In Sickness and in Health - A Letter to My Daughter

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

    and do not lean on your own understanding.

Proverbs 3:5

This is for my little marriage-obsessed 5-year-old. Hopefully someday you will read it and understand a little bit more about your mom, and dad, and life.

When I married your dad, I had only really known him for 9 months. I knew him as well as you can know someone for nine months, five states away (which isn't very well, I suppose). I knew he was funny, adventurous, kind, liked to think deeply about things, and that he was tender-hearted. I had such peace about marrying him. I knew I could safely follow him - God was working in him, and more importantly, he was willing and ready for God to do the work.

Delight yourself in the Lord,

    and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Psalm 37:4

I had no idea what God was giving me in your dad. I had no idea what I needed in a husband, or even what I wanted.

God knew.

Most likely you won't remember much of this time in our lives, but you need to know about it because this is what families are made of. This is what marriage is. This is what love is.

The past couple of years have been particularly difficult ones. My pregnancy with Kate wasn't a hard one, but I was so very, very tired. One time I even fell asleep and you slipped out of the house and a stranger returned you. I was so tired for so long, and your daddy would come home from a full day of work and cook dinner and take care of us. Your daddy loved me.

Then Kate came, and of course the newborn sleep-deprived phase ensued, along with the stress of hospital visits for her jaundice. Those days were long and hard, but they passed and we were grateful for a healthy baby.

Somehow, even with the stress of newborn days gone, a dark cloud settled over me. For months on end I cried. I was so sad all the time and I didn't know why. Everything seemed insurmountable. I entertained some awful thoughts that, looking back on, make me want to cry even now.  But still your dad loved me.

Thankfully the depression that held me for 9 long months began to loosen its grip, and life became appealing once again. And of course, your dad still loved me.

And then as I came to grips with fighting chronic illness, he never complained about me always being tired, or that he didn't have any clean underwear, or that I need to see another doctor. He hasn't ever been anything but kind and patient. When I feel worthless - oh so worthless - he loves me just the same.

I want you to know all this, because I want you to understand that when I think of your dad, I think of Christ. Your daddy whispers the gospel to me every day through his selflessness, his service, his dedication to us.

This is what marriage is about. This is true love.

This isn't the path I would have ever chosen for us. This isn't the way I envisioned my life as a wife and mom. And your story will be different from mine - but most likely it won't be the way you envisioned either. That's ok. God is in the business of taking our weaknesses, disappointments, shortcomings, and even our sins and redeeming them. His work is beautiful.

I pray you grow up to be a godly woman. I pray you find a godly man. A man who shows you Christ.


A man just like your daddy.

Here We Go...

Alright, this blog has been long neglected for much too long! I guess there's nothing like a new adventure to get the ball rolling again, so be looking for posts, letters, updates, etc. :)

Chalk Paint - End Table Edition!

I've had several people ask me about chalk paint and redoing furniture so I decided to write I all up. I am by no means a pro, but here's a step-by-step for anyone who might find it helpful. :)

Ok, so I've been recently obsessed with chalk paint. It dries nicely, covers really well, distresses well, but (supposedly) cures to be super hard and durable. I have yet to have a piece of chalk-painted furniture for an extended period of time so I can't vouch for the last part.

Here's a cute little number I bought for $15 via an online garage sale. It is heeeavyy and SOLID! 

Here's what I used(minus antiquing materials):

Orbital sander (optional)
Latex paint in Valspar "Vintage"
Unsanded grout in "white"
4" foam roller
Roller tray
Paint Brush

Furniture wax

I've heard that using chalk paint means less/no sanding, but with this particular piece I just couldn't bring myself to do it unsanded!! So, I sanded it. If you're working with real wood be careful about sanding, as you might end up with some wood bleeding (ie, tannins soaking through the paint). Also, since we're using chalk paint there's no need for priming - woohoo! And if you're planning to distress it by sanding or whatever, it's best not to prime anyway.

First off, make sure the piece is clean and debris-free. For the paint I mixed about 1 cup of paint to 2 tablespoons of unsanded grout. You can find grout in the "tile" section at Lowe's (that's where it was in mine at least!), and be prepared to pick out a color. There were actually quite a few. I went with "white"  - which was oddly enough very not white. It looks like this:

You should get a thick, ever-so-slightly gritty chalk paint. It will cover really well as is, but if it feels too thick just add tiny bits of water until it's the consistency you like. I used a combination of brush and roller, to get in the tight places but still get the finish smooth as much as possible. Let dry. You can either coat with a second coat or move on to distressing, or just skip all of that.

I decided to glaze this one. You'll need a faux glaze medium, and then paint to tint it with. I went with a dark brown, but you can use whatever suits your fancy. If you're not distressing or antiquing, skip to the finishing process!

Whether you decide to antique/distress or not, you'll need to finish your piece with wax or a poly. I'm going with wax so that it can maintain the antique feel and still have a little protection. 

So that's pretty much it! Happy painting!

Settling In

Well, we made it back home safe and sound and settled right in. Audrey even remembered where her room was and rediscovered long lost toys. Roy had a few days off for us to unpack and we took a morning to use our annual passes at the Georgia Aquarium!

Penguins!

My favorite - manta rays!

And then we hung out with some wonderful people...

And more wonderful people!

Besties reunited :)

It's definitely good to be home!

Homeward Bound

Well, we packed up the apartment and stayed the night in Roy's Holiday Inn on the Riverwalk while we finished packing, cleaning and having the carpets cleaned. It was really cool to see the (almost) finished product of what the hubs has been working so hard on. It is quite pretty. 

 I forgot to take a picture before we settled in... haha. Oops.

Bathroom.

Audey is always super helpful when it comes to luggage carts.

Somehow keeping a 2-year-old in a hotel room ended up being less glamorous than you'd think. She did like the view, though.

Check out this coffee set up. **WARNING** Contrary to popular belief, it is not free! Also, if your room is being comped by the hotel (and therefore you have no credit card on your room), you cannot pay with your room key. Just fyi. 

Day 1 of the trip home started at the Uhaul store. Pulled that baby up there all by myself. Whut.

Meanwhile Audrey had things under control. 

All ready to go!!

We made it to the hotel in Louisiana just in time for sunset.

Apparently you can't stay in a hotel without trying out the pool. Duh!

On Day 2 we headed to Muscle Schoals, USA to see some sweet friends! We had a great time with the Peoples and Briggs - sweet fellowship and lots of laughs! On Saturday we explored Tuscumbia and Hannah showed us around one of the coolest book stores EVER! (I apologize for the lackage of pictures!!

We finally headed home, after a quick stop by the Boydstun's in Harvest and goodness we were tired and ready to be done driving. 

We had such a wonderfully blessed time in San Antonio and made so many memories! We're very thankful for the opportunity we had to change it up for a few months. But it sure is good to be home!

Sea World

Well, I need to give a big "thanks" to Michelle, who reminded us about Sea World!!! We had talked about going... but every time I remembered it, I also remembered how expensive it is and it caught in that brain-space that stores conflicting ideas. Kind of like the pile of papers on your desk that you think you might be able to throw away, but you're not 100% sure, and you don't want to put the mental effort into figuring it out. Anyway... Saturday afternoon we decided to jump on the last chance we would have to go to Sea World!!

Hehe, I love the face. :)

Family Pic!

We went to the Shamoo show! Audrey was a little too tired and dazed to really appreciated it, but she did like all the splashing. 

Shamoo!

 "Biiiig splash, mom!"

Kiddo and her accidents...

Azul! My favorite show!

After the shows we hung out with some sweet friends at the water park and little one got tuckered out. 

It was a great way to end our San Antonio Adventure, I think. Don't you? :)