Law Enforcement Appreciation Day

Today is the day that we celebrate our law enforcement. I am thankful each and every day for the men and women who put on a uniform and protect us!
Please take a moment and give a hearty thank you to our men and women in blue!
Civilian Police Charm
Army MP
Military Police Badge (gold/blue)
Military Police Badge (gold/gold)
Military Police Badge (gold/red)

Making it home: master bedroom sneak peek #1

I have a few projects to make our master bedroom a space of peace and rest for us. I asked Ben to cut me down a few pallet boards to make a back drop for my centerpiece turned wall decor. I love the way that they turned out!

Stay tuned for the whole room and cleaner spaces!

Making it home : the next project

We sold our previous headboards that Ben made and found this door from early 1900's to use. I am so very excited to see what Ben comes up with to make my vision come to life. 

I love that it has 2 different sides that we can use. The character in the wood makes me wonder what stories it has to tell!

Making it home: the front porch and scratching an itch

I have a love/hate relationship with our dark front porch. It seriously hardly gets any sunlight which is depressing to me. I love planting in the summer and trying not to kill my plants until fall. Anyway I digress, I had an itch to be creative and a front porch that needed TLC. 

So on this rainy, cold day, I stopped at our local Habitat for Hummanity and found this half door for $8. I stopped at Michaels for the letters to spell welcome and the bless our nest sign. All those supplies came in at slightly underived $30. I made the hydrangea wreath about 5 years ago and have used it in so many different places! I have a ton of burlap so I used some of it for the letters. (I wanted to be able to change everything out as I wished.)

Here are the final results. More of the front porch once it is warm enough for plants!

Making it home: The breakfast nook

The breakfast nook. The kids table. Life giving table.

This area is where we eat breakfast together 5 to 6 days a week. Lunch 2 times a week. Supper 5 nights a week. 

We do our family meetings there.

Talk about the days highs and lows.

We are silly and serious here.

We do life together here.

Making it home: Mama sets the tone

I always thought that setting the mood for my family was such an unattainable goal. But I was trying to do it in my own strength and in my own way.

I am so thankful for ladies in multiple bible studies that I have been blessed to attend over the past decade. They have poured into me, encouraged me,  and held me accountable. 

While it is not perfect, I am thankful that each new day brings new chances to work towards it.

We started this study today and I cannot wait to see what it brings!

Spring in the neighborhood

My favorite season is by far autumn. I love the colors, the season, and being thankful. It is safe to say that spring is a very close second though. I love all of the growth that explodes out of nowhere. 

It is so much fun to drive through this every day to see how the blossoms change. 

Here's a piece of our spring for you.

Making it home: Ben style

So our front room serves a wide variety of purposes. It is our "guest room." The family office. The man cave since it is decorated with Ben's military memorabilia.

We have had this ready room chair for oh I don't know....11+ years? It was in rough shape and was found in the dumpster. 

Finally this Christmas,  Ben received a custom recovering of it as a gift. Now we have our very own ready room chair.

It has been fun to hear all the pretend games that the Littles have played on it. I am sure that it has plenty of other stories from all the pilots that have sat on it at one time or another! 

Making it home: cooking lessons

Now that we have a bigger kitchen to spread out in, I like having little helpers in there with me. 

There Apron Christmas gifts must have inspired them because they have been in the kitchen with me several times for "lessons. "

Although it sometimes not super optimal timing,  I am trying to embrace these opportunities and make some memories.

Making it home: a simple scene

I love how big our kitchen is here. We had such a tiny kitchen in California that this is a breath of fresh air! 

It's sometimes the simple things that catch me each day like a clean counter, a basket full of fruit, and sunshine on my pretty Valentines flowers. 

Making it home: Possible new decor?/Bedroom make-over

For those who have been in our home and know our décor style, you know that I love items with personal meaning and significance. I am contemplating making this image into a sign for our bedroom. (we are currently in the process of redoing it right now! Pictures to come when it is done!)
What do y'all think? Just curious if you like the actual picture, if you think it fits us, etc! Thanks a ton!!

Graffiti

I love having these little notes every day from Kymber. I have saved a few to show her when she's older. 

I also love that we have Ben's old desk from childhood.

So I guess that I love Kymber's graffiti on the desk......

Snow day was rough.....

Snow black eye?

Kymber has always been our bruiser and yesterday was no exception. 

During a moment of hard play, she took a boot to the face. While it makes me want to cry, Roo has taken it in stride and loves to tell the story about it!

Remembering........

Pressing pause in my ordinary day to remember these 12 and the families that they left behind. 

Gone too soon. Never forgotten.

Make it home: one find at a time (volume 2)

Ok,ok I know that I am still in the dining room but it's one of my favorite places to gather with Friendsand family. (And it doesn't hurt that it's one of the few rooms in my house that consistently stays clean!)

My friend, Lauren, made me this beautiful tray before Christmas. (I will try to dig up the pictures with the Christmas greenery in it, because it was so pretty!) After I took the Christmas decor out, I redid it buy I wasn't in love with how it looked. 

Thankfully the base thrift store opened back up today. I found the candle holder and candles for $8! Can't beat that ♡ I have burlap in several other rooms in the house so the burlap flowers on the candle holder beckoned my name! 

Don't tell but I still have my Christmas runner on the table. I like the way it fits with the other colors in the room!

A close up of the candle holder and candles that I found. 

I love the hardware that Lauren used! The greenery on the sides came from a hobby lobby sale!

I had the cotton in the arrangement that I didn't care for but I was happy to repurpose it into the green mason jars that I already had in the cupboard. 

This was my initial arrangement post Christmas. Call me crazy but I love the burlap candle holder so much better! 

Always.........

This song sustained me in 2014 through deployment, the late part of pregnancy, delivering on my own again, evacuating for a scary fire, the fear of putting our Jordan girl down without Ben, 4 kids by myself, and of course Ben coming home, subsequent bells palsy and reintegrating into the family.

It never fails to elicit more emotion than I can handle. As we stood and sang it at church this Sunday, I decided to claim it for 2018 too.

We are on the very short down hill slope to retirement and all the uncertainties that it holds. I have been filled with anxiety of what is to come. Both with what Ben will decide on for a career and where my venture back into the work outside of the home path will go. The lyrics wash over me and calm my fears over what is about to come.

I want to be as transparent about my struggles as I can so that I can use them for God's glory when he delivers us to the other side of this......whatever that may look like!

...........I lift my eyes up, my help comes from the Lord!!!

Something about a truck.......

Especially when it is old Bessie and us saying farewell to her. Ben had that truck before we met. 

We moved across country 4 times (twice pulling my Mustang) and made more trips north and south than I could count. 

We had many serious conversations about life, lots of laughs, and even some fights in her. 

The Littles cried when we told them that this morning was the last time that they would see "truckie."

So old Bessie,  thank-you for 17 awesome years!

Our next project

So Ben made our headboard pieces about 10-11 years ago. Both of us are ready for a change. We are currently browsing through pinterest, local shops, and online. Stay tuned as we transform our master bedroom into a peaceful retreat away from the kids.

Making it home: one find at a time (a special edition of volume 1)

So I could have included this in my original volume 1 post, but I felt that it was special enough to warrant it's own post.

My sweet mom-in-law always finds a special way to repurpose items. This year she out did herself and made all the female grandchildren  (7 of 9) a special apron. The main section of blue fabric is from my brother in law's navy uniforms. Each fabric that is on them has a special memory attached with it too.

So thankful that my girls have these and share this memory with their cousins! 

The letter that accompanied the aprons, explaining them.

All the girls with Uncle Dan

Making it home: one find at a time (volume 1)

No big secret, we have moved a lot in our 14 years of marriage. I have a few pieces of decor that I always want to keep and then it's also fun to add new pieces! 

Ben and the kids gave me this rustic shelf and window frame for Christmas that they found out antiquing. 

I had Ben change out the decor on one wall in our dining room so that I could combine them together. 

I am still looking for shutters to go on either side of the window and decor to compliment the combination for the shelf. I will probably get it perfect then it will be time to leave again. 

Here is the first project of the year!