Heather Sanders » Faithsizing

I see beauty in routine, in structure, and because of that I tend to develop and maintain patterns throughout my day. It’s comfortable. It’s safe. It’s soothing to my soul.

Every morning I follow the same process of rising and moving into a new day. When I shower, I do specific things in a specific order because I don’t want to miss anything, and I’ve already thought through the logic; for instance, I begin praying when the conditioner goes on to set and wrap it up after I pumice my feet.

What? You don’t pumice your feet in the shower regularly? I do. Plus, it’s my gift of love for Jeff–protection from the ghastly wounds I might otherwise inflict while playing footsies.

Sometimes, if my feet are in incredibly bad shape (I wear flip flops year-round–what’s a gal to do?) I might belt out some praise and worship songs for good measure. After all, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 tells us to “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (ESV)

I’m just acting in obedience, y’all.

I’d like to point out this is the exact opposite of Jeff. His shower consists of an iTunes playlist whose range is best described as 41-year-old-eclectic. Also? Jeff sings from the time he steps in the shower until he’s fully dressed and walking out the door.

Sometimes I linger in bed listening. He makes me smile. Listening to him singing in the shower is part of another routine of mine; the routine where the alarm has managed to do its job, but instead of immediately ejecting from the bed I crawl in deeper, all while contemplating THE LIST.

I’m fully aware that due to His wisdom and omniscience God chose to include only 24 hours in a day. However, in my more anxious moments, and on more than one occasion, I’ve “let my requests be made known” regarding the unreasonable span of time allotted for the tasks I’m required to accomplish in any given day.

That’s when He smiles at me, shakes His head and says, “Whatevs, hot stuff.”

Wait, scratch that.

That’s when He smiles at me, shakes his head and says, “Do not be anxious about anything.”

Oh. Right. I remember now.

As you can tell, I need to spend a good portion of the day thanking GOD for His sovereignty over me because my logic obviously fails to extend too far out from the shower door.

Oh, how I trust Him.

Changes are coming.

In the meantime, I pray and rejoice in Him

For when we pray in earnest and then are willing to embrace His sovereignty over our lives, whatever that means for us, His will unfolds for us to see, and our joy is complete.

“Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete” – John 16:24 (NIV)

In my last post, I wrote that changes are coming, and at the time, we were not entirely sure what it would entail; now we do.

We are listing our home–the home we love and have enjoyed personalizing for the past five years–and when it sells, we will make our move.

Not out of the state, not even out of the city, but to a place where we can realign and reset–spiritually, emotionally, physically and financially.

It’s time. It is long past time.

Some people call this kind of move “downsizing”, but I’ve decided to label it “faithsizing” because we are stepping out in faith based on mine and Jeff’s mutual belief that God is calling us to something more by choosing less than our current lifestyle.

Oh, the possibilities…

We have friends who own a 960 square foot home on a small, private lake. They are willing to sell it to us and have even generously offered to let us “try it out” before buying.

By some people’s standards, the lake house would qualify as a tiny house–it’s not by a long shot, but it is tiny compared to our current 2330 square foot home. It has a kitchen, but not a dishwasher…unless you count Jeff–oh wait, he said he can’t be “dishwasher” and resident “fisherman” all at once. It has air conditioning units, but no central heat and air. It has one teensy bathroom, which might be the stickiest (no, not stinkiest) situation of all if you think of all the moments when the two bathrooms we have now were so desperately needed, but here’s the real kicker–there are no bedrooms. Nope, not one.

Since Emelie signed a lease on her own apartment last week, our previous household of five is down to four. When our home sells–and we feel confident it will–four people will reside in what amounts to one large room; naturally, there has been numerous discussions about privacy.

There is what I’d call a large closet. It’s about 8×8′ and has another laundry closet within it. We decided that it would best serve as a family closet and a roomier place to change clothes, which would provide some measure of privacy beyond the bathroom.

Though many would say that privacy issues are First World problems, we know we need a certain degree of it and will miss it when it’s not there. Rest assured, Jeff and I will proactively secure our own *cough* private moments *cough*. We want to be sensitive to our kids’ desires for their own space too; so, we have made it clear we do intend to build up or build out (there are a few options) as soon as we can.

That said, since one of our primary goals is to lower our overall debt and finance as small a mortgage as possible, we are fairly certain we do not want to finance add-on costs into the mortgage. I write “fairly” because we haven’t even secured estimates to have a clue what to project. As is probably obvious, we are still working on details, but we have plenty of time because our current home hasn’t even gone on the market yet.

Overall, we are thankful for the peace we have felt since making the decision to sell, despite all the unknowns, and are confident the Lord will honor our desire to be better stewards of what He has allotted us.

Keep us in your prayers, and we will do our part to keep everyone updated!

We are not a family with much clutter. It isn’t that we’re always spic and span–that’s just for photos. We probably have less clutter than most families, not because we’re unnaturally neat; it’s primarily because clutter is a visual stressor for me.

Are there unmade beds? Lately, more often than not.

Are there dishes in the sink? That depends on whether Meredith is up yet or not.

Are there flip flops tucked up under the ottoman, tables and chairs? Frequently, yes.

But there are not a lot of knick-knack, paddy-wacks waiting around to collect dust. Things tend to get put away more often than they don’t. We don’t have “collections”; well, except for the swanky swigs from my childhood–they are tucked away safely in the attic waiting for the day when I can display them on glass shelves in our future kitchen window.

So, when I think about faithsizing our family, I think about what to do with the big things (furniture) like our King Size platform bed in our bedroom. We think of the 43-year-old couch and matching ottoman sitting in our living room that desperately needs replacing. Imagine a wool sofa that has more pills than Walgreens, and half a dozen puppies have used as a teething block; THAT is our couch. We think of the cheaply purchased kitchen table and chairs that we bought 17 years ago at Oak Express; chairs with seat slats that separate just enough to pinch our butt cheeks in the most painful of ways.

As I peruse the closets with the mindset of keep, sell or give to others, I’m often amazed by what our family, one who does not accumulate, CAN accumulate over a span of five years.

Tomorrow we clean and take photos for the house listing.

Friday, our realtor, Cathy, delivers the paperwork and walks through the house with us. Soon thereafter, our house goes on the market.

This house.

I have mixed emotions, but that “mix” percentage is something like 25/75, weighing heavily on the side of relief.

We will spend less, but we will “be” together more.

Our family is in the midst of a life journey together and oh, what a blessed journey it is.

This morning I woke up and made my bed before I even brushed my teeth. Why this new routine when I so obviously like my current one, you ask? Drum roll, please…thank you very much–because our house is officially on the market.

That’s right; the sign is in the yard, a lockbox hangs from the front door, and we are ever ready for the call.

As you can tell, Sunday is not at all taken aback by this new change of events; for her, it simply means I’m in the schoolroom earlier to open the shades so she can nap in the window sill.

Isn’t she precious?

With Jeff and Kenny fishing and Meredith still snoozing away, I’m thinking through our game plan for the lake house. The owners are in the midst of clearing their belongings from the house itself, as well as the outbuildings, which is why I will have photos at a later date, but I can offer a lay-out for anyone interested.

Now be nice and don’t judge. I never claimed to be a draftsman and this quick photoshop .gif is obviously not exact by any measure; but, it gives a rough idea, which will help you visualize when I try to start organizing the space.

Straight out the back french doors, an elevated, covered deck (almost as deep as the secondary living area), runs the full width of the house and I’m sure, will offer daily reprieve from the tight living quarters.

I took this photo from the top deck on an overcast day after last week’s rain.

This is the view from my future coffee spot. Ahhhhh, yeah.

Right as I published this post, the first phone request for a showing came in. I woke Mer, we worked through our “get ready” list, grabbed the dogs, and took off to my friend Cindy’s for the requested “show” time. Looking forward to hearing how the first showing went. Whoop!

Our cup runneth over, people! Our house was listed on Friday night around 6:00 pm and we accepted an offer yesterday (Tuesday) at 6:00 pm. That is FOUR DAYS; what a blessing!

If all goes as expected, we will close in four weeks, which means as soon as the buyer’s 10-day option period is over, THE PACKING BEGINS. Thankfully, our new home isn’t too far, but it is significantly easier to move when things are packed in boxes and bins and properly labeled, right? Right!

Today, Kenny, Meredith and I went through ALL the games in the house and packed-up those that they have outgrown, or no longer want to play. Already in the back of the Suburban, the games are designated for our local SAAFE House.

Next up is the clothing purge. We are not packing anything we cannot, will not, or have not worn recently (Winter coats are an exception since they get worn about twice a year here).

I’ve completed the linen closet’s editing; in other words, I no longer have three dozen pillowcases and tossed the stained, lumpy pillows.

The attic needs a bit more work. I’ll use the endless amount of empty plastic bins (Don’t ask, I have no idea.) to transfer linens and other things to our new place; so, that’s good. We also have a number of suitcases we’ll use too–and then, donate somewhere because WHY DO WE HAVE SO MANY SUITCASES?

We need about 30% of what I can see in the photo, and the rest will be donated, sold or discarded.

No, you cannot have dibs on the old sewing machine stand. It has a lovely glass topper and will have a home in the lake house.

Overall, we are in a good position.

Here’s a sneak peak of the lake house from the road. The stairs you see on the back, left side of the house lead up to the very large, covered back deck.

I wish I could start packing TODAY; I’m ready!

I’ve received a few private emails pointing me toward this place or that on the web–places that ridicule our family’s decision to faithsize by selling our home and moving into a 960 square foot home. Some feel it is a knee-jerk reaction to our oldest daughter’s decision to leave home–a protectiveness toward our other children; as if, by keeping them within close physical proximity, we might be able to control their every thought or action. Others suppose we are facing extreme financial hardships, in which case a move like this would seem wise and not something one should ridicule.

Unfortunately, none of these readers emailed to ask because if they did, they would receive the same responses I’ve emailed a dozen or so others who wrote to encourage us–we are doing what our family needs to live, not just survive.

For those interested, here is the heart of the matter.

We have spent the last five years trying to make up for the fact we are house poor; 25% of our monthly income went toward our mortgage. When we read what Dave Ramsey had to say, that didn’t seem so bad; after all, he suggests housing costs should be 25% or below of your monthly take home pay. That’s not the whole picture though–there’s also our monthly HOA of $170 and the electric, gas and water bills (an average of $420). Our combined household bills alone were an average of 35% of our take home income.

Add to that a car note, a boat note, insurance, cell phones & internet (no cable) and a bit of debt on a credit card–oh, and no savings; yep, you’ve got a mess in the making.

Surprise! A child develops a bone marrow infection that turns into severe anemia–blood transfusions–the hospital bills abound.

Oh my! Two kids in braces–that’s just under $10,000.

Another surprise! Oldest child gets diagnosed with a rare degenerative bone disease–MRIs, CT Scans, specialists and surgery.

Jeff keeps on keeping on with his daily grind, and I pick up more work to try to off-set costs. Our heads are barely above water financially–for years, and the stress mounts.

Again, we are surviving, but we are NOT living.

Why?

We could only find one meaningful reason for staying in this house; we live only eight houses away from my parents. That is a blessing we have thoroughly enjoyed.

The other reasons are considerably less significant:

Growing up an only child, I wanted each of my children to have a room of their own.
I wanted a separate place for us to homeschool and store all of our homeschooling supplies, books, curriculum, etc….
We enjoy swimming in the neighborhood pool three months of the year.
Jeff enjoys fishing the private lakes encompassed by our neighborhood.

Could we afford to maintain this lifestyle; yes, but at what expense? Each kid gets a room, but their parents are MIA trying to make it happen. I can physically walk down the street to visit my parents, but I’m too busy working deadlines to do so. Things just weren’t adding up.

Our decision wasn’t a knee-jerk reaction. It was years in the making.

People are more important than things, period.
We’ve preached this for years when a child broke a bowl or glass, but we weren’t living it on the big things.

This house we’re moving to is small–very, very small.

On the other hand, this lifestyle change is big–huge, even.

And?
It’s time.

I am not OCD, but some may challenge that fact after revealing my graph paper lake house and furniture layout. Let me assure you, however, that my level of preparedness is from experience, not compulsion. This move is the 18th one I’ve made with Jeff in 19 1/2 years of marriage; if I didn’t have it down to a well-oiled process, there would be something wrong with me.

Also? I love graph paper. It is the perfect backdrop for anything – journal entries, sermon notes, grocery lists, and for plotting out furniture for a home roughly 2.5 times smaller than the one where one currently lives.

Y’know, everyday stuff.

Moving is ALWAYS stressful on a family, and this bit of prep is a marriage saver. No man, Jeff included, wants to move the same pieces of cumbersome furniture two to three times when it can be accomplished beforehand with properly measured bits of paper.

Now, before anyone points out that there are some places that appear to be tight; I know. When I measured the house I rounded down to the nearest inch and when I measured furniture I rounded up. If there are errors they will all weigh in our favor later on.

Laying Out the Living Area

For those in the process of making a move, or wanting to know why their living room feels like it needs a few adjustments, here are a few interesting tips I found while making mental decisions about spacing.

The distance between a coffee table and sofa should be 14 to 18 inches.(We don’t have a coffee table but intend to create a sturdy tray to place on the rolling ottoman for setting down drinks and what-not where there isn’t a side table available.)
Side tables should be just close enough to a chair or sofa to set down a drink and no taller than the height of the arm of the sofa or chair it serves. It also should not be any lower than the seat height of the sofa or chair, which isn’t hard because we have one heck of a low sofa; which, by the way, are called “couches” {cow-chuz} in Texas.
The distance between couches and other seating in the immediate area should be no more than 10 feet but no less than 3 feet. This set-up is not going to be possible for us in as small of a space as we have to work. I’m calling this situation one where I needed to know the rules so I could break them.
The distance between furniture–often call the “pass-through distance” needs to be 30-36 inches.
Bwahahahaha!

Moving on…because I may need to address this at some point, but I’m not ready to get rid of everything we own just yet.

There are other rules about area rugs, height of a television, and the proper distance from the television to a couch (One-and-a-half times the diagonal measurement of the screen–do people measure this, for real?), and height of artwork on the wall. Artwork is a big one for me–why oh why do people hang things so high? Since nearly every wall of our living room is a window (as you can see from the super awesome squiggly colored boxes on the paper layout), for the most part, this is a non-issue.

And this is where those looking closely at the images may get their panties in a wad. I recommend you don’t…it’s just uncomfortable.

Yes, you are looking at an idea for a joint bedroom. There is the squiggly wall divider that sticks out 65″ or so, and then, in order to get the schoolroom table and bookshelf in the living area, Jeff and I are going to move our bed into the same area as the kids. In fact, my side of the bed will be three feet from Kenny’s bed.

But what about priiiiiiiivacy?

I can hear the mumblings…

“You might as well be co-sleeping.”
“Oh my, do you snore? Fart? Talk? Toss and turn in your sleep?”
“Do you wear pajamas?”
“How will you ever have sex again?”

And to all those questions, I say, “Breathe.” Until we build in ACTUAL privacy, this is a one-room lake house. ONE ROOM. If we placed our bed anywhere else, it’d be on the other side of that short wall. In other words, five inches to the right. WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE?

And for the last question, yes. We need sex. We are a healthy married couple. That said, our kids DO leave home without us to be with friends and grandparents, and we are also the parents; so, we can say, “Hey, take a walk around the lake–walk slow.” And if push comes to shove, there is always the tent option.

“Hey kids, we’re sleeping in the tent tonight!” will take the place of “Hey kids, we’re going to take a nap.”

Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

So, now that we are all over the sleeping arrangements (We are, right?), let’s talk about the method of sectioning off the sleeping area from the living area with a curtain.

Here are some ideas I’ve found online.

I have looked for the source for this image and cannot find it, but I like it because wire is cheap, installation is minimal, and the simplicity appeals to me. My concerns are that the wire will begin to bow from the weight, which would leave the curtains sliding in toward the middle and may be more hassle long-term than just installing a sturdy rod.

[Source]

I like this curtain set-up for all the reasons I like the other one, but it does appear to be more stable on a rod rather than a wire.

[Source]

I’d like this curtain to be a bit longer, but I do appreciate that it doesn’t puddle on the floor like the other two. Puddling is great for homes without children or animals, but guess where dirt and hair will gather when there are curtains that puddle on the floors between rooms?

Exactly.

This iPhone capture is of the back room of the lake house before the current owners starting clearing their belongings. They placed twin-size Mission-style chairs that turned into less-than-twin size beds for their two little ones in what we are calling the “back” room. The couple slept on a sofa bed and used a heavily lined curtain on the brass rod to divide their space from the kids’ space at night.

Our kids are older and stay up later than we do at times. If we placed our bed in the living area, they could not do that. It makes sense to have shared living areas/sleeping areas until we can build out.

The curtained space is 8 feet wide. I plan to take down the brass curtain rod and replace it with a black metal rod (dropped from the actual entryway), as opposed to keeping it positioned above and on one side like the current curtain rod.

I plan to use white muslin fabric for the curtain because it’s cheap, and will add even more light to the space. And the next project on the agenda is painting every dark wood surface, white.

White–glorious white.

It will be an awakening!

And now, I’m tired, and this post has grown to 1250 words, which means only 1/3 of you will read its entirety. For those brave few, bless you. For the others, I’m sorry.

More news later!

The day we returned home from our mini-vacation, Kenny began the arduous process of disassembling about 45 or so (You think I’m joking, but I’m sooooo not.) LEGO creations. From his smaller scope builds to a few of the behemoth sets he purchased in the last couple of years, the boy had a healthy amount of work ahead of him.

Of course, before even starting, he selected a few builds that would remain intact for the move. I promised to help him transfer them to the back of the Suburban and then into the lake house where they will, at some point, be back on display.

He doesn’t have the same interest in LEGOs as he once did, which I believe is two-fold: 1) The sets are ridiculously expensive, so he typically receives the larger sets at birthdays or Christmas. 2) Lately, when he receives his monthly commission, he chooses to spend it on going to movies, Peppermint Mocha Frapuccinos, eating out with friends, or on Xbox 360 LIVE Points for games, add-ons, and extras for his avatar.

Still, when we went through his room, deciding what he wanted to keep, give away or throwaway, LEGOs remained on the “keep” list, which meant he needed to consolidate and organize.

He has a 3-drawer IKEA rolling file cabinet, six 13 x 9″ Sterilite, stackable plastic drawers, three plastic containers for fishing hooks and lure storage (these work great because the plastic tabs can be configured for the different size pieces), and one black, plastic tray where he organizes small, easy to lose, LEGO bricks and pieces for larger builds.

Besides the LEGOs, the other “keepers” were maps (both purchased and hand drawn), a number of his favorite books from different series, Nerf guns of various sizes, his Nintendo 3DS, the Xbox 360 Elite (He and Jeff “invested” in it together and so, Kenny owns 50% of it) and a few other sentimental objects. He added a couple of things to his childhood keepsakes box, which we currently keep in the hall closet, but will place in a temperature controlled outbuilding on the lake lot.

Overall, I feel confident that everything he both wants and regularly uses will fit in his space at the lake house.

Next up?
MerBear’s room.

We closed on the house on the afternoon of September 8th, and now we are unpacking and adjusting to our new digs. While I failed to update throughout the prep and moving process, the next few posts will document a portion of it for those who want “the rest of the story.”

Tip: I frequently upload photos to my Instagram account–even when I am unable to post here. If interested, follow me @morefromheather on Instagram.

While Kenny spent days breaking down his LEGO builds for our move to the lake house, Meredith did it in a day, or rather, a couple of hours. She had given it enough forethought to understand what was important to her and what wasn’t.

With our days and nights extending into the wee hours, Mer caught her cat naps whenever the opportunity presented itself.

Starting with her wardrobe, she quickly discerned what she did and did not wear. Editing in this way helped her make a list of items missing from her wardrobe that she needed for this upcoming school year–like shoes in her size; y’know, important stuff.

Recognizing she spent little to no time on the keyboard and that the piano was one of the major furniture pieces chosen for the lake house living room, she designated the keyboard for storage. None of us ever doubted Mer’s guitar would make the cut since she plays it daily, and it’s practically an appendage. She also chose to keep her electric guitar, amp and ukulele. The girl must make music, yo.

She packed two large boxes and one large bin with:

clothing items typically stored in a tall vertical cabinet
a few of her favorite books
framed photos of friends and family
music and personal journals
accessories (jewelry, scarves, purses, etc.)
her nail polish kit (Meredith LOVES “fancy” nails)
the few shoes that fit (soon, we shop)

Our idea for organizing her space was to create an open, studio apartment “closet” corner with two wall-mounted clothing racks. Shoes would rest on the bottom shelf of the bookshelf she already owns, but if she ended up needing more space, which is likely, we’d eventually install a wall-mounted bookshelf and let her use another shelf of her standing bookshelf for more shoes.

As always, we planned to hang her guitars on her wall, and Jeff and I would allot space in our closet for her amp. If she doesn’t use it regularly, it’ll make its way to storage with the keyboard.

I knew this move was a major life change, and in that, would, at some levels, be difficult for all of us–especially the kids. What surprised me, and what has made me very proud, is how NOT stuff-centric the kids proved to be; neither had difficulty discerning what was and wasn’t important in their daily lives. It is refreshing that mine and Jeff’s years of helping the kids purge every six months or so has taught them mindfulness in their choices. They chose wisely between necessarily utilitarian or purely sentimental items and kept what mattered to them.

There are a few things I plan to write about pertaining to the process of our faithsizing move. For now, and to give you an insider’s view of our living space, I’m posting a few unstaged iPhone photos I took last week. I have photos of the kitchen and bathroom posted on my Instagram (@morefromheather).

As you can imagine, we have a list of what we’d like to do in this little place, but our primary goal is to be good stewards of what The Lord has personally afforded us by reducing expenses and working toward financial freedom. For us, this means a significantly smaller mortgage with all other debts paid off.

Thankfully, the sale of our home gave us the means to clear two major debts and soon, a third. After that, we’ll pay off Meredith’s braces and Jeff’s bass boat. At THAT point, we’ll begin major improvements on the house; fortunately, we love the house with all its quirky character and do not feel the rush for everything to be “just so.” We have learned to shelve that “just so” attitude with the recognition that what we have is “just enough” for us. In fact, it is more than that.

As of last week, many boxes were still in the process of getting unpacked. I hung photos and artwork as soon as the furniture was placed to protect them and because I’ve learned that these personal touches are the quickest way to turn a house into a home.

I am not exaggerating when I say every single item our family kept to bring with us is meaningful. Memories abound at every turn of the head, and it makes this place even more precious.

Jeff and my room truly did end up being a “bed” room. One of Emelie’s pieces hangs above our reading lamps. Soon, I will replace the sheer panels hanging now with floor to ceiling curtains sewn from traditional black and white ticking. The entire wall on the right side of the bed is curtained off to cover floor-to-ceiling shelves that serve as our dresser and the laundry closet/utility room.

We do have a closet directly across from the bed, which currently has no doors because I ran out of time before our move and still need to paint white.

The piano hosts a number of family photos and is the perfect height to hang the Kandinsky Jeff bought me for Valentine’s Day years ago. In fact, it is the ONLY wall in our living area that can house this print, so I was thrilled it worked in that space.

A few pieces of furniture did not make the cut, and since we decided to turn the back closet/laundry area into mine and Jeff’s “room”, we are not buying a sleeper sofa. We’ve decided instead to buy a couch which is mostly the same size to replace our 43-year-old, falling apart, green couch. I plan to slip cover the ottoman as soon as I learn how to slip cover an ottoman. HA!

Emelie’s apartment has slowly taken shape as a result of our faithsizing move. She has pieces from mine and Jeff’s bedroom set, a few chairs, her previous bedroom furniture, a side chair from our living room, and a rug. Now, she’s requested the couch despite my warning that it could disintegrate any day. My parents passed it to me when I moved into my first apartment–I assured her it would not make it another 20 years.

Meredith and Kenny’s space rest on opposite sides of the back room. I do plan on writing specifically about each side soon, but what they wanted to take fit perfectly. Kenny’s bed is on risers with LEGOs filling his under-the-bed boxes. His dresser is on the other side of this area and runs sort of perpendicular to his bed.

Meredith’s side, pictured earlier in this post, has worked marvelously for her. Since this photo we’ve added a few additions, and because of the angle, you are unable to see her “closet” area. Maybe this upcoming week I can do a walk through video to “show” more of what we look like here in Sandersville.

We spend a lot of time fiddling outside, which is why my newest, regularly worn fragrance is Eau de Bug Spray (the mosquitos are pretty rough this time of year, and they devour me).

Slowly but surely the place is taking shape, but one thing it IS is HOME.

This is home; we all agree.

Tonight I praise our Lord for His grace and faithfulness. Even as we plan carefully, I fully embrace His will and plans for our family. I am blessed to love and serve Him.

This is the day that the Lord has made.
I WILL rejoice and be glad in it.
Psalm 118:24

Four weeks. We have lived in the lake house for four weeks, and daily we choose to drink in the beauty around us.

Thursday evening on our way home, as we crossed the dam on the west side of the lake, Kenny interrupted the flow of conversation when he caught a glimpse of the moon. Jeff stopped the truck, rolled down the windows, and we all stared in awe at the brilliant white orb hanging in the sky, cutting its reflective path across the pitch black ripples moving across the lake.

It was glorious, and we get to live here–for however long or short the Lord allows.

We are confident the Lord led us here, but recent unexpected news from two different mortgage lenders has made us question “why” He did if there is a chance we might not get to stay.

Right now, everything is up in the air. We’ve sold our home. We’ve sold, tossed and donated an incredible amount of furniture and belongings to fit here. We’ve painted ceiling to baseboards and purchased light fixtures, fans and many other small things–all in an attempt to make the lake house ours. We did all this without an inkling of what was around the corner.

We truly faithsized our family’s life.

Turns out this home is nontraditional in every sense of the word; unfortunately, underwriters prefer cookie-cutter houses and neighborhoods to tiny houses that need lots of work on private lake lots.

Our appraisal is Wednesday.
And so, we wait.
And trust.

From the start, we have acted in obedience, and we will continue acting in obedience. Even now, when we have no clue what is in store for us, we choose to rest in His provision.

It is “God’s economy,” after all.

In my BSF meeting, we are studying the Life of Moses. I’m not at all surprised, but so very thankful, that God’s LIVING and BREATHING Word remains 100% relevant in my life from week to week.

At age 80, Moses was told by God to load up the wife and kids on the donkey, meet up with his brother Aaron, and head together to Egypt. He did it–not without some grumbling, but who can blame him, really. Before Moses even set off for Egypt, God gave him the words and works so the children of Israel would know God had heard their cries and believe He intended to finally bring them out of Egypt to The Promised Land. I can only imagine the euphoria.

And then, Pharoah did not even recognize The Lord God–refusing to let the Israelites go out into the wilderness for three days of worship. On top of that, Pharoah escalated the abuse of the Israelites, increasing their workload and making it impossible to satisfy their daily requirements.

Moses felt so lost…so responsible and the Israelites certainly gave him grief–even though Moses was acting in COMPLETE obedience.

“But God…You said…”
“But God…I trusted You at your word.”
“But God…the people will never take me seriously now.”
“But God…how can this be so? I’m confused. It’s worse now for them than before.”

And then God said four powerful words, “I AM THE LORD.”

In fact, God said it repeatedly; everything happening was part of His plan–the plan Moses’ finite mind could not understand. The plan my finite mind can’t understand.

I’m not a modern-day Moses, but I’m thankful for how the theme of these passages speaks to me on a significantly smaller scale.

God has a plan for our family’s life and let me tell you, we are working diligently to heed his voice and stay right in the center of His will. We have packed our proverbial donkey. We also FULLY believe He knows what He’s doing.

So, we rest in Him and wait for our next step. Have I mentioned “resting in Him” is not a one time action? We turn our lives over to him again and again.

Will we get to put down roots and set up camp here? We hope so. This is what we want.
Will He move us somewhere else? He might. Does it matter?

We are His.
He is Ours.
That is enough.

“I know WHO goes before me…whom shall I fear?”

Meredith is styling my hair for church tonight, and I’m struggling to write whilst not falling asleep. Yes, “whilst.” I blame the vocabulary shift on my newest addiction, “Lark Rise to Candleford.” I’m considering taking up corsets too–only because I believe they may work better than Spanx, and it has been a long time since anyone complimented my hourglass figure.

Never mind.
I want to breathe.

Sooooo…since my last post a lot has occurred; no really, it has. I’m going to hit it all at warp speed because that’s how I like to catch up–in fast forward; read it aloud in a chipmunk voice and feel free to laugh–it makes the day so much easier, after all.

First, Jeff had a cancer scare. Yep, he was smoking again. Nope, he’s not smoking anymore. For now, he’s vaping (kiwi is his favorite) and it is working splendidly. What was the scare? He went in for a bilateral hernia repair, and the surgeon would not take him back because of an incredibly elevated white blood cell count and symptoms that may have indicated early signs of cancer. Imagine all the tests to follow. Before you fret, there are no signs of cancer. CELEBRATE! He says he will NEVER smoke again–and he means it.

After the infection had cleared, Jeff had the bilateral hernia repair; it was a long time coming. He had the same procedure when he was 2 or 3; no one could remember. The first few days following the surgery were awful for him, and I spent a lot of time on the back porch adjusting pillows and learned just how stubborn this man I married could be. The doctor gave the nod for Jeff to return to work this week (he’s been off for two weeks), and he’s been careful to not overdo it.

While caring for Jeff, I nursed a hurt knee. About six weeks ago, I took a fall off a moldy step while (whilst?) taking out the trash. I twisted and fell, and I knew it was going to be a problem, but avoided going to the doctor for three weeks.

Is it clear yet why I can so easily identify Jeff’s stubbornness?

I went in for an MRI at my doctor’s urging. Turns out I sprained my MCL and had a very slight fracture of the lateral tibial plateau. The recommendation? Time and rest. See? I hated spending money to learn what I already thought I knew (heh heh). I’ll admit it was a relief to learn I didn’t tear anything. It would have meant that Jeff and I would have been down at the same time, which simply would not work.

At present, no one else needs medical attention. Please Lord, let us keep it that way.

With regards to financing the lake house, the appraisal came back only a few thousand dollars below the sellers’ asking price. Whoop! Thank you for your prayers–we KNOW prayer makes a big difference. We are talking with a local bank and taking things one step at a time. If you would like to continue praying for us, please pray for our wisdom and discernment. We want to see clearly and choose wisely. As always, we are trusting in His provision–it is HIS ECONOMY after all. Praise the Lord!

And finally, I have much to write about homeschooling–the kids’ change in curriculum, our enjoyment of it, and how that led to a partnership with Alpha Omega Publications (AOP). Next year I will get the opportunity to get out from behind this keyboard to travel and meet face-to-face with homeschooling families at the various homeschooling conferences AOP attends. And yes, when possible I’m bringing my crew with me. Some of you have followed me for years and loved on me and my family online. I cannot wait to pass out bear hugs and look into your eyes and say, “Thank you. Thank you so very, very much.”

Meredith is done styling my hair (fishtail braid and some curls) and I need to publish this post and get a move on or I’ll be late for TREK. I do wish I’d thought to change my shirt before she started. Oh well, it can’t be helped now.

Blessings!

To say we have settled into our new home is an understatement. The kids’ favorite description of the lake house is cozy, and I am in complete agreement, especially now that we’ve decorated for Christmas.

Last year we finally discarded our fake Christmas tree. At just over ten years old, it had served our family well, but I for one was ready to move on. Originally, it was a beautiful, pre-lit tree, but after the first five years the lights became more and more finicky and could not be trusted to stay lit. So in 2008, Jeff and I spent two hours clipping the pre-wrapped lights from their pre-fabricated, numbered branches.

For the next five years, I wrapped lights on the lower 2/3 of the tree each Christmas. It was difficult not to grumble about the slowly fraying limbs and branches that were far too loosey-goosey to fit securely into the plastic pipe that ran up its center. In fact, it was so difficult that I DID GRUMBLE…repeatedly. Still, I made it work because…the tree, in all its ridiculousness, was paid for after all.

And then, in 2013, both the tree and lights were such a debacle, that we gave up and tossed it all after Christmas.

When December arrived this year, I was determined we would have a live tree adorned with working white lights and all the kids’ ornaments.

I wasn’t sure how many lights to purchase, but Google suggested 100 lights per foot of tree height, so I went with it and bought 800 lights for my 6 ft. tree.

I like lights.

That wasn’t enough lights (of course), so I went back to Hobby Lobby and purchased four more boxes. Two of them completed the tree and the last two wrapped garland I placed above the hutch and over the kitchen windows.

Expensive?
Yes, somewhat.

Christmas tree = $49.99 at Kroger
Tree stand = $15.00 at Kroger
White tree lights = $49.90 ($4.99 x 10) at Hobby Lobby
——
Total = $124 and some change

There’s no doubt that fake trees are a financially wiser choice, which is part of the reason we purchased one in the first place years ago. Priorities tend to change with time though, and in my opinion, assigning space in our limited storage for a fake tree is not worth the savings.

Plus, live trees smell divine.

We will reuse the tree stand and lights (replacing as needed), so next year we’ll just pay for a Christmas tree. We’ve decided we are willing to pay $50/year for a real tree.

And by “we” I mean “me” because Jeff could probably go without a Christmas tree altogether and still be a happy man.

Men.

In the meantime, quite by surprise, I discovered icicle lights at the bottom of the light box, and better yet, THEY WORKED. I spent the afternoon hanging them around our front porch. While I’d like to decorate outside a bit more (around the windows, columns, and nearby trees), I already exceeded the non-existent Christmas decor budget for 2014.

I’m very happy with the way things turned out. Without a mantel, I chose to hang the stockings above the kitchen sink.

Even our shared restroom has a warm glow with light strands wrapping the mirror above the vanity.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Now, if we could just get our cooler temperatures back, I’ll be happy.

What does it mean to gain closure? I’ve heard the word used primarily for two different scenarios, but in both situations it involves a death. For the first, and perhaps less serious scenario, one needs to meet face to face with another person to end a relationship; usually, one or the other needs clarification or understanding to move on. And in the second scenario, closure tends to be a form of affirmation; the merging of head-knowledge to heart-knowledge, as when one views the body of a loved one after they have passed away. The empty “shell” of a person they once knew is the first step toward letting go.

Right now, our family waits on a closure that does not fit either one of the aforementioned scenarios. We are waiting for closure on this lake house. We moved in September, and by October we knew we would stay. We began the process of purchasing this home, and it has been one hurdle after another. In fact, last week, in a moment of complete overwhelm, I walked out of the bank, unlocked the door of the Suburban, slid into my seat, shut the door and cried. Jeff followed ten minutes later and prayed over us and the situation. As has been our prayer from the beginning, we asked for assurance that we are not trying to force open doors not intended for us. We want to be wise. Within minutes after Jeff’s prayer, the Lord answered. Within 24 hours, the issues were non-issues, BUT we still desire closure, as in, we want to CLOSE on this house.

The next hurdle is the SECOND appraisal. Yes, second. The first was apparently not written in a format that banks can use. It was written just for us. The woman doing the appraisal is wonderful. I trust she will work hard to show the value we need, but the lake house is in an area where homes sell privately more often than not. Since Texas is a non-disclosure state, finding comparables for this area is a challenge for her.

I have curtains to sew.
Jeff has a shop to unpack.
There is much to change and update.

However, we have put all further improvements on hold simply because we cannot invest anymore in a place that may not, for whatever reason, be our own.

So, we wait.
It is in the waiting that I learn how poor I am at waiting.

It is official. We closed on our lake house. This 960 square foot cabin is all ours. My spirit soared as Jeff and I stepped out of the title office and into the first glorious sunshine for weeks. It felt like a gift–the sun warm on my face and the packet of signed papers tucked under my arm.

We have much work ahead of us with this faithsizing adventure, which I will write about in the days, months, and years to come. Still, we are content here. It feels like home in a way no other place ever has. Somehow this place fits our family–slightly askew, rough around the edges, in need of work but cozy, with great bones and plenty of heart.

I’ve not had the words to write all I’ve wanted to say today; the words keep getting tangled. Then, this evening Meredith showed me some of her photos from her walks around the lake, and I knew I didn’t need words–she perfectly captured my joy in her photography. The lake from Meredith’s lens says everything I wanted to say and more.

May our lives reflect the beauty evident in His creation as we begin this new season.

Blessings, y’all.

I need a shirt that reads, “My house is holier than yours.”

Now that the lake house is finally ours, I plan to introduce it more intimately to those interested; including all that we need to do, big and small.

Since this is not an extreme makeover television show, these renovations will occur over the next few years, not the next hour. The upside to the budgetary necessity of an extended timeline is just that–time. Time to plan, change our minds, plan again, and finally, implement. Oh, and time for Jeff and I to peacefully prioritize “needs” as we do not necessarily agree on some of the order of events. We TOTALLY need electricity on the back porch BEFORE gutters, right?

What we DO know is there are high dollar and low dollar projects, and the first high dollar project is to have this pier and beam house leveled. Apparently, it was leveled ten years ago. The simple fact that we walk down into the kitchen, bathroom and mine and Jeff’s “bedroom” is all the evidence we need that it is time to do this again. Ya think?

Based on quotes from one neighbor working on the same thing, this sounds like it’ll run around $2000 if there are no surprises. And we all know we are likely to run into a few surprises. Anyway…more on that as we have the cash to do it.

Next up on the big ticket items will be the windows spanning the front and side of the house–all thirteen of them. Hopefully, we’ll have that completed before next winter. Don’t hold your breath. Or, y’know, do. It might be interesting.

For now, we are sticking with relatively small ticket items, like felling a pine that is about twenty feet from our front door and leaning toward the house. We are catching a break on the cost since we have piggy-backed on our neighbors’ who are having three trees felled, so it will only cost us $500. It is no puny pine either. I think it might be in a race with the Tower of Babel to puncture the heavens; seriously. It makes me so nervous to see men shimmying up these tall pines, but not nervous enough that I won’t be outside taking photos to document it all.

You’re welcome.

On my immediate list is dealing with the holey walls in the house; most specifically, the bathroom because I want to paint in there. What paint color? Glad you asked. I plan to use Sherwin-Williams’ Olympus White (SW 6253). In other words, it will be a very light gray.

Back to the holes. There are some holes we do not understand. For instance, we know the hole in the photo above was from a light fixture, but we do not understand why it did not get fixed previous to the addition of the custom cabinets.

Things that make you go hmm…

We also aren’t sure how exactly to fix it without taking down the cabinets, which will be a considerable affair. *sigh*

There are other holes too. There is one to the right of our bathroom’s one and only plug.

There is also one to the left of the bathroom’s light switch. Both of those will be easy enough fixes, we hope.

Then, there is the missing trim atop the doorframe. We aren’t sure if it was left off or taken off; regardless, we need to get it back up there.

Once we finish the bathroom, we’ll tackle the two holes in the wall behind the hutch. One is visible, and the other one hides out a bit lower. They may not be an issue based on what we decide to do when we divvy up the back area to provide more private spaces for everyone.

These holes may be here for a loooooong time.

And yes, that is An Echo in the Bone, Book 7 in Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series. I love historical fiction with a bit of romance, but fair warning, it can be a bit racy; definitely an adult read.

And finally, there are holes in the sheetrock in the closet. We know why they are there–before the previous owners did extensive roof work there was a terrible leak. There is not an attic, so these holes gave the necessary access to find the leak and “air” it out.

Because these holes are in a closet, they aren’t much of a concern, and the sheetrock work may wait until we have the front interior of the house painted.

So, there you have it. Project #1 of many.
Let the fun begin!

On December 27th some incredibly high winds and what some have identified as a “mini” tornado, blew through our neighborhood. Due to the drought we’ve endured over the past several years, many trees were easily uprooted by the winds, and a few tops snapped off by the tornado, causing a considerable amount of damage.

There are several pines surrounding our home, but one pine leaned precariously toward our lake house. In fact, the branches on the tree’s opposite side had all taken leave, which gave us every reason for concern that the tree might split our house in two following the next big storm.

When our friends next door decided to fell trees in their front yard, we jumped at the opportunity for a reduced price on felling the pine in question. I strongly dislike taking any tree down, but we simply did not want to take the chance of it descending across our home like two different pine trees did to two different homes only two doors down.

So, we accepted the $500 bid from Oliphant’s Tree Service and down it came.

Words cannot describe how thankful I was NOT to be up in that bucket. I’m not scared of heights, but in my opinion, that height coupled with a chainsaw is simply not a wise choice for anyone.

I’m equally thankful there are men out there who make a living out of making unwise choices.

You could not pay me any amount of money to get near a wood chipper.

Note: I’m on the OTHER side of the fence.

Now that everyone thinks I’m a big sissy, have you considered how many people are injured in the United States by mobile wood chippers annually? No? A lot. Thankyouverymuch.

Without all its branches the pine looks considerably less ominous until you compare it to the electrical pole standing back a few feet on the right.

The men made short order of the remaining trunk, lobbing off segment after segment.

Each chunk of the tree dropped into the trailer below with a density that shook the ground.

When all was said and done there was only this stump left. I showed it to Jeff and commented that I felt it showed the “heart” of the tree. I even showed it to my daddy. Both of them thought I was stretching it a bit, but I’m sold that what I saw at the base of that tree was a heart. It reminded me of a favorite childhood book by Shel Silverstein, The Giving Tree.

“I wish that I could give you something….
but I have nothing left.
I am just an old stump.
I am sorry….”
“I don’t need very much now,” said the boy.
“just a quiet place to sit and rest.
I am very tired.”
“Well,” said the tree, straightening
herself up as much as she could,
“well, an old stump is good for sitting and resting
Come, Boy, sit down. Sit down and rest.”
And the boy did.
And the tree was happy.

It feels pretty amazing to make steps to care for our new house, but rest assured that is not where we find our joy. Our joy is found in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It is by HIS grace that we are able to rejoice over the big and little things.

We will praise Him, our Lord and God, with all our heart. We will glorify His name forever! -Psalm 86:12

I wish you joy in the midst of whatever your week brings.

Our family plans to do something new this year; we are planting a garden. Jeff has always wanted a garden. I like the idea of a garden. And the kids? They are along for the ride because that’s what happens when you’re a minor and aren’t old enough to have a job and car to escape your parents’ ideas.

With the exception of one or two people, everyone I have ever known has gardened at some point in their lives. Maybe they were successful, maybe not, but now that I am in my 40s, and the kids are out of diapers, I think I’m ready for this adult rite of passage. In case you’re scratching your head–yes, the kids have been out of diapers for years now. I just think that cloth diapering and gardening at the same time seems a little much to ask, and I haven’t thought about gardening much since then.

The best way to feel successful is to keep the bar at a reasonable height. I’m great at playing limbo.

Besides, if this gardening thing fails, I can reframe it into a solid blog post: 7 Ways To Fail at Gardening.

Except I don’t want it to fail. I never want to fail.

I am not a master gardener, but everyone is a noob at something. I’ve kept a camellia alive for a month now, I have a few healthy cactus plants, and there’s a healthy outcropping of white mold on the indoor frame of our 60-year-old window panes.

I can grow stuff.

We plan to start small, which is easy since our garden will not extend beyond the 11 x 9 ft. raised box that came with the house.

After Jeff and I had relocated two blackberry bushes growing in the box to a different part of our lot, Meredith did the initial heavy lifting by pulling out all the dead plants and weeding. There were other things in there–plastic toys, wrappers, a hammer; typical things one might find in a garden. Then, yesterday, when we got a break from the weeks of rain, Meredith, Kenny and I finished weeding what we started calling our “mud garden” and raked out the pine needles.

The kids were asking what we’re going to plant. I told them tomatoes. They asked what else. I said tomatoes. Clearly, I have a bit of planning ahead of me.

When Jeff and I made the decision we would homeschool our oldest kid, homeschooling wasn’t as mainstream as it is now and unlike today, finding resources proved challenging. Gardening is a completely different problem. There have always been endless choices, methods, and opinions. It’s similar to the time Jeff was in graduate school, and we took Pranaya, one of the university’s foreign exchange students, to Wal-mart. We were there for three hours, and she didn’t even buy what we took her to purchase. It was as overwhelming for her as it was amusing to us. I’m sure my ranting about noobie gardening is amusing to those who have gardened for years too. That’s okay. I don’t feel so overwhelmed that I mind. Mostly, I hope liking the idea will turn into liking the process because it would save us money at a time we need to save money and bring some healthy grub to the table.

Also? Salsa.
Enough said.

How to Faithsize Your Life (Even If You Don't Know What It Means)

It’s raining.

It’s rained for days – weeks, even.

You notice the rain more when you live in 960 square feet; mostly because you’re outside more. Much, much more.

The back porch is my office. It stands several feet above the ground. I like my perch.

From it, I can gaze out on the lake. The same lake that flooded the bulkhead this morning and presently works its way up our lot.

Jeff loves it when the lake is high. He catches bass after bass. Last night he caught, cleaned and grilled up a couple of them for a late dinner.

A little butter, garlic salt and onion powder.

Perfect.

My porch office isn’t fancy; far from it.

A box fan blows my direction to ward off mosquitos, and my laptop sits on the glass table top where our family eats many a meal.

In a few hours, it will be dark, and I’ll turn on the clip lights behind me because we haven’t yet been able to purchase the light fixtures for the back porch.

One thing at a time.

We’ve been here eight months, and we haven’t even scraped the surface of what we want to accomplish, but it’ll come–or it won’t. Either way, it’s okay.

I’ve received a few emails from readers asking me what exactly I mean when I say we faithsized our life.

“Does it mean downsizing?”

“Is it about debt freedom?”

“Is it another word for minimalism?”

“Are you and Jeff just cheap?”

Faithsizing is a simple word I coined to mean obediently and faithfully aligning one’s position and purpose before the Lord.

As a Christian, I believe each of us are uniquely created by our Father in Heaven to fulfill a divine purpose, and as believers we are to live it out in every aspect of our lives.

With that understanding, faithsizing looks different for each of us.

Faithsizing may be the weighty responsibility of great wealth and success. God may position you for philanthropy or place you in positions of great influence.