Dec

06

house projects

i finished up a few house projects that i think you might enjoy seeing. since our present living situation is a rental property, there is only so much i can do to satisfy my love of making a house a home. even though a rental, i feel sure that if i only lived here a few months, i would still need it to feel like “my” home. and since we’re going on a year, without a plan as of now to change that in the very near future, there were a few things that i was wanting to do to continue to make this place feel updated and home-y.

you might’ve seen a few months back my tutorial on glazing furniture…where i showed you this piece that i painted and glazed:
i SO fell in love with that outcome, that i just had to do it to one more piece.

remember this eyesore??

i bought it years ago at GoodWill for $25. i found this pic that i had taken with my phone at the time from the store as i was debating:

a) whether or not i wanted it
b) how the heck i was gonna get it home
it was a nasty old TV cabinet…but i saw hidden beauty. (actually…i saw the ability to store and organize all my serving dishes and platters and plates…cause i love me some service wear!!!)

the hubs recruited a few strong high school boys (one of the pluses of being a youth pastor at the time) and they used a trailer and brought it home for me.

i did an awful job of painting it black…without sanding or priming, mind you. what was i thinking??

this is what it used to look like in our old house (somehow i can only find pics of this piece from past parties!):
it has definitely served its purpose of storage, but it never really looked all that great.

so we revamped it a few weeks ago, and i’m telling you…it changes everything!!!
the piece was just boring straight lines, and if i have a say, i personally prefer lots of details and curves to my furniture. so we decided to add some…
using a handy hand saw and miter block:
i cut pieces of thin decorative trim that i bought at Home Depot, glued those bad boys to the edges of my piece, and then tacked them in with small nails: ( i only did this after priming because i didn’t think of adding the trim until after i had already primed. i would attach the pieces before priming and prime them all together at the same time if you attempt)
we then applied 2 coats of paint, (Martha Stewart’s Bedford Grey, lightened by 50%…the same as the piece in the tutorial) and then applied the glaze (the same way it was done in the tutorial):
i then stapled burlap to the back, to give it a more tailored, finished look:
the decorative trim adds just the right amount of detail, and helps the walnut glaze to really pop…a nice way to personalize and update this piece for a very small amount of $$$:

i’m pretty happy with the results!
a piece that once seemed out of place and weighty now serves to really brighten up the space:
(now if only i could figure out something great to do with that table and chairs!! i’m still secretly holding out that the hubs will build me a farmhouse table and bench…a girl can dream, can’t she??)

and since we’re talking house projects, we added some shelves behind our couch too:
i had been inspired by this photo from Pottery Barn that i saw on none other than Pinterest:
being the lover of photography that i am, i wanted a way to display more pictures. i started searching for shelving options, and IKEA’s Lack shelves seemed to be a great option…simple, straight, enough room to display lots of things…and all things IKEA are usually affordable.

however, because i’m used to IKEA being right in line with my budget, i was more than disappointed to find that these shelves were significantly out of my budget. not that they are expensive…they just were more than what i was thinking they might be.

so i decided i would make them. yes…i was gonna make them.

but…i think God might’ve known ahead of time that that could’ve ended in disaster, mixed with a big mess and lots of tears…

so he sent me some off Craigslist instead! my sister in law happened to find the exact IKEA Lack shelves for me from a local seller on Craigslist, for less than half the price. i snagged them up right away:
i only had to purchase one frame…an 11×14, and i got it for $5.60 at Joann’s during a 65% off after Thanksgiving sale. the rest i had and a few i just spray painted black to match. i loaded them up with pictures (you’ll see more details on those pictures before too long), and love the way it all turned out!!

now if only i could replace those couches…they’ve had a lot of love over the years…can you tell??!!


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Nov

30

Receiving

Well…our family has started a new venture that i’ve often been intrigued by, but always wrote off as something we would never do. Funny how that happens, huh?

We have started our very own garden, and I am beyond excited about it! Our little beach community just started a community garden for the first time, and we jumped on board as soon as we heard about it. Good thing, too, cause they sold out pretty quickly, as this is the first of its kind in this community.

We “bought” a 20 ft by 20 ft plot of land and got started as soon as possible, to take advantage of this fall growing season. In my naivety, I kinda thought you just scatter some seeds around, water them regularly, and watch as things sprout before your very eyes! I mean…i knew you had to weed and stuff, which is why I always shied away from starting a garden…i hate weeding, cause weeding often means bugs and I HATE bugs (and am allergic to a few, so fear and hatred mixed can prevent you from doing lots of things!)

however…i quickly learned that there is quite a system, process, science to gardening! And once we got started in our research and began attempting our new project, things quickly came together, and I also quickly realized that I think this gardening thing is a whole lot of fun, especially when your garden is surrounded by other people’s gardens who you know from your community, and you all get to swap tips and tools and all kinds of other things!

(its also fun now because I realize that i’m bigger than bugs and can kill them in my garden by asking Canaan to go to battle for me and drown them with the hose, and that’ll be his highlight of the day every time!)


The best part of this whole garden thing is that we are splitting our plot with some of our best friends in the whole world, and that just adds to the fun of everything, (not to mention that it cuts the cost and work in half…big bonus too!)

I know a lot of you may not care about gardening. I didn’t really until I started one. So I won’t blog about all the details, etc. but if you are interested, and really want to know the details of what we are learning, ask me and i’ll tell you what small amount of info i’ve accumulated over the last month! Maybe i’ll throw in a post about it sometime if there’s interest, but don’t worry…this in no way will ever be…or could ever be…a gardening blog!! just a family of crazies attempting to embark on a new crazy journey!

So i’ll show you some pics as we’ve gotten started.

But instead of talking garden details, i’m gonna tell you some stuff that’s been on my heart lately as i’ve pondered this garden and how it is such a picture of my life.

I’m about to dump out a lot out…bear with me! (but keep reading…i think you’ll like the end!!)

I felt like the Holy Spirit impressed something on me just recently. I felt like he gently said to me a few days ago this phrase, “LeAna…you live under a cloud of guilt.” hmmm…WHAT was that, HS?! Where’s that coming from??

But as i’ve thought about that, I see exactly how that is true of me.

Here are thoughts that constantly run through my mind…

“I should be doing more…”

“I’m a crappy wife…”

“I suck as a mom…”

“Why does anyone want to me my friend?”

“I’m far too much for people to handle. They don’t want any of that!”

“I need to be doing more for God.”

“I’m simply not doing enough…”

“I need to reach out to more people.”

“I’m not spending enough time with God.”

“I need to work harder…”

It might sound like a bad bad case of low self esteem…for sure there are definitely some insecurities all over those thoughts, not the least of which is comparison to anyone and everyone who might seem like they are doing it better than me.

but its more than that.

I feel like the Holy Spirit was sweetly telling me that I live and operate out of a belief system…a false belief system, that keeps me under a cloud of condemnation.

i’ve heard the phrase before in my life,
“i love you, but I don’t really like you.”

sometimes I think God says that about me. “I love you LeAna…(almost cause He has to say it…He’s God)…but my enjoyment of you comes and goes, based on what you are doing or not doing.”

THAT IS THE BIGGEST LIE IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD!!!

i’ll say it again just in case you didn’t “hear”…THAT IS A LIE FROM THE PIT OF HELL!!!

one of the very best verses in the whole Bible in my opinion is:

Romans 8:1

“There is now NO CONDEMNATION for those who are in Christ Jesus…”

I feel like the Holy Spirit kept telling me that verse, over and over, as he continued to gently impress on me this “cloud of guilt” that I live under….

and then…

I went to look up that verse to write correctly in this post….and as I often do cause its just so much more simpler for my tiny brain to comprehend, I checked it out in The Message translation and you’ll never ever guess what it says…(prepare yourself for how cool this is…an example of how God speaks personally and individually)

Romans 8:1 from The Message translation:

“Those who enter into Christ’s being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud.”

Seriously?? pretty darn sure that just totally confirms that the Holy Spirit was in fact impressing on my heart a direct, personal message from God—to—me! and I can’t help but to think that this message might be for some of you too!

Could it really be true that there is NO MORE CONDEMNATION for us in Jesus? I mean…when I think about it…it really HAS to be true. If it weren’t than Jesus’ sacrifice was really a waste. Cause wasn’t the whole point in the cross to switch places with me…take what I deserve and give me what I don’t deserve instead? My sin and my failures make me deserve that punishment…eternally. But He took it for me. So if that’s true, there can’t be any more condemnation, right? That low lying black cloud…it was taken away forever the day Jesus switched places with me on the cross!!!

but its more than that too. He didn’t just give me the freedom to not have to live under a black could of guilt and condemnation. He gave me the very thing that I don’t deserve…His always and forever, never giving up, not based on me, love.

Zephaniah 3:17 says,

“The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save;

he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love;

he will exult over you with loud singing.”

that doesn’t sound like a God who “loves me but doesn’t like me,” now does it?

that sounds like a God who is so thrilled and enthralled by me that He can’t help but to sing, loudly and gladly!!

and its not because I did anything to get it. In fact, that verse states that He SAVES me. If a person needs saving, then obviously they are not capable of contributing anything to their rescue, are they??

so what does this possibly have to do with gardening, you ask?

Well…what if my broccoli plant got up one day and said, “i’m just still so little. I’m not good enough. My master gardener isn’t gonna be happy with me. I’m not gonna be worth much. I’m not big like that romaine plant over there. He must be digging his roots in deeper, or working harder to absorb more sunshine, or stretching his stem longer when the irrigation system turns on. I must work harder so I can grow more.”

kinda ridiculous. (Although I kinda wish my plants thought like that!) truth is, they can’t. They are plants. All they get to do receive. They can’t work hard to grow, to earn love. They can’t really please me based on what they do or don’t do. They just get to be planted where I want them, receive what I give them, and grow…strong, big, beautiful.

I live under a cloud of guilt when I am basing God’s love and pleasure of me on ME! When I believe that He can’t really like me unless i’m doing something for Him. I’m under the cloud when i’m trying to earn his pleasure by doing more, being more.

But like my plants in my new garden, its not about doing more.

its only about receiving.

that’s all there is to it! So simple, and yet not easy to do, is it??

in fact, its kinda dirty work to just receive…cause everything within us tells us that that kind of love is too scandalous to really be true.

that’s my problem. That’s my false belief system. I’m choosing to believe something that is not true. I don’t allow myself to just simply receive.

Church often tells us…other christians often tell us this…we tell ourselves:

“Work harder, and you’ll grow. Do all that God asks, and you’ll receive His love in return.”

Doesn’t really work that way, does it?

I know what some of you are thinking…yes…there is truth to cause and effect. If we read our bible’s, we will know more, and “growth” may happen. If I invest in relationships with other people, my life and their life may be richer. If I tell people about Jesus, they might come to believe in Him.

But none of that makes God love me any more than He already does. It just doesn’t. So I can do those things…but not as a means to get God to love me. He can’t love me anymore than he already does. Its complete. Jesus last words on the cross were, “It is finished” all this work to earn God’s love…finished. All this trying to measure up…finished. All this living under a cloud of guilt…finished. FINSIHED!! all of it!!

now…we just get to receive. That’s it. THAT’S IT!

Back in the summer, we were going through a bible study, and it was my turn to lead a chapter from the book we were studying (Counterfeit Gods) on God’s Love. I had read the material and studied and had taken a bunch of notes, but something was missing. So I prayed, and asked God to make the truth in that lesson very clear to me. While I was praying, I saw a picture in my head of me holding a flower:

I was picking off each petal, in classic 6th grade form of “He loves me, He loves me not.”

but as I pulled off each petal, I was asking that question with God in mind….Does He love me? Does He love me not?

As the scene played out, the striking thing was that with each petal pull, I was not saying, “He loves me, He loves me not.” instead, with each petal, I was saying, “He loves me!” “He loves me!” “He loves me!” “He loves me!”

there was no “He loves me not.” every single petal was “He loves me.”

I believed God was giving me this very message…that its all about “He loves me’s.” and not only that, but “He loves me nots” don’t even exist.

That’s where that cloud of guilt just simply fades away. I can’t live under a cloud when its all “HE LOVES Me’s!!!”

GOD LOVES ME like that!!

so this garden will remind me that this life is all about receiving…from the Master Gardener, who knows His trade so very well…and whose main job is to simply delight in me and wash away my cloud of guilt with His love.


makes all the difference to believe that kind of love, doesn’t it?

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Nov

28

:: giving thanks ::

we started off our Thanksgiving holiday by preparing our little place for a large crowd…which meant rearranging furniture and getting creative with a small space!

the kiddos got in on the action:

and even helped me make this banner out of felt and burlap:
they gave me lots of things to put up on our Thankful list.

some of them will probably give you a good laugh! and if you pay attention, you might see a new venture that our family has embarked on, which i hope to post about soon!
i had this idea to make these mini caramel apples for each place setting with little personalized tags, serving as a place marker as well as a little take home favor. the idea in my head looked awesome!! :) but it just didn’t translate as well into real life (story of my life, peeps!) my caramel just kept sliding off, so after many attempts to make it stick, i threw in the towel, called it a night, and had mini caramel apples for dinner the night before Thanksgiving.
and opted for some simpler place cards:

i really loved our set up this year. it had nothing to do with the decor and everything to do with the view:

i love when we can fit everyone at one long table!
see that long table runner? well…you could do that with fabric, but that would be expensive. so i used wrapping paper…and you’d never know the difference! (thanks for the suggestion, may!)
see those plates??
i found them at the dollar store, believe it or not. i think they look like they could’ve jumped off the pages of Pottery Barn. so i did what any smart girl would do….and i bought 20. and have been wishing ever since that i had bought 20 more!! i LOVE LOVE LOVE having matching plates for large crowds!!
this was our first Thanksgiving where my crazies were not the only children in attendance. we had dear family friends join us this year, adding two more crazies to the mix. so the kids got their own table:
with battery operated candles and a glass with chalk as a centerpiece:
because the table was covered in craft paper, making for some creative drawings and messages!

the day was chilly and super windy, but what’s Thanksgiving without a little football?

we snapped a few quick pics:
before heading inside, filling up glasses, and getting ready for our feast!

and what a feast it was!
(i think i remember hearing before that its not all that great when all the food on your plate is all in the same color category…but i think its okay on Thanksgiving, right? and besides…i think i see some green beans back there somewhere :)
we did not rush through dinner, but instead enjoyed being in each other’s company, taking our time to enjoy family, friends, and food.

and of course, the next morning was reserved for the annual “wishbone pull.” Bella got the bigger piece, but she doesn’t believe that wishes come true, cause she still doesn’t have a horse as a pet. :)

hope y’all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. i think this one was my favorite so far!

“Give Thanks to the Lord for He is Good; His love endures FOREVER!”
Psalm 107:1

coming back with more posts…some new house projects accomplished this week, some recipes, and more!


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