things for herself.  Now, usually Jaelyn will play with a toy that I give her, and when she's done she'll throw it, or become distracted by something else.  I was a bit skeptical that this idea would work, but I went ahead and decided to give it my best shot.  While my husband was feeding her breakfast, I found a basket and decided to 'hunt' for things in my house to put in it - things that make noise, she could chew on, etc.  We still hadn't unpacked everything from the move, so I wasn't sure I could find enough (again...wrong).  Here's what I included:
-small wooden cutting board
-small metal whisk
-a milk storage bottle filled  halfway with rice
-a plastic bag clip
-teething ring
-a baby friendly mommy bracelet
-a small plastic toy milk carton
-a baby fork with a round handle
-a spoon
-a small crinkly toy
- a plastic frog toy
-a small ring toy with different textured leaves
-and last but not least, we had a stroller toy (that never really worked for Jaleyn, and always got in the way of the infant carseat handle).  I cut off the two hanging toys, and put those and the plush elephant part in the basket.

Some of these items were part of toys, or toys that I didn't really know what to do with, but found a new use in the basket.

I turned off the TV, and moved all of her other toys somewhere else, and gave her the basket, and I watched her (the site suggested only interacting with your baby when she/he invites you to).  I watched her pull out an object, play with it and set it to the side.  She would then pull out another object, and sometimes go back to the first ones - but she would always concentrate on each one and try to figure out it's use.  By the end of it, she had the whole basket dumped upside down, but she was totally enthralled with it all.

She would occasionally look up at my husband and I with glee (I would never leave her alone with the basket...not all items are completely baby safe) as she found a use for each item (chewing, banging, flipping around in her hand).  Not once did she get upset and cry out for our attention.  She was stimulated and she was learning.  I didn't even plan enough time for her to play with it - after a half hour it was time for lunch, and I packed it up and placed it out of sight in the kitchen until it is time for her to experience the treasures again.

I challenge you to try it with your own baby.  Change out the 'treasures' frequently.  I plan on having a couple separate 'treasure baskets' - ones that make noise, ones with textures, etc.  It didn't take a lot of time, and it cost absolutely nothing to do....but so much more rewarding than always plunking your baby down with her usual toys, with music or TV on in the background.

On a totally separate but not unrelated note, I now have a board on Pinterest labelled "Pins I've Actually Done" (as well as a new label on this blog), and I'm determined to implement at least one Pin a week that I have run across.  Stay tuned for the reviews :)

Wordless Wednesday - August 29, 2012

My new addiction.

Our Journey From There To Here

It's been almost two months now since Darren and I uprooted from St. John's, NL, and journeyed here to Sydney, NS.  Why 'uprooted'?  Well, we were settled there.  We had lived in Newfoundland for 7 years and had come to love the province and people.  Our daughter was born there, we have strong friendships, and our lives were deeply 'rooted' in that place.

And then everything changed.

In April of this year, both Darren and I felt (independently) that we were released from our ministry at Avalon Wesleyan Church - a church that God had called us to plant in Newfoundland seven years ago.  I know, some people don't like the word 'released' - but that's what it was.  God told us that He had other plans for us, that someone else was going to take over the ministry in St. John's in order for it to grow, and He would lead us to another place.  God had told Darren first, and he was waiting for me to get confirmation from God (that's usually how it works with us - God will tell each of us something - confirm it in our spirits - and then a 'divine' conversation will happen between us as we realize we each have the same confirmation).

It was a very shocking discovery.  Our church was finally getting it's own legs to stand on as a church plant, and was growing.  We had a great support team of core people, whom I relied on for parenting advice and had great relationships with.  But God was asking us to leave, and so we told Him we would go wherever He sent us.  We were thinking that maybe our time as bi-vocational church planters was done - we've never had paying jobs in the ministry since we had graduated University, and have always worked a full time 'secular' job to support ourselves.  Maybe God was calling us to full-time paid ministry work now that we had a daughter.  Until He gave us specific directions, we decided to plan and move closer to family (either Halifax or Saint John), and give support to the local church there.  We couldn't afford to stay in St. John's without the housing allowance from the church plant.

But then God called us to do the unexpected...again.  Through prayer and discussion we realized that God wanted us to help out another church plant on our district in Sydney, NS.  I fought this idea with God for a while - wasn't this exactly the same type of ministry we were leaving?  Wouldn't we be doing the same thing?  Why take us away from St. John's to go somewhere else?  But there was no denying it - God was calling us to go, so we said "yes"...and then He began to change my heart towards moving.

We resigned from our church and began the process of putting our house up for sale and packing, all the while trusting that God would fill in the details for our move to Sydney.  You see, we both needed work, we needed childcare, we needed a house to live in...and on top of that, we wanted to make sure that the transition of leadership for Avalon Wesleyan was as easy and smooth as possible so that ministry could continue.  We had no prospects for ANY of that, just God's word that this was His leading.

And so we trusted...and the miracles began to happen.  Don't get me wrong, it was a stressful time and we cried out to God, but the miracles are undeniable.

Sometimes, when I want to be sure I am following God's leading, I lay out a fleece (like Gideon in the OT), and ask God "if this is really where you want me/us to go, can you give us some confirmation".  I prayed this, and the next day I received word that we would have childcare for Jaelyn when I went back to work.  Miracle #1.

We needed to get some renovations done on the house to sell it, but had no money to do it (not to mention that we had to fix our car that was broken down and stuck in our driveway, but didn't have money to tow it...hard to sell a house with a broken down car in the driveway!).  We applied to increase our credit line, but they needed proof of income from both of us.  Darren's was fine to get because he was still working, but mine was another story.  I needed proof of a job I had just 'quit', as I had been on Maternity Leave and had  informed them that I was moving out of province.  Darren told the bank that we would get back to them, and our hearts sank.  I laid out the 'fleece' again and ask God for confirmation we were making the right decision.  The next day I received an email from my company offering to transfer me to Sydney - for the exact position that I held in St. John's.  Miracle #2.  (I asked  for them to send a proof of employment letter, and we were able to get the credit line...Miracle #3)

We finally fixed up our house as best we could, given that we were still doing ministry at the church, Darren was still working full-time and we had a baby.  We had gutted, renovated, and cleaned, and finally put our house on the market.  It sold in 5 days (Miracle #4)

We had gone to our bank to see if we could buy a house in Sydney, but with Darren now putting in his notice for his work, and us just living on Mat Leave income it seemed impossible.  Our friends in Sydney put us in contact with a fantastic mortgage broker and a great Real Estate lady, and within a short time we had found a house (sight unseen), put an offer in which was accepted, and were approved for a mortgage based solely on my Mat income.  Miracles # 5.  The hurdle of the dreaded CMHC approval was also achieved without any issues - Miracle #6.

Then we made the hard decision that we needed to find a new home for our cats.  Darren had just found out from the doctor that his numerous sinus infections and wheezing over the past 12 years were caused by an allergy.  But who would want to take 2 10-12 year old cats, with one of them having some health issues.  We prayed and I put the ad up on Kijiji.  Within two weeks they had a new, loving home.  It was incredibly sad to see them go, but they are getting the attention they deserve and are happy, and we will be updated with pictures and emails!  Miracle #7.

We saw miracles happening within our small church congregation as well.  God began calling people to 'step up' and take leadership in areas where they hadn't before.   The pastor at our sister church in Newfoundland had also been given a passion to begin satellite ministries from their congregation, and with the help of our District Superintendent, we began meeting and planning if this was a possibility for our congregation.  They were too young/small to support themselves, but needed to keep their own church identity and location to continue reaching different people in the community.  The congregation led their own services for the month of  July, and are working with the other church to iron out details of a satellite location, get additional funding and find a pastor.  What could have been a divisive circumstance made this Body of Believers stronger...almost all of them have made a commitment to see this through.  Miracle #8.  We miss them terribly, but know that we will see them again, and keep in contact often (thank goodness for Facebook!)

We were set to pack up our belongings into a moving truck on Monday, July 2nd.  On Sunday (which was already an incredibly emotionally-filled last Sunday at Avalon) U-haul had informed us that even though we had booked their largest truck, there were none available in the entire  province.  They did, however, provide us with a shorter truck and a trailer.

We found out on Monday that the long boat ferry was broken, so we would need to drive the 10 + hours across the province (Darren in the U-haul w/trailer, me in the car w/baby) to catch the short boat ferry.  Fine.  Not ideal in the least, but fine.  Oh, and we had to fly my dad in to St. John's because for some reason his name was still on the house deed (he was a co-signer for the original mortgage on the house, and they didn't inform us of that until it was too late to courier signed documents).  That confused me at first...if everything was going so well with the houses, why did we have to fly my dad in now?  When we found out about the U-haul we realized why.  Without my dad's help (and the help of our friends), we would have never fit everything into the moving truck.  Miracle #9.

It was a LONG drive, and we had to deal with many closing issues with our house in St. John's via cell phone the entire way across.  We had already missed our closing date, but the house needed to close before we could close on the house we were buying, and that didn't look like it was going to happen, and that put the Sydney house in jeopardy of falling through.  We would be homeless if we couldn't get into our house on Thursday, and our boat arrived earlier that day.  Thankfully, we were able to borrow money for the down payment and fees (yay family!), and when we got off the boat we had signed papers and keys in our hand within 2 hours.  There was a crew of people waiting to help us move in (in the pouring rain), and we stayed at our friend's house for the night.  Miracle #10.

As for Darren's job - he was able to pass out a couple resumes before we needed to head up to our annual minister's conference.  We were able to spend some time with family for a week and then headed back, but we probably pushed ourselves too hard with the move and then trying to make it to Beulah Camp and Darren came down with Pneumonia on the way home (He is better now).  A week later he had an interview, and began work at the Future Shop at the beginning of August.  Miracle #11.

I'm sure there are many other miracles in between, but it's sufficient to say that my faith has been strengthened.  God is good, and if He is leading you somewhere, trust Him - He will take care of you.

We are excited about this new stage in our life - to focus a bit more on our family and our marriage, to help out with an awesome team in a new church plant, and to be a bit closer to our parents.  We known that our St. John's church is in God's hand, and He is continuing to do a great work there.  We've begun some renovations to our house here (pictures to come), are making friends in the community, and are finding our place in our ministry here.

We are settling in :)

Wordless Wednesday - August 22, 2012

Jaelyn and her new (to her) chair :)

Uncomfortable Sometimes, But Not Offended By Breastfeeding

Again, here is another note I had posted in Facebook earlier this month (I've only ever written two, so no fear of sharing any more).  Hopefully it will help encourage others out there who are in the same boat as me :)

I don't write many notes, or really try to 'air out' my opinions on Facebook.  I mostly read things, comment on a few, repost funny things, and use FB to catch up with family and encourage people.

But I know in this instance I'm not the only one out there.  Who are we?  We are the silent breastfeeders.  There...I did it...I posted the "b" word in public.  It's true.  I am uncomfortable with candidly talking about breastfeeding in day-to-day conversation - not with the benefits and importance of it, but with the basic functionality of it and everything that goes with that.  Not only that, but if I have ever disclosed to someone my 'uncomfortableness' of certain posts that cross a certain line (in my mind) of appropriateness, I am labelled as an unsupporter, or as someone who is offended at breastfeeding.

This is not directed at anyone in particular, and I am not trying to open a can of worms   I am just asking that before you label, please consider the following:

I am a very conservative and modest person when it comes to my body.  Not out of self-righteousness or morality issues, but mostly because of some events that have happened in my life which have involved harassment, and basically some forms of abuse.  It has made me a very private person in that respect.  I'm the person who changes in the bathroom when I'm at the swimming pool locker room :)  This is not something that I will 'get over'.  It is part of who I am, and has contributed to who I am today.  It has made certain topics private, and intimate for me...and frankly, I am uncomfortable discussing some things in public.

Unfortunately in the world we live in, I know that I am not alone.  Many people are modest and private about things - and they have their own reasons and personal history- who are uncomfortable discussing certain topics.  

This does not make us unsupporters.

I have been nursing my own daughter since she was born.  I am a part of online support groups, and I have visited a lactation consultant.  I too agree that there is not enough support out there in the public forum for new moms.  Let me say it again, I support it!

However, to those who sometimes speak about or post 'way too much information than I ever wanted to know in my life' about certain things, and then quickly label all those who do not really want to know said information as "offended" - I ask you to be considerate of the issues and circumstances we have had to face.  It is not the outspoken about breastfeeding that need the support and encouragement, but the quiet and the private. 

When opinions about a person's right to breastfeed and the fact that they can 'offend anyone they want to' attitude comes to the surface MORE than the actual act of supporting those who need help, they are alienating an entire group of people (myself included).  I have never felt like less of a mother than when i am confronted with that kind of opinion.  I feel guilty for needing to be private and modest.  

People like me will not go to people like that for support or information on breastfeeding.

That being said, I do not want to discourage those from fighting for women's rights to breastfeed in public.  I do it.  I am modest and discreet when I do, but I do not petition or become offended when there are mother's feeding their little ones who are not.  I respect people who have this soapbox as their passion.  

I just ask that people use some discernment (and I am speaking of those who are claiming to want to help women) and be sensitive to the issues others have faced that you may not have experienced, so you would not understand.  If you have actively 'friended' my husband on facebook and are posting more about YOUR breasts than what I would speak with him about in private about mine, then yes...I am uncomfortable with that.  If you ask, I will tell you.  I will also make sure that his settings concerning your account are set at a different level :)

I am uncomfortable, but I am not offended...until you tell me that there is something wrong with me and my privateness and my modesty.  Then it bothers me.  I am not less of a mother.   This note is to society in general.  We are in a whole-food, organic, granola, breastfeeding and talking about it in public stage in our society...and for the most part, that is awesome.  It is healthy.  It is beautiful.  It is important.

I...we...sometimes get uncomfortable.  If you are our true friend, please strive to understand this and the reasons why.  Sometimes there are horrible events that have happened in someone's past.  Sometimes a person is just brought up ultra conservative and modest - neither makes them a bad person.  If you are striving to help mothers...all mothers...please don't shut us out.  If you just want to spout off your reasons why disclosing EVERYTHING to do with breastfeeding is the ONLY way to go, please let me remind you again:

We are uncomfortable, but not offended.  However, the fact that our position is not the same as yours does somehow offend you.

On Becoming Parents

This is a note that I wrote on Facebook last summer (June 2011), and since I now have a blog I thought I'd share it here. It's been interesting for me to look back and reflect on it now that Jaelyn is 8 months old:

I’ve been thinking about writing this for a while, even though I never really write notes, I don’t have a blog...and I never journal.  I knew when we posted that we were ‘expecting’ in December, that there would be a floodgate of replies back.  No one expected us to have kids.  Everyone thought that we didn’t want them.  Truth be told, if you had asked us anytime during the first 12 ½ years of our marriage, we would have give the flat answer of “we don’t want kids until we want kids...and we’re ok if that doesn’t happen”.   Now, what most people heard out of that was “we don’t want kids”, and that was ok with us.  A few close friends over the years have asked us if the reason why we didn’t have kids was because we couldn’t – but that wasn’t the case (at least we didn’t think it was.  We weren’t trying for kids, so we didn’t know).  I even had a conversation with a good friend at New Years about us not having kids, and we weren’t planning on having any at that time.  We didn’t want kids just for the sake of having them.  We wanted to have the desire for kids before we added them to our family.  It wasn’t that we were selfish.  Since we’ve been married, Darren & I have both worked 2 full-time jobs – one at the church, and one in the ‘real world’.  That’s just how we function – we don’t know any different. We didn’t want to add kids to the mix just for fun, cuz well, it would make our life crazy.  We didn't think we were meant to be parents. 

 Then at the end of January I started thinking about having kids – out of the blue.  It kind of scared me.  I knew Darren would have to be on board with it, but I didn’t really want to bring up the subject.  The subject of children isn’t  ‘taboo’ in our house by any means, we just knew where the other person was at  when it came to kids.  We were both on the same page.  So I prayed about it – I asked God that if this is what we were meant to do, that the conversation would come up easily with Darren.   The next week one evening, Darren looked at me while we were sitting in the living room and asked “Did you want to have kids?”.  I was a little shocked.  I answered “why, do you?”.   He said he wouldn’t mind (...or something to that effect...you know Darren)...and we talked and prayed about it, and left it with God to lead.  The very next Sunday, our very small church plant went from having only one baby, who occasionally came, to having four babies and a toddler.  Talk about confirmation to us...we went home and had a good laugh about it.

  Ask God, and trust His leading - this is how Darren and I have tried to function since we’ve been married.  We didn’t pass out resumes when we graduated college...we just prayed, and followed God’s leading.  That’s how we were led to Newfoundland, how we find our ‘paying’ work in the real world, and how we bought a house.  It’s not easy by any means, but it’s definitely an exciting adventure.

 So we decided to try for kids.  Now...I’m turning 35 this year, so we’re no spring chickens.  We didn’t know if we COULD have kids.  But we felt strongly that this is what we were meant to do.  2 ½ months later we were expecting.  This didn’t really surprise us, because at this point in our lives we thought – why would God give us the desire NOW for kids, if we couldn’t have them.  We are very excited...it still feels very surreal to me.

 Here is where I’d like to add a side note - I have many very good friends who can’t have children, or are having troubles conceiving.  I hope that our journey from “not having kids” to “expecting and it happened in 2 months” doesn’t upset them.  My thoughts and prayers are with them often, and I don’t want them to be discouraged. 

 On the flip side, this is also a very hard time for me.  I don’t   live anywhere near my family – I usually only get to see them once a year.  Most of my friends from college who have kids...had them, well, a long time ago.  I didn’t live near any of them (except for a few) when they were expecting. I didn’t know what to expect, myself. And, the first few months of my pregnancy were not easy.  Sometimes I feel alone.  I post things on Facebook like the baby ticker, and Dr.s updates to keep my friends and family who live far away in the loop, because I can’t see them.

However, God has brought some awesome people into our lives through the church He called us to start here in Newfoundland.   They are dear friends to me, and many are people I am going to go to for advice about parenting because of the great example they have set with their own kids.

I know when I visit the main land we’re going to get a lot of questions...a lot of “you said you were never having kids” (which we have NEVER said...we just said we didn’t want them until we wanted them), and many people thinking this was an accident.  This was definitely planned, and we’re excited, scared and hopeful all at the same time.  This is going to be an adventure for us all.

A Tale of Two Rooms - Office and Bathroom

We're down to the last two rooms we renovated in our last house.  The office was the other room that was extremely small, and the ceiling had some significant water damage to the ceiling.

OFFICE

Office before - this is pretty much it.  Only big enough for a desk.

Office after - we put up a new ceiling and added trim, paint, window treatments and the same flooring.

BATHROOM

Where the office was only a minor change, the bathroom updates came out surprisingly fantastic, considering it was mostly paint and a little tiling.

Bathroom befrore - yes, it's small (typical of the time period of the house).  There were some 'updates' in here from previous owners, but the peel and stick flooring had to go!  We decided to keep the tileboard on the wall due to cost.

Bathroom after - we found a vinyl 'end' at the store Darren worked at and put it on the floor.  We also added floating shelves to the wall, painted the vanity, added a new mirror, toilet seat and light fixture, and tiled the tub surround.  Painting the trim a darker color than the wall was a risk, but it helped to tie everything together and helped show off the high ceilings.

Bathroom before

Bathroom Vanity after - with paint it looks like a new vanity!  The mirror was found at Winners and the light fixture at Home Depot.

Bathtub before

Bathtub after - we ripped out the tub surround (kept the tub part), and found some tiles on discount.  We splurged a bit for the border tiles, but we could cut the mesh tiles and determine how many rows we wanted the border to be (since the walls were old and uneven, we decided that as we went!)

Corner before - there was a weird hole/space in the wall between the window and the tub surround.  We knew that couldn't stay, but we weren't quite sure what to do.

Corner after - my husband cut the window trim slightly so we could flatten and fill the 'hole' in with drywall.  We then tiled over it (just as a side note - we did shell out the money for the proper waterproof membrane under the tile),  We found a faucet/shower head set for under $60, and added a curved curtain rod and inexpensive curtains.

This is the MLS picture taken - in total, the bathroom 'reno' update was only about $500.  Moving away from that bathroom made me sad!


Even though this 80 year old house had issues, I loved living there.  I loved the character that it had, and that we were able to enhance.  We were able to sell it to people who appreciated the character and everything we had done.  It was only on the market for 5 days.