Fixing Up the Place...

Ah, the joys of home ownership. And really, no sarcasm intended here. We spent most of last weekend doing some much need repairs and sprucing up around our house and yard. (Thanks to Paul's step-dad for coming over and helping us out for a couple of hours--Paul needed a little more muscle than I could offer for a few of the tasks!)  Took lots of elbow grease, but I really had fun working with the hubs and by the end of Saturday night, we were pretty proud of what we had accomplished.  (Even though we still have much to do!)

I attempted to document our progress...

Friday night we began pulling up every one of these pesky weeds...there is some real grass under there, I just know it.  I continued this drive-you-crazy task off & on all day Saturday. We finally got the whole front and side yards knocked out. And many thanks to our neighbors for loaning us this little contraption! I was definitely sore and sun-burned by about 8pm. Let's hope those little devils, er I mean weeds, find a new home.  Fat chance.

{rotten trim boards from the front corner of the house}

 {new boards up!}

 {I like a workin' man :)}

Our fence has been leaning (severely!) for a while...

maybe this post had something to do with it?

{new post set}

 {$2 find at hobby lobby! now i just need to dab a little brown paint on the screws}

{no "before shot" of this, but a friend's bulldog got a little bored one night and decided to have a little siding snack :) so we had to replace that board. now just need to paint it}

 

{picked up a hydrangea plant--my very favorite flower...}

{and a strawberry plant}

 {now I just need to re-pot them! can't wait for some sweet, homegrown strawberries!!}

Lots of projects still to go, but that's ok...what would be the fun in having everything done?! Enjoyed this weekend of work with my Paul and looking forward to this Memorial Day weekend with some good friends at the lake!

Miss This Family!!

 

Jim, Anne, Walt (or the spider monkey), & Eleanor (or the back of E's wispy, curly head)

My second family at Mississippi State. Aren't they precious?!

They just posted this vaca pic on their blog, and I had to share it.

Freshman year, I took a modern American history class from a "Dr. Giesen" (just "Jim," now) and as they say, the rest is history. (Sorry, I can't help that the cliche fit so nicely.) I started babysitting their oldest, Walt, when he was just 3 months old. Look how big he is now! He will be four in September! Just a few days after Paul & I got married, little Eleanor was born. And since I still had one last semester in Starkville, I got to keep this little chickadee a couple days a week, too.  How can she be almost two?

Since you can't see W & E's faces very well in the fist pic...

 

They are growing up too fast, and pics like these make me a little jealous of whoever the new babysitter is!! :)  Miss y'all & Gus, too!

Whatever you did...you did to Me.

"And the King will answer them, 

'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, 

you did it to me."

Matthew 25:40  

Last Sunday I heard this from our pastor.

On Wednesday, Ann Voskamp posted...

"We can worship Christ in our sanctuaries and we can pray to God on our knees, but how we treat — or neglect – the person next door, the poor, every human being, this is how we truly speak to Christ and this is how we really treat Jesus." 

Read the rest of this truth she expresses here. 

Why do I try to complicate it? Holy, Agape-Love God has one single, simple purpose for each and all of us:

Love God.

 Love People.

Matthew 22:36-39  

Once again, I find myself praying for the grace to really get it.  

And really getting it translates to {action}.

Make-do Fondue

On my way home from class tonight {by the way, it was my last class of the Spring semester!! YAY for 2 weeks off before summer school begins!} I had a little craving...

Left-over Valentine chocolate from the back of the pantry +

  
1 banana that needed to be eaten =

Make-do Fondue.YUM.

I'm not a huge chocolate fan and bananas aren't my favorite fruit either, BUT when you put them together...the combo is pretty hard to beat. At least, in my opinion. :)

What If...

Have you heard this yet?  I'm listening. On repeat...

{What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy?
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise?}