Today's post is chock-full of pictures. Some of you have asked  for updated house pictures, so here ya go. I put in the old before shots as a reminder to myself of how far we have come. With all that we still want to do, weighing heavily on our shoulders, it's good to have a dose of reality every once in awhile. The reality is, we have come so far in making this house a home and I can't wait to see what else is to come!

Let's start as you enter our house.

As you come through the door at the top of the stairs, you walk into our kitchen/laundry room.  I still am not to keen on the idea of having a washer and dryer in our kitchen. But let me tell you, one HUGE positive is they have extended our counter and prep space--something I never thought about before we purchased them.

From our kitchen, you walk into our dining room.

And off of our dining room, is our living room, bathroom, porch, and Daniel's room. Our dining room is truly the heart of our home. Let's visit the bathroom first, shall we? :)

And then we have Daniel's room, one of my favorite rooms in the house. 

And the porch/guest room is definitely a special place as well. I love all of the light that comes in through the windows in this room. It is especially enjoyable during the spring and fall. I have plans this summer to peel the wallpaper border down and possibly give this space a good wash of white paint. It is the only space left in our house that hasn't really been touched. 

Our living room is the final room off of the dining room. It was such a dark cave before, but now has become a light-drenched, cheery space. I love it.

And finally, if you head up the stairs off of the living room, you will get to our bedroom. What was once two bedrooms, is now a nice and open master bedroom.

And that concludes the tour of our house! Maybe in the future I will update you with pictures of the outside of our house...that is after we tackle the yard this spring and summer. We are excited to move out there and do a bunch of clearing. There is so much overgrowth and brush that needs to be cleared. 

But that is a story for another day. Happy Thursday everyone! 

God Knows

When you really start to struggle with something, God always seems to know.

Well of course He does!!!

Duh.

You just need to be aware of the little gifts that He is bringing you while you wait for the big things. In the grand scheme of things, the little gifts may not be important, but it is His way of showing His love. Is your heart open and ready to receive?

I have been struggling a bit over the past few months, but I have to say that God has been wrapping His loving arms around me and reminding me, in little ways, of His love for us. When I say "in little ways" I mean ways that would be insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Yet, when God provides for the small things, it becomes the perfect reminder of His faithfulness in the big things.

For instance, I don't know if you noticed our new bedspread in Tuesday's post.

And here is the bed made in a different way, with the same comforter. 

Plus, what do you think of our pretty new shower curtain and bath mat?

Isn't it all beautiful? Well, the bedspread, pillow shames, decorative pillow, euro pillow covers, a shower curtain, a bath mat, and an entire set of towels, were all given to us by our new friends! We have known this wonderful couple and their adorable son for about a month now and they have been an answer to prayers! God has blessed us and our church with their friendship. Plus, I have been thinking about replacing our shower curtain and bedding for awhile now and this gift was perfect! It definitely wasn't a need, and I was by no means praying for this, but God still provided!

Another thing that God has taken care of is a plumbing situation that arose recently. Jonathan informed me the other night, that our sewer was backing up into our basement. (I spared you a picture of our sewage and instead thought a picture of our basement door would be more acceptable---you can thank me now.)  I had horrible visions of a sewer issue that cost my parents thousands of dollars and was pretty worried that this sudden issue would bankrupt us. Thankfully, it had only been backing up for about a day, so not too much damage was done. Yet.

As we snuggled into bed that night, we asked God to let the whole thing become a non-issue by morning. Lo and behold, the next morning, when the plumber arrived, we spent $75 to have our drain snaked and everything is back to normal! Praise Jesus!

Finally, there are other things that have just been too coincidental to be luck. A friend contacting us at just the right time about some organic meat she is selling at a great price. A couple financially responsible options for chest freezers,  just popping up (in time to store all that meat). A queen mattress set, up for grabs, from a great couple we go to church with (a mattress that would be perfect for our future guestroom). Things falling into place for our first "grandparent's dinner" in our new house. The list could just go on and on.

One thing is for sure, God is so amazing and I cannot believe that He loves us as much as He does. I'm glad that He has opened my eyes to the wonderful "little things" that He provides us on a daily basis. It has really given me the right perspective. Even though we may be wishing something huge was very different, He will always provide for us and we should never doubt His love. That huge thing may be the next small thing to change.

You never know :)