I can feel God's presence lately. Which is an awesome experience. I feel His love wrapped around me as I go throughout my day. It is reassuring. It is comforting and it reminds me that He is always guiding me and loving me. I know He is always near, but sometimes it is hard to actually feel it. The past few days, it has been undeniable.

It's beautiful. 

I've really been struggling lately with our infertility journey. Honestly, this is a trend. The emotional pain comes and goes, but lately it has been hitting me over and over. Will we ever have our own biological child? Is God calling us to adopt many children who need loving parents? Will we be blessed to help a teenager in crisis, by adopting their child? There are so many questions I have. Obviously only God knows the answers to these. And the pain, while excruciating at times, has taken on a different life. It is riddled with so much hope now. I feel the enthusiasm and excitement at the possibility of the life that God has called Jonathan and I to.

I know that we will adopt no matter what. This is a burden that has been placed on Jonathan and I. Our hearts yearn to love a child who needs a home. Just like God has loved us, we want to show that love to a child.

Unconditionally.

A few weeks ago, I was reading through a bunch of blogs and stumbled across this post. Go read it, yes...I will wait.

After reading the post, I knew in my heart that God was preparing something in me. We will adopt a child with some kind of physical abnormality. I tucked this truth away and have been pondering it ever since. Then I read this post and my heart swelled some more. God is planning something special for Jonathan and I. I too, tucked away this truth and have been dwelling upon it ever since.

With my emotions running high lately, I seem to be trudging through the day longing for our special day. We are anxious. I'm not going to lie. It has been really hard for us to be patient lately. We are ready to be parents. We are ready to love on a child of our own. Being an aunt and uncle is such a special gift, but being able to love on our child every minute of every day would be the biggest gift we could ever experience.

God is working on us. He has been molding our relationship, helping us to focus on Him. He has been showing us the beauty of His love in so many ways lately. I'm excited. I'm waiting with bated breath. My heart is jumping inside of me, anxious for God's plan for us.

And so we wait. 

The waiting game is awful at times, but this time it is filled with anticipation and peace, all at the same time. We are preparing ourselves to receive God's plan with open arms. After all, His ways are perfect.

There is comfort in having the author of all creation guiding our lives. 

There is comfort in knowing that God has our best interests at heart. 

There is peace in knowing that, one day, we will have a child and will be able to raise them to love the Lord God who has blessed us with so much. 

I cannot wait for that day.

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Ok...ok...

First off, sorry it has been sort of quiet around here. It's not that I don't love you guys and wish that I could write post after post after post. But, my heart just hasn't been in it lately and we all know that a post without heart, is like a book cover without a book in it--it is easily ruined and doesn't really serve a point.

(not sure that makes sense....)

Basically what I'm trying to say is I've missed writing, but I have nothing that is interesting to write about.

Here's the deal. The carpenter and I have decided that it is time to put our house projects on a standstill. With the way things are going, we can't really afford to do many projects right now. No, Jonathan's job situation hasn't changed at all and he is still being an amazing provider (thank you my love!), but that being said, money isn't readily available right now.

Over the summer we took too many vacations and it is catching up to us. Time away = no money earned and a lot of money spent. Thus is the life of a self employed carpenter and his wife!! So basically our bank account levels finally caught up with us.

Well, they didn't go up actually...but oh! you know what I mean. 

Thus, the kibosh has been put on all unnecessary house projects until the end of the year.

We have decided to, instead, focus on building our emergency fund. We loosely follow the advice of Dave Ramsey, along with the knowledge both of our families have instilled in us, and therefore are being very careful about the money that we spend. We don't believe that it would be beneficial to get a loan to fix up our house. Debt is a scary thing and Jonathan and I like to avoid it at all costs. Yes, it sort of stinks, but I rather keep my stink-filled house then lose my beautifully fixed up one to the bank. Does it make sense? I don't think I'm speaking another language here. :)

We believe that this is also being a good steward of God's money. After all, it is His and not ours. We want to make sure that we are giving Him the say-so in our spending and not focusing selfishly on our own interests. So, our goal is to have a good cushion in our emergency fund first and then start saving money for house projects. We also are thinking of other ways that we can be using our money for the kingdom of God. We have a sponsored child, but I would love to see us support something else. Maybe that would mean putting money towards an organization or not-for-profit that is spreading the gospel.

So, what does that mean for the blog?

From now until the end of the year, you can expect posts about various low-budget projects. i.e. stuff that costs nothing or very little. I also plan on sharing some other household things with you: my cleaning techniques, menu planning ideas, and maybe a few pinterest-inspired crafts that I have been working on. What do you think? Are you with me?!?!

Yes!

So we are, on a finite level, people who can create. Why does man have creativity?  Why can man think of so many things in his mind, and choose, and then bring forth something that other people can taste, smell, feel, hear, and see?   Because man was created in the image of a Creator.  Man was created that he might create.  It is not a waste of man's time to be creative.  It is not a waste to pursue artistic or scientific pursuits in creativity, because this is what man was made to be able to do.  He was made in the image of a Creator, and given the capacity to create- on a finite level of course, needing to use the materials already created- but he is still the creature of the Creator. 

--The Hidden Art of Homemaking 

{read here}

Perfect.

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Cold and windy Saturdays

are meant for sleeping in

multiple cups of steaming coffee

snuggling on the couch with the dogs

and lots of blankets

good books that take you to another place

and a dinner and movie date--at home.

Our Energy Audit: Part I

As I mentioned on Tuesday, we had an energy audit done. This basically involved two guys showing up to our house and looking around for an hour. They inspected our heating system, the insulation (or really the lack of insulation) in our walls, our windows, appliances, and anything else that could be causing our house to be an energy hog.

I would show you pictures of the process, but I really didn't have the guts to ask them if I could take pictures. Do you know how awkward that would be?

"Um, would you mind if I took pictures to post on the blog that I keep?" seems to be synonymous with, "Can I write about you in my journal?"

Yea, not my idea of a fun time. So no pictures this time around, but maybe I will get up enough courage to take some in the future.

What we knew:  that our windows are single paned which means that they basically just let the heat right out of the house. We also knew that the majority of our house is not insulated. In fact, the only parts that are insulated are the bathroom and our master bedroom. Jonathan made a point to insulate, everything that we renovated, real well.

What we didn't know: one of the gentlemen mentioned that our boiler itself is running at 75% efficiency. I was honestly surprised at how high that was, but then he made the point that there was air leakage and other issues with it that made it operate at a lower efficiency--that sounded more like it.


So, basically, after they walked around for an hour and collected all of the data that they needed, they left. Just like that, the process was over. Sort of anti-climactic if you ask me! But apparently they will be coming back in a week to give us the rundown on what our house needs.

We are hoping that this whole process will be worth it for us. Having the connections that Jonathan does, we are able to get a pretty good deal on some of the things that need to be replaced. That plus the added bonus that Jonathan can do most of the labor, means that whatever we qualify for with the energy audit has to be a really good price. We are crossing our fingers that we can get a really good deal on a new heating system. That is something that Jonathan can't get a discount on, nor can he install. We will just have to see what he says next week!

Of course we will keep you posted. Enjoy your weekend!!

Monthly Review: September 2012

So, I have decided to start something new around here. Inspired by BowerPower, I came up with a way to organize things on the blog a bit better. Starting today, I will be writing a post at the end of each month that recaps everything I have blogged about. Each month will be divided into categories and this will hopefully allow my wonderful readers (you!!) to access old posts easier. So without further ado:

Personal Posts:

Vacation

House Related Posts:

You Win Some, You Lose Some

Geiger Cleaning Week: Fall Edition

Geiger Cleaning Week: Day 1

Geiger Cleaning Week: Day 2

A Change in Pace

Geiger Cleaning Week: Day 3

Geiger Cleaning Week: Day 4

The Formula for a Lux Master Bedroom

Decorative/Inspiration:

Friday Pinspiration

A Little Project

We did a lot of fun things in September. I really enjoyed dedicating a whole week to cleaning up our house and ridding it of clutter. Jonathan and I are still talking about all of the stuff that we still need to do before winter hits/in an effort to finish up small loose ends that have been just hanging around. Maybe I will write a post about the stuff that we have on our agenda for working on this coming winter. The goal is to spend as little money as possible, but get a lot of the small stuff d.o.n.e. Stick around, it is sure to be interesting :) 

Cocooning

Winter and fall have always been my favorite seasons. Looking back, I'm surprised that I didn't get married in the middle of either of them. Couldn't you picture a beautiful fall wedding complete with hayrides, pumpkin carving, and all sorts of fall activities?!?! I guess I just wasn't patient enough to wait until then :)

As you know, we have been getting our house ready for winter. In these here parts it is important to ready your house for lake effect snow and the months of cold weather that will soon blanket us all. Since our house has little insulation, single paned windows, and a very old boiler it is important for us to be as efficient about our energy use as possible. Think: good window coverings, door draft guards, and alternative sources of heat. 

Today we will be having an energy audit done. We are hoping that the age of our home and the condition that it's in, will qualify us for a grant of some sort. That would be awesome considering we still need to update at least ten windows, upgrade our boiler, and insulate. Not to mention all the other places that I'm sure "energy" isn't being used efficiently. I'm very curious to see what the auditor says.

In the meantime, I will be cocooning. Yes, cocooning. 

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Last week I received my Garnet Hill magazine. This is the front cover. See in the bottom right corner?

Cocooning is the perfect word to describe what I do during the cold months. Yes. I realize that I'm crazy, but maybe there is someone out there who does the same. Can I get an amen? Someone, please?!

During the cold weather, I love to create a space that is warm, cozy, and comfortable. I drink lots of tea and coffee. Meals are often made in the crock pot or the oven. Our bed has lots of blankets on it and I love when it gets cold enough that I can pull out our big wool one. I'm always making soup and baking bread. I crochet a lot and drink lots of chai. Fall and winter are perfect. I love this time of year!

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I'm always in socks, a scarf, and a hoodie these days. Jonathan loves to make fun of me, but I just absolutely love  it. If you know me, you know that I'm a perpetual-scarf-wearer. My neck gets cold ok? :)

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I can't wait to go on a hayride, carve pumpkins, bake lots of goodies for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and ski. Oh skiing. We haven't been able to go, but once,  the past couple of years, so I'm really hoping that we will make it to the slopes more often this year. 

Lately all of my pins on Pinterest have revolved around new crocheting patterns, yummy warm-weather-recipes, and cozy clothing. It's all I can do to not splurge and buy a bunch of new sweaters, a fun pair high boots, and wool socks.

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Cold weather in Western NY is a beautiful thing. I can't wait for the lake effect snow to roll through.

Are you feeling at all nostalgic about this time of the year? What are your favorite cold weather activities?